This week was a struggle. For reals. Not only was it my highest fatigue week, but I had appointments all week: neurology, therapy, infusion, and BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). The BSF was really the only one I was looking forward to, but with my fatigue being at such a high level, it was hard to enjoy. Can I just be really honest here? I have begun to forget why I signed up for this marathon. I’m so over it. Sure, it will be rewarding. I’ll be so glad I did it. No regrets. But I’m ready to get this thing done. So with that attitude, I was able to squeeze in some training.
Looking back, I don’t know how I managed to do this, but on Thursday afternoon – after I got home from my Tysabri infusion – I ran 2.5 miles to the local medical lab to get some blood work done, and then on the walk back home I swung by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Marathon training, disability style. Who says running is just for the young and healthy? This is tenacity at its finest, folks. Two workouts in one day. I got ‘er done.
Friday I rested, and then Saturday I ran some more. This photo on the right here is of a place I pass on my long runs. I never think to take a picture, but as I’m winding down my marathon training, it seemed like a good idea. This is a helicopter that was used during the Vietnam war and reminds me to be thankful I live in a country where I am free to run. God bless America.
So, since I’m officially tapering in preparation for race day, Saturday’s long run was “only” 12 miles. It’s a bit surreal, still, that ten years ago I was barely walking. And now I’m what? A runner? Able to casually run 12 miles and still be smiling at the end? To be up the next day NOT feeling sore and near-death? I’m fascinated with what the human body is capable of accomplishing. Fascinated that with slow and steady progression, it learns to handle hours of pounding on pavement. I am also astonished at the healing that has happened in my toes, ankle, and knees. And, I think most of all my heart. Oh, my heart. I am stronger than I ever thought I could be. I am ready to kick this marathon’s ass.
This week I traveled a total of 17.32 miles on my feet. Total marathon training miles, including the half marathon, is now 477.46. Three weeks until race day! I’m at the point of the process where I’m struggling to remember why I signed up for this, so I put a picture of myself running a race from last year on my phone’s lock screen. In the photo I’m sporting my bright orange deaf/blind vest so it’s a great reminder of my “why”. Why do I run? Put simply, because I CAN. Also, I could go on and on about how we can do hard things, and one of these weeks I might still do that, but for today we’re just going to leave it right here. I run because I can. Because God gave me the strength and led me to this place, and I’m going to honor Him by not giving up. He sustains me, truly. In life, and in running. All of it.
It’s Monday. I completed another week of marathon training. I do have a post started in my drafts folder. It has pictures but that’s about it. I’ll get to it, I promise. Last week was a big week! And my race is only 27 days away so the excitement is certainly building for me. However, my Tysabri infusion for M.S. is 3 days away, which means I am in a state of extreme fatigue right now. Mentally and physically. It hit me pretty hard over the weekend, and it was kind of a blessing that I had completed my long run earlier in the week, because I’m not sure if I would have been able to do it otherwise. So I’m hoping to be able to get that marathon update written and posted soon but I just can’t make any promises. I hope you all are healthy and well. Shalom 🙂
So. Last week I had planned to do a long run, but was unable to complete it due to knee pain. However, with a bit of a change to my run-walk intervals I *was* able to run 7 miles two days later. And that’s where this week’s recap begins. Since the 7 miles went so well, I ran a solid 90 minutes on Monday, for a total distance of 6.85 miles. I wore my knee strap and had no trouble at all with the knee. I had a fun discussion with my husband about all this running and he started to suggest that I might need to drop down to the half marathon, but then quickly pivoted because I must have flashed him a dirty look. Because I’m not out of this race yet. Sure, I’ve had some major setbacks, but each one has showed me where I needed to improve and make changes, and I do feel I’m going to be ready on race day.
This was a busy week with meetings and get togethers so I did not have a chance to get to the gym to work on my legs, but I did do a lot of lifting and vacuuming, both at my house and a friend’s, so I think that counts. Work is work, right?
