I was searching for a good title for my traditional New Year's blog, and I came across this quote:
I love it. New Year's reflections have always been a part of my life, and ever since I became a runner, I have incorporated them into my goal-setting routine.
Before I set new goals, though, I always check out my progress on the previous year's resolutions. I am super happy to report that I met every single goal I set for 2017!
2017 Goals:
1) Race in a marathon again--accomplished on 11/4/17. I didn't care about my time... just that I competed in another marathon. I was so thrilled to cross that finish line!
2) PR in the half Ironman--accomplished on 7/31/17. This was a difficult race. I struggled with injuries (as usual) leading up to the race. I knew that I would kill the bike, but wasn't sure what would happen on the run. I had built up enough of a cushion with a sub-3 bike leg that even though my run was slower, I still had a 5 minute PR! Woo hoo!
3) Become a scholar of the heart--I definitely embraced heart-rate training this year. I stopped wearing my monitor after my half-marathon, as my heart rate was being super wonky. However, I am planning on getting back to it as 2018 begins. It truly is a great measure of how hard I am pushing things, and how well I am recovering. I loved having a Fit Bit to chart my resting heart rate, but it sadly died in September. I want to get another fitness tracker simply for this reason!
4) Compete in a swim meet--I actually raced in TWO meets (3/4/17 and 4/1/17)! I had a fantastic time, and did relatively well, winning my age group in all but one race at both meets.
Time for some new goals, I suppose!
2018 goals:
1) PR in the marathon--I wanted this goal to be to qualify for Boston... then I realized, if I PR, I WILL qualify for Boston! I am turning 40 in September 2018, and thus would be 40 when I competed in Boston in 2019. My new qualifying standard is a 3:44:59. Since my PR is 3:44:29, I will basically qualify with a PR. For whatever reason, saying that I want to qualify for Boston hasn't worked for me in the past... so I will just go for that PR! **NOTE: I fully realize that it will take faster than a 3:44:29 to qualify for Boston... but right now I am not focusing on that :)
2) Qualify for Age Group Nationals for the triathlon--This year's AG Nationals (held every August) happen to be in Cleveland! If I have a good race in June at the Central Ohio Triathlon, I should be able to make this goal happen. Basically, I need to win my age group, or place in the top 10%. If that race doesn't work out... I don't have any other triathlons currently on my race schedule. I can't do Mingoman as I'll be out of town. I may sign up for an HFP event instead. I haven't even signed up for Ohio 70.3 for 2018 yet. I am not even sure I WANT to... and $300+ is a lot to pay for something that I am currently ambivalent about.
3) Keep up with Body Pump and spinning classes at least once a week (for both)--I love going to my gym for Body Pump, and have recently started going to spin classes more as well. Right now my coach is having me go twice a week to pump, and cycling twice a week. As much as I hate spinning classes, I prefer it to sitting on my bike on the trainer in my (now super cold) sun room. I also know that spinning is good for triathletes! I need to make sure that I am making strength and cross training a priority for 2018.
4) Incorporate my PT exercises back into my life--I know how important these are, and I need to start doing them again. I get so upset when I am doing them and then still get injured... but I am sure they do me more good than harm! I will set a small goal of 20 minutes once a week, and hopefully can up that to twice a week in the summer once school's out! I did the best with PT when I actually put it on my calendar, so that's my plan this time around as well.
As always, I will add the caveat that the best thing in the world would be to stay injury-free. Not a likely thing to have happen... but you never know!
Even I had to laugh when I typed the title for this blog. Super-brief? When has this blog ever been "super-brief"... or even just a little brief? I'm going to try to make this a shorter-than-usual entry, though. I need to fill in a few gaps from after my half marathon in April to my half-Ironman in July... and then from the half Ironman to my recent marathon in November. Honestly, this just basically an update of the injuries that I've had, and the treatments that I've used for them. I like to have all of this documented both for myself as well as for friends/fellow runners who might need the info!
