Some Mini Updates

Gait Analysis

I was originally supposed to have my gait analysis on Friday July 29.  Unfortunately, I had to reschedule this to Tuesday August 9 due to a family funeral.

Shoes

I am halfway through the lifespan of my Adidas Energy Boost 3s and I have done a few runs in my new Mizuno Sayonara 3.  I like them.  Someone on the Oiselle Facebook page alerted to me to the fact that Amazon had super price cuts on my Adidas Energy Boost 2s!  So I bought a pair of those.  I do well with 3 pairs of shoes in my training rotation and I am glad to have three pairs that I like.  (My last rotation included some Mizuno Wave Runners that I was not the biggest fan of.)

I am trying to sell my Brooks Pure Flow 3s that I ran 4 miles in and hated.  Unfortunately I bought them on clearance so I could not return them to the running store.  (If you're interested, leave a comment!)

My doctored up Superfeet insoles seem to be working well.  I switch these to each shoe.

Food

I don't think that I ever provided a Whole 30 wrap up.  Having been removed from it for a few months, I have to say that I am really glad that I did it, even though I hated it during.  Generally, I am trying to stick to a paleo diet as much as possible and my skin seems to be agreeing with this.  I fell off the wagon and had several days of disgusting eating and promptly had a huge breakout fest on my face.  (You know it's bad when your mom emails you with the subject "Acne" and the message, "I saw it's back.  What happened?"). 

I did return to Nuun hydration, although I bought some Gen UCan products (thanks Elizabeth!) to try as I ramp up half-marathon training.  I actually moved to RxBars though instead of Picky Bars.  I still have a Picky Bar once in a while but really prefer RxBars. (My kids are Picky Bar freaks though so I will still be on that train!) I bought some Primal Kitchen Dark Chocolate Almond Bars off of Thrive Market through an intro deal and those were so yummy.  I have to say that while I still like sugar, I am not nearly as sugar crazed as I was pre-Whole30 and a lot of stuff still tastes way too sweet to me.

The biggest long-lasting change is breakfast.  I have continued having my Whole 30 breakfast of eggs + leftover veggies and it has made a huge difference.  I no longer have a ton of snacks before lunch.  I have to say that all of that "whole 30 is a lifestyle change" has rang true with me, even though it didn't really feel like it while I was doing the program.

Cold

This cold of mine is hanging on.  I am at the point where I just am dealing with lots of snot, mucus and post-nasal drip that gets caught in my throat.  YUMMY!  Hopefully it will be gone gone in a few days.

Foot

My foot has been a little achy since Sunday night.  At about mile 4.76 of my 5 mile run it started to feel a little off.  Not painful, just off.  I am trying not to freak out.  I skipped my morning run today to give it some more rest.

Looking Back on July & Looking Ahead to August

I started July in a boot and ended with a five mile run.  Not bad!

Total Mileage: 34.54 miles
60.4% decrease from July 2015

I am happy with this mileage.  Something is better than nothing!

My goals for August are really to slowly build back some endurance and mileage without re-injuring myself. I have 3 races on the calendar:

8/4 West Bend Race for the Columns.
My BFF and I have ran this race every year of it's existence AND it's on her birthday.  Double fun!

8/6 Friends of Hank Aaron State Trail 5k
I joined my employer's team for this.  Free race entry and a new-to-me race.  Double fun!

8/28 Nuun Challenge Dash
Oiselle WI formed a team for this event.  I think I signed up for the virtual 5K event.

Anyone doing any fun races this month!

Race for the Bacon 5K Recap

Last night I ran the Race for the Bacon.  Little did I know that one actually does race for bacon.

My net time for this race was 19:49.  I was pleased to be back on this side of 20 for this race after having had no running for a month and then the light running I have been doing for the past two weeks.

The race start was 6:30 pm.  I packed a bag before I left the house and planned on driving to the race straight from work.  I did not check the weather, which of course is never a good idea!

I arrived to the start an hour early to get my race packet and it was cold.  I had only brought my race singlet and shorts to run in - nothing extra - so I did a shirt switcheroo in my car and put my race t-shirt on to do my warm up in.  I did 2 miles, with 2x2:00 at a quicker pace, which was my warm up for earlier 5Ks.  I felt good during the warm up and it really did warm me up in the cool weather.

I was lucky to find some people that I am friends on social media with, as well as a fellow Oiselle bird before the race.  It is always fun meeting people in the flesh!! Then it was time to start.  I had done my warm up too early and I was already starting to get a little cool again prior to the start.

I was going to try doing race mantras for this race.  I read about these in a number of places and practiced doing two of them during my 4 miler earlier this week.

