We bombed all over Calumet today on the new bikes. Picked up some lunch from the grocery store and had a nice picnic down by Swedetown, then headed back to the 5th and Elm Coffee Shop for some ice cream and smoothies.

Fun, fun, fun!











-- Post From My iPhone

Last week, I had the a/c blasting because it was 85 and humid in my house. Today, I had to turn the heat on because it's 64 and damp. It's July 1 for cryn' out loud!

I’ve been doing the same weight training routine for the last several months and it’s getting seriously boring.  So, based on the reviews at Amazon.com (and a few glasses of wine), I picked up this new DVD.

One review said “…[the routines] are tough and leave you feeling it the next day (or two)…”.

Ha!  My back and sides are in agony!  It’s pretty apparent that the DVDs I’ve been doing don’t even hit those muscles.  I didn’t dare do the second portion of the workout today because I figured getting up off the floor was important.

Hopefully I’ll be recovered enough tomorrow to attempt the next routine.  I watched it today and it’s a killer.

Can’t wait!

Meet the Trek Wasabi 3. She and I (along with Josh and his hew bike) should be cruising around the neighborhood by the end of next week.

Cruising being the optimal word.

Picked up the orthotics on Thursday afternoon and all I can say is that I now understand why Podiatrist warned me to break them in for a week before running  (well, actually he said two weeks, but I negotiated him down to one week ) – they’re going to take some getting used to.

The first thing I noticed is that, unlike the cushy over-the-counter insoles I’ve been buying for the last many years, these ones are rigid.  That rigidity is (apparently) what’s realigning my lower leg and keeping my ankle from rolling in too much.  They do have a cushy surface on them, so it’s not like I’m completely running on hard plastic.

Second, the heel cup is really deep, deeper than any other insole I’ve even worn.  I forgot to ask Podiatrist what that meant, but since the ultimate goal of these things is to realign, I’m sure that somehow comes into play.

Third, they feel different.  I feel my heel sitting differently in my shoe, I feel the arch support pressing into my arch.  The realignment of my feet are causing my outer ankle to rub on the top edge of my shoe.  I’ve been really lucky in that every shoe and insole I’ve ever worn has been instantly comfortable and I’ve never had issues with shoes causing me blisters or even causing hot spots on my feet, but I don’t know how the orthotics are going to work out once I start running.  I am a bit concerned about that.  I guess I’ll have to stock up on tape or something.

Last, and most annoying, the damn things squeak.  I’ve worn them constantly for two days now and all I hear is squeak, squeak, squeak.  I can’t imagine how annoying that’s going to be when I start running.   I can only hope the break-in period will take care of that.

I left Podiatrist’s office with a warning from him to not freak out if I start to get aches and pains mysteriously on other parts of my body.  He said that since my base (feet) is being realigned, that could have a domino effect on other areas of my body as it adjusts to everything.  He said to give my body a solid month of working everything out before I go back for any adjustments.

Well, anyway, onto the pictures. Here's the orthotics from several angles.

Here's me standing without and with them. (How come I look like I have cankles?) You can see how my ankles are rolling inward in the first picture, and how they're realigned in the second.

 

My plan is to wear them around as much as possible for a week and then I’ll start running.  My tendonitis is under control, so if all goes well, I’ll be able to get back into the running groove fairly quickly.

Josh and I just bought some cruiser bikes. I got a Trek Wasabi 3 in Night Violet and Josh got a Trek Drift 3 in Driftwood Brown.

Gotta plan a cruiser vacation now!

I got the call from Podiatrist's office today that my orthotics are in. I get fitted tomorrow after lunch.

Thank God, let's get this show on the road. I've got lots of running to make up for!

I should rename my blag to “Not Running Chick” because that’s sure what I’ve been doing.

My tendonitis has been a bugger – mostly because I was a big, dumb idiot and continued to run through the pain just to get some miles in.  Not smart.  I finally grew some brains and made the decision to just chill out and rest until my orthotics come in.  I’m hoping to see them late this week. 

In the meantime, I’ve been lifting weights like a fool – like for the past 14 days straight before I decided it was okay to take a day off.  I’ve also been riding my bike, but not as much as I should.

