Running Chick

I should rename my blag to “Not Running Chick” because that’s sure what I’ve been doing.

My tendonitis has been a bugger – mostly because I was a big, dumb idiot and continued to run through the pain just to get some miles in.  Not smart.  I finally grew some brains and made the decision to just chill out and rest until my orthotics come in.  I’m hoping to see them late this week. 

In the meantime, I’ve been lifting weights like a fool – like for the past 14 days straight before I decided it was okay to take a day off.  I’ve also been riding my bike, but not as much as I should.

I did 40 miles yesterday in 3:15 and the week before I did 27 in 2:08.  I’ve been using my Garmin 305 to keep an eye on my cadence and I’m finding that I can cruise along pretty easily between 85 and 90 RPM.  Thanks to the hills, though, my rides are averaging around 75 RPM.  My heart rate typically stays between 155-165 BPM throughout that cadence range, which is the BPM I’m supposed to maintain for my long, slow runs.  I think that’s good, but I haven’t done a whole lot of research on heart rate training yet.

We’ve been grilling up a storm, thanks to the new addition to my arsenal.  Behold (on the left) the Weber 22.5” One Touch Gold.  The grill on the right is one that we inherited from my parents and is about 30 (?) years old.  It works really well, but I wanted something that contained the ash so it wouldn’t blow all over the place on a windy day.  We’ve been grilling a ton of stuff – vegetables, steaks, chicken, pizza, quesadillas, pork roast, pineapple. 

Things taste so much better on a charcoal grill, for sure.

Finally, we’ve playing Pictionary.  Can you guess what this picture represents?

High arches

Inward-rolling ankles aka overpronation

I now have a case of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome. Podiatrist said I'm "textbook". Yay.

My MTSS is characterized by pain and tenderness in the inside leg above my ankle. As an added bonus, I have some swelling too. I usually have pain when I start out running, then it goes away after about 15 minutes only to flare up about an hour after I'm done. The tenderness is always there, but the pain typically goes away the next day. So, basically my ankles roll inward excessively putting stress on the muscles and tendons that run up the inside of my leg causing pain & swelling.

Podiatrist says "We can fix you".

Getting cast for custom orthotics

They should be here in three weeks.  Then I have a two week adjustment period where I’ll wear them walking around (at work, etc), but not running.  Then, RUN!

In the meantime, Podiatrist put me on some serious anti-inflammatory drugs to get the swelling down and and make my inflamed tendons happier.  I can still run during this period, I just have to take it easy.

Oh, and the cost of getting me running pain-free?  Just under $550.  They’d better come with a money-back guarantee.

Toe vs. Clawfoot Bathtub

I thought it was broken, but it's not. Just bashed all to hell.  It's a lovely purple & red now, I wonder what it'll look like tomorrow? Maybe black! Ooh!  I wonder if I’ll lose my toenail!  Double ooh!

The good news is that if I keep my shoe loose enough, it doesn’t bother me when I run.  I did a quick 3 miles tonight around the neighborhood and it was okey dokey.

This weekend is the Breakers to Bay 5 mile race.  I haven’t trained at all, except for a few meetings of the Friday Night Run & Booze Club.  I’m not sure that counts.  This might end up being my first DFL finish.  Oof.