swimming, sinking, swimming...

Almost 6kgs. Hurrah!

I'm going to have my xray today. Root canal this morning, too :( Good job I took an RDO from work!

I've been swimming several times this week and am slowly trying to improve - ie. swim further before drowning. Went to circuits yesterday morning only to find they were doing a run! Poo! The one time I can't do a session, it's one I'd love. Anyway, I got sent home by the trainer, but he assures me tomorrow morning will be back to strength work.

I'm already cranky because I want to run. I'm even dreaming about it and I keep catching myself attempting to run while doing mundane stuff and having to stop. My foot is a little better I think - though I took some painkillers yesterday at work.

Suspected Stress Fracture :(

Soooo... after yet another day of fairly constant aching/throbbing foot pain I caved in and went to the podiatrist. She said that she thinks I may well have a stress fracture of one of the sesamoid bones (which, as far as I can gather, are the two little knobs of bone that hold one of the tendons in place)

This means an xray, then possibly another in a few weeks. She wants me to have the first xray to check it isn't a more serious (splinter?) fracture first, even though if it is a SF, it's probably not going to show up on the initial xray.

This means I'm looking at at least another week with no running, then if it is a SF, another five. Waaaaaaaa. *bangs head against keyboard* I nearly cried. Only time will tell, I guess. I'm trying not to get depressed about this until I know what I'm looking at.

She taped a pad to my foot to take some of the pressure off which instantly felt heaps better walking around. I'm supposed to ice it every day, too.

Bugger, bugger, bugger.

80.1kg

Well, didn't make it to track on tuesday. Eventually wiggled my foot and decided against it. Did go running last night, just a short one, 45 minutes fairly slowly and my foot hurt the entire way :( I can run on it, but the pain is the sort that makes me feel slightly queasy, which I know is not a good sign :(

I'm giving it a deadline. If I can't run long on saturday, I'm going to the podiatrist on monday. Stupid, stupid, stupid foot! Grr!

At least I'm still getting skinnier. It's probably all my running muscles disintegrating from underuse *L* Had a nightmare PT session this morning... really hard work. I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

4.2kgs down

Did rather a hardcore session at circuit training yesterday morning. Consequently, I can barely lift my arms above my head today! It drove me nuts not running on the weekend and I have to admit there has been a little running with circuits. Not more than a couple of kms though, honest!

My foot feels better, though I can still feel the problem (whatever it is) when I lift my big toe up (as if I was trying to point it at the ceiling). I couldn't resist chucking my gear in the car for track this afternoon. I'll go, but if it hurts, I won't do the session :(

I'm going to do circuits and run tomorrow night, though.... I am too stubborn for my own good sometimes. All depends on how tonight goes, I guess.

According to my scales, I have now lost 4.2kgs - only 10.8 to go, Gods help me! I know I am getting slightly slimmer again by the fact my jeans are a bit looser.

On thursday, I'll see my PT and if he notices the difference, I'll know I'm on track!

On the weekend, Gods willing, I will be running long at last! HURRAH!

3k Challenge, Ship Inn

Friday morning I went and did Circuit training. There was a little bit of running, but much more strength work. The only thing I couldn't do was the proper push ups - bending my toe upwards hurt. So I did them on my knees instead. Not as hard, but better than nothing!

Felt like I was starting to come down with a bug on friday and left work a bit early, but had a change of heart and made it to the 3km challenge anyway. So much fun... so many familiar faces :)

Lovely to see everyone. Picked Tanky's brains re GH and 100 miles and ultras and things. The more I think about it, the more I'm becoming obsessed with 100 miles, Gods help me!

Decided not to push my luck with my foot and didn't go on my long run today. Will go for a swim tomorrow instead. Gotta keep this ticker moving in the right direction! *grins*




Thanks for all the comments guys. I swear, everyone should have a blog - there's so much collective wisdom here!

positive thoughts...

Went back to running last night. Went a bit slower than normal, but managed an hour or so. This morning, I woke up and found my toe was sore again :( Not as bad as monday, but still ouch. I can still run on it, so had a bit of a walk and ran some stairs this morning. Not wanting to push it too much though :( It's sore on the inside edge at the widest part of my foot :( Hurts if I press on it and aches after exercise. There's no muscle or soft tissue there to damage *worries*

I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see - I can't afford to go and get it checked.

Anyway, positive thoughts!

Last night I bought a proper running backpack so I can run to and from work. Once my foot stops hurting, I'll start doing that, too.

some rest

Had the last two days off as rest days - my right big toe was sooo painful on monday, it was insane. I had these horrible stress-fracture thoughts going through my mind, but it's heaps better today so I'm slapping myself for being far too melodramatic. Mostly my ankles and shins are a little sore from all the circles, but aside from that I feel great. Back to it, tomorrow.

I'm a bit irritated at myself that I didn't push on and do the 12 hours, but I suspect that if I had, I would've hurt myself. The pain in my foot was way worse than any of the post-run aches I've had. But, there's always that what-if, what-if. It irks me that I was out on the trails at Binna Burra for hours and hours a few weeks ago, without a problem, but I struggled so hard with complete flat. Anyway, no use stressing about what I can't change.

Lite n'Easy continues to go well... about 3kgs down and creeping closer to my pre-massive-blowout weight again and feeling tons better. Everyone at work ate warm caramel date loaf infront of me in a staff meeting today and on sunday night, my meditation group ate tim tams. So, so far so good - am resisting temptation. Tony (PT) rang today to see how I went at Caboolture so it was nice to be able to say I'd been a model of good behaviour with food! Hopefully it will soon start to show!

Am actually dying to get back out there and train. I want to get my long runs happening properly again and hop back into a decent training routine. I've been watching too much of the Biggest Loser and wishing someone would kidnap me for four months of intense training. I'd LOVE to do it! I wish someone would run a month long bootcamp at a reasonable price :) (spoken like a true endorphin junkie!)

DNF - 6:00

So, my first ever DNF! I guess it has to happen sometime. I made it to six hours and then decided that for my health, sanity and ability to train in the near future, I should stop.

Arrived at Caboolture quite early and it was great - a total CR fest! Met a few new faces and caught up with some I haven't seen in ages, which was lovely. There were heaps more people this year and lots more on the track in the first few hours.

Before long, we were all lined up into groups according to how long we were running and then, all of a sudden, we were off! I put my ipod on and realised that somehow, my music had been replaced with podcasts of Kyle-bloody-Sandilands, the annoying git from Australian Idol! Argh! I pressed buttons to no avail, so had to console myself with disagreeing wholeheartedly with the utter rubbish that springs forth from that man’s mouth.

On running around the track, I noticed that the lovely Davo had put encouraging signs up for us all in strategic spots… it gave me a giggle and a lift every time I went by them. That man needs a medal! Counting laps and cheering, he’s one of a kind!

At about an hour and a half in, the storm clouds that had been gathering in the distance hit and the rain started falling. I whipped off my ipod and handed it to Davo as it’s not in a waterproof case. I wish they made waterproof cases for the nano. I’m not game enough to risk gladwrap! At least it meant I got a break from Kyle! I then realised I’d left my bag out in the open and that it was unzipped, so I had to divert quickly and grab it. Everything inside, including my dry clothes, my purse and phone (!) got absolutely soaked.

The rain got pretty heavy and running around the track was a bit like going through the rinse cycle of a washing machine. Repeatedly. The track turned to mud and I started gathering up half the course in my shoes. (note to self: buy gators!) Annoying little pebbles that rubbed at the soles of my feet. The body glide wore off my arms and I started chafing majorly. It’s quite impressive today, but I won’t inflict a photo on you all!

My shoes filled up with water and became like concrete and cane toads started appearing all over the place. I found myself having to jump around a bit to avoid landing on them. Tess ran by me and almost took a wrong turn, hee hee! Mind you, it was fairly hard to see where we were all going at that point!

At about three hours, I realised I was in trouble. All the long runs I've done in the last month have been on hills and trails and the constant flat started to kill me. My hips and back hurt and I started realising I was going to have to fight to make it to six, let alone twelve hours.

Tanky ran by me and told me she knew I had more in me and I knew I did, too which caused me have a quiet, miserable blub on the back straight. Shortly after, the rain began to ease up and the mud started to get deeper. I resorted to walking all laps and spent some time going around with Cirque who did a great job in listening to me whinge!

At about four and a half hours, I grabbed my ipod again and managed to make it play properly. The first hour or so is the playlist I used when I ran the GCM and it made me reflect on that. Consequently, I pulled my head in, stopped feeling sorry for myself and got angry with that 500m circle of mud. I decided to make it to six hours at least. I started power walking (Hermie gave me some great tips as he lapped me!) and just put my head down and bum up and went for it.

At six hours, I decided enough was enough. Uncle Phil (Coach) was there and walked the last couple of laps with me, which meant a lot. He was very good and didn’t say ‘I told you so’ once. Mind you, I think I said that to myself instead. Bah!

What did I learn from this experience? That I need to do a lot more training if I’m going to have a crack at the GH80km and that I’m going to have to seriously think about whether I can make the distance on my own before I attempt it. If I get stuck out there, you can’t just walk off the track.

Call this a new resolution… more training, less whinging!

Some thankyous…

The CR cheersquad and lapcounters were brilliant as always! A big, huge thankyou goes out to Davo, who did an amazing job at keeping everyone's spirits up - from putting encouraging signs up around the track, to putting an esky full of free drinks out for coolrunners, to counting laps for Tanky and I. Davo, you rock - I'm waiting for an opportunity to return the favour!

Thankyou to Cirque for coming and cheering, the crew from the Run Inn (was great to see all of you!) Hermie for offering some much needed encouragement around the track, AB for checking all was well after and Tanky for being my inspiration! You rock, Girl - couldn't have made it to six without you!

Thanks to Geoff and all the volunteers that make this event so special. It has a unique atmosphere and I'll be back - me and that track have unfinished business!

Despite the DNF, I had a great time.... If nothing else, it showed me I've got a whole heap of training ahead of me before GH! Congratulations everyone on some fab PBs and records. Tess for the 50k, Clairie for the 36km (?) and many more.

Mt Cootha, Lite n' Easy and Training

Went and ran the whole of Mount Cootha again this morning with the girls, so it seems the last time wasn’t a figment of my imagination! We did it quicker as well, I think, although I didn’t wear a watch this time so I couldn’t say for sure.

I have started on Lite n’ Easy – it’s amazing! I can’t believe it’s calorie controlled! I’m on the lowest calorie plan they do, but when I unpacked the boxes there is just sooo much food. It’s a lot of fresh stuff, which is great and there’s no cooking, very little washing up and no going to the supermarket involved, so you might say I’m in heaven! I could totally eat this stuff for the long term, even if I wasn’t dieting. Unreal.

Anyway, enough gloating about the joys of Lite n’ Easy!

My entry for Caboolture D2D is in and paid for and I’m now starting to get a bit nervous! Though, I do think it’ll be a bit like a party with so many lovely coolrunners in attendance! The fact that I’ve done very little training and lots of races and events is a bit worrying, but I’m quite happy to walk as much as I need to. I’m looking at it as a starting point, now I’m starting back into marathon training again.

Running on Wednesday night was fun, but not very hard work… we’re all still stuck in one big beginners group again and whilst 40 minutes is great, I really need to start doing at least an hour and at a faster pace. Next week, Ronnie, Carolyn and me should get to hang off the back of Phil’s group for a while then drop off which should solve some of the speed/distance problems.

Also heard that I’ll be having an exhibition at the Queensland Centre of Photography in May. Yay me!