Now. The big hairy deal on my mind was how I was going to make up the prior week’s long run. I had decided I would try for 20 miles instead of 22, and then start my taper. When training for long distance races, you gradually build up your mileage, but then shortly before the race you stop building and drastically lower the mileage so that on race day you are running on fresh, fully recovered legs. Normally a taper for a marathon starts 2-3 weeks before the race. My revised plan would put me at a 4 week taper, but I think that’s better than trying to push myself too hard, too close to the race. (It’s fine, everything’s fine.) I had plans to go away for the weekend with friends, so I needed to get my long run in during the week. Thursday was the only day available, and the weather looked beautiful, so I was really excited to go.
As you can see from the photos above, I was excited to be outside, running with the sunrise, and especially stoked that the bridge under the highway was clear so that I could access ALL the trails. I ran all the way to the county park and then ran back home. Injury free and feeling incredible. I finished in just under 5 hours, which means it’s well within the realm of possibility that I could run this marathon in 6.5 hours, if all goes well. I would be thrilled to do that, but I’m going to try really hard to keep my expectations low on race day. Because my biggest mistake for even the shorter races is getting too excited and starting too fast. When you do that, you spend all your energy too early and have no gas in the tank to finish strong. I want to go slow, an easy and comfortable pace, and enjoy the scenery. Because I’m probably not going to be doing another one of these for a very long time. The training is just too demanding and I’m mentally and physically ready to be done with it.
So this week I *only* had 2 runs, but for a total of 26.85 miles. That brings my marathon specific training total to 267.14, and when added to my half marathon training of 193, we have a grand total of 460.14 miles. These are just digits, folks. I can’t even really comprehend that they are miles I’ve actually spent on my feet. Praise the Lord, thank you Jesus. And in 26 more days I’ll be running 26.2 miles, how about that? Let the taper begin…
I realize all I’ve been posting are training updates. I do. I realize marathon training is challenging and can consume your life. It’s clear that’s what has happened here, but I’m comforted that the race is less than 5 weeks away and then I can rest again and resume focus on other things. But also, it’s only 5 weeks away and I don’t know if I’m going to be ready. Which I think is probably true of anyone training for a race this big. I just have to trust that what I’ve been doing is enough on race day. And where it might not be, I can make up for it with that inner grit and grace I keep tucked away for emergencies. My only goal this time is to finish faster than the first one, and I do think I’m poised to make that happen. (Because the first one was laughably SLOW, but I finished!) I’m learning so much about my body and my endurance through this training process. So without further delay, here’s this week’s recap…
Sunday – I can’t count the 6 miles I ran on Sunday because I was viewing them as “make-up” miles from the day before and already included them in last week’s totals. Whatever.
Monday – this was a gym day and I got a really good workout for my legs with the weight machines. Seated leg press, leg & calf extensions, seated leg curl, hip adduction, glutes, and a little bit of arm weights (I did not look to see what the machine was called, but it was much like rowing a boat.) This time I was able to get a ride home from the hubby since it was Labor Day and he was home from work.
Tuesday – Rest.
Wednesday – My original plan was to run on the treadmill for 90 minutes but I was having abdominal cramping, lots of GI issues, so that sort of stole my day. I did manage to walk 1.6 miles at dusk, however, so that was nice.
Thursday – I took a 2 hour morning nap and the rest of the day listened to running podcasts for motivation. I hesitate in sharing this because it isn’t in the training plan, but I think it’s important to note that sometimes you have to listen to your body when it tells you it needs the rest. I’m just afraid my body’s ultimate intention is to keep me from running this race. And running podcasts do help to motivate and educate me, so I don’t believe this was a day wasted.
Friday – This was the big day. The weather was perfect for a long run of 22 miles and I went to bed the night before fully prepared. I had my hydration pack cleaned and filled, I had my gu’s and gels in the pockets of my backpack, and all my clothes and other gear were laid out. I left around 7:30 am, just after the kids left for school. It was misty and overcast and around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Perfect! I was having so much fun on this run. I had listened to an interview with Martinus Evans, a back of the pack supporter, and he was recommending that we run our training runs slow, and he described it as “sexy pace” which I thought was hilarious. So every time I would notice I was speeding up too much I would say to myself, “Sexy pace, Mel, sexy pace.”
