So…there’s been no posts here since my “I’ve Overtrained..” one. Yup. It’s been an emotional battle since then. For several months I’ve been up at the crack of dawn, daily, running or boxing. With an apparent Achilles Tendonitis creeping up on my left leg I took to rest, that was three weeks ago. Since then I’ve tried to run twice and failed by mile 3. I’ve continued to box, although not as often as I was. I attempted swimming and was bored to death. I’ve done the icing, the roller stick, bought the pacer and HRM. And I’m scheduled to see an Orthopedic Specialist this coming Thursday. So not excited to hear what he has to say as I’m pretty sure it lies somewhere in between “rest for 6 weeks” and “rest for 8 weeks”. Womp womp.
Here’s the thing…I can’t rest. Not in that way. Assuming I’m right I foresee a return to spinning classes, I need something ass kicking and swimming doesn’t do it. I’ll stick with boxing, maybe reduce it to 2-3 times a week and avoid the movements that impact my achilles.
Regardless, I’m running that damn marathon November 18th — even if it’s the first mile I run from now till then.
Tough lesson learned this week as I attempted to get back up on the treadmill for a short run ‘post’ achilles pain. Seems it’s not all that post. It felt fine walking but on mile three of my run I had to stop and limp back to my apartment. I chatted with @GrantHillFit about it and he shared some of the most informative content around the subject via a post by Sock Doc (which you can find here). Here’s my current analysis of my own situation…
I’ve overtrained. My Dad asked me that very question last week and I shot him down. How could I be over doing it if I was following a strict marathon training plan written by a seasoned professional? Never mind the boxing and yoga, that’s not causing a pounding to my calves, we’re just looking at the running here.
Perhaps it’s not so much the distance but the speed I am pushing myself at. Sock Doc’s article taught me the difference of training in the aerobic state versus the anaerobic state. Now I have no idea what state I’m in as I’ve never actually worn a heart rate monitor. Yes, yes, it’s just been ordered along with my Nike+ GPS SportWatch so I can figure this out. But my guess is that I’m spending too much of my workout time in an anaerobic state, coupled with the fact that marathon training requires 4 weekly runs and now averages 20-25 miles per week (with 107 days to go). That’s a lot of pounding. A part of me hopes I’m wrong, I don’t want to run slower. But I do need to figure this out and get it sorted, we’re on a schedule here!
Have you ever dealt with achilles tendonitis? Is it caused by gait as someone mentioned? I hate the thought of that, rethinking how I move…
Last Sunday I ran 9 miles (per my training schedule) and felt some soreness in my achilles for the first time. I skipped boxing Monday to take a rest day and ran 4 miles Tuesday morning — much to my regret.
I spent the next three days limping around. Research and advice from more seasoned runners identified it as Achilles Tendonitis, something that can go on for days, weeks, or months…a scary thought. I opted to stop my runs immediately and took to daily ice packs.
Happy to say after three days of full rest (okay, so perhaps some abs and planks) I thought it best to ease back in with a boxing class before I hit the track again. On Saturday my schedule only allowed for the KICKboxing class so I gave it a whirl…and man did I get my ass beat. I thought the boxing class was rough, but this was vicious. Twice during the class I almost walked away to vomit, yeah, it was that bad (or good depending on how you look at it).
I awoke this morning and cried in pain! I couldn’t fully stretch my legs, as in I couldn’t fully straighten them to walk. There’s something so glorious about that pain, you can only understand it if you willingly put yourself through it! When you are in that state you know it’s only going to be worse the next day…so I went to yoga to stretch it out, and then back to kick boxing for another hour of glory. No pain no gain, right? ;)
I stopped by Pacers to pick up Body Glide yesterday, a new necessary addition to my beauty regime, and grabbed a few of these Accel Gel packets without much thought. At home I took a moment to read the ingredients: Water, Fructose, Sucrose….ugh. Are they all like this? For longer runs I’m going to need something along the way and everyone says get gel packets but this sounds gross. Question: are these the typical ingredients to expect from them all or are there better brands?
Happy Independence Day! I will admit to indulging in a little extra wine with a small side of sugar but I began my day with 5 miles on the treadmill and a new yoga class at a local studio.
