Today I was planning on doing 8 miles as my “long” run. I say “long” in quotations because I was originally going to do more than that before the shin splint issue, plus I used to run 8 miles as a mid-week run at times. But I did have a modicum of intelligence and knew I couldn’t/shouldn’t jump right back in with a 30 mile week.

I got in about a mile before realizing it was warmer out than I had initially thought and I didn’t want to wear my jacket. I tied it around my waist but decided to do a 3 mile loop back to my house to dump the jacket.

At my house, I did a quick self-scan to see how I was feeling. There was definite tightness in my legs, but not necessarily PAIN… so I decided to go back out. I did another 4.2 miles, making my whole total for the day 7.2. Not quite the 8 I had anticipated, but I’m okay with this total.

Upon conclusion my calves were super-tight. I’ve stretched and rolled them out, I’m feeling a lot better now, but I’m 99.9% sure I can tie this all back to my shoes. And this is where my major confusion comes in…

Over the past several months I have not been running in Brooks Adrenalines much. I have been wearing New Balance 769s and even more recently I’ve tested the waters with Nike LunarGlides. The local running store that fit me in the Adrenalines said that my shin splint issues are probably due to the fact that I’ve lowered my stability level some.

My gut feeling is that I got shin splints from doing too much. I got a little over excited about every run feeling so fantastic. I ran faster than I probably should have and I ran further than I should have at times.

I’ve had shoe fittings from 3 different sources over the past 2 years, 2 of which put me in neutral shoes. But my favorite running shop put me in stability. The owner recommended that I get back in a higher level of stability again now that I can ease back into running. The first time they put me in NB shoes, they had me use a Superfeet insert to get the shoe to the same stability level as the Brooks. I ran with the insert a couple times, hated it and took it out. But thinking I’d heed their advice now, I put the insert into my 769s to run today.

Ugh… I HATED it, with even more fire and fury than the first time I tried them. It made every footfall feel heavy, like there was no recoil or spring in my foot. The best way I can describe the feeling is if the ground was metal and the shoe was a magnet, attracted to the ground and difficult to pull up again.

So I’m not sure what I should do.
- I’ve never LOVED my Adrenalines… never had that AHA! moment when putting on a pair of them. Plus the pair that I have now has about 350 miles on them anyway, so they’re getting past their prime.
- My NB 769s (that I got free from my NB trip) have about 220 miles on them.
- The Nike LunarGlides have about 30-50 miles on them, so they’re pretty new.
- Runner’s World recent shoe guide specifically mentions that neutral shoes are good for people with a mid-to-forefoot strike, which I have.

Do I get neutral shoes? Do I stick to Adrenalines because the only real issues I had with them is that 4 of my toenails turned black (even though my toes weren’t slamming against the top of the shoe and this is something that is finally healing now that I’ve had a hiatus from them)? Do I use the LunarGlide cause they’re relatively new and have a mild amount of stability? Do I just give up and go barefoot?

I went to my doctor for a follow-up visit Wednesday morning. Honestly, my leg was feeling a lot better… but there was still a little feeling of being “off”… not quite “right”. I told her of the feeling and when she pushed in various spots on my shin, there were a couple spots that were still painful when pressure was applied. But overall, I was feeling a lot better than I was before.

She told me I could go on a run, try it out to see how I feel. She told me if the pain comes back or if I feel anything off, I shouldn’t push through it. She told me I shouldn’t do any speedwork for a while, just to make sure I don’t re-injure it further. And if I do have any pain I should go to an orthopedic specialist that she was going to refer me to for future issues in regard to the shin splints/whatever other pain I seem to feel.

So what do I do when I get home? Of course, I go for a run. And I went on a run the following day too. Both runs were around 4 miles. The results were a mixed bag, but mostly positive.

I felt great mentally, just knowing that I got the chance to run. I missed that feeling; riding a stationary bike was great but it didn’t give me the same feeling of accomplishment or release. I didn’t have pain shooting up into my hip anymore, but there was a little bit of throbbing in my shin. The second run I had a little bit more pain, so I stopped to walk for a while, probably only .1 mile, but that seemed to help so I could keep going.

I’m not running today and will try to go out for a run tomorrow. I’m hoping to do 8 miles. That will serve as my “long” run, even though I had originally planned on doing 13 or 14 at this point in my training. Whatever…

I did find that I haven’t experienced much difference in terms of cardiovascular fitness, so that was comforting. I’m also finding that my leg muscles seem to be a lot looser, after taking a break from running. So that makes me realize the need to be even more cognizant of my stretching, yoga, foam rolling… I’m going to get some new shoes soon and get rid of the old ones that I sometimes fall back to out of habit.

