Back to Running

It has been awhile since my last entry, I'll try to catch up. I went to see the sports doctor Monday morning, he gave me the OK to get back out and running, but he said that I need to start short and increase by 10% a week. Importantly, he said, I need to be really in tune with how my body reacts, so I have to ditch my iPod for awhile, but I can go out. So this morning I ran about 5k, not sure how many miles that is.

I still have physical therapy where I have been working my control muscles. I don't think i have explained that yet. The physical therapist has observed that from crew my power muscles are well developed, but the control/balance muscles are too weak in comparison, so I can go for a run without exhaustion but as I run the little control muscles just cope less and less and eventually they have issues, so I was likely to injure myself. So I have been stretching them, and working them in many different ways, from hip inductors, to contortion positions that are really tiring, I have been strengthening the small muscles to reduce my risk of injury.

Also, talking with the doctor and physical therapist, training for a full marathon in the time that I have would be really likely to cause another injury, so I am looking at running the Lake Placid Half Marathon.

Physical Therapy

I went to physical therapy on Friday, not fun. The lady never told me her name and she was very confused as to how my body musculature was developed; I have well developed main muscles in my legs, but not strong "weak" control muscles. This is because I row, which takes a lot of leg power and no control like side to side motion from the legs. She also was very unsatisfied with my flexibility, so she feels that if i had not injured myself in the way that I had, that i would've injured myself somehow. She feels that I will be running in a few weeks, but not able to complete a marathon safely. She likes the idea of an undertaking on the Erg; marathon or 100k. I will be going back to physical therapy twice a week to work on flexibility and control muscles. She also advised that in the meantime I can bike, which I did on my smexy Fuji Roubaix 2.0 from last year. pictured below:

I have a report on the ride, but I cannot access it on a school computer as I must log in through Facebook, which these computers do not allow.

Day Two of Medication

Besides a fairly upset stomach, I'm feeling pretty good right now. However, yesterday I made some dietary mess-ups; I forgot to eat lunch, because I was stressing and cramming for a Calc test. But I ended up eating my lunch just before bed last night. What I ate:
2 eggs - 199 cal
1 cup skim milk - 83 cal
2 servings grapes - 124 cal
2 slices of bread - 180 cal
1 serving Nutella - 200 cal
1 easymac - 240 cal
1 spinach salad w/ dressing - 120 cal
2 cups chocolate milk - 440 cal
a few oreos - 160 cal

total of 1746 cal
Well. Thats less that yesterday. And its about half of what I should be eating daily.

Does anyone have any tips on how to double my daily food intake?

Day One of Medcation

When the doctor goes over the symptoms, and says that they only happen to about 10%, there is a percent that has all the symptoms. I have been high-energy, irritable, and my stomach has hurt all day. Unfortunately this last symptom is the worst, as it has decreased my food intake, which needs to increase.

So what I ate,
2 eggs - 199 calories
3 servings of grapes - 186 calories
1 glass of skim milk - 83 calories
4 slices of bread - 360 calories
1 serving of nutella - 200 calories
3 slices ham - 135 calories
2 slices turkey - 80 calories
1 slices cheese - 80 calories
3 clif bars - 720 calories

Total - 2043 calories

So I think it goes without saying, but that is a few shy of the 3500 calories. So tomorrow I nned to go out of my way to eat more.

Inflamed Tendon

Dr. Veigel told me, today, that my injury to my foot is an inflamed tendon. He has me taking some anti- inflammatory for the next week. It is called Methylprednisolone, the literature that came with it says that it is a crtcosteroid, so it works by modifying the body's immune response to various conditions, and decreasing inflammation. Along with this, he suggested that I increase my daily caloric intake to about 3500-4000 calories each day. So this next week will really be blogs about my research into my injury, the medication, and keeping track of my food and drink. With this type of injury, the best case is that I will be running two weeks from now, with physical training. I am talking to the physical therapist tomorrow, but it looks like I may not be able to run a marathon in June, as a back-up I can train to erg either a marathoon or a 100k along with healing my foot, and running.

Foot Issues

It has been awhile. A lot has happened, and nothing has happened.

