FlexBar Report

Last Friday I wrote about my golf-induced tennis elbow. Also known as tendonitis for those who prefer the more technical name for things.

I also wrote about ordering something called a FlexBar that is supposed to help strengthen the weak areas that lead to tendonitis.

I was pretty happy to have my FlexBars (I ordered a few different ones so that I can increase the resistance as I get stronger) arrive on Friday morning. I've now had three days to use them and can give a FlexBar report for anyone who is interested.

The first thing I learned is that using a FlexBar is all about subtlety. The movements you need to do to address different problem areas are not big broad movements (like the kind that usually cause the problem) but small and precise ones.

I read the instructions and (thought I had) figured it out. The movements seemed to stretch the area that they was supposed to.

Then I went online to read more details about how to do the exercise and I discovered that I was doing it all wrong. Not a little bit wrong but almost completely backwards from what I was supposed to be doing. Once I started to do it correctly, I really really felt the stretch in all the right places.

The instructions say to do the exercise 5 times in a row, three times a day. They say that it will probably hurt afterwards. They say that the discomfort should go away after a little while and, once I can do 5 in a row without pain, I should increase to 10. And then 15.

By Sunday I was doing 10 in a row with the second highest resistance. There is still pain afterwards but less of it. I can also grip my water bottle and lift it without pain which is something I could not do last week. So I'm willing to say that, while it's still early days, things seem to be moving in the right direction.

Flexbar

We played 6 games of golf while we were away.

Six games of golf...in 7 days.

Before every game of golf, we went to the practice range and hit balls. A bucket of them.

In 7 days (I'm guessing here) I swung my golf club 1000 times.

Considering the fact that the last time I golfed was October, that's kinda like not running for four months and then easing back into things with a hilly half marathon.

So it should come as no surprise that my body responded with an 'I'm not very happy with you' message.

My elbow started hurting in a way that it has never hurt before and got steadily worse at the games went on. It began to hurt every time I gripped the club in my right hand it and hurt when I then tried to lift my arm while holding the gripping club.

I carried on figuring it was only a few more days and then I had at least two months to recover before golf season in Canada began.

Well I've been almost two weeks since my last golf game and my elbow still isn't happy whenever I try to pick something even remotely heavy up with my right hand.  I have to force myself to lift my water bottle with my left hand to avoid the now-familiar twinge.

So I decided to research 'golfer's elbow' to see what the deal was.

Turnsout I don't have golfer's elbow. I have tennis elbow. Which golfers can get too apparently.

Anyway, I read all about treatment and prevention options and most articles I found kept leading back to the same thing.

This:

 

 Introducing the Thera-Band Flexbar

Apparently the key to fixing and avoiding a recurrence of tennis (or golfer's) elbow is to strengthen the muscles in your arm that become irritated. Doing so is difficult using regular exercises but this little baby does the trick. Check out this article about it in the New York Times if you're interested.There is also photos and a short video to show the move you need to do to strengthen the affected area.

So I texted my friendly neighbourhood chiropractor to get his thoughts and then, with his approval, ordered my very own. It should arrive on Monday and, if it's anywhere near as good as it is touted to be, I should be feeling much better and stronger by the time I swing my clubs again.

Which is a good thing because I plan on spending a lot of time this summer swinging my clubs.

The Little Metronome That Could

I started running late in 2007. I ran my first half marathon in the fall of 2008. I ran two more in 2009,
three in 2010, two in 2012, and two more in 2013. No halfs (halves?) were run in 2011 as I was training for a full (which never happened incidentally).

Oh yes my friends. I have now reached double digits. I have ten half marathon medals on my medal rack. Ten, for some reason, feels way bigger than simply 9+1. It feels like I've now earned the right to call myself a half-marathoner.

When I look back on those 10, I have had fabulous races. I ran races with nagging pain or barely recovered injuries. I have run in lovely weather and weather seemingly sent from the bowels of hell (hello Tel Aviv half!). I have had horrid blood sugar races and I have had races that have gone so well that I seemed to be cured...at least temporarily.

No matter the race, the injuries or lack thereof, the weather, the blood sugar or any other variable, there is one thing that is pretty damn consistent. And that is my time.

Take a look:

1. Run for the Grapes (Sept 2008): 2:30:26
2. Ottawa half (May 2009): 2:30:50
3. Run for the Grapes (Sept 2009): 2:25:39
4. Grimsby half (Feb 2010): 2:18:16
5. Cleveland half (May 2010): 2:22:22
6. Run for the Grapes (Sept 2010): 2:22:10
7. Women's half (June 2012): 2:18:30
8. Niagara Falls half (Oct 2012): 2:19:48
9. Tel Aviv half (March 2013): 2:28:10
10. Niagara half (October 2013): 2:24:31

I am, as it turns out, pretty damn consistent. My last 8 half marathons all fell within 10 minutes of each other regardless of how well or how poorly the day went.

Yesterday's run in Niagara Falls went well overall. My injured foot didn't put up any sort of fuss and felt fine from start to finish. So fine that, after a while, I forgot to worry about it.

My blood sugar behaved quite well. I was 4.9 before the start and I had a Clif bar to bump it up. I was 9.0 at the 7k mark and had about 10 raisins. At 14k I was 6.7 so I had a gel. Towards 19k they were handing out jelly beans which I grabbed because I was tired and hungry. At the finish I was 7.0. Pretty stellar numbers there.

My running fitness was a tad disappointing. I ran the first 7k really well but not so fast as to pay later. The second third was pretty good too although I was already flagging. A little slower overall but still strong. The last third fell apart. My ears started plugging up despite my best attempts to stay hydrated and keep my heart rate controlled. My breathing became a little more laboured and I started doing the ol' run a kilometre and then walk a minute or two routine. I hate when I end up doing that because a) once you stop, it's hard to convince your body that it really should start running again and b) I start every race saying I will only walk at the water stations and have yet to run a race where I didn't succumb to the walk.

