Doctor & Running Again

Phew! First of all, let me just say that I love that I have health insurance. Getting hurt (or sick) really highlights how lucky I am to have health care that is very good and very reliable through my employer. It also highlights how big an issue it is for America that we don't have universal health care! Terrible.

Yesterday, I went to a sports medicine doctor b/c of the pain in my hip. The doctor's visit, the x-rays, and the prescription all cost only $35!!!!! Needless to say, I am very fortunate and I sincerely hope we can get a president in the white house who can fix the health care crisis that America is facing!

BUT . . . back to my hip. Dr. Roth told me that I have irritated my sciatic nerve, prescribed some anti-inflammitories and some physical therapy, and sent me on my way. He was very nice and though the visit took longer than I had expected (to be fair, I was a little late . . . ), it was a very pleasant experience, as doctors' visits go. He also said that I could run without worrying too much about any issues, as long as I wasn't in too much pain. He even gave me the go ahead to run my race on Sunday in the park!!

So, given the green light by Dr. Roth, I ran for a couple of minutes last night, getting just a short 2.5 miles in. Despite the brevity of the run, it felt great to get out again and to move. It had been too long since I had last run (see previous post). The best part of my running was . . . NO PAIN. And now, the next morning, I'm still pain free . . . so I'm hoping that I'll be ok.

I ran 16 miles last week before I hurt myself and I won't get more than 10 in this week, but I'll be able to run my race and continue my training without too much difficulty!

3 days . . . no run . . . Tom go crazy!

AAAHHHH. It is now Wednesday, and I haven't run since Saturday. I'm freaking out a little bit. I am going to try to run today. I've been pain free since yesterday morning and I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, so if I hurt again today after my run, I'll be able to talk to the doctor about it. I'm a little frustrated by this for a number of reasons, but some of those are:
(a) I'm running a race on Saturday and I was hoping that I'd have a good time b/c I would have started by running class by then . . . BUT . . .
(b) I missed the first day of running class. It worked out ok I think b/c it was basically monsooning yesterday in NYC, and as Sara pointed out (she's always looking out for me!) yesterday was my first pain free day b/c on Monday I tried to run with very painful results
(c) I need to be at my base by June 1st and I really need to make the first week of June a 20 mile week
(d) I'm nervous that the sports medicine doctor I go to see will tell me not to run or that I have hip failure or something like that . . .

In any case, I hope to get a good four miler in today and we'll see what happens. I don't want to overdo it, but I'm really losing patience for this.

Sore Hip

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I have sustained my first injury of the year . . .
On Saturday, I ran a really good 6.5 miler from my apartment on 181st Street down to the east side of Central Park. I felt great, had a good pace, and really enjoyed running from point A to point B (rather than running in a loop or an out or back . . . the run had a point).
BUT when I got to the park, after I had finished running I developed a major pain in my hip. That afternoon I couldn't walk without a limp and then on Sunday I had a big time limp as well. Monday (my normal day off) I tried to run a bit, but I wasn't able to get more than 3/4 of a mile in before I had to stop for pain.

I'm worried b/c I haven't been able to run much, but also b/c my running class starts today and I don't want to miss the first class, but I'm nervous about pushing myself too much if I'm hurt. So far today I haven't had much pain, but I don't want to ruin and forward progress I've had by running too soon. I'm going to make an appointment to see a Sports Medicine Doctor to see if I'm hurting myself too much.

I might still go down today to see if I feel like running, but I don't know.
More later.

3 Down, 2 to go!

Well, my goal of running five days this week is more than half completed. I was able to get runs in on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday for the first time in a few weeks. Running three days in a row is a new kind of challenge and I found that I lagged a bit today. I ran slowly this morning and didn't really feel like I had much energy or strength in my legs. This could be do to the fact that I ran three days in a row, but I think that the more likely bet is that I had a pretty good run yesterday evening, so this morning I wasn't fully recovered. Thankfully I have Friday off and a long weekend with nothing planned to get some good mileage in.

Also, if I can manage 10 miles this weekend (which shouldn't be hard . . . I've run at least 10 miles for the last two weekends and nine miles the weekend prior to that) I will have hit 20 miles this week. Remember that I need to be running 20 miles per week from now until I start increasing my mileage on July 1st. I'm feeling pretty good lately, though, despite a less than stellar run this morning.

