Half Training Ver 2.0 - Week 1

Last summer, I attempted to train for the half marathon at the PEI marathon. That plan fell through because my knee started to hurt on any run longer than 10k. I started physio and was told that I have weak hips. So i instead ran the 10k at the PEI marathon, and although I was disappointed I wasn't running the Half, I was really pleased with my just-over-55-minute time. 

This past week was Week 1 of Half Marathon Training, Version 2.0. New and improved. 

I have a totally different mindset about it this year. Almost lackadaisical. Well, maybe not, but just not as intense and serious as last time. Last time, I think I was too focused on running fast and working hard, and I think I ran too much for my body to handle, and therefore got hurt. This time, I'm just running. I don't care if I stop and walk. I don't care how long it takes me. I don't care if I miss a run or 2 (although I will try my best not to!). 

So, week one consisted of only 2 runs. It was supposed to be 3, but the 3rd on just didn't happen. The first run was on Wednesday, and was a 5k. I ran that one in about 32 minutes (last year, my fastest 5k was just over 26 minutes, so I'm quite a bit slower than I was!). Yesterday, I ran 6k. Ish. LOL Just before heading out the door I remembered that my Garmin died on my previous run, and I didn't charge it. So I ran from home to the beach and back, which is 2.5k, and then down River Rd and back which is just under 4k. I have to say, that was one great run! I really enjoyed it. The weather was not-freezing, the road wasn't completely icy, and I felt like I was running well. The best part is that I conquered that damn hill! I took a short walk break before the hill, then ran up, and took a short walk break at the top. I'm sure someone walking could have made it up faster than I did, but I did it!

"Cross training" was ballet class. Lots of jumps, spins, and muscle squeezing. The muscles around my hips and butt were REALLY sore the next day! The jumping is crazy. it's not like one jump and then stand around for a few minutes talking about. It's one jump on every count of music, for at least 16 counts. the rest for like 4 counts, then jumping again. All the while keeping every muscle squeezed. 

The plan for next week, ideally, includes 3 runs (8k long run), ballet (if Red Fox is still home), and to keep up with my strengthening and stretching. To go from 6 to 8 k for my long run seems like a big jump, but hopefully it will be ok. 

January in Review

January went by pretty quickly! I think I had a pretty sucessful month. I don't think I had any specific resolutions, but I had some things in mind that I hoped to do.

First, I did *something* everyday. Plank, run, ballet, stretching/rolling, physio exercises, etc. I did plank every day, and my record so far is 2:30.  I logged everything in this little calendar... it doesn't show in the photo, but it has a picture of Mater on it. LOL The only thing I had on hand to use was a Cars calendar.
Somedays it was ONLY a plank, but... hey, it was something. And something I'm kind of proud of myself for... doing something for a whole month is like 2 weeks longer than I usually last!

I didn't run as much as I hoped, but now that I'm into the beginning of training for a half, I will definately be running more! I'll be posting tomorrow about half marathon training version 2.0. 

One fun thing that happened was that I got the medal from the virtual 5k I ran back in November. It was a fundraiser for a Team in Training member who ran the half marathon at Disney. Her race recap can be found on her blog at mommy-miracles.com.

A few other things of note from january:

The ballet class is AWESOME. I love it. I can't believe how hard it is! My legs, butt, and shoulders are always sore the next day. I hope I'll be able to continue going, but Red Fox may become Sea Fox again soon, so I might have to miss it for a few weeks. 

My dad-in-law (Silver Fox) moved out a few weeks ago. He seems to really like his new place, and we're getting along ok without him here. Molly misses him very much though, and has spent some time moping about in his old room. 

I met with the jaw specialist, but I haven't been able to make any appointment with a chiro or massage therapist yet. I also haven't been into Summerside to fill the prescriptions, so my pain level is still annoyingly high. Hopefully I'll be able to get the ball rolling soon. 

That about sums up January. 

For February, I plan to follow my training plan, continue planking every day (maybe making it to 3 mins), continue with my physio exercises, and start getting my jaw fixed. 

Let's Talk.

I know I've mentioned depression here on my blog before, but I don't think I've written the whole story.

I think my depression started the day Little Fox was born. I was expecting "the baby blues" but I felt like I was in a daze for months. I was angry, impatient, and frustrated all the time. I've since been told that I had postpartum depression, but at the time, I didn't know that's what it was. I knew there was something wrong. I thought "depression" was feeling sad and hopeless. I didn't feel that. I was boiling with rage and anger every day, for no reason. When the opportunity arose for me to return to work a few months before my maternity leave ended, I jumped at the chance to... feel like I was only responsible for myself and my work and nothing else for those 8 hours per day.

Around the time Little Fox turned one, Red Fox was in a car accident, and although the physical damage was pretty minor, the mental and emotional implications left Red Fox withdrawn, to say the least. I won't get into his specific diagnosis and such, because if he wanted that shared, he'd share it. Before he got treatment, he was in a whole other world (mentally and emotionally), leaving me essentially alone in raising Little Fox and to take care of us all. And boy was I angry about that. Which I really struggled with, because how could I be angry when it was something he couldn't control, and didn't even notice? When he started treatment, I met with his/our therapist, too. I described the anger I felt, and she's the one who said I had PPD, which had now become just regular old depression.

I eventually decided that I needed help, and made an appointment with my family doctor. The stress and anxiety of going to that appointment led to me getting an ulcer. So when I went to that appointment, he gave me some medication for the ulcer (which helped within days, thank goodness!) and then led me through a questionnaire, which included questions about my sleeping habits, my appetite, my activity level, etc. I fell asleep every night before 8:30 pm. I had no motivation to do anything other than what was specifically required of me.  My doctor prescribed an antidepressant, which I started immediately. The side effects the first few days and nights were terrible. The first night I got such a terrible headache that I thought I was having an aneurysm, and woke up Red Fox to help me. But the side effects wore off, and after about a month, I began to feel... normal.

One morning I went to Tim's for a coffee. The people in the car in front of me kept turning around and looking/grinning idiotically at me, which was really annoying me. When I got to the window, I realized it was because they paid for my order. About halfway back to the office, I realized I was still smiling, and it was that moment that I knew I was going to be ok again.

I took the antidepressants for about a year and a half. During the last part of that time, I decided I'd try a learn to run class. When we moved to PEI, I continued running, and I was feeling good. I discussed with my doctor the idea of weaning off the medication, and I started the process right away. It wasn't fun. I felt like my brain was spinning inside my head, and I'd get a sudden feeling of dizziness and I'd see spots. This lasted for almost a week, I think.

Since stopping the medication, I admittedly have some bigger-than-average up and down mood swings, which last longer than I think they should. But for now, they are manageable.

Running helps. I've noticed a significant increase in my overall happiness when I run on a regular basis. There are days that are just... terrible, but after a run, that runners high helps me get my mood back up. There are times when I don't want to do ANYTHING. Clean up? No. Run? No. Sleep? YES. But after a few days of this, I will finally "guilt" myself into going for a run, and that always gets me back on track.

I'm not publishing this for sympathy, or praise, or anything else. You don't even need to leave a comment. It just IS, and in the spirit of Bell's Let's Talk day, I thought I'd share. I think it's important to share stories like these. It needs to be talked about. People need to know that it's ok to ask for help, and that it REALLY CAN help. It's sometimes really hard to do the things that you know are good for you. It's so much easier to just do nothing.

First day of training: FAIL

Seems like everything was working against me today. Today was Day 1 of my half marathon training. I checked the weather and decided I'd do today's run on my lunch break, because there was a nice little window between FREEZING and rain at about noon. So, I worked all morning, got into my running gear, went downstairs and... DENIED. LOL Red Fox said we had to run into Summerside to do something at the bank, so I came back upstairs to shower and make myself presentable. It was REALLY nice out and would have been perfect for running (if you ignore the strong wind).

We did the banking, stopped at Ford (Red Fox's truck is very broken), got a few groceries and came back home. I had to work for the rest of the afternoon. Then supper time (early, cause my blood sugar was going wonky), and of course by that time it was dark. No street lights here in "the country". Also, it was snowing this afternoon, and then started raining at about 3, and it was VERY slippery out there, so running in the dark would have been extra dangerous. Because of all the fields here, the snow blows across the roads all the time, and it creates ice patches. It's like the roads are wearing horizontal stripes... ice, clear, ice clear...

So, since tomorrow is supposed to be ... um, cross training, maybe? I'll run tomorrow, along with ballet class (depending on driving conditions). I missed ballet last week, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to go tomorrow. It's a surprisingly good workout!

Sisterhood, and a stress-release run

The other day, I was tagged in a blog post (and on twitter) for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Awards. I was tagged by Piper, whose blog is http://pipersrun.com/, so thank you Piper!

                                                        

The Rules:

1. Post the logo on your blog. Done
2. Thank the person who nominated you. Done
3. Answer the questions.
4. Choose 10 or so other ladies who blog as your nominees.
5. Post the links to the nominees’ blogs and notify them on their blog.

Questions:

1. What is your favorite colour? Blue. Pretty much any shade of blue, from sky blue to TARDIS blue, turquoise and greenish blues included.

2. Favorite animal? Hm. Elephants, polar bears, and sea turtles. Not sure why, exactly, but I really enjoy seeing photos or videos of these animals. There's a zoo in the US that has a polar bear webcam and an elephant webcam. I could watch those all day! 

3. Favorite non-alcoholic drink: Chocolate milk (lactose free, please!) or orange juice. I don't buy orange juice often, so it's a nice treat for me whenever we do have it.

4. Facebook or twitter? Both. I use both, but I'm more active on facebook. I used to use facebook as a method of sharing photos of Little Fox with our friends and families, but I don't share as much now as I used to. I read twitter daily, and post on average once a day, but that seems to be increasing!

5. Favorite pattern? I love paisley. 

6. What is my passion? Hm. I'm not sure I have a particular passion, but there are things that I WANT to have as passions. 

So, now it's my turn to pass this along! I know only a few bloggers, so I'm just going to pass this along to Courteney and Heather. We probably all follow the same blogs so I don't want to take up all the names!

Courteney http://indyroo.blogspot.ca/

Heather http://girlgoesrunning.blogspot.ca/

Now, for today's run. I was feeling stressed out all day, and a little bummed out. I kept thinking of going for a run, but it's really cold out. Finally, I couldn't resist any longer and got my running gear on. Honestly, what finally convinced me to run was that I put new tunes on my ipod this morning and I wanted to listen to them! I only ran 2.5 k, cause again, it was REALLY cold. I was about halfway back home when I realized that I couldn't feel my toes. When I got inside, they immediately started burning and itching, it was pretty painful! I took my socks off and stood on the cold-ish floor for a bit and they finally started to "normal up", to use a Red Fox term. Anyway, the run felt great, and I felt like a kept a good pace, although I didn't wear my garmin. My short run improved my mood quite a bit, thank goodness.

After running, I made chicken soup for supper. Little Fox is sick, so, of course I made soup! While the noodles were boiling, I came upstairs and did my daily plank... and held it for 2:30! A new record. After supper I did some stretching, foam rolling and some strength stuff. NOW I feel better. 

Jaw Appointment

I met with the specialist about my jaw today. I am, apparently, completely messed up and crooked!

My original appointment time was 3:15. They called yesterday to confirm my appointment, and to tell me that I was now scheduled to meet him at 1:45. Then, they called this morning at 7am to tell me that it was changed again to 11:45. 

So I got there and filled out the paperwork, and had another xray done. Finally got to see the doctor/dentist, and he asked me all about the pain and the history, and then checked my mouth, teeth, face, neck and back. 

First. My muscles are very inflamed. Basically every muscle from the base of my skull down to mid-back (tell me something I didn’t know!). That limits my range of motion and adds stress to my neck and jaw.

Second. I’m crooked. My shoulders are uneven, and the vertebrae in my neck are misaligned. Because my shoulders are uneven, my head is always trying to keep its self straight (in more ways than one!) putting strain on my neck muscles. Maybe I'm the only one who can tell, but I can see it in the photos below.

My collarbones are uneven.

If you compare my shoulders to the lines on the door behind me, you can see that one is higher than the other.

Third. The jaw joint is also very inflamed. Because of the tightness of my muscles, it puts strain on the tissue that holds the cartilage in place. The cartilage gets pushed and pulled and squished every time I move my face.

Fourth. I hold my jaw in a “protruding” position… the jaw is built for basically up-and-down motion, with some allowance for sideways and forward movement, only when necessary. Because I always have my jaw pushed forward, those little tiny muscles controlling that are very sore.

Fifth. I apparently don’t sleep as well as I think I do, and am clenching my teeth badly. He said that your teeth are only supposed to touch when chewing and swallowing… which adds up to about 15-17 minutes per day. Everything more than that (clenching, chewing gum, etc) is too much for what the jaw is built for.

I’m supposed to see a chiropractor, and possibly a massage therapist. I also have another kind of anti-inflammatory to take (something safe for people like me who have a history of ulcers), as well as some sort of sleeping pill, which will get me past REM sleep (where most clenching occurs) and into the deep sleep where muscles relax and repair. I’m supposed to do whatever it takes to ensure a good night’s sleep. I have to apply heat at least twice a day. I have to pay attention to my teeth and jaw (relax, unclench, neutral position). I have to focus on my posture and try to sit straight, without leaning (I am currently curled up like a pretzel right now, so this one needs a lot of work).

Now I am sore from all the "turn that way" "put your head at this awkward angle" and "does it hurt here". I think I'll have a warm bath tonight! I also need about a million dollars to help pay for all the appointments I'll have coming up. 

My new best friend

Ok, for YEARS now, I've had a burning kind of ache in my upper back, between my shoulder blades. It's been going on for so long that I kind of stopped noticing it, unless it gets really bad. And when it does get bad, it's that kind of muscle pain that *demands* to be massaged, and massaged hard. Red Fox's thumbs can only take so much, so I used to lean back onto a corner or a door knob (just picture that, for a second...LOL). And then when I made my pool-noodle foam roller, it was almost perfect. But not quite.

Little Fox got a hockey ball for Christmas, and on friday night, I put it on the floor and laid on it. It was PERFECT. It was small enough that it pushed on the exact spot, and of course I could roll it around to get the other spots. Finally. Hurts so good! I probably moaned once or twice. LOL

On my last post, one of the commenters asked if I was planning on running at the Blue Nose this year. And yes, I am! I'm *planning* on running the Half. I think I'm going to take my training a little less... intense than I did last time, and focus on being able to finish. I think last time, I was too focused on finishing FAST, and maybe that's what led to the knee/hip problems.

That being said, I've been consistent in doing the hip strengthening exercises I learned at physio, and I have my training plan set up. So, yeah, a 2-hour-ish finish time would be incredible and amazing, but at this point, I'm thinking it's a long shot. So... run and finish, and then spend the rest of the summer running for fun and doing the small races close to home. Although there are a few awesome races I'd like to take part in in NS... and if timing and funds allow, I hope to do some of the fun ones and get some medals.

As for current running activity,  I didn't run this weekend. I've been feeling... pukey, for lack of a better term (no, I'm not pregnant!). I haven't actually BEEN sick, thank goodness, but still not feeling great. Mackenzie wasn't feeling well this morning either, so maybe we caught some sort of bug that's just chillin out in our systems, waiting to pounce at the most inopportune time... like when Red Fox is in NS this week. Knock on wood and cross your fingers and all that.