Yes, I'm alive and well

I haven't been in the mood to blog lately.  I haven't been doing much with my bum ankle and I've been feeling sorry for myself.

Ankle Update:  It's been 3.5 weeks since I injured it and I've got 2.5 weeks left (until it's healed?).  I keep going between: optimism- this will heal quickly and I might still be able to eek in some training before the Flying Pig (13.1, 10k 5k) and pessimism-I can't workout, I'm stressed, everyone and their mother is telling me it's going to be a long recovery and I shouldn't push it.

It's still swollen but compared to my last post- down a ton.  I'm still pretty swollen along the joint line, and behind the (c)ankle. I still have a weird pain on the medial side of my ankle (opposite to my injury) although it's not as bad as it was.   I'm wearing the boot still at work- since I'm on my feet most of the day.  At home, I'm using an elastic brace that gives me mild support.  My ankle is feeling not as weak as it did last week.  I'm doing my ROM exercises that I prescribed myself along with Dr. Google.  Don't worry- nothing that causes pain.  I've tried last weekend to go boot free to go grocery shopping.  It hurt- but I think it might have been more my cheap ankle brace (ditched that one- it rubbed against my ankle bone- not good)  Anyways- moved my Dr appt up to Monday so I can at least start PT soon.

Yesterday, I went for a massage.  Wow.  I figured she'd not touch my ankle, but no, she worked on it very gently and reduced the swelling in the front joint line and along the ankle bone.  She thought it was weird that I was swollen on the joint line too. 

Anyways, she told me that a great homeopathic anti-inflammatory was castor oil.  I guess you wrap your ankle in strips of cotton soaked in castor oil, wrap that with Saran Wrap, and a sock and leave it overnight or use it with a heating pad.  She swore by it.  Needless to say, I'm trying it.  It can't hurt, can it? We'll see how it goes, since I'm doing it right now.  I'll let you know if works.


Then, I WORKED OUT!  My god, I've never been so happy to workout!  Not only did I spin, but my fav instructor happen to be subbing!  Double yay!  I used my soft ankle wrap, clipped in my shoes before hoping on the bike.  The first few minutes were a little rough- my ankle was stiff- but it worked out.  I kept resistance down.  I even stood- i know, but I can't sit in a bike saddle for 50 minutes straight!
 Today, I felt fine, no damage from last night, so I'm going to get back to spinning. Yes, I'll take it easy.   My mood has been so much better today as well.

A few quotes to inspire or make you laugh.

latest and greatest ankle injury pictures

Day 3 Dr. office

bottom of my foot is totally bruised just by sitting down waiting.

Ahhh, comfort! Now I can put some weight on my ankle.

day 4 AM bruising setting in

bruising on the inside too

Day 4 PM,  more colors

day 4 pm

Day 5 more bruising- back to work

bruising more in the medial side

Day 7 AM one week after

day 7AM

Day 8, more swollen today- tried to walk around too much yesterday

Right ankle normal, left ankle still swollen (just after I took off the ace bandage)

What my ankle normally looks like

What my left one looks like on day 8

Day 9 am

day 9 am

Yay! You made it through all my lovely pictures.  I'm grossed out by them but at the same time it's interesting to see how your body reacts to trauma.  I never thought my toes would be bruised by an ankle fracture for example.

Recovery wise- I last blogged on Monday- 2 days after my accident.

Tuesday (day 3)- RICE and Dr. Appt where I got a boot.  I have to say, I love the boot.  I couldn't but any weight on my ankle/foot before and now I can so it's helping with walking with crutches.  The official diagnosis:  Avulsion fracture of my fibula. Basically, my calcaneofibular ligament ripped off my fibula and took a chunk of bone with it. It was really tiny in the xray. So this is usually treated like a sprain.  6 weeks and I should be good.

Wednesday (day 4)- RICE and got up more and got used to the boot and crutches.

Thursday (day 5) back to work- kept off my feet as much as possible, iced 2x during the day.

