What I've Learned... Being Injured - Week 2

Just the other day was officially two weeks since I got injured and I'm finally feeling good enough to give an easy jog a try later this evening. As far as what I injured, I still have no clue. Each day it feels like a different injury. One day it'll be on the outside of my knee (typical IT band) while the next day it'll be on the inside. Last week my blog post was what I learned about being injured in the first week, this week I wanted to write a little bit of what I've learned in week two and what I need to do to make sure this doesn't happen again.

1. My BFFs: Ibuprofen, ice, warm baths and foam roller. There's been two new additions to my daily routine: warm baths and the foam roller. I'm taking ibuprofen and icing throughout the day, and at night I've made it a point to warm up the muscles and get a good foam rolling session in. I definitely have a love/hate relationship (don't we all?) with my foam roller. Funny how something that can bring you to scream out curse words tears, is the same thing that makes your muscles feel normal again. 
2. Fear of getting hurt again. I'm afraid to run tonight, not going to lie. My biggest fear is that I go out for an easy mile or two and I'm brought to tears by the same pain that struck me the other week. I'm afraid of being out for yet another two+ weeks. I'm afraid of never running again. Okay, maybe I'm overreacting a little on the last one...  
3. Fear of not running my Marathon in January. I'm not sure if I'll be able to throw myself back into training in some of my highest milage weeks. Worst case scenario the husband said he'll flip-flop race bibs with me and he'll run the full while I run the half. Sounds great, but in reality he's not all that prepared for a full either. The last long run that I've done was a 15 miler 3 weeks ago, I'm not sure from here how to jump back into training. 
4. My twitter following is amazing. I know I said this last week, but it's the truth. Whether they're asking how my injury is healing, giving me advice on products to try or advice on strengthening, it's great to know you have the support of others.  Kelly (@lovingtherun) has been amazing this past week and I'm so grateful. Not only did she take time to recommend an incredible article written by Jason Fitz (@JasonFitz1) on how to strengthen your IT Band after injury, but also pointed me to the direction of Rock Tape. Taped up with my hot pink tape for the first time last night, and I can already tell we'll be together for a while. 
5. Prevention. From here on out it's time for me to step up my training, not only keep up with my running but also prevent injuries from happening again. I need to quit slacking when it comes to hill workouts as well as my lower body strength training. I'm really good at remembering to do upper body and core, but somehow I seem to slack on lower body strength. From here on out, it's all about being proactive and preventing another injury, whether it's the same injury that has plagued me over the weeks, or Heaven forbid something worse. 

When injured during Marathon training, how do you get back on track? Jump right in, or take things slow?

Holding Myself Accountable

It's official: I'm currently finishing up with week one of training for a marathon. The marathon that I'm training for is the Carlsbad Marathon in beautiful Carlsbad, CA and is the first race in the San Diego Triple Crown series. The most exciting part of this race? While I'll be running the full marathon, my incredible husband will be running the half marathon. This will actually only be the second race of mine that he's attended, with the first being our Thanksgiving 5k last year. Wow. I've come a long way since then! :) Never ever in a million years would I have thought that I would even be slightly interested in running 26.2 miles for fun. Even when I went out for that first hellish run with my best friend Jessica in the Summer of 2010, the thought never even crossed my mind that I would be able to complete a 5k. Here I am, early Fall of 2011 and thus far I have completed three 5k's, two 10k's and two half marathons.

With all of that being said, I needed to come up with a way to make sure my training gets done. Once my husband gets home from Afghanistan, he'll be there to push me and make sure that all my workouts get completed. Until then, it's just me, myself and I. I'm not going to say that I'm a slacker (okay, okay. I'm a slacker), but sometimes I let life get in the way of my training. I think the only way to truly hold myself accountable to my marathon training schedule is to blog at the end of each week about the previous weeks training. Sure, I log my miles and workouts on dailymile, but no one knows what my training schedule was supposed to be except for me. As much as I love dailymile and absolutely swear by it, it doesn't really give me that extra push to get my miles in.

Are you good at getting training plans completed the way that they were meant to be completed? How do you hold yourself accountable?

Don't Worry. I'm Still Here.

It's been quite crazy the last few weeks. Scratch that. It's been a ridiculous 2011 and I think I've been moving at 88 MPH. If only I had Doc Martin and the DeLorean to take me back to the beginning of the year to slow things back down. Hmm... wouldn't that be nice?! The year started with prepping for the husbands deployment, continued with him deploying to Afghanistan and me going back to Milwaukee for a few months. I ran my first half marathon (and my second) and played tour guide to both my sister and my mom here in California. Throw in a few cross country road trips, and at least a hundred incredible memories and you'll have my 2011 to this date.

Since the America's Finest City Half Marathon in San Diego 3 weeks ago, I have found myself in such a horrible post-race depression/funk/rut. It's funny how as I was crossing the finish line at that race I was thinking about how I couldn't wait to start training for a full marathon, and a week later the last thing that I wanted to do was put on my running shoes. Thank goodness for all my incredible running friends who urged me to lace up, and my good friend Kama who got me to the gym yesterday for a killer spin class and weight session. It feels amazing to have the endorphins surging through my veins again. Tomorrow my friends and I have a challenging 5 mile hike planned and I'm so excited to take it on. Also, Tuesday officially starts my marathon training for the Carlsbad Full in Carlsbad, CA. It's so crazy to think that in just over 18 weeks I'll be crossing the finish line to my first marathon and able to call myself a marathoner.

So yes. I'm still here, just been very busy and was laying low from the running community. I'll be more active from here on out. Promise.

We Run For Those Who Can't

I always love reading the shirts of fellow runners, and seeing everything from various charities to "I run because (insert motivation here)". It's always amazing to see where runners have been, and what their motivation is to continue for one more mile. I've learned that runners tend to wear their heart on their sleeve, and my running group for the AFC Half Marathon in San Diego on Sunday was no exception. Who were we running for? Five incredible men who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and we pray will never be forgotten. You will recognize three of the men from my previous post from my first half marathon, but unfortunately two more names have been added to the list of fallen from our 3rd Battalion 4th Marines Family. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The Marine Corps is a family. The Marines themselves are brothers, and their wives/girlfriends/sisters/mothers are sisters to each other. 

We ran to honor these men. 

We ran to remember their sacrifice. 

We ran in hope that others would read their names and never forget. 

Cpl Paul Zanowick

LCpl Jason Hill

Cpl Mark Goyet

Lcpl Christopher Camero

SSgt Leon Lucas

Post race. Runners & Our Cheerleaders.

Also, a huge thank you to one of our Darkside Moms who had these shirts made to honor the men lost (whose names are listed on the back).

The Dreaded Race Photo

Race photos are one those things that I have a love/hate relationship with. I'm not going to lie, I'm one of those girls who will take twenty-five five pictures, and choose my favorite one to post as my new facebook/twitter/dailymile profile picture. Back to the topic of race pictures. I love having pictures of darn near everything, so the theory behind race photos are great. However seeing my sweaty-in-a-ton-of-pain face in pictures was something I really needed to get used to once I started running races.

Post race, I always have a mini anxiety attack when I see Photos from [fill in the blank] are online! in my mailbox. Oh boy. The thoughts in my head start going a mile a minute. "What crazy face am I making?" "Do I look like I'm about to cry?""How sweaty did I look? Because I know I could smell myself." So before opening the email I'm always anticipating an entire album of pictures similar to this:

In human form, of course.

This leads me to the dreaded The Rock n Sole 2011 Photos are Online e-mail that showed up this morning. I was expecting to not want to show a soul these pictures, and honestly I wasn't even sure if I wanted to see them myself. This race was a disaster, and I sure felt like I had to have looked like a HOT MESS. The reality? Best race pictures I've ever gotten. Major kudos to the photographers, and whoever spent hours photoshopping me to look my best.

Alright Runners World, I'm ready for my cover.

Channeling my inner Adam (The Boring Runner)

Why do I look so happy?!

... And Here Comes The Race Doubts

For someone who is a race addict and thinks she can accomplish damn near anything, I get the worst case of race doubts when racing in new distances. I just picked up my race packet for the Summerfest Rock n Sole Half Marathon, and it hit me that my first half marathon is in exactly 10 days. ::cue panic attack:: I think I will be more calm in the zombie apocalypse, than I am talking about this half marathon. Something that I have been dreaming about, and prepping for nearly a year is in a week and a half. I'm normally a realist, but I've noticed that I become quite the pessimistic leading up to races. I'm at this weird point where I don't even want to train, almost like I'm trying to fail.

Who would have thought a small piece of paper with a number on it could bring on a panic attack?

It probably doesn't help that I'm coming off of an injury, so I'm just really doubting my body. For the past week I've been having issues with cramping in my left leg. I have been holding off on the foam roller phenomenon this entire time, but finally caved. Who would have thought a cylinder of hard foam could cost thirty dollars be a gift from the heavens above? Sure, while using it I was in pain and wanted to kill inflict pain upon whoever invented the stupid thing, but I woke up the next morning actually able to walk. What a relief! Finally got back to running this week, and it's been rough. I feel really unstable. Not sure if I'm babying my 'injury', or if it's all in my head?

If you start doubting yourself before races, how do you reverse it and get your head back in the game?