June 30th, 2009
Feeling alright these days, no IT shadows since last week, though the farthest I’ve gone in the last few days is an 8-miler. Tomorrow I’ll go for 11 and hope for the first double-digit in a month that doesn’t require a stop for stretching. I’m seriously pooped though and the heat doesn’t help.
I haven’t been sleeping, mostly because of an evil red cardinal living in our courtyard that loves taunting Kitsia, our cat, who’s always laying out on the deck. The cardinal will stand on the deck rail starting at 5am and chirp loudly and unceasingly to get a rise out her, but the cat doesn’t give a shit. I’ve taken to scaring it away myself by storming onto the deck with a really mean face, yelling “Go away you stupid bird!!” But the bird doesn’t give a shit.
In work news, I got that voiceover job for the Rita’s commercial (the funny one requiring a bit of Swedish pronunciation) so I’m doing that this afternoon. Yay.
Other than that, been doing a lot of designing and redesigning for Adorableshirts.com so I hope to get those up in the next day, then do a couple more running shirts for Gifted Runner, then the big job after that will be getting my music section off Fishpie.com and make its own seperate shop/website. So I’ve gone from not doing anything designwise for a year to giving myself enough work to be steadily occupied for the next few months and beyond. I wish I had more of a money-lust, then I’d work hard all the time. As it is, I wait until some dwindling has occurred, then hurry to catch up.
On a funny note (though entirely aggravating to me), I discovered that after redoing my x-rated shirt site using Zazzle products instead of Cafepress, someone else on Zazzle had immediately copied two of my designs! With great joy I submitted a copyright violation report with Zazzle and they removed the offending copies without ado, but still. People are so stupid sometimes.
As far as running goes, I’m hopefully going to get my mileage back to the 60s starting this week. June saw weekly averages of low 50s thanks to the IT band adventure. This actually worked out well in the end, since a cutback is a healthy thing anyway and I wouldn’t have done it voluntarily. So now I’m crossing fingers and toes for a strong mileage return without incident (though keeping toes crossed sounds like another cause for injury, so maybe I’ll stick with fingers).
Oh, and I never did share a chuckle at the havoc my IT rehab ended up wreaking. Overzealous stretching awoke my dormant ankle bursitis (I’ve since laid off the heavy stretching so my ankle’s back to normal, thank god) but I also burned the side of my knee by icing it so much and not using a cover over the gel ice pack, so I now have a large scabby circle there.
If it’s not one thing…
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A sore from too much ice????? Now, that’s a new one on me. I’m sorry you aren’t getting any sleep recently. We live in the woods, so I guess I’m used to hearing nature noises all night.
Can you post a link for your new shirt designs (the cute ones, not the dirty ones)?
As of this spring I officially hate birds…I know..harsh! They are trying to take over my house. I agree the cut back (not because of IT stuff) will probably be good in the end. I hope you get some rest and I’ll butcher this but..”copying is the best form of flattery”. I’m horrible at sayings but I’m sure you know it. Now everyone will see how lame I am. Hugs to you girl. XOXOJackie/HG
Love my new “I am slow because” shirt. The mens sizing is more ‘civilian’ than ‘runner’ if you know what I mean, I might try a small next time.
Yup, you can overdo stretching/icing. I’m surprised that articles about it in RW etc. don’t point that out more often.
One of our cats got chased indoors by a crow one time. She’s been wary of birds ever since.
LARunner, it’s http://www.adorableshirts.com, but tomorrow I’m adding 10 new designs and changing a couple that are already on there, so don’t go till tomorrow afternoon. (though I know all you really wanna see are the nasty ones)
Jackie, you will never be lame (unless something happens to your leg) in my book. Hugs and smoochies back and happy after-birth(day), lol.
Jim!! You bought a shirt! You sneaky devil, thank you!! At Cafepress they show you the whole name so if I recognized it, I’d know who bought stuff (though I never paid much attention). Zazzle only shows you the first name, so I have even less of a clue of who’s buying anything. Pooh on the fit, the girls tank fits like a regular runner thing, wish the boys did too. Hope it treats you well on the run, anyway. Congrats again for the fab new 5K PR, too!
Well the old 5K PR was getting kinda embarrassing. The new one will do for now
My “Danger, Marathoner In Training” mousepad is a perfect fit. It’s causing some chuckles around the office. I’m having a birthday, can you tell?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JIM!! I owe you and Cathi (who I see was the ordering party) dinner when you come out this way to race, because you’ll have to race here at some point or another. Hugs to you, birthday boy!
Also, you can exchange that shirt for a small, I’m sure it’s easy-schmeasy to do.
Hi Flo! You may be laying low on the BQ thread, but there’s no reason I can’t stalk you down here – insert evil laughter here! Congrats on the voiceover! And yikes on the frostbite or whatever it is. I’ve read the warnings about that, and haven’t always followed them myself, but I’ve been lucky enough not to do that yet.
I agree on the cutback ultimately being a good thing – it never seems like it when it’s happening to you, especially when it’s not planned. Happy ramping back up.