Friday (day 6) work- walked around for about 1hr without crutches- small victory.  Later that night, same thing.

Saturday (day 7- 1 week)  Rested, but feeling frustrated of not being able to work out and irritable cleaned the house with headphones on.  I did some ROM exercises, abcs and flexing it. Over did it, and hurt later that night.  grrr.

Sunday (day 8) RICED, babied it, crutches, etc.  I was able to bear weight on it and actually took a few steps before going to bed to try it out.  The only place it hurt was the medial side...strange- the opposite side from the injury. Hoping it's just stiff.

Monday (day 9- today)- I'm going to try just wearing the boot today and skip crutches.  Wondering if the pain I get in the boot is from just being stiff.  Although as I type it hurts and I haven't even been up in 30 minutes.  Probably need to elevate it!

So my goal this week:  to try to wean from the crutches and to increase ROM.

One week down, 5 to go (hopefully!)

That's not what supposed to happen!

my "before" shot- was planning a muddy "after"  shot

. Note my cute little left ankle

So I had a fabulous week last week with running.  My IT band has decided to cooperate and I ran 13 miles with in the week  2 five milers and a quick 3.1 on the treadmill.  I was feeling great, so on Saturday the local running club (which I just joined finally) was having an 8 mile trail run- the weather was going to be in the 60s in January in OHIO.  It was going to be muddy and fun.  My running partner couldn't make it, and it was going to be in the woods so I didn't ask my dh if he wanted to go- since the boys wouldn't be able to see anything.  I figured I was just going to run this for fun, I  haven't run 8 since Indianapolis so it was just going to be a workout.

OF COURSE, that didn't happen.  The first part was going well, muddy, puddles, narrow trails exactly what I wanted.  Then it all fell apart.

I was heading down a narrow path on a hill, it was really muddy so there were roots that were kind of packed down and made for good steps down.  At the bottom of the hill was a small ravine with a bridge over it.  On the last "root step" I stepped, slid, rolled my ankle, heard a pop/crack and wiped out.  I landed on my hands and saved my face, but I didn't care about that at all, since my ANKLE was in so much pain, immediately it was swelling (crazily fast). I said every swear word in the book. I knew it was bad.  I'd take natural child birth again to that pain. 

  Everyone behind me stopped since I was blocking the bridge, but 2 guys helped me up and got me over to the side- other runners ran ahead to get help.    After the initial pain, it stopped hurting too much and just kept swelling.  One of the guys that was with me found a y shaped stick that I used to prop my foot up while we waited for help.  We talked about the Air Force marathon and various races and running groups in the area, anything, to help me take my mind of my now grapefruit sized ankle.  Runners kept coming by and asking if I needed any help, then commented on how it was swollen and bruising. I texted dh to come to the race to pick me up.

 The race director showed up pretty quickly and told us where they could carry me to get me to a car.  So Randy and Steve (my heroes) carried me up a muddy hill and across a huge field to a back parking lot of a nursing home and the race director picked me up in his car.  By then, the pain had returned, since it wasn't elevated.  The race director had the paramedics check me out at the elementary school to make sure I was ok.  They wrapped up an ice pack on my ankle and cleaned out my skinned knee (hadn't realized that until then).

My dh showed up and we headed to the emergency room.  I just got my flu shot last week, so when we showed up and a about 3 people have face masks on- i got super paranoid.  Yuck- I don't need the flu on top of this.

 Hours later...  I got my diagnosis.  FRACTURED FIBULA- but what it really was, as the ER Dr. explained, "Your ligament ripped off the bone and took a bit of the bone with it". Gross.  Really gross.  She explained that it would be treated like a severe sprain.  6 weeks before I'd be able to run again.  So I was given a lovely Air Cast and crutches and instructions on calling an orthopedist on Monday. 

Getting ready to leave ER. Love the sock- traction on both sides, but it keeps the toes warm so I'm still sporting it.

