Runner's High

My #1 source of information Urban Dictionary defines "Runners high" as: When the endorphins from running kick in and make you feel as though you have done drugs. You become happy, everything is funny and you can't stop laughing! It makes you love to run.

Saturday morning my Nashville running buddy & I set out early in the morning for 10 miles.  10 MILES.  I wasn't even really scared to be honest.  I knew we could do it.  We had a great route planned taking us through some Richmond-esque neighborhoods and having a buddy to hit this huge training milestone with made me so excited.  Mile 4-5 was a little rough followed by feeling AH-MAY-ZING miles 5-8.  Seriously we got to 8 and I might have said out loud "I could probably do 13 today!"  Then miles 8-10 tried to murder me in cold blood.  As always I blame this on the topography of Nashville.  We had to walk up some wicked steep hills but WE DID IT!  We got back to our cars and were just giddy.  I felt like frolicking!!

Then my RB got a weird look on her face as she was walking to her car.  Then she stopped.  Then she said, "My car was broken into."  The biggest runners high I've ever experienced was quickly diminished by this:

And this:

Which was then followed by that "everything is funny and you can't stop laughing" feeling.  I mean, WHAT A JERK!  Nothing was stolen.  In broad daylight, someone just took a hammer or ax or something to her window...just to be a jerk.  Really??!!??  Things got even funnier when the Police showed up and RB had to explain why her tags were expired and she didn't have her drivers' license with her...whoopsie! [Insert lots of giggling on our parts here.]

I start tapering now in prep for the Nov. 10 Hard Rock Half.  2 more medium length weekend runs then race day.  Can't decide if I should try and go up or stick with the plan I have....I think I'm going to stick with it.  Eye on the Disney prize, this first half is for training & giggles! :)

Problems ahead

I woke up on Monday morning and actually got out of bed, saw that it was a BEAUTIFUL morning, slightly chilly and decided it was perfect for a run.

I made it a half mile, good pace and then my left knee started to hurt. Now, leading up to this run, I've had some pain in my IT bands and know that I can run through it and it'll get better. So I trudged on and hoped my body would warm up. Just before I hit the 1 mile marker I had a shooting pain in my left knee - not entirely in the same place as the IT band pain. I tried to run through it but it was getting worse. I stopped, rubbed it out and then started back - only to have it start up again. I did this for about .65 miles - stop, start, stop, sit, start and then said F IT. Turned off my iPod and walked back to the house.

I called my Sports Dr. as soon as I got back and left a message that I need to get in to see her as soon as possible. I went in after my morning meeting and Dr. Stadler took a look and listened to what I had been feeling, when, etc. First look would suggest that I've either inflamed or torn my Meniscus in my left knee. She explained that the Meniscus is designed to take pounding but not necessarily rational pounding. As I run on streets in downtown Richmond or working out with free weights, it's likely that I tweaked over and over again my knee causing this. I appreciate Dr. Stadler because she's not quick to suggest surgery and really really listens to you and what you're saying. What's interesting about her is that she's progressive in her approaches which I'm just not used to (and honestly, shame on me and the medical profession for that). I'm so stranger to knee pain and surgery so I generally know what questions to ask - but with her - I just sit there and stare at her and am thankful that she walks me through the pros and cons. She's not suggesting knee surgery for the time being. She wants to see if she can repair it more naturally first. So yesterday she injected my knee with sugar water which causes inflammation and thus increasing the blood flow and healing to the area. This form of treatment is still relatively knew and not entirely recognized by traditional orthopedic surgeons. However, after doing my home work here's what I know: the side effects are incredibly minimal especially where the knee is concerned and the principal is sound in terms of sugar water causing inflammation. The debate is whether or not you believe inflammation, increased blood flow can help increase healing or not.

I got back Thursday to check in with her and talk about next steps. She gave me a brochure called "Regenerative Injection Therapy" and asked me to familiarize myself incase we go down that road. It's another alternative to surgery and uses your own blood (from your arm) to extract the platelet rich plasma and then inject it in to my knee which causes a strengthening of your tendons, ligaments and tissues.