On another note, I've been keeping track of my weight in my food journal for the last three days, and I have been doing much better lately. I'm still eating too much crap, but at least I can manage to shed a couple of pounds at the same time . . . hopefully that'll keep up!

Treadmills Suck!

Today I had to run a bit, but I didn't feel like running early in the morning. BUT I have an event tonight at work, so I brought stuff with me to run after school. BUT it was raining when I wanted to go, so I decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill.

As usual, my treadmill running was cut painfully short b/c I can't stand running on treadmills. I only ended up running 3 miles today, when I had hoped to run at least 4 (maybe even 5). I am going to have to run more tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon, and then I have to run on Thursday morning b/c my Thursday evening is full with a variety of celebrations. It is P's birthday, the tower house bash, and then Diana's concert all that night!

I shouldn't complain. If training for (and running) a marathon were easy, it wouldn't be seen as a major accomplishment. I'm really enjoying the running I've been doing, and I'm really getting psyched for the marathon (even though it is still 165 days away). I think this is going to be so much fun, and I'm really enjoying it. Plus I'm feeling in better shape than I've ever felt, so I hope that this continues and I can keep finding the hours b/c I'm enjoying the benefits of all this running!

Day 200!

Today is day 200 of the Year of the Marathon. This means that I have been blogging for 200 days and keeping track of everything that I eat for 200 days! At right you'll notice the countdown clock has 166 days left on it. This is obviously b/c 2008 is a leap year.

The running is going pretty well these days. I ran about 18 miles this week, up from 17 the week before and I'm feeling pretty good about my fitness, my form, and my overall running health. I haven't yet run 5 days in aweek, but I'm hoping that this will be the week for it.

Things at work are really starting to quiet down now and I'm psyched that I've been able to focus so much on running. I'm really looking forward to this summer and being able to log some serious miles!

I'm also very excited about my running class which is going to start a week from tomorrow on Tuesday, May 27th. I'll be running in that class every Tuesday for the next ten weeks and I hope that I really get some solid speed out of it. Perhaps my next 10k will be a bit faster. I think this is an important step in my goal of dropping my 5k time to under 7 min/mile . . . which if you'll remember was one of my original goals. I'm not sure if I'll be able to cut 45 seconds off of my time between now and the marathon, but there's always next year. I'm really making an investment now to ensure that running becomes a serious, long term habit for me and I'm really enjoying it.

So that's it for now. Today's my day off, but Tu, W, and Th should be 4 mile days each (I hope).

Healthy Kidney 10k

Today I ran another race. It was my second race of the year, leaving only seven to do in order to qualify for the marathon for next year. I was a little disappointed with my time today. I ran the 10k (which is 6.2 miles) in 50:04 which is an 8:04 min/mile pace. I had hoped to break the 8 minute mark, but alas, I did not.

I might have been able to break it had (a) the first mile not been so slow due to the fact that this race was PACKED and (b) that I hadn't stopped timing myself after the third mile. After I completed the the third mile, I accidentally hit "stop" on my watch instead of "lap" which I didn't realize until I was mostly through the fourth mile. This meant that I had no gauge, whatsoever, about what kind of pace I was running. I ran the first mile in about 8:15 (see comment "a" above), but I ran miles two and three in under 8 minutes each. I only wish I had paid more attention to the second half of the race!

In addition to the fact that I didn't run as well as I had hoped today, I've also been feeling a little spunk lately. For one, I have been eating really badly lately. I really need to eat more conscientiously in the next few weeks b/c I think it's having an effect on my running. Sara asked me what the point of keeping a food journal was if I wasn't going to change how I eat . . . I didn't really have an answer for that.

Also, I haven't been running enough lately. I really need to step it up and challenge myself in the next two weeks. I need to be at 20 miles/week by June 1st and I'm at 17 now, so that's not a problem, but now I need to focus on really making those miles count for something. I think that I might take a running class with NYRR in order to work on my speed, form, and efficiency for the marathon. The class is once a week for 10 weeks and I think it will really push me hard! Then, when I run another 10k I won't be so pissed at myself for running too conservatively and then beating myself up about.

I'm going to go out for 4-5 miles tomorrow to make this another 17 mile week or so. I also need to start running 5 days/week instead of the four that I'm managing now. That will also make a difference in my training.

