Alive

I am not a good sick person - I hate not feeling well, I hate having to 'try' to rest, I hate not being able to exercise - so I am happy that I seem to have turned the corner on this cold. I still have some semblance of a cough but nothing like it was last week. This week's focus is to continue hydrating and get.some.sleep. Last night was probably the most sleep (6 hrs) I have had in over a week so I need to make up for it this week.

Yesterday was the Grimsby Half Marathon and 5km race. Some of our group ran the half and the husband raced in the 5km.

He rocked it. 21:45 and 3rd place in his age group - and that is with a huge wind and terrible footing to boot.

Kudos to the rest of our group that ran the half. It was really difficult because of the snow and wind. I appreciate their sacrifice to the weather gods and hope it is enough to give us good weather for next week's Chilly Half Marathon.

Yes.......7 days until my half........I haven't worked out in a week and am still not 100% healthy. I am still going to give it my all but I may need to treat the race as more of a training run instead of a race. If that is the case, then I can truly push myself at the Around the Bay race at the end of March.

In any case, no excuses for not giving it my all...

The Sickness Diet

Cold water
Hot water
Buckley's
Benelyn
OJ
Gingerale
Soup
Kleenex
echinacea
Vitamins
tea
fruit popsicles
gargling with salt water
zinc lozenges, Fisherman's Friend lozenges, Cepacol lozenges
no sleep
some sleep
Advil

....all to no avail.
Does coughing count as a core workout?

Mz Sick

Dammit I hate being sick. I seriously cannot remember that last time I had a cold, flu or anything of the like. Apparently, I am getting paid back in spades as I am really not well at all. I have thrown everything I can think of at it - water, OJ, vitamins, zinc, echinacea, Advil - to no avail. I finally had to break down and get some actual OTC meds which I reallllly hate taking but I need some relief.
Hopefully this will leave as fast as it came on. It is hard to remember that just a few days ago, I was out enjoying the sun on my 22km Sunday run.
The Chilly half is less than 2 weeks away. I hope I am not jinxing it but according to the really long term forecast, the weather might actually be nice for race day.
I may need it as the thought of walking a few steps let along running 21.1 km is incomprehensible...
Me a sucky sick person? Never....

Sunday's LSD - Sunshine and smiles

What a great run on Sunday! There was sunshine, a multitude of runners, no snow, a slight chill in the air and church bells to boot.
Our long run was geared towards our full marathon team that will be running the Around the Bay race. They did the full route (30km) while my half team was going to do 22km. We met at City Hall in Hamilton and took off from there. For our 22km, we went from City Hall to Bay, York Road to Valley Inn Road (Hill route again!), Plains Road to Northshore Drive to Burlington Golf Course and back. It was a beautiful day to run with the sun shining and great views. On the way back, I was struggling a bit - a blister for the first time! - but when I hit Plains Road, the local Church had their bell pealing which was really nice to hear. I took it as a sign to move my butt so I did.
All in all, a great run and makes me feel a bit better about the upcoming Chilly Half in less than 2 weeks.

Wee-Hoo, What a Run!

After a seriously painful ART session, I went out for our group tempo run.  It was one of the best ones I have had yet.  I kept almost the same pace for the whole 6.5km ... and a pretty fast pace as well.  It is amazing what you can do when you can actually have full range of motion in your hip flexors.  The nice weather also helped but yet again I didn't trust it was was overdressed. I am a slow learner as far as this goes apparently. 

ART was really painful.  He was finally able to get at the actual nerve in my hip area and went to work on it.  Even he knew how much it would hurt and he usually just tells me to suck it up.  (in a good way of course)  I will not take this for granted and will keep on icing and stretching as much as possible.  The Chilly Half Marathon will be more of a training run I fear but that is ok.  I will give it my all and my best - I can't ask for more than that at this point. 

 - if you didn't tear up when Dane cried at the end of BL last night, I pity your black, black heart.

With running, sometimes you take what you can....

My hip is still bothering me but I am going everything I can to help it including:

• stretching
• icing
• using evil things like foam roallers to loosen my IT bands
• knowing when to say: "this run is done".

