Sidelined

Well, week one of "Operation Fix Shins" is over. That means I have (at least) one week left. So far, my shins don't seem to be much better. For the first part of the week, I was starting to think that I may have caused myself some stress fractures, which I was none too pleased about... But I decided to try massaging the posterior tibialis muscles, and I found both sets to be quite tender and bumpy! I worked them out quite a bit on Wednesday and Thursday. I also had J work on both sets of calves. (Those guys were also quite tender and bumpy!)

I had been good about taking ibuprofen and wearing my orthotics, but I stopped doing both by the middle of the week. I stopped taking the ibuprofen since it inhibits bone healing. This became important, not only as I grew more and more concerned about stress fractures, but because I'm pretty sure the damage is at the muscle to bone interface. I stopped wearing the orthotics because I was getting sore from wearing them. It might have been too much, too soon, as far as they go. I'm still wearing them in my rain boots, when walking around town. My work shoes are easy spirits, so they are fairly supportive and comfortable throughout the day.

I continued the cross-training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday and Friday were done on the recumbent bike. Unfortunately, on Wednesday, some lady was on the recumbent bike...forever. So I attempted the elliptical trainer. I was afraid...of gravity. This was the day I was most worried about possibly having stress fractures. My shins didn't really hurt too bad, but there were definite twinges. I ended up stopping only about 25 minutes in because I was so worried I might be causing more damage. Tuesday, Thursday, and today (Saturday) we continued with our strength training: planks, wall sits, hip abduction (leg lifts in sidelying), hip extension (leg lifts while prone), and the 100 Pushup Challenge. Here's the stat wrap up:

Monday:
10.1 miles, 16-17 mph averaged over middle 30 minutes

Wednesday:
25 minutes on the elliptical (Blech!)

Friday:
10.7 miles, 17 mph averaged over middle 30 minutes

The running break will continue through at least Thursday. If I'm still feeling twinges then, I will extend the break at least another week. :( I hope I don't feel any twinges...

Non-running weekend recap :(

Although I'm on an (un-wanted) hiatus from running, that doesn't mean I've been sitting on my butt. While J was out enjoying a rainy run on Friday, I went to the gym where I rode the stationary bike for 9.9 miles (not very scenic). I kept up a 16+ mph pace, which to this non-biker, is NOT easy...

Yesterday (Saturday) there was a break in the rainy weather, so we went hiking in Forest Park. We've never been, but we will definitely being go back there for some runs (hopefully soon!) We hiked about 4 miles total, but stopped at the Audubon Society of Portland Visitors Center (accidentally) so J could enjoy seeing some birds.

I was a little worried about what the hike might do to my shins, but they don't seem to be any worse for the wear.

I'll be continuing the cross training next week. We also started the 100 Pushup Challenge last week, so next week we'll continue on to Week 2 of the plan. Also, we've been keeping up on our strength training plan: planks, wall sits, hip abduction, and we need to start doing something for our hip extensors (TBD). And, as always, stretching every day!

I'll leave you with some pictures of our hiking adventure; enjoy!


Creek



Muddy Trail

Good Lighting

Bird

J's favorite bird (it's apparently a falcon, which is a type of bird, just sayin')

Ah, so cute. :)

Pictures from "Be the Change Mile"

I tracked down some pictures from the Be the Change Mile. Without further ado...:

What we were all gathered for. This wasn't even all the goods!


One of the great reasons to show up! (Donuts & Coffee!)


About to take off! (I'm in the gray jacket, black pants, and sunglasses, I'm sooo cool! :)


At the finish (I was tired, and yes, J beat me. J: "Let's sprint to the finish." ME: "I am sprinting!")


Group Shot

FAIL...boat

"Let's just go out for an easy 3 mile run!" - Famous last words...

This "run" was very frustrating. Yes, it is true...My shin splints are not, in fact, gone. GRRRRR.

After our awesome Monday, I have to admit, my shins didn't feel that great at work yesterday.... But then again, they weren't that bad. After the excruciating pain I experienced the week after First Run, this was just a little discomfort, so how bad could it be to go out for a run tonight? Well, after about 20 minutes of shuffling, I called it quits. Who was I kidding? My shins hurt. And they were just going to get worse. We still had about 40 minutes of walking left to get home, and I let J know just how frustrated I really was... Poor J. This newbie was über p!$$ed I didn't get to complete a measly 3 mile run. Come on! Just 3 miles! Why can't I just run 3 miles?!!! Well...run it pain-free anyway!

Thus today marks the beginning of "Operation Fix Shins!"