For the record, I have run long runs where I run the whole thing (other than blood sugar stops) so I know deep down I can do it.

That being said, I am pretty happy with the overall results, especially considering that I started the training back in September not even sure if I'd be fit enough to get to the start line.

I am starting to form a list of goals in my head for 2014. One of them will be to work on increasing my speed so that I can, perhaps, run a sub 2:15 half marathon.

If You Ignore It, Sometimes It Goes Away

Some people deal with things by not dealing with them.

They go shopping to forget about the fact that they are in debt.

That sort of thing.

I try not to do that sort of thing.

Dealing with things head on is my strategy of choice for most things.

On Saturday night, I was folding my running clothes that just came out of the laundry when it occurred to me that I had not thought about my foot all day.

That may not be odd for most of you. Feet really aren't that fascinating. I'm sure a lot of people did not think about their feet on Friday.

But it is odd for me.

Odd because I have only recently recovered from a stress fracture in my foot. I am hyper-sensitive to anything to do with it now. I think about my foot when I get out of bed in the morning. When I decide what shoes to wear. And certainly I think about it during runs.

I pay attention to how it's feeling. Is there pain? Are there aches? Is it stiff?

On Saturday morning, I ran 20k. And on Saturday night I realized that I had not paid attention to my foot when I woke up. When I got ready for my run. When I ran for 2+ hours. When I stretched and when I showered. I also didn't think about it during the afternoon golf game that Doug and I played.

I only thought about it when I saw my running clothes after dinner.

Why was my foot ignored all day?

Because I was paying extremely close attention to my ears. After the annoying ear-plugging session that happened on a long run a week earlier, I was super-focused on figuring out the cause and finding ways of stopping it from happening again.

I drank tons of water on Thursday and Friday in an attempt to ward off dehydration. I drank before my run. I made myself drink every 10-15 minutes during my run. And I focused all of my attention on my ears. Did they plug up? Both ears at the same time? When did it start? How bad did it get? What was my heart rate and blood sugar when they started plugging? Etc etc etc.

Which meant my foot was completely ignored and able to go for a run without constant supervision...for the first time since May.

Turn out that not dealing with a problem is sometimes a very effective way of dealing with it.

For the record:
- my ears plugged up a bit but didn't get nearly as bad as the week before
- my foot didn't hurt at all during or after the run
- my blood sugar was 4.8 before I started. I ate a banana and a GU gel and did not bolus for it. I also didn't change my basal rate. I was 14.4 at 7.5k, 10.6 at 15k and 6.5 at 20k.
- my heart rate hovered around 165 bpm which is 85% of my max
- I tried a new anti-chafing product and did not chafe at all...except in the one spot I forgot to apply it. Sigh.

Twinkle Toes...Sort of.

There are plenty of bandwagons out that there I refuse to jump on.

Atkins diet? No thanks. Eliminating entire food groups just sees wrong to me...and so sad considering how tasty that food group is.

Skinny jeans? Nope...although I must admit that I did try on a pair. I am proud to say that I have a little too much muscle in my legs to make those puppies look anything other than very unflattering.

The whole "Keep Calm and...blah blah blah" thing? Rather annoying actually.

I also tend to dismiss many of the tips I read in magazines. Especially the really specific workout-type tips that you often find in health magazines. You know the ones. In order to strengthen the one muscle in your leg that you didn't even realize you have you have to balance precariously on a chair with your other leg up against the wall and then squat 20 times. Or something like that.

I always read the articles themselves. I learn all about the rationale behind why I should strengthen or stretch a particular body part, I look at the step by step exercise photos. I read the captions. And then I turn the page to read reviews of the latest running shoes.

Until last week when I was reading the latest issue of Runners World and they were talking about plantar fasciitis and shin/calf issues. Those three things are what always sidelines me when I run. The article talked about the inherent weaknesses in the feet of people who over-pronate (me), how those weaknesses create other problems that lead to injuries like, oh I don't know, stress fractures!

They gave a list of exercises to do to strengthen the muscles in my feet. None of them looked too crazy. And none of them required any special equipment that I didn't already own.

Best of all, some of the exercises I could do while sitting on the couch writing my daily blog.

So I headed to the kitchen, opened the drawer that holds the tin foil and plastic wrap and I grabbed an elastic. Then I headed upstairs to my nail polish supply bag and I grabbed my little plastic thing I use to separate my toes before I paint my toe nails.

I came back down to the couch and grinned at Doug who was looking at me a little warily.

I wrapped the elastic around the toes of my right foot and proceeded to try to separate my toes.

Like this! 

Doug didn't say much but I'm pretty sure he was impressed at how far I could separate them. 

After I did that 20-ish times on each foot, I put the elastic down and I shoved the plastic divider between my toes. And then I started squeezing my toes together as hard as I could. 

Again, Doug was so amazed at my toe talent he couldn't say a word. Just kinda stared at me... 

Who knows really if this is going to do anything to prevent future fractures or shin splints. I just like it because it's easy enough to do and can be done while I'm doing more important things. Like sitting on the couch reading a magazine or watching Game of Thrones. 

I asked Doug if he was going to tell all his golf buddies about my latest toe fitness routine. He said he didn't think so. Probably a good idea. We wouldn't want to make them all jealous at the strength in my toes now would we?

Olympic Countdown

Well, it's been a little unorthodox but my Olympic triathlon training is wrapping up and it's almost taper time. 

A month ago I was doing the run/walk thing. In fact, on June 1st, I walked four minutes and ran six. Three times. And it was really hard. 

By mid-June I was running 25 minutes straight. My foot was holding up but my running fitness was pretty pathetic and my speed was down. 