This is a big thing for me. I am so in the mindset of ensuring I get the mileage in that I will push and push to the point where it is no longer a quality run but just slogging along.
Sunday was supposed to be a 21km lsd. I spent every walk break (10 min running, 1 min walking) going into an IT band stretch and into a 'fencer's stretch' for both legs. I did some funny looks from the cars along Lakeshore Road but I don't care anymore. It helped to keep it as loose as it can be right now but there was still pain. I made the turn at 10km and actually started to feel a bit better. It was finally a nice day (though a bit of black ice) and other than my leg I feel good. At 15km, I could hear my feet starting to scuff as I ran and I knew that my form was way off so I decided to call it a day. I was disappointed but it was the smart thing to do.

In the words of Homer J Simpson: "I am so smart - S.M.R.T...I mean S.M.A.R.T."

Last night of hill training...and guess what??

It was -25 degrees! Big surprise. Next week when we don't have them, it will probably be nice. I am so grateful and thankful to the 6 people from our club who acted as spotters for us on our route. The road was seriously busy and there is no way I would have done that route on my own.
I could only manage 3 full repeats as my leg (psoas) was bothering me by the end. It seems like I can get through 5 km ok but then it really starts to hurt. I have no 'off' button right now as I am paranoid about missing a training run or mileage. I have another ART appointment this afternoon so I need to get more info from him as to if I should keep running, take time off etc. I did do yoga last night that focused on psoas, IT band etc. and that felt pretty good so I am going to keep with that.
Bye Bye Hills.....until next time I am feeling masochistic.

Active Release and the art of bruises

Oh my...I am going to have some dandy bruises on my leg I can already tell. I was able to get in for an appointment this morning and I am glad I did. I had a stretched nerve in my psoas and because of this my IT band was extremely tight as it was trying to overcompensate.

What is your psoas? The psoas originates on the lumbar spine, travels over the front of the pelvis and inserts on the femur. It is the only muscle which directly connects the core with the legs. Most muscles go core to pelvis or pelvis to legs.
What does it do? Helps to flex your hip as it draws the legs towards your trunk.


Because of a nerve being pinched, it caused my hip flexor and IT band to try to overcompensate and everything stiffened up in a nutshell. Because the psoas also connects into your lower back, my back was also out of alignment...by a lot so that needed adjusting as well. Basically, my body was way off. Just all the more reason that stretching alone after a run just isn't enough for me.
Seriously, ART (active release) works but it hurts. I am no princess but there was some serious interior swearing going on.
AND I get to back on Thursday for more. Yeah!

20 km and a Beautiful Day

Mother Nature finally came through yesterday...sunshine, wind at our backs at the end of the run and no snow. What a beautiful day so I hope everyone was able to enjoy it in some form.
Mine was in the form of a 20 km lsd. My usual running partner wasn't there so I was on my own. It was fine. I actually listened to some podcasts which I don't usually do but really enjoyed it actually. I felt really good for the first 15km. A bit too hot as it was hard to figure out what to wear but all in all good. The last 5km were a struggle. I have been having some hip flexor/groin pain over the last few weeks but it flared up in a big way at the end of the run. My last 3km were 2 min slower than all the other kms as I had to walk a lot more. Otherwise, I felt really good.
Which is a good thing as the Chilly 1/2 marathon is in 28 days. Yikes....
I am going to book an appt for ART (active release technique) to figure out what is going on as my IT band is sore as well.
What is ART?
Active Release Techniques (ART) are a set of manual therapies designed to treat fascial and soft tissue injuries, as well as releasing nerve entrapments and enhancing circulation. This treatment acts to break up scar tissue formed by the body's natural healing responses to muscle injuries. ART techniques act to realign fascia and muscle fibres through manual techniques and active movements of specific structures. ART is applied to fascia, muscles, tendons and ligaments to restore soft-tissue function, structure and range of motion as well as decreasing the pain caused by the injury.

Basically, it really hurts and works. :)