Marathon race report: running with an (undiagnosed) stress fracture

Getting to the starting line:

My training was going super well for most of the summer. I started officially training for the marathon on Memorial Day weekend and was so diligent--I was doing a marathon-training program that was a huge step up (used Higdon last time, used Pftizinger this time) and so I spent 7 weeks building up my mileage before the 18-week marathon training began. So 17 weeks in (7 week build-up + 10 weeks marathon training) I started having this horrible cramping pain in my calf that was so bad I couldn't run (later diagnosed as complications from Achilles tendonitis and IT band syndrome, which was the diagnosis under which I ran the marathon--in actuality, it was a pretty nasty tibial stress fracture).

I RAN A MARATHON WITH A BROKEN LEG. Just in case that wasn't clear.





I tried a few things for a week or so and rested and iced and stretched, but nothing worked, so I started physical therapy. I ended up with almost 2 full weeks of no running and 6 weeks of very restricted running. I wasn't able to do my 3rd 20-miler and my long runs were seriously curtailed (the longest runs I did in the 8 weeks before the marathon were only 14 miles, which had been the length of my previous medium-long midweek runs). I was only able to run 4 days a week, and 3 of those were quite short (5 miles tops) at an easy pace. I was in pain all the time--it never ever went away during the day or night. I did an hour of physical therapy every day, cross-trained as much as I could, used ice/heat to deal with pain and swelling, and Neil would massage my calf for at least 20 minutes every single night to get rid of the huge lumps that would have developed during the day. I cried so so so much worrying over whether I would be able to run the marathon and whether I SHOULD run the marathon.

(expo: I have a selfie with Bart Yasso that I need to download from Instagram!)
The week of the race, I ran on Monday and Tuesday and both runs were very painful. I took the next three days off and focused on yoga, stretching, physical therapy, and resting as much as I could. I was a huge mess of nerves and then Luke fell in the grocery store on Halloween weekend and got a concussion...then Isaac fell at school the night before the race and got a concussion. Neil drove home to meet my mom at the hospital and I spent the night crying and worrying and stretching. I eventually cried myself to sleep...not the most auspicious way to start a race, but apparently it guaranteed a good night's sleep because I went right back to sleep when Neil returned to our hotel after taking Isaac home from the hospital (you guys it was CRAZY).

So...here is the race report.

Mile 1: 9:58--Started out with the 4:30 pace group to ensure that I would run slowly for the warmup and not go out too fast. Took a Gu before the start.
Mile 2: 10:19--Saw my husband at the 2-mile mark and he said that his bike had a flat, so he needed to go repair it. I started worrying a little because I'd given him my belt (with my chia water & all my Gu/Honey Stingers) at the start line and I only had one Gu in my belt.
Mile 3: 9:50--Keep having to slow down to stay with the pacer, so I drop him as we pass Monument Circle and just run at what feels comfortable.
Mile 4: 9:31--Pace feels good and easy. Very enjoyable.
Mile 5: 9:54--still running solo; walked through water stop
Mile 6: 9:35--passed the 10K timing mats which had been motivating me on for the last few miles.
Mile 7: 9:34--took a Gu. Still hadn't seen my husband--starting to get a little worried.
Mile 8: 9:54--walked through another water stop.
Mile 9: 9:26--start thinking that a PR might be possible. Much mental math ensues.
Mile 10: 9:37--feeling great.
Mile 11: 9:46--walked through another water stop. A cute little kid handles me a Twizzler and I manage to make it last for a mile.
Mile 12: 9:38--still feeling great. Loving all the crowd support.
Mile 13: 9:36--if I can hold this same pace in the second half I will PR by 4 minutes. Very excited by this. Happy to see that I've dropped a few seconds per mile since the 10K.
Mile 14: 9:35--Sudden depression occasioned by leaving all the cheering fans behind and having passed the 13.1 timing mats that I'd been looking forward to for the last few miles. Started feeling kind of crummy here; checked my watch and realized it was 14.2 and I hadn't taken any nutrition since mile 7 other than the Twizzler. Still no husband, so ate the very very awful banana-flavored Carb Boom that I'd picked up a few miles back. Literally the worst thing I have ever eaten in my life--it was super grainy and tasted TERRIBLE.
Mile 15: 10:06--spent awhile at the water stop trying to wash out the awful banana flavor from my mouth. So awful. Also started to get down mentally here--worrying about why I hadn't seen my husband in 15 miles and whether I was going to be able to make it for the rest of the race if I didn't have my Gu, since I didn't think I'd be able to manage another Carb Boom. Started questioning why the $^&* I was doing this in the first place. 11 miles to go seems absolutely impossible. Left foot feels like a thousand blisters have formed on top of each other and I have the horrible sinking realization that I forgot to put any anti-chafing stuff on my feet. This worry occupies me for the next three miles.
Mile 16: 9:56--hit the hills but my husband showed up (he had to go 20 miles up the freeway to find a Walmart with a bike tube in stock), so I felt sort of better. Took a Honey Stinger.
Mile 17: 10:11--not enjoying the hills. Remind myself that they are comparatively miniscule, but self is not convinced.


Mile 18: 10:17--walked through water stop and saw another runner stop and just start screaming and hyperventilating while her friends all gathered around her trying to get her to calm down.That was a little freaky. Took another Honey Stinger and more of the chia water. Got really bummed because the 30K timing mats were earlier than I'd expected (I never actually did the math and just randomly expected them at mile 20, and I had mentally blocked out the course in terms of "get to the mats and then it's just a 10K"). So that was really bizarrely upsetting in the way that only makes sense during a race where you're pushing yourself along mentally.
Mile 19: 9:49--downhill and feeling better but not as strong as I was earlier.
Mile 20: 9:54--not feeling wonderful and starting to worry about hitting the wall. Took another Gu. Really starting to worry about whether I could finish. Part of me was still thinking I could possible PR but another part of me thought that was idiotic.
Mile 21: 10:22--slowing enough that the PR seems impossible. Feeling worse and worse--quads and hips are really hurting and my calf is starting to twinge. Tell myself that I will never do this again because it is stupid and pointless. Decide that some people are superhuman and I am not. It seems like everyone around me is walking--I really want to walk, but I've never done that before and it seems like admitting defeat. At the same time, I don't know if I can keep running another 5 miles. Realize that walking may be the difference between a DNF and a non-PR-but-still-finish, so I give myself thirty seconds to walk and then running is sooo much easier. Actually feels good again.
Mile 22: 10:37--another 30-second walking break and then walking through the water stop. This is doable. Not fabulous, but doable. Another Honey Stinger.


Mile 23: 11:16--walking breaks are coming more frequently now as the cramps get worse. With no shot at a PR, I decide to just focus on one mile at a time. The road is TERRIBLE around here and running on the camber over potholes is very painful.
Mile 24: 11:34--calf is getting more painful. My brain says that I am using the sore calf as an excuse to wimp out on running, but then my legs tell my brain to shut up. Another Honey stinger and finish off the squeeze bottle of chia stuff.
Mile 25: 11:52--cramping is really, really, really bad now. Muscles are jumping and running is pretty rough. I pass one guy lying on the sidewalk crying while a medic works on him. My husband says he's going to head towards the finish line but I ask him to stay with me until the mile 25 marker.
Mile 26: 10:54--so close, and so painful. I really want to run this whole mile, but everything is spasming so much in both legs that I have take one walking break just to press the balls of my thumbs into my quads until the muscles relax enough that I can run again. Coldplay's Viva La Vita comes on over my earbuds just as I make the first turn into the skyscraper-shadowed street (my favorite running song) and I tell myself that it's all running from here on out.
Last .36: 3:23 (9:23/mile pace)--last turn and the finish line still looks SO far away! Normally I really try to sprint as soon as I see the finish, but about 100 meters down both legs spasm so much that I almost fall over. No idea how I managed to stay upright, but I bend over as I run and smack my fists all over my legs until the pain eases up enough that I can run. I'm crying now with both pain and relief that it's almost over; I tell myself that I can pass one more person before the finish line and somehow I do.




Thoughts afterwards:

1) Surprised by how quickly I went from feeling awesome to absolutely despairing so early in the race. Not sure if it was nutrition, worry about my husband, or just being undertrained the last 8 weeks. Fortunately I got through the emotional despair but I wish it hadn't hit at the same time as the hilly portion of the course

2) My right knee and quads are absolutely trashed. My calves barely hurt at all. GO FIGURE. I have not had one single twinge from all the areas that were bothering me so much pre-marathon.

3) A nice old man asked me at church today if I had back problems after he watched me sort of fall into my seat.

4) Part of me feels like I handled the last six miles of the race very poorly by "giving in" and walking when I maybe didn't need to do so quite so early or so much. Another part of me is saying that I ran it conservatively because I had a pre-existing injury. Really hard for my competitive nature to reconcile this here!

5) I will definitely do another marathon but I absolutely positively need to lose about 15 lbs first to make things easier on my joints. That will be my goal over the winter--I hear the holidays are a really great time to go on a diet...

6) I'm happy with my pacing. It was even enough for a long enough period and felt very comfortable and easy, so I feel like it was a good choice to hang out in that 9:30/9:50 with water stop range. Most of my worry pre-race was in getting to mile 20; I knew it was going to be really dang hard after that with my leg and the lack of training for the previous 8 weeks. I was consistently passing people until mile 21.5 when I had to stop and walk, and that was good for me mentally (although it got kind of frustrating passing the same people over and over from miles 21.5 to 25.5...).

7) I'm so darn glad that I didn't give up when I was first injured and that I stuck through all the crappy runs, the hours of physical therapy, the daily tear-inducing massages, etc. until I actually was able to run the race. It made it much more meaningful not just to me but to my kids, since they saw me crying my eyes out working through the PT exercises every day and how determined I was to stick with it and somehow make it to the starting line. It was probably the most impressive thing they have ever seen me do, and I think it made a real impact on all of them. Several of them mentioned more than once something about working at your goals even if they seem so impossibly hard, "just like Mommy's marathon after she got hurt."

10/1

Well, that may have been the stupidest thing I've ever done. Went to the PT this morning for an assessment and it's weak glutes & tight hip flexors again. Decided to run long tonight and see how I felt...I only got in 14 before it was too late/dark to do any more, and it did not feel good. Actually, my leg went sort of numb after about 5 miles, and then I stopped at 9 to call Neil, and then I ran a couple of miles uphill and then it was just awful after that. Not even so much the pain as just the fact that it was pitch-black, I absolutely could not see the ground under my feet, and I was just trying to make it home without falling or getting kidnapped.

And then I got home and sobbed the whole time I was stretching out because I'm pretty sure it's goodbye marathon,

9/29

Really terrible knee pain on right side last night; heating pad took care of it. Left knee started hurting today, so I rolled it (a lot!) and then really worked on the half. Everything actually felt much better after a 4-mile recovery run EXCEPT I felt super dizzy/nauseated...maybe from the treadmill & heat inside? I've been wearing compression sleeves on the calf and it seems to help. Maybe? I don't know. Still depressing.

9/28

Well, this seems to be the month where my training is not going so well. A couple of weeks ago I did my LR early in the week and then just got really sick and dizzy and whatnot during/afterwards...it was awful. I ended up that week with only 32 miles instead of the 43 planned. Back on schedule the next week and got in my 55, including another 20, but the pain in my leg that's been bothering me was getting worse and worse. Last week I ran 5 recovery on Monday (with Nate in the jogging stroller) and then got up at 6 the next day to do 9--it was awful. My leg hurt SO bad and I was having all these shooting pains and stumbling...I ended up going to the ER the next day to make sure it wasn't a blood clot (since my sister had a pulmonary embolism last year and I found out I have a genetic clotting disorder). The ultrasound was clear, but I took the rest of the week off from running trying to figure out what was causing the pain.

Still not sure, but I emailed Stacie (who is the miracle PT who fixed me up last time I had IT band syndrome), and she gave me some stuff to try. So 13 running last week, plus two yoga sessions, 7 miles on the bike (with Nate) and then 3 hours hiking on Saturday at a state park. And I've been rolling my leg so much with the foam roller/tennis ball that I am literally bruised from hip to toes.

6 today with a 1-mile warmup. The first three miles were pretty painful and so I stopped, rolled my calf on the tennis ball, and that made a huge difference. We'll see where we go from here. Today was supposed to be 8 but I just didn't have the time and I don't want to push it too much right now.

9/5

This was a hard week! The kids were all sick and up a TON at night, then I got sick, and then I started my period...and I had a ton of school & church meetings. Plus it was super hot and with all of the upheaval at night I never got up early enough to run & get back before the kids were up for school, so every single run this week was a treadmill run.

Monday: 6 m recovery pace
Tuesday: 14 miles
Wed: 6 m recovery pace
Thurs: strength training & yoga
Friday: 16 miles with 6 m 5 seconds under MP and 6 miles 8 second over MP...this was a terribly hard run and I finished just before 1 am.
Saturday: 6 miles recovery with 6x100 strides...I was SO dead when I started this and was a little panicky when I was struggling after only 3 minutes...checked my training schedule on the off-chance that I was running it too fast and I was by almost a minute per mile...whew, such a relief!!!

48 for the week; 42 for September

End of August

Last week:
Monday: 7 with strides
Tuesday: 12
Wed: rest (flew to NY)
Thurs: 10 miles with 5 @ HMP (over 10 and pretty darn fast--Garmin wasn't working, so had to look it up later, but there were some 7-minute fear miles in there!)
Friday: unscheduled rest day (scheduled for 5 recovery, but knew I wouldn't get them in. First run I've missed since December). Drove from NY to MI; 13 hours in car.
Saturday: 20 miles scheduled, ended at 19.78 (Garmin quit at 11.81, so had to guess...pretty darn happy I got so close!) A little faster than planned at 10:06/mile, but it was pouring rain and pretty cold. Dad biked next to me the whole time which was such a treat.

Week ended at 49 miles

6 miles today; last run for August, which gives me 203.84 miles for the month--yippee! First time I've ever broken 200 miles!

8/22 & 8/21

8/21: 7.1 with strides on the treadmill. First 5.5 miles were about 10:10/mile, then 8x100 strides to finish out the last mile and a half. Felt good during the run but a little stiff afterwards, probably from speedwork after ST the previous day.

8/22: 18.74 miles over bike paths, dirt trails, and concrete. Didn't sleep much at all the previous night, despite taking melatonin and going to bed early--just too worried about the run the next day, especially since my training program has always had me doing 4 easy before a long run, not 7 with speedwork. Anyway, ran 7.5 at around 10/mile down to meet up with the trail running group; they were splitting into a 9/mile group and a 12/mile group, so I went with the 9 and got in a good 6.26 miles of marathon-pace miles (actually a little faster than MP). It was really nice to get some actual dirt miles in there and I felt pretty good until the last mile or so and then as the conversation lagged I had a half-mile or so of wondering if I was going to throw up (I had been talking so much that I hadn't been drinking), so I just focused on rehydrating. Then I split from the group to run home, since I knew I was already over mileage but my stupid Garmin quit AGAIN. Ran 5.13 home...no idea on pace but I think it was still pretty good--closer to 9/mile than 10 (so probably too fast).

Total for the week: 50.84 miles (new record!) and 148.84 for the month.

Catching up again

8/20: Yoga and strength training
8/19: 11 miles @ 10:15--easy general aerobic
8/18: 4 recovery miles
8/17: 10 miles with 5 @ HMP

Previous week: 37 miles--CUTBACK WEEK, 98 miles for month thus far
8/16: Rest
8/15: 8 miles on trails, then ST at home--switched runs around to accommodate Juliet's baptism day
8/14: 4 recovery miles
8/13: 12 miles (late night on treadmill...pretty grueling)
8/12: 5 recovery miles

8/10

Nothing like holding your 5K pace at 11 PM.

8.2 miles with 10x100 strides and core work.

Week of 8/8

Monday: 9 miles with 10x100 strides/core
Tuesday: 5 m recovery/strength training
Wednesday: 10 miles general aerobic/core
Thurs: yoga/core
Friday: 16 miles with 10 @ MP (nailed it and came under by 3 seconds--boom!)
Sat: 5.1 recovery with core

8/5

10.2 today on the TM somewhere around 10:15 pace, plus core work. Felt more tired than I would have liked, but I didn't sleep well last night.

5 recovery miles TM yesterday with 2 circuits of strength-training afterwards.

Catching up 8/1 through 7/28

August 1:
Either 15 or 16.02 today--not sure which thanks to running through
super-thick tree cover and my temperamental Garmin. I planned a route today
that would take me on as many bike paths and woodchip/dirt trails as
possible, since my knees hurt for four days after the concrete-fest last
Saturday. So I ran my favorite route through the woods, which the parks
service says is 1.5 miles one way, but which my Garmin only clocked as 1.3
and also dropped my pace per mile significantly (like 2 minutes per). I
figured maybe the parks service was just rounding, since I've never been
able to get a really solid fix on mileage through those trees and have
ended up relying on sites like mapmyrun or runningmap, and so I ran until
my Garmin said 7.51 and then turned around and ran the exact same thing in
reverse, but it only got me to 14.8 by my house (so of course I ended up
running another .2). So frustrating! I ran 4 loops in total of that
particular trail so it really does make a difference in mileage if it's not
tracking accurately. I don't know if this is just something I need to do
with--the trees are SO thick that it's impossible to see the sky and it's
very dim; my previous Garmin didn't even pretend to get a signal in there
and would just quit--or if I need to return it and try again. Average pace
(assuming I ran the 15, which I know is at least partially inaccurate based
on the out-and-back) was 10:39; 9:58 if it was 16.02. Wanted to pick it up
the last couple of miles because I'm a little nervous about the 10 at MP I
have next week, so I ran 9:35 for mile 14 and 8:55 for mile 15.

Anyway, it was a good run aside from that--the woods parts were really
muddy, but that kept my concentration from wandering! It was quite a hilly
run and included the hill that I always dread but try to make myself run
(miles 6.5-8.5) and I have to say that I felt SO good on it--definitely
noticing an increase in my fitness!

July 31: 4 recovery miles; 166 for the month!

July 30: SRD; yoga and core work

July 29: really long miserable 10-miler. I didn't get to start until about 9 PM, and I was not feeling great--my mouth filled with stomach acid about 2 minutes in and I knew it was going to be a long one! I gutted out six miles on the treadmill and then ran the last 4 outside. I was still really stiff/sore from the ST the previous day, plus I was on the last day of knee soreness after the concrete-fest I ran on Saturday.

July 28: Recovery day--ran 5 miles and then did two circuits of the strength training outlined in my training program book. Felt fine while I was doing them but really felt it the next day.

7/27

Happy birthday to me!

8 miles with 10x100-meter strides @ 8/mile.

7/25

14.2 for me this morning. I've really been
hunting for new people to run with after all my previous running buddies
moved away. I had a couple of runs lined up and then both people pulled
out, so then I found our local trail runners' group on Facebook (no road
runners' group around here) and met up with them today. It was nice to run
with other people, but only 3 people showed up, they were all planning to
run slower/shorter distance than me, etc., so it wasn't as ideal as I might
have hoped. Anyway, I ran about 4.5 down to meet them, 6 with one girl who
was running about a minute slower than I was planning to go, and then
another 3.5 by myself once she was done (that was hard getting it in, since
all the trails were flooded--I went .75 down one trail before it was cut
off by the river, turned around and ran .5 before I got cut off the other
way, etc.) Average pace ended up being 10:28 (about 9:45 for the first
miles by myself, 11:30 with the other girl, 10:30 for three miles after we
split, and then fartleks until the finish.); it was WAY more hills &
concrete than I've been doing lately, thanks to all the flooding on the
trails, so my knees were really hurting by the end. Wanted to finish on a
faster note as if I was pushing towards a finish line, so the last .69 were
8:04/mile, which seems to be my standard finish-chute pace! Did my
stretches up on a balcony overlooking the river, which was beautiful and
much more scenic than I usually get to enjoy! Overall it was a good run, if a little more interrupted than I would like!

40.3 for the week, 139 for the month!

7/24

SRD yesterday; 4 easy ones today (about 10:50/mile). Knee is a bit bothersome so really hitting the IT band stretches today.

7/22

8 today with 4 at HMP that actually felt really good! Nice change.

7/21

Long boring hard 10 yesterday on the TM; I don't even remember how fast it was. Whatever the range was for general aerobic.

Very easy recovery 4 today--this is the first time I've ever actually run at the correct "recovery" pace and it was crazy both how easy it was AND how long it took! I felt like I was going to be running forever without getting very far...I finally had to start playing with some slightly quicker intervals just to make it go by a tiny bit quicker. Ended up about 11:15/mile.

I'm working on getting some more running buddies/groups set up; I'm logging so many more miles that I really need to have someone to talk to!

7/18

10 in Chicago--SO hot! I finished about 8:30 AM and it was already 90 (wouldn't you know that a storm blew in later and dumped rain everywhere and it was a frigid monsoon!). I love running in Chicago because of the comraderie with hundreds of other people out doing the same thing and chatting at water fountains and stoplights about the heat and how many miles we have left. Midwesterners are so friendly!! I ran a couple of miles from my sister's neighborhood in Lincoln Park over to the loop around North Lake, then headed out for the lakefront trail and ran for a few miles until I hit my halfway point, then turned around. It was a gorgeous run but I was glad that I'd done my LR earlier in the week (especially since we went to the Field Museum later and were walking all over town--I think we walked another 4.5 miles and I did 24 trips up and down my sister's stairs during the weekend (third-floor walk-up)).

39.7 miles for the week; 98.7 for the month.

7/17

5 today at 9:48; should have taken it slower since it was supposed to be a recovery run, but I didn't have much time.

13.1 late late late Wednesday night (finished at midnight). 5 warm-up miles and then a brutal 8 at MP. Seriously felt awful holding it, but I didn't pass out or throw up afterwards.

Yesterday was a not-very-restful SRD (decorating church, dealing with sick kids, mowed lawn, yoga).

7/13 & 14

8.5 yesterday with 10x100 strides at the end (8/mile strides, 10:15 or so for the rest).

Easy recovery 3 today with .5 walking afterwards and then 25 minutes of yoga.

I was scheduled for 8 yesterday and cross today so I'm already 3.5 up for the week, which should put me just under 40.

7/6 -7/11

Not great at posting this week! Oh well...I've been working really hard on hitting the right paces and not overdoing it so I keep myself injury-free.

Monday: speed day, 8 miles with 4 @ HMP. Just as I was finishing the speedwork my knee started to really hurt; had to take it way back for the cooldown.

Tuesday: cross (biked 8 miles and 25 minutes of yoga). Iced my knee twice since it was still hurting.

Wednesday: 9 miles at 10:02. Really worked to keep it at the slower pace recommended by my plan; my running buddies all assure me that in a month I won't possibly be able to go faster because I'll be so trashed by the other runs. Great...sounds like something to look forward to.

Thursday: rest

Friday: 12 miles at 10:04. Not a great run--I felt really good for the first half and didn't stop for water or any fuel WHICH WAS STUPID. I had hardly eaten anything all day (first day of my period and super nauseated) and I ended up lying on the floor after I finished running because I was so dizzy once I cooled off...I almost blacked out in the shower. Stupid stupid.

Saturday: 5 miles at 10:21 (scheduled for 4). Gotta say...the recovery-pace runs are pretty awesome. :-)

Weekly total: 34, 59 for the month

7/4

Wow, I haven't done a good job updating this week.

9 on Wednesday; ran it too fast--I think about 9:50?

12 on Friday; was really trying to hold it back on pace since I should be running it at 10:37/mile at most according to the Pfitz tables, but I ended up averaging 9:50. My slowest mile was 10:11 (uphill for that mile) and the rest were sub-10. I did pick up the speed on the way back after accidentally pepper-spraying myself and ran fartleks the last mile just trying to get home to wash off the burning, so the last mile was 8:04. Yikes!

4 recovery today, which I MADE myself run on the treadmill to keep the pace down (10:45). Got another pair of new shoes today (Ravenna 5s) at the holiday sale.

So this whole run slow to run fast thing is really hard for me mentally, but...I am trying! Everyone on my RW forum insists that it will work, as does all the literature I've read on it, so I am crossing my fingers. Just feels so weird to run 2 minutes per mile slower than I would normally, but I guess I'm upping training volume, so there you have it.

35 miles this week; 25 of which were in July.

6/30

Last of the month! I was scheduled for cross today (still planning to bike tonight to a meeting at the church and back), but mowed the lawn and realized I was so sweaty and gross that I'd need a shower anyway, so I ran a couple of (slooow) miles just to pop me up over 139. So 141 for all of June.

2 miles + .5 walking to cool down

6/29

12 last Saturday; started out working for a very easy pace (10/mile); held that for the first six and then picked it up for the second half when I still felt good; kept it under 9:20 and then picked it up the last 2 at 8:46. Ran west of town route again, giving me 33 for the week and 131 for the month to date.

Monday: 8 on TM; LT run with 4 at HMP (8:50). This felt pretty hard; could definitely feel the effects of getting less than 4 hours of sleep last night. 2 to warm up and 2 to cool down; averaging about 9:30/mile; 139 month to date.

6/26

6/23: scheduled cross, biked for an hour with kids and walked for 40 minutes with Neio
6/24: 8 (TM) at 9:30/mile, miserable and dizzy--started antibiotics, walked half-mile to cool down.
6/25: rest day. went to bed early and slept for 13 hours straight
6/26: felt SO MUCH BETTER. Hard to hold it to an easy pace! 5 (TM during thunderstorm) at 9:22/mile, half-mile walk to cool down

6/22

LT run today
2 m warmup (started at 10/mile and worked up to 9:/22)
3 m @ HMP (8:49 m)=26:27
2 m cooldown (ran this too fast)--around 9:05/mile

Overall thoughts--still sick enough that the HMP in the middle felt hard, but sustainable--not as easy as I wish it did. I definitely ran the cooldown part too fast and need to work on that in future, but I think I did a decent job on the warmup.

6/20

12.16 this morning on the roads at 9:54/mile. I'm nursing YET ANOTHER cold so I didn't push super hard, but finished feeling good (I was chugging turmeric milk last night trying to get rid of my sore throat and it definitely helped a lot). Today's run was fun because it was a route I've never run--I got up a couple hours before anyone else and ran out on the back roads to a cherry orchard to meet DH & kids. Beautiful early morning, nice temps, but 97% humidity and I ate my quota of bugs for the month since they were in visible swarms all over the place (when I was showering afterwards I could see tons of gnats going down with the water. Gross!). Used Bear's chia/lime/honey mixture again and I can definitely recommend it (I just filled up one of my belt bottles with it and had some every 4 miles). Pretty much nobody on the roads, since I was way out, so I just ran down the center line most of the time. My family passed me just when I was starting to flag a little around 9 miles and seeing them gave me my second wind and I clocked my last 3 miles about a minute per mile faster than I'd been going wanting to catch up with them. Totally freaked me out though until I recognized them because I couldn't understand why the car wasn't passing me and all these people were yelling! Picked cherries, then headed home for a shower before we went over to Delphi for the Kids' Canal Days (which ended up being postponed since the canal was 3 ft higher than normal, but it was still pretty fun). 

34 for week, 98 for the month. 

6/19

SRD yesterday; scheduled for 3 today but ran 4 (TM). 9:20/mile and then walked a mile to cool down. Still feeling pretty tired and worn out from whatever sickness the kids have been passing around (man oh man what I would give for a single night of sleep from 10 pm to 6 am!!!!)

6/17

Treadmill today; scheduled for 3 but ran 5 and walked another half-mile to cool down. 8 x 400-meter repeats varying between 8:12-8:49/mile, then another cool-down mile at 9:30, then walking.

6/16

7 miles on the trails/roads tonight and then an hour of mowing my lawn
post-run (finished after dark so we'll see how that looks tomorrow!). I was
scheduled for a shorter run but after a really crazy day (including my
youngest son throwing up in my hands just as I was changing into my running
clothes) I decided I needed a few more miles tonight to get the stress out,
so I swapped it with Wednesday's run. Beautiful weather but man it was
muddy--took my newest shoes and I think they are officially broken in now
that they have mud all the way across the tops. I left all my tech behind
and it was great to run by feel and just listen to my own thoughts (well,
and the annoying hecklers & catcallers. What is it about warm weather and
rolled-down windows making people so obnoxious?!).

Honey-lime-chia drink to replace nutrients, as per the advice of one of my running board buddies. Loved it and will definitely be using it again. 

6/15

6 miles on the treadmill today; Neil left really early so no chance to run outside before the sun was up. Did some low intervals (6.2/6.6).

Stopped at 4.7 to get Nate up; it was thundering and he is terrified of thunder, so he woke up from his nap screaming and sobbing. Poor kid! Picked up the pace for the last 1.3 to finish before he flipped out again. (6.6/6.8)

6 miles; 9:25/mile

Definitely can tell I'm more fatigued with the higher mileage. We'll see how this week goes; I'm transitioning midweek runs to higher miles.

Another quick posting here--5 on the treadmill yesterday and 12 on the
treadmill today. 4 of my kids are now sick and I was up half the night
every night this week, so no chance of getting out before it was hot. Still
feeling so shaky myself, even 4 days after my fever ended, that I didn't
want to run outside and get stranded somewhere; last 6 miles I had to stop
every 2 miles and drink like crazy because I was so dizzy (even had to
change my entire outfit at mile 6 because I was so soaked). Totally runs
that I was just gutting out through the misery, but at least I managed to
finish that 12 today. Can't wait to rest tomorrow!

33 for the week and 64 for the month. 

6/10

5 on the treadmill today at 9:30. Still feverish and my knee is really really bothering me, despite lots of foam roller. So frustrating! I'm hoping that it's inflamed because of my fever rather than the other way around; going to try some ibuprofen and see if it helps. .4 walking to cool down.

6/9

6 for me tonight, plus a mile walking to cool down. Ran 5 on the trails
(super sloppy after all that rain yesterday!) with my very favorite running
partner, who is moving to Virginia on Friday. It was definitely
bittersweet. I was feeling so crummy that I for sure would have taken a
rest day had it not been my last chance to run with her, so we just took it
slower than we would normally. Got home and Neil was running so I did
his last mile with him around the 'hood and then walked together for
cooldown. I'm hoping that I sweated out the last of this weird illness!
(Just fever and fatigue; nothing else!)

6/8

5 on the treadmill. Spent all of yesterday in bed with a fever so kept it slow today at 9:30/mile. Right knee has been aching for about a week now and I think I'm starting to have some IT band issues again--time to really hit it with the roller.

6/5 and 6/6

6/5: Very boring 5 on the treadmill. Can't remember the pace.

6/6: 5 on the trails with one of my college roommates who stopped by for the night with her family (en route to Utah). It was fun to catch up with her. Sub 9s but not positive since my GPS never picked up.


31 for the week/month.

6/3

Blah 4 yesterday on the treadmill; I got really dizzy at one point and almost fell off. 9:28/mile

Same pace tonight but infinitely better. Gorgeous 12.3 tonight--I mapped out a route before I left home and then once I got going I decided to just run where I felt like running. I haven't
done one of those in awhile and it was really lovely, although it totally
kicked my butt because apparently where I felt like running was down to the
river bottoms and then back up! Lots and lots of hills, but as I was
running uphill at mile 9 I was thinking about how strong I felt and about
all the people I passed on that hill a couple of years ago (it was mile 13
of the Purdue half before they changed the course because of complaints
about that hill) and how awesome it is to have a body capable of running.
So I guess that endorphin high was going strong! I did notice that my legs
felt a lot better running in my lighter Sauconys but my feet feel better
with the support of my Brooks, which I've worn to death and I can't wait
for my new ones to get here this week. SRD for me tomorrow, but I'll
probably do some yoga/hiking with the kids to shake any stiffness out.

6/1

First run of June! Randomly really nice weather today so I ran outside this afternoon. My Garmin never picked up the satellites so I had no clue how I was doing--I finally just turned it on timer mode for the last half of my run. When I got home I mapped it and realized I'd been doing 8:33 miles, so that was a nice surprise. Gotta love how much easier it is to run outside!

5.1 miles @ 8:33/mile

5/30

8 yesterday and 5 today. I was really hurting yesterday and had a random side-ache, which I NEVER get anymore, and had to slow way down at mile 5, so I finished with an average pace around 9:30 (like serious slowing, like 12-minute mile for a couple of minutes and then slowly built up to 10/mile to finish). I think I just ran too hard at the beginning.

Anyway, took it easier tonight and hung out around that same 9:30 pace with a few intervals. Another 5, which gives me 27 for the week, which is pretty good for my first post-race week, I think! And 110 for the month, which means I am way overdue for some new shoes, since I have completely worn the soles of my current favorite pair down to the next color.

5/27

Five tired miles tonight! My original schedule had me doing 2 Monday, 3 Tues, and 4 today, so I guess I'm just bumping it up.

Tired today because I didn't get a chance to start running until really late--I spent virtually all of my free time today assembling bunk beds and then the kids were so excited by the new beds that most of them took over 90 minutes to fall asleep--agh! Luke was the ONLY one who fell asleep as he normally does. So I didn't start running until really late, and then the headache I've been battling all day was so bad that I stopped to take some ibuprofen after the first 2 minutes. Ran until 4 miles, stopped, sat down at the computer to log my run, and then decided to run another mile, so I did, and then walked half a mile to cool down. Last mile was the fastest but even so it wasn't very fast--I think around 9:09.

5/26

4 today, still not taking it too hard post-race. Stopped at 1.5 and 3 for water.

4 miles @ 9:20

5/25

Race Saturday was okay but not my best; I went into it really tired bc Nathan has been up a LOT at night lately. At 2 am Friday night I was walking around with him thinking about the fact that I had to get up in 3 hours, and I decided that I just wanted to run a sub-2, which I did (1:58:26). So not a PR, but it was my second-best time.

The course wasn't too bad, but I was just tired! To PR, I needed 8:53/mile, but it was ragged and not a good race. It was hot enough that I stopped to walk through every water stop except the one at 12.5. This burned up quite a bit of time, but mid-race I was dizzy from heat and lack of sleep, so...oh well. I will say that I felt like CRAP this entire race and was saying things like, "Running is stupid," and "Why did I sign up for another marathon? That was even stupider than running." Oh, and we were under a boil-your-water advisory all day Friday, so I didn't drink nearly as much as I usually do.

Mile splits:

1: 8:31 --too fast. Pacer stunk and I dropped back as soon as I realized that he was going  too fast.
2: 9:22 --I don't know what's going on with this. My Garmin told me I was on pace for this lap so I have no idea where this came from. I do know there was a water stop here and I vaguely remember choking while trying to run and drink and then having to stop and drink it so maybe that's it?
3: 8:40--felt pretty good this mile, but it was through a boring neighborhood.
4: 8:51
5: 8:48
6: 9:02 -- heat started to get to me. Water stop and walked. First mile marker appeared and was .35 early according to my Garmin and everyone was stressing about it. I slowed down because I thought I was going too fast and I was going to kill my pace. Stupid mile marker. (I left a Facebook comment about the lack of splits and markers and got a lot of likes--apparently this was a real issue for a lot of runners!)
7: 9:07 -- another water stop. Another misplaced mile marker--.34 too early.
8: 9:05 -- lots of rollers in the woods. Had to pull back running down because they were so short I couldn't accelerate well. Mile marker was closer but was 1.2 miles after the last mile marker.
9: 8:52-- vaguely remember feeling really good this mile; the woods had evened out and I was feeling strong.
10: 9:26 -- single-track along a busy road and stuck behind a slow guy. It took forever for traffic to clear so I could pass him. The road was SUPER cambered and it hurt so bad--my right side tightened up a lot. I saw a ton of complaints later on Facebook about this road!
11: 10: 30 -- rock in my shoe--tried to ignore it but finally had to completely stop and get it out. I was so dizzy that it took me a really long time to get my shoe back on and I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up.
12: 9: 22 -- picked it up a little but stopped for water and then ran back to the water stop to get a Gu. I still had blocks but was hoping that the Gu would shake things up a little bit--mostly it just tasted like, well, Gu, so I threw it away after half a mile or so.
13: 8: 50 -- just put my head down and ran because I wanted it to be over so bad! And my Garmin only clocked 13 miles!!! I ran tangents aggressively so maybe that's it? The course was certified but who knows given the mile marker snafu...

All in all, I'm glad it's over. I finished feeling like crap but I think I felt better than Neil, who was just sort of lying on the football field for a long time afterwards--then again, I'd been training much harder and he just ran it cold. So kudos to him for pulling it out! He finished 10 seconds faster than I did (he dropped me at mile 12, but I almost caught him during mile 13 and just about smacked into him in the finish chute because he expected me to be much farther back).

3-mile recovery run tonight after sunset (still pretty humid thought!) to shake it out after a long day of mowing the lawn, putting in the garden, zoo, two playgrounds, and a parade. 10:30 first mile, 10:19 second mile, 8:45 third mile (strides). Felt great afterwards which is good because marathon training starts today!!!! See? First run all crossed out and done. :-)

Last week

Whew, I have some catching up to do!
.
5 on Wednesday, rest Thursday (sooo exhausted and still achy from hiking), 4 Friday before I drove up to Chicago to help my sister apartment-hunt, 8 Saturday morning along the Chicago lakeshore, 7.5 walking around Chicago on Saturday. Rest Sunday (after driving home), 4 yesterday, 4 today. Actually, today was supposed to be a 30-minute tempo run but I was feeling great at the end and thought I'd run out the last .7 to get to 4 miles to cool down--I ended up keeping the pace pretty high for the cool-down (8:27) but it was the best part of the run.

Planning to do a short shake-out run tomorrow, go hiking, do yoga Thursday, and take Friday totally off before the race Saturday.

5/12

I was planning to run while we were gone, but I overestimated the opportunity to go running while camping with five small children who woke up at the crack of dawn and went to sleep at 10 PM. Just not something where I could leave Neil alone with the kids--and a fire!!--so I hope that all the hiking counted instead. We drove 8 hrs on Thursday, spent four hours at Dollywood, spent the next entire day at Dollywood, hiked 4.5 miles Saturday, 4.4 Sunday, and 3 on Monday, then drove home Tuesday and I ran 4 miles after the 8-hr drive and all the unpacking and cleaning up...man am I tired! Honestly, I don't know if I could have done much running while we were gone; my ankle was really hurting for the first two days and I was having some IT band issues the second couple of days (all the trails were steep, rutted, and full of stones, so it was actually pretty exhausting hiking up with a toddler strapped to my back!). Definitely got in some good cardio even if it wasn't running.

5/6

It's been a tiring couple of days; I had to do some schedule rearranging for this weekend, so I ended up running a very long and miserable 12 miles on the treadmill Monday (115:38; really trying to follow the slower pacing guidelines in the Pfitzinger book with 20% slower than MP for the first half and 10% slower than MP for the second half). Totally exhausted Tuesday but ran 3 to shake it out. 5 today and after just a couple of minutes the tendons in my ankle were hurting so much that it affected my running, so I stopped to stretch. Started again and it was still awful, so I walked for a couple of minutes and then very, very, very slowly took it from a 12-minute mile back up to a 9-minute mile. Not a fun run, but I did get fast enough by the end that even with the walking and the crappy pace for the first 2.5 miles I managed to get about 9:58/mile average pace for the whole thing.

5/4: 12
5/5: 3
5/6: 5

5/2

Hard 11-miler last night; tons of hills. So many hills. Finished around 10 PM and we were really dragging; tried running it waaay slower than usual as per advice of all the books I'm reading and the online running message boards. Avg pace was 10:47/mile but that doesn't account for a few stops, so it was at least faster than that.

Started out fast tonight but had to slow down bc of achiness from yesterday's run. Gradually took it up until I was at HMP and the last three miles were pretty good; last mile was 8:28 and then I ran another slow mile to cool down after the scheduled 5'er.

That makes 30 miles for the week and 17 for the month thus far...all two days of it.

4/30

Rest day today: yoga, mowing the lawn, and 30 minute walk.

4/29

From my log yesterday:

 I ran this evening while my kids were at piano lessons, so I ran part of Saturday's run again and it was definitely too soon to repeat that giant hill! My nose was just about touching my knees at the steepest bit and I had to stop at the top to stretch out an achy calf. 5 miles; first 3 at 8:48/mile, 4th at 9 something (looked at my Garmin but didn't process it after that darn hill), and 5th at 8:17 for an average of 8:54.

Today: ran an easy 3 and deliberately kept it really really slow (9:50/mile). From what I've been reading, it looks like I've been running too fast on my easy days for years and robbing myself of all the aerobic/mitochondrial/slow-twitch benefits. 

4/27

9 x 400 (7.5 and 6.5), then .5 to cool down.

Avg pace for the 4.5 was 8:35.

4/25

Brutal 10 miles today over my hardest local route--lots of rollers and a solid mile downhill through a glacial ravine, then turn around and run it all backwards. Normally one of my favorite routes, albeit challenging, but today the real-feel was 32, the wind was 17 MPH, and it was pouring rain throughout the entire run. Ran with Neil and we were soaked and cold, but keeping decently warm with running, and then we headed down into the ravine and hit the first of 3 streams cutting across the pathway (these are not streams that are normally there, but are created when there's this much rain). We were able to jump the first two on the way down, but on the way back they were so wide that there was no chance, so I ended up wading 4 streams that were ankle-deep, and then my shoes were SO heavy and waterlogged that my ankles started hurting on the way back. Had to stop twice to dump the tiny rocks out of my shoes that were carried there by the water, and every half-mile or so I would squeeze the water out of my gloves.

Averaged about 9:37/mile and then 9:08 on the last mile--we were so cold and exhausted that we just pushed it hard for home and didn't speak a word the last three quarters of a mile. Not the best run ever, but definitely gave it a hard effort in those conditions, and I'm trying to focus on effort these days, not just pace.

Garmin worked perfectly the whole time, so that was nice! And since it was the first time I've managed to keep it working and on and not accidentally turn it off, it told me that I'd set a record for my longest run, so that was somewhat flattering even if wildly untrue. Hah--I can't even imagine running another 16 miles in this weather, but it's basically what the Boston marathon was like on Monday, so another kudos to everyone who finished.

Forgot to mention that Nathan was up most of the night last night and then started throwing up this afternoon; Luke got sick later on and now I'm suddenly thinking I might know why I threw up three times during my run last week and why I've been so low-energy the last few days.

4/24

TM today; 5 m pace at 8:54/mile. Knee much better after the yoga and rest time yesterday.

4/23

Rest day today; 25 minutes of yoga and a 2.5 mile walk. Right knee is a little wobbly.

4/22

Scheduled slow easy run today; 3 miles at 9:36, very very hilly.

4/21

Tempo run today; started at 6.5 and worked up to 7.5. Worked back down a bit and then hovered between 6.9 and 7 with the occasional minute at 7.5 until the end.

4.6 miles in 39:36 for 8:36/mile; one water stop at 2.5 miles

One thing I've realized is that my injuries over the last couple of years, coupled with marathon training, made me focus on steady mileage over pace. I told my running buddy that marathon training had actually made me slower while I focused on building up the ability to run for so long, and it really is true. Now I need to focus on maintaining the mileage base while picking up speed again.

4/20

I've been keeping track of all my runs on a spreadsheet for the last 8 weeks, so nothing here, but I want to really start working on pace again, which is easier to log here.

So...5 miles today in 44 minutes (water stop at 2.5 and 4, since I got dehydrated during my last couple of runs and threw up). Jogged to warm up (6.3. 6.4, 6.5 for two minutes each) and then did intervals of 4 minutes at 6.6 and 1 minute at 7.5, or what I'm thinking of as "Boston Minutes."

My end goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but I'll fully expecting that to take a few years, and I want to lose about 25 lbs so I'm at a better racing weight. Right now I'm up about 9 lbs from where I was last spring (marathon training and nursing were a nice combo that I need to recreate with food choices).

So here it goes. Down the rabbit hole.

5 miles; 8:48/avg pace.

1/17

Tuesday: 4 mile run (maybe 5? Can't remember).
Wednesday: 3 mile hike in woods through snow
Thursday: 4 mile run
Friday: 2 hours ice-skating
Saturday: 4 mile run

1/12

4  mile run and another mile walking. I'm walking after just about every run (even though it looks like I'm forgetting to log half of those, but I've been doing at least a mile every time). It seems to help with the plantar fasciitis pain post-run. I'm also downing all my vitamins, &  avoiding sugar and avoiding fried foods (inflammatory). I've definitely noticed a difference although I don't know which is responsible, but since they're all good things to do, I'll keep on with them all!

1/10

I've been totally swamped this week with editing work; I have a client who had to move up their deadline by several months, so I've somehow managed to squeeze in 25 hours of editing around everything else--oh, and the kids had three snow days! Whew! Basically I haven't slept much this week.

Anyway, here's the rest of the days...

1/7: 30-day shred video and a mile walking on the treadmill. I was really hoping for more but I ended up having to run a ton of errands--plus editing.
1/8: Nothing. We had 30 people over in the morning for a snow day playdate--all indoors since it was -38 outside--and then I somehow played with the kids in the afternoon, made dinner, and then did 5 hours of editing as soon as Neil came home and went to book club 2 hours late. Home about 11:30 and I just collapsed into bed.
1/9: 4 mile run and another 3 hours of editing after we returned from dinner with friends
1/10: 5 mile run and six hours of editing. Holy crap I'm so tired. It's now midnight and I still need to finish up my lesson for church tomorrow (usually I have those done by Tuesday every week, but this week has been crazy. Oh, and classes start on Monday so I've been prepping for that too.)

I have been terrible about paying attention to the clock on all of these runs, as I've been feeling totally exhausted on each one, so I've been trying to ignore how slow I am! Tonight's was somewhere under 9:36/mile for those 5--maybe 9:24, but no faster. Sad day. Oh well...what can I expect when it's midnight as I type this standing on the treadmill?

Not my best week life-wise...I feel like I have missed out on a ton of stuff. I've made dinner every night but I've left to go work at least twice during dinner. I've read scriptures with the kids 6/7 nights, but only read stories probably 3-4 times. I've sat down to play with them a handful of times, but there hasn't been much creative, fun, interesting mothering happening around here lately. On the plus side, we did have friends over, I cooked with Abigail every night and made sure that everyone did chores and homework and piano, we went to the library, we went to the donut place, and Neil has been doing awesome things with them (while I was locked up with my laptop today he was playing Settlers of Cataan with them and teaching them how to make molded chocolates...but if this week has taught me anything, it's that I definitely don't want to work this much on a habitual basis...preferably not at all! But I AM grateful for this editing gig; it's made enough thus far to make up the salary gap created by only teaching one class. Huge huge blessing!

1/6

Pretty similar to yesterday--another late-night 4-mile run and a mile of walking. Slightly faster than yesterday but not impressively so. Planning to cross-train tomorrow.

1/5

4 mile run, 1 mile walk. Felt sooo tired! I was up early working and then took the kids to the dentist & orthodontist, then the grocery store. Wish I'd had more energy for running but I had to do so much editing today (4 hours total) along with everything else...so I'll take what I can get for the run. Drank just short of 3 quarts of water and it may have been too much.

New year, new goals

This has been my worst year so far injury-wise; my plantar fasciitis is still wretchedly painful and plagues every step I take every day. I think I'm starting to see related injuries as my body tries to compensate; lately I've been having hip, back, and knee pain as well.

So...my goal for this year is to bring my body back into balance and alignment. I've focused so much on running that I've neglected  lots of other muscle groups and I've started to make sloppy food choices because I figure I can just burn off the calories quickly (like the time I ate a giant piece of cake 16 miles into a 20-mile run because I was so insanely hungry I couldn't even think about taking the time to find something better to eat!).

Anyway, I'm still going to run 3-4 times a week, depending on how my body is feeling, but I am going to focus on other exercise that works other muscle groups. I'm also going to really zero in on my eating habits and get down to a weight where I really feel great about myself, instead of just a weight where I can run a long time.

So. Daily updates are my goal--here we go! For now I'm just going to log exercise; I may start logging food, sleep, and water intake later, depending on how stressful it is to keep tabs on all of that.

1/1/2015: Rest day after two running days
1/2/2015: Ran 4 miles; walked 1 to cool down, severe hip pain later that evening that lasted into the next day and affected sleep
1/3/2015: 90 minutes yoga, walked 3 miles. Hip pain better after yoga, shins aching while walking, but this was alleviated with lots of hill work.