The Week After The Pig

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!

Non-Stop 5K At Juilfs With Caitlin And A Blowout

Oh good god. I'm so wiped right now. First, yesterday I did Jackie Warner's lower body workout on my lovely DVD. As my Facebook friends already know, I've been acutely aware of my butt today. Why? Because it has been screaming in pain all day, along with my quads. Ouch-ee! It's the "good" kind of pain though ... not injury pain.

Big news though. Caitlin and I rocked 3.1 miles tonight at Juilfs without walking, including two hills. I believe it kicked both of our butts (which made my sore one feel all that much better), but we did it and that's all that matters. It's the longest (time and distance) either of us have run straight, ever. It took just a bit over 40 minutes.

Here are some screen shots provided by Caitlin's phone. (By the way, I've confirmed that my iPhone's GPS is inaccurate. BOO!)

Map of our path at the park

All the stats. I'm loving that distance.

The elevation map. This is not what I pictured.

I also had a pretty interesting day in a way that has nothing to do with running, but I think the pictures are funny. I blew out a rear tire on my way in to work today. I was on the highway, traveling at 65+ MPH, but was very fortunate that the blow-out wasn't a violent one. No accident, no scary moments, all is well. And since my tires were 15,000 miles over what they should have been and were dry rotted, I had to dish out some serious cash for four new tires. Ouch.

Anyway, here are the pictures of my tire. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I could have patched this up with some duct tape.





But I'm here and alive and just ran 3.1 miles straight. Tires schmires. =)

Adventure Boot Camp: Week 1 Wrap Up

Well, that was a fast week. And easier than I expected, but not in a bad way.

As I've mentioned before, Day 1 of Adventure Boot Camp (ABC) was really difficult for me. Read all about it here. The rest of the week went really well, though. This could have been the result of a few things:

• The weather improved. The temperature and humidity difference between Monday and the rest of the week was HUGE. It was like comparing the depths of Hell (hot and 150% humidity) to a nice Fall morning. Humidity = can't breathe.
• I was early to ABC for the rest of the week instead of 10 minutes late like I was on my first day. This kept my panic level in check.
  
• I realized I needed to slow the heck down. On Day 1 I went at it like a fabulously fit person would--faster, stronger, rawr! Yeah, don't do that. Not a good idea. On Tuesday morning I switched into "Start slow and increase if it's not challenging enough" mode. Classic "Good Idea, Bad Idea" moments, right there.

I'm going to continue with the listing theme here and just outline some summary points. (Ew, I sound so corporate ... patooey!)

• Getting up early for ABC is NOT the hardest part for me. That part is surprisingly easy, actually. I mean, "early" is relative; if you're used to getting up at noon, then 10 a.m. is early (cough Jeff cough cough), and if you're used to 5:30 a.m. ... no, 4:40 a.m. is early to everyone.
• For me, the hardest part of ABC is the muscle soreness. I definitely understand that it's a good thing and is completely normal, but that doesn't make scaling the stairs at work or my apartment any easier. (PS, this is probably the only occasion in my life where going up the stairs is easier than going down the stairs.) The good thing is that I know I'm working my muscles and the soreness eases up when you walk around a bit. And, muscles soreness is way way better than injury soreness.
• I can do this stuff! In fact, every exercise we do, apart from one category, which I'll talk about next, is completely doable for me. You can work at your own pace and you chose how much or how little to challenge yourself. I think that probably the only requirement for participating in ABC is to not be the kind of person who always takes the easy way out, just because it's easy. You have to want to improve and want to battle yourself. Notice I said battle yourself, not others; it's not a competitive environment at all. It's not for dudes. =)
• I struggle HUGELY with any exercise that involves supporting or lifting my own body weight with my arms--planks, push ups, those dip thingys from the front of a bench. I just can't do it. Yes, I said can't. My friend, Anne the engineer, was nice enough to figure out the math behind women and push ups. Females are lifting roughly 2/3 of their body weight when they do a push up. Without giving you a hard number, because then you could figure out my weight and I'm just not ready for that yet, let's say that I'd have to be able to bench press a whole overweight person in order to do a proper push up. Folks, I may have thrown metal balls around for fun in high school and college (shot put), but I'm not that strong. This is quite a conundrum, because there are quite a few exercises at ABC that are built on this idea of lifting your own weight. And the alternatives aren't that much better. To do a push up from an elevated hand position requires using a slippery metal bench or a sharp cement bench/low wall. Ouch! I'm at an impasse with these exercises. And that's frustrating.
• Moving on to a positive note, I have excellent posture! I really understand how to stand and position myself for lifting exercises. I don't know if that's because I'm observant and pay attention to the little details (oh, my chin should be up a little bit instead of down in my chest), or if I just understand the phisiology behind it. Whatever, I'm good at it. I see my reflection in a nearby window and I'm proud to say that my butt-out, straight back squats look similar to ABC Linda's (just grossly enlarged).
• Another positive: My core is strong. Windshield wipers, leg throws, scissor kicks, flutter kicks ... I stomped them all this week. This probably influences the posture thing too. I would imagine that my core muscles have to do as much work as my legs do on a daily basis to support my girth. My arms? Not so much.
• Issue #1: Post-workout digestive disagreements. I'm going to leave it at that. If anyone has tips, go for it.
• Issue #2: No, actually, I can't pull my elbows in any more. All of the tricep exercises require that you pull your elbows together, whether it be over your head, in front of you, or behind you, and I've been called out on it. Well, I can't pull them in any more! I'm guessing it's a combination of my mannish, wide shoulders, my arm fat, my side boobs, and my spare tires (I carry at least 2 at all times, just in case) but these arms won't squish in any further.
  
• Issue #3: Dude, the waistband on my workout shorts hurts to lie down on. I have a few pair, but they all have the same problem. Fail.

Wrapping up, I promise.

Yesterday we did a push up challenge (how many in a minute) and ran a timed mile. I did "girly" push ups and definitely did them with bad form (flopped to the ground on the way down and arched my back to push up). But, I did 5 of them in a minute. Shame, shame, shame. Blech.

I was probably the only person there excited to do a timed mile. I haven't timed my mile yet, except use a 2-mile run that included a warm up walk and cool down walk. Anyway, yes, I was excited. It was familiar ground. I know my running pace and I know how I can do it. Yay familiar grounds!

What was my time? 13:07

Not amazing, but good. At that pace my 5K might have been at 40 minutes instead of 44 minutes; that number speaks to me. When ABC Linda called my time out as I crossed the finish line, I actually told her to shut up. I don't think she got it. =)

Here were my goal numbers going in: 12 minutes = no way. 14 minutes = meh. 15 minutes = too slow. So, I was between "meh" and "no way." Good place to be, I'd say.

OH, I forgot to mention that I did go for a run on Thursday evening. I stepped back to Week 2 of C25K and did okay. It wasn't a huge challenge, but my tired legs and sore muscles made it harder than it usually would have been. I kept a moderate pace (for me) the whole time, too, instead of just doing small strides for the sake of longevity. But I did get shin splints for the first time in a long time. What's that all about?

I might do one or two runs next week, but definitely none this weekend. What? ABC Brian (hi Brian!) told us not to in his newsletter. I'm just following directions, folks ...

Have a great holiday weekend!