Two weekends ago I did the Welland triathlon and survived a 7.5k run/walk. Technically I was only running 5k at that time. 

It's been almost two weeks since that race. I resumed my running rehab after a few days of rest and built from 5k to 6k to 7k and then 8k. 

I ran 8k on Tuesday and again on Thursday morning this week. Both times I ran the entire distance without stopping or walking. Both times took about 51 minutes. Not speedy by any means but I'm able to run for almost an hour straight which is much more than I was able to do on June 1st. 

I will not have run 10k before the race even though I need to run 10k on race day. I also did not do any hill training even though the running route on race day is apparently hilly. At least according to the girl in the locker room who told me horror stories about the hills. 

I also will not have cycled 40k before the race even though I need to cycle 40k on race day. In fact, 35k is the farthest I've gone in probably a year. I do ride a lot of hills though so I guess I'm ready for those. 

I have, thankfully, swum 1.5k many many times. In fact, I swim at least 3k every time I hop in the pool so that distance is not a problem. Tonight, as a last hurrah before I taper, I'm doing my first Activ Series open water race. I'm competing in the 1.9k swim. And unlike running and cycling where I focus on pacing myself to survive to the end, I want to race. Swimming in the only sport that I feel I can push myself hard. To pass people. To sprint to the finish. To do more than just pace myself to the finish. 

After tonight's race, I have a few shorter runs, a bike ride and a few easier swims next week. Technically, I've peaked in my training and should be ready to go. Realistically, I got about as close as I could safely get to the distances without re-injuring myself. I played it smart and I'm as ready as I had hoped I'd be. 

Here's hoping it's enough to get me to the finish line, upright and in one piece. 

My Week in Bullet Points

My week in bullet points.

• the receptionist at my doctor's office called to say that the results of my bone density scan came in. She said that my doctor wanted me to take 1000mg of vitamin D and 500mg of calcium every day. "What were the results?" I asked (not knowing if there was a bone density number we're supposed to strive for and how far off the target I was). "She just said that you should start taking vitamin D and calcium" was the response. Fine, I'll assume I'm not in the final stages of osteoporosis and I'll ask for more details at my next appointment. 
• I ran 25 minutes on last weekend and 30 minutes on Tuesday. My foot was a little achy (but no pain I swear!) after Tuesday's run. I had a massage on Wednesday and it felt much better. Neither my massage therapist nor I have any idea why my foot would ache after some runs but not others. Why there is no pain ever but an ache. Keep running unless it gets worse was the message I was given. I took Thursday off as a precaution and will see how things feel on race day. Oh dear, that's tomorrow! 
• I set up my race day basal profile on my pump.  A calculator was involved because I had worked out my profile based on percentages of my current profile and then realized I needed to figure out what the units/hour actually were. I relied on a calculator to make sure I didn't screw up and end up really messing up my race day. My math teachers would be so disappointed in me but my diabetes education team would be proud of my careful planning. 
• I went to the driving range twice. The first time because I hadn't been in two weeks and really wanted to practice. The second time because I was so bad the first time and needed to try to redeem myself. I didn't. Apparently, golf, like any other sport, requires more than twice a month practice sessions in order to improve. 
• I changed the battery on my Animas pump for the first time. Let me tell you, Animas may come first when it comes to being super waterproof but the battery-changing process leaves something to be desired. It took me over five minutes to change the battery and work through all the safety checks (like rewind the pump, reload the cartridge, re-prime the pump). I understand these are all useful safety features but I'm no longer going to be able to change my battery on the fly (like in the middle of a half marathon or while driving on the highway). This is going to take some pre-planning. 
• I didn't wash my hair yesterday. Because I swim, run or bike every morning, I need to wash my hair every day whether I want to or not. Since I skipped my run, I simply tied my hair back, took a quick shower and went to work. It felt very weird but I sure liked all the free time I had in the morning. 
• I think I'm more susceptible to suggestions than I want to be. I wrote a blog earlier this week about hating the harpooning devices for infusion sites. Scott and Jeff both wrote to say that they love them (in fact I believe Scott used the word "addicted"). I immediately decided that maybe I could love them too if I just tried a little harder. I'm even considering ordering a box of them so that I get more time to learn to love them. Boys, you are a very bad influence on me. If I become addicted like Scott to spring-loaded insertions, it's on your heads. 

Updated Triathlon Plans

Call me crazy but I just signed up for the Welland sprint triathlon.

The one that is eight days from now.

The one that involves me running 7.5 kilometres after swimming 750m and cycling 30k.

I know. I know. I said that I was going to just do the swim/bike but, the closer it got, the more the little voice in my head told me to do the full triathlon.

I'm already running 20 minutes straight (or 3.20k according to my Garmin). If all goes well I'll be up to 35 minutes by next Thursday and I figure it's only about ten more minutes of running for me to do 7.5k.  So it's a little bit outside of my injury recovery comfort zone but not terribly so.

I've decided to play it safe and do a walk/run combo on race day to give my feet a rest. So I think I'll go back to the run 9 minutes walk 1 minute routine that I was doing last week. It won't be my fastest time but at least I'll get to do a full triathlon and put my mind at ease about the Olympic tri that is looming on the calendar.

I'm also a little worried about the swim. Not because of the distance or the course but because of the water temperature. We've had some sun here in Niagara but not enough to warm up the water. Sunny days have been interspersed with plenty of cold, rainy ones and, the last I heard, the water temperature is 60 degrees.

That's pretty darn cold for a wetsuit-eschewing swimmer like myself. Too cold for any open-water practice swims yet. I'm hoping for a hot, sunny week to heat things up a bit. If not, I'll be shivering my way through the swim.

Seriously though folks, what I'm looking forward to the most is testing out my waterproof pump and working out a race day basal profile that will allow me to have a pre-race gel and a pre-run gel without sending my blood sugar soaring.

I'll let you know next week what my basal plan of attack is and will certainly let you know how it works out on race day.

Rehad Updates

The stress fracture rehap is going well so far.

Yesterday's run was a mixture of walk three minutes and run seven for a total of thirty minutes. That means that I am now running 21 minutes out of 30.

I've been taking notes on each rehab run to keep track of how I'm doing and feeling.

It's interesting to look back and see the difference three minutes per run makes in terms of pace and distance.

Here's how things have been progressing so far.

Walk 9 minutes, run 1 minute  - three times      Average pace: 9.28 min/k
Walk 8 minutes, run 2 minutes - three times      Average pace: 9.27 min/k
Walk 7 minutes, run 3 minutes - three times      Average pace: 9.13 min/k
Walk 6 minutes, run 4 minutes - three times      Average pace: 8.33 min/k
Walk 5 minutes, run 5 minutes - three times      Average pace: 8.30 min/k
Walk 4 minutes, run 6 minutes - three times      Average pace: 7:52 min/k
Walk 3 minutes, run 7 minutes - three times      Average pace: 7.16 min/k

My distance has gone from 3.0k to 4.2k.

I know that this is all about slowly building back up to running without injuring myself again and my pace and my distance is not at all relevant. Still though, it's nice to see the distance increasing and the pace picking up day by day.

My body is holding up well. My cardio is ok. My feet aren't hurting although there have been a few achy days and my knees and legs are handling the pounding like troopers.

I have two more runs in phase one of the program (walk 2 minutes run 8 on Tuesday and then walk 1 minute run 9 on Wednesday).

By that point, I will be running 27 minutes out of 30 with breaks in between.

Phase two of the program changes things up and it's no longer about 30 minutes. It's about running longer stretches with no more walk breaks. I will run every second day and I run 12 minutes, 15 minutes, 17 minutes etc. Within two weeks I should be running 40 minutes.

Assuming of course that nothing goes wrong...

I still haven't signed up for the Welland swim/bike because my little optimistic self is wondering if perhaps I could pull off the full sprint tri. I may not be running 7.5k by then but I'll be close. So I'm crossing my fingers and waiting a little longer.

Oh, and I saw my family doctor on Friday and, after a little cajoling on my part, she agreed to send me for a bone density test. She also told me to take extra calcium. So perhaps I'll learn a bit more about why I developed two stress fractures in less than two years.

Onward.

May Goal Update

I'm liking this monthly goal update thing. It keeps me accountable and I get excited when I am able to report progress.

In January I announced my goals for the year:


- log 1000km of running this year
- run the Tel Aviv half marathon
- complete three triathlons, including one Olympic distance
- stay injury free
- pay down debt

Then, as winter turned into spring, I had to make a few adjustments to my goal list due to injury.

My new goal list, as of April, is as follows:

- complete three triathlons, including an Olympic distance
- pay down debt
- log 1000k of running this year
- complete two events in the Activ Swim Series this summer
- play 10 round of golf

- play the baby steps golf course until I can do it in 50 rather than 61.

Drum roll please...

Complete three triathlons, including an Olympic distance. Well, I'm in the early days of my return to running after my second stress fracture program so I don't want to get to far ahead of myself but I think it's still possible. If there are no setbacks, I should be running the 10k distance I need mere days before the Olympic triathlon in July. I'm a little worried that I won't have had a smaller distance tri first to get into the swing of things but c'est la vie. And, if I'm in good enough shape to do that race, I'll be signing up for two more sprint distance triathlons later in the summer. So this goal is still very much on the table.

Pay down debt. I continue to cut corners and limit spending as much as possible and I continue to see my debt slowly but surely decrease. I managed knock another $400 off the pile in May and not add a single penny to my credit card. That's pretty exciting. I need to make a large insulin pump supply order in June but I'm waiting for my quarterly cheque to come in so that I can charge the order to my credit card and immediately pay it off. My goal for June is $500 towards the debt and no credit card purchases other than pump supplies.

Log 1000k of running this year. I was on track in the first three months of the year but April was stress fracture month and I didn't run 100m let alone 100k. I started my return to running program last week and can proudly add 20k (does walk/run count?) to my total. I've gone from 258k to 278k. Not much but more than I could add a few weeks ago so I'll take it. The goal still stands because, if the healing goes well and I can plan for a fall half marathon, there might still be hope. I solemnly swear not to work on this goal if it puts me at risk of re-injury.

Complete two events in the Activ Swim Series this summer. I mentioned this series in April. It's new this year and put on by a local triathlon store. They are organizing weekly open water swims for half-ironman and ironman distances (1.9k and 3.8k respectively). I thought it might be fun to try the distances out and see how they go. The spring in Canada has been on the cool side so there is no open water swimming yet for me as I do not own a wetsuit. Another two weeks I hope and I can test my mettle in the Welland Canal. I'll start with the 1.9k and then, when I'm feeling braver, try the 3.8k.

Play ten rounds of golf. Well, one down and nine more to go. I have three golf lessons under my belt and about 8 (I forgot to keep count) trips to the driving range. I need to book golf games but I'm so focused on getting better that I prefer to spend my time on the range. I guess a balance of both is probably a good idea. By the end of June I'd like to have played two games at least. And a shout out to my friend Erin who said she wants to brave a golf game with me. Just waiting to book the date...


Play the baby steps golf course until I can do it in 50 rather than 61. My first golf game was at, what I nicknamed, the baby steps golf course. Only nine holes and all of them a par three. My first time there I played rather poorly for a golfer but not to shabbily for a newbie and scored a 61. My goal is to play it 9 more times this summer and get that score down to a 50. Since I've only played it once so far, I have nothing to report. Ask me at the end of June.

Speaking of which, come back in a month for the next goal update.

Medical Report

I went to see my sports injury doctor on Friday.

I felt kinda sheepish since my injury feels pretty much gone but he told me not to worry. Nature takes its course while we wait for appointments he said. It's still good to come.

I explained the situation. I told him that I ran a half marathon on March 15th and felt no pain. I told him that I then spent ten days in Israel with my sister, walking all over the place for hours and hours every day.

I told him that my foot started hurting and hurt more and more every day. By the end of the trip I could hardly walk.

"Well we both know what that is right?" he asked. "A stress fracture".

I told him I had figured as much and that I haven't run in 8 weeks. In fact I had avoided doing pretty much anything that put weight on my foot for 8 weeks. He approved.

He told me to ease back into running to see what happened.

"This is my second stress fracture in two years" I said. Both happened during pretty intense periods of weight-bearing activity (marathon training and all day walking). "Should I be worried?"

"Well" he replied, "that might be a sign that there is a bone density issue". "Is there osteoporosis in your family?"

Yes, there is. My grandmother and my mother have it.

He suggested I contact my family doctor and ask for a bone density test. I'm a bit young for one but two stress fractures is a red flag apparently.

So I called my doctor and I'm seeing her this Friday. Hopefully she sends me for the test. If not, my sports injury doc told me to call him and that he would send me.

He also told me to get new orthotics since it has been 1 1/2 years since I got my first pair. My feet, as I am well aware, are not designed for running. I am pretty flat-footed and my feet flop flop flop when I run. Calcium issues or not, that doesn't help and contributes to shin splints, tight calves and plantar fasciitis which are always threatening to flare up again.

When I got home, I pulled out my Vega protein powder and my multivitamin to check the calcium. Between those two things and my soy milk and yogurt in the morning, I get a bit more calcium than a healthy woman my age should be getting. But I did a bit of online reading on the weekend and what I found seems to say that people with type 1 have difficulty absorbing calcium. So perhaps I am deficient?

Guess we'll find out soon enough won't we?

Early Days

I started my return to running program three days before my 8 weeks were up.

Don't tell anyone!

I just couldn't help myself and, I rationalized, I have an appointment with a sports injury doctor this morning and I wanted to be able to report how things were feeling. So I figured I had better get two days of the return to running program under my belt before I saw him...

So I walked for thirty minutes on Wednesday after work. I walked around and around our neighbourhood. Never going too far from home in case my foot started to hurt.

Despite a brisk pace and more pounding that it has had in months, there wasn't a twitch of pain or discomfort.

Last night I came home from work, changed into my shorts and running shirt and headed out with my Garmin on my wrist. The routine felt nauseatingly familiar. It is one I did 1 1/2 years ago when I was recovering from my first stress fracture that sidelined my marathon plans. I remember that first run well. I had to walk for nine minutes and then run for one. I remember those nine minutes going by much too quickly and being so desperately afraid of running for one minute. I was terrified of feeling pain and being sidelined for another few weeks.

A year and a half ago, I did not feel any pain when I ran that first minute. I did, however, feel desperately out of breath and was shocked at how hard it was to run for one minute. Depressing considering I had been running for three hours before I was injured.

Anyway, I have learned and grown since that time. This time, during my 7 1/2 weeks off running, I cycled and swam hard for to keep my fitness level where it should be. I knew what to expect. I knew what to do.

Still though, as I turned the corner last night and saw 8:45 on my Garmin, I couldn't quite believe I was walking down the same road, preparing to run down that same road, hoping that that same road would not cause me any pain.

At exactly 9:00 I ran. I ran for a minute. I ran at a 7:00min/k easy pace.

I didn't pant. I didn't struggle. I felt no pain. At all.

I repeated this routine twice more, walking for nine minutes and then running for one, for a total of 30 minutes. Nothing to report other than it feels pretty damn good to run again.

Today is a day off and then, on Saturday, I walk 8 minutes and run for 2 (three times) and on Sunday I walk for 7 minutes and run for 3 (three times).

These are early days yet but I am cautiously optimistic and enormously relieved that I have not felt any pain.

I'll let you know next week how the recovery is going. I'm trying not to think to far and not get ahead of myself but, if everything goes perfectly well, I'll be back up to the distance I need right on time for the Gravenhurst Olympic triathlon in July. If there is even a week setback, I won't be running the distance I need to compete.

So I'm thinking about it but trying not to thing about it.

Know what I mean?

Which 'ism Will it Be?

Doug and I drove to Ottawa last weekend. We took an extra long long weekend and celebrated with delicious food, a fun dinner with friends and a lovely dinner with oysters and lobster, photography, history and a cycling tour along the Rideau river (on the Ontario and the Québec sides). 

On Saturday, we did a lot of walking. Not 10k of walking but definitely more walking than I've done in the seven weeks that I've been keeping off my foot. 

Halfway through the day, my foot started to ache. There were two spots along the top of my foot that I could clearly identify and that were clearly aching. No pain per se but an ache. The kind of ache that went away as soon as I took a break but that came back again after I walked some more. 

As we walked, I watched countless people effortlessly running along the Rideau canal and I felt a moment of unbelievable sadness. When will I run again?

We walked along the route that, this coming weekend, will host the Ottawa marathon and half marathon and I tried hard not to cry. When will I run again? 

I learned from my stress fracture two years ago. I immediately stopped running when my foot was first injured. I did not rush back after a few days without pain. I did not push my foot to do more than it wanted to. I decided not to run the Women's half marathon in June. I decided I probably wouldn't be able to do the Welland triathlon in June. I went into recovery mode and my mental health hardly took a beating. 

Until Saturday. 

Seven weeks of no running and very little walking. I shouldn't feel a thing by this point other than a happy foot. And the first day of walking caused my foot to ache. 

Sunday morning I woke up and didn't feel any pain or aching at all. We headed out for a few hours of cycling and it felt fine. We walked around the Byward Market - no problems. We headed out after dinner to take some night photos and walked all over the place. Not even a twinge. 

What to make of that?? 

Well, it depends what 'ism you talk to. 

Pessimism: your foot is broken and is not healing properly. Probably because you have diabetes. You have done irreparable or serious damage to it. The times you don't feel any pain or ache are probably because you have lost the ability to feel pain in your foot - remember, you have diabetes. You will not do any triathlons this summer and the Tel Aviv Half may turn out to be your last half marathon. So be careful you don't get a swimming injury next or you won't be able to do anything.

Optimism: it's FINE! It's only been seven weeks and you're supposed to wait eight weeks after a stress fracture. This week will be the turning point and it will be fully healed and ready to run by Saturday. You'll probably feel so good that you can build up your mileage quickly enough to do the Welland triathlon on June 22nd. Zero to 7.5k in four weeks - that's nothing for a strong runner like you. 

Realism: Well, you have stayed off your foot as much as possible for seven weeks. You've done what you were supposed to do to let it heal properly. Now your feet are not used to that much walking and the aches you felt on Saturday are probably just aches from doing an activity you're not used to doing. Not from an unhealed injury. The fact that Sunday felt ok just reinforces that fact. You should probably give it until this Saturday and then ease into the back to running program. Aches are ok at this point. Sharp pain is not. Take it easy. You won't be able to run Welland but, if you're careful, I bet you can do the Olympic tri in July. 

Guess which 'ism I am going with? 

Realism of course. It's my middle name (most of the time). 

Of course, being realistic also means that I know that there is always a chance that things could still be problematic. So I'm keeping my appointment on Friday with the sports injury doctor I saw when I had my first stress fracture. We'll see what he thinks about the whole thing. 

Hopefully, on Monday, you'll be reading about my first two days on the back to run program. 

Baby Steps

It is April 24th.

Since April 1st I have spent $385 on prescriptions. Since January 1st I have spent $845.

Three hundred and eighty-five dollars. That is what I paid after benefits which pay 80% of all prescriptions (other than pump supplies).

Yes, I receive quarterly cheques for pump supplies (thank you thank you thank you). But that is a still a pretty big chunk of cash to wave goodbye to in three short weeks. Especially when I'm in serious pay down debt mode. Even more especially when my next quarterly cheque is still two months away which means that total gets added to my credit card and sits there until the cheque arrives.

Bah!

Why is it that I have tons of patience for baby steps in most areas of my life and yet very little patience for baby steps in my financial ones?

On Monday morning at the pool we sacrificed a hard workout to focus on technique. My goal was to learn to keep my head down and my eyes focused on the bottom of the pool (I lift my head too much when I swim). It took me a while to get the hang of where my head needed to be but I figured it out - only to completely lose my other skills that I thought I had mastered. Like bending my elbow properly and not crossing my arms in front of me. I immediately went back to my old swim technique...but my head looked good.

When I ignored my head-lowering issues and tried to just swim I could no longer remember what was the correct way for me to swim. I turned into an ungainly swimmer whose head was too high, whose elbows didn't bend and who crossed her arms in front of her. The only solution was to leave the pool hoping that I would get back in on Wednesday morning and remember how to swim.

Baby steps.

I can't run and won't be running for another month. When I do get back to it I will have gone from being able to run 20k sans problème to wondering if I can run 20 minutes. It will take weeks to build back up again and the injury could reappear during that time and sideline me again.

Baby steps.

Diabetes is crazy. I understand how something affects my blood sugar and master it. Something else goes wrong and I focus on fixing that only to lose control of the things that were working well. I focus on bringing those back and then I get sick which throws the whole thing off. Or I get my period. Or it's a stressful few days. I slowly wrestle my numbers back in order and then the season changes. Or I get injured and can't run. Or I recover from an injury and can run again.

Baby steps.

I paid $300 toward my credit card in April. I only put one purchase on my credit card in the month of April - a $385 charge for diabetes supplies.

Baby steps.

Just breathe.

You'll get there.

Injury Checkup

I went to Toronto on Saturday and, despite the freezing temperatures and biting wind, spent a good part of the day strolling around. Nothing too aggressive but more walking than I've done since coming back from Israel with a foot injury.

It's been exactly three weeks since my last run. The pain along the top of my foot had slowly diminished to almost nothing. I have no intention of running yet but figured a walking day was a safe enough thing to do. And a good test.

My foot injury didn't hurt at all during the day. Yay.

My ankle did a few times. Weird.

Every once in a while a rather mild but unmistakably problematic pain would shoot down my ankle. It felt like it was inside the ankle bone. Nothing debilitating. Nothing that stopped me in my tracks or made me think I should stop walking and hail a cab.

Later that evening, as I lounged on the couch, I gingerly felt the top of my foot. It wasn't sore but was definitely a little tender. It was back to what it felt like about a week ago.

I'm definitely not ready to run yet. And I'm definitely going to tack on another three weeks before I reassess again and, perhaps, attempt a run. That will give me at least six weeks off. Six weeks of injury recovery.

And six weeks of thrice weekly workout sessions on the bike.

Which I'm actually starting to like and look forward to - surprisingly.

I feel stronger with each workout and have managed to survive four sessions of Bending Crank Arms now. I'm getting quite good at isometric squats.

And to think I didn't even know what those were a mere month ago.

Butt Meets Bike

I figure that I might as well take advantage of my running hiatus and see if I can get better on the bike.

When I am actively doing all three sports, I run three times a week, swim three times a week and squeeze in one bike ride with my Sunday morning cycling group. C'est tout.

