Posts Tagged ‘running injury’

I’ve been thinking about optimum mileage lately.  If you read the marathon training forum on Runners World, you’d definitely come away thinking more is best.  And for the most part, I tend to agree, but what exactly is “more”?  Among my internet running friends, there are marathoners who post super fast times on 50mpw and would consider 70mpw to be beyond their scope, then there are others who do 100+mpw and don’t bat an eye.

Yesterday, I asked Jaymee Marty how much she runs.  She’s a masters runner going for the Olympic Trials…uber-zoomy.  I wasn’t really interested in mileage as much as hours per week spent running, since that’s a universal measurement I can compare.  She said her high weeks are between 8-9 hours and her easier weeks are 5-7.  In comparison, my high weeks are 9.5 hours, low are 7 – and I’m not doing marathons.

If I had a 5 hour week, it’d be around 35mpw, so I just went back to see the last times I ran under 40mpw:

April 14, 2010 – 31 (taper for Boston)
Nov. 31, 2009 – 31 (recovery after Philly)
June 39, 2009 – 39 (2 days off for IT band)
April 27, 2009 – 39 (taper for Lehigh Valley Half)
Dec 22, 2008 – 38
Dec 15,2008 – 37
Nov 24, 2008 – 38

Wha?  I hadn’t realized…twice under 35mpw in the last 1.5 years.  Wow, might be time to take some cutback weeks.

The main question is: how much should I be running for the best possible shorter races? (Halfs being the main focus)   I was thinking I’d only benefit by running marathon mileage when I didn’t “have to”, that every extra mile is money in the running bank but maybe I’m actually doing myself a disservice.

Would I be better off at 50-55mpw instead of high 60s?  Maybe I’d be fresher and so could do my harder workouts harder?  It’s conceivable that my current mileage, while maintaining all that aerobic fun stuff I’ve acquired, might also be compromising me in other ways.

This is a real quandary because 65mpw works for me as far as activity level and enjoyment, but I also admit to running it because I think I should, because in my ex-marathon brain, I think more is better and will make me faster.  Misguided or sensible?  I’m interested in your opinions on the matter if you have any.

As it happens, I will be running a bit less the next two weeks because I have a couple 5Ks and also, I’m taking today and tomorrow off due to….

Yesterday’s Run (and walk)
I’ve had a low-level annoyance for a few weeks, either heel bursitis (like I had last year but the other foot) or peroneal tendonitis – it’s between the ankle knob and the heel.  They share symptoms but I’m starting to think it’s peroneal over bursitis.

It usually only shows itself upon waking when I have a stiff ankle, though when I first got it, sitting for awhile would also make my ankle stiff, but that stopped a while back and now it’s only been the first morning steps and sometimes while going down stairs.  Running hasn’t presented a problem, though occasionally I’ll notice my ankle warming up the first tenth of a mile but then nothing.

Yesterday, I went out for a 13-miler that ended up being a 7.25 run capped with 3 miles walking home.  For the first time, my ankle started hurting on the run and enough that I felt it necessary to shut it down.  Once home, I started an ibuprofen regimen and pledged to roll the crap out of my calves and butt (which has also been tight for awhile and probably related).

Woke up today and no stiff ankle!  Must be yesterday’s ibuprofen working.  But I’m sticking to my guns of taking today and tomorrow off even though the heatwave we’ve had for 7 days (highs 93-95) just broke.  I’d like nothing better than to run right now, it’s 64 beautiful degrees out there.  Must. Not. Run.

4:30 into my last 12 mile run before the marathon.  I wiped out on the sidewalk.  Opened the exact same spot on my leg from May’s fall with the added bonus of a swollen shin and punctured hands.  I even matched the top of my left knee to that previous fall, as well.

A second after it happened, I sat up and began bawling like a baby, tried to blot the blood with leaves and considered my options.  I could go home and try again later or just go home and crawl into bed.  Or I could finish the run.  I ran.

So the race is over but my body is still in argumentative mode.  I’ve never had to run three recovery runs in a row, but I have this week.  Monday was a 5mi recovery run @ 9:45, Tues was a 9miler @ 9:25 and today was a 12miler at 9:13 (and I even had side stitches for 3 miles, lol).  Technically, 12 miles is too long to be called recovery but it was slow going, so that’s what I’m calling it.

