I need my run!

What?  No running during the holidays!

It's been a few days since i have checked in so here goes:  I thought the hip was healed, ran a 9.5 mile run with Jennifer last Wed. and was fine on the run, but later that day, while driving around, I could feel some mild pain in my hip.  I ran again on Fri. with no pain while running.  Sporadically, I continued to feel something going on in my hip.  So although I want to continue running, especially at this time of year, I have decided to attempt a 2 week break from running.  I hope this will allow the hip to continue to fully recover.  I am getting nervous about it.  Although the pain is very mild and is not present while running,  I need to try to let it heal,  before my official start of Boston training begins.  Ideally, training would have already started, or at least I would continue working on my base training, but at this point, it will be much smarter to delay the training.

So currently, my next scheduled run will be Jan. 1st, or Jan. 4th.   As stated previously, this is NOT good timing.  The holidays with all the goodies - I need my run.  The cold - my favorite time to run.(I can find no good use for the cold, except to run).   The holidays - let me just say,  I need my run.  Yes, I am walking, but it's not the same - I need my run.  My yearly business "crunch time"(2 more days) - I need my run.   Basically - I just need my run.

For several years I have run a Jan. marathon. ( Disney 2 times, and Houston this year.)  I really like that because it puts my high mileage around the holidays.  Most people hate that, and schedule around this time of year, but for me,  I like to have high mileage during this time of year, for a lot of reasons.

O'well - 2 weeks will be over soon.  I just hope that is enough.

In the mean time, I would like to wish all of my blogger friends a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
Looking forward to good things in 2010.

Christmas party, new gadget, back on track!

 Yesterday, Chad & I went to AL for our annual family Christmas party.  Mom and Linde are so awesome with all of the Christmas cheer.  The house is always decorated from front to back and it's always beautiful.  It's always great to see the family - something we do not do enough of - we all have good intentions, but seem to get lost in our daily routines.  The food - to die for!  In fact, as I had my 2nd piece of chocolate torte today, I said to Chad "I think I died and went to heaven."  Thanks to the girls for another great party.

So, I have blogged a few times about my headphones and how I still use them because I like the radio.  WELL, no one told me that the nano now comes with FM.  I was recently shopping on a site to use some of my "points" which were about to expire.  I came across the Nano and started reading about it.  I have the small shuffle which I prefer for running, but have never purchased any of the larger Ipods.  In fact, for years, I would not purchase the shuffle because I was waiting for Apple to add the FM.  I finally caved-in a couple of years ago and purchase the shuffle and have enjoyed it, but still use my headphones when wanting to hear the FM stations.  Sometimes on training runs I even wear both, headphone and shuffle.  So as I was reading about the Nano 5th generation, I came across the FM radio feature - screaming with excitement - but thought to myself , the FM probably doesn't work that well, but decided to give the new Nano a try.  It came in this week and after my Sat morning run with some friends was canceled due to rain, I had time to upload my tunes and get ready to use the Nano.  I opted for the treadmill.  With the new gadget the 7 mile run went by quickly.  The FM stations worked well inside the house and on the treadmill.  Awesome!  Now I have to go and purchase all the accessories that i will need.  Arm band, Apple Care, a car charger would be nice.  FM and my tunes all on one gadget.  Woo hoo!  2010 is going to be fabulous!

So this week, I did stick with my plan to run easy 6 milers, well almost.  I did run 7 on Wed. and Sat., but both days were easy running.  This week - Monday - 6 , Wed. - 7 with The Running Artist (follow her as she prepares for the Mardi Gras marathon, her 1st marathon) , Sat.- 7 on the treadmill with Nano5, and this morning a 4 miler in my home town, Wilmer, AL.  On the Sat. and Sun runs, I had the urge to pick up the pace. On Sat., almost had my hand on the button to go faster, and talked myself into taking it easy, finishing the week easy, and sticking with this week's plan.  All runs this week were run with NO pain in the hip.  I am looking forward to adding some intensity back to my running this week.  Two weeks with no quality runs - yikes - feeling like I am losing fitness fast.  Feeling like a slacker, but know it was important to let the hip heal.  Miss the "rush" of the hard runs, but very thankful  I have been able to continue running and did not need to do total rest.  Last week 14.5 miles running, this week 24 miles and feeling fine. 
Currently working out the details to meet the way to boston to walk a few miles this evening.  Need to burn some extra calories this evening after all of the holiday goodies.  So Yummy!  So caloric!