Stay tuned! My ability to run in Nov appears to be slightly up in the air but I remain hopeful until told otherwise!! And honestly, as long as I can run in February - I'll be ok :)

Public Service Annoucment

Dear blog readers and fellow bloggers -- If you have not let me know what color tutu you'd like, if you'd like one, then you'll be getting an orange one with lime green feathers :)

JK!
Also, wish me luck!  Tomorrow is the Army Ten Miler! Good luck on your weekend runs, loves!
Also, also -- why isn't AKP blogging?

10 Miles!!

10 miles down - whew! Interestingly, I found out that the likely cause of my pain on the outside of knees is due to being tired and losing my form. Women especially (so I'm told) when they get tired will cross the plane with their feet. Imagine a line in front of you that starts in the middle of your body, when I'm tired, my right foot crosses over the line and lands on the left side of the line etc. The outer tendons and muscles end up having to over extend to compensate and then get strained and sore. Tid Bit of the day :)

The Long Run: 60 Miles Later

I don't have a lot of perspective about 99% of the time, especially if I'm in a bad spot.  At work we call them White Girl Problems, but sometimes they seem like the worst thing ever:  I don't like my lunch today, I HAVE to run 10 miles to get trained up for my vacation run in February, etc.  But every so often, I see something that gives me a little bit of perspective and helps me get through the "long" runs.
Like when my little sister walked 60 MILES FOR BREAST CANCER.

I'm sure Little A (who is also an SD marathon finisher and my running inspiration) will fill us in on all the details in between working her bomb job in Annapolis and getting ready for her fall nuptials.  As I followed along on her 60 mile journey over three days the only thing I could think, after she is seriously my hero, is I will never, ever complain about having to get my long runs in ever again.

Catching Up - 9 Mile report

Sometimes I suck at this...Sorry it's been over a week since I posted - I'm not a very good blog partner, but I promise I'm back!  I decided to come down with a Bubonic plague that is traveling around the state of Tennessee this past week.  It was about a 6 day cold that left me missing 3 days of work (in a row..what?!?) and showering taking up all my daily energy.  I'm on the fix right now and actually got out yesterday for a little 3 miler to try and get me back in the swing of things.

That being said, I have to report about my 9 mile run I did on my 29th birthday.  I honestly can't believe 2 things:
1. That I ran 9 miles
2. That I'm 29 (seriously I think I'm Benjamin Button.  I think I'm getting younger...;) )

It was a beautiful Friday in Nashville and I took the day off to wait for my dad to come into town to celebrate my birthday.  I had a long course planned out that took me all over the West End & Belle Meade areas.  I had a couple of rough moments throughout but it was really hot so I took it easy when I needed to and concentrated on getting the mileage.  It was a super proud moment for me & a great birthday present to myself! Maybe I should have gifted myself a nap - here I am post-run:

Also, I love being able to "see" that I ran with Nike Plus - seriously it's all about validation, people!

Gah. The hills in Nashville are KILLER!

Stop Competing with Others

I'm super competitive. Not in the get the hell out of my way or you'll be taken out manner - more of the "we all did so great! [internal fist pump to myself for winning]" kind of way. I'm extremely fortunate to have an amazing mentor in both my profession and personal life. Our topic of conversation recently (the past 6 months) is around motivation. I've excelled quickly in my professional life and what's become more and more apparent is this: the more you move up, the fewer people that are around you. And when you feed off of other people to help motivate you, push to the next level and gut check and you're doing the right thing and going above and beyond - it gets harder and I have to seek other places for motivation. 

Yesterday, I found this:

This has always been easy for me when it comes to anything athletic because I SUCK at sports. But the more active I get, the more experience I gain professionally - this, I think, speaks volumes. Push yourself do to better than you did the day before. Maybe it's not time for you, maybe it's mileage or getting up and going to run even when you want to stay in bed - just do better than yourself and you can't lose. 

Today's Motivation

9 Miles and the importance of ice

And by Ice, I mean consistent training. Lauren talked about this in her recent post. She trained consistently for her recent 10 miler and it made ALL the difference. Now, I've been training pretty consistently with the exception of these last 2 weeks: Sister in Law got married, I did my last wedding as a paid wedding planner and then I was on the road for 4 days for work. Running took a back seat, clearly.

