Trying to Stay Positive

I have been avoiding blogging lately because I don't want to come here and be super negative because who wants to hear all of that! I am finally coming to terms with what all of this may mean for me so I guess I should talk about it. Life is not always perfect so here it goes..

This past week was probably one of the toughest weeks that I have had in a long time. Why? Because I did not run a single mile! After trying out a new pair of neutral shoes, I developed a bad pain in my hip that kind of radiated to my IT Band. The hip pain has gotten a lot better but the IT Band pain is still there and it has this weird burning sensation. I don't think that I have ever felt that before. I have to say that it was the shoes because I did not have this pain until after I ran in them. It is amazing how shoes can make such a difference in your running!

On a positive note, I think I may have found my Wave Inspire 9's that I have been desperately searching for. Since they are no longer made, I figured that if a website didn't have my size then they were no longer a future prospect for me. It turns out that www.holabirdsports.com was showing my size on their website on Friday night when they had not in the past. The website allowed me to buy two pair so I did. I just need an email confirming my order so I know that this is actually going to happen. The last two stores that claimed to have my shoes did not. After placing my order, they sent me emails stating that their inventory was incorrect and they refunded my money. Amazon seems to get more sizes in on a regular basis but they never seem to have my size. I think they had it once and when I went to buy it, it was no longer available. 

I did hop on the elliptical for 45 minutes on Friday and that was doable. I had no pain but it was painful to be on that treadmill staring all of the runners on the treadmills in front of me. I think they need to put one elliptical for me somewhere in the corner facing the wall for the time being lol!

I have been icing, foam rolling and most of all crying NOT running. Not being able to run is the hardest especially now that the weather has decided to cool down. We have had perfect running weather for the past week and that kills me even more. 

I am really worried about my two races that are coming up in the next couple of weeks. I Ragnar So Cal in a couple of weeks and I don't want to let my team down. I won't run through this pain so hopefully something changes before then. I only have 12 miles to run so that is the positive thing but I need to be able to run. I won't do anything stupid! I also have my goal BQ race on May 25th. I am thinking that is probably not going to happen now since I have lost two weeks of very critical training and the race is just 8 weeks away. I am hoping to be there but will definitely have to adjust my goals and possibly find another marathon to target at a later time. I am hoping to be able to run next week but if not, I will have to sit down and figure all of this out. THIS SUCKS! Sorry, I had to say that...

In the meantime, I am trying to stay as positive as I possibly can and hopefully my family won't move out of the house to avoid me and my mood swings!

How do you stay positive when you are injured?

The Week After and the Shoe Dilemma Continues

I haven't done much at all this week in the running department. This week was spent resting and recovering and trying to get my thoughts together. The most important thing for me was finding a pair of shoes! I was not able to find my beloved Mizuno Wave Inspire 9's so that has been a big issue for me. The pair that I wore for the LA Marathon can no longer be used for running. They have over 400 miles on them and they were not very comfortable during the LA Marathon. 

I got fitted for new running shoes and was told that I should go with neutral shoes. When I started running back in 2010, I was wearing neutral shoes but after my injury in 2012, I was told that I should try stability shoes. Now I am heading back into neutral shoes and hoping for the best. I am trying out the Brooks Ghost 6. I ran in them for the first time today and did 3.1 easy miles with my other half.

They felt different and I swear that everything was hurting but we will see how I feel tomorrow. My other half got some new running shoes too. He is now running in the Mizuno Wave Inspire 10's and he like them a lot. I am so jealous of him right now. I guess the 10's work for him but not for me.

I didn't really miss running this week because of my shoes and my calf issue. I am actually a little nervous about running in different shoes because I am afraid of what will happen since I had issues when I tried the new model of my Mizunos. The calf pain is still lingering around and if it doesn't go away real soon I am going to have it checked out. I know it is not normal and it bothers me. My goal race is right around the corner and I don't want to go into this race with this hanging over my head. 

My next event is Ragnar So Cal on April 4-5 so I am glad that I do not have the pressure of a big race hanging over my head until May. I don't have a lot of miles for the relay so I am thankful that I didn't challenge myself with too many miles. My team runs this for fun so there is no pressure in the pace department either :)

Anyone else running Ragnar So Cal? 

What is your team name name/number and what time do you start?

My team number is 57 (Runners High) and we start at 6:45 am.

February Recap and My Goal for LA Marathon

These past two weeks have been tough. My whole ordeal with finding shoes has really put a damper for the past two weeks. The pain that I have been having in both my right shin and my left calf are still there and I am not sure where the pain is coming from. I don't feel the pain once I get going on a run but sometimes it takes a while to get into my run and it has been frustrating. It has also been raining her in So Cal so I have been doing most of my runs on the treadmill which I didn't really want to do either. I made it through February with 123 miles since I missed my long run last week. I should have come closer to 140 miles if I would have completed all of my scheduled runs.