I’m kind of reconsidering my goals for the Las Vegas RnR half on December 6. I don’t really care if I PR or not, I just want to do the race and have fun.

It’s a crappy learning experience, but good at the same time. It’s just a reminder to always listen to my body and treat it well, since I only get this one.

While I’ve been forbidden from running, I got a 7-day trial membership to a 24-Hour Fitness near my house so I could ride the bike. The facilities were really nice; good equipment, a lap pool, spin room, basketball courts, variety of fitness classes; I really liked my short time there.

Costco sells memberships for 24-Hour Fitness clubs at $299.99 for a 2-year membership. That’s basically $12.50 per month. AMAZING deal. I was all set to sign up.

On the day my trial ran out, they asked me if I wanted to sign-up right then. I brought up the subject of the Costco membership and they told me that it wouldn’t work at that club. The reason was the club near me was a SUPER Sport club, as opposed to an ALL Sport club. The Costco price was only good at All Sport clubs.

Alright, I can understand that this club has more amenities than the All Sport level, so I could understand paying a little more. So I asked what the fees were. They told me it would be $37.99 a month, for access to only that club. I could pay $42.99 to have access to all 24-Hour Fitness clubs (although there are probably certain clubs that would be off-limits to that one too). These are month-to-month prices, no contract.

I then asked if there is any way they could do some kind of deal if I pay for a certain amount of time upfront, like the 2-year deal I was looking at. They told me I could pay for 2 or 3 years right then, either option would cost $699.

While the 3-year breakdown works out to be about $19 a month, I don’t want to pay $700 flat out right now to have the privilege of riding a stationary bike a couple times a week. I may as well go buy myself a real bike and then continue riding it beyond that 3 year limit.

I canceled my old gym membership because:
a) It wasn’t as convenient to slip out for a workout quickly when it took 15-20 minutes to drive there.
b) I was running on my own and doing yoga on my own, so it seemed kind of expensive for a chance to use weights (I wasn’t riding a bike then)

Do you guys have gym memberships? If not, what do you do for some cross-training?

The Running Skeleton

No long run to report, since I’m still not allowed to run.  I did ride 22.5 miles on the bike at the gym.  I have no idea how that equates to riding a real bike in the real world, but I guess I don’t really care right now.  As long as I was able to work up a sweat, that’s all that matters!  Instead, I’ll leave you with some Halloween pictures. My husband and I really like Halloween and carve a lot of pumpkins each year. This year we went with a vampire theme.  I hope everyone had a great holiday and some good running (or cross-training if you can’t run)! Good luck to all the NYC Marathon runners tomorrow (and any other races that happen to be going on)!

My pumpkins:

My husband Kevin’s pumpkins:

After a whole week off from running, I was starting to feel a little wired.  Slightly crazed.  Work pressures were starting to bother me more than they should.  I do think that week of gentle stretching and easy yoga was good, but I needed to break a sweat and I still have at least another week before I’m allowed to run again. So yesterday I got a 7-day free pass to a 24-Hour Fitness club near my house and got on the bike.

Wow… that made a huge difference in how I was feeling; both physically and mentally.

I’m going to keep using my pass for the full 7-days and then decide if I want to buy a membership.

And on another note, I keep stumbling across articles in the New York Times about running.  Do they always have so many articles of this nature or is it just due to the upcoming NYC marathon?  Whatever the case, here are a few that I’ve found interesting recently:

• Phys Ed: Is Running Barefoot Better For You?
• The Human Body is Built for Distance
• Pushing Past the Pain of Exertion

Hope all of you are having some good running days and that you are adapting to the weather changes.  It’s 48 degrees in my backyard right now (according to my thermometer) and we’ve had 70 mph wind gusts.  Yucky conditions for outdoor running, so at least I don’t have to feel bad about missing perfect running weather right now!

Skeleton Lights

Skeleton lights are up in the yard! I love Halloween!

First: I had the opportunity to guest post over on the blog Saturday Morning Zen.  So check out my entry, “The Mindful Runner“

Second: Since they’re on my mind and I want to remember links people have given me, here are some helpful resources about shin splints:

• Shin Splints? Here’s 10 Tips for Staying Pain-Free
• Calf and Ankle Stretching Workout for Shin Splints
• Three Shin Splint Stretches You Need to Be Doing
• 5 Things You Need to Know About Shin Splints
• How to treat Shin Splints

Third: An article in the New York Times is making the rounds, Plodders Have a Place, But Is It in a Marathon? Basically the article talks about how slower runners maybe shouldn’t be in marathons.