In early-July, I blogged about my acute case of plantar fasciitis, and mentioned taking a week off. In addition to that week off, I took the advice of my former coach Betsy and visited a new doctor. Dr. Brittani Young is a DO in Upper Arlington. She practices a method called Airrosti. When Betsy first recommended I see Dr. Young, I checked out the Airrosti website and was immediately skeptical. They talked of "curing" people of their pain in an average of three visits. Ummm... whatever. But curiosity got the best of me, and when I found out that the visits would be covered by my insurance, I figured I'd give it a try. I would describe Airrosti as a combination of deep tissue massage, chiropractor-type manipulations, and physical therapy exercises. My first visit was pretty uneventful. Airrosti doctors spend a full 60 minutes with their patients at each visit, and I really liked Dr. Young. After my appointment, she said that she thought one more visit would be enough. Still skeptical, I came back 5 days later. I wasn't pain-free, but I felt a bit better. I'd been resting, though, so I wasn't surprised. However, within 48 hours of my second appointment, I realized that the pain was gone. Like, totally gone. Yes, I know that I had also taken a week off from running, so I wasn't going to shout my praises of Airrosti from the rooftops or anything. I was soooo happy to be able to run my half Ironman without pain (well, without the pain of PF at least!). A couple of weeks after the half Ironman, I had some soreness in my hip flexor. I was immediately concerned, and called Dr. Young. She fit me right in, and what do you know... after just one appointment, the pain was gone. I lovingly call Dr. Young my "voo-doo medicine doctor". I have no clue why what she does works, but she's amazing. I have referred several friends to her. I wanted to go before my marathon, as I just knew she could fix my injured calf (more on that in a minute), and made an appointment. Unfortunately I was out of visits per my insurance. Self-pay would be $250/visit, and that wasn't going to happen, so I had to cancel. Dr. Young is so sweet, though; she e-mailed me after my race to check in on me!
As I mentioned, after my half Ironman I had a little hip flexor soreness, but it went away quickly. I told my coach George after the race that I reallllly wanted to do a marathon in the fall. He agreed when I told him that I wasn't interested in speed, but merely wanted to finish it respectfully. My goal: "start healthy and finish happy!" So we slowly started to ramp up the time I was spending running. Things were going really well. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have enough time on my feet, but I have learned to trust my coach, and I knew he'd have me ready to go on race day. On September 29, I finally pulled the trigger and registered for the Indy Monumental Marathon, taking place on November 4. It had taken me awhile to figure out which race I wanted to do... lots of debating with Tamara on this one! Should I do Erie (only six weeks after my half Ironman)? The Columbus Marathon in October? Indy? The Philadelphia Marathon, which wasn't till November 19? I obviously decided on Indy, as I felt the timing was better than the others... and, of course, I ended up having a group to travel and race with, which tipped the scales greatly in the favor of this race!
The day after I registered for the race, I felt a twinge in my left outer calf. What the... I couldn't believe it. Seriously. I had waited and waited to register, and when I finally commit and pay the $108 entry fee, this happens. At first I just figured it was a twinge and nothing more. After a couple of weeks, though, I realized it was definitely not just a twinge. I saw my doctor (Dr. Natalie Dick at MaxSports Delaware) on October 10. Her advice was to take off a week or so. This happened to coincide with my family's annual trip to Hocking Hills, so it worked out for the best. My calf wasn't 100% upon my return, but I was able to get some runs in, and by the time the marathon arrived, it was feeling about 80-90%. The funny thing is that it never hurt at all during or after my race... and hasn't hurt since!
After my race, both of my ankles were very tight. I attributed it to post-race soreness, but after a week, my left ankle felt fine... and my right was still sore. Dr. Google said it was posterior tibial tendonitis. The pain was in my inner right ankle area, around the bone and radiating a bit up into my lower leg. I consulted with my doctor, and she recommended I see a foot and ankle specialist. I saw my chiropractor who said that he agreed with the posterior tib diagnosis, and suggested I have his nurse practitioner give me a couple of steroid shots (rather than see the foot and ankle doctor). I took him up on it. I did have to take a few days off after the shots, but they seemed to do the trick! No pain ever since.
I wish I could figure out why I have all of these different injuries all of the time. My chiropractor said it comes with running. I just don't get why my friends aren't in the same boat as me. I don't even run that much, especially compared to them. *sigh* I am an enigma, that's for sure.
Up next... my traditional New Year's blog :)
