O hai, perhaps you want some running-related content...

Who wants to date themselves by explaining the photo? Go on, I dare you. 🤣

Lately this has been more of a book blog than a running blog, but to be honest there hasn't been much of note to write about running-wise, unless you include one running-related injury after another "content."

So, yeah. It's been quite the month, with at least three distinctly different injuries, and I can't say I've had a single week in all of November that's felt like it warranted its own training journal. But perhaps a quick round of highlights (and lowlights) to catch us up to the present day??

 

 

 

Saturday 11/5: 14 miles at Indiana Monumental Half Marathon! This was my last running-related post. You can read the race report if you want, but the tl;dr is that I went ahead and went, though I was not even remotely fit and was still getting over a bad cold. People kept going on and on about the weather in dramatic fashion and how horrible it was, but friends. I was at CIM 2012. I was at Boston 2018. Both were much, MUCH worse. The only issue at Indy was some rain and some admittedly forceful wind in hours 3/4/5 (so, I feel a lot worse for the marathoners than the half marathoners). But the rain was more a drizzle than a downpour, and it wasn't even cold. Now, was it perfect PR weather? No, so I felt much less bad than I would have about the fact that I had an asthma attack around mile 6 and had to run the rest of the race a mile to a half-mile at a time with lots of breaks.

Monday 11/7-Sunday 11/13:

Monday 11/7: 4 easy. Things were still feeling pretty good post-Indy, so I decided a four-mile easy run was more than fine. A bit of soreness in the left tibia right when I started, but after less than a mile the pain was totally gone and never came back, even later that evening and the next morning. Winning!

Wednesday 11/9: 6 easy. This run started out feeling great. Then around mile four, out of nowhere, I started to feel some cramping on the outside of my right calf, like I was trying to strain it. Sometimes these things come and go so I tried to just slow down and shake it off, but my leg wasn't having it. I probably should have stopped sooner but I kept thinking, "Oh it's not so bad, I can get to six." Which was stupid. By the time I got home it really, really hurt. NOT WINNING!

Friday 11/11: After a day off it was feeling better, so I decided to jog a bit and see how it felt. I didn't even get half a mile before my right calf started to seize up in a different place (in the middle, just below/behind my knee), so badly and so suddenly that I had to stop immediately and limp back home. So frustrating.

Monday 11/14-Sunday 11/20:

Monday 11/14: 3 easy (+ Garmin hijinks). After two days off, I gave it another shot with a better result than Friday, but still with enough pain that there was no question of running more than three miles. GAAAHH.

Tuesday 11/15: Left for a conference in Nashville, TN. Leg still hurting a bit, but slowly getting better, so I thought I would probably try a few miles during the conference.

Thursday 11/17: 4.3 easy. Thursday we had an evening conference event so I decided to try going out for a short run before that. Miracle of miracles, both legs were feeling fine and I got in about 4.3, stopping occasionally for photos (though not without some Garmin hijinks, which is why Strava shows only 4 miles & the pace is so slow). But then, I shit you not my friends--I bent over to peel my tights off afterward and completely threw out my back. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Like. I could barely walk. Sitting down and standing up were agony. Getting in and out of a car was a laborious multi-minute process. Once again, out of complete *nowhere*. This has happened to me twice before in my life (once in 2006 and once in 2011) and in both cases it was fine a day or two later, so I knew it would be fine eventually; I was just annoyed that it was *yet one more thing* going on with my body that was keeping me from doing even a minimal, baseline level of running.

On the other hand, some pretty pictures???

Friday 11/18-11/20: There was no question of running for the rest of the conference as I could barely walk. Even just getting through airports and sitting on a plane was agony. These were definitely low days and I was glad that I was at least busy with conference stuff so it wasn't like I was just sitting around in a hotel lamenting that I couldn't run. But still, the whole "If it's not one GD thing it's something else, FM running L" vibe was strong.

Monday 11/21-Sunday 11/27:

Monday 11/21: Thankfully on Monday I had an appointment with my chiro, which helped a lot, and I was feeling optimistic when I left.

Tuesday 11/22: 3 easy. I left for the gym early enough that I could walk it if my back started to hurt, but happy days, it was 100% fine! 

Wednesday 11/23: 4 easy. Back still feeling great, so I thought I'd try for five miles. Things were going great, until at about 3.5 miles, the old calf pain from a couple of weeks back returned and slowly worsened until there was no question of continuing trying to run out and I mostly walked the last mile home.

Friday 11/25: 3 easy. Took a rest day & then tried again. Felt good for about two miles, then a bit of calf pain that continued to get worse until I called it at three miles. Okay, one rest day clearly not cutting it, let's try two in a row.

Monday 11/28-Sunday 12/3: 

Monday 11/28: 4 easy. This run felt really good for about 3.5 miles, and then--you guessed it! A little whisper of calf pain that gradually got worse and worse until I called it at four miles.

Tuesday 11/29: I had a massage Tuesday morning and after talking through what had been going on, my massage therapist had barely touched my right hip when he was like "WHOAH. This hip is BIG MAD." His take was that my entire right hip (which has been problematic for literally decades on and off) seemed locked up both in the front and back, essentially making it impossible for me to use any of those muscles effectively. Which means much smaller muscles (like your lower back and calf) start trying to take over. I had mentioned how I kept giving it a rest day or two, testing it out with a few miles to see if it was better yet, then ending up in pain again. He was like "Yyyyeah I think I'd give it a solid week and see if that lets your calf heal up." 

Saturday 12/2: 4 easy. OK I am apparently *super* bad at reading calendars because I absolutely looked at my training log and went "Oh, Friday 12/1 will have been seven days rest, so I'm probably good to try a few miles on Saturday." And I did and it was fine (WOOHOO!) and I am glad I didn't notice my mistake until much later.

Sunday 12/3: 4 easy. Since I couldn't run CIM but I already had a hotel, I went up to volunteer, which was really fun and cool actually! Afterward, I knocked out another short run to my local REI and back to pick up a package with no pain and no other issues, yesssss.

Volunteering at the finish means you can get up at 6:30am instead of 4:00am!

 Which brings us to this week!

Things are still going well, fingers crossed, but that's probably enough for one catch-up blog post. Talk to ya again after this weekend's USATF Club Cross Country Nationals! (Is it hilarious that I'm running in those? It is hilarious that I am running in those. My "A" goal is to not fall flat on my face in the mud and not finish DFL. Thoughts and prayers please.)