Here's the plan:
1) No running for 2 more weeks! (Definitely not my favorite part of the plan...Yay, xtraining?)
2) Try to ice 2-3x/day. (We really need to invest in some ice-packs...)
3) Take 2 ibuprofen every 4 hours. (No more inflammation, please!)
4) Wear my custom orthotics when on my feet. (You wouldn't believe how great my shins felt after I slipped those puppies into my shoes. How great is arch support?! I've had these guys in my possession, but like the bad little PT I am, I haven't actually used them...oops! Lessons learned!)

I will reassess with a test run after the 2 week break: 2/4/2010. I reaaally hope I can start running again. I'm hoping that this rest will let my shins recover and heal. I'm also hoping that by repairing the "shoe" situation, I will prevent future injury to the little guys.


**I was going to post a picture to illustrate my "determination". I googled "determination" and I found the greatest picture ever...but I cannot post it on my blog because it is really gross, and hilarious, all at the same time. If I've piqued your curiosity, you can find it here, but you have been warned...**

Noobing it up

Today was a day of firsts...and it went great!

First we were off to take part in the "Be The Change Mile". This was the first time I'd run on a track since High School (...Freshman Year...) And not just any distance, no, the same distance as the annual (and oft dreaded, by yours truly) one mile President's Fitness Challenge run. The event was definitely not an official/sanctioned event, but I loved that aspect. It was just a bunch of runners getting together to run a mile in celebration of a great fundraiser for low income athletes.

There were two separate heats. The first heat (which we ran in) was the "community heat". This included runners, walkers and some of the high school students that were taking part in both heats. The second heat was the "competitive" heat. These runner's ranged from finish times of 4:50 - 6:50ish. They were pretty speedy!

We took off with the gun (we couldn't hear the gun at our first race!). We quickly drifted toward the back of the running pack, but in front of the walkers. The mile equated to 4 laps around the track, which doesn't seem like much, but it definitely felt like a lot while we were running it. It was quite windy and cool, which may have been why my breathing was so labored. In any case, the breathing didn't come too easy! J was having a grand ole time; honestly he should have just taken off, since he had so much energy at the end. With my current level of fitness I was absolutely spent at the finish line. We clocked in at about 9 minutes? As I said, it wasn't an official race, and the clock was on the far side of the track from the finish line, but I'm pretty sure it was about 9 minutes-ish. Even though it was only a mile-long race, I think I paced it alright. We passed several of the early speedsters in the final laps, so we definitely didn't finish last place!

After we finished, we helped ourselves to some coffee and donuts (several cups and several donuts!) It was really fun to watch the second, competitive heat. Those guys were fast! It was nice to hang out with some fellow runners; if only we were more outgoing, maybe we could have "met" more of them!

Our second "first" took place at Mt. Tabor Park. That's right...trail running! It was only about a mile (our second of the day), but it was tough. We're not used to running on anything but flat concrete, and flat concrete this was not! It was really beautiful out there! (It probably helps that it was an unusually nice day for winter in Oregon. For one, it wasn't raining. And you know its a nice day when you can see Mt. Hood!) The funny part is, we saw a bunch of the runners from the mile track race out on the paths. Guess we weren't original in planning a run after the earlier race. That and Mt. Tabor is probably only about 1 mile from the track we were at....

Anyway, here's some pictures from the trail run. There were definitely pictures taken from the track race, and I'll post those later if I can track them down. (I admit that pun was a little over the line...)

Isn't he angelic! ;)



We could see Mt. Hood from here; unfortunately my camera could not...

♪ On the road again ♫

Today was a busy day! Let me lay it out for you in an organized fashion!

1) We went to Mother's Bistro & Bar for the first time, and it did not disappoint. We had been avoiding it for a couple of reasons. One, it is a very popular place in the Portland metro area, and we don't like long waits at restaurants. Two, it seemed tot be a bit expensive for our tastes. But, the wait wasn't that horrible (especially for a Saturday at 11am) and the food was worth every penny! Check out these pictures!


Just look at that French Pressed Stumptown Coffee and Mimosa!!


J had Breakfast Nachos:


I had delicious Crunchy French Toast (Dipped in egg and than in Corn Flakes) The maple syrup was delicious as well!


Demolished!


2) New Running Shoes!!!! Yay! Salesguy had me run barefoot on the treadmill, which I had been somewhat dreading since I obviously hate dreadmills! But it really wasn't so bad! I watched the video with Salesguy, and we both agreed I moderately pronate. Salesguy had me try on 3 different types of shoes.