I think I must have been taking the sexy pace too seriously, swinging my hips too hard maybe, because at 7.5 miles that sharp pain in my right knee appeared, fierce and unrelenting. I had decided that day not to run with my knee strap, but I had packed it so I put that on, hoping it would relieve the pain. It did not. I sat down and called my sister, a veteran runner, and asked for her advice. She encouraged me to try walking, and at least that would be time on my feet, but ultimately listen to my body. I walked for another 1.5 miles, and the pain was coming and going, but never going for very long. At 9 miles I stopped and decided I was done for the day. I made a few calls and the first lucky person to answer was my husband, who graciously left work to take me home.
I took the above photo just before I decided to call it quits. I was walking, still in pain, and so happy to see that red house because it meant the public park I had been anxious to reach was just on the other side. I don’t know if you can see the red house, but it’s to the left of the two white houses. The park on the other side is the hub of our city’s local trails and I was really looking forward to running around the lake there.
Once I got home I ate some lunch and got to taking care of my knee. I put on my compression knee brace and kept that leg elevated as much as possible. Going up and down the stairs of our two-story home was painful and slow. I sat in bed, researching what I could possibly do to make this better and avoid it happening in the future. I came across some discussion about the run-walk-run method that I use, and discovered I really wasn’t doing it right. My intervals were running for 4 minutes, walking for one. But according to Jeff Galloway, the perfecter of this method, I shouldn’t be talking walk breaks longer than 30 seconds. And based on my pace and fitness level, I needed to look at a much shorter running interval. I read a comment from another runner who said she runs 60 seconds, walks 30, and that is what has kept her from her knee pain, so I thought “why not give that a shot?”. I changed the settings on my running watch and resolved to try it, once the knee pain was gone, of course.
And do you know what? I woke up the next day with zero pain. Not in my knee or anywhere else for that matter. It was no small miracle, if you ask me. So, I decided to get out and run again. I didn’t know if I could make up the 13 miles I was short the day before, but I wanted to see how the shorter intervals would work for me, and I would pay attention to what my body was doing. I stayed around the neighborhood this time, in case the whole plan went sideways. I could not believe what a difference the shorter intervals made. Before I knew it, I had knocked out 7 miles and felt like I still had a lot of gas in the tank. I would have gone for more but the temperature was rising and I didn’t want to push it. Plus on that 7th mile I thought I felt a whisper from my knee telling me it needed a break.
Now, I’ll be honest. I’m still pretty freaked out about how far I’ve had to stray from my training plan. I feel strong, yet I still have doubts I’ll be ready for this marathon in *gulp* 34 days. Even though I’ve been running for seven years it still feels new to me. I have learned so much but there is still so much more to learn. I guess you could say my faith was in the training plan, and now I’m having to redirect the source of my faith. Sure, ultimately my faith is in God, but I am a pragmatic and I have a healthy regard for the physical world and its limitations. Read: my physical limitations. Which, to be fair, are constantly changing and amazing me. I know that God has been the one to empower me to continue building a stronger heart, stronger legs, stronger lungs. I still remember needing to use a walker to walk, and I don’t ever want to forget that. Because while I’m trusting in God to keep me going, it’s important to respect where I was and realize that’s always still a possibility. Because M.S. is a permanent part of my life, unfortunately. And if I ever need motivation to keep racing, to keep running, that is it. That is my WHY. I’m doing it now because I CAN, and that may not always be true.
For those of you following along, I ran 17.6 miles this week for a total of 240.29 miles marathon training. Add that to the 193 miles I trained for the half marathon in May and you have a total of 433.29 miles banked for the upcoming race on October 15.
I looked at the weather forecast for the week and rearranged my planned run and gym days to accommodate. I haven’t really been doing this officially, but it took a lot of stress out of the whole process so I think I’ll keep doing it from now on.
Sunday – 1.51 miles, 33 minute walk. It was evening, and I just felt like taking a walk around the neighborhood, and I figure that counts, so we’re throwing it in here.
Monday – 6.04 miles (84 minutes running) I got a late start Monday because of other things going on, I don’t remember. But even at 1 pm it was only 72 degrees which isn’t terrible. It was clear and sunny, beautiful weather. I forgot to wear my knee brace but I had no trouble there! My only issue on this run was pain on top of my left foot (extensor tendon) if I landed too far forward. A midfoot strike felt fine. This was only during the last mile so I think it was caused by normal swelling in my foot, making my shoe too tight (especially with the ankle brace).
