wednesday

Saw the ortho specialist and was dg with 2 stress fractures in my pelvis. He could not tell if they are old or new, and said I should not run the Wapack. David reassured me that I can, "it's more of a nuisance than a danger". So both my January and May injuries were stress fractures - hopefully healed, it's been a while now.

* 1 h swim at Walden.

tuesday 08/26/08

* swam for 1 h at walden pond - much tougher bc of the wind, water super warm, felt great. even pepe decided to get into the water, and we had fun.
* foot pain still bothering me. one more run tomorrow, 5-6 miles, and maybe another 3 milers on saturday, swim on thursday, maybe a bit of eliptical as well, swim on friday.
* not nervous about ability to finish wapack, just nervous about foot. perhaps i should experiment with some advil during tomorrow's run?
* have my appt with ortho sports tomorrow - perhaps i can get hooked to a regimen, so that i could avoid getting injured?

Monday 8/25/08

no work
5 mile trail run , 4.5 @ 8:30, around the rez, and .5 cool down.
Pilate's with Chris
Mama Mia - laughter and tears and vicarious relieving
nice moments with Petru playing with the trains, reading and rough housing.
bought Murakami's book "What I talk about when I talk about running".

weekend in new hampshire

We left Friday afternoon for the 2 night get away, 7 women and 1 guy (husband). Pepe was a bit sick so it was tough to get away. We got there safe, in spite of some reckless driving (will avoid at all costs to drive with Cat ever again). Saturday we did a 10 mile hike up Chicora, and then down and then up again to a little cabin. Nice hike, moderate, gorgeous views. Can't wait for pictures. Afterwards we swam in a near by stream. The water was very strong and I was unable to swim against the current. The beauty was going in the direction of the current, being pushes by the cold water. On Sunday we did a 5.5 mile trail run, 1/2 way up, 1/2 way down (70min total) and headed back home.

Nice opportunity to get to know other women better. Felt sad afterwards, feeling that work takes too much time, and I don't have as much adventure in my life as I'd like.

Felt queasy all day, likely bc of the tough effort on 2 consecutive days. Has happened before.

skyline X skyline

On Thursday 8/21/08 M and I ran the Skyline loop trail twice in 3:40 for 15 miles. We went on a slightly slower pace than last Saturday, and I felt strong all the way through. I can definitely add 3 more miles so I feel much better about Wapack.
A couple of lessons:
1) i don't get nauseous if i don't go super fast, and i can actually eat bananas and jelly beans with no problem.
2) i drink more water than i can carry.

Fells Skyline and Rezervoir Trail loops (14 miles, 3:07)

I head it out this morning at 6:15 with my friends S, C & M for the Fells in Winchester, to run the Skyline 7.2m plus Reservoir 5.2 m loops. Last weekend we did the Skyline trail, and got totally hooked into the uphill, downhill, rocky and slippery running. I was a bit nervous about the run (even though I had suggested it last weekend). We had friends over and I ate too much, so could not sleep well last night. Plus Pepe was up in the middle of the night for an hour (thanks Chris for attending to him). I felt very strong on the Skyline and the pace seemed a bit too slow for me. The up and down is what I strive on. We took a 15 min fueling break before starting on the Reservoir loop. I had 1/2 banana (had had 1/2 when I woke up) and water. S lead us on the Reservoir Trail and she was fast. We ran Skyline at about 11-12min miles, and Reservoir at 8:30-9, but slowed down toward the end. I felt my legs become rubber. My left ear got stuffed - perhaps too much sweatting. But I made it. M bailed out after the skyline so C, S, & I victoriously finished the 14 miles in 3:07 including stopping time. Our snickers were covered in mud, as were the backs of our legs. S fell and scraped her leg pretty bad on the Skyline but what a trouper, she continued on. C and I drove to get water and coffee and had a nice chat in the car. I felt so strong running the streets of Winchester with mud all over me. Chris and Pepe waited at home with kisses. We headed to the Rez (town beach) and I ended up swimming for 30 min, just to stretch my legs and ice them. I was ravenous all morning, ate cereal, toast, salad with chicken, soy chips, nuts, and egg whites with vegetables. I took a 1.5 h nap and I feel really strong. Ready for Thursday when we will attempt doubling up on the Skyline - this means 15 m of up and down. My new mantra is: "Can you hurt more?". It works wonders!
P.S. Oh, and minimal nausea today. The sugar did upset my stomach a bit. I wonder about looking into some protein bars... and maybe having a peace of toast with peanut butter before heading out on the trails.
P.S2. I did not mention how beautiful the views were...so therapeutic.

how this blog came about

This May I suffered a running injury in my pelvic bone. It was the week before the Boston Run to Remember 1/2 marathon and I dropped out. I have never dropped out of a race before. That month I ran 2 of my fastest races, Children's Museum in Portsmouth 5K, which I ran at a 6:50 pace, and Melrose Run for Women 3.5m, which I ran at a 6:40 pace. I was unable to run for 3 weeks, and spent my time crosstraining after deciding that I will not allow myself more than a couple of days of pitty partying. It is only recently that I have returned what something that resembles my previous running fitness level, and I still am far away from the speed I used to have. But I have fallen in love with swimming, boot camping and its camaraderie, and trail/mountain running. There is always something positive that comes out of a negative event. I am still having pain when speed running, but it goes away by the next day. I will see an orthopedic sports specialist in a week or so, and hope to get recommendations on type of shoes, strength training, etc, to perhaps prevent future injuries (I had a previous injury, similar, on the other side).

This blog will be for me and those who happen to stumble around it. it will help me organize my thoughts about running and life. It will be my writing therapy and my written memory. let the journey begin.