First were the Brooks Adrenalines. First impression: "Oh my gosh! They're sooo cute!" I tried them out on the treadmill. Thoughts: "They're ok, I guess." (In depth, right?!)

Second, I tried on the Asics GTs. First impression: "Those are really cute, too!" Thoughts after the treadmill trial: "Meh, my shins kinda hurt..." Immediately ruled out right there.

Third were the Nike Triax+ 13. First impression: "Those are soooo ugly! I secretly hope they don't work out." Thoughts after the treadmill trial: "Frick, these fit sooo well; my shins barely hurt at all!!!!"

I couldn't choose between the first, really cute shoes and the third, really ugly shoes. Salesguy suggested I try one of each for a trial; so I did! Well, the Triax definitely won out...I was a little disappointed, until, wait for it:

3) FIRST (non-race) RUN OF 2010! Yes, that is right. I'm back, baby! After the excitement of purchasing our new shoes, we decided to try them out! We ran around the old waterfront, and let me just say, it was great! We made it all the way around, and I experienced very little shin pain. And the best part, I still don't have very much shin pain! Thank you new shoes! I may just be able to look past your ugliness. Check them out in their full glory (stolen from the Internet!):

I guess they're not that bad...Red is just not my color ;)

4) Technically, this doesn't belong to today's festivities, but...I'm jazzed that we have another run planned. It's not a big deal, just a 1-miler. And we're not planning on pushing it, or anything, but there will be lots of runners there, and should be fun! It's not a big time race or anything, just a fun run to celebrate/support donations for local low-income high school track and field athletes. You can read more about it here. I'll try to recap on Monday after the run.

Until next time!

M.I.A.

And not just from blogging. As if not blogging for 10 days weren't enough, I haven't run since the 5K. I feel lazy. I feel like I'm missing out. I just started to like running, and now I have to stop? You may have surmised by now that my shins have not improved. Not that the past week or so hasn't been productive.

Last Thursday we flew down to sunny (and hot!) Southern California (Huntington Beach, not Disneyland) to visit J's family. We haven't seen them in a few months, and it was too expensive to fly during the holidays, so this was our "Holiday" in more ways than one! :)

We flew back into town on Monday, the same day J's brother and girlfriend flew into Portland for a visit and to see the sights! We took them to Powells (multiple times!), Kells, Multnomah Falls, Widmer Brothers Brewery, Bridgeport Brewery, Voodoo Donuts, Pioneer Square, The Waterfront, Pizza Schmizza, and Deschutes Brewery. Are you noticing a theme? In case you haven't guessed, I love beer. Beer and food. And over the past week we have gorged on both! That, in addition to my running-less-ness has left me feeling...lazy.

So now that the "Holiday" is over, we will slowly be easing back into our good eating habits...next week... ;) Also, we're planning on making some fairly large purchases this weekend (drum roll, please!).....NEW RUNNING SHOES!! We determined this was necessary when the one attempt we made at running last Saturday (when we were still down in Cali, for those of you keeping track!) was a disaster. I made it about 50 feet before I quit. My shins hurt really bad. And J wasn't doing much better (stupid knees) so we walked for 30 minutes and called it a day (exercise-wise anyway). And thus, we made an executive decision; to purchase new running shoes! I'm hoping and praying this purchase will be the answer to my running prayers! (Please, oh, please!!!)

If all goes according to my dastardly plans, we will be hitting the road next Monday, back on the right track (oh, puns!) I'll try to update after our (hopefully) "epic" purchases. (I hope it's a good experience.)

Below are some pictures taken during my brother in law + gf's trip; indiscreetly stolen from gf's Facebook...oops!:

Pioneer Square
Powell's Books
Multnomah Falls
Voodoo Donuts

Cross Training...?

Although my legs felt ok during the First Run, afterward they felt a little less than pleasant. In fact, the next couple of days my lower legs were quite sore. Even today, 4 days after the run, my legs were somewhat painful to walk on, let alone run on. So, I've decided to take it easy this week. I don't really want to, but I do want to run pain-free. And I want to run pain-free without having to take an extended break due to stress fractures. (I'm paranoid!)

So today, I've started "cross training" (well...sort of). The recumbent bike...yeah. Not really my favorite thing in the world. Pretty boring, and way tough on my legs. As with running, I've never really been very good on the bike. I would even say I'm worse at the bike then I am with running; especially now! But after the first 20 minutes, the burning started to dissipate. I managed to stay over 16 mph, but boy did my butt hurt! (from the seat...)