Tuesday – Rest!
Me, resting on the deck after a good run. My tank says Grit & Grace
Wednesday – I ran for 70 minutes which turned out to be 5.51 miles. The weather was beautiful again and I had a great pace! I didn’t even feel like I was working hard for it, but I had negative splits, which meant I was getting faster as the miles ticked by. I started out with an average 12:41 minutes per mile and finished with an 11:58 average. This may not seem like fast times for most other runners, but for me this is downright speedy.
My legs, propped up on a chair. Photobomb courtesy of Punky, our golden retriever.
Thursday – I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned in the morning, and had my husband drop me off at the gym afterwards so I could get in a solid leg workout. I had debated taking the bus home afterwards. The closest bus stop is a half mile from our house, so I don’t utilize it much but it’s nice to have the option. Instead, I settled on walking the entire way home with a stop at the pharmacy on the way to pick up a prescription. Altogether, including the walk in and out of the pharmacy lol, it was a 2.63 mile walk.
Friday – Rest.
Saturday – I had planned to get up early to beat the heat and run 6 miles. However, once morning came my body was hollering at me to rest. So I made an executive decision to sleep instead. The rest of the day it was just too hot to run, so I decided I would do the run on Sunday morning instead.
Sunday – Remember I had planned to make up my skipped run in the morning? Well, morning came and I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed in time. I told my husband on the way to church that I had made an executive decision to sleep instead of running and he said, “didn’t you do that yesterday?” Yes, yes I supposed I did. You could say I made a consecutive executive decision, but I wouldn’t try to say that two times fast. (You can try, but it gets tricky).
Most of Sunday I was having trouble moving my legs, and I’m not sure what was up with that but it got better by evening. I knew I needed to stay on track with this plan as much as possible so I had my husband drop me off at the gym and I ran the 6 miles there. It went well, and I felt strong for most of it, but I did have to slow down a bit for the last couple of miles. Also, during the last half mile, I had the extensor tendon pain again on my left foot, so I stopped and took off the brace and loosened the laces on my shoe and that seemed to take care of it. It makes me wonder if I don’t need the ankle brace anymore, so I’ll be playing around with that this coming week.
Gym treadmill summary of my Sunday evening run
It’s encouraging to see how my body is changing and healing throughout this process. I started wearing toe spacers periodically a few weeks ago and I believe that is helping my feet to get stronger for running, which makes a big difference. I wear one while I’m running as well and that seems to help with the turf toe on my right foot. Toes are little things but they are super important. You don’t really realize how important until something goes wrong.
I’m trying to be thankful for this difficult training process and reminding myself that the challenges I’m coming against each week are opportunities to overcome *before* the race, so that by race day I’ll be ready to just enjoy it. I hope anyway. I’ve only trained for a marathon once before and I don’t remember it being this difficult. But it was certainly rewarding, so we’ll keep focusing on that aspect.
Here’s your recap: Weekly miles: 22.69 Half marathon training miles: 193 miles Full marathon training miles: 222.69 Total miles toward the marathon: 415.69 Next week I have a 22 mile long run planned, and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate, so let’s hope my body does too!
*I feel like I need to put a disclaimer here. I’m having a difficult time writing this but I’m doing it anyway. A tragedy occurred this past weekend in our small community and so everything I’m talking about here seems trivial at the moment. While I had a great morning after completing my long run on Saturday, my son came home and informed me of what had happened. So I’m balancing that need to keep moving forward while pondering and praying for the people who are affected by the tragedy. Following is my trivial training update:
Monday: Leg Day Tuesday: 85 minute walk, 6.21 miles Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Infusion day, skipped my planned run Friday: 30 minute walk, 1.33 miles Saturday: 18 miles Weekly Miles: 25.54 Miles since marathon training started: 200 Half Marathon training miles: 193 Total miles banked for marathon preparation: 393
I was nervous about this week’s long run, because so much of my training plan has been thrown off in the last several weeks. I had not been able to complete the last two long runs due to heat and then a busted blister. I consulted with my sister, a veteran ultra-runner, and she helped me adjust the remainder of my training plan. Instead of jumping in where I left off, we lowered the miles to meet me where I am. And I’m semi-confident that with this adjusted plan I will still be prepared once race day comes.
