Half Marathon Training

Below is my intended training schedule for my half marathon. It's a tad compressed. And even though I'm only on week three, I'm already behind schedule. Fail.

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
9	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	Rest	13.1	21.1

I attempted to run last Friday morning wearing my Vibrams, but my right big toe, left ankle, and right knee were hurting enough to make me switch to the stationary bike in my gym. And after dancing at a series of bars on 6th street and walking around on Friday night and Saturday, I had to come back and ice my left knee and tape my right big toe to it's neighboring toe. I think I'm broken...

So let me just summarize my issues since starting to run again: right toe, left ankle, left knee, and right knee. Is my body telling me something? Maybe that I shouldn't be running? Seriously, I'm concerned about my joints. If it was solely my muscles that were sore, I wouldn't care. And some joint pain is expected, but when I have pretty constant bone-deep pain, should I listen to it?

This is a dilemma that I've been facing for years, ever since I injured my knee playing soccer at age 16. My doctor literally told me that the worst thing I could do for my knee would be to keep playing soccer... So, I played for another year and kept injuring myself because I was favoring my knee, i.e. twisting my ankle, pulling my groin, etc. I didn't play sports for a couple years, and then I got into crew (rowing). Crew was better for my knee because there's no twisting of knees or anything, you're simply bending your knees in straight lines. Granted, I still had knee problems and sometimes got special assignments from my coach because of it. After one regatta over fall break during sophomore year, my coach assigned us the task of running 10 miles over the next couple days, but because of my knee, I got to do 20k on the ergometer (rowing machine). I think I would have preferred running. 20k on the erg can be mind-numbingly boring because your scenery doesn't change. However, at this point, rowing might be my best option... we'll see.

Non-Paleo Pumpkin Trifle

OMG. This is seriously to die for. It's delicious, but unfortunately not Paleo, so for all of you Paleo people out there, this is a delicious dessert to make for your non-Paleo friends, just to prove that you can bake. I didn't plan on eating anything, but then when I saw my friends going back for second- and third- helpings, I couldn't help myself. My immediate reaction was something along the lines of "OMG! This is soooo good! Holy crap! Damn, I'm good."

The way this worked is that I baked a batch of non-Paleo pumpkin chocolate chip bars. This can easily be substituted with my paleo version of the pumpkin bars. Then whip up a batch of pumpkin pudding. I used 1 large box of vanilla pudding mix, one 15-oz can of pumpkin puree, 2 tsp pumpkin spice, and 2 cups of skim milk; refrigerate for 2 hours. The third layer was homemade whipped cream, which consisted of 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, 2.5 Tbls of powdered sugar, and 2 tsp of vanilla. Start with a layer of the pumpkin chocolate chip bars, followed by the pudding, and then the whipped cream. Repeat until your trifle dish or bowl is full. Refrigerate overnight, and then wow your guests. Yep. It's that easy. Also, I highly recommend the overnight refrigeration - it allows the pudding and pumpkin bars to meld a bit and get nice and soft. Yum!!!

Check back tomorrow for a Paleo pumpkin pudding recipe! And on Wednesday you can witness the savory  pumpkin dish that I baked this weekend.

As a side note, I've started my half marathon training. I believe I have 10 weeks until my race. So today I ran 3 miles, and based on the run today, I think the 4- and 5-mile runs I'm supposed to run later this week won't be too bad. I'll post my training schedule in a couple days in case you're interested. Anyways I mention this because I think I might have sprained my big toe last weekend after my FE exam. It started hurting two Sundays ago, but I didn't think much about it. I saw that it was a little swollen, and I iced it a little bit, assuming that it would just go away. It's not very painful, but it's definitely restricted my choice of footwear to flats. And it kind of hurts to walk, but given my long history of joint pain, this was a minor amount of pain. Because I like to know insignificant details, I measured the circumference of my toes today, and my right toe is 0.7 cm bigger (10% bigger) than my left toe right now. Good to know, right? Is 10% a large increase? It's hard to tell when it's such a small part of your body. So I've taped my big toe to the next toe and have iced it a couple times tonight. If it doesn't get better in a week or so, then I'll go to the doctor. I promise.

Another fun fact, is that around this time last year (October 22, 2011 to be exact), I managed to injure my left ankle while visiting friends in Allentown, PA, which kept me from training for a marathon and deferring to this coming year's race. (Note to self, don't jump into the air and click your heels together when walking on uneven sidewalk.) So 1 year and 5 days later, I hurt my toe? Coincidence? Or a cosmic sign that I shouldn't do long distance running? Feel free to weigh in.