Run: Nike tells me it included beating yesterday’s pace at the first 5K making it to that point in 24 minutes and 17 seconds (5 seconds faster than yesterday). It was an easy going run but I’ve recently learned a lesson the hard way — I need body glide and I need to apply it regularly! At first I thought it was the wrong clothing but it appears to be an issue once I go over a certain distance or time (my friend Patrick might be right that 5 miles is that marker). I stopped by Pacers in Clarendon and got a glide stick…and I’m thinking this might work for avoiding blisters with the new sandals I got?!!
Yoga: I’ve been walking by Tranquil Space yoga studio (Virginia Square Metro, Arlington) on my way to boxing several mornings a week and have been contemplating more regular yoga classes. Then a co-worker told me they are now offering a summer special at $50 for the first month for new perspective members only. All you can yoga for $50? I’m in. Regular rates are not so generous so I plan to get as many sessions in as I can and truly determine if I want to stick with it as a regular member or get packs of 10s here and there. Time will tell. Today’s class was good, although super packed given the holiday.
On track this week to total 18 miles on the treadmill/trail, 4.5 hours of yoga, 2 hours of boxing, and an hour of personal training with new MyBootcamp trainer, Nathan.
When the new Nike Running site launched earlier this month I was excited to see the new analytics and graphs comparing your activity to your own demographic and the whole Nike Plus community. Just a few weeks ago I was only leading in pace but a recent analysis shows I am above average for my demographic and the community on all four!
In the last 30 days I’m leading on average pace, average distance per run, total miles, and Nike Fuel points earned. Killer! I do know that my biggest competition lies in my own mind, but it’s fun to see that I’ve made great strides — pun intended — over the last few weeks.
Yesterday was the first “longer” run on my marathon training schedule, 7 miles. So 7 miles is nothing close to where I’m headed but it’s more than the 4 miles I’ve been averaging. My friend Lior is visiting from Denver (or Menver as he calls it — apparently I need to visit) and joined myself and Cheryl for the run. Being a tourist Lior asked to run around the Washington monuments and we happily obliged.
Now, big lesson learned here folks — Do Not Run in 90 degrees at 9:00 AM. Just don’t. Luckily I had running partners to push me through because I don’t think I could have braced it alone.
We ran from Smithsonian up behind the Capitol and back down the Mall over the bridge to Arlington and up towards the Cemetery…and back around till we clocked up 7 miles and not a step more. I was truly and utterly knackered. I didn’t know how bad until I got home and my body threw up the 2 pints of water I’d just consumed. Horrific! Clearly I was dehydrated, not smart. Lesson learned.
Now I need to suck it up and start wearing one of those highly attractive “water fanny packs” or something. Good stuff.
Been there, done that. Quite regularly actually. It’s mind over matter, time after time. Obviously as you train more and train harder you can go further before your mind starts to argue with matter, but it always comes down to you — what’s in your head, and whether you have the WILL to push through. Do you?
The new nikeplus.com website is up and running, pun intended. Nike Fuel now syncs across all Nike devices and apps so if you have a history of runs stored they’ve now been converted to fuel — makes me wish I’d started using Nike Plus sooner and never given Run Keeper a shot! You can make your own routes and discover popular ones via the new Heat Map. There’s more awards and incentives to share, and the friend element is due to be beefed up and ‘coming soon’ too. Best part for analytics freaks like me is how you can compare yourself to the whole Nike community and more specifically your age group and gender. Women my age (30-34) are beating me on the number of miles over the last 30 days but I’m killing it on pace. A win’s a win, I’ll take it :)
So there it is folks — the next 25 weeks of my life. On November 18, 2012 I’m going to run 26.2 miles through the city of Philadelphia, even if it kills me.
One week in and I will admit it was actually a little difficult to stick to the schedule, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Last week I ran 27 miles following 26 the week before that, then this week I was limited to just 15. I’m left feeling a little short, or something. It will be another two months before I am back at the same distance per week but I understand (and have been lectured by a half dozen friends) that I must NOT go over the schedule.
So I’m joining LA Boxing in Clarendon on Monday. If I can only run 4 days a week then I need something that kicks my ass the other 3 without putting stress on my legs. What better sport?! That and it’s always good to keep mixing up your routine, shocking your system.
Alongside the scheduled training my sister advised I sign up for other shorter races over the next few months so I’ve done just that. Here’s the line up:
