luluorange’s Training Blog

For the first time in three weeks since my injury, I went to LA Leggers Saturday meeting place.  Today is the day before the Pasadena Marathon, so my group is only going to do one mile to loosen up, we would attend the club meeting to discuss the LA marathon situation after.

People asked about why I was missing in action for weeks, we hang out a little bit then went for the one mile run.  The mood was very light and relaxed, everyone talked and joked around.  I felt no pain in my left heel and ankle, the run stretched me out, it was just what I needed.  I know how much I miss running, but I didn’t really FEEL it until I went out there today.  I was so happy to be out and moving, like I was meant to be.

The meeting afterwards were attended by hundreds of club members, we were encouraged to run the Surf City Marathon instead of LA because of the date change.  Surf City will hold the space open for the Leggers because our club has been a big supportor over the years of the race.  We will have to modify the training a bit, since the race is February 1st and LA was originally Feb 16th (now moved to May 25th).  People had different opinion about whether to boycut LA and have everyone register the San Diego Rock N Roll.  It was a good meeting.

I feel like now there is a course of actions laid out for me, I need to slowly get back to my training.  I created a customized training schedule for the remaining days left until February 1st.  It feels good to have a plan, now the challenge is to hold back and not get hurt again.  :)

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/15/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 00:10:00.00
• Distance: 1 miles
• Average Pace: 10:00/mile

Disturbing news about the LA Marathon.  For 23 years, LA marathon had occurred on the first Sunday of March every year.  In September, Frank McCourt (who owns LA Dodgers) acquired the rights to operate LA Marathon.  They gave in the City’s demand that the race be moved from its traditional Sunday in early March to the Monday Presidents’ Day (February 16, 09)

The calendar change was designed to address complaints form religious leaders, who blamed race-day road closure and traffics congestion for making it difficult for their congregations to get to church.  I mean, are you kidding me?  Who runs marathon on a Monday?  In addition, President’s day is NOT a holiday for a lot of people, I for one, have NEVER gotten that day off but I was willing to take a vacation day to run it.

So to add insult to injury, it was announced yesterday, that the race day will be moved AGAIN to May 25^th, 09.   Need I say more?  My running club – LA Leggers, one of the official training programs for LA Marathon, has about 1300 members training for this race.  We are in peak training season, so now…at the end of February; we have no race to run.  Is this lovely?  Angry emails started to circulate last night amongst the members.

I took action quickly this morning, and signed up for the very limited space Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach.  The race allows 15,000 runners but only 1,500 are to run the full marathon because of the bike path route limitation.  I figured most people are going to scramble to find a race to run in the area, I better get on it.  Forget about LA, if these people don’t know how to respect the runners and all they care about is their political agenda, I want no part of it.  I hope they go bankrupt, as it stands, they were in financial trouble (I wonder why), and they didn’t pay the elite runners who won the race two years ago.  Can you imagine that?  Runners that run as a business, run to win money, they won the race but didn’t get paid.  Those people are already boy-cutting the race; they are predicting the race participation will be down by 30 to 50%.

I still have yet to hear the backlash from this idiotic move from our club officials as to what are all the people going to do.  No one can maintain peak training condition for three months.  Should be interesting, I’ll keep everyone posted.  :)

Meanwhile, check out the Surf City Marathon link.

http://www.runsurfcity.com/

I did about 2.5 mile on it, keeping my ankle straight, I feel ok.  It’s good to work up a sweat.  No pain on the left foot, yeah!!!  :)

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 11/11/2008
• Time: 15:29:47
• Total Time: 00:33:00.00

Leisurely walk, did a little shopping and browsing along the way, had brunch.  While we walked back, I was feeling the tightness in my injured ankle and heel, so we slowed down.  It’s nice to walk together, we got a chance to really talk and re-connect, we both are so busy working all the time. When it comes to my workout, I am usually very focused and goal-oriented, hence, tend to leave him behind and do my own thing.  One of the unexpected benefit of getting injured, I got a chance to slow down and see different pictures.  Good Saturday.  :)

Workout:

• Type: Walk
• Date: 11/08/2008
• Time: 19:57:21
• Total Time: 1:35:00.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 18:59.24/mile

This is my resolve and acceptance of not running Pasadena Marathon, a goal that I have had for 5 months.  Life goes on, so do goals.  My new focus for now is healing and get well so I can pick my training back up and continue running with my running club.  LA Marathon is about 3 months away, so I will have plenty of time to continue building my running base.