5 minute Warm Up
30 minutes at 16+ mph
5 minute Cool Down

I plan on doing about the same thing on Wednesday. Thursday we're flying down to Orange County to visit J's family, which should be fun! I really wanted to run while we're down there, and I'm not counting it out! Friday will be 1 week since the run; maybe my shins will be all healed and stuff! Maybe... :(

First Run Race Report

Quick Summary:
It was AWESOME!

Full Story:
There was a party at the start/finish line starting at 10:00PM, but we hung out at home until 11:00PM. I had a plan for my shin pain, which started with a hypothesis. I'm fairly certain I'm overpronating when I run (my arch is collapsing), stretching my posterior tibialis muscle, which is what is causing me pain. So my plan was to tape my arches so that they were unable to collapse. Here's what I came up with:


(Excuse my gross left big toe...I should have had J take the picture from another angle ;)
So, after getting "suited up" (We are How I Met Your Mother junkies :) we headed down to the start/finish area. Now all day I had been a little nervous. Not really nervous, but I had that tummy "thing" I would always get before a swim meet.. When I saw the starting line, my nerves disappeared, and I was filled with excitement. Our first real running race!

We pinned our numbers on. Attached our timing chips. (Both firsts for us!) And stood around for about 30 minutes awaiting the start. It was hard to hear the announcer, but when people started herding out to the starting line, we followed suit. We did some walking to warm up our muscles, used the porta-potty, than grouped up behind the masses. Then the count down began. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Happy New Year!!! *Smooch* (It was a new year after all, and I was with my sweetie!) Then the herd began to move forward; very slowly. I started wondering if we had gotten stuck behind all the walkers. (It was a 1.5 mile/5K Walk/Run, and we all started at the same time.) 2 minutes later, we finally went through the shoot...

And started to jog, and dive, and duck, and dodge...for at least a mile. Technically we were passing people the whole time, but it was definitely the most jumbled for the first mile or so. One of the hardest people to pass was this amazingly fast speed-walker. I couldn't believe how quickly she was able to walk. My pacing plan going in was to run the first mile at our easy, daily running pace. Then, on the second mile, build the pace a little bit. Then, depending on how we felt, build into a nice speedy finish. Despite the dodging, diving, and ducking, we pretty much stuck to that plan.

It was pretty humid out, which made breathing a bit more difficult than average, but we still plowed on through; and it was awesome! We stuck to the pacing plan, and continued passing people into the final stretch. The first half of the race was relatively dry (rain-wise) but it started coming down during the last mile or so, which was very much welcome. It's nice to have a coolant system built in to the race like that!

When we finally made it back to the first turnaround (meaning there was only 0.75 miles left) we were very encouraged. I was waiting to see the final shoot before we really kicked it in. I saw police lights that seemed miles away through the crowd, and thought that must be the finish, so kept up with our 3rd mile pace. But then we saw it, the finish, and we really kicked it in. I grunted to J, "Hold my hand," and we crossed the finish line together. It was amazing!

So how did I do? Well, my lower legs didn't feel too bad, especially after the first 1/2 mile. Whether that was due to the taping or do to race adrenaline, I'm not sure. But whatever it was, I'm thankful! As for the goals, let's recap the list:

1. Primary Goal: Finish (this one I just added due to my "injury") - Goal Met!
   
2. Secondary Goal: Run the whole way (this used to be my "primary" goal) - Goal Met!
   
3. Secret Goal: Finish in close to 30 minutes (this one seems to be less realistic than a week ago...) Drum-roll please....Goal...MET!

That's right. We made my secret goal. And not just "close enough", but even better than expectations!

Run stats:
Distance: 5K
Official Time: 29:16
Official Pace: 9:25/mile

I'm also pretty sure we negative split it. We'll never know officially, since they didn't take splits, and I don't have a fancy computer watch (maybe someday?!). But I started my watch just after we passed the starting line, and when I looked at it at the turnaround spot, it said 15:15, so we must have!

I'm sooo happy with our performance last night (this morning?). We went faster than I had expected, my legs felt ok during the run, and we paced ourselves perfectly! Now, in keeping with my Bloggy New Years Resolution. Here's a picture of us after we finally hobbled home. (By "we", I really mean "me". I said my legs didn't hurt during the race, but they were quite sore after we finished...Ice bath sore...)

(Yay for awesome mirror pictures!)

I'm also ready to finally post the pictures I promised a week ago from our running path in Sunriver, so here they are:







Fun Fact: We didn't slip and fall once on that snow. And we saw at least 3 other runners out there with us! (Two guys in shorts!)