Week 15 summary

I realize that it has been a while since I last updated on a week by week basis. Last week's training is as follows:

pre injection            post injection
12 hours later           24 hours later

Monday - nothing as I got a cortisone injection in my left foot as the neuroma was causing pain. Now that it has been almost a week I think that it has taken effect although it is still bruised. It is nice to be able to walk barefoot without pain!

Tuesday - intevals 4 x 400m w/ 1:30rec, 4 x 800m w/ 3:00 rec,  4 x 400 w/1:30 rec.

Wednesday - easy 7km plus yoga, spin classes and strength class.

Thursday - easy 10km

Post race pace run

Friday - cut back long run. 15.3km

Post "long" run

Saturday - day off

                 Sunday - 10.7km with 9 km race pace. When this run was done I felt light headed and i could feel myself listing to the side. I don't know what the issue was. Maybe I was dehydrated or under fueled? I was putting off this run because the weather was cool and windy. However I ended up running a 2km loop in my neighbourhood,



I get to celebrate that another semester of my schooling is done. Only 3 more classes to go and I will have achieved my PFT diploma. In these classes I got As so I still maintain my 4.0 GPA which I am very proud of.

I am also deciding to drop the Arava. A while ago I ran out and took about a week because I didn't make the time to go pick up my prescription. During this time I was having great runs without the need to pit stop. I started taking it again and was having changes, and back to the pit stops! So I didn't take one yesterday or today and I didn't have to stop on my run.

Another week done

I had another good training week last week. I ran 58km last week in a combination of 6 x 800m intervals, 9km at race pace and a long run of 20km. My easy pace is faster outside than on the treadmill for the same perceived effort.

I have been dealing with 2 issues. The first in the patellofemoral syndrome in my left leg. I know it isn't anything more than that because it does go away about 20 minutes into my run. The second is that the balls of my feet get sore and my toes feel like they are being jabbed with a pin. I had a cortisone injection in my left foot today (6 hours later and my foot is still frozen) and I have one booked for my right foot on May 10. I am hoping that this will take care of that problem.

Other than that I am feeling really good about my running and I am getting more confident that I will have a successful half marathon as long as my body cooperates.

Mini update

I will come back with more detail to how things are going but the brief summary is this: I am feeling tired and have made the decision to drop a run to decrease the weekly mileage and I am also modifying the Tuesday strength workouts into shorter ones. I do think the program overall is good but it is a bit much for my needs. At the same time, I don't think that much thought was put into it as it is an abridged version of the full marathon training program.

I am noticing my body is a bit unbalanced so I need to increase the strength and core work.

Don't ask?

This picture came up on my Facebook feed today via one of my friends. They also suffer from chronic illness, and have been for a very long time. For a long time I didn't know she was suffering. I figured that she just withdrew from me and didn't want to be my friend anymore. However, I still kept the communication doors open, and she opened up to me. I remember telling her that I missed talking to her and her friendship and that's what started the conversations again. I am very glad I did. Even though we share some similar diagnosis, we are still friends beyond that and have other things that are in common.

This picture describes me perfectly. I do guard my privacy but I am always willing to open up and answer questions. It is very rare that I will talk about my RA with someone who doesn't already know about it. Even with those who do, I won't necessarily bring it up off the start unless I am really struggling that day. I have some great friends that check up on me and ask how I am doing. I also have others that ignore me when I talk about it. I talk to the former group more and have learned to not bring it up with the latter. The thing about that is that it never actually gets brought up so I generally leave these conversations feeling ignored, and then just don't bother to reach out anymore. I am not looking to be noticed, or desperate for attention, I just want the reciprocity. 

One thing that conversations like that remind me of is the notion that people will not do what you think they should do, even if it is (what you think is) the right thing. Just because you ask someone how they are and listen with an attentive ear doesn't mean that you will get the same thing in return. And just because you may mention something about yourself doesn't mean you will get to talk about it. And this may continue to happen no matter how many times you may mention that it bothers you that they don't ask. While I have been told that they want to respect my privacy, I have said in return that I am not bothered that they ask. That being said I am not going to chase someone down for the attention, or force myself in conversations to see if this is the time that is different. 

So why am I bothering to write this? Because it is something that bothers me, even though I wish it wouldn't. I am not looking for an influx of messages asking about me, although feel free. Also, it is good practice for me to talk about myself. 

Shit's getting real

The splits

I tried the strength intervals yesterday.
They were hard.
This is one of the workouts that I will be modifying.
My splits are 2km at the faster than race pace with 500m active recovery. It was shorter than what was prescribed. When I am doing these workouts outside, I will change the recovery from distance to time and walk a bit more. I didn't feel fully recovered for the interval so they felt harder than they needed to. Hanson's is about cumulative fatigue so the recovery is supposed to be a jog, which I can't do right from the start.

How I felt after the run.

I want to feel confident with these workouts. The mileage from the easy running has built up a great aerobic base, and I know during a race, and most of the times outside, my mental is strong, so there will be no question on race day.
One positive from yesterday is that increasing the warmup was a good thing and I will do that from now on.

Week 11 Summary

Monday easy 10 km

Nothing. Not a damn thing. Too tired and I needed a break. The thought of running mentally exhausted me so I took a rest day.

Tuesday 6 x 1600m w/400m recovery
Did 4 of these instead of 6 and that was enough. I think the doubling of this intense workout would be too much for me. I have never done more than 4 miles worth of intervals for a half marathon before.


Wednesday rest or cross train
Taught my usual 2 spin classes but also did some strength for my back muscles and yoga in the evening.

Thursday 8km race pace
I was really wishy washy with this run. I ended up running 2km easy, then 2km race pace, 2km easy, 2 km race pace then 2 km easy. Half the race pace effort done and I think I was lucky to get that.

Friday easy 8 km
I felt ok enough so stuck to a recovery paced 9km run. I was starting to feel fresher.

Saturday 16km long run
I ran this as a progresson, starting at 6:31/km and increasing the speed by 0.1km/h every 2km finishing at 6:03. I felt strong and only started feeling tied in the last 3 km. I was paying attention to my heart rate and it stayed in the mid 150s for the last 5km, not really spiking at all. I felt very confident after this run.

Sunday easy 8km
Did this run at a recovery pace.

Even with ditching a run completly, I still covered 55km. This is a lot less than the 70km that the program calls for. I had a slow start to the week but finished strong.

I also payed attention to amounts of food that I eat and when I have a large supper I tend to have a good run. I also have been doing a lot of the runs after lunch because of my school commitments, and I find my energy is low in the afternoons. I am going to tr to get the runs done in the mornings, starting soon after the kids are sent off to school.