Nurse Chester

Since then, I've been on the couch with my foot up and taking various lovely pictures of my ankle as it grows and gets more colorful.  My cat, Chester, has been watching over me.  Sleeping next to me, yet not on my lap like normal.    I have found that my foot doesn't hurt, but my chest and arms are so sore.  I think it was the combination of falling and catching myself and holding/supporting myself on the hike out of the woods.  Plus, to insult to injury- since I skinned my knee I had to get a tetanus shot.  So 2 days after, I can hardly lift my body off the crutches to move.  So tomorrow is my Dr appt. to see what the real damage is. 

Anyone, dealt with a severe sprain?  I've been googling it like crazy.  I'm going to have to just wait to see what ligament isn't attached and if I messed up the others.   I'm also going to have to figure out what I can do to stay in shape.  Hmmm, core, arms, swimming? I guess more Qs for the Dr. 

So, my goal of running 13 13.1s in 2013 has been delayed- but the contest is still on! 

Ready for some yucky pictures?   Don't scroll down if you don't. Lucky for you, I had ice on my ankle at the hospital otherwise you'd see a grapefruit under someone's skin. 

18 hrs after

about 1.5 days after- can you tell where the brace was

AM of day 2 (I couldn't sleep with it elevated)

starting to bruise on the opposite side from injury  2nd day am

2nd day about 48 hrs since I did it.  (after icing) Getting colorful!

13 13.1s in 2013 Challenge

Welcome to the 13 13.1s in 2013 Challenge 

for those of you who are 

"half" crazy!

Here are the rules:

1.  You must run 13 half marathons in the year 2013. These don't all have to be official races.  These could be training runs, too. (That can be any run 13.1 or over)  We all know that races get expensive.

2.  Keep track of your races/runs and times.  Email me them at the 1st of each month.  heather.m.winkler@gmail.com  I'll post them along and a link to your blog/race recap.  If you don't have a blog that's fine too!

3.  Post a link to my blog/this page on your blog (if you have one!) I'll post links to bloggers who are participating!

4. Have fun and at the end of the year you'll get some type of award- or at least bragging rights!


How do you enter?

Leave a comment with a link to your blog.  That's it.  This will be fun! 


Don't think you can do it? 

• you don't have to do a race every month, you can bunch them up.
• they don't have to be official races- training runs are good too!

 Here's some motivation for you:

Looking back, planning forward

Last year around this time I was setting some goals for myself.  Here they are:  Goals for 2012

This is what I was able to do:

My original running goals for the coming year were:

• √Run 5k under 21:40 Ran 21:13 in March 5k
• Run the Flying Pig Half Marathon or the Cap City Half  in under 1:45 managed 1:51 (holy hills!)
• Run the Air Force 10k or Half in under 46:00/ under 1:45Ran Full marathon instead!
• Run the Columbus Half Marathon in under 1:45  wanted to run this...next year...

My realistic goals for 2012:

• √Run/Finish a 5k by March
• Run/Finish the Flying Pig 10k in May
• Run/Finish the AF 10k in a "decent" time 
• Finish Columbus Half

My more realistic goals for 2012:

• Increase flexibility in calves so they are at least 10 degrees
• √Walk a full day without any heel pain
• √Start running again
• Strength training and core
• √Spinning- don't go under 11 for resistance- bike at least 20 miles per class 

So what are my plans for 2013?

• Run 13 13.1s in 2013 
• I haven't fully committed to this since as of today, I still am working on my IT band issues.  But the year is long, and who knows? Last year I never would have imagined I would run 2 full marathons in 2012. 

• Run Cincinnati's Flying Pig 3 way- I've already signed up and this will be my "A" race for the spring.  5k and 10k on Saturday, 1/2 marathon on Sunday.  This is more of a challenge in training.  I'm looking forward to track workouts and speed training.
• Run Air Force 1/2 marathon in 1:45
• Run Columbus Full or Half in under 4:16/1:42 We'll see about the full...
• Run at least 5 ORRRC races and at least 2 with the boys.
• Try to run with Up and Running at least 2 times a month

I'm in a funk

I'm not motivated at all right now.  I haven't run more than once a week in ummm, I can't even tell you it's been so long.