I don’t feel bad about having to take it slow these past few days, though it is a new one on me to not feel repaired by now.  It could also be that I got my LadyTime yesterday, which might explain some of my discomfort during the race and why I’m feeling so drained and sleepy this week.  I hope so, because otherwise I have SARS.

Thanks to everyone again for all the positive comments about the race.  After all is said and done, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.  I looked at the 133 females who came in ahead of me and realized that only one woman was older than me (a 51 year-old with an Age Grade of 94.4% who came in at 1:22:13).   So I’ve got absolutely nothing to pout about and it’s all onward and upward from here.

In other news, I had a new injury for a couple weeks that I didn’t mention because it was slight, but I think it’s worth typing out since you never know who might benefit from reading it.  I had my first case of metatarsalgia for a couple weeks there (ball of foot pain), likely due to rotating a couple pairs of shoes with over 400 miles on them.  It was pretty mild as far as injuries go in that I was able to run with it, though one day it really did feel like I had a pebble in my shoe (classic symptom).

I got rid of it without much ado by ordering a new pair of shoes, but more proactively, by simply massaging my foot whenever it started to “feel” (not on the run, but while sitting here at the computer).  Took me about 10 days to figure out that I could knead the painful area without harm, and once I realized I could, it only stuck around a few more days.  So no big story, but worth a mention.

As for the rest of the week, I’m going to attempt a speed session on Friday and then I have my first 20 (22 actually) this Sunday, so here’s hoping I’m back in fighting shape by Friday.  The workout looks like this: 3 easy, 2x(10x400m @ 10k – 5k pace w/1min rec), full recovery between sets, 3miles easy.  400s – not your usual marathon workout but should be fun to do and get some movement back in my legs.  Good stuff.

Now if I can keep my eyes open for the rest of the day, I’ll be a force to be reckoned with (against what I’ve no idea, but it’ll be real forceful, that’s for sure).

I’m so happy, excited, astounded, I could cry. Looking at the calendar, I realize it’s been 8 long weeks since my IT Band made a painful introduction into my runs.

As recap, during this period I couldn’t go more than 2 runs to where I’d feel it.  Long runs (limited to 11 milers) always required stretching stops and because one annoyance isn’t enough, my ankle bursitis from last year reappeared as an underlying bass note for the beginning of most runs during these two months.

Because I’m a 7-day runner, I did take a few days off (5 total), but from reading of how people would take 2 weeks off and return to the road only to find they were right back where they started, I didn’t even consider taking a clump of days off, figuring I could manage the injury as it made a slow exit.

My mileage didn’t suffer too much – June was a lower month, but I was able to average 53 mpw between June and July.  I just made sure to stop and stretch if it hurt on the run, foam roll the shit out of it in the evenings and often took 3 ibuprofen after “long” runs to keep it in check for the next day’s run.

I’d like to say I did my leg exercises regularly, but I lasted about 1.5 weeks till I conveniently forgot to do them (I hated leg lifts when I was a pudgy young thing, I don’t like them any better now).  I’ve been pretty regular with stretching, but was never sure if I was overdoing it, so I tended to go from stretching too much to not enough, and always suspected I wasn’t doing it quite right.

This seemed to work ok, it had diminished greatly, but was still there like a bad cold that never leaves, culminating in a horrible 13 miler last Sunday, my longest run in months, and one requiring numerous stops, mainly because I was wearing an IT band strap that was backfiring on me and causing calf discomfort, but still, I was most certainly not “cured”.  So I took this Monday off.

Now, a few days prior, July 9th to be exact, I’d started the glucosamine/chondroitan/msm combo pills.  After taking that rest day on Monday, I ran like usual from Tuesday on, except suddenly “usual” had a whole new meaning.  There was no ankle bursitis, no IT band shadowing, absolutely no weakness in my legs at all.  At. All.  This was 6 days after taking that first pill.

You guys…I ran 15 miles today.  15 miles without one single peep, shadow, twinge or anything.  15 miles like it was a mid-long run, not the farthest I’d gone since a 16-miler on April 12th (April 12!).  I even stuck a couple faster miles (7:20s) in there ala Hudson.  Average for the whole run, 8:18.

