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September is over.
I feel a little bad feeling excited about that, but it sure wasn’t my best month.
I figured I would share some of the highlights from September (the good and bad).
September Highlights:
I Narrowed my Marathon Selection Down to the Final Two
I FINALLY Sucked it Up and Cut My Hair
I Learned to Set Non-Running Related Goals
Learned the Importance of Technology Free Running
September Lowlights: (just go with me here – I know that is made up.)
I Have a Femoral Stress Fracture
Great Product Reviews from September:
Alright enough of that, time to move on to bigger and better things!
We said goodbye to September and now it is time to say hello to October!
Coming Up in October (Personally):
1. Traveling to NC for my husband’s first residency interview (Oct 7th)
2. Traveling to Chicago to cheer Wes on as he goes for a PR in the Chicago Marathon (Oct 13th)
I love marathon season. Even if I can’t run – I will always love being his cheerleader!
3. Traveling to Washington D.C. for another cheering session for the Marine Corps Marathon (Oct 27th)
4. Job interview (phone interview scheduled for Oct 7th) – FINGERS CROSSED!!!
5. Cross training begins! (When my body tells me it’s ready)
Coming Up in October (Blog Related):
1. Sharing my cross training as I start my next stress fracture recovery stage
2. Several GREAT product reviews
3. Guest post from my husband
4. First video product review
Finally, I wanted to address a few of your concerns that I have received via email in regards to my recovery.
First, thank you for all the emails and comments! I love reading each and every single one.
1. Your training plan does not leave enough time to recover.
I realize that my training plan is an ESTIMATE. I don’t know how long truly it is going to take me to come back from my injury, but I put together a plan to give me something to focus on. If it takes me 3-4 weeks before I can cross train then that’s how it will go. I won’t begin cross training until I no longer have ANY sort of pain in my leg. I hope that it will be here in another week or so, but if it isn’t then that is OK. I will be listening to my body and going slow I PROMISE. The last thing I want to do at this point is do anything that will hurt my body.
The only way I will have a chance of being ready for a May 2014 marathon is to go slow and completely recover form this stress fracture before I begin running again.
2. You should have seen this coming.
This is the comment I get the most in emails. I want to give my opinion on this a little bit, for what it is worth at least.
In August as most of you know, I lost my job. I was averaging at this point about 45-50 miles per week. At this point I was really struggling emotionally and decided to use running as my focus and outlet. I had already made the decision of my goal to qualify for Boston, but I saw this as an opportunity to really focus on this dream.
These pictures were taken the day I lost my job (left) and the day I knew something was wrong with my leg (right).
I went in too fast. My husband warned me several times, but I was so mentally and emotionally drained from all that happened that I didn’t listen. (Yes babe, you were right!) He will love that. Running gave me an outlet and a joy that I needed, but I didn’t go about it the right way. I jumped from 45-50 miles per week to over 80. I tried to cut it down after my hip issue, but even running 70-75 miles per week was too much of a jump too quickly and wasn’t much of a cut down.
High mileage is not typically what injures people. I fully agree with this statement. The thing with high mileage is you need to be running most of the miles EASY. VERY easy. You should not be running high mileage with a lot of speed work thrown in. I knew I had to get faster and I knew I need to increase my base – why I decided to do both of these at the same time I will never know. Looking back on it now I realize it was stupid, but at the time all I could think about was running and becoming even better.
Yes, I have learned my lesson. I am mad at myself that it took a stress fracture to teach me that lesson. I don’t think I can ever fully explain what running gave me during that first month or so of unemployment, but now that I have had time to think more realistically I see I went about it wrong. I know and realize that this injury was fully caused by my mistakes.
3. How are you going to change things when you come back?
The process of re-introducing running is going to be a slow slow process. I have to use what I am learning from my mistakes and come back even better.
I will start out slow VERY slow and will stick to mostly soft ground in the beginning.
After I am fully recovered (yes, I have no idea how long this will be TOTALLY) I will work on my base. That means easy miles and VERY little if any speed work.
I will re-introduce speed work back in after a couple months. When I re-introduce speed work into my schedule I will cut back my miles.
I will continue to focus on my core strength and make sure to do ab work at least 3 times per week.