15 marathons and my first "no show"

Tonight I canceled my room in Huntsville.  Very SAD!  Yes, I am bummed.  We had many local runners, bloggers, and tweeters,  running races this past weekend.  After hearing all about the races, it gave me marathon fever.

Ok - enough of the pity party and on to the good news.

I have been taking it easy with my running. 
Last Wed., as already mentioned, I ran 4 miles and felt the hip at 2 miles.
Fri. - 5 miles and felt the hip at 3 miles.
Sat. - 5.5 miles with Audrey, enjoying the snow on the ground.  felt the hip at 4.2 miles
Each time I run, I am getting an extra mile before I feel the hip.
I still wouldn't call it a pain in the hip, just a dull warning sign.
So last week I ended with 15 miles walking and 14.5 miles running

Tonight I ran 6 miles and did not feel the hip pain at all.  Yay!  I also did 20 min of yoga, squats, lunges, and arm work with an 8 lb ball. 

I decided not to run the marathon this past  Sat., when I felt the hip at 4.2 miles.  If I can't finish a 5.5 mile run without feeling the dull pain, what will 26.2 miles of pounding do for it?  I know I would just cause a minor injury to become much worse by pushing the issue.  I am trying to "listen to my body."

I will have many opportunities to run the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, but how many times will I have the chance to run in the BOSTON Marathon?

Several people have mentionrd the foam rollers, where can you purchase these?  Do you get them online or at Academy, etc?

In thinking about what caused my hip to become aggravated,  I have several things to consider.
* I first thought it may be my shoes.  I did recently get a new pair of shoes, but it is the same kind that I have been wearing for several years.  Adidas Cushion Response.  It did occur to me that I could have gotten a bad pair of shoes, but I am not sure. Currently, I am rotating 2-3 pairs of shoes.  I haven't run in the new ones since the half marathon.
* I was talking with Linde (my sister) the last week.  She had read my blog and called to asked about my hip.  She asked if it was from my fall.  Hmmmm!  First I had to remember what she was talking about, and now she really has me thinking.  You may remember a few weeks ago (probably not, I even forgot about it) Nov. 15th., I did a perfect "seat drop" in some slippery mud in South Louisiana.  I landed on my bottox and I landed hard.  The next day, I didn't feel anything, but now I am wondering if that may have been the start of my hippy thing.  Then on Nov. 28th, I "ran my butt hip off" at Stennis. 
* I have been running fairly hard all year, but this fall I increased my mileage to a new max.(63 miles) just before St. George.  I did take 2 weeks off of running after St. George, but then started increasing my mileage again.  I had slowly worked back up to 45 miles prior to the Stennis half.

Who knows!  This week my plan is to run a day and then walk a day.  My running days will be 6 miles easy.  The walking days will be whatever I have time for.  I will continue with my 15-20 min of yoga and hope to make it to a yoga class this week.  I am continuing with either ice baths or icing the hip area after my runs.
I do not feel the hip at all while walking, doing yoga, or really anything except the few runs that I mentioned above.  I really think if I can hold it together by not running hard for another week, I will hopefully, "dodge a bullet."  This is my hope.  We will see!  To be continued.....  Thanks for all of the well wishes, ideas, and support.  I will stop pouting as soon as I can run hard again.  (already feel the need for quality running)

The Debate Begins!

