I need more patience

Tomorrow marks the end of the second week of trying to retrain my slow-twitch muscle fibers. I know when it comes to running, I am a Type A and want instant results, and this process is anything but that. Barely jogging for 20 seconds out of every minute (at best) is not my idea of a workout but a bit torturous. I'm praying it all pays off in a month or two.

Completed all of my workouts but I wouldn't say I enjoyed them. Still, I'm trying to embrace non-identification as a runner and the principle of gradual progress. That's probably the biggest challenge. Plodding along and believing this will help.

Starting (Way Beyond) Over

So I'm starting over with this blog. That's because I'm starting over with running in a way and I'm hoping to track what happens.

I've been running but my fitness hasn't improved. For nearly two years. In fact, I've lost fitness. After a multitude of tests and visiting with a few cardiologists, there is nothing wrong with my heart. And yet, no matter how slowly I jog, my heart rate soars after only a quarter to a half mile. No gentle increase in HR just a jump from 115 to 150 in less than a mile. And only higher from there.

It got to the point where I would bonk after only 2 or 3 miles because my HR was at 180 for most of the run. Crazy -- and frustrating.

I've done VO2 max tests at Ohio State University recently which didn't show much either. So I had just decided to start slowing down more and more in hopes of lowering the heart rate. It seemed to be working a little. I'd gotten up to 5+ miles on my LSD and 3 miles on my other runs. And I'd brought my heart rate down from the upper 170s to 150s and 160s mostly. I never see the 130s much less 120s, which is where I should be on LSDs (126-132). And my recovery rate is lousy. After walking and stretching, I can still be at 115 bpm.

I also started to pay better attention to fueling. And recently decided to contact a running friend about nutrition. This guy runs sub 3-hour marathons and bikes a bazillion miles a year. He's actually getting ready to start another career in nutrition. We've started with me doing a food journal. As part of our emails back and forth, I explained to him my heart rate issue. Turns out he has experienced the exact same thing. He said I have to develop my slow twitch muscles. He recommended a book "Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot" yes "compleat" not "complete." The book is on its way. In the meantime, I am following Dick's advice about how to do my workouts.

I am to keep my heart rate no higher than 126 and no lower than 118 for one hour 3 times a week. If that means walking most of the way, then so be it. One day a week I get to do a run 160+ bpm for 30 minutes. That will be no problem at all. But keeping my heart rate below 126 is impossible with the slowest of jogging.

I've done the 1-hour workout twice now. It is frustrating and boring walking so much, but I know it will pay off. Dick reminded me that while I enjoy my long slow runs, they aren't doing me any good. In fact, none of my runs have really been doing me any good. I work too hard all of the time.

This could take a few months to get to the point where I can run and keep my heart ratte down but it'll be worth it. Dick says that within 3 weeks or a month I should be running more than walking. This is not a whole lot of fun, but not being able to run more than 7 miles without getting sick or hurt over the past 2 years hasn't been fun either.

One more thing: my chirunning form has been great and makes running so much easier that I want to run more and more but my heart rate just won't allow it. If I can get the heart rate down, I know good things are in my future. I know I have a half marathon and full marathon in me, maybe more. I just have to bring it out. And this appears to be my only chance.

Catching up

Tuesday: Did 1.75 miles. Ran the first 1.5 in running shoes and then tried .25 mile in the Five Fingers. I really like them but my foot isn't quite ready for them yet. Still needs to heal a bit more. I started on the track but had to opt for the grass for a softer feel. Think I'll just wear them around the house for a while. Breathing and throat thing continues to be a challenge.

Thursday: Ran 1.5 miles faster than lately but still fighting the breathing/throat closing problem. The throat felt totally shut off by the end of the run. Awful feeling. I can still breathe but feels like a big lump in my throat. Saw the doctor about it this morning. Says it might be a goiter growing inside the throat. They'll do an ultrasound. If it is, then thyroid meds might fix it; if not, then surgery. Oh, and it also could be stress, which is what I think it is.

Saturday: Ran 2 miles faster than usual. Not quite back to my old times but improving. And the breathing was much better today -- thankfully. Throat isn't closing off as often. I'm working on the stress side of things and it seems to be helping. I'll still do the ultrasound to rule out other stuff.

Update on Five Fingers: wore them around the house and out on errands today. I can tell my feet are getting used to them. When I wore them the first time in public, I had to really concentrate on a lighter step not to aggravate my feet but today it was more comfortable. So I think my feet are getting stronger everyday. I've worn them for the last 8 hours or so and they still feel good. Just a little getting used to just above the heel on the achilles tendon. We'll see if it's a break-in thing.

Bad and Better

Thursday's run was fine from a form standpoint, but I have developed a breathing issue that I think is related to reflux. I don't get symptoms like most people. My only symptoms before now were waking up frequently at night. But Thursday I had trouble breathing while running. Actually, I've been having problems with this for a while now. I have to almost hunch my shoulders to get the air to go down into the diaphram when I take a deep breath. And lately my throat feels like it's closing off.

I know that when my reflux acts up (usually from stress), I'm supposed to avoid -- well, actually I'm always supposed to avoid the following foods but I don't -- tomato, carbonated drinks, chocolate, peppermint and caffeine. Most of my main food groups.

The throat closing off thing has certainly gotten my attention along with the breathing thing. Those are two new developments. So I went back to my prescription (long story there but bottom line is what they gave me quickens my heart rate so I'm reluctant to take it) and started taking antacids, which seems to be helping.

So Sunday's run was easier, and I increased a half-mile to 2 whole miles! Woo-hoo. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal but it means I'm on the way back from the foot problem. Still running on the track only. I still feel my foot if I run on harder surfaces like when I tried a pair of Vibram Five Fingers in the shoe store yesterday. They felt great running in the store, but my foot is sore this morning. I should have known better. Oh well, I'll have to give it a rest for a day or two extra and hopefully, I'll be able to run again tomorrow or Thursday. We'll see. If not tomorrow, it won't be a tremendous loss as winds are gusting to 45 mph here today and will still be at 30 mph tomorrow.

Experimenting

As I come back from my apparent stress fracture in my foot caused by a misstep on a tree branch, I have decided to do some experimenting. I've mentioned before that my heart rate races whenever I run regardless of speed, so I'm experimenting with going slowly enough to breathe only through my nose and see what happens.

I made it more than 1mile today (I forgot my Garmin so the 2 mins jog/1 min walk routine was a no-go.) before I needed to take a breath through the mouth. After a little more than a mile, I walked half a lap and then jogged another lap and a half.

The one thing I still don't understand is why I have so much trouble belly breathing when I run. It's like my diaphram is locked up. I can feel my shoulders rising sometimes when I am trying to "catch my breath" whenever I am exerting whether running or even at yoga. I know what breathing from the diaphram is, how it works, etc, but my body is just struggling. Maybe that's where the heart rate thing comes from. I'll keep working on it.

I'm getting the hang of breathing through my nose but it will take more time to go very far. It does force me to slow down. Don't know what that's doing to my heart rate since I'm not wearing a monitor -- at least not for a while.

I liked not having a watch on. No idea of total time or splits or anything except distance (if I remembered to keep track of the laps). It's going fine. My foot is just a tad tender (not painful) tonight so I think I'm good.

This experimenting is a bit of a challenge for me but a good one. I like trying to get my breathing more relaxed and work on ChiRunning basics like posture and relaxation. My plan is to run 3 or 4 times a week at the track for another 2 to 4 weeks with no watch and focusing only on posture, relaxation and breathing.

Progress even though it doesn't look like it

Today marks real progress for me. I went to the track for another of my 2 min joggin/1 min walking workouts (hoping to do 1.5 or 2 miles) as I come back from my foot injury. I was a little more tired than I expected because I went out for a bike ride yesterday for the first time in quite a while. I planned for an easy 13-mile ride, but since my husband didn't join me, I got bored and found myself racing through the workout.

After the first lap at the track, I started to feel my foot. No pain, just a little something that didn't feel quite right. At first I couldn't tell if it was just routine soreness from the foot healing or if I was aggravating it. I tried to make a couple of micro-changes to my running to get the sensation to stop but it wouldn't -- so I did. Because here's the thing I've learned about injuries: If you are body sensing -- being aware of of the way your body feels rather than focusing on finishing the run no matter what -- you can catch a problem long before it becomes an injury.

Here are a few steps the body goes through before injury.

1. Sensation -- Something just doesn't feel feel right. Call it a twinge or whatever. It doesn't hurt but there's a hint of something going on.

2. Discomfort -- When you don't pay attention to the sensation and make an adjustment, the sensation can turn into discomfort. Still not painful, but certainly getting worse.

3. Pain -- Here's where you know something is going on. Stopping is the right thing but sometimes we press on for any number of reasons -- most have to do with our egos.

4. Injury. You've ignored the sensation, the discomfort, and the pain and now you've actually done some damage and will no doubt will have to take a few days off.

Normally, i would have allowed myself to get to at least Step 3. But I am trying very hard this time around to ignore what I want to do and pay attention to what I need to do. And what I need to do to run injury free is to pay attention and be more flexible about how much and how often I run. I need to let my body tell me what it's ready to do rather than how far I want to run.

So while I really didn't get any kind of a run in today, I consider today's workout a success because my new measure of success is this: Being able to run another day.

Coming back

I know it's been forever since I last posted anything but I've thought about it many times, as if that counts for anything.

Seven weeks ago today, I went for a run when I knew I shouldn't. I was tired from too much stress and too much effort. I even remember thinking, "I should just go home and get on the spinner instead of doing a run." But I said I was going to run four times that week, and I am just stupid that way. I mean it's not like I'm even training for anything. I am such a slow learner sometimes.

So I made a deal with myself: I would walk for five minutes to warm up and then start jogging. If I felt as tired as I thought I was I would be able to tuck back into my neighborhood in a quarter mile and call it a day. Unfortunately (although it seemed fortunate at the time), I felt fine when I started running. I wanted to do 3 miles. Mile 1 went fine. I was at 1.9 miles when I felt a pain in my right foot. This pain is something I've felt from time to time over the last few weeks sometimes when running but it happened even walking. But either way it lasted only 100 yards or less and would go away.

It seemed a little more intense this time and it got my attention. So I figured I'd just do that tenth and take a walk break. If the pain persisted, I'd walk it home. A few steps later (actually at 1.99 miles), the ball of my right foot hit a small tree branch. The foot twisted and torqued in a nasty way. I immediately knew I couldn't take another step. I barely hobbled home. In fact, I should have gone up to the first house and asked them to call my husband. But instead I took probably 30 minutes to walk a half-mile. I had to take the tiniest steps, I think a 4-year-old could have walked faster.

On Monday, I got into the orthopod. Although no broken bones, he said he figured it was a stress fracture that would show in a few weeks when it started healing. He wanted to do a bone scan to confirm the diagnosis. I asked him if he would treat it any differently based on the scan. When he told me "no," I passed on the scan. (No wonder our health care system is such a mess. Doing tests that don't really matter.)

So I spent almost 5 weeks on crutches (they tried a boot but it messed up my calf and my back). The ball of my foot swelled a lot after the injury and it probably wasn't until the fifth or sixth week that my toes actually touched the ground. After I got off the crutches I spent 2 more weeks just trying to walk without a limp.

I worked out on the spinner a few times in the last couple of weeks and headed to the track on Wednesday and Friday this week. I'm doing 2 mins of slow jogging/1 min. walking. I did 1 mile on Wednesday and 1.5 miles on Friday. I'm incredibly slow but I'm trying to be careful with the foot. I've also decided as I come back to work on a few basics like posture and heel lift and not pushing off with the toes.

I'm also trying to work on breathing only through my nose as much as possible and keeping my heart rate down. I've already written this but just a reminder: When I run my heart rate tends to skyrocket no matter how slowly I run. The doctors say I get a rush of adrenaline when I run that causes this and there's really nothing to worry about or do about it. Still, I'd like to try to get it under control, so I'm trying to run slowly enough that I breathe only through my nose and see if that results in a lower heart rate.

So my new plan right now is to build up to 3 miles at the track (softer surface) and then go back to the road. I plan to run 3 times a week and spin or bike on the road 3 times a week plus one day of yoga and a couple days of weights.

I don't plan to add miles for a "long" run for at least 2 months. We'll see how it all goes.
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