I also printed the training schedule from my running club for the LA marathon, I marked my calendar.  Having something real and new to focus on feels good. 

For now… I am going to go take a walk around the neighborhood and take it easy.  This is also a new concept for me…”resting”…  :)

The class is pretty intense. so I held back some.  The point is only to get my heart rate up which I miss so much having not running for a while…

Good class.

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 11/07/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Distance: 18 miles
• Average Speed: 24 mph

She told me that I have Paroneal Tendonitis. Below is a picture of where the problem stem from.

Peroneal tendonitis is cussed by excess stress being placed on the peroneal tendon.  The stress can be acute or chronic.  The doctors said it usually requires 2 to 4 weeks of rest. I almost started to cry.  She is also a runner, she totally sympathize what I am going thru being this close to the starting line of my marathon. She concluded that my left leg is slightly longer than my right leg, hence, it takes the beating of pressure of every foot strike.  This explained why any pain and problem I had is aways on the left side.  She said I should wear a “lift” in my right shoes to even out the pressure.  

After much debate and test, she gave me an option-one chance to make a decision whether to run the marathon or not.  She taped my left foot with this special water-proof tape to stabalize the heel.  It was quite an elaborate taping, and it is supposed to last for 3-4 days.  With the taping and the lift for the right shoe, she said I can try another training run.  If during the run, the pain persist or got worse, I must stop and scrap the marathon idea for now.  She made me promise that I would be honest with myself and not be foolish about this becasue there is always going to be another marathon but if I insist on running thru the pain, this probelm WILL become worse and chronic.

 I am very disappointed, because it is not looking good, even with the taped ankle, walking around still hurts. I will, however, do another short run after work today to test it out. Mostly, I am confused about “resting”.  Exactly what does that mean?  What work out can I do without my feet?  What about walking? spinning? yoga?  All these activity uses my ankle and require some kind of streching of the tendon…  

Anybody got any idea about cross-training?

4 miles this morning on the treadmill while watching election coverage.  Although this was a quick and easy run, I am fully aware of the nagging pain on my left heel.  Of course, what do I do?  I shift my weight onto my arch (the inner part of the left foot) to take the pressur off.  Fully aware that this is NOT a good thing.  I am wearing a new pair of Brooks Glycerin 6, the old tested model I had been wearing for the past three years (I have graduated form Glycerin 4 to 5 and now 6).  Now that I am back to my “constant” as far as shoes is concered and have rested for more than a week, the pain still being there is worrying me a great deal.  I have resisted seeing a doctor hoping this would go away in a week, it’s better but not well.

I am just afraid what the doctor will tell me, given that my marathon is 11 days away but at this point, I guess I have to confront it.  I will call for an appointment today.  :(

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/04/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 00:39:00.00
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 9:45.37/mile

Needless to say, I am cranky as heck.  Feeling aweful about my injury, desparetely trying to figure out what exactly is the cause and how to get better quick.  Not knowing if I even have the right shoes for my marathon in two weeks, I am getting close to panic mode.  I did very slow run this morning on the treadmill using the new shoes I bought last week, and I didn’t like it.  The shoe store guy tested me and told me that the long tested shoes I had was not the right shoes for me.  So far I have not felt right with two pairs of different shoes they gave me.  As much technology was behind their conclusion, I think I have to go back to get a new pair of the old model I’ve beem wearing.  My left heel still hurt, the pain is dull but I sure felt it with every step even on the soft surface of the treadmill.  I questioned myself about how the heck am I going to finish my marathon at this rate?  All that training and running…  The quick and easy 3mile run this morning was nice but doesn’t boost confidence like long run does.  Long run is out of the question at this point before the marathon, I can’t risk any additional injury.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/01/2008
• Time: 15:59:36
• Total Time: 00:38:00.00
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 12:39.49/mile

Taking four days off completely (since last Saturday’s run) helped a lot.  For 3 days, I had to take Advil to take the edge of the pain but I am drug free now and walking normally.  I can still feel the pain in the left heel but it’s now a dull pain.  I took a spinning class this morning and did weights for 20 minutes.  I have decided to not join my group for Saturday’s 10 mile recovery run.  I am going to just use the eclipitical machine to eliminate the impact.  I am too close to the marathon day to chance another injury, time is not on my side.  That being said, boy, I miss running.  :(

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 10/30/2008
• Total Time: 00:45:00.00
• Distance: 18 miles
• Average Speed: 24 mph