So the GREAT news I reported on Monday turned out to be not as GREAT as I thought.   After racing on Sat. I did not run again until Wed.  I went for a 4 mile run.  I did not feel anything in my hip until mile 2.  At that point, I could feel something in my hip.  I wouldn't say it was hurting, but just more like a dull hint of aggravation.  I finished the 4 miles and headed for the ice bath.  Decided to take a break again on Thur.  So Thurs. am I went to yoga, and walked 5 miles with a friend.  No pain at all doing yoga or the walk.  Today, I ran 5 miles.  Today, nothing until around 3 miles and then the dual awareness again. 

So I am 1 week out from the Huntsville marathon and 4+ months away from Boston.  I really want to run Huntsville.  I am sure it would be smart to bow out, and use the extra time to be sure to let the hip recover. 

This is my first injury, or near injury.  I HATE it!  It makes me feel OLD.  It also makes me wonder if this will be the beginning of recurring injuries that so many runners deal with.  I have been so fortunate to run injury free for years.  Bummed in MS, BUT it's snowing in South Mississippi  (a rare occasion).

I will make the final decision around the middle of next week.  I know the smart answer, but we will see if I am smart, or determined to run it.  ????????

GREAT NEWS - I think?????

Thought I would give a little update about my hip.  It has been the weirdest thing.  Sunday I was worried about a stress fracture and today, Monday, no pain at all.  I iced 4 times on Sunday.  I got up this morning and did my 20 min of yoga and no pain.  Later in the morning, it was raining and I jogged across the yard to keep from getting drenched and no pain.  So thankful and so excited.

It was a warning sign that I will heed.  So today Chad(hubs), Scarlett(doggie) and I walked for 30 min.  I iced again today and will ice tonight after the Saints game.  Will test the waters a little on Wed with a 3 mile running attempt. 

We are at the Alumni House watching the Saints game.  I am too ADD to watch 3 hours of football so I brought my laptop to catch up on all the blogs and to give you guys the good news.

Go Saints!

Stennis Half Matathon data and details

First the ugly and bad news.  This morning I woke up with my right hip hurting.  I thought no big deal, I will just take a warm shower and it will loosen up and it will loosen up more when I join my friend M.C. for an easy run.  So after the shower, it felt ok initially, but just a few minutes later it was hurting again.  I took a few jogging steps in the house and immediately knew I had to call MC to cancel the run.  I HATE that!  So today I have been icing off and on, I did go for a SLOW 30 min walk which seemed to help, but certain movements hurt. 

So......  I am so glad that I ran hard yesterday. 

The Running Artist and me at Stennis Half Matathon (see previous blog)

(Jen - I copied your pic because the pic I took was way to close for my comfort)

