Foretelling the Weather?

Knock on wood I’ve never broken a bone apart from a fractured nose when I was a kid (I fainted and hit my nose on my bedside table when I was pretty young).  I remember reading The Babysitters Club and one of the characters falls off a swing and breaks her leg.  From then on her leg aches whenever the weather changes.

Image via goodreads.com

Just over five years ago I decided that after years of not running I wanted to train for a marathon that was five months away.  Guess what?  It was too much too soon and I developed a stress fracture in my right ankle.  Since then I’ve noticed that my right ankle gets achy when there is a shift in the weather.  Kind of weird, eh?  Now that I’m essentially starting at zero and trying to get back into running regularly I need to be really aware of not doing too much too soon.  I’m a little paranoid about hurting that same ankle again….so no speed work and no hills until I’m fully back up to snuff!

Yesterday my ankle was so achy!!  Every once in awhile I took a look at it…any swelling?  What have I been doing…have I overdone it?  How would it feel the next day?  Is the weather changing or is there something else going on?  Thankfully I woke up this morning and my ankle was back to normal and it was grey and drizzly out.  Ah ha, the weather had shifted from sunny and warm to fall-like.

So the ankle is all good but it is a good reminder to really keep my running build in check to avoid injury.  Have you every had a stress fracture before, and do you notice if it is sensitive to the weather even years after healing?

A blustery, thoughtful 5 mile run inspired by crazy dreams

Yup...well...tonight my time management skills were not their sharpest again. Truthfully they were off to a rough start from the get go when I attempted to take the train in to work for about the third time this month (I've been spoiling myself by driving in during my quest to start work at 6 am for most of this month). I got to Dalhousie station at 6:38 am and there were no parking spots left. Rather than driving to the next station to park and arriving late I opted to suck up the $17 to park near my building and arrive on time. So anyhow....needless to say I didn't run with the Roadrunners tonight, so I was on my own. I decided to head out to Edgemont since it was close enough to arrive and finish running before dark. I wasn't feeling the crazy hills at the start of where I normally run though so I started a bit further on. This pathway is pretty quiet so my thoughts really start to wander normally. On a blustery night like this one it was even more quiet than usual, so it made for some interesting thinking throughout the run. I was remembering a recent post by No Wetsuit Girl that you have to read - but really she referenced an older post of hers about some of the crazy race inspired dreams she was having at the time that was leading my thinking. (You should read both posts if you haven't already...they are really good.) I've been having crazy running nightmares recently - mostly involving waking up in the morning and looking down at my right ankle and seeing it swollen into a heartbreaking cankle. I start hyperventilating because the Nike Half Marathon is a month away, and I'm just starting to train for the Goofy and this can't be happening to me... I'll put it in words now and say my ankle at times feels funny even now, although I know it is mental over anything else. I'm guessing the nightmares come from a certain amount of anxiety that I feel about starting to train for the Goofy because for as strong as I feel on some of my back to back runs, running that often still worries me. I ran a grand total of 92.17 miles last year over a period of about 2-1/2 months that resulted in a stress fracture. So far this year I have run 464.83 miles... I know I wasn't in a place where I probably should have attempted marathon training and that things are different now, but I guess I still have that deep seated worry in the back of my brain that creeps into my subconscious while I sleep. When I was looking at starting up running again last fall I walked into a Running Room store to talk to them about their group training programs to get some more information. I told the fellow behind the counter how I was recovering from an injury and I wasn't sure if I should try the 10K training group or not since marathon training really hadn't gone so well. He made an important point that the biggest thing about coming back from an injury is the mental aspect of it, and having to trust yourself a bit that you aren't going to go back out there and get injured right away if you are smart about it. Sometimes I think I'm there, but I guess the dreams indicate that I still need to learn to trust myself a bit more. Maybe one of these days I'll go back to having the non-running related dreams like where I show up to school but I've forgotten that I'm actually supposed to be back at school and I have no books and I don't even know where my classes are. Except I've been out of school for over six years now. Right....I think that will get an interpretation at another time....

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Anyhow, back to the fact that I ran tonight... Since I was attempting to beat the incoming storm and the impending darkness I only went out for 5 miles. I took my new Asics Gel Kayano 13s out for a spin to see how I liked them. I wasn't intending to put these in the rotation just yet since I've got a pair of green 2110s with 160 miles on them, and a brand new pair of pink 2110s that recently just came out of the box. I'm not loving the pink 2110s as much as my green pair though, so I'd like to see how I feel about the Kayanos in case I'd like to pick up a second pair for the tail end of my Goofy training and races. Truthfully I wonder if I don't love the pink shoes because they are pink....and for as much running in skirts as I do I'm not much of a girly girl and these shoes just scream girly girl to me. So far I like the Kayanos so we'll see where they go (plus they are orange...not pink). Oh....and the 5 miles went well.