That is what I have for now. It is constantly changing and honestly by the time I get to the point where I am running again, I will be able to see how my body is responding. A very big key to my comeback is making sure I am listening to my body.
Again, thank you for all your comments and emails! Keep them coming! I love reading every single one.
What would you like to see on the blog in October? I love getting requests for posts from my readers!
Any big plans in October? Running any races? Brag a little!!
Great post! I’m in rest/recovery period right now as well. Still healing my IT band. I now haven’t run in a month and it actually went by really fast. Best of luck and love your positive outlook! 🙂 If I’m feeling crazy (and I’m healed) I might run a half at the end of October.
That is awesome!!
What did you use to make the time go by so quickly? I have a feeling this month will go by quicker just because we have a bunch of traveling on the schedule.
Glad you are at the end of your recovery!! 🙂
Great job keeping things in perspective and being able to learn from your mistakes! I can totally relate to the feeling of NEEDING to run as an emotional outlet and overdoing it at times 🙂
Glad I am not the only one 🙂
Thanks for your support! I know I’ve made mistakes, now it is time to pick myself up and move on from here!
Good to read you are going to be cautious! I sprained my foot (yeah, that’s a thing you can do, it turns out) last November and kept trying to run it on earlier in the healing process than I should have. All I accomplished was setting things back so it took 2 weeks longer to heal than it should have. Don’t be me!
We all live and learn 🙂
I have learned an important lesson, instead of dwelling on it I am going to just move on!
Thankfully my injury hurt so bad there was no way I could run, otherwise I probably would have been just like you and kept trying to run on it. Which like you said would have just delayed the whole process!
Looks like you are doing everything right. Just as you stated, listen to your body and you will be back to running before you know it. Keep up the good work. 🙂
Thank you! I really appreciate it 🙂
You should have seen this coming?!? Really?!? Certainly we all know the dangers as runners and do our best to avoid injury. And you are very upfront that you pushed things as a release from your job situation and the stress related to all that. But being told you should have seen it coming seems a bit cold and dismissive.
I do think – like you say – that learning from this is critical. Not just for this recovery, but in the future, for running and everything else!
Yes I have gotten a couple emails saying that very thing, and you know what that’s OK! I understand where people can see “she was running all these miles, doing hard speed workouts – HOW can she expect not to get injured!?”
I just wanted to address so everyone understands where I was coming from. I am the first to admit that I made mistakes, and I am not ashamed of it. I am just going to pick myself up and strive to be a better runner from here on out!
So much in life is live and learn – no reason in being overly hard on myself. I just learn from it!
I LOVE your attitude! So objective to subjective comments! We all live and learn. Thanks for being so honest. You are definitely one of my favorite bloggers!
Aww you are so sweet! Thank you 🙂
We do live and learn. I have learned an important lesson, and am determined to do things the right way! No matter how long this journey may take.
I focused on other stuff in my life, which was tough at first because running was #1, but I started focusing on my diet – healthy living – time with my husband and dogs, doing workout videos. I’m sure your time will fly by with all your traveling 🙂
I’ve been there, I had a stress fracture in my tibia and I played a full season of basketball in college on it. I never let it heal and it came back my next season during volleyball. Now it’s back again, it hurts and my marathon is in two weeks. I will finish even if my leg snaps in two. So learn from me to let that thing heal fully or you will be dealing with issues for a very very long time.
Oh wow! I’m so sorry! I hope your leg holds out and you are able to do awesome in your marathon!
Yes, I am trying to make sure I get a full recovery so I can come back even better! Good luck again in your marathon!!!
Wow! I can’t believe people are emailing that you should have seen it coming! That’s a bit harsh. I see it that you were trying to deal with a very stressful situation, and when human beings need to cope, we just do whatever we can. Enjoy your October travel and good luck for the interview!!
Yes it was a shock at first, but it’s okay! I can see where people can feel that way.
We live and we learn right? THANK YOU! 🙂
Kudos for you for addressing these emails so professionally! I love that you’re learning from this experience and I know you’ll come back stronger!
I really hope so! I am trying to learn as much as I can! Time will tell – but I know in the end I will become better from this!
I admire how high you have held you head through this whole process. I know I wouldn’t have been able to handle it all with such grace. I only hope that if and when I face another injury I can be as strong as you are.
It sounds like you have a lot of exciting things coming up to keep you distracted!