 I blame my damn IT band. 

I went for a run after my last marathon and it seized up and it has been annoying as get out.  I've been following the typical remedies of rest, ice (well, a few times), foam rolling (not daily but more than before) and I had a massage as well. 

When I go for a run it feels fine for the first 2.5 miles then it starts to hurt.  If it doesn't, I get excited, then the next time I go for a run, it hurts again.  So frustrating!  It doesn't hurt unless I run.

 On top of the IT band, we had a crazy family schedule in Nov/Dec trying to squeeze in swim lessons for the boys (on different nights so we were at the rec 4 nights a week!).

Meanwhile, my running partner has been doing fine and got a treadmill, so I get daily reminders that I'm not running and she is.  She's going to be kicking my @ss this spring.  Grrr.. Not that I'm competitive or anything.

So my plan of 13 13.1s in 2013...might not happen.  :-( 

BUT- I decided on this Saturday night (yah, I know, I'm lame), to write up my training plan for the Flying Pig 3 way this spring.  I have 17 weeks before the race.  I have to get back in to shape before actually training!  

And how do you train for a 5k, 10k and a 1/2 all on the same weekend?

I decided to place my faith in good old Hal Higdon again.  I followed the intermediate 1/2 training plan before and he did a great job combining distance and speed, so I thought that would be the best plan.  Here it is:  Hal Higdon's Intermediate Half training plan.  I need to start training on Feb 10th, so I added a build up for the next few weeks.  That requires me to start running at least 3 times a week for 3 miles.  (Ugh, I hope I can!)  I'm also starting to lift now, so once the program starts I can go up to 3 sets.  Also, I want this to be my "A" race so I'm adding in the McMillan training paces to make sure I'm running my Tempos at the right speed.  Then again, maybe I'll still have IT band issues.  Grrrr. 

On top of that, my favorite spinning instructor has left, and a few others who are good are leaving for various reasons, so my go to workout is iffy.  I asked about getting certified to instruct but I'm not sure if that's a good way to go.  I don't think I'd get  a good workout and it's $295 to get certified and no guarantee I'd get the job. (although, the person in charge seemed to be enthusiastic that I wanted to do it.).  Hmm. 

What would you do?

What can I say?

My heart goes out to all the families who have lost someone precious in their lives this past Friday in Newtown, CT.  I can not imagine the pain.   RIP you sweet babies.

I did tell my boys, ages 6 and 8, since they caught me in a weak moment.  Cub was playing with his Nerf gun and I broke down and told him I didn't want to see any guns this weekend.  I'd pulled him back to his room and explained in basic terms what had happened.  I broke down and started really crying.  Then Buster popped in to the room so I had to explain to him too.  We kept the news off, and my nephew was visiting the rest of the weekend and he didn't know. I don't usually tell my kids to keep secrets, but I explained that some parents might not share the news with their children, so my boys should not bring it up. They haven't asked me any more about it and I'll address questions when/if they pop up.

Here's some information I found that might be useful to any parents out there. 

Children and Grief
Talking to children after disaster
Talking to children about death
How_to_Help_Children_Cope_with_a_Crisis


Also, Here are some places you can donate to help out the Sandy Hook community:


https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/
http://www.newtownyouthandfamilyservices.org/index.php
http://www.newtownparentconnection.org/
http://newtownmemorialfund.org/
http://www.indiegogo.com/onerepublicforsandyhook

Giving Thanks

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Here at our home, we had a pretty quiet day.  We ran the local  Turkey Trot and then had my in-laws come over for Thanksgiving dinner. 