Barefoot Running and Blood Blisters

If you really don't like to think about blisters, blood, or other sports-related injuries, then don't read this post. I swear I kept the gross-ness to a minimum.

So Sunday morning, I woke up and decided to go for a run. I pulled on my Vibrams, put on my University of Colorado hat (in support of KM's undergrad years), turned on the tunes on my phone, and set out. It was going pretty well, and then my left big toe started hurting about a mile it. It wasn't too bad, so I kept running. One more mile later, I decided to stop at a bench and see if gravel had gotten into my shoe or something. Lo and behold, when I pulled off my shoe, I had a nice large blood blister on my big toe. So, I slid the shoe back on, turned around, and awkwardly walked the two miles back to my apartment, trying not to put pressure on my toe. During my walk I called my parents for advice. My dad is my source of knowledge when it comes to injuries of any kind. Seriously. For every medical issue or injury that I have, I place a phone call that starts out like this: "Mom, can you put dad on the phone?" Sunday was no different. My dad looked up blood blisters in his handy-dandy Kaiser Permanente book (see, HMOs are good for some things), and told me what to do. So for those of you who are curious about how to handle a blood blister, it's basically like a regular blister, just with blood. Here are a combination of the recommendations from the book and from WebMD, but check with your doctor if you're unsure of what to do.

If the blister is less than 1 inch in size, do NOT drain the blister. Wash the area with soap and water, and dry thoroughly. Lightly wrap the blister with a band-aid. If the blister is in a load-bearing area of the body, such as your foot, use a piece of moleskin cut into a doughnut shape to place around the blister, which reduces pressure on the blister itself. You can find moleskin at most grocery stores or pharmacies. You can also find the moleskin intended for corns, which are conveniently pre-cut into a doughnut shape for you. How nice of them.

If the blister is greater than 1 inch in size, it's time to perform small surgery on yourself. Just kidding. All you need is a needle and isopropyl alcohol. Start by cleaning your foot with soap and water. Grab a clean paper towel or gauze (you'll see why in a second). Sterilize your needle with the rubbing alcohol. Now poke a small hole at the edge of your blister. Place the towel or gauze over your blister/at the edge of your blister, and use your CLEAN finger to squeeze the fluid in your blister out on the hole you just created. Sounds pretty, right? After you've disposed of the gauze, again clean the blister with soap and water. Dry thoroughly and wrap the area with a band-aid, remember to do so lightly. From here, you need to make sure the area stays dry. If your blister is on your foot, try to wear shoes that have air flow, such as sandals. If you don't have this option and have sweaty feet, make sure you change your socks more frequently than normal, and use moisture-wicking socks. You should change the band-aid at least once per day. And don't wear socks to bed.

Now, if you have a blister that got ripped open. Do not remove any skin unless the flap of skin is very dirty. If the skin was completely ripped off, you don't need to keep that. Obviously. Treat the ripped blister similarly to how you would an open wound. You can use antibiotic ointment on the wound before putting the band-aid on. I use water-proof band-aids. And when I do have a blister, I'll frequently use blister band-aids. They stick really well and will last for a while, even through showers.

And finally, if you're like me and have slightly allergic reactions to the adhesive of band-aids if you leave the band-aid on for more than 12 hours, change the band-aids frequently, or invest in sensitive skin band-aids, or other sensitive skin tapes (like paper tape). There are options. 

The Return of the Gitta

I've managed to escape the clutches of my parents and the city of Portland. In other words, I was on vacation last week to the city of Portland. My dad was in Portland for a National Academy of Kinesiology conference, so my mom and I tagged along to see a new city and do some sightseeing. (Kinesiology is the basically study of human movement, in case you were wondering.)

So I'm sure you've been wondering what happened to me... I'm usually so good about posting each weekday, and I failed that pretty badly this past week. I guess could have posted using my handy-dandy smart phone app, but texting a post using my thumbs didn't appeal to me. I type much faster. So here's a brief start to my Portland trip...

On my way to the airport, I got stuck behind a truck with the bumper sticker: Please drive naked. I found it amusing. Maybe you don't. Either way, I don't suggest trying that anytime soon.

My airplane snack food/lunch consisted of beef jerky, which is always a handy stand-by when you're Paleo-on-the-go. I fell asleep for take-off. This ended up being a good thing, because I slept through the ear pain that I usually get from airplane take-offs and landings. watched Battleship on the plane and studied for the FE exam. Studying = un-fun. On the happy side, we made it to Portland in one piece!