Some of the quotes in the article kind of bugged me.  I just don’t think that anybody that can cover the distance in the time allotted by the race director should have that achievement diminished.  The people that mocked the run/walk methods or participants who take a longer time are just being ornery.

If people are truthful about their expected finish when signing up for a big race, they should have placement in a corral set-up where they won’t bother the front-of-the-herd runners.  And if there isn’t a corral system, as long as all the runners line-up with a modicum of respect for their peers (don’t stand at the front if you’re walking), then we should all encourage and cheer for one another.

The other issue is that with more runners participating, that means more income for the races and the greater likelihood that the races will be funded enough so they can continue.  If we strip out all the paying customers and only allow certain people to run, prices will either have to dramatically increase or the race will become defunct.  I don’t think anyone wants to see either of those happen.

The doctor’s office called….

NO STRESS FRACTURE!!!

Just shin splints, soft tissue damage.  Rest up for the next couple weeks, then I’m back on my feet!  Woo hoo!

I went to the doctor today for my shin.  She found a couple pretty tender spots on my shin (as indicated by my yelling, “OW! Don’t push there!” as she checked things out) and her first reaction was, “There’s definitely something wrong there!”

She said her first instinct is either shin splints or a stress fracture.  (Whoa… that was my first instinct, I didn’t know I had a medical degree!)  She gave me orders to go over to the hospital next door to get x-rays, the results of which I don’t have yet.

But for now, the doctor’s orders are NO WEIGHT BEARING EXERCISE for two weeks.  Ice, ibuprofen, elevating at the end of the day… fairly typical Rx.

She said, “You could get on a bike or in the pool, try some pool running if you really need to, but it wouldn’t hurt you to get a little bit of rest for these two weeks.  You need to learn to relax a little more!”

When she said “pool or  bike” I said, “Oh, so you want me to do a triathlon?”

She rolled her eyes at me and said, “Rest Jill, REST!”  She then told me to come back in a couple weeks to re-evaluate.

It’s a little bit of a bummer, but truthfully… I’m okay with this.  I’ll use the time that I would have spent running doing other things that are just for me.  I’ll read a book or sleep.  Both my husband and my mom said to me, “You’ll probably come back even stronger after this time off.”  And I don’t even think they conspired with one another to come up with that statement.

So that’s where things are now.  A stress fracture is still a possibility, which would suck.  But I will deal with whatever comes my way, let myself heal and come  back stronger than ever.  This is just a reminder to me that I want to enjoy this sport for the rest of my life, thus I need to listen to my body and take care of myself.

This morning I met some good friends at a local park for a long run. We had 10 miles on tap, and truthfully, I was feeling a little bit like I would be slacking if I ran “only 10″. Especially considering my miles had already been lower this week.

I took Monday and Tuesday off, my right shin was aching a little so I wanted to give it a rest. I ran pretty hard on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I gave myself a rest and figured I would run 3-5 miles on Saturday and then a long run on Sunday. Well, Saturday my shin still felt a little sore so I skipped running then. I figured with a 10 mile run on Sunday, that would still put me at 22 miles for the week, which wasn’t terrible. Even if I have been in the 30-35 range for the past several weeks.

But this morning I felt pretty good. It was a slightly brisk morning, in a good way, where you feel chilled as you stand around waiting to start but once you get going it’s just comfortable. So we started running and I felt fine. Maybe a bit of tension in the shin, but nothing bad. We turned a corner, took a moment to walk to let the group all catch up to one another again and BAM. The second I started to walk pain was spiralling through my leg.

We didn’t walk long, only a few seconds, but when I started to run again it didn’t feel comfortable. But I didn’t want to complain, so I just gritted my teeth and pushed on.

But by about 6 miles into the run, I slowed my run, transitioned into a walk and conceded that I couldn’t run anymore. My friend Jimmy asked me if I wanted him to charge ahead and bring back his truck to drive me back to the park. At first I said no, figuring that I could plod along and at least finish my miles. He looked at me and said in a kind voice, “We’ve got about 4 miles left to go. Are you sure?”

However hard it was to admit, I knew that I probably should stop. So he ran ahead and I kept walking forward. I ended up with about 7 miles when he reached me to drive me back in, but the pain was pretty bad. It was making me dizzy and when I tried to run a few more steps I almost vomited from the pain. It’s in my shin, continuing into my knee, all up my IT band and into my hip now.

So as much as I hate to admit it… Jill won’t run this week. I have a 10K on Saturday I’m supposed to do, I’m hoping that I feel better for that.

I have fears swirling through my brain now: What if I have a stress fracture? What if I have to take WEEKS off from running? What will I do to keep myself fit? But that’s thinking too far in advance. So I’m focusing on the moment… and the moment calls for icing my shin and chilling on the couch.