I had been watching the weather, hoping it would cooperate enough to allow me to complete these 18 miles outdoors. I was looking at the forecast for Saturday, and it looked near perfect for running. The only problem was that my son had a tennis tournament scheduled for that day and I had hoped to be there to watch him play. No worries, I would just run on the treadmill on Friday instead. But then Thursday evening came, and a massive storm came through our area and left thousands of homes without power, including our own. So treadmill running was out. I wasn’t sure now what I was going to do about this run, but I was so preoccupied with the power outage and all that entailed (seriously you really take electricity for granted until it’s gone), so I wasn’t concerned. And then the tournament got cancelled, because the school didn’t have power, and the visiting team’s hotel reservations were cancelled so that the hotel could house the people who had lost their homes in the storms. I could now run my 18 miles on Saturday, outside in the beautiful weather. A tiny selfish win for me, but an enormous loss for the families.
This week has been an emotional rollercoaster for my heart. Bittersweet. I ran my 18 miles. I couldn’t do a complete out and back because the bridge was flooded, so I was going to have to run the last 5 or 6 in my neighborhood. This was not ideal, but I made the best of it by deciding to drop my cumbersome hydration pack at my house and run the last 3 miles without that burden literally weighing me down. It was these last several miles when I was really feeling the pain of running, in all the muscles that counted. So it was a mental challenge to continue on when I could have easily quit early and walked back to my house. But I didn’t! I pushed through, and it felt amazing. I finished the 18, pressed stop on my watch, and said to myself, “You did it! 18 miles. Only 7 away from a marathon.” Because I can’t do math and run at the same time. (Marathons are 26.2 miles, fyi)
The pain I was feeling most acutely was in my feet, my glutes, and my left hip. The left hip was probably the worst pain, so I’m taking care of that and will keep an eye on it. I do think the training I’ve been doing at the gym with the weight machines has really been helping my running, so I’m going to keep doing that. I didn’t have much trouble with either my left ankle or my right toe, although my right toe does have some lingering soreness today. I still might call the imagining center in town to see about getting some x-rays. What I’ve been learning in this training cycle is that it’s important to listen to your body and treat the pain as signals or messages alerting you to what needs to be strengthened. I caught this nugget of wisdom from Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians in Cars getting Coffee: “Pain is knowledge rushing in to fill a gap.” It’s true, the pain gives me knowledge. Knowledge about where to focus my strength training on my next day at the gym, or when to seek professional guidance. So I’m treating this run as a win, because a day later my body is still giving me all sorts of knowledge.
I hope you all have a blessed day, dear readers. Please don’t take anything you have for granted. Enjoy it all, while you have it. And hug your loved ones. Shalom.
Week 11! Right? I feel like I’m losing track. I am keeping notes, however, so you’re getting that at least. This week was not a lot of running. Looking at the calendar, I realized next week is my Tysabri infusion, so the fatigue was not unexpected. Not welcome either, but this week I seemed to be better emotionally about accepting it as a part of my life. I did a lot more walking than running, and when I did run I was encouraged that my legs still knew what to do and I still feel strong. Here’s your recap:
>Sunday: 0.38 mile walk with the dogs
>Monday: 0.76 mile walk with the dogs AND leg day at the gym. I happily use the seated leg press, calf extension, seated leg curl, hip abduction, hip adduction, and glute machines.
>Tuesday: Treadmill walk for 55 minutes (2.24 miles)
>Thursday*: Treadmill run/walk for 80 minutes (4.10 miles)
>Friday: 2.24 full loop around the ‘hood. Great weather this day, 70 and sunny. My only frustration is that the nozzle on my new water bottle fell off while I was running, but I survived without it.
>Saturday: 5 miles around the neighborhood. Since my new, larger water bottle was now busted (and on its way back to Amazon), I had to use my smaller one and stop at home to refill part way through, but again, I survived. I absolutely loved my pace on this run and I’m encouraged that the strength training I’ve been doing seems to be helping with my running.