So these pills really are a miracle, because I know for sure that while the injury was sneaking out the backdoor, it was going so very slowly that if left on its normal course, would have continued the wave of 2 days good, 1 day bad, eventually moving to 3 days good, 1 day bad, etc, and all the while with those stupid stretching stops.  Instead, I’ve had 6 days of 59.5 miles with perfect legs the entire time.

I’ve been thinking more about these magic pills and while I know that MSM is still the main hero at the moment till the glucosamine eventually kicks in, I think the glucosamine could eventually benefit ITBS too, even though it’s for  joints and not soft tissue – because glucosamine not only adds cartilage, it increases lubrication as well.  The whole reason ITBS is so painful is that it rubs against the femur, becoming inflamed.  If the joint has more lubrication, it makes sense that your IT band would slide easier against that joint. But that’s just supposition and a moot point anyway, since whatever is working  is working now!

I have suddenly gone from hiding marathon training into the farthest back corner of my brain to pure, unadulterated excitement for getting started again and seeing what this training cycle brings.  As they’d say back in my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, “YEE–HAW!!”   (they’d also say “Pig Sooie, Razorbacks!!” because they’re weird like that, but I digress…)

Hope is restored, fun is restored, I am back on the road for real.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that when I get involved in something I research the hell out of it.  If it’s a shopping thing, I’ll spend countless hours seeking out information, user reviews and experiences, anything I can glom onto to make the most informed decisions possible.  This applies triple-fold to the subject of vitamins and supplements since it’s going in my body.

I’m not a big pill-popper to begin with and avoid it when I can.  My eating is pretty clean so I don’t take a multi-vitamin, though I do take calcium daily (ladies, you know I’ve mentioned it before, but check into your requirements and make sure you’re getting enough…anything to help avoid stress fractures is our BFF).

Last week, I mentioned that I started taking a glucosamine/ chondroitin/msm combo daily.  It’s purpose is to help your joints by increasing cartilage and adding lubrication.  I’ve been reading hundreds of accounts over the last week of people basically saying “I could never live without glucosamine again, I swear by it”.  These comments come from arthritis sufferers to heavy-lifting bodybuilders to runners.

When I started on it, I was thinking “maybe it’ll help my IT Band somehow”, though glucosamine isn’t for soft tissue.  Even so, I’d read a bunch of user reviews from people finding success with it for certain tendon issues.  Runners knee is also a common reason people take it.

The thing that got me to buy a bottle though, was watching a sports injury video from a doctor at Stanford University saying that it was worth taking since it acts as an anti-inflammatory but without the side effects.  I figured that’s got to help since tendon crap is all about inflammation.

As far as joint pain goes, I hadn’t thought about it before taking this stuff, but I do have joint tweaks, I  just don’t pay much attention to it because I figure it’s part of getting older, like sometimes my fingers hurt after opening a jar or my elbow might hurt when stuffing a pillow into a pillow case, etc.  And while I’m not a hurty girl in general (these tweaks are fleeting), it’s fun to think there’s something that might remove even these little ouchies from my life (not to mention do good stuff for running).

So on Sunday I had that IT strap episode that had my calf feeling weird, then on Tuesday, a really good 9-miler, Wednesday an 11-miler that was the first double-digit run in weeks where I was completely tweakless (no stretching stops at all) and then today, another perfect run, an 8-miler with some fartlek.  The thing I noticed on all three runs (besides a beautiful lack of IT trouble) was that my ankle bursitis, which has been hanging about these past few weeks and is always slightly noticeable at the start of a run, though not really painful, just “there”, was gone.  Nada.  Nothing.

It can’t be the glucosamine yet because that takes 4-6 weeks to kick in, but MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane, the third ingredient in my new magic pills) starts working in only a few days.   What’s it good for?  So many things, you’d be tempted to call it snake oil.

Among the items it helps are: tendonitis and bursitis (bing bing bing!), but also allergies (specifically rhinitis, which I have in abundance) as well as improving skin, nails and hair (actually speeds hair growth, of all things).  There’s even been a study on it saying it improved snoring, which sounds ridiculous, but if it helps allergies, I could see how that might carry over.

