Girl In Motion

How cavalier I was when last I left you folks, spouting this little morsel, “Going out for 4 today and will keep it at 4 for the next couple days” After I returned from my run I realized that running 4 days in a row is reckless when you’re repairing yourself, so I took yesterday off. It rained all day anyway, so I wasn’t that tempted.

The UPS guy brought my ankle brace, which I like quite a lot - it’s a lace-up one, so I feel like a boxer in it. It works, too! Started my run today with my usual trepidation of “how bad is this going to feel and for how long?” but the discomfort disappeared sooner than it has for the last few runs, so I did 5 miles at my pre-injured easy pace of 8:49. What a relief.

There’s a huge regatta going on in my stomping ground, so it was a lively run, maneuvering around people, boats, and people carrying boats. I passed by this one girl who was running and reading at the same time, which deserved a double-take because I could have sworn it was a paperback, but I was too shy to turn around and check it out.

It reminded me of my diving days when, on an especially deep dive that requires a long decompression stop (to rid your body of nitrogen so you don’t get the bends), some people bring books to read while they’re hanging there. Clever idea, since holding onto a rope mid-water for an hour or more is the most boring non-activity in the world, though I always imagined the pages floating away so never tried it. That said, I’m not even tempted to read while running.

Anyway, I feel like I’m officially on the mend which means the next order of business will be revisiting my marathon plan starting point, but first…vacation!! We’re going out West in a couple weeks for a 12-day sojourn; doing the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Moab, Polygamist Sect National Parks tour.

Our first activity that is already reserved (and I am terrified of) is an all-day mule ride through the Grand Canyon. The mules walk perilously close to the edges of cliffs you wouldn’t dare hike on foot, so eeeeek!! They say they haven’t lost a mule yet, which should be heartening, though how can one not respond with, “there’s always a first time.”

Looking forward to seeing what running holds for me out West. I’ve been told Yellowstone has plenty of bears so it’s not a good idea to run there, but I’m sure every place will be different. Nick is so cute, he’s promised to ride along side me on a rented bike and if that’s not available, by car. Payback will be me on a bike in Moab, the bicyclist’s mecca, with a smile on my face and no comments like, “yeah, biking’s ok, but not half as fun as running”. What we do for love.

OK, so I’m feeling good about the ankle, the taping has made all the difference in the world. I managed 4 miles at 9:00/mile yesterday, so already I’m back in the “normal” ballpark. A little discomfort on and off during the run, but mild and no discomfort when walking at all.

Today was my second appointment with the doc, who said if I wanted to run over the weekend I should come Thursday for re-taping.

So I go this morning and first off they put these odd contraptions on me:

Cynical observation #1:
I ask what it’s for and the girl attaching it says something about stretching the toes, like massage, but I’m here to fix my peroneal tendon on the right foot, so I wonder what long-term good this can possibly have and why both feet? Hmmm.

Cynical observation #2 (and the most important one):
When I saw the doc on Tuesday, he mentioned the peroneal was slipping from it’s groove. I had already read about that, so I knew the term for it (subluxation) which surprised him. After I got home that day, I started questioning his diagnosis though, because a subluxed tendon supposedly feels like it’s popping over the ankle bone and is a very serious thing…50% of people with this need surgery, otherwise, it’s a boot for a few weeks!

So today, when he sits down to give me acupuncture, I ask him about subluxation and my understanding that it’s a serious problem. He says maybe it’s simply a mild case, so I then ask him to tell me the primary symptom of subluxation and he says “you feel a snapping of the tendon”. The problem with this is, I never said I felt this - there’s no snapping or movement at all, so where’d this diagnosis come from?!? Not to mention, he never even picked my foot up to physically see what it was doing in the first place! Subluxation my foot (punny, huh?), it isn’t that and he agreed.