*Thursday was rough. Usually I struggle to get started, but once I start I’m great at continuing until I reach my goal time or distance. On this day I was struggling to continue. I messaged my mom and sister to get “permission” to quit after 20 minutes or so. I’m so thankful they wouldn’t give it to me. My sister challenged me to take a break, refuel, and then get back on the treadmill. So that’s what I did! I ate a delicious sweet potato, loaded up the audiobook I was in the middle of listening to (one of my Sasha McCandless legal thrillers) and got back to walking. While walking at one point I looked at my timer to check how much time I had left to walk/run, and I had 33 minutes to go. Then I glanced at the audiobook and saw I had exactly 33 minutes left in the book! How awesome is that? It was exactly the motivation I needed to keep me on track to reach my goal of 80 minutes on my feet.
If this post feels a little choppy and disorganized, I apologize. Fatigue is both physical and mental. And it sucks. When I have weeks like this one, I get so scared that I’m not going to be ready for this race, or that I’ll lose some of the fitness and function I’ve built up so far. I didn’t become a runner until after I had M.S., so I don’t know what’s “normal” for running. Not only was I not a runner, I wasn’t any sort of athlete. But as I chat with others in the running community, I’m encouraged that most of my worries and hiccups are indeed very normal, and not exclusive to someone with M.S. But also, I do still have the added challenge of that diagnosis, and training for this race is teaching me more and more to respect my body and it’s capabilities. So there’s that. I just hope it returns the favor on race day.
That’s all for this (last?) week’s update. When I get some energy back maybe I’ll ramble on about all my foot issues. Doesn’t that sound fun? Maybe not, lol. For now, here are the stats: 12.48 miles traveled this week, 174.46 total miles marathon training. Add that to the 193 miles ran for the half marathon and you have 367.46 miles I’ve banked to get ready for the full in October. Yee. Ha.
This week, again, did not go as planned. But I still made a lot of progress and I’m proud of myself for what I’ve accomplished over all these years of running. Over the past 10 years I’ve gone from barely walking to not only becoming a runner but also running ridiculously long distances. I’ve had to really bring the memories of my major MS relapses to mind in order to motivate myself to keep going, despite being unable to follow the plan to the letter. I tend to forget why I signed up for this marathon, why I committed to all this training. I wonder if I’ll be able to continue, if I’m physically capable. And then I get out there and run and I’m reminded of how strong I’ve become and how important this has become.
So here’s the recap.
Strength training: I did not have a chance to get to the gym for leg workouts, but I managed to get a lot of squats in at home in between scanning old documents. I’m on a decluttering kick since getting my hutch refurbished. Creativity wins!
Run #1: I ran on Monday, just a quick lap around the neighborhood. I went down every cul-de-sac and street, which turns out is a total distance of 2.24 miles. Handy information to have sometimes. When I returned home I hung out with the dogs on the deck, which they love. Our golden retriever, Punky, loves to lick all the salty sweat off my skin! I don’t let her, but she tries. Shown in the photo below, I was trying for a sweaty selfie but she was more interested in licking my face.
Run #2: Timing and weather and me not wanting to get out of bed early enough meant I was back on the treadmill. A planned 75 minutes for a total of 5.02 miles. On my last 10 minutes or so I decided to run through the walk interval. I was feeling strong and anxious to finish. The cool thing was that a song I had just added to my playlist that morning, Run Like a Rebel by The Score, came on just as I started my last interval. It gave me a boost of happy feelings so I finished the run on a good note.
Run #3: Welp. I was gonna run 20 miles. Really didn’t want to. My husband helped talk me up some and gladly offered to drop me off at the gym. I had learned you could change the timing on the treadmills, so I was hoping to run the whole 20 in one session, but found once I got there that you could change the timing, but the max was 99 minutes. Just like my treadmill at home. Oh well, at least they have better displays there. And way more fans blowing cool air.
I started, ran my first 99 minutes. Actually, they allow a five minute cool down, so I just sped the treadmill up and went for an even 100. Took a photo, marked my time, refilled my water bottle, pulled out my protein bar and an extra pack of gummy electrolytes, and started a second session. I started the second session feeling awesome, rocking out to my tunes, and made it 52 minutes. Out of nowhere it was as if a razor blade or sharp piece of plastic had magically appeared in my shoe. I had to stop immediately. For several embarrassing seconds I was wondering what had happened. Then it dawned on me… a blister had popped on the side of my middle toe. See, I’ve been running with my big toe buddy taped to my second toe. That buddy tape rubs against my middle toe. After 10.1 miles, I guess it was too much friction. I went to the locker rooms to inspect the damage, shoved some toilet paper in between my toes to cover the open wound, and walked gingerly back to the treadmill. I tried to walk, then slowly jog, but it was far too painful. After much internal deliberation, I decided I needed to call it quits. I called my husband to come pick me up and resolved to give my toe a break and get the miles in some other time. Again.
