Well, I think the best way to let you know what the last week has been like is to take you through a day-by-day replay. You seasoned runners know how your body reacts to big challenges, but I know there are folks who read that don't know anything about it, so I'll cue you in on how my body reacted. And of course, as promised, it's a long one. Riveting I'm sure, but long.
Background:
In case you aren't a loyal follower of my blog (shame on you) or you haven't been subjected to my in-person and/or Facebook whining, let me fill you in. Last Sunday, May 1, I participated in and completed a half-marathon in the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. It was my first half-marathon, and about 8 miles in to the 13.1 miles, I declared it to be my last. It was an extremely painful experience. Rain + hills and hills and hills + under-training = ouch. But I finished. Read all about it in my blog post here, written Sunday evening after the race.
Monday:
I totally made it through a day of work, y'all. And I didn't do it from the comfort of my couch, which was my contingency plan. Yes, working from home would have been a really easy option considering what my body was doing, but something made me want to go in. I wanted to say, "HA! I'm here! I survived! I made it and I made it to my cube! Look at my nasty feet!" Granted, I probably would have gotten more work done if I had worked from home; I spent most of the day recalling the Pig's terrible-ness to the wonderfully supportive folks in my department. But they donated to Fernside, so they deserved to hear the full story, right?
Monday was an extremely wobbly and wonky-walking kind of day. My feet felt bruised on the bottom, my toenails hurt (more on this in a bit), and my hips--OHHHH my hips! They were very sore and stiff, which prevented me from making fast movements (like getting out of people's way as they walked quickly down the hallway). Sitting down was very comfortable. Taking the first few steps after getting up? Not so much. The surprising thing was that my "usual" pain spots didn't hurt. My lower back was peachy keen--no problemo. My legs felt just fine.
Another surprise was the sore muscles in my middle and upper back and shoulders. See, during the last mile-ish of the Pig, I was in so much pain (feet and ankle) that I was completely clenched from my fingertips, up my arms, across my shoulders, and down through my legs, all in an effort to alleviate the pain.
No worries, though. I lathered Biofreeze all over myself for the second night in a row, including on my legs. (For future reference, Biofreeze on your legs at bedtime makes for a FRIGID hour under the blankets. Talk about shivers!)
Tuesday:
I made it to work again on Tuesday, and I wore my gym shoes in the office again (one of the benefits of tearing your feet to pieces in a half-marathon). My shins started to feel a little cramped. My feet still felt really tender on the bottom and my toenails continued to hurt. But, the nails weren't falling off. Both Monday and Tuesday, there were several times where I would have preferred the nails to fall off, because surely it would have been more comfortable than what I felt. My two big-toe nails were throbbing (or rather what's under the nails).
Despite the feet/nail issue, I was moving just a bit better. I still hobbled when I got out of my desk chair, but it took me far less time to loosen up and walk more smoothly. Still couldn't change direction quickly, though, and my hips were still sore and stiff. Shoulders/back = still sore.
Tuesday night, while I was sitting on my living room floor going through some paperwork, I was playing with my feet (as I'm sure we all do when we sit on the floor) when I felt a mysterious stickiness on my toes. What the ...?
As I yelped into the phone when I called my BFF Jeff (a seasoned dancer and therefore feet-issues-quasi-expert), "MY TOENAILS ARE LEAKING!"
Oh yes, that's right ... leaking toenails.
I'm sorry, did you just eat dinner? Oops ...
I don't know if I figured it out Tuesday night or Wednesday, but I deduced that I had big fat blisters under my big-toe nails. Really? Blisters under my toenails? Talk about a new experience. Not on my heel, not on the bottom of my foot, not on the side of my toe. No. Under the toenails. The leaking and discomfort has continued through until today. After trimming my nails last night (while trying to NOT cut the blister skin), the pain has decreased greatly. And I only leaked once today that I know of. Blech.
Wednesday:
I had plans to work from home Wednesday because of a mid-day appointment, so I didn't have to endure another wobbly day in the office, but I did do something pretty impressive Wednesday evening. I ran! Yay!
I knew that my body was ready. And I knew that some marathon recovery plans included a light run on the third day. So I hit the pavement. I planned to meet my cousin, Autumn, at Veterans. She wanted to get started on Couch to 5K and I knew that I could handle those intervals. Well, I got to the park about 10 minutes early and decided I'd take a few laps around the small loop (about a quarter-mile loop). I most definitely ran at a good, quick clip around that little loop. Twice. And it felt good. I felt my knee tweak at first (something that is still plaguing me and terrifying me), and my stride was a little wonky for the first lap, but I eventually found my legs and pounded the laps out. I also did the 2-mile (30-minute) workout with Autumn, who did a great job, with no problem. Yay!
Thursday:
Got better. Toenail pain increased. Nothing spectacular.
Friday:
Only sporadic wobbling, back/shoulder pain gone, toenails hurt worse and still oozing. So, I decided to head to The Little Clinic to rule out/determine infection and to find out how to treat the bad boys. An antibiotic prescription, 3 packs of bandages, and a monster bag of Epsom salt later, I walked out of TLC in the Kroger store and went about my business.
Saturday:
All other race-related pains are gone by this point. I soaked my feet a few times and put my running shoes on and hit the pavement again. I set out to do two miles of "speed work." I only did one. But that one mile was FAST! I so wish I would have timed it.
Sunday:
Soaked the feet some more. The toenails were still oozing. I headed out for a day with Mom on Mother's Day and finished the day with a 3-mile run at my pre-race pace/effort. I was a little bummed at my finishing time (41 minutes), but then my mom reminded me that it was my first run like that since well before the Pig. In that case, I'm totally happy with the time.
And more importantly, I'm so ready to run some more.
Future:
I feel like I'm on the cusp of some kind of breakthrough here. Now that I know I'm happy with 5K races and maybe the occasional 10K, I want to focus on improving my times and effort at those distances. I want to do hills and speed work and focus on my form (which, according to an article in this month's Runner's World, isn't so bad). I'm excited about what's ahead of me.
After that heinous half-marathon experience, my biggest victory at this point is that I still want to run. FOR THE WIN!
Showing posts with label Biofreeze. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biofreeze. Show all posts
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, July 12, 2010
Half A Mile On A Stiff Neck And Some Inspiration
Holy stiff neck, Batman!
They happen to me ... a lot. In fact, I don't even know when the started. I feel like I've gotten them since I was little though, which means I can't blame high school track or color guard. Maybe softball (played community softball for 10 years)? Or maybe gym teachers? Yeah, gym teachers! Stupid gym teachers, giving me a stiff neck! Boooo!
So anyway, yes, I have a stiff neck. I woke up with it this morning. I'm guessing this onset had something to do with the 4 pillows I slept on last night to try to stifle my cough. (News flash, it didn't help. And yes, I'm still coughing. I've decided it's the plague and it's never going to go away. Who needs doctors?) So far I've slathered myself with Biofreeze, popped some Aleve, and did some neck rolls on the drive home (read: sitting in traffic) which lead to an AMAZING neck pop ... glorious! The stiffness has gone away a litte.
Do any of you get stiff necks? What do you do about them? Do you have any remedies? Stretches?
I went to boot camp this morning with every intention of telling ABC Linda about it right away so she'd know why I might poop out on certain exercises, but I decided to run first.
And let me tell you, I ran.
I ran around that track 3 times--WITHOUT STOPPING! That's 3 times at 0.2 miles a pop. MORE THAN A HALF-MILE! Through high school and college (track practice), my goal was to get around the track once without stopping. I met that goal maybe once a year and therefore gave up on running altogether. But 6/10 of a mile! (Yes, I know how to reduce my fractions ... 3/5.) Yay!
Please clap for me. Thank you.
Meh, but I guess I should mention that the rest of ABC this morning wasn't stellar. My lungs weren't up for the challenge of the workout after the run, and I just didn't have any stamina. I guess the running success paired with the workout mediocre-ness comes out to a cool zero. I can deal with that ... for a Monday. No go tomorrow, folks.
For you visual folks out there, here's a photo for you. Ladies and gentlemen, the site of the Anderson Adventure Boot Camp for Women.
Though I'm sure this amazing graphic work will leave you baffled by my amazing photo editing skills, I'll have you know that 1) I used my home computer and friggin' Paint to do this, and 2) Yes, actually, I can use Photoshop and Illustrator quite well, thank you (but they're on my work computer). So, forgive the crappy squiggles and just imagine professional work here. (My co-workers are free to vouch for me here ... I know you're reading.)
Speaking of co-workers, two of them told me this morning that they went running this weekend. Two non-runners, who have been listening to me gripe about it for months, felt compelled to give it a go. I AM SO PROUD OF THEM BOTH! Kudos you two! You know who you are. Keep it up and tell me all about it ... sore legs and all.
I've really seen this running (and walking) thing start to take off and it's wonderful! I can see how talking about it really gets the idea out there. I like to think that this blog is serving as a platoform for publicizing the idea of running/walking/being active. Though so many of my posts are about the negative feelings and aches and pains I go through, it's getting the topic out there. Yes, I imagine that reading about someone like me being able to do this stuff can be encouraging--"Well, if SHE can do it ..."--but I think it's about us bringing the topic to the forefront. It's like the Twilight books; if people hadn't spent so much time talking about them, would they have been such a big hit? Well ... probably ... but you know what I'm saying.
In fact, I don't know if I would have started this running mess if it weren't for my friends talking about it all the time. My friend Sarah has been running for a long time and Jeff started the C25K program before I did, and they both talked to me about it, whether it be Sarah talking about running the Half Pig (yay!) or Jeff getting to Week 87 of C25K. Then I read about Anne working out, and of course my circle of Facebook friends (from the casual runners to the habitual marathoners) posting about their running adventures. I certainly don't know how long I would have continued if it weren't for the support of my friends and the advice of my experience runner followers on here (Liz, Jan, Kristin, Zach, plus more). See, it's all about the talking.
So, are you trying to start a running/walking regimen? Talk about it! Tell your friends and family, start a blog, comment on here (or if you want to pipe in on your own post ... email me!) I imagine that's what this accountability concept is all about. Let others know what you're doing so they can help you, whether that be by yelling at you for skipping a run, or telling you that your 20-minute mile is a great first step on a long journey, because it totally is.
So get talking, people! Spread the word! Running hurts, but it's awesome!
Now, back to the Biofreeze ...
They happen to me ... a lot. In fact, I don't even know when the started. I feel like I've gotten them since I was little though, which means I can't blame high school track or color guard. Maybe softball (played community softball for 10 years)? Or maybe gym teachers? Yeah, gym teachers! Stupid gym teachers, giving me a stiff neck! Boooo!
So anyway, yes, I have a stiff neck. I woke up with it this morning. I'm guessing this onset had something to do with the 4 pillows I slept on last night to try to stifle my cough. (News flash, it didn't help. And yes, I'm still coughing. I've decided it's the plague and it's never going to go away. Who needs doctors?) So far I've slathered myself with Biofreeze, popped some Aleve, and did some neck rolls on the drive home (read: sitting in traffic) which lead to an AMAZING neck pop ... glorious! The stiffness has gone away a litte.
Do any of you get stiff necks? What do you do about them? Do you have any remedies? Stretches?
I went to boot camp this morning with every intention of telling ABC Linda about it right away so she'd know why I might poop out on certain exercises, but I decided to run first.
And let me tell you, I ran.
I ran around that track 3 times--WITHOUT STOPPING! That's 3 times at 0.2 miles a pop. MORE THAN A HALF-MILE! Through high school and college (track practice), my goal was to get around the track once without stopping. I met that goal maybe once a year and therefore gave up on running altogether. But 6/10 of a mile! (Yes, I know how to reduce my fractions ... 3/5.) Yay!
Please clap for me. Thank you.
Meh, but I guess I should mention that the rest of ABC this morning wasn't stellar. My lungs weren't up for the challenge of the workout after the run, and I just didn't have any stamina. I guess the running success paired with the workout mediocre-ness comes out to a cool zero. I can deal with that ... for a Monday. No go tomorrow, folks.
For you visual folks out there, here's a photo for you. Ladies and gentlemen, the site of the Anderson Adventure Boot Camp for Women.
Though I'm sure this amazing graphic work will leave you baffled by my amazing photo editing skills, I'll have you know that 1) I used my home computer and friggin' Paint to do this, and 2) Yes, actually, I can use Photoshop and Illustrator quite well, thank you (but they're on my work computer). So, forgive the crappy squiggles and just imagine professional work here. (My co-workers are free to vouch for me here ... I know you're reading.)
Speaking of co-workers, two of them told me this morning that they went running this weekend. Two non-runners, who have been listening to me gripe about it for months, felt compelled to give it a go. I AM SO PROUD OF THEM BOTH! Kudos you two! You know who you are. Keep it up and tell me all about it ... sore legs and all.
I've really seen this running (and walking) thing start to take off and it's wonderful! I can see how talking about it really gets the idea out there. I like to think that this blog is serving as a platoform for publicizing the idea of running/walking/being active. Though so many of my posts are about the negative feelings and aches and pains I go through, it's getting the topic out there. Yes, I imagine that reading about someone like me being able to do this stuff can be encouraging--"Well, if SHE can do it ..."--but I think it's about us bringing the topic to the forefront. It's like the Twilight books; if people hadn't spent so much time talking about them, would they have been such a big hit? Well ... probably ... but you know what I'm saying.
In fact, I don't know if I would have started this running mess if it weren't for my friends talking about it all the time. My friend Sarah has been running for a long time and Jeff started the C25K program before I did, and they both talked to me about it, whether it be Sarah talking about running the Half Pig (yay!) or Jeff getting to Week 87 of C25K. Then I read about Anne working out, and of course my circle of Facebook friends (from the casual runners to the habitual marathoners) posting about their running adventures. I certainly don't know how long I would have continued if it weren't for the support of my friends and the advice of my experience runner followers on here (Liz, Jan, Kristin, Zach, plus more). See, it's all about the talking.
So, are you trying to start a running/walking regimen? Talk about it! Tell your friends and family, start a blog, comment on here (or if you want to pipe in on your own post ... email me!) I imagine that's what this accountability concept is all about. Let others know what you're doing so they can help you, whether that be by yelling at you for skipping a run, or telling you that your 20-minute mile is a great first step on a long journey, because it totally is.
So get talking, people! Spread the word! Running hurts, but it's awesome!
Now, back to the Biofreeze ...
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