Mile 1
I had been listening to the NPR link to Ryan Adams concert at Newport Folk Festival and "Let it Ride" was part of the set list.  I had previously written down a line from this song - 'let it ride, let it ride easy down the road' - down in my bullet journal.  I had practiced using this during the beginning of my easy four miler earlier this week.  I figured this was a good mantra for me since I have a tendency to start out too fast, particularly since coming back from injury.  I'm just so excited to run.  After listening to this song all day at work, I had that burned into my head for mile 1 of the race, where my goal was to start easy.

I started off and felt good.  I saw the mile 1 mark and my watch beeped at 6:15.  Better than my 5K effort two weeks ago, but still a little fast, but I felt good.  I still backed off a little so that I wasn't dying during the last mile.

Mile 2
Even though I had written down a mile 2 mantra, I spent most of mile 2 thinking, "Shit! What the hell was my mile 2 mantra?!".  (It was 'chop the wood, carry the water' which I stole from Kate Grace and practiced, but originally I had assigned this to Mile 3 and made a last minute switch that I didn't remember during the race.)
At the mile and a half mark, they had a bacon station. Now, I love bacon, but the smell of bacon while running was a little much.  Regardless I made it through mile 2 feeling good.  My watch beeped at 6:26.

Mile 3
The mantra I assigned to mile 3 was "Fly fast to the finish, then rest" which I took from a postcard Oiselle included with a recent order.  Of course, I didn't call on this until the last 0.5 miles because I was using "chop the wood..." for the first part of this mile.  At around mile 0.5 a woman cheering yelled at me to go catch the first woman.  She was a good distance ahead of me though and I was just trying to finish strong and hold on to my #2 position.  Mile 3 beeped at 6:26 as well.

Finish!
I finished at 19:49 as the second woman.  I was really happy with my experience.  I ran hard and strong and my foot didn't hurt!  Bring on the bacon!

The post-race party included a ham and bacon sandwich, a brownie with bacon and a chocolate chip cookie bacon sandwich.   When it came time for awards, the first three male and first three female finishers all went home with a cooler full of pork products including 7 packs of bacon!  WOAH!  I had a great time even if I was really cold during the post-race party.  The lead singer of the band serenaded me with Hit Me Baby One More Time which was another first for me!

Brief Update

After a week of 3 milers every other day, I was given the go-ahead by my coach to try upping that to 4 milers this week.  The plan this week is to run 3-4 4 mile runs and a 5 mile run this weekend.  If all goes well (i.e., no pain, no aches in foot), I'm back to training next week!

Of course I am battling a cold/sinus thing...AGAIN. (Thank you germ-carrying, dirty 2 yo...whom I love, of course ;).)  On the bright side, my foot still does not hurt.  YAY!

I have a race tonight - a 5k, Another race that I signed up for at the beginning of the summer, pre-injury.  I'm told to "be smart" about this. It's likely going to rain, potentially thunderstorm.  Hoping it doesn't get canceled, at least before I get to eat my bacon! ha ha ha

Friday Links...in honor of Lauren Fleshman

Lauren Fleshman is my homegirl.

Oiselle used to have an amazing shirt with this phrase and I have long wanted one.  Perhaps given today's news of her retirement from professional running, they will do a reprint.

All links are dedicated to this piece of news.  The only reason I ever heard of Oiselle is because of Lauren Fleshman.  I distinctly remember her responding to one of my tweets on how to pronounce "Oiselle" (It's WAH-Zelle).   And since joining the Oiselle Volee over a year ago, I have felt like I finally have a running tribe which has renewed my dedication and motivation to running and improving my running beyond the recreational.  I am currently reading The Power of Habit and just finished a section on belief and community.  I wrote down this quote in my bullet journal: "Belief is easier when it occurs within a community."  It has been infinitely easier to believe in my running due to the Oiselle Volee community and I have LF to thank for that.

In her own words
http://asklaurenfleshman.com/2016/07/on-retiring-from-professional-racing/

NY Times piece available online, in papers Sunday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/sports/olympics/lauren-fleshman-retires-but-her-mission-goes-on.html?ref=sports&_r=0

10 Reasons the 5K is Freaking Awesome by LF
http://www.runnersworld.com/5k/10-reasons-the-5k-is-freaking-awesome

How to run the perfect 5K
http://asklaurenfleshman.com/2014/08/how-to-run-the-perfect-5k/

Any of the ROO Podcasts entitled "Ask Lauren Fleshman" are great.  Here is a link to the most recent:
http://runningonom.com/2016/06/20/roo-208-ask-lauren-fleshman-on-finding-your-role-models-and-overcoming-mental-barriers/

Running is Ritual by LF
http://www.oiselle.com/blog/running-ritual

Short Term Running Plan

This week and next week I get to run every other day for 2-3 miles.  No more.

