Minor (I hope) Setback

Achilles Tendinitis. Motherfucker.

I started out yesterday morning a little differently. I ate breakfast before my run - egg whites and oatmeal. I thought the slow digesting carbs in the oatmeal would help my energy level. I usually just get up, have a sip of Accelerade and get out as soon as I can, but I decided to experiment.

I also popped 200mg of caffeine, an Ephedrine Hcl 25mg (to prevent possible asthma attack) and an aspirin, 325mg. This usually gives me almost instant energy and just more "get up and go". It's easy to burn out on this stack, so most people do cycles of two weeks on, one week off. I've been using this in some combination for about 6 years.

I drove to the race course and felt a little anxiety. I don't know why. This was just a training run. It was a nice cool morning. I started out too fast. I kept up the pace, wanting to improve my 5k time. By mile 2, I felt an unusual dull pain above my heel. I thought I was still just warming up, and I had just finished a downhill, so I expected it would diminish. It got a little worse, so I stopped and walked back to my car. :-(

Thank God for the internet. I came home and did a search, quickly found what I needed, and after some self-care, it feels better today. These days I listen to my body and stop when it needs me to. Apparently people still try to run with Achilles Tendinitis, then it ruptures, it requires surgery and you may not be able to walk for up to 6 months. That won't be me. I'll take a few weeks off if I have to (groan).



Achilles Tendinitis is caused by many factors, most of all increasing distance or speed too quickly, and running hills too much too soon. Also, women who wear heels during the day and switch to running shoes for fitness, since the tendon doesn't have time to stretch and be normal. And um, overuse.

I already paid for my race registration, and if the next time I run is the day of the race, so be it. I'm not going to be sidelined for longer than is necessary again. But it does make me wonder. Is my body ever going to become fit and
ready to take on anything? I guess professional athletes get this condition, too, but it really makes me feel like an out of shape slug to have to rest for a week just because I ran a few hills too fast. Ah well.

It's Getting Better

This morning I ran the CIGNA 5k course. I was VERY surprised that it was sort of easy. Running is a total mind game. I've been very bored with the track, the trail and the treadmill. The 3 T's. Ha ha. So I've decided to stop timing myself with the stop watch for a little while and just do fun runs.

I think running on streets is a lot more interesting. I only had to pause once for traffic at an intersection, and the rest of the run was kind of fun!

The last part of the course is uphill, so I tried to conserve a little energy right before. It evens out again right before the finish line, and I think the crowds and the finish line will be great to provide that last boost of speed at the end.

This morning's run gave me a chance to try out my new Under Armour
panties. The wick away moisture so you're not uncomfortable. I also wore my new Adidas ClimaCool shirt and it felt great. The temp was only 81 degrees at the end of my run, and I had a strong wind for about half the run, so I'm not sure how August 11th at 6:20 pm will feel!

At least the course is no longer intimidating to me. While driving it, it seems a lot longer than it feels to run it. I reached Thayer Street a lot sooner than I thought it would take me.

I took a nice cool Epsom salts bath when I got home as I sipped on my protein shake and listened to one of my favorite radio shows, Car Talk. I got pretty close to heaven.

After the CIGNA 5K, I am going to run the Stride for NH Pride 5K on Saturday, August 27th. This race benefits the NH Farmers Market Association. I would also love to run the Mack's Run for the Apples 5K XC the next day, on Sunday, August 28th. This would be a fun race. I'm hoping by that time I will be fit enough to run them back to back. I think I'll try it anyway, maybe with an ice bath in between.

Overtrained

Overtraining strikes again. At least this time I know the signs and can do some damage control before it gets too bad. I really thought I could run 2-3 miles every other day in addition to my normal heavy weightlifting schedule. Overtraining occurs when the central nervous system is stimulated for too long, too hard, with inadequate rest and/or nutrition.

Chronic overtraining led to my overuse injuries in my knees, and I really can't have that happen again. I took 2 days off from everything and ate some candy. Haha! I think the body gets just as bored as the mind does with cottage cheese and oatmeal.

In case you're a fitness obsessed person like myself (ahem, ANDY), here are the classic symptoms of overtraining:

Acute Physical Symptoms
Muscle worked to exhaustion [isn't this the goal?]
Traumatic orthopedic injury

Chronic Physical Symptoms
Muscle becomes weaker over time
Orthopedic overuse injury [Bad, very bad :-( ]
Increased resting heart rate
Increased resting blood pressure
Decreased maximal power output
Decreased sports performance
Decreased maximal blood lactate concentrations
Slower recovery after exercise
Weight loss or Weight gain due to higher cortisol levels
Decreased appetite
Decreased desire to exercise [When this hits me as it did a few days ago, I know I am overtrained]
Increased irritability and depression
Increased incidence of injury
Increased incidence of infection
Decreased resting heart rate
Faster return of heart rate to resting value after exercise
Decreased blood lactate concentrations during submaximal and maximal exercise
Unemotional behavior

It may take a while for you to realize if you're overtrained, but I know I am when all I want to do is sleep, can walk into the gym, do a completely half-assed workout and walk out not caring, experience lower libido (big red flag!) - overtraining is known to lower testosterone levels in addition to increasing cortisol, which is the "stress hormone".

Cortisol also kicks in when you diet to a point where you can't lose more weight - commonly called "starvation mode". Your body thinks you're in the woods running from wild scary bears and stopping infrequently to snack on berries, only to race off again! The poor body doesn't realize you're doing it intentionally... it's just doing what it can to survive. So it clings to fat for dear life (literally), as it is more efficient to burn muscle :-( and fat tends to keep you warmer. I wish we could just sit the body down and be like:

"Listen, here's the plan. We're running on the track, not in the woods, and we're not in danger. We're lifting dumbbells, not a tree that's fallen on us. As much as I'd like to eat a plate of fried chicken fingers and fries when we're done, we're gonna go home and have some egg whites and oatmeal, and we're gonna LIKE it. And THEN we're gonna do it again tomorrow, so get used to it and let some of this fat go!"

But the body is still in caveman mode, so it doesn't listen.

My day off for August 11th for the CIGNA road race was approved. So, uh... I have to do it. It'll be okay, I'm just intimidated by the heat. I still have time to acclimate.