But all in all, things are going well and I'm enjoying all of the running that I've been doing. Hopefully I can keep working towards the big day!!

PS - That is a picture of a kidney b/c today's race was the Healthy Kidney 10k. Also, I haven't had many pictures in my posts lately.

Indian Wedding Weekend

Wow! What a weekend. I spent the last few days in the ATL going to Sara's friend Sudha's wedding. If you ever have the opportunity to attend an Indian wedding, GO! I had the most amazing time this weekend in Atlanta, dancing, partying, having a good time!

I ran a little bit too. I originally had the goal of running a lot last week. I wanted to get runs in on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. I ended up getting runs in on all of those days except for Thursday. Last week was super busy, but I ended up making up for the fact that I didn't run on Thursday b/c I ran 11 miles this weekend. I had a nice long run on Sunday which felt good.

More later.

Going Well

Well, as I posted (briefly) last time, I have set a goal of running on the same schedule that I'll need to adopt for a large chunk of this summer. This would be my first week of this schedule and if I run 3 miles each of those days, that makes a 15 mile week, which leaves just five miles to add by June 1st. Well . . . so far, so good. I ran last night before our tennis match for 30 minutes (3+ miles) and then I got up early this morning and did it again. That brings me up to 95 miles for the YOTM so far, which is nice, but also makes me feel more like I'm getting something done.

This morning it was really nice to run early b/c it has started to (finally) get light much earlier. I was up by 5:15, out of the door by 5:35 and home by 6:05 and it was light for most of my run . . . it is also getting warmer and it was really nice to run at 57 degrees this morning.

I'm discovering that finding the time for these runs is not at hard as I thought it would be for two reasons. (a) It only takes 3o minutes to run over three miles . . . finding 30 minutes isn't that hard. (b) If I just make running a priority, I'll make the time for it.

So all in all, I'm feeling pretty good these days and I'm hoping that this will lead to success down the road in November!

Quick Post

Howdy! I'm in Philly for a conference, so I'll make this quick. I ran 54 minutes yesterday, 6+ miles. I felt pretty good, but I got a cramp and my legs were a little sore.

Today, just a quick 3+ miler, 30 minutes.

Feeling good overall, climbed some good hills today and that felt pretty good.

I have decided that I need to run each day that I'll be running at my base next week, even if the mileage is low, just to get into the rhythm. That means off Mon., run Tues, Wed, Thurs, off Friday, run Sat. & Sun. We'll see how it goes.



More later.

Finding the Time!

I ran last night. I got a good little three miler in, but I've been frustrated the last two weeks by how little I've been able to run. I'm reading this book The Competitive Runner's Handbook, and he is talking all about mileage goals and running 100 miles per week, and I'm looking at my calendar and realizing that I need to get to 20 miles/week by June first (one month away) and I've been getting frustrated. I get up at 6 am to get to work by 7:30 and then most days I'm not home until after 6pm. This leaves little time for running and I'm getting sick of it. So yesterday, I went for a little three mile run (it may have been more . . . in fact I know it was more, it could have been close to 3.5 or 4 . . .) and I was happy to be able to do that.

I started off just running for 30 minutes b/c the author of my running book has said a couple of times now how important it is just to get the days in. I think I agree. I am hoping that if I can get into the habit of running 5 times per week, then increasing the mileage won't be that hard. I just need to actually get the days in, and find the time. If I can run five three milers in a week, that's fifteen miles. From there it is not that hard to tack 1 mile onto two of those runs, and then turn the Saturday run into a 6 miler and BAM, I'm at my base. It's not that far off, but I'm still stressed about it nevertheless. Having people always asking me how the training's going helps motivate me to, so keep asking! That's what this blog is for after all.

After my run yesterday, Sara and I made turkey burgers. It was great. We made them from great ground turkey we got at the farmer's market, with spinach, red onion and rolls we also got from the farmer's market. Only the cheese and condiments didn't come from the market. It was delicious . . . not to mention concrete evidence that you can build an entire meal from ingredients produced in a sustainable way, but that is also local! I have no idea if the food was organic, but it was sustainable and we're pumping our money back into the local economy which is so much better than buying groceries from a huge chain who then sends the money to other states or countries. If it means that we can't buy bananas anymore, so be it. It's a better way to live. I know this sounds incredibly smug and self-righteous, but I can feel my carbon footprint getting smaller!