On Friday, I just need a good run. It was raining and I headed to the gym for an hour run on the treadmill. It was painful in the beginning but once I got going the pain was gone. It felt good to have a decent run since I have been scaling most of runs back my decreasing the pace.

I am still going to run the LA Marathon but unfortunately I have to go into this race with no big goal. My original thought was to shoot for a 9:00-9:09 pace and attempt to come in under 4 hours but I am not sure if that is going to be possible on Sunday. The last thing that I want to do is injure myself or have a terrible race that lingers in my mind for my goal race in May. Looking back at my last marathon, the Long Beach Marathon, I went into that race feeling pretty confident about my goal because I had such a great race in May. 

I am really feeling thankful right now that I did not choose LA Marathon as my goal BQ race or I would be feeling pretty bummed right now. I am really hoping for a solid race where I don't hit the wall and I can cross the finish line in one piece wearing shoes that have about 400 miles on them! If I can come out of LA Marathon feeling strong even if it is not at the pace that I had originally hoped for, I will be somewhat satisfied. 

This week I will attempt two short and easy runs and hope for the best on Sunday. After this race, I am going to get busy looking for some new shoes and looking into out why I still have this lingering pain in my legs.

WISH ME LUCK!

Shoe Problems and a Less than Stellar Week....

Talk about a crappy week! That is exactly that I had. I have been trying to transition from my Mizuno Wave Inspire 9's to the new Wave Inspire 10's and I have not been so lucky. The 10's seem to be okay when I run under 8 miles but anything more than that causes me to have pain in my left calf and my right shin. I didn't think it was the shoes at first but after seriously evaluating the situation, I know that it is the shoes. The transition from the 8's to the 9's went really well but something feels really different with the 10's. 

I love my Wave Inspire 9's and I cannot find them in my size anywhere! I even emailed Mizuno to see if they could give me some tips on stores to find them but I had already checked all of the stores they suggested. I am bummed and kind of in a panic. LA Marathon is less than two weeks away and my 9's are coming up on 400 miles. I don't think I have ever ran a marathon with shoes that have this many miles on them. I was hoping to be adjusted to the 10's by the time LA Marathon rolled around but that did not happen!

I had to cut my mileage way back this week because I did not want to run while I was still having those lingering pains. Running was not painful but the areas that were bothering me were very painful when I touched them. I am proud of myself for having enough sense to scale back the miles. I was tempted so many times to go for a run but I knew that it was not the smartest thing to do with LA Marathon right around the corner. I also skipped out on my long run but did have a great run with my other half. I love running with him because he is just so easy going about running and I always enjoy my runs with him.

I ran my first 8K today and really wanted to give it my best shot but held back a little because I was afraid that the pain would return and LA Marathon would be out the window for the second time. I had to sit the LA Marathon out back in 2012 due to an injury and watching it on TV was pretty painful!

So I am not sure what I am going to do about my shoes moving forward. I am a big Mizuno fan so maybe a different style of their shoes will work for me. Mizuno suggested that I try the Wave Paradox. Anybody ever ran in them?

Any suggestions on what I should do about my shoe problem?

Do you run in several different types of shoes or do you stick to one?

I usually run in one type of shoe and that is it so I am not one to rotate from style of shoe to another. 

Let's Talk Shoes

Happy Hump Day! (That word gives me visuals of other things...sorry!) I don't know about the rest of you but I only have one pair of running shoes! I have seen some blog posts where runners have multiple pairs of shoes in their rotation at any given time. I am thinking that I should try that but when I look at the cost of my shoes I am not sure if I want to do that.

It took me some time to find the perfect pair of shoes and I am probably not quite done yet. I went from Nike's to Mizuno's and so far so good. I have heard great things about other shoes and I really want to try the Brooks Ghost out before I make the final decision to stick with my Mizunos. I tried the Ghost's on at an expo and they were so comfortable but I know that the true test is running in them.

I usually retire my shoes around the 400 mile mark so it was time to say goodbye to my old Wave Inspires and hello to my new ones. I broke them in on a 7 mile run on the treadmill last night.

 

Questions

1. How many pairs of running shoes do you have in your rotation any any given time?

2. What is the rule(s) for breaking in a new pair of shoes? Do the same rules still apply if your new shoes are the same brand, style, etc as the ones you are retiring?

3. How many miles do put on your shoes before you retire them?

4.  Any opinions on the Brooks Ghosts?