Cynical observation #3:
I mention I ordered a popular type of brace for my ankle and he gives me eyebrows up and asks what I was hoping to accomplish with the brace. I sheepishly reply that the taping seemed to help a lot, so when he’s not available for taping, I’d use the brace. I’m thinking he’s anti-brace (because it means less bi-weekly appointments) but then he tells me the one he sells (aha!) is better and thinner and more comfortable. I reply that if mine doesn’t work, I’ll buy his.

Cynical observation #4:
Everyone in the room is getting the same stuff, same treatments. If I’m there to fix my peroneal tendon, why I am I getting the same thing Bunion Lady is getting? All in all, I’d rather spend 15 minutes with a doctor who directly addresses the problem than over 2 hours for “feel good” treatments.

What I got at the end of my appointment (besides the $26 parking ticket because I was there for 2.5 hours) was for him to look at my x-ray from Monday, which (joy, oh joy) looks fine and dandy with nothing suspect, so it’s probably just an irritated tendon and I should be right as rain in a couple weeks of keeping it taped/braced.

If however, I start feeling more discomfort, I’ll travel up to Matt’s podiatrist, who won the Philly Marathon years back, so the guy knows running. But hopefully, everything is on the mend.

So that’s my doctor adventure, from “what fun is this!” to “um…are you sure?”

Going out for 4 today and will keep it at 4 for the next couple days, I guess. Just happy to get out there. I guess this means I’m a real runner.

When I got to the podiatrist, I was worried - not for the outcome of my foot, but because my first sight is a woman sitting there with acupuncture needles in her leg, then another woman with some weird machine attached to her foot, then another with a torturous-looking splint device attached to her foot.

I’m about the farthest from Eastern philosophies and ching-ching stuff as a person’s allowed to be, so I was doing secret eye-rolling when no one was looking.

My first task was to stand and walk on a pad that reads pressure and heat, so when the doc analyzed me, he noticed I distribute uneven weight between legs, my poor right leg does a lot more work than the left, and that the way my foot rolls is kinda wacky. Hmmm, makes sense since any twinges I get are always on the right leg.

Additionally, it appears I’m paying karma points for making fun of those Lincoln Center ballerinas when I was in acting school, with their constant fifth-position waddle…turns out that’s kind of how I walk these days. Serves me right.

Anyway, he told me my peroneal tendon was getting out of it’s groove. My reply was “When can I run??” When he responded, “Today, after I wrap your foot up”, I didn’t care if they hung an effigy of Buddha on my butt and lit my ass on fire, I’d do whatever he said.

So I got the full treatment starting with electro-stim where they put paddles on my ankle and sent an electric current through my foot (this increases blood flow). Then I went into another room where a nice woman showed me exercises to strengthen my ankles. Next, I got acupuncture and lastly, the doc wrapped my feet up and told me to come back on Thursday for re-wrapping and whatever else they come up with. Fine by me! My insurance is paying for it after all (or at least the first few visits), so I’ll be your human voodoo doll any day.

My lesson for next time is to get to a doctor sooner rather than later - I could have saved weeks of worry and several days of depression. Enough boo-hooing though, time to don some shorts, a top and take my feet where they’ve been itching to go for a week; outside into the big world. Later, kids!! (and smooches for the well-wishes during this most boring whining time of mine, you guys/gals are the best!)

Apres Run Addition: Well, that hurt like a son of a bitch…for the first half anyway. I ran a blistering 10min pace for 3.2 miles. Was thinking the doc was a quack for a while (not that it made me turn around and go home), but the ankle loosened up the longer I was out there. Saw my construction worker boyfriend who’s been cheering me about Broad St. for the last 3 months, we exchanged race results and I was really happy for him, he was expecting 10min miles and ran 1:32. Good times, good times…

Saw the nurse practitioner today who sent me off for an x-ray and gave me a referral to a podiatrist.

As I’m walking the couple blocks to the x-ray place, I’m simultaneously making an appointment with the podiatrist, but because I have the bare minimum HMO, the earliest appt. I can get is May 21st. Huge stinkin’ bummer.