We stayed at the Hotel Monaco, which wins points for leaving a teddy bear in the room (see below). They also get points because they host a daily happy hour with free wine and beer tasting, which my parents and I hit up before we even went into our hotel room. They set up a Wii for people to play Mario Kart, as well as an easel and paint for attendees to explore they're more creative side. We were there for four nights and I was the only person who made use of the painting or the Wii. So what, I played video games like a kid while drinking wine. I'm cool with it. And do you want to know what's even better than all that? They host a Thursday morning run at 6am! Not many hotels do that. So I woke up at 5:45am on Thursday, stumbled into my workout clothes and running shoes, and made my way to the front desk where I was greeted by my running guide/chief engineer of the hotel. It was about 50F outside for our run, and it was a bit of a shock from the Texas heat that I'm used to, but vastly preferred. We ran down to the river front, along the river, and then across one of the numerous bridges to check out the other side, before looping back to make up a 3.7-mile loop. It felt good (I haven't been doing more than 2.5 miles without taking a break - I blame the 90-degree heat)! My hamstrings didn't quite agree that it felt good, but  it was a great way to start the day off before walking lots and lots while sight-seeing.

Picture taken while standing in our sitting room!

Nick at the front desk recommended that we try out Jake's Grill (park of McCormick and Schmick's) for a good steak, so that's where we went our first night so I could get: The Queen Bee (made with lemon and honey) and steak. Yum.

The Queen Bee

Barefoot Running

I found this pair on sale for half off, plus an extra 10% because they were the last pair.
And they fit perfectly. It must be a sign!

Barefoot running, also known as natural running, is based on the theory that humans were designed to run barefoot. Think about how you run while wearing running shoes. It's a heel-strike-to-toe motion, right? Well the downside of this is that by landing on your heel, there's no way to absorb the shock of impact so that you don't injure your joints from the repetitive stress of pounding the pavement. Barefoot running on the other hand consists of running on the balls of your feet, which removes the pounding force impact on your joints. See the photo and graphs below for a comparison of shod and barefoot running.

Impact on Foot: Shod Running vs. Barefoot Running

Also, the muscles of the longitudinal arch may allow the foot to dampen impact and may remove stress from the plantar fascia, which could help people with plantar fasciitis. FYI, plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot and can be very painful.

The practice of running barefoot is still followed by the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico. The people of this tribe have been known to run up to 200 miles (320 km) at one time. This 200-mile run can take place over two days through their homeland of rough canyon country. Three of the five canyons are deeper than the Grand Canyon(1). The Tarahumara can travel between 50-80 miles everyday at a "race" pace. Because of the terrain, travel using domesticated animals (i.e. horse and wagon) isn't possible and running is needed for inter-village communication and transportation, as well as to hunt. The Tarahumara use a persistence hunting technique, which basically means that they chase down an animal until it slows from exhaustion. Because humans sweat, our bodies have a mechanism to cool down while continuing to run, and although many mammals sweat, few can effectively thermoregulate via sweating, thus often relying on panting to cool the body. Unfortunately for these four-legged animals being hunted, they aren't blessed with the ability to pant while galloping (such as while being chased), so they have to slow down to pant.

The barefoot running movement got some of the spotlight after Christopher McDougall's book, Born to Run, was published in May 2009. After dealing with running injuries himself, the author traveled down to the Mexican Copper Canyons to learn more about how the Tarahumara tribe can run with  minimal foot support (homemade sandals) and without significant injuries. 

Watch the video below for the perspective of Daniel Lieberman, PhD, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

Because so many of us live in cities and run on roads and sidewalks, running barefoot might not be the best idea because of the potential to injure the bottom of our feet due to puncture wounds, bruising, or thermal reasons such as running on ice or very hot surfaces like pavement in Texas. Therefore, options such as Vibrams FiveFingers or moccasins are available for barefoot/minimalist running. As a side note, the modern-day running shoe was developed in the mid-1970s.

If you plan to switch from running with shoes to running barefoot, you should do it gradually. It significantly changes HOW you run. It works different muscles that may be unaccustomed to being used so much. My Vibrams came with a nice little tag that recommended that I wear the shoes 1-2 hours per day for a week or so in order to get used to them. Transitioning too fast could result in pulled calf muscles, Achilles tendinitis, and metatarsal stress fractures.