I am grateful to be running.  I am grateful to be running.  I am grateful to be running.

Wednesday morning I ran 2.26 miles (to offset the fact that I ran 4 miles on Monday, which I felt a little guilty about after getting the above recommendation from my coach).   This was my first run in my modified Superfeet and it felt great!  I was really surprised at how much of a difference I felt.  The foam that the doctor applied to them seemed very slim and I was thinking, "What is that even going to do?!"

I also made an appointment for the gait analysis!  I read about this first on Keep Running MKE and then a colleague of mine did one and raved about it.  My gait analysis will be next Friday, July 29.  Here's what to expect:

"First, the physical therapist will take the runner’s subjective history including past or present injuries, training regimen and goals. Next, the therapist conducts a brief assessment of the runner’s strength, range of motion and balance. Lastly, the runners gait is recorded on a treadmill for about five to 10 minutes. The therapist will review the recording and analyze the findings with the runner. The therapist relies on information from all three portions of the evaluation to prepare an individualized plan and exercise program for the runner. Each runner should expect several tips to improve his or her running form as well as a few exercises to improve or prevent injuries." ~Keep Running MKE

My half-marathon target race is 15 weeks from Sunday.  The group training runs for it start this weekend and the distance is 3 miles.  Feeling relieved that I will not be starting at too much of a disadvantage given that I currently can run 3 miles.  I think it is still possible for me to PR in the half marathon with this race, which might be dumb but for now, I'm still hopeful.

Guess Who's Back?!?!

I have been given the ok to being running again.  (Good thing since I took it upon myself to start 3 days ago!)

Had my follow-up doctor appointment this morning.  It went well.  I remembered to bring my running shoes.  Took more x-rays.  The 2nd metatarsal had more callous formation indicating the bone is healing a stress injury, but I have no pain upon manipulation so he said I could begin running again, cautiously.  [I am to stop if I have any amount of pain and he actually recommended going back in the boot for two weeks if that happens.  UGH.]

I brought in two pairs of running shoes.  My current pair, Adidas Energy Boost 3, and a brand new pair that I ran in yesterday for the first time - Mizuno Sayonara 3.  I had my pink superfeet inserts in the Adidas pair so he took those out to examine them.

I have always had trouble with callus formation on the outer side of the ball of my foot (bunion territory) as well as the outer side of my big toes, on both feet.  Upon seeing the calluses, and the insole wear pattern, he began manipulating my foot some to see how my big toe "fires".  He suspects that my second metatarsal area takes the brunt of the force upon landing (thus potentially the reason for the stress injury) and then my foot rolls to the side instead of pushing off from the first metatarsal and big toe (thus my ever present enormous calluses).  He manipulated my Super Feet to see if that would help things while running - essentially adding foam cushioning to the area under my 2-5th metatarsals and sawing (with a buzz saw!) a portion of the plastic part of the insole along the arch off.  While my stress injury was to my left foot, the right foot still hurt upon manipulation during my first visit.

I learned a lot about running shoes in the process, as well as things to watch out for with both of my shoes.

I still think that part of the issue is likely my attempt at running 4 miles while mid-foot striking while wearing the Brooks Pure Flow 3s.

I am on a high deductible health insurance plan.  If I meet my deductible this year, I may try custom orthotics if this insole manipulation works.  (The orthotics would basically be free if I meet my deductible versus $600 out of pocket now.)

All of this makes me think I really need to do that injury prevention screen that a local sports medicine place offers.  I am sure my lack of strength training, weak core, weak hips are also throwing my foot mechanics off.   During my off period, I have worked some with the routines outlined in Hit Reset.  I am really terrible at making these types of things a habit.  Any tips?

Also, after doing a lot of reading about stress injuries, and after the doctor mentioned low calcium and vitamin D levels as a potential cause of injury at my first appointment, I am very curious about my vitamin D and calcium levels.  I started taking Vitamin D after my last appointment and then reading about a bunch of running bloggers results with Inside Tracker, I became even MORE curious. I have been on a low dairy/no dairy diet for about 6 months and wonder if I am getting enough calcium through other food sources as I do not take a multivitamin.

Ok, so that is a lot of mishmash in one post.  Good news - I'm back to running.  I'm guessing it will be a while before I'm back doing speed workouts at the track, though :(