This time, however, I wasn’t quite as disappointed about missing the miles. Because I was paying attention to what I was actually able to do. I ran 10 miles Saturday and I still had life in me. I still had energy and strength available to keep running if it hadn’t been for the popped blister. And now I have something new to learn: how to prevent and care for blisters! Which is something I need to know. Because as my sister had shared with me (ironically, just the day before) something she heard on a running podcast: “Didn’t you think your feet were going to hurt?” Yes, yes they will. Deal with it and move on, sister. We’ve got more miles to go.
This week I ran 17.71 miles altogether. I also did a whole lot of squats, some good walking, and pulled a thigh muscle playing Pie Face (I startle way too easily). Total half marathon miles, 193. Full marathon miles, 161.98. Grand total full marathon miles to date: 354.98. We’re still moving forward folks! One step, one punch, one round at a time.
Training for a race does not always go as planned. This week was definitely an example of that. A lot happened, not to me, but to friends and family I love, and I had to put running on the back burner to be there for them. And that’s okay. I think I was needing the break from running anyway, so it worked out just fine.
I managed to squeeze in one run last week, 5.02 miles on the treadmill to avoid the heat. It took me at least half a dozen tries to get a photo of the digits on my treadmill because when you stop, the display blinks. So that was a fun exercise in patience.
I also got a leg workout in on Monday at the gym. I think I could have pushed harder on leg day, because I wasn’t sore at all the next day. I keep track of the weights I use on each machine, so I’ll be sure to increase it next week. Usually after a hard, productive workout you feel it the next day and you shrug/smile because you know your muscles are getting stronger as they are healing from the hurt. Oh! If that isn’t a metaphor for life, I don’t know what is.
I did see my primary doctor and talked about the pains that show up when I’m running for long distances. He said to keep wearing the ankle brace and the knee strap, and that should protect those areas from damage. As long as the pain is manageable and goes away with rest, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about long term. When I asked about the big toe he told me what I was experiencing was called “turf toe” and gave me some exercises to work on at home. When I continued to ask questions he agreed to refer me for x-rays in both the toe and the ankle to be sure that there wasn’t any underlying damage there. It was nice to have some professional input to allay my fears.
So that was my week. Not very exciting as far as the marathon training goes. This next week I end with a 20 miler, and I’m strategizing the best way to get that accomplished so stay tuned for that. My subtotal of marathon training is now 144.27, with a grand total of 337.27 once you add in the half marathon training miles. 69 days to race day!
I left yesterday’s marathon training update on a gloomy note. I was still disappointed in myself for not being able to complete the planned 17 miles. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and reading. I get these articles aimed at the MS community, and two came in the last few days talking about heat intolerance and multiple sclerosis. This is not a new concept to me, I’ve known all along that as someone with MS, I need to be careful about the heat. I guess I just sort of forgot, you know? Because of the damage MS has done to my central nervous system, my body is more sensitive to heat. Even a slight increase in core body temperature can cause my nerves to misfire, leaving me with pseudo flare-ups, fatigue and muscle weakness. So. The fact that I am attempting to run all these crazy long miles in 70-80 degree heat is a little bit foolish. No, it’s more than that. It’s pretty damn stupid. Probably dangerous. Definitely a bad idea. So I’m giving my overachiever self a little slap on the wrist, and telling her to find a different way to accomplish her training. It can still be done. We have access to treadmills and fans and air conditioning. Sure, it’s not as scenic or entertaining, but it’s also only temporary. Summer is quickly coming to a close, and then we can get back out and run on those lovely trails. Okay, Mel? Work smarter, not harder. Now carry on. Lecture over.
Deaf and half-blind runner with multiple sclerosis
Little M.S. Runner 