On Monday I went to a sports doctor at Island Fitness; Cayuga Sports Medicine, as my foot had still be paining me. They asked questions, poked prodded, x-rayed and the conclusion was inconclusive. Here is the print out of the visit:

I'm not sure if you'll be able to read these, but my diagnosis is a stress injury at the 5th metatarsal. This is one of the little bones in the foot, basically if you trace the bone structure from the small toe on my right foot, next to my arch is where the pain is.

     The doctor said that he cannot tell from the x-ray where it is coming from, but that if it is on the half of the bone closest to the heel, that would take a month or two in a cast/boot for it to heal, and if it is on the half closer to the toes, it'll heal within a week or so. So to get a better idea he ordered an MRI.

     I had the MRI on Tuesday morning. MRIs are not fun. You are laid down on a bed, and rolled into a tube where there are really loud repetitive noises for about 45 minutes. I left with such a splitting headache that I didn't go to school. 

     So I have another appointment at Cayuga Sports Medicine to hear the results of the MRI and talk over the next step with the Doctor. In the meantime I was told not to run, but that I could continue crew practice, as it is not an impact on the foot. However yesterday, Saturday, at crew we were playing two-hand touch rugby, and I... uh.. may have played with everyone else, and after about a half hour of running I was in pretty bad foot pain. 

     That doesn't bode well for my project. I have been talking to people, coaches and friends about alternatives to running a marathon, and it seems my next best option is to erg (rowing machine) a marathon. While I would prefer to run the marathon, I don't like foot pain, and I need to let my body heal.

    More to come after my appointment tomorrow, I will really know if I can continue with this project as is, or if I will have to change direction.

Researching a Marathon Plan

So I haven't posted much recently, because I haven't been on any runs since last sunday. This is not to say i haven't continued cross-training, but I haven't run. My foot has been in a bad way. About Thursday or Friday, it stopped being painful with each step, but it still hurt overall, and now it is closest too... sore... I am going in to see a sports doctor about it, and hopefully he will be able to tell me what happened, and what I can do to avoid it happening again.
So I just remembered that we are supposed to find the results of our research on our blog. Here are the links to the marathon training plans that I have found and will take to Mrs. Gray and we will work out a plan for me.
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--6946-2-3X5X7-4,00.html

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
1*	Rest	4 miles, including 4:00 TUT	Rest	1-hour run	Rest	4 miles	6 miles	15-16 miles
2	Rest	4 miles, including 4:00 TUT	Rest	1-hour run	Rest	4 miles	7 miles	15-16 miles
3	Rest	4 miles, including 5:00 TUT	Rest	6 miles	Rest	Rest	8 miles	18-19 miles
4	Rest	4 miles, including 5:00 TUT	Rest	6 miles	Rest	Rest	9 miles	18-19 miles
5	Rest	4 miles, including 3x2:00 AI	Rest	4 miles	Rest	5-K race	6-8 miles	19-21 miles
6	Rest	5 miles, including 6:00 TUT	Rest	7 miles	Rest	Rest	10 miles	22-24 miles
7	Rest	5 miles, including 6:00 TUT	Rest	7 miles	Rest	Rest	12 miles	22-24 miles
8	Rest	5 miles, including 7:00 TUT	Rest	8 miles	Rest	Rest	12 miles	25-27 miles
9	Rest	5 miles, including 7:00UTUT	Rest	8 miles	Rest	Rest	14miles	25-27 miles
10	Rest	5 miles, including 3x3:00 AI	Rest	4 miles	Rest	10-K race	5 miles	24 miles
11	Rest	5 miles, including 8:00 TUT	Rest	9 miles	Rest	Rest	16 miles	30-32 miles
12	Rest	5 miles, including 8:00 TUT	Rest	9 miles	Rest	Rest	18 miles	30-32 miles
13	Rest	5 miles, including 9:00 TUT	Rest	10 miles	Rest	4 miles	20 miles	39 miles
14	Rest	5 miles, including 9:00 TUT	Rest	10 miles	Rest	4 miles	10 miles	29 miles
15	Rest	3 miles, including 3X3:00 AI	Rest	5 miles	Rest	3 miles, including 3x2:00 AI	5 miles	16 miles
16	Rest	3 miles, Including 3x2:00 AI	Rest	3-mile jog	Rest	2-mile jog	Marathon

Definitions

Aerobic Intervals (AI): Timed repetitions (of 2:00 to 3:00 minutes) slightly faster than your normal training pace--enough to make you breathe harder, but still not go anaerobic (panting, gasping, verge-of-out-of-breath). Jog slowly after each repetition until you are refreshed enough to run the next.