I get the x-rays done and the doctor doesn’t see anything of note, though she does point out a little bony bit on top of my heel that I think could be one of the culprits (I suspect there may be two separate things going on) because that would make sense for my self-diagnosis of nerve impingement. I know, I’m no Marcus Welby M.D., but too much time on my hands has led me to investigate every form of lateral foot/ankle pain known to mankind in these past few weeks and very little fits the bill.

I get home, thrilled that there’s no stress fracture (because at my age, that’s always in the back of my mind, even if the symptom is an itchy ear) but unhappy because I have to wait over a week for Step Two. So I call my local running store and get a name of a sports doc/podiatrist who, happily, will see me tomorrow morning at 8:30.

And that, my friends, is Step One in what I should have started a week ago. I’m such a dick that way, but I’ve always hated doctors and apt. making, so whatever…better late than never.

I’ll let you know what’s up when I get home tomorrow. Cross fingers and toes for me, please.

I won’t call them exactly dark, though I’ve had some bleak moments these last couple days. Besides family drama over my Mom’s website (this is going to be a long road, I think) my ankle/foot problem hasn’t left the building yet. Last Friday I finally made a doctor apt. for Monday morning, though I’m only seeing a nurse practitioner since my doc isn’t available. Here’s hoping he/she gives me the referral I seek.

This morning, it does seem better, but yesterday felt like I’d gone back in time, it hurt when I walked. While in my last entry I professed my OK-ness with taking one week off, the idea that this will be stretching beyond that is now becoming a teary situation for me. I feel like a zombie, wondering what the fuck is going on at the bottom of my leg and what to do before I lose fitness.

Nick would love nothing better than for me to pick up a bike, since that’s his sport of choice, but I’m really not drawn to it. I used to swim, but that sounds so mind-numbing after running’s ever-changing sights and sounds. I think what I’ll end up doing, if I have to, is join a gym so at least I can people watch while I do brain-dead machines. I always liked the rowing machine, maybe that’ll be my aerobic relief of choice.

Or maybe this is just a tendon issue that needs a few more days, but the weird heel-pinching I feel when I point my foot indicates otherwise.

So it’s Sunday, the day I was going to run again, instead I’m sitting here feeling the weight of the world despite the lovely temperature and all the birds singing outside the window. Or maybe because of it.

Sigh.

In taking care of my ankle, I’ve been off from running since Sunday’s race and don’t plan to run again till this Sunday. You’d think I’d be freaking out but I’m doing great with the time off. Bottom line is, I know that if I don’t fix myself, I could be screwed for the big picture (Steamtown) and that would be tragic.

My initial worry in taking a week off was my memory of getting the flu last Feb. and being off for 11 days. That one knocked me for a loop, took me probably an entire month to get back to fighting shape. But I realized recently that there’s gotta be a difference in taking off to be sick lung-wise, then injured limb-wise. I might be creaky when starting again, but it won’t be weeks of trying to recapture my old self.

Meanwhile, I’ve been keeping myself busy. Very good week for voiceovers, had a lot of jobs between last week and this, so…cha-ching!

Lastly, and probably most importantly, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I finally, FINALLY, made my mother’s website and put it online yesterday. I’ve felt this job haunting me since January 2007, but couldn’t deal with actually sitting down and doing it. Thanks to the comment from Mr. Novie on the “Why I Started Running” page and subsequent emails with him, it was the exact kick in the pants I needed. The site requires a bit of editing and additional content (waiting for family input), but if any of you guys are interested, check out www.eleanorkarp.com.

The Broad St. 10 miler is just about here. I’m looking forward to it - though thanks to about 16,999 other runners, I’m dreading the wall of people guaranteed to clog the start. It’ll be an automatic PR since it’s my first 10M race, but I’d still like a fighting chance to do my best.

So I’m thinking of doing things differently this race. Instead of my usual scurrying/weaving around slower people at the beginning, I would like to not waste that energy, instead keeping myself contained, then speeding up as an opening occurs. The problem with that is I don’t trust myself to be able to surge later and make up for lost time…will I have the energy? This method scares me but I’m sure it’s the best way to run the race.