While driving 2:20 min. to the race, I was plotting out my strategy for the race.  Over the past year or more, I have really worked on starting out slow and picking up the pace later.  I really like this for many reasons.   The most important reason is, I feel so much better throughout the race.   In the past, I always went out too fast, and then just died throughout the race, and it was painful.   The slower start feels SO MUCH BETTER.  The other reason is that I have come to LOVE being very technical about my running.  It's somewhat of a game to really try to hit my paces, and I think it distracts me from some of the pain because I am concentrating so hard on hitting the numbers.  So my plan was plotted and looked like this.
     Plan   Actual
1.   8:35   8:32
2.   8:35   8:34
3.   8:30   8:28
4.   8:30   8:31
5.   8:10   8:08
6.   8:10   8:12
7.   8:10   8:00
8.   8:10   8:13
9.   8:10   8:13
10. 8:10   8:19
11. 8:10   8:08
12. 8:10   8:08
13. 8:20   7:53
.1     :45     :47
During the race, as I hit those numbers, I am a HAPPY CAMPER.  After the race, when I am reviewing the Garmin data, it is just as good as running a PR, if I have hit my numbers.  If I have a plan, and it comes together on race day, that makes me feel good.   I started running by the numbers a little over a year ago on long runs, some would be progression runs, others would be 1 fast mile, 1 slow mile - at predetermined paces etc.  For me it's an entertaining game.  This is when my addition to the Garmin increased, but it's fun.  Without the Garmin, I can not pace at all.  From our previous discussions, I know most of you are thinking if you hadn't predetermined your numbers you could have run faster.  NO, trust me, that was all that I had on SAT.
Yesterday, I mentioned that I had some help during this race.  I am not sure what mile I was at, but I am thinking it was around 6-7.  I was running and I noticed a young man beside me.  He looked very young and I was so impressed that he was running a half marathon.  So I asked him how old he was.  He says 17.  So we began chatting.  He is a high school cross country runner and this was his first half marathon.  A friend was supposed to join him but she bailed on him.  We talked, off and on throughout the rest of the race.  I was trying to hold on and to maintain our pace, from what he said, he was doing the same.  With 2 miles left, I told him that I would try to stay with him, but if he could go ahead, he needed to go.  He looked so comfortable, I thought I was holding him back.  He says, "you are pushing me, this is all I have"  I said good, you are pushing me too so we are helping each other.  I truly believe that I would have fallen off the pace if he hadn't decided to run the race with me.  It was really neat.  Normally, I do not do a lot of chatting during a race.  Today, I was able to chat, stay on pace, and maybe help someone finish their first marathon a little faster than he would have finished alone.  C.C.  if you are reading this.  CONGRATS!  I am proud of you.  He won 3rd in his age group.  He has also lost 60 lbs in the recent past, through running.  So neat, so inspiring.   He also helped me to my PR.  Thanks CC!  

2nd in my age group.

On another note, Jen and I had the opportunity to spend some time together.  We talked a little prior to the race while registering, waiting in the potty line, pre race prep, etc.  After I finished the race, I went back to find Jen to try run the last bit of the race with her.  When I made it to her, she had 1 mile left.  She was smiling and running a great pace.  She had raced a five mile race on Thurs. and PR'ed by 2 minutes over last year's time.  In addition to that, she was very close to her PR in the half on Sat.  She ran a smart race and has many many more PRs in her bright running future.  Great race Jen.  I enjoyed the visit.  I also was able to chat with Robbie and Kent before and after the race.  Robbie won the GrandMasters in the 5k.  Congrats Robbie!  Keep it up!

So a great day at the races!  Fun! 

Today I ran a half "matathon" (not a typo, quote from medal, see pic)

So today was the big day, going for the half marathon PR.  I have so much to blog about, but will do it soon, just wanted to give a little update.  I DID IT!  ...with some help, that i will explain later, keeping you guys in suspense, I know you are just dying for the details.  1:48:15 (8:16 pace) on the Garmin, results not posted yet.  13.10 on the Garmin.  Great course, and I was concentrating hard on running the tangents, for sure.  (previous best 1:49:58.  I like to say "almost 2 min. pr."  It just sounds better than 1:43 pr)

Meg - it was very interesting today.  I spoke with someone that I met last year at this race.  Last year we ran around the same time for the half, I actually finished 2 min. ahead of her at this race, but at a race in Dec. 08 she got me at the very end of the race, but again, we were running around the same times.  Today she ran around 1:41, I think that's what she said.  I congratulated her for moving to another level in her running.  She said "you know, when I stopped trying so hard, I started running faster.  It's been really weird, but most of the time, I don't even look at my watch anymore, unless it's just a look and then to say, hey I'm running pretty good today."  Ok, I am VERY impressed with her, and the new training philosophy, but for me, for now, that's not gonna happen.   I immediately thought of you and thought how interesting it is that 2 people have confirmed these techniques work, but I am unwilling or unable to let go and give it a try.  For racing = Slave to the Garmin!  Live and Die by the Garmin!  "My name is Ginny and I am a Garmin addict!  I need therapy, I know.

From what I am told, the half marathoners were not supposed to get medals, but as it happened, the printing company made a boo boo.   So the "halfers" received these funny collector's medals.

Love it!  But we really ran the HALF matathon. 

More soon!