Now, quicker than you can say “Placebo”, glucosamine and MSM are commonly given to dogs, cats and horses with great success, in fact many people start using them because their doggies returned to frolicking puppydom after taking the stuff.   Since animals don’t know placebos or act from wishful thinking, that’s pretty solid proof of efficacy.

I’m not going to say “my IT band is cured!” because we know where that’s gotten me (though this is the most I’ve run in 3 consecutive days without feeling a thing since the crap began), but my ankle…I was resigned to thinking it would be a lifelong annoyance, waxing and waning whenever it felt like it.  It never occurred to me that I could take something for it that might make it actually go away.

It should be noted that the brand I’m currently using, Triple Flex from Nature Made, is not the latest version of the product because my local Rite Aid sucks, so it doesn’t contain hyaluronic acid, which all the new formulas have.  Hyaluronic acid does indeed work on soft tissue (tendons, ligaments), so I already ordered a vat of Triple Strength Advanced Osteo Bi-flex for when this bottle’s done.

I also ordered a separate bottle of MSM to see if will lessen my allergies, since it’ll take a larger dose than the glucosamine mix provides.  I’ve put Nick on glucosamine, too, since he’s battled a rotator cuff issue for years and that’s the perfect malady for this stuff.

Better living through chemicals supplements.  Why not?

I’m on a roller coaster ride these days, like permanent PMS without the luxury of knowing it’ll be over in a few days.

The weekend started on Friday evening with Nick’s Dad’s birthday.  How do you celebrate a 92-year old’s birthday who’s feeling like pure crap from chemo & cancer?  The whole time you’re thinking that this is his last birthday party ever and you know he knows it, too.  And as Nick said to me, he’s not giving into the idea of death at all.  He’s depressed and weak but his brain is ticking along, fully cognizant of what the score is.  Anyway, he’s to be off the chemo for a week starting next week, so hopefully he’ll feel a bit better.

Saturday afternoon, we went to see Bruno, because I’ve been waiting for that movie for weeks.  I’m not a huge movie gal, but there are certain choice comedies that I anxiously await and this was one.  I’m positive a lot of you will not like this movie, so I’m not saying go see it, but go see it. :-)

Later that evening, we saw another surprisingly excellent comedy on Pay Per View, The Promotion – about two guys competing to be manager of a grocery store, great cast and very funny.  Plus it’s got John C. Reilly in it, who can do no wrong in my book.

Sunday morning was my long run.  I had planned on 14, but only got to 13 for a couple reasons.  The more mundane of the two was that there was a Tri going on and the finish line was about 1/4 mile from my half-way point.  With tons of cyclists in the way, I had to turn around early.

The rest of the lost mile was due to the IT strap I was wearing.  At one point, I got quite uncomfortable with it, but not from my IT band, it was my calf.  I guess the pressure of the band was affecting it, so after a couple stops to rearrange the strap, I gave up and took it off.  Felt better running without it in the end.  That night, I could feel my calf was still tight, which scared me because I wondered if it was somehow an extension of the IT band problem, snowballing into something worse.

So I took yesterday off, which was certainly reasonable since June 18th was my last rest day.  I was in a bleak mood all day, my imagination had me falling apart in pieces, singing my swan song to running.  Stupid imagination.

As these things go, I woke up today feeling great and my run reflected that – 9 solid, untweaky miles.  I started easy with 8:40s then eased into 8:12 to 8:03s for the rest.  How I love normalcy.

Other than that, I’m still knee-deep in t-shirt designs, but now I’m finally making the music section of Fish Pie its own shop, which I’ve been dreading because there are about 40 different instruments (figure 20 designs in each one… big job).  But now I’m on a production roll and enjoying adding new stuff along with the old, so while I’m currently drowning in Accordion designs (going alphabetically) it’s actually kind of fun.

I know, I’m basically repeating myself these days (IT band, t-shirts, IT band, t-shirts) but it’s summer and there’s not much else going on.  I’ll leave you with a cool song Baptized By Fire by Spinnerette, whose lead singer sounds amazingly like Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie & the Banshees.  Love the octave doubling on the chorus.  Stupid video as usual, but at least you get to hear the song in its entirety.