Boring life update, June 2015 edition.
If you blog often, you can get away with posting little vignettes that aren't really very content-deep. If you don't post for a while, then you start to think, "Oh, crap, I haven't posted in a while, and I really have nothing earth-shattering to say right now, but it's been so long, I feel like I can't post until something worth posting happens." I always fall into that trap.
So here's nothing earth-shattering, but a summary of the past.. uh.. since Ultraman? Yeah, sorta that. But the cliffnotes version.
After Ultraman, I sort of avoided the post-awesome blues by continuing to run, and running two 50ks. I really enjoyed that, but I finally had to admit that, yeah, my foot hurt. Probably plantar fasciitis. And since I wasn't really training for anything, I figured I'd take some time completely off running.
I ran zero miles in January, thinking that would fix everything up. It didn't. My heel still hurt. Not debilitating pain. I could walk on it just fine. I could RUN on it with even less pain than I could walk on it. But it would hurt afterward. In a not-debilitating fashion.
After taking a month off running and having it not magically be all better, I swung completely the other way, and said, "Okay, foot, fuck you, if you're not going to feel better by me NOT running, I'm just going to run!" And so I ran in February, and got up to a 10 mile run (broken up in the middle by a couple hours of marathon spectation). And then my foot REALLY started to hurt, such that I'd wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep because my foot was throbbing.
And so I ran zero miles in March.
The GOOD news through all of this is that I replaced my running with swimming, and I saw significant improvement in my swimming. Lots of Masters swims. And I had a blast and grew to love swimming even more.
But I also felt like I lost part of my identity, because I LOVE running, and I want to run. Also my goal race for this year was a marathon, and I was starting to panic, because it's hard to train for a marathon effectively when you can't run. So I started running again, and limiting it to 3 easy miles seemed to keep the pain roughly stable, still there, but not life-impacting.
So I'm back to running now, and after some consultation with my favorite Coach Karen, I've actually ramped up my running and my running speed (which was tragically slow for a while there) with no additional pain. There may be hope, if I can only be diligent and smart.
But I still felt like things could fall apart at any moment, and my goal marathon was creeping ever closer. I started to feel like I probably still had time, starting from my 3 mile long runs, to ramp up to marathon distance by November, but I had no confidence at all that I could BQ, which was my goal for this marathon. And then I thought, "Hey, I could NOT do that marathon," and immediately all my stress just dissipated. Fortunately I hadn't made any monetary commitment to it yet.
Now my stress was alleviated, but I also had no goal.
Then I thought, "Well, I've been swimