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.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
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.
.
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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