I did 40 miles yesterday in 3:15 and the week before I did 27 in 2:08.  I’ve been using my Garmin 305 to keep an eye on my cadence and I’m finding that I can cruise along pretty easily between 85 and 90 RPM.  Thanks to the hills, though, my rides are averaging around 75 RPM.  My heart rate typically stays between 155-165 BPM throughout that cadence range, which is the BPM I’m supposed to maintain for my long, slow runs.  I think that’s good, but I haven’t done a whole lot of research on heart rate training yet.

 

We’ve been grilling up a storm, thanks to the new addition to my arsenal.  Behold (on the left) the Weber 22.5” One Touch Gold.  The grill on the right is one that we inherited from my parents and is about 30 (?) years old.  It works really well, but I wanted something that contained the ash so it wouldn’t blow all over the place on a windy day.  We’ve been grilling a ton of stuff – vegetables, steaks, chicken, pizza, quesadillas, pork roast, pineapple. 

Things taste so much better on a charcoal grill, for sure.

Finally, we’ve playing Pictionary.  Can you guess what this picture represents?

Because these two keep on stealing mine.

Usually I look like I'm about to keel over, but these ones turned out pretty well. Here's a couple, the rest are in the gallery.

Gratuitous food picture! 

 

You just can’t beat the taste of food on a charcoal grill.

Gravel, giant long hill, gravel, long downhill, more gravel, beach sand, finish.

That pretty much sums up this morning's race. I did a lot better than I was expecting myself to do. I was hoping to come in around 51 or 52 minutes and thanks to the last thee miles being downhill, I was able to crank out some really zippy miles and come in a smidge over 49 minutes.

Pre-race: I hung around and waited for the 2nd bus, which was running late. We got the the start at 8:58, the race was supposed to start at 9:00. No warm up for me!

Mile 1 & 2: Gun went off, everybody jumped and some women screamed. Pretty funny. The first quarter-mile was on loose gravel. It was like running on marbles. Yuck. People were passing me left and right. I looked back after the turn onto pavement and there were two runners behind me and then I could see the walkers. I figured I was in for my first DFL finish, great. The first mile marker passed and I glanced at my watch and saw 10:08! The second mile was a long grind uphill. Man, that was unpleasant and I was significantly slower - 10:43. MEH.

Mile 3 & 4: More freaking loose gravel for the next mile, but it was downhill so I was able to make up some of the time I lost on the uphill section. Then, we were on pavement and it was all downhill from here. I was feeling great and thanks to gravity, I started to pass people. Four people in total, actually. I purposely decided not to show the pace on my Garmin because all I end up doing is obsessing about it, so I didn't realize that I ran this mile in 9:11 until I downloaded it when I got home.

Mile 5: I was seriously zeroing in on a 48-ish minute 5 miler until this mile. Part pavement, part gravel and BEACH SAND. What the hell, were they trying to kill us? I barely maintained my pace and was gasping and wheezing and feeling a bit pukey when I crossed the finish line. Man, my finishing photos are going look so hot!

I stumbled past Josh who said "Congratulations!" to which I replied "I think I'm going to puke." Folks, the romance is still there!

In all, it was a fun, local race. I'll totally do it again next year. Except I'll train more. And do more hills.

Go Red Wings!

Thanks to these..



causing this...

I now have a case of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome. Podiatrist said I'm "textbook". Yay.

My MTSS is characterized by pain and tenderness in the inside leg above my ankle. As an added bonus, I have some swelling too. I usually have pain when I start out running, then it goes away after about 15 minutes only to flare up about an hour after I'm done. The tenderness is always there, but the pain typically goes away the next day. So, basically my ankles roll inward excessively putting stress on the muscles and tendons that run up the inside of my leg causing pain & swelling.

Podiatrist says "We can fix you".

These little little plaster slippers get shipped off to some place in New York where goo gets poured into them to make a cast of my foot. My custom orthotics get made from those casts.

They should be here in three weeks.  Then I have a two week adjustment period where I’ll wear them walking around (at work, etc), but not running.  Then, RUN!

In the meantime, Podiatrist put me on some serious anti-inflammatory drugs to get the swelling down and and make my inflamed tendons happier.  I can still run during this period, I just have to take it easy.

Oh, and the cost of getting me running pain-free?  Just under $550.  They’d better come with a money-back guarantee.

I thought it was broken, but it's not. Just bashed all to hell.  It's a lovely purple & red now, I wonder what it'll look like tomorrow? Maybe black! Ooh!  I wonder if I’ll lose my toenail!  Double ooh!

