Back at it

Guess what! I ran yesterday and today... pain free! Granted they were both super short distances... yesterday I did 3.5 miles and today I did 2 directly after crossfit.

Though these distances aren't huge, I'm really happy that I feel like I'm in a place to start training again. Speaking of training, next week begins my MARATHON TRAINING. dun dun dun. I went with Hal Higdon's website for ideas since I've used him in the past for halfs with success. I'm going with the 18 week Novice 2 plan. The Novice I is also for beginners, but that plan makes me feel like a wimp. Then I looked at the Intermediate, and though I think I could handle the mileage, I know I wouldn't be able to balance is with other crosstraining (crossfit/yoga/etc).


To kick off this grand training plan, I have a half marathon is weekend. HAHA. seriously. I haven't run more than 10 miles in a week in quite a few weeks due to a variety of issues. Here's to hoping crossfit is all you need to train for a race like that... heh....



Other great news, our puppy was born today! A few months ago we found a corgi breeder in New Hampshire who was having a litter. We sent in a down payment and we've been anxiously waiting ever sinnce. We get to go pick out the pup in 4 weeks and then take em home 4 weeks after that. We have yet to decide on a name though....

Though i don't care that no one reads this blog, sometimes it'd be cool to have readers to help me with questions. Like, have you ever run a half marathon with no training at all? And more importantly, what would you name a corgi puppy?

My Achilles Heel

Hello! So, latest update on my running life: I'm injured again. SURPRISE!

Since last Friday, the muscles around my achilles tendon have felt irritated. It's not the tendon itself, but more like the soft areas between the tendon and the ankle. They started to bother me after crossfit last Friday. On Saturday I went for a 2 mile run, and that's when it really started to feel weird. Both heels hurt too, which I thought was even weirder.

(image source)

I'm pretty sure the culprit is double unders and not running. We've been doing them a lot in crossfit. I've never really done any sports that involved much jumping so I can only imagine that my form isn't as good as it could be. I also thought that maybe my running shoes were getting to the end of their shelf life (I've trained for and run 2 half marathons in them since last August when I bought them...). 

Buying new shoes was my first attempt at fixing my problem. Ta da!

 I've running Brooks Trance for a few years now and I love them. This time around I upgraded to the latest version, the Trance 12 (before I wore the Trance 10). They feel SUPER comfy and I have no achilles pain at all when walking in them. 

On Monday, I tested them out for their first run- 3 miles around Jamaica Plain. During the run I felt pretty good (probably a 2 on the pain scale but still small irritation), but once I stopped the problem area got super sore. I decided to make a doctor's appointment for Tuesday to make sure I wasn't tearing anything that could turn into a bigger problem.

The doctor confirmed that I hadn't torn the Achilles (YAY!), but that there was definitely some inflammation. He referred me to a physical therapist to work on some stretching and icing techniques, and that is where I went today.

The physical therapist pretty helpful I guess. She basically showed me a bunch of calf and ankle stretches that I am already familiar with from yoga and crossfit. An interesting discover though was that my right ankle is much tighter than my left for some reason. When I went to a deep tissue massage last week, the massage therapist told me that the right side of my back was also more developed than my left. I guess I need to work  on better overall balance!

Anyways, I'm taking the next few days off from running. The PT gave me a list of stretches and icing techniques to do at home. On Sunday I'll try out a run and see how it goes. If it still hurts, she strongly suggested that I sit out of next weekend's half marathon, especially since I have bigger goals of running a marathon in October.

OOF. 

What a month

I'm back! Blogging about running has fallen to the wayside a bit for me this month, and this is not because I haven't had anything to say. I've actually had more to say than ever.

This has been a very long and tough month for Boston, but we are getting better. Tomorrow is the one month anniversary of the 2013 Boston Marathon.

I've also been traveling. Bill and I went to St Thomas for a week!

Anyways, this won't be a full post, just want to write this as inspiration for me to start posting regularly again.


John Kelley half is in two weeks. My heel/achilles is aching bad. If it's not one weird injury it's another right?


Better post later tonight!