Cluster-fuck in mind, I have two goals; one that I can live with and one I think I could get if everything went hunky-dory. Here’s hoping either of those occur.

Meanwhile, my ankle thing that made itself known exactly a month ago (and which I’ve finally accepted as my first real injury) has just now stopped being a source of worry. It’s a tendon strain that didn’t want to heal, which wasn’t helped since I wouldn’t take 2 consecutive days off in a row. I finally got more serious with icing and ibuprofen (600 twice a day for 4 days) and started wearing an ankle wrap at home so I wouldn’t inadvertently point my foot, which aggravated it.

My plan was to get through Broad St. and then if I needed to see a doctor, do it right afterwards since my racing season would pretty much be over anyway (save for one Garmin-less 5K I’d like to do mid-May). Looks like that won’t be necessary (whew!) but with every little niggle and twinge I’ve been dealing with, it’s made me insanely grateful for the fact that I can run at all. Every step is a beautiful thing.

So as far as running, last week after my nice tempo run, I took it pretty easy. I managed to get a 13-miler in last Sunday, which because of races and ankle crap, was the longest I’d gone in all of April! This was unusual for me, because I really enjoy going longer, but I had to be prudent.

In the end, I came out with 44 miles for the week, 10 less than I’d originally scheduled, but the most I’ve run this month. It’s a pain in the ass to be hobbled!!

Yesterday I did my last pre-race speed session (ala Tinman), whose advice I highly respect (though I’m only following the last week of his advice). So I did 4xmile at race pace, but added a minute to the recoveries since that advice was given to a faster runner. It was fun to do them at 10M pace, like doing tempo intervals, so it didn’t feel anything like a speed session.

Today and tomorrow I’m up for 6, then Friday has 5 with 3 200m strides and then a day off.

Lara and I will hit the expo on Friday where we’ll each get an exciting bonus gift since the race is sponsored by Blue Cross and Lara and I are both members. OMG…it’s a free pair of Blue Cross socks! Can’t wait.

Then Saturday it’s pasta dinner with a lovely group of forum friends (oh, how I love those forum get-togethers) and Sunday, the race. But I’ll pop in here before then. Who knows, those Blue Cross socks might deserve an entry of their own.

I’m officially a shoe whore now. On Monday I’m taking back the Adrenaline 8s and getting a second pair of Mizuno Inspires. And if that’s not enough, I’m expecting the UPS guy this afternoon to bring me some Mizuno Elixirs just in time for tomorrow’s 5K! Lightweight trainers, baby!! One step above a racing flat but perceptibly lighter than a standard training shoe…that should knock off a half a second off for sure!

What else? Oh, I’ve been involved in the Miles Game on the RW Beginner Forum for months and months now, where you enter your mileage for that week along with your team name, then the miles get added up and the teams and runners are ranked for the week.

Well, all this foot/ankle stuff I’ve been dealing with confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for some time now, that the Miles Game is not a healthy thing for me. The reason being, if I need to take a day off here and there, I personally have no problem with it (whatever it takes to keep the ole bod in good form), but when it comes to posting a lower mileage week for the game I end up feeling guilty, embarrassed or wussy…and for what? So I bade farewell to my teammates today.

Beyond that, my love affair with the Beginners Forum is waning in general and I’ve lost interest in participating, preferring instead to spend my reading time at training or racing forums/boards. I feel kind of sad about it, like an Era has passed, but it was excellent while it lasted and now it’s on to more technical interests from here on in.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to print for now. Going in an hour with Lara to pickup our packets for tomorrow’s Clean Air 5K. Goody for Goody Bags! Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs! Wait, I don’t even like Cocoa Puffs…

So the foot wasn’t hurting so bad today, though it was still sending me a low-level “I’m heeeere” sort of presence, so I popped a couple Ibuprofen at breakfast, but am keeping them to a minimum because I want to keep tabs on what the bottom line is, pain-wise.