So Saturday came around and I got up bright and early, ate some breakfast and headed over to City Stadium.

Here's Jillian and I before the run started:

Matt commented on how much stuff I run with here: Water belt, iPod, headphones. I would prefer to not run with my water but I seriously cannot figure out how people run long distances without it!

And then we were off!

Proof!!

My pace was pretty good and it consistently improved the longer we ran. HOWEVER, my body slowly started to deteriorate the longer we ran. Around mile 6, the outsides of my knees really started to ache. Both of them. In the same spot. I've had knee problems my entire life but this was different - new places, new pain and by the very end, I was limping ever so slightly. It turns out it was my muscles and tendons just getting super tight and strained because I hadn't been running and then I did 9 miles.

When I got home, I got bags of ice and sat our on our deck and just relaxed for a few minutes and drank water. Trying to get up the stairs after that was a nightmare. One step at a time. Matt, god bless him, rubbed my legs down for probably 30 minutes. It hurt so good! I iced again and then was a vegetable most of the afternoon. By morning, most of the soreness was gone.

This weekly, I'll be sticking to my training schedule :)

Next up 10 miles!

H

Saturday Long Run: Tower of Terror Success

During the week I cannot under any circumstances stare a computer screen any longer than necessary, so you can track my training here.  But come the weekends, we runners know the long run deserves a lot of love and attention.  

Good morning running princesses!  Thanks for letting me be part of this blog, especially because 9 runs out of 10 I do in fact ask myself, whose idea was this?!

This was the EXACT thought I had last weekend when I decided to run the Mickey not so Scary 5K on Saturday morning and then ran the Tower of Terror Ten Miler that night!  However, when I crossed that finish line on Sunday morning at 12:30 AM I felt amazing, better than I've ever, ever felt after a race.  And I think I know why:  I only missed three  runs during training.  That's the most consistently I've ever trained for a race.

Part of my problem before has always been my schedule:  I work 50ish hours a week and I'm always exhausted and we travel a lot on weekends.  I had a lot of trouble consistently fitting the miles in.  But with Jeff Galloway's program I could totally do 2 thirty minute runs per week and a long run to up the mileage every other weekend.  And it totally worked.

After the Disney Wine and Dine Half marathon which I ran in 2010 I could barely walk.  Now granted my girlfriends and I had play play played and that Magic Kingdom all day and I'd walked a ton and not taken a nap, but I barely trained.  I didn't do any mileage runs and I missed a lot of midweek maintenance runs.  And I paid dearly for it; I couldn't enjoy my free wine and food samples at Epcot's Food and Wine festival. 

I'm so glad that my 10 miler had a happier ending. I took it easy out of the start and ran the slowest pace I've ever run an official race and who cares?!  I finished up right, smiling and ready to party!  After the race, I met my Mom and Dad and husband (who had all had the most fun ever riding Star Tours and Toy Story while they waited) excitedly showed them my sweet movable action, glow in the dark medal, beasted my treat box, changed (holy MOSES WAS IT HUMID THAT NIGHT) and MB and I walked right onto the Tower of Terror and the Rock N Roller Coaster (which took forever, actually to get onto.  NOTE TO ALL RUNNERS:  YOU MAY BARF IF YOU RIDE A HIGH SPEED COASTER AFTER RUNNING 10 MILES IN 100% HUMIDITY).

The next morning I had a slight headache (which was NOT from running but from a more dependable monthly cause) but by the time I hit breakfast with my Mickey Waffle, I was ready for a full day of fun at Epcot.

The moral is always always put the miles on those legs.  Eat well before a race and pace yourself to have fun AFTER the race.  Laying with your legs in the air moaning from the dehydration headache and intesne stomach cramps is NOT worth those nights you skipped a run and the 9:10 per mile pace.

Trust me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUNNING BUDDY!!!

Today is Natalie's birthday! Let's celebrate:

Maybe you can't tell but this is a birthday cake.

Cindarelly

Today I'll be running in honor of this lil lady - releasing today on Blue Ray Combo pack!  Can't wait to  meet her and run through her castle in 4 months!!