Doctors for athletes

A couple of months ago I made it in for my annual physical. It's been 2 years...oops. And I have not had any blood tests done in over 2 years....oops again. No, I don't have a needle phobia, or a white coat phobia (I would be out of a job if I had the latter). I am feeling really healthy and I did not see a need for these tests. I eat healthy, I have pretty good genes, I rarely get a cold, I sleep, I exercise. I have tons of energy. Anyhow, I got the blood tests done. Everything was normal, except the liver enzymes, which were higher than the average range. When I got my results letter, the values were listed as abnormal, but there was no explanation. I checked on line and got nervous about potential causes for the abnormality which ranged from Hep B to liver cancer. Then I looked at symptoms and causes, and they did not sounds possible in my case. Then I remembered that I am a runner. And the blood tests were taken the day after Derry, where I worked super hard. So I went on Medline and did a search about running and liver enzymes, and found that, indeed, athletes have high liver enzyme blood test results after strenuous exercise, where there is breakage of muscle fiber. And boy there was breakage of muscle fibers in that race! Bingo! I emailed my doctor about this, and she said I should repeat with 24-48 hours of no exercise. I did (with 24, cause there was no way I would take 48 hours off for a blood test when I feel good), and enzymes were much lower, with 1 unit over the upper limit, which is good enough for me. The funny thing is that the enzyme levels was lower than in 2007 when I had the same test done, and results were deemed normal. Yup, they changed the ranges in the meantime. So my doctor wants another repeat. She also mentioned that if exercise causes this increase, perhaps I am exercising too much. This made me laugh, because, really, I run 40-50miles/week, and swim 2-4 miles. That is NOT that much, compared to what most of you do. And this brings me to a conversation I had with my mom the other day. She mentioned that in Romania there are special sports doctors now that specialize in treating athletes (not to be confused with the sports medicine docs here, which are mostly orthopedists who you see if you are injured, etc). They are basically PCPs for athletes. How cool is that? We know that athletes' bodies and organs change a lot due to exercise - heart gets bigger, hear rates get lower (my resting HR is 40!!!!), blood pressure is lower (90/50 on a good day for me), etc, etc. I have not researched this, but I am sure blood test values change as well, particularly in those who spend most or all of their time training. I would like to see doctors become familiar with these issues and take them into account when treating athletes. I do like my doctor, and I like that she is thorough. But the comment about exercising to0...that made me laugh!

My boys

The other day my husband glanced at my blog as I was posting pictures of my favorite exercise things, and said only half jokingly: "Go figure, big pictures of product ads, and only a small picture of your loving husband and son!". So, to show my appreciations for all the Saturday mornings he spends chugging trains and cars or entertaining Petru and all the neighbourhood kids who happen to flock at our house, here are, a few pictures of my 2 favorite boys...

Goofing around with the Apple photo booth..














Petru jamming his guitar














At Camp Sunshine, the skinniest kid around, I know....














Happy posing with his peeps at school














After eating massive amounts of chocolate

The "bad day" dillema

I've been reading a lot of reports of "bad days in running". I have been puzzled about these "bad days" for a while now, mostly because I could not relate. Surely, there have been plenty days when I ran poorly but there was always a concrete reason for that: a cold, stomach issues, or weather. I have never had one of those "I have no idea what is going on but I am running poorly" type of days.

Fast forward to Friday's swim. On the tap, 24 continuous laps of free style, as part of a 1.25 mile swim. As soon as I started the warm up, I started doubting myself about being able to do the swim. My stroke was off, and I felt like I was sinking. I tried to relax, but my brain kept sending negative messages. I tried to get it together before the main set and remind myself that I had swum 20 continuous laps the previous week, and that all I needed was to give this a try, but it did not work. The other part of me started to come up with excuses, such as staying up to late the night before, stress at work, etc. I started the set and I had to stop after 5 laps. I was out of breath. I was mad at myself. I tried again, same thing. I did the 1.25 miles but gave up on the main set. In the car, i was mad at my husband bc he was distracted and unable to listen to how bad of a swimming day the POOR ME HAD! Then I thought about it, and realized that the "bad day" was really my own doing. My mind was not in the swim that day. I was not patient enough to enable my body and mind to relax. So I tried again this morning, and I did it. Everything went smoothly. It was one of my best swims. I even learned a thing or two about my stroke and how to glide better.