What am I thankful for:

• My amazing dear husband (dh), who is my best friend, biggest cheerleader, chief planner, laundry expert, race-watcher logistic expert, and an amazing father to our sons.
• My boys (Cub and Buster) who are sweet, caring, energetic.  They are my everything.
• Health- I'm so thankful that I can do the things I love to do and my body is not my enemy.
• My Thanksgiving dinner turned out (Vain- I know, but I'm not a cook!)
• Pinterest (found the best recipe for Cider-champagne sangria)Sangria recipe  

DH and Buster

Cub and me

Tried to get a good family pic before, Buster wasn't cooperating- find out he was sad he wasn't running the 5 mile race like his friend.

All finished!  Happy family!

 

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Race Recap

Redemption. 

I planned on running this race since I'd had a horrible race at the Air Force Marathon in September.  You can read about that here:  Air Force Marathon Recap  I'd been sick for that race and wasn't 100% and it showed.  So when my running partner wanted to do another marathon since she knew she could do better, we had the training, and we haven't injured ourselves yet that we should go for it.  She found the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd.  7 weeks out from the Air Force race.  It was worth it.

We drove over on Friday, a 2 hour drive from Dayton, got ourselves settled in at the Hyatt (yards from the start line/finish line).  I'd made reservations at Buca di beppo which was close the hotel for dinner, since I wanted pasta night before the race.  I'd heard about the restaurant from former colleagues that it was fine.  It had the feel of a local Italian restaurant but I knew it was a chain, which was fine by me.  Spaghetti and meatballs were perfect. I have to say, I love Yelp and the feature of being able to make reservations from an app.

After dinner we headed off to the the Expo to grab our bibs and shirts.  We looked around the expo.  I was so good and didn't get anything.  Maybe it was because I was stuffed from all the pasta or I didn't really need anything but my wallet thanked me.  :-)  We did browse the different booths for the big races in the area for next year.  I have 13 half marathons to plan for.  See here if you're interested in the 13 13.1s in 2013 challenge.  Unfortunately, many conflicted with the Flying Pig marathon on May 4-5th.  Time for a little shopping after that at the mall nearby (can we say H&M? Yay!) then off for a nightcap a nearby bar, then off to bed. 

Race time:

Typical breakfast for me on race day, bagel and peanut butter with a half a cliff bar a bit later.  Then we packed up.  Dropped off our bags at the front desk then hung out in the lobby for another 20 minutes. Since Hyatt told me we would have a late checkout at 2 pm but when we checked in they said we couldn't.  But, we could store our bags and use the fitness room showers later.  Joy. Really, Hyatt?   No point in standing in the cold, about 35 degrees in the am, so we hung out with a bunch of runners waiting and getting more nervous.

Garmin paused when we stopped and lost satellite under a bridge 

so I'm not sure if I can use this time. 

Ok, fast forward.  Start time, great first mile or so with nice sized crowd. As my running partner said, this feels like a "real" race.  Sorry Air Force Marathon, but it was nice to have so many be people cheering you as you start off the race.  The first few miles were really crowded,  spent  time zipping around people, and got pretty warm.  I was regretting my choice clothes, since my long sleeved shirt had my number on it and so I didn't want to mess with it, ditched my gloves at least.  Once we got out of the downtown, I regretted not having them anymore.  We were going at a pretty good pace a little under 9 min per mile.  Went through the 10k in 1hr.

Around mile 10 I started to notice my knee a bit.  I tried to ignore it.  I didn't mention it to Carrie, since if it was spoken I'd notice it even more.  Passed the half marathon mark in 2:02, other than the knee feeling weird, felt great.  Then we passed through Butler University at mile 17 and that is when my knee was really not being happy.  It felt like it was going to give out every few steps.  Carrie moved ahead, which was our plan- well- to go at our own pace this time.  By mile 19,  we were out in a pretty lonely area.  I was thinking, will I be able to finish?  I've never dropped out of a race before? I can't call anyone!   Then it started sleeting hard little ice balls and it was cold.  My Garmin by now, was either off by a lot or the mile markers seemed to be off, since my watch out say it was a mile then 1/2 mile later the mile marker would be there.  Frustrating, since I wanted this to be done.

pain around 4b

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  I slogged through it, rain, ice and all.  I will say that my marathon mix on iphone made a difference.  It always seemed to have the right song at the right time (I'd put it on shuffle).  The last mile I ran to the Chariots of Fire theme.  It was the perfect way to end the race. 