Interesting fact: Abebe Bikila was an Olympic marathoner who ran a marathon barefoot at the 1960 Olympics and won. Yes, you read that right, he WON an Olympic marathon while barefoot!

My reactions to Vibrams: 

I've found my new personal trainer for my calves. Now, every time I walk down stairs I have to give myself an internal motivational pep-talk to convince myself to take that step and to convince my calves not to cramp up or collapse on me. If I even kind of point my toe I feel like my calves are going to cramp into a charley horse at any moment. (Side note, Charley Horses can result from high or low blood pH, hormonal imbalances, low levels of potassium or calcium, or as side effects of medication.)

Anyways, this past Tuesday evening I ran one mile without stopping, then walked a half-mile, before running another half-mile. Because of the lack of heel support like I'm used to with running shoes, my first few steps were rough on my heel. However, I immediately changed my stride without much thought. It was a very natural transition to running on the balls of my feet... as in, "no thinking required" transition. My calves were aching by the time I got home, but I didn't have any ankle pain, which I was getting every time I had gone running since I injured my ankle last fall. On Wednesday I ran on the treadmill using my regular running shoes and was rewarded with pain in my left ankle. For now, I'm still on the fence as to whether this way of running is better, but I'm going to give it a try. And maybe it'll end up being like my switch to Paleo: a great decision for my health. Check back for more updates!

(1) http://www.lehigh.edu/~dmd1/art.html

(2) Daoud, Adam. "Foot Strike and Injury Rates in Endurance Runners: A Retrospective Study." American College of Sports Medicine. http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2012b.pdf

(3) "Barefoot Running: How Humans Ran Comfortably and Safely Before the Invention of Shoes." ScienceDaily. Feb. 1, 2010.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm

(4) "Long-Awaited Barefoot Running Study Finds Sneakers Are Harmful"

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/barefoot-running-study-finds-your-sneakers-are-unnatural

TV-free Week - Follow-up

Summary: Do it! Give up TV for a week.

Last week I was way more productive, I got my exercising in, and I ate better because I wasn't snacking out of boredom while I slowly sank into and became part of my couch. I like watching TV, but I feel bored while I'm doing it. It's why I fidget and commentate during movies. I'm making a new rule for myself. I can only watch TV/movies if I'm exercising or watching with a friend. We'll see how long I can last. I have high hopes though. And exercising can include crunches and planks, or weights, or treadmill running.

Speaking of working out... I've been such a slacker lately. I've started working out again, but I need a routine or something to keep myself going. I'm thinking of joining crew again. And I need to start my half marathon training. Slow and steady training is the way to go. Now I just need to find some running buddies. Any volunteers? Oh, and I start archery lessons the first week of August! YAY! I've been wanting to do this for a year now. I think it stems from my love of festivals, i.e. Renaissance festivals. I know you're all thinking that I'm some über-nerd now. And maybe I am in your mind, but I consider it quite normal. I love watching jousting and playing with swords and seeing all of the cool costumes. My parents used to take me every year to the one back in Georgia and I always loved it. Plus the Texas Ren Fest is AMAZING! It's massive.

So on the headache side of things... does anyone else ever get headaches where it feels like the air around your head is crushing your head from all sides? So much so that your jaws and ears hurt too? That happened to me last night. My foam pillow was apparently too hard for my throbbing head and I ended up switching pillows multiple times (hence why I have 5 different types of pillows on my bed), taking some meds for the headache, and grabbing an ice pack from the freezer to place on my forehead. By the time I fell asleep around 1:30, I was grumpy knowing that either I would be lacking in sleep today or I would sleep through my first couple alarms. Luckily I got both. I hope y'all had a happier Monday morning than I did!

5am, How I Have Not Missed You

I managed to get up at 5a.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday before work last week to go to the gym (though that didn't happen Thursday or Friday). I know that doesn't sound terribly fun or exciting... well, I guess "fun" isn't really the best description either... but I'm excited to get back to working out. Plus, exercise makes me feel like I've accomplished something throughout the day, which is desperately needed when I spend 10 hours at work and feel like all I do these days is re-do things I had just finished 2 weeks ago. Progress? What's that?

In exciting exercise news, on Tuesday I just signed up for the Houston Aramco Half Marathon being held on January 13, 2013, so I'm going to have to get back into running shape. Hal Higdon Training Programs provide a few options for workout routines based on your current fitness/running level. The last time I trained was with Team in Training (TNT) though. TNT is a great idea for those who are struggling to break past the 6-mile mark (or any mileage).

Anyone want to train with me?