So there you have it. I think that outside external circumstances (weather, illness, etc), we create the "bad day" by how we react to the race or workout. Do we get mad that we started to fast, doubt that we can keep up and then turn everything into a self fulfilling prophecy? Do we look for excuses? Do we worry and the anxiety translates into increased heart rate and inaccurate perception of effort? Do we set too high or too low standards? Do we over analyze? DO we fail to focus? Whatever it is, I think that the "bad day" is more in the mind than in the body. And that's a good thing, because things that are in the mind can often be fixed easier than those that are in the body. So here's to few or no bad days my blogging friends !

An odd one

I had a really odd run today. The weather was beautiful as I set out for 15 miles, ipod on and ocean by my side, no mom guilt knowing that Petru was going to have fun with grandma at Dover Children's Museum. Ah, the life. I really wanted to keep the pace down today. I ran 10 miles @ 7:09 on Thursday (yes, silly me, I am blaming the Nike free's) and although I felt superhuman on that run, I know I am not. My plan called for 15 @ 7:53, and that was what I needed to run. My route around here in New Castle/Rye is filled with rolling hills for at least 1/2 of it, so that was certain to slow my pace down. I started out slow, first mile 7:50, as planned, but then I got into the scenery and podcast I was listening to, and did not realize that I started going faster. My issue is that once I hit a certain pace, I can't make myself go slower. It's silly and it does not make sense, and I really need to work on this. Anyhow, about 7 miles into the run, my L groin started to feel tight. I stopped and stretched it, but the tightness persisted. By mile 10, it moved between the knee and groin, on the inner side (sorry, I have no anatomy knowledge). I stopped again, hopped on the leg (my stress fracture test) with no pain, tried to find a hot spot but could not. I kept on running. By mile 12 all the tightness was gone. No pain, nada, just tired legs (they were tired even at the beginning of the run). So I am not sure what I should make off this. I think I may try a sports massage (never had one, can you believe it?) and definitely foam rolling. I think my muscles are tired from everything I had them do this past few weeks, and I need to pamper them a little. My 1/2 marathon is in 2 weeks, and I want to be able to run hard then. For that, I need to slow down now. Ah, so hard. This is the time in training when I am running strong and I want to push it even more. This is also the time when injuries start to appear and I need to be careful. Will I be able to? Will see....

A few of my favorite (exercise related) things

My new love: Nike Free 5.0 v.4.

I was nervous to try them on, because I feared injury. However, the heavy heal of most of my other running shoes, while protective in the past, was starting to become useless as my foot strike has changed from heel to forefoot. I found a pain on sale for $29.99 and figured I might as well try them. I ran 5 miles in them for one month, and today I ran 13 tempo. Wow! I fly up hill with these babies. I ran 10 miles (of 13) temp today at a pace that I have a hard time to write down. Is is placebo? I doubt it. These shoes are helping me strike the ground the way I am supposed to, and I think this shows in a faster pace. The shoes are very narrow, which is great as I have bony feet. I am planning to run my 1/2 marathon in a couple of weeks in these babies. Mine are white, by the way, but I covet a blue and a pink pair!
My 2 month old love: Splish suit
The picture does not do justice to this beauty. Everyone at the pool comments on it. It looks amazing under the water, too. It is thicker than typical suits, and holds everything in, which I appreciate after having a baby. No matter how much I dread a swim, I cheer up if I wear this suit. Oh, and can you belive this was a present from my mother in law. Yes, she rocks!













My year long love: Injinji socks.
I used to have monster blisters after long runs, no matter how much I would lube my toes, no matter the shoes I wore. These socks are savers. I rarely get blisters these days, and although I still lose a nail here in there (hey, it's part of running), I have all of them most of the time! Nice, particularly in the summer:)









My 3 month love: 2XU compression tights
OK, so the first time I put them on I seriously wondered whether I could possible run in them. They were so tight. But darn they looked good, so I gave them a try. They felt amazing on a run. They are not restricting in any way. They wick well, wash well in the washing machine and are very sturdy. I use to have problems with tight hamstrings in the past, but no longer since I starting wearing these tights. I also recover quickly when I wear them. Initially, I though that maybe my muscles toughened up, but I heard similar stories from other runners, too. But really, it all comes down to how flattering they are, and for that, they are worth every penny (lots of them, unfortunately!).
What are some of your (exercise related) loves?