I enjoy being on the bike but I just can't ever seem to drum up any excitement about trying to get better on the bike.

I'll work hard in the pool to shave seconds off my time. I'll add speed and distance to my runs and I actually look forward to hill training.

Well, I have no excuses now. I still swim three times a week and have no plans on adding any more days to that routine. So I can either have four off days every week or I can get my butt on the bike.

Guess which option I chose?

Last Sunday, it was dangerously windy outside so Doug and I headed down to the basement for a cycling workout on our trainers. We popped in the workout called "Bending Crank Arms" and hit play. Bending Crank Arms is a workout for competitive athletes and it has a few off the bike sections that involve squats and isometric squats (where you squat and hold it). I've never done those before because I always worried about putting pressure on my shins. I'd just increase the resistance on the bike and work hard during the squat sessions.

This time, I did them. Every single painful one. We had four squat sessions during the one-hour video. Each involved three squatting cycles made up of a) doing as many squats as possible within a set time (30 seconds, 45 seconds or one minute) followed by an isometric squat we had to hold for either one minute, 45 seconds or 30 seconds.

They felt pretty easy at first but I quickly turned into a jelly-legged, panting, sweaty mess as I tried desperately to keep up. I did keep up, and never cheated on the isometric squats, but holy hannah that was tough. It took four days for my legs to completely recover from that workout.

Six days after that workout, on Saturday, Doug headed out for his run and I headed down to the basement for Bending Crank Arms Part Two. I figure if I can build up to doing this workout twice a week, I'll definitely be stronger. I completed the entire workout and survived feeling a little less beaten up and a lot less nauseated than the first time.

And the next morning I was able to join my cycling group for a 28k ride. Up and down the escarpment we went and, instead of dragging behind from fatigue as I had feared, I kept up. My legs felt strong and powerful and not the least bit tired.

Today was swim day but, Tuesday morning, I'll back in the basement on the bike. My legs might not be recovered enough for Bending Crank Arms but they'll definitely get a workout. Who knows, this foot injury may end up doing wonders for my cycling talents.

Then Don't Touch It!

"Doctor, my elbow really hurts when I rub it."

"Then stop rubbing it".

That's how I'm feeling about my wee foot injury and I can even hear a gruff doctor voice in my head telling me to stop checking to see if it still hurts.

It's been fifteen days since I got home from Israel. Fifteen days since I stopped walking for 8+ hours every day. Fifteen days since it stopped hurting every time I put weight on it. I got on the plane in pain and, after almost 15 hours of hardly moving it, I got off with no pain at all.

During the last fifteen days, I ran a grand total of once. After four days of no pain, I tested it first with a walk (no problem) and the next day with a run (problem). It felt fabulous during but hurt a lot afterwards. That was eleven days ago.

Six days ago, I went to see my massage therapist. She poked and prodded around and was able to isolate the exact spot where the problem was. Spots actually. My fourth and fifth metatarsal on my right foot. If you think of your hand, essentially it's my pinkie and my ring finger bones that hurt, right along the top. If you push anywhere else - nothing. If you push there - ouch!!

Then don't push there...right?

My foot hurt for a few days after the massage because of all the poking and prodding. My massage therapist and I are both hoping that it is simply bruised from all of the walking I did. She told me to take a month off and then try an easy 15 minute run to test it out.

Can I cycle and swim?

If it doesn't hurt during or after was the answer I got.

So I swim. I cycle. I walk around and I carry on with my day with not even a twinge of discomfort.

Unless I rub the top of my foot. Then I feel it.

Then don't rub it!

It's my new daily test. I wake up and immediately think about my foot. I rub it gently against the blankets - nothing. I walk to the washroom. Nothing. I get in the shower and take a deep breath before I get to the point where I scrub my foot. I pass my hand along the top and it hurts. A tiny bit less every day but it hurts.

Sigh.

I want it to stop hurting. I'm used to having injuries that, after a few days, don't hurt. I am used to just waiting out my no running for x number of weeks sentence and then I rebuild and carry on. I'm not used to the pain lingering and encroaching on my going back to running time. I was told to wait four weeks before running. I'm already nearly two weeks done. That doesn't leave much time for the pain to be completely gone and the injury to heal.

I'm starting to psych myself up that it might look more like 6 weeks (or even 8). That's entering stress fracture recovery time so, if it's more than just a bruised foot, I'll be playing it pretty safe. Still though, it's getting nice out. I'm itching to run. My legs want to. My feet want to. It's just my metatarsals that are a little hesitant about the whole idea.

Calcium and other Deficiencies?

If you Google: type 1 diabetes vitamin deficiency, guess what comes up? 

Not exactly what I was looking for but I did learn that a deficiency in vitamin D might be linked to the development of Type 1 diabetes. 

Interesting but a little late for that particular tidbit of information. 

Then I tried: type 1 diabetic athlete deficiency and found out that there is a lot of information out there for people who coach type 1 athletes and a lot of reminders that the athletes are deficient in insulin.

Again, it might be helpful for other people but I know full well just how deficient I am in that department.  

Basically, I was just curious about whether having type 1 diabetes puts one at risk of being deficient in certain vitamins or minerals and figured I'd be able to get my answer in a few clicks of the mouse. 

Not so much. 

The reason for my sudden interest was my latest foot injury which, by the way, my massage therapist and I are hoping is simply a bruised 4th and 5th metatarsal. My foot injury got me thinking and here's how that train of thought played itself out. I was making a plan for how to take care of my foot when I began thinking of my shin splints and then my stress fracture and then wondering if stress fractures can be caused by not having enough calcium in my diet which lead to me wondering if I have enough calcium in my diet or, dammit, maybe I have enough for a non-type 1 but maybe type 1 diabetes somehow affects ones ability to absorb calcium. Bloody hell, if that's true I'm going to be really pissed off. Omigod, what if there are other vitamins that I am not getting enough of? What if I've been low in all of these things for years and didn't know it? What if diabetes is slowly eating away at my bones or my zinc levels or my vitamin B12. 

