Day 57 - Health Issues

Though the weather seemed cloudy, bleak and very cold, I still decided to go for my run. Yes, I am always motivated - before my run. I tried out my New Balance pair. The shoes hurt near the toes, that is, suppose one stands on her toes, the place where the shoe would bend is where it hurt with every step. It got better when I started jogging, and after the first mile, I did not care about my shoes, I was just very cold and breathless. By the way, I also realised that I cheat on my workout. The second half mile of my run consists of running down quite a steep hill, which I happily complete, so I shouldn't actually be taking the credit of completing a 3 mile run, it's more like a 2.5 mile run :(.

After returning, while flipping through the Health and Medicine section of an old US News magazine, saw an article on a triathlete. She moved to triathlons when she got bored with running marathons. The reporter also interviewed a Harvard doctor in the article who had studied Boston Marathon runners for years. According to him, moderate exercise is good for your health while marathon running is too much of a good thing. He, at one time, had studied 60 marathon runners bafore and after the race, looking at their heart rhythms and their blood for signs of heart damage. After the race, 40 percent showed evidence to indicate damage, though it reversed within days. The runners with less training showed most damage. The stress of running that long can promote systemic inflammation and blood clotting.

Now, even before coming across this article I was a little worried about the effect of all this on my body. I am obese and do think about the amount of work my poor heart has to do to pump blood to various parts of my body. I have told myself time and again how much more easier a run would be if I were just a little lighter, but my diet control is negligible and it seems that running a marathon is not motivating enough a reason to move to a healthy and balanced diet. I know, a sad story here.

Caroline, could you talk a little about your knee injury and what caused it. Also, I would like to request all long time runners to write about the lessons learned during their frequent running. What kind of health mistakes did they make and what could they have done to avoid the same, what negative health effects do they see on their body due to all this running. No, I am not demotivating anybody or going to be demotivated, I would just like to learn from other people's experience. Wise men learn from other people's experience, men learn from their own experience, fools never learn. I would rather be a wise guy in this case :)

Day 56

I am still on vacation, and yes I am trying to run.
I ran 2miles in 1/2 hour followed by walking to complete 5 miles on the 22 dec and 24 dec, inbetween walked for 45 min , so continuous 4 days of R/W. Took the 26th and 27th off due to travellin and now will try to R/W tomorrow again.Best part was my husband was doing the session with me and he just couldnot believe when I ran continuous 1/2 hour with him even tho it was a shuffle at 4.2-.3 mph.
Read thru GBs posts and comments, thanks guys for the vote of confidence and yes GB and NB will surely finish what they have started-those must be my vacation endorphins speaking.

Day 56 - New Shoes!!!

I have realised one thing about myself. If I undertake any task, I leave no stone unturned or spare no expenses in the preparation. Wait, let me explain in detail what I mean by preparation. If I have to take an exam, I'll get the most expensive books and all the accessories required to take the exam and then start with the actual studying. Similarly, if I am learning a new language, I'll make sure I have all the books, videos etc. and then I'll worry about the actual learning.

So in the marathon preparation scenario, I am focusing on getting all the right gear :). (Thankfully, I am trying to focus on the runs too). I had read about the sports speciality stores and so went to the Fleet Fleet store in the area to see what shoes they would recommend. They give one on one attention and then recommend the right shoes. Since I had a gift card (from NB) for Sports Authority, I went to that store to see if I could find some good shoes. At sports authority, you are on your own. I caught hold of one sports person asking him if there were any running shoes for supination or under-pronation (when one has high arches and the feet tend to roll on the outside). He said that 80% of the population has over - pronation (feet roll on the inside) and only 15% has supination ( I come in that 15 %) while 5% doesn't have pronation or supination. Since only 15% has supination, manufacturers have stopped making shoes for supination but do create shoes for pronation.

So I started looking into running shoes which were not for over pronation (he gave me a vague description to avoid shoes which had a gray band on the outside - midfoot to heel - of the shoes)and remembered in time that for high archs, extra cushioning helps. So after trying various shoes, came down with 2 pairs, one from Avia and the other from New Balance. From my past experience with New Balance and Nike, I have always preferred Nike over New Balance. But trying the various shoes, today I found New Balance to be more comfortable.

After reaching home, I realised that I had bought size 8.5 for both the shoes. Now, presently my running shoes are a size 8 and I think of my shoe size as a size 8 though I do go for 8.5 sometimes. So, I can't remember whether I tried the size 8 for these shoes or they were not available or they did not fit well, but presently I have two 8.5 shoes. I think they fit me ok but I am only concerned that since my shoe size is 8, will these be loose after some time? I am just confused. The store guy said that I can try them and return them within a week if they dont fit well. So maybe I'll do a short run and hopefully they'll be just fine. I looked up the web and did try to measure my foot size per the instructions. But according to that my shoe size is 7.5 which is absolutlely wrong :(. So now, I know that in the next few days I will be preoccupied with my new shoes and keep wondering whether they are a right fit or not. Uhh! time well spent :(

Thank you

Caroline, David, Ken, thanks for all your encouraging comments and guiding remarks. Being a former couch potato and a complete newbie to the world of running, I am sometimes at a loss to understand where I am going. With NB away for 3 weeks, I am trying to keep myself motivated, telling myself repeatedly that I can do it.
David, I watched the PBS Nova Marathon challenge. It was very interesting, informative, and inspiring. Thanks for Hal Hidgon's and passionforrunning urls.
I am planning to do a 5k, but to be honest, I feel I am not fit enough, and maybe, just maybe, I am scared. Just waiting for NB to return and push me to do it.
If by any chance I complete a marathon, the whole credit will go to NB and to you all to keep me going. Left by myself, I'll just endup on the couch watching tv

Day 54 - A run outside

I have been having a headache for some days now - started on friday. It's a dull ache, 3-4 on a scale of 10. I am thinking it may be because my eyesight is going bad. It is there when I go to sleep, it is there when I wake up in the morning, and right now the bright screen of the monitor is kinda hurting my eyes, hence the bad eyesight thought. It got bad on saturday and I had to take ibuprofen.
Today, I thought some fresh air would help and decided to go for a run outside. By the end of the run, even though my legs, ankles, feet were ok, every step I took felt as if a ball was bouncing in my head, so had to walk the last mile instead of run.
Again, I think running outside is much difficult than running on a treadmill. I was getting very accustomed and comfortable with running 3-4 miles on a treadmill, but today's run was different. Even though the aches were much less than that on a treadmill, I was out of breath much more earlier, one excuse can be that it was cold outside :)
While walking back, I had some thoughts as to whether I really wanted to run the marathon, was I really interested in the training....no answer. Though after I reached home, I had thoughts about how I would repeat the same run again till I was comfortable and I could do it in a much lesser time, also, how could I add distance at weekends etc....
But if I have to run the actual marathon outside, I definitely have to train outside.

Day 50 - A stupid mistake

Missed workouts on day 48 and 49. Day 48 was supposed to be a rest day while I didn't feel upto it yesterday. NB left for vacation yesterday. She gave me 'Marathon, You can do it' by Jeff Galloway as a Christmas present along with a panoramic jigsaw puzzle and lotttts of chocolates (bad idea!!!). Read the book's reviews - I hope I find it just as helpful.
Ok, now for my stupidity. I had lunch at noon, tea after that, was feeling hungry but went to the gym at 6.30 pm. So, of course I couldn't complete the 4 miles I had planned for today - Complete? I couldn't even start....Walked at 3.2 m/h to complete 1.5 miles in 27 mins. It was awful, my legs and ankles were aching as soon as I started. I don't know, I really have to look into this. If I eat 2-3 hours earlier than the workout, I tend to get side splits, if earlier than that, I am hungry - what should I do :(? Maybe something like eat a heavy lunch at noon and something light 2-3 hrs earlier than the workout, I don't know, have to figure this out....

Day 47

Wasn't planning to go to the gym today, but went as may not be able to go tomorrow. Completed 3 miles in 42 mins 15 seconds. Since it's getting cold, I wear a light sweatshirt about 2 pounds over my tshirt to the gym. When I remove the sweatshirt after 10-15 mins, I feel lighter even though the sweatshirt is about 2-3 pounds only. Realized again what a difference even a few pounds can make :(

Day 47

5W/10R/2W/10R/2W/2Rx4/Wto 45 min.

Not my day today, just could not run after 10 min ,wanted to stop 15 min into the session but kept on. Dont know why, ate Ok last night, no pain, no breathing problems, had 'the incredibles' on which I had wantd to watch, had taken water 30 min before. So I dont know what went wrong today.
Did the long walk outside on Sat-realised its difficult to do alone, got bored , GB ditched me this time. Weather was good. Felt Ok thruout but need someone to do it with me.
Getting ready for the vacation-thats a seperate stress added to the normal day.

Day 46 - 4 miles in 1 hr

Decided to complete a long run today. Decided on 6 miles, slow six miles to be completed at 4 m/h. Could complete only 3 miles at 4m/h, ankles started aching and hence had to run the last mile at 4.2 m/h with some walking at 3.6 m/h.

The Non-Runner's Marathon guide for Women - Review

Read the guide in the 5 days I wasn't running :/. Easy read, entertaining, but very repetitive. Didn't get any useful facts or knowledge out of the book.

The author does not give any facts about her height or weight and stresses the fact that she was a true couch potato who ate Cheetos and watched tv all the time. Also, she repeats the fact that she avoided walking or running at all times and took her car to work which was a couple of blocks away from her home. Makes me wonder - had she really been one with no movement at all, wouldn't she have been obese? And would it have been possible for her to run 11 miles at start of week 5? There was no mention of the speeds at which she ran. Her running speeds, her walking speeds, her speeds when she started the training, her speeds at various weeks, nothing, zilch. Another thing which was repeated was to eat as many carbs as you want when you are training for a marathon and you won't gain a pound. Unfortunately, I started implementing the eating part without the running part ;)

To be fair, there were a some important facts like hit your heels before the balls of your feet, stretch (there are some stretching exercises given), keep urself well hydrated and fed. Other than that if somebody is looking for useful, helpful serious information, she is going to be disappointed.

Personally, I am hoping that like the other things exaggerated in the book, the description of the actual marathon is exaggerated too. The way she describes her running experience and the marathon in terms of injuries scares me. She mentions her bad knee at various times, but other than that provides no details of the injury whatsoever. Though the description of the actual marathon was funny at times (I can't say that about the whole book, or maybe I just have a bad sense of humor :( , or maybe the fun went away with jokes being repeated), I am worried about the various injuries she describes.

All in all, a quick, light, sometimes funny read about the training experience of a marathoner.

Day 45

Went to the gym after a break of 4 days. Tried to complete the first mile at 4.2 m/h but could complete only .75 m due to side splits. Continued with the second mile trying to increase the speed, ran at varied speeds, at one time at 4.4 m/h for 5 mins, but had to end due to a sudden severe side split. Completed 3 miles in 45.5 min. Went back to the old blogs to compare and one month earlier had completed 3 miles in 52.5 mins. So not much of an improvement in a month.
Was discussing with NB that when I run, I have to end due to some ache instead of ending due to runningout of breath, for e.g. today side splits troubled me a lot even though I had had food about 3 hrs earlier :(.
NB is visiting family and friends for 3 weeks, so her training program is going to go kaput :(, but the upside for me is that I may be able to walk with her when she returns. I usually (always) slow her down when we walk/run together. I know, I m a meanie ;)

Day 44

W5/R25/W3/R2/W5 total 40 min

So today ran 25 min total and 2 min later total 27 min. Soon will be able to do 30 min, yes. absolutely. Getting up in the AM to do the session is the real battle yet. Have to be inspired to wake up that early and then move this lethargic body at the great speed of 3.5 mph.

Talking of inspiration, there is a lady in my neighbourhood who started walking her dogs about 2 years ago. She was heavy, her 2 dogs were heavy and they walked at a slow pace, like a caravan , all with their heads down, slowly moving forward. I saw them everyday after I dropped the kids at school. And I had a bet with my husband that she would lose her weight, to which he replied as I knew he would, that one-moving at that pace , she would never lose weight, and two, his pet dialogue- that those who can lose weight never gain it in the first place.
Well, you should have guessed the end of story by now- 2 years later, this lady and her 2 dogs are slim and fit, they still walk at the same slow pace, dont know what distance but whatever shes done its worked. Hats off to her. Now if I had the guts to tell her that.

So inspiration can be found anywhere you look, the point is to make it work for you.

Day 42

R/W 20min/5 min with rest of 2 min.

Didnt feel like doing it today, had a restless night and upper/mid back was hurting, more like a discomfort. Just wanted to curl and sleep, then talked myself into getting up. If I dont do it in the morning, that means its not going to get done. Thats the only argument I have against trying to sleep in any day.
Using the nylon socks I bought to prevent against the feet blisters. Bought 2 different kinds and GB will testdrive those too. So far they feel good and look good, blue and white matching my blue and white NB shoes. Thats the only thing which coordinates in my running wardrobe. Will get new 'running'togs when reach a mini-goal, maybe the half-marathon in May. Tho the pedicure for finishing the first month never happened cos GB doesnt believe in pedicures in the winter months. I will be getting mine this weekend .

Day 41

Easy day today, 2mile walk in 35 min. The walk was good, outside in the afternoon, the trees fall colored, the ground yellow,orange green and maroon of the leaves, the sun bright but not burning, the air crisp and cool, not windy or cold.I usually do the weekly workouts on the treadmill and the long weekend R/W outside so this felt good.
But ate too much-have to tell GB to stop talking about food with me. She mentioned the round orange flavoured chocolate, so what did I get for the gorcery store? the round orange flavored chocolate which I then had 5 pieces of, which amounts to 25o cal, and now the rest of it is calling my name. Then I wonder why I dont lose weight with all the activity I do.

Day 40

Wow guys! thanks! I am surprised at the run too. So today my body decided to be stubborn and would not move. I returned from work at 6 pm (had started work at 7 am) and decided to go straight to the gym. Just couldn't move - no energy and on top of that my soles started to hurt bad, so just a single mile. Reason (maybe) - I wore 3 inch heels after 7-8 months. Used to wear heels everyday to work for so many years and was comfortable in them, stopped for 8 months and now....but I am not sure, the archs of my feet were hurting not the heels or the front portion of the sole (sorry, can't remember what it's called, brain is fried). Hopefully, tomorrow will be better, I will be more rested and will be able to push myself a little more....
Yes, a blog is a wonderful way to track progress, but since I am laziness personified :( and sometimes don't feel like going through the old blogs to check the details, I created the spreadsheet, one look and I know what I did on which day - sometimes laziness can really make you work :). NB is the more active of us two (as if it wasn't obvious by now), with 2 kids and a husband (that makes 3), she has to be. So she patiently rummages through the old entries and can easily track her progress, and maybe that is the reason she doesn't make the effort to update the spreadsheet :(

Day 40

Ran for 15 min,W2min,R10 min,walked to complete 40 min. Cant tell if speed or mileage is right because of uncooperative tmill, very rarely have I completed 2 miles in 40 min before. Felt good tho' even tho the knees hurt -tightness for half the day. But no right foot tightness or pain noted today.
Was reading GBs post, this is my sister who rolled her eyes when I did my daily walk or moved in any way. This is my sister whose response to every suggestion I gave to exercise or eat right was either 'why' or 'then what'.This is my sister who for the last six months spent each afternoon after work laying on a saggy couch with a laptop on her lap, a t.V. 5 feet away and the remote next to her.Then suddenly one day she ups and decides to run a marathon. I took up the challenge before she blinked and changed her mind.

Fastforward 40 days later and the post yesterday happened- 2 miles in 29 min. I am soo soo proud of her. Ofcourse we still have to run the 26.2 miles 7 months later but this is one of the many stepping stones towards that goal.I think we will do it!!

Day 39 - Small achievement

Woke up with a slight headache - strange dreams, guess am just stressed out. Had planned to do a long run today (reason i missed yesterday), but got up late and had about an hour before had to leave for someplace. Went to the gym and ran at 4.2 m/h for 14.20 mins to complete 1 mile. Feel good, as about 40 days ago, it was difficult to run for even 2 mins at 4.2m/h. So completed 1 m at 4.2m/h, then walked, yes walked :) for 5 mins at 4.0m/h, then ran the rest of the second mile at 4.2 m/h. Completed 2 miles in 29 minutes which at one time (check my first week blogs) seemed impossible.
Thankfully completed the workout in the morning as the headache has worsened in the afternoon. Am going to log my headaches too in this blog to track the occurences. sometimes I think these are because of the cold weather, but waking up with a headache?

Day 38

1hr 40 min on tmill, approx 5.5 miles, I am sure its more because I felt I had exerted myself much more today than last week's LSD with GB. I usuallly run at 4.5mph and now even 3.8 mph puts me out of breath. I walk in between the running at 3mph!!Either the machine was wrong before and I am actually slow or its going too fast now and I cant keep up. I will have to go to GBs gym and caliberate my speed 'cos dont know how to make this tmill right.

Signs of my first blisters on the soles of my feet coming up so now a trip to the sports shop is needed to get the synthetic socks to prevent them. I broke my rule of not spending anything on a new hobby for 2 months, till I was sure I would follow it, by getting 'The nonrunners marathon guide for women'. It was a tossup between Jeff galloways 'marathoning 'and this one and I picked this one just because am not in a mood to be serious about running just yet.

Last week didnt go to well, ran only twice in the week, I think the tmill not working properly put me off. Read some coolrunning posts and started on this book, I think now is the time to start increasing the time of the workouts to atleast 40 min per session. 'Should' be doing it, but just 'cant' which is another name for 'wont', Ok I will do 4 workouts next week minimum 40 min each time even if the tmill doesnt start behaving.

The best part of all this movement is the eating, burnt approx 5oo cal, ate the yummiest egg sandwich with cheese! washed down by Oj. Guilt free!.Love that part.

Day 37 - Office stress

I was totally stressed out at my workplace today, the kind of stress when you are very quiet and just waiting to see how things turn out. Well, I stopped thinking about it as I left the workplace (at least I tried to). Came home, crashed on the couch, picked myself up in an hr and went to the gym. As luck would have it the only two machines I could work on were occupied, so turned away, walked a few steps, then turned back into the gym (gives the impression that I was very motivated, but actually had nothing better to do at that time). Went to an elliptical which wasn't working (the display wasn't), but surprisingly had the right resistance as I was sweating in 15 mins. Finally got the treadmill but couldn't run, no energy, so walked - walked at varying speeds, even 4 m/h. I think I am going to aim for a higher walking speed. :) I am going to aim for this, I am going to aim for that - don't know if I really achieve the goals I aim for in this blog :)

Day 36 - Headache

Too much stress at work. Had a splitting headache which has left me drained. Have been putting in 10-12 hours of work everyday. Was so excited about running a few miles today, but can't, head doesn't agree :(

Day 36

Yup, keeping track of the days like this is going to be difficult so may have to say-Month2, Day 6 or something- will get back on that.
Did the W6D2 session of C25k and just could not finish it. Ran the first 10 min at an Ok speed, cant tell exactly 'cos the tmill is still not set right, but the second 10 min was bad, had to walk after 5 min. Dont know why, I had actually eaten very sensibly last night but yes, missed the stretching/strengthening session on tuesday and yesterday just did not feel like getting out of bed in the dark and running on the tmill. So missed 2 days of working out and had to pay for it today-thats not fair!
Had planned to do 6 workouts each week for these 2 weeks before went for vacation but I guess you cant hoard the sessions. Now should I repeat W6D2 session again tomorrow till I get it right or do the W6d3 session of running straight for 25 min??. Will go to the coolrunning C25kers for this.

Day 35 - Hectic day

Today was a hectic work day. Worked from 9 to 5pm without a break. Was famished and knew would gorge once I reached home and then may or maynot go for the workout. Decided to have a mcdonald snack wrap on the way home (also to help prevent a hunger headache). Once home, changed and went for a walk (yeahh!). Was also implementing NB's advice about not running everyday :), so made it a little easier to go.
Walked around the area to see the Christmas decorations. For one subdivision, the lighting was amazing, each house's topping the other. Considering that we are trying to go green, the energy spent was wow!. But I loved it! Delightful!!

Day 34

It is difficult to keep track of the day number as now it doesn't correspond to the day of the month as it did in November.
Am experiencing right ankle pain after every run of a mile which goes away when I start walking, but my foot tends to slip a little in the shoe. I think it has got something to do with my shoes. Will start researching and maybe buy a pair of shoes over the weekend.

Day 32

W6D1 of C25k,5min running, 3walking,8R,3W,5R,5W.
Cant tell the speed because the treadmill went out of whack yesterday, I cant walk at even 3.7mph-its too fast, so it needs to be adjusted. Has to be done before the weekend because I will be doing my long weekend walk on it because the husband is again working throughout the weekend. Also will have to rent out a movie to watch while working the treadmill, already feel like a hamster.

Was going over the marathon goal, our goal is SFM on Aug 3rd, but the husband has applied for 2 weeks vacation during that time period so may not be able to keep that date,may have to look for one in Sept/Oct-well it does give us more time. Lets see.

Day 31

5.85 miles in 1hr 40 min, outside

So went for a walk/run in the morning at 7 AM. GB was so mad at me for waking her up early in the morning on a saturday, but my point is that the marathon is going to be at 5AM, so we can train our bodies from now itself to get used to running in the AM. Also its going to be only once a week and if you leave the long run for the rest of the day usually its missed.
Started from my house, knew the temps will be cold at 33 degrees but didnt realise, so cold! By the time I reached her apt the backs my hands, my forearms, my nose and cheeks and forehead was frozen. Next time surely will wear gloves and a scarf.
Ran/walked slowly,was surprised that ran for the most part even tho it was a shuffle and there was some incline too.Overall felt good at the end, actually cleaned house and ran some errands, hurt only when got up after sitting in the sun for 15 min, oh my poor back and my legs. Did some stretching and now feeling better in the evening.

Satisfied with the run/walk.