You are SO sweet! I have tried my best, though it hasn’t always been pretty! I have a ways to go but hopefully I can try to keep it up!
Yes October should be a good month! Looking forward to many things!
I vote for the Cleveland marathon! The 5k that is a part of the Cleveland marathon weekend is the first 5k I ever did, and holds a special place in my heart!
Also, good luck on your phone interview next week!!
Awesome! I am actually pulling for Cleveland (assuming I am fully healed and ready). It is also flatter than Pittsburgh so if I am going from a BQ – I think that will help me a little bit!
Thank you!! 🙂
First of all, I just want to give you a HUGE HUG!!!!!!!
I really hope that all the people telling you ‘you should have seen this coming’ go STEP ON A LEGO!! Seriously; you’re not a novice and you don’t need people to give unsolicited, unnecessary, uncalled for, ugly comments!
Injuries SUCK, but the amazing thing is how they can be used to work really beautiful things inside and outside. You WILL come back a stronger, better, faster, smarter runner post-injury because it will show you and teach you things you never knew before.
Keep your chin up, girlfriend! You’re amazing and don’t forget it!! xoxo
Awww thank you so much for putting a smile on my face this morning! You are awesome!
That sure is my goal. I am trying to learn all that I can this morning and begun stronger from this! I made mistakes yes, but there were so many other factors that went into this. I am trying to hold my head up and keeping moving forward 🙂
Thank you so much again!!
I can definitely understand #2. I’ve fortunately still got my job, but it’s been a high stress year or so I think, and I ramped up my mileage about the same way: 45-50 mpw at the start of the year, into the 60s & 70s over the summer, hit 80 the week I wound up w/ an ankle tendon problem (late August). My DH warned me too, but the sanity and feeling of control and accomplishment (not to mention the mileage monster in my head/log) was just too appealing. Fortunately, I’ve been able to get back to running lower mileage in the last few weeks. Pool running was what kept me sane until walking/biking were possible alternatives. I highly recommend pool running if you have access. (our local high schools are open to residents, for a fee) Think your plan is a good one. Stay smart, get stronger, take care of yourself physically and mentally. Going from high mileage to nothing is tough physically, emotionally and biochemically/hormonally – like taking away an addict’s substance of choice. Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Wishing you the best and a quick recovery.
I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one who has done this! 🙂 I love that you said you kept doing it for a sense of control and accomplishment! You hit the nail on the head! I was finally controlling something when my life was feeling like it was spinning out of control!
I am definitely going to be doing water running! It is going to be something new to me, but I have heard great things and I really think it will help me in the long run!
Thank you for the encouragement! It is great to know someone else has been there.
You will get there. I like that you have a plan to focus on. Just listen to your body and keep your goals flexible. YOU WILL GET THERE!
Thank you Toni! 🙂
I am really impressed by this post! It takes a lot of guts to admit when you screwed up big time… and I can imagine it’s even more difficult to publicly admit all that. You are clearly very self aware, and I commend you for such an insightful blog post. Way to go girl! We’ve all done stupid things when it comes to running… been there, done that. And I paid the price of dropping out of my goal marathon at mile 3, tearing my meniscus, and being sidelined from running for 4 months. Guess we all have to learn the hard way, huh? And I think that all runners can completely sympathize with the sentiment of using running as an outlet when life gets rough. Again, we’ve all been there, done that. But you’re smart enough to recognize what went wrong, and you’ll be able to stop it from happening again. You have an AWESOME attitude about all this… I was a hot mess when I had a long term running injury.
I read running blogs all the time, but never ever post unless something really strikes a chord with me. I just thought that you deserve some major kudos for putting this out there. And I just wanted to say that I can tell you are going to come back strong and I see a BQ in your future. Best of luck!
Jordon thank you so much!!! This really means a lot to me you have no idea!
We all live and we learn. We make mistakes. I am human just like the rest of the world, and what makes you a better runner is how you pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and move on from here! I am working my best to do that! Everyone (well most everyone) has been so supportive and I love that! I can understand where from an outsider looking in it is obvious to see the mistakes I was making. It is just hard to explain from my perspective what my mind was thinking. I am glad I was able to try and explain it the best I can.
Thank you so much again!! and thank you for reading! 🙂