Meanwhile, I spent more time yesterday looking up posts on the RW Injury forum and on Google for anything foot-related which is such a dumb thing for me to do - because in my mind, what starts as a small foot pain by the end has escalated to a full-blown stress fracture or leprosy.

While perusing posts on PF and tendon problems, I kept reading about people running through their pain and ending up with injuries far more serious, which left me thinking over and over again “What idiots! How stupid do you have to be to be injured and keep running? Seriously, it’s irrational, irresponsible and just plain dumb.”

So I did 8 miles today w/4@tempo (the fastest tempo miles I’ve ever done, as a matter of fact).

I know, I know, such idiocy, but my foot seemed better and I have my goal race coming up and I had to prove to myself that the mile time-trial result really had no meaning, and I could go on and on because I’m a runner and we’re a stubborn lot, as you very well know.

Anyway, it was the perfect run. Tempo splits were 7:45, 7:35, 7:44, 7:42, giving me a 7:41 avg. Confidence is back to where it was before the weekend. (how easily I crumble, huh?)

The foot didn’t hurt at all on the run, but now it’s bleeding like a fountain and I can’t walk. Joking, joking, nothing untoward has happened, it’s resting on ice now and I’m feeling happy. Tonight and tomorrow will tell me if I did a very bad thing by running through it or if I got away with it.

I sure hope I did, because I just don’t know what I’d do if I got leprosy right now.

So my fab new Mizunos are evil torture devices in disguise, but I’m hoping only temporarily. What happened is this:

The first time I wore them was for a speed session last week, as I blogged about. Loved them, adored them, felt light, etc. The next morning I experienced something I’d never felt before, I get out of bed and my left foot is cramped on the outside from heel to pinky toe, and I’m hobbling! I’d read that PF appears in the mornings, but this wasn’t the center or inside of my foot and since it quickly disappeared, I figured it was just some fleeting weirdness.

Now, the week before I got my new shoes (Brooks Adrenalines and Mizuno Inspires), I had a twingy tendon on my right ankle for a couple days that had come about while overstretching (hyper-pointing my toes) in bed one morning, so I’d been “checking” the right ankle by stretching my left foot incessantly to compare. Dumb.

Sunday is the mile time-trial and I wear my speedy Mizunos for the second time - no problems. Next morning (yesterday), I splay my left toes in bed (there I go stretching again!) and feel a zing of pain. Like I pulled something, but again, it goes away quickly so I forget about it.

Cut to my afternoon run in my Adrenalines - feel great, nothing hurts, wasn’t even thinking about it. Then I get home and while I have my running socks on, I try on the left Mizuno because it’s been eating the lower-cut socks, so maybe the higher sock will stay put…

I slide my foot into the shoe and OOWWEEEE! Out of nowhere, the outside edge of my foot is in huge pain, centralized at the heel. But this time it doesn’t go away, it hurts the rest of the day into the night and this morning, is still tender. Oh no.

What I deduce about the Mizunos is that it has a more negative heel, reminiscent of the Earth Shoes I had when I was 13 (when I made my Dad drive me to Tulsa specifically to get a pair since Fayetteville, Arkansas wasn’t a hotbed of fashion at the time). That, or the fact that it’s not as built-up as my Asics or Brooks, makes it feel negative. Anyway, it hurt.

So all day yesterday, I’m online trying to figure out what it is I’ve done or am afflicted with and don’t see anything that fits, since the Plantar Fascia is centralized and nothing seems to be on the outside of the foot. Then voila! This morning I finally come upon an illustration of the plantar nerves and the lateral one goes on the side from heel to pinky toe. Bingo.

My lesson learned: never introduce a new pair of shoes with speedwork and a race first thing. And don’t stretch your feet like a maniac when determining the status of an injury, you might just create one on the opposing foot.

To wrap up this long, boring diatribe, here I am taking an unwanted day off and hoping with everything I got that this isn’t my first “real” injury. Sigh.