Arrgh! 

(and that's the thought process of someone who isn't a hypochondriac by nature)

That's when I decided to Google and discovered...nothing particularly helpful. Granted, I did stop my research after about 10 minutes because I was sitting at the curling club watching Doug's team fight their way to the finals and wanted to focus on the game. Still though, I was hoping to find a simple answer like: no, there's nothing to worry about or yes, you should take a multivitamin every day plus a calcium tablet before bed. 

Seriously though, I have no idea if having diabetes affects my ability to absorb calcium and whether my stress fracture is a result of that. Or whether my stress fracture was the result of increased training for my first marathon and whether all the calcium I get in my diet is the only thing that kept me running for as long as I was able to. 

Who knows? 

Well, the DOC might. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Do YOU know if having Type 1 diabetes puts us at risk of any vitamin/mineral deficiencies? 

I take Vitamin D every day at the suggestion of my diabetes doctor. I take iron a few times a week because I always struggle with getting enough. Other than that, I rely on a fairly healthy and varied diet full of fruit, veggies, grains and meat...plus a heaping scoop of VEGA in my breakfast shake for good measure. 

Ready or Not, I'm in Injury Mode

I've decided not to run the Women's Half Marathon in June.

That race was not something I had really really committed to. It wasn't something that was officially on my 2013 list of goals and I had not started training for it yet.

I ran it last year and really liked it. It's a nice run along the Niagara Parkway and by Niagara Falls. It's a fun race and you get a bottle of wine when you sign up. Plus my friend Ross is the organizer and I wanted to support him and the race in its second year.

My tentative plan was to run the Tel Aviv half, take a week or two off and then jump right back into training for the Women's half. A few weeks after that, tri season begins.

Of course, plans need to change when your foot hurts. It does not feel awful but there is definitely something going on at the outer edge of my right foot. Extensive Googling has lead me to self-diagnose either peroneal tendonitis or a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal. I have an appointment with my massage therapist on Friday afternoon so we'll see if she has any thoughts.

In the meantime, I'm in injury recovery mode (a mode in which I am well-versed after my 2011 stress fracture).

I decided not to train for the half because I would need to be running 12k this Saturday and I don't think that is a very sensible thing to do no matter what the problem ends up being. I also know that my priorities this summer are to complete a few triathlons so I am willing (although sad) to sacrifice a half in order to be able to do the tri races.

I figure that, worse case, it's a stress fracture. I will need to take another 5-6 weeks off running which brings me to June. That leaves me 6 weeks to work back up to 10k for the Olympic tri. At this point I think that's reasonable and doable.

Of course,  I am making these decisions based on a few website searches and my instinct so things might change after Friday's appointment. In the meantime, I'm taking advantage of my free time to spent more time on the bike which is always a good idea.

Why is it that I dedicate the least amount of time to the sport that takes the most amount of time during triathlons?

March Goal Update

Three months into the year already. How DOES that happen?

How are those resolutions going? Still working on them? I am and it's time for the monthly update.

My goals that I set for the year are:

log 1000k of running this year
run the Tel Aviv half marathon
complete three triathlons, including one Olympic distance
stay injury free
pay down debt

Drumroll please...

1. 1000k of running

Well, I logged 66 kilometres in March. That is much lower than the 87k I logged in January and the 105k I ran in February. My 2013 total is now 258k and I'm still on track to hit 1000k but I was hoping to log closer to 100k in March which I did not end up doing. I blame it on a two-week vacation in Israel where I walked for 10+ hours every day but only laced up my running shoes twice during those 14 days.

2. Run the Tel Aviv half marathon

Done and done. It was definitely a memorable, and really really hot, experience. I have a medal and t-shirt to prove that, yes, I was there and yes, I did cross that finish line.

Showing some Canuck pride

3. Complete three triathlons, including one Olympic distance

Well, I've signed up for the Gravenhurst Olympic tri and have decided to compete in Welland in June. The third might be Guelph Lake2 that I did last September but I have still to commit to that one. Open water swim practice starts in May and I'm back on the bike already. So far so good. 

4. Stay injury free

Well...I'm not sure how that is going to be honest. I was injury free up to and including the Tel Aviv half. The next day, I still felt fine. The day after, not so much. The outside of my right foot began to ache and did not stop for the rest of my vacation. It went from aching to hurting to sharp pain. Walking every day for 10+ hours did NOT help. By the end of my trip, I was worried I had a stress fracture - it was that bad. 

Then I spent 18 hours traveling during which time I hardly walked. I stretched a lot on the flight but made a point of standing but not walking any more than I had to. By the time I got home, the pain was gone - completely. No pain at all the next three days. I tested it with a hike and a curling game on Friday. Still nothing. I then tested it with an 8k run on Saturday. No pain during the run but it hurt afterwards. I stretched and iced and it felt better again. So I'm not sure what is happening. Hopefully it's on the mend but, technically I guess, this goal is kinda over. 

I propose to change it to: heal my foot and have no more injuries in 2013. Everyone ok with that? 

5. Pay down debt

So far, so good with this one too. I started off the year with a set amount of debt. I knew it would increase a bit in January and February as I tried to save for my trip. As planned, I saved, I travelled, I got home to an income tax return which I immediately put towards my debt. I now have almost $1000 less debt than I did on January first. So I'm definitely headed in the right direction. Unless my car dies or the roof collapses, I plan to toss a few hundred dollars a month on the debt pile, chipping away slowly but surely.