Total Uphill Time (TUT): The total number of minutes you spend running semivigorously up inclines--could be repeats up the same hill or total uphill time over a hilly loop.

Easy Runs: mean totally comfortable and controlled. If you're running with someone else, you should be able to converse easily. You'll likely feel as if you could go faster. Don't. Here's some incentive to take it easy: You'll still burn about 100 calories for every mile that you run.

Long Runs: are any steady run at or longer than race distance designed to enhance endurance, which enables you to run longer and longer and feel strong doing it. A great long-run tip: Find a weekly training partner for this one. You'll have time to talk about anything that comes up.

Speedwork: means bursts of running shorter than race distance, some at your race goal pace, some faster. This improves cardiac strength, biomechanical efficiency, running economy, and the psychological toughness that racing demands.

Race Day Rules: Run slower than you feel like you should be running over the first 12-13 miles. Look around, chat a bit with those around you. And walk through the aid stations, drink fluids, take a little break, then slowly resume your running. 

http://www.marathonguide.com/training/index.cfm

The biggest question most beginning (and many experienced) marathoners have is: how long should my training runs be and how many times per week should I run?

The answer, of course, varies for the individual person and their goals, but there are some general rules and suggestions. While an elite marathoner might run two workouts per day and over 100 miles per week while training for a marathon, the body of most mortals could not take such pounding (and who can find that time anyway?). In general, the important components in developing a marathon training program for most people are these:

• Gradually increase the overall weekly distance until two to three weeks before the marathon.
• Include two long runs spread across the week, perhaps one midweek, the other on the weekend.
• Include one day of faster running and/or integrate pickups into your regular runs.
• Try to run six days per week.
• The runs between your long runs do not need to be any longer than 3-6 miles.

Okay, that was a mouthful.

The longer runs:
The point is this: Your body won't get used to running long distances, unless it has run those distances on a regular basis. But, the body needs rest between those runs, which is why we suggest no more than two long runs per week and moderate distance on the other days. At the beginning of your training program, those long runs could be 6 miles each. Then, as the weeks go by, gradually increase them. Perhaps week two would see the long runs as 6 & 8 miles, week three 7 & 9, week four: 7 & 10, etc. Gradually increase these until your two runs are closer to 12 and 18 miles. At this point you have built an excellent base. And, remember, the other runs are there to serve a different purpose.

http://www.ameliaburton.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/16weekkm.jpg

unfortunately this one is in km:

http://www.chasingthenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/image2.png

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/time_goal.html

TIME GOAL MARATHON TRAINING SCHEDULE

Week	Monday	Tuesday (CD/acg/p)	Wednesday	Thursday (h)	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	off	run 30 min	off	run 30 min	easy walk	off	7.5 miles
2	off	run 30 min	off	run 30 min	easy walk	off	9 miles
3	off	run 35 min	off	run 35 min	easy walk	off	5 miles MM
4	off	run 35 min	off	run 35 min	easy walk	off	11 miles
5	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	5 miles
6	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	13 miles
7	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	5 mi MM
8	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	15 miles
9	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	4 x 1
10	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	17 miles
11	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	6 x 1
12	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	6 mi MM
13	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	20 miles
14	off	run 40 min	off	run 40 min	easy walk	off	8 x 1
15	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	7 mi MM
16	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	23 miles
17	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	10 x 1
18	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	6 mi MM
19	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	26 miles
20	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	6 miles
21	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	12 x 1
22	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	6 mi MM
23	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	29 miles
24	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	6 miles
25	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	14 x 1
26	off	run 45 min	off	run 45 min	easy walk	off	7 miles
27	off	run 30 min	off	run 30 min	easy walk	off	MARATHON
28	off	run 30 min	off	run 30 min	easy walk	off	4 miles
29	off	run 30 min	off	run 30 min	easy walk	off	6 miles