The good news is that if I keep my shoe loose enough, it doesn’t bother me when I run.  I did a quick 3 miles tonight around the neighborhood and it was okey dokey.

This weekend is the Breakers to Bay 5 mile race.  I haven’t trained at all, except for a few meetings of the Friday Night Run & Booze Club.  I’m not sure that counts.  This might end up being my first DFL finish.  Oof.

I sort of forgot I had a blog there for a minute. Well, actually I didn't, I've just been lazy and not feeling very bloggy.

The Eagle River HM went pretty well. I was secretly shooting for 2:15, but I guess 2:19 is fine too. That averages out to a 10:38 pace, but I'm not happy that I ran positive splits throughout. I'm going to attribute that to heading out of the gate way too fast. I checked my watch at the first mile marker and it was around a 9:30, and that's waaay to fast especially with 12 more miles ahead of me. I purposely slowed down after that, but since my Garmin was all over the place with my pace (one time it would show 11:30, I'd speed up and a second later it'd show 9:15) so I just couldn't keep anything consistent. Meh.

I didn't do as much hill training this time around because I had some calf issues toward the end of training that forced me to stick to mostly flat surfaces. This HM is hilly. It's not "OMG that's a giant hill up ahead" hilly, but there are little rollers along the entire course, one long climb from miles 7-8.5 and another nice roller around mile 11.5 that really take their toll. My quads were really feeling it in the last mile.

Race highlights:

- Snow! rain! wind! cold! Yes, the weather sucked. But, it was the beginning of May in Northern Wisconsin. We're lucky we didn't have a blizzard.
- The girl who accidentally set her Garmin 305 to give time alerts EVERY SECOND and couldn't figure out how to turn them off. I was so not running next to her for the next 13 miles, so I offered to fix it for her. I got thanks from several people after that.
- Noticing Bauer's Dam Resort/Bar at the mile 2 water stop. If I would have had cash, I would have stopped for a beer. It still counts as hydration, right?
- Making the mistake of telling a first time HM'r that there was a giant hill at mile 7. She about quit where she was. I had to do some serious back-pedaling on that one. Sorry, newbie.
- Stopping to chat with Josh, who took deer trails to make it to mile 4.5 and saved me from the weirdo who actually asked me if "...I come here often...". Dude, it's a race. Pay attention to your running and quit hitting on every girl that passes you. Sheesh.
- The old dude who cut me off at the 9 mile water station, then apologized and shared his Gatorade with me. We passed each other several times before I finally got him in the last half mile.
- Being pissed off because I couldn't beat the first power walker to the finish. I caught him on the last hill and I would have had him if he'd have stopped at the last water station like I did. The bugger.

Post-race highlights:

- Having my medal engraved with my name and time. Incorrectly. They sent me a new medal, correctly engraved a few days afterward, but that's the last time I get that done.
- The hot tub at the hotel. After being outside in the cold and wind for 2+ hours, it felt so good. But, I paid with seriously sore legs the next day.
- Booze-cruising! What else is there to do on a cold, windy day in Eagle River, WI but explore back-woods bars? We visited quite a few, but my personal favorite was Bauer's Dam Resort/Bar. Best nachos ever, and useful tips on how not to get arrested in downtown Eagle River after dark. Score.
- Josh wondering if the walls at Nero's Restaurant were going to collapse before we were done with our dinner. They didn't, but it was close.
- Secretly thanking the management at the hotel for requiring that people wear shoes and shirts to breakfast. Come on, people! We do not want to see your flabby beer guts while we're eating breakfast. You're not in your own house, you know. Totally gross.

So, it's been two weeks since the HM. I've been trying to get out running three times/week at least for some short 3-4 mile trail runs, which I'm really enjoying. Unfortunately I don't think I can effectively train for another HM by running trails alone so I'll be back on the road before long.

I've got some race pictures and a running skirt review to post, but I'll leave that for another time.

Ciao, peeps.

2:19:12 @ 10:38

I was hoping for faster, but the damn hills got to me in the end. They also got to my knees because they were seriously aching after the race. They're fine today, but my quads? Oh man. Last year I must have either run more hills in training or my pokey slow pace didn't lead to any post-race soreness because I sure don't remember being this sore. Stairs, curbs, getting in and out of the car..ooof.

I'm feeling coldy and sinusy and non-bloggy so I'll eventually get to the full race report. For now, I'll leave you with this awesome video that gave me a pretty good giggle.