I finished in 4:16.12.  21 minutes better than I had run at the Air Force Marathon 7 weeks earlier.  I'm totally happy with that time.  Carrie finished in amazing time of 4:04.

 Positives:

• well organized race
• (kinda)great running weather
• spi-belt worked awesome
• E-Gels by cranksports.com are amazing (no muscle cramps, lots of energy)
• PR by 21 minutes! 

Negatives:

• Hotel making us checkout early
• long drive after the race
• mile markers seemed off with my garmin
• knee pain

Overall, I'm very happy with this race.  Will I do it again?  Maybe.  That's if I do another one next year.  It was a ton of time to train for.  I could have never done it without my awesome husband who put up with all the weekends that I did my long runs, running for 3-4 hours then coming home exhausted and not wanting to do anything the rest of the day.    Now, it's time to rest up and hang out with the family!  Oh, and gear up for next year's challenge of 13 13.1s.

Injury update:  Took a week off, then attempted to run a 3 miler.  Knee acted up in the first 1/2 mile, hurting like it did in the marathon, then the IT band seized up.  Ouch!!!! I've never had IT band pain like that before- normally I just get a twinge.  I'm just so glad that it didn't happen in the race. That would have been horrible.  I'm not sure if my knee problem in the marathon was the IT band or not, since I never had pain on the side or above the knee.

Anyone dropped out of a big race before?
IT band pain?  What do you suggest?
Update:  Here's the course elevation if you are interested!

There was an area that you run under an overpass for a while and my garmin went a bit crazy- same at the end, I don't remember a hill there.

Marathon #2 training update

I've been so busy with training, soccer practices and work, I haven't had a lot of time to update.   

It's been going well.  Here was the original plan for another marathon

And here's the real training: 

Mondays had to be a rest day since both boys had soccer practice in different locations at the same time. Thursdays- I used to do spinning but decided family time is more important, Fridays- I run after work before getting the boys.   Sundays used to be my long run day but we have soccer games.

I apologize for the formating- I can't figure out what I did that makes the spacing weird with some of the weeks! 

Week 0 (right after marathon #1)

Monday: rest

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: spinning class (easy)

Friday: rest

Saturday: run 1.5 hrs (9 miles on trails)

Sunday: rest

 

Week: 1

Monday: spinning class

Tuesday: run 3 m

Wednesday: run 3 m

Thursday: rest

Friday: run 6 m

Saturday: rest

Sunday: run 7 m

Week: 2

Monday: rest

Tuesday: spinning class

Wednesday: run 7m

Thursday: run 3.75 m

Friday: rest

Saturday: run 14 m

Sunday: rest

						Week: 3 Monday: run 3 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: run 5 m Thursday:  rest Friday: run 3 m Saturday: run 16 m Sunday: rest
						Week: 4 Monday: run 4.5 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: run 5 m Thursday: rest Friday: plan on running 4 Saturday: plan on running 18 Sunday: plan on resting Week: 5 planning on doing... Monday:  3 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: 7 m Thursday: rest Friday: 3 m Saturday: 10-12 m Sunday: rest Week: 6 planning on doing Monday:  run 3 Tuesday: easy at spinning class Wednesday: run 3 Thursday: rest Friday: rest (travel day to Indy) Saturday: RACE DAY Sunday:  As I said I would, I have played around with my nutrition on the run. I've decided that the e-gels from cranksports.com work for me.  I'm not sure I really like the flavors, but since the consistency is not so thick it's easy to suck them down  quickly.  Last week I tried the Cliff shots gel- yuck- I had to chew it!  No thank you! Plus I got a side stitch every time I had one.