Barb, my love, the stalking’s mutual. And you’re another one I need to buy dinner for, you favorite customer ‘o mine.
Seriously, thanks for the constant support!
Weekly mileage in the low 50s with the IT Band is quite impressive. Mine for the month plummeted to a measly 82. Yowser. Hoping I’ll be able to bounce back a bit in July, but from reading your struggles, I’m thinking it won’t be as quickly as I’d like.
And, I feel your pain on the annoying web plagiarism. I’ve spent a good chunk of my week battling the nasty spider bots out there who are making my life difficult.
I will be running with my new Breathe tank tomorrow….it looks great!
Way to beat the ITB monster down! I wish that I could say that I was having the same success. My monthly total for June was right about where Robert’s was….I am not pleased!
La Casalinga, you too?! Spending your hard-earned money on me? Thank you, sweet woman! Many hugs and a future pretend dinner for you too, lol.
What a bummer to hear your ITB is still giving you so much grief. I’m hoping that July becomes your month for a strong return to the pavement. At what point in the run do you feel it come on? And are you able to stretch and get a little more running in or does it really hurt by the time you have to stop?
Robert, I read your latest blog entry and ouch on the doctor’s bill, thank goodness for insurance. Here’s hoping, like La Casalinga, that July will be your return month with no false starts on the way. My mileage cut hasn’t been too drastic (knock on wood) because in my case it mostly hasn’t shown up till after an hour, whereas lots of people only get a couple miles in before it appears.
IT Band Thoughts…
Though it should never get to the point of really hurting (that horrible burning knee pain), Noakes in “Lore Of Running” says he allows his runners to run with “some discomfort”, which I take to mean when you can feel the shadow of it, just when it gets a tad stiff. At that point, a stretch can often quiet it, but if it doesn’t, continuing to run until it gets the burning feeling will just set you back (Robert, are you listening? :-). If either of you have that book, it has a great section on ITBS, says that it’s not a chronic condition and that most everyone can be fixed in 6 weeks.
He cites one study in the book that had them immobilize the knee for three days (along with ice and stretches) and the runners were better immediately afterwards, so that’s a hint to not bend the knee too much if you can help it. I often sit with my feet on seat of the chair and my knees at face-level (bent as much as legs can be bent, lol), so I’ve been trying to stop doing that.
Also, something I read online from an Ultra runner that I accidentally discovered myself as well, is to pay more attention to toe-off. Engaging the front of your foot more, as soon as the tightness comes on, can help dissipate the feeling before it blossoms. I think this is related to why running faster hurts less (besides it changing the 30-degree angle of the knee that ITBS loves) and why Pose technique people seem to avoid IT problems (though they get calf trouble, so no free rides).
Not to say you should run fast, I’ve taken to running slower this past week, but I noticed I was shuffling a bit, and when I increased toe-off, it seemed to help. I say this with pure caution, because changing your gait can mess you up in other ways, but this is a simple, temporary thing to try and the Ultra guy that was doing it said he and his wife are both able to shush the IT monster on a run by making this small change until it quiets.
I’m going on my 11-miler in about 10 minutes. Here’s hoping the ITband finally shuts up for the duration. If not, I’ll try the stronger toe-off instead of immediately stopping to stretch and will report back…
Update: Had a great run! Yes, there was a shadow but I was able to keep it just that by paying attention to my gait and toe-off. My next test will be to see if the IT band bothers earlier on tomorrow’s run or holds off till the usual time. Whew, looks like this Sunday I can attempt my first 13-miler since my Half back on May 3rd! Oh happy day (hoping anyway).
I just checked out Gifted Runner and I like the shirts. You are quite the entrepreneur with all these websites:) I love how you give the option to personalize a shirt for less than $4! I may have to get my parents to order one for me as a present for my bday in August (no more teenage years for me, I’ll be 20…yikes!) So, if you see someone soon wearing one of your shirts along the Kelly, that’s probably me
Thanks Runforlife. Woohoo on the almost non-teen status, that’s exciting! You better say hi to me before August or I’ll be pouty for all of July.
Very glad to hear that your 11-miler went well. That means there’s hope. :-) And, although I am definitely chomping at the bit to get out there, I am forcing myself to play this smart. I did push a bit too hard the other day, I admit, but it’s tough to know where that line between a shadow of pain and damaging pain lies. I always worry that my lazy side is trying to trick me with pain that’s not really there… Anyway, I haven’t gotten back out there yet because my knee’s been hurting ever since and so I don’t think I really was ready. I’ll see how it feels tomorrow and then (hopefully) do a couple light miles. I have an MRI Friday so I’ll be able to find out for sure if anything else is going on after that. Thanks for all the advice! I appreciate it.
my daughter has a tshirt idea for you
FRONT: Yes, I farted.
BACK: Don’t like it? Try and pass me.
And your chugga chugga choo choo shirt really should have the train flipped so it is moving forward in the direction the eye is reading. But I’m a picky graphic designer.
Raffi, I agree…you are picky.