February recap and tagged

A good month for me!

RUN: 196 miles
SWIM: 12.25 miles
ABS:800
Push-ups:240
Lunges:400
ITB and knee strength exercises: 12 sessions (15 min each).
Core ex: 8 sessions (20min each)

Bike: 0 - I will change this in March.
Injuries: 0 - I hope NOT to change this in March.
PR in running mileage: 52 miles last week!!!!

***
OK, Julie tagged me to write 6 things that you may not know about me. Hm, sometimes I wonder how much you do know about me. I often feel like I can read between the lines in various blog posts, and I am sure you can too. But, here are 6 things that you surely do not know:

1. My father was Romania's champion at ski jumping in the early 70s.

2. My husband and I met on a blind date. One month after our first date I told the friend who introduced us that I will marry him. We got married one year later. We will celebrate 10 in July.
Oh, and I had purple hair when we first met.

3. My husband and I have dark hair and brown eyes. Petru has blond hair and blue eyes. I was asked on many occasions if I were the babysitter.

4. If possible, I would go back to school and stay in school forever.

5. The older I get, the better I get along with my mom. Sometimes I feel I don't deserve her!

6. I think time is precious and I have little tolerance for wasting time.

I am going to tag everyone who follows my blog! Common, share a little!

The foot in the door technique

Chris and I woke up at 8:30 this morning (Petru slept 'till 9, by the way - don't envy me, though, he went to bed at 10pm). The plan was for me to get a ride from the boys to Mile 6 of the Boston course. When I looked outside and saw the snow coming strong, and later learned that snow will become rain in a couple of hours, I decided to run close to home. I am not the most flexible person, and it was a bit tough for me to change my mindset, or maybe I am just bored with my long running route.

I made it out around 9:45. Legs felt heavy and my mind was not into the run. I found a more entertaining podcast, and plugged along. The goal for this run was again to be consistent, and also to keep all miles below 8:00 (again ignoring my training plan which told me to do this run @ 8:06). I cheered up when I saw some new runners, parents of Petru's friends jogging on the path. I also realized that it was fun playing the skip the puddles game, and that made the miles go by quickly. I ran loop after loop around Fresh Pond, nodding and saying hi to runners who were doing the same thing, and also trying not to give dirty looks to the dog owners who happen to sit in large groups in the middle of the path, letting their dogs jump on me and other runners (I do like dogs, but don't like some dog owners). I started to feel good around mile 6-7 and my pace got faster. The weather turned out to be gorgeous. It was sunny, and it snowed on and off (mostly off). I dreaded running the Belmont hills, so I gave myself 2 choices: 1) run 20 including the Belmont Hills, or 2) run 22 sans hills.
Yes, I picked choice 2, and all of a sudden I was happy. I had a few small inclines on my route, and the last 4 miles on a slight uphill, so not all fast and flat. My pace @ 15 miles when I picked up the path again was 7:42. Ooo, so close to MP.... So I plugged along, my legs getting a little heavy. Around mile 18 I started thinking about how I did not do hills this week because of the crappy weather, and I really should be doing hills. So what if I add 2 miles of hills on Gray street? I could run them as slow as I wanted, and they would not count toward my average pace (can you tell how attached I get to my average pace???). Decision made. I ran mile 19 at 7:10, for 20 miles @ 7:40, took about 1 min rest, and started the 2 hilly miles. I ran the first mile @ 8:02 and mile 2 @ 8:14. Mile 2 was a killer, with steep hills and little downhill. Good thing I did not have a heart rate monitor because I would have gotten scared by the number. I was breathing so heavy, and was all of a sudden so hungry (usually one gel is enough for me, but not today) that I worried I might not make it home. I took a breather in the middle of this second mile, and then, yay, I did it. The 20 miles were honestly not bad, hard at times, but manageable. But those last 2 hilly miles were very tough and of course I did not let myself slow down too much! But it was worth it because I think running on tired legs will benefit me in Boston. Will see.

So there you have it, the foot in the door technique. I typically use it with my husband, but hey, it worked wonders on me today!