R.I.P. - Leana's Blue Asics GT-2100s

This afternoon I made it back safe and sound from Red Deer so I was able to get my super quickie run in before BBC tonight (2 mi to be exact). As we were supposed to be pretty close to Confederation Park I opted to hit the pathway there and run through Queen's Park Cemetery. Honestly the rest of the pathways through Confederation Park are sort of ho hum on the excitement scale, but the short clip through the cemetery is always interesting. It is super quiet, and a little bit eerie. Sometimes I wonder if people take offense to there being a bike/jogging path right through the middle of it. It is, however, a pretty spot and I like the quietness of it for a little bit of reflection. Part of today's reflection was over the life of the somewhat dirty and blue Asics GT-2100s on my feet. I've been faithfully tracking the mileage on them and know that they are nearing retirement age. But I didn't think they were there yet. Earlier this month I started noting shin pain down on most occasions when I ran in them, but the pain would always subside after a bit. Today both shins hurt, the knees hurt, the arches hurt...and I realize I have been running a lot, but I'm pretty sure I can attribute this to my shoes above all else. So at 263 miles it is time for the Asics GT-2100s to put in for early retirement for leisurely walks with the dogs and trips to the supermarket and nights of bingo. (OK, maybe not bingo, I'd have to go to bingo for the shoes to go to bingo.) These are the first ever shoes that I was fitted for and purchased at a running store - thank you Roger Soler's Sports in San Antonio - and they were the first shoes I tried on that day. I bought them one week before my ankle turned into a cankle and I found out about my stress fracture. They waited patiently for the days when they could see the pavement and the sunny skies and I was ready to return to running. They saw me through the CIBC Run for the Cure, the St. Patrick's Day 10K, the Go Red for Women 5K, the Minnie Marathon 15K and countless training runs. They were good sneakers.

5 sunny miles, and a volunteer position

Last night I got out for my 5 miler at Shouldice. It was nice and sunny out, a little bit warm, but overall not too bad. The run felt really good, and I was surprised at how speedy my final miles were. Tomorrow I think I'm going to hit the hills again. Tonight I am procrastinating on some weight lifting, but hopefully I'll get to that soon!

I decided to volunteer for the HBC Run for Canada on Canada Day this Sunday. I walked this one with three friends last year at their event in Vancouver. (It was a walk instead of a run since I found out just a few days earlier that I had developed a stress fracture in my right ankle....oops.) I really enjoyed the event and would have loved to participate again this year, but with a 10 miler planned for the weekend, and my half marathon next weekend I wasn't sure that this was the best time to go all out and do a 10K, plus tack on the extra mileage. And I'm sure I would go all out, regardless! So instead I volunteered, because I have certainly appreciated the volunteers on all of my races, and I thought it would be great to give that energy back. I'll be working one of the water stops. And check out the volunteer shirts we get....pretty neat, eh? I figure it is a great way to kick off Canada Day.

BBC Fitness Assessment

This morning I had my fitness assessment for Bikini Boot Camp. I signed up to get some new cross training into my workout, and boy, did I pick the right class! I met my instructor and we started going through my paperwork, where of course you have to mention any injuries you've had. We started talking about my stress fracture from last year, and how it developed when I started to train for a full marathon, the Nike Women's in San Francisco. Turns out my instructor was the TNT coach in Calgary for that event last year, and this year she is training with a group to return and run again. How great to meet some people that will be there for the event as well!

I learned some interesting things today. First off, I'm doing not too badly on the fitness scale! (Not sure why I'm surprised about this, I have been working really hard. I am still not good at "man" push ups though, but I have been assured that this will change.) Secondly, she had a look at my shoes and how I was standing. She could tell I'm not striking off on my right foot properly, and that I'll have to work and pay attention to my form, or else I may be susceptible to IT band issues. Apparently it is really common for women since we have weaker hips, and a lot of hip stability exercises are going to be built into the boot camp workouts. Excellent! She also suggested I start using a foam roller on a regular basis. And of course she suggested to keep going with hill training for San Francisco, but to start incorporating fatigue or speed training to help out with Goofy. Oh, and she also mentioned yoga being a great addition. Good thing I'm going for that 3 hour "yoga for runners" workshop tomorrow..!!

Class starts the second week of July and lasts for 8 weeks. I'm really excited about it. I think I'm going to get a lot out of it to help improve my running.