I'm playing hooky from work today, it's too nice out and the weekend went by too quickly and at too hurried of a pace. Friday night when I got home from work Gary was washing my car! What a nice hubby. I had driven his car that day b/c he took mine to get the power steering checked, which is out. Across the street my fun and fabulous neighbor Renata and her
hilaryious clinton friend Amy were already drinking some great lakes. So, I went over to talk to them and the 4 of us ended up having pizza and beer! Yeah for a fun
friday.
Gary had an awesome Sat all planned out for us. Which is noteworthy, b/c I am the planner in this relationship. Making plans drives G crazy he would rather start everyday and end it without ever have had a plan of attack of any sort. Um, maybe we balance each other out? He decided that when we dropped my car off at the Toyota place in Mentor we would then ride our bikes to his dad's house and back while they worked on our car. He had mapped out a great route from Mentor, into
Kirtland hills and on to
Chardon. It was great b/c 75% off it was on a bike lane or trail. It was very hilly and we saw some amazing houses on the deep country
backroads in
Kirtland hills. We ended up riding further past his dad's house on the bike trail in
Chardon down to the reservoir lake and by the time we got to his dad's it was right about 35 miles and G's knee was feeling it so we called it a day. His dad had a great sandwich buffet waiting for us, so we had sandwiches and chips and strawberries and then some monkey bread and ice cream for dessert!
Ahhhh. There went that 35 miles of calories burned. It was almost 1 by this time and the dealer said it would only take a few hours, so his step mom ran us back to the dealer. We sat there for 45
mins and they gave me my car, luckily on the way out I pushed a button on the dash and it didn't pop right, so we realized they did something wrong. 30 more
mins later we were finally out of there. Nothing like sitting around in sweaty biking gear in a room full of regular
joes. Stewing in my own stink, fun stuff. By the time we got home it was 4, so we walked the dogs and ran to the grocery stores and target for a gift for the party we were set to attend. We went to the b-day party at 8 and it was a lot of fun and I had 2
mojitoes, when I shouldn't have had anything! We did leave there around 11, so it wasn't too late.
Sunday morning I had to get up at 4:30 to meet Beth at 4:50. I had agreed to volunteer for an
NCN race in
Elyria.
She picked me up and we made our way there by 6am.
Volunteering was fine, I helped set up everything, then handed out the
tshirts at registration, then they put me at a spot on the course to direct runners. It was raining and a little cold, so standing out in the rain for 3 hours wasn't much fun. I did duck into the cab of Beth's truck when there was a break in the runners. We were done there by 11
ish. But here's the thing. I was on my feet for about 5 hours straight, I was wearing my cushy
nike vomeros. By the end of those 5 hours I felt like someone was torturing me. I cannot even explain how painful it was too stand. My feet were shot and my knees ached. It's the worst in my right foot. But they just felt like someone was stabbing me in my feet. I am ashamed to admit that I only ran 7 miles last week, total!!!! I did bike 60 miles though and swam 4000 yards. I was supposed to do 12 on Sunday, but there was no way it was happening. I am doing
research today on a sports doc or
podiatrist that is a runner and will take my insurance. I know I need to see someone. I am intent on doing the race anyway as long as I'm in no danger of tearing something. Also I have pretty much self diagnosed myself with PF b/c I have all the symptoms, my general doc agreed with me, but it could be
tendinitis or something more diabolical. All I know is as much as I have trained for the Pig I don't want to do permanent damage. Please give me your opinion on the questions below. My real problem is that I have not had a good long run since the 30K which means it'll have been over a month since I had a quality long run, which leaves me with a lot of fear for the race.
First question - should I scrap the race? Is it better to
DNF or not even try?
- Don't do the race, it's not worth hurting yourself, take a month off running to let your feet heal
- Do the race. You have been training for months and you will get through it even if the time is not what you wanted.
- Do the race and if it hurts by mile 8, where the HM breakoff is, just do the Half.
And if I do the race how should I proceed with my training:
- Don't run at all, just bike, swim and use the elliptical
- Run, but keep the runs shorter
- Keep following your plan, the mid long runs will give you a better idea of if you are going to be able to get through 26.2 or not
7 comments:
to begin:
go see a doctor
don't do the duathlon this weekend; it isn't worth it. yes you could use it as a training day but i think you should go with how you're feeling and build your training around that. we all say this is a training run not a race but they almost ALWAYS turn into a race.
question #1: i think personally think it is better to try and DNF - imo
question #2: as far as training, that is where the doctor will come in handy. i say stay off the elliptical. i have been told by both doctors and PTs that those things suck. you can get your cardio through the bike and swim. increase your time in the pool for sure, so you can help out with rehab. don't use your flippers. i know you love them but you don't need ANYTHING aggravating your feet.
good luck!!!
Hey. I don't have any answers for any of those questions - but I loved today's blog. It sounds like you guys had an awesome weekend. Gary does sound like an awesome guy - you struck gold there! I'm the planner in our family, too, so I know how nice it is when you can just let go and follow someone else's lead for a change.
I totally have to meet your friend Hillaryious Clinton! Sounds like a winner to me!! :)
We head to the polls tomorrow - wish our girl luck!!
Hi,
just my 2 cents:
I would do the race if you feel you can responsibly do it regarding your feet. I would not worry AT ALL about the missing long runs in the last few weeks.
I ran my third marathon with NO run longer than 30min for the three months before.... I was actually not running at all (because of a shot back) for three months and just did two 30 min runs the week before..... .
But it was the Honolulu Marathon and everything was paid for and I was going anyway.
So, I decided to start and see how far I get. I did not even know if my back would hold up at that point.
But it turned out to be one of the most fun races ever! I finished strong with a more than 20 min negative split (hey, I started out veeeeery sloooow :P
So, my advice: if you feel you don't make your foot worse, do it and just go out there and let it happen!
Have fun! You are not a pro-athlete, whose livelihood depends on it. It is about enjoying yourself out there!
Nat
You have a little less than two weeks remaining? Hmm. Little Miss Runsonfracture here isn't the one to dish advice, but you asked... I'd say take the next week off running, but keep up your cardio work sans elliptical. Give your foot pure rest and no stress. And then next week, take some light, light jogs to see how you feel.
If you're in pain, remember that marathons abound in the spring, summer and fall.
I'd rather have you able to run, run, run to your HIM than have to sit out the summer.
But only you know your body, so my advice (which, now that I'm reading it, is pretty much was Tracie wrote!) is just encouragement for you to make the right decision!
As I always say, the miles or races you miss letting yourself heal will be significantly fewer than what you would miss if you make it worse.
And we're moving soon, and I need a running/dog-walking buddy ;-)
There will ALWAYS ALWAYS be another marathon. If you are in too much pain, don't do the race. Take this opportunity to do elyptical, swimming and cycling. Do NOT force the pain!!!
My cheap 2 cents (only cuz you asked!)
That's a tough situation to be in, and definitely not an easy decision to make. If you can't run without pain right now, my recommendation would be to skip the marathon, focus on swimming, cycling, and strength training for a few weeks, gradually ease back into running, and if everything feels okay, train for a fall marathon. I was in a similar situation several years ago and decided to run the marathon when I really shouldn't have, and ended up with an injury that seemed to take forever to heal.
It's probably a good idea to see a doctor, and if you can find one that runs, all the better.
Good luck, whatever you decide!
try it if you think you can. in the mean time try to really rest up and cut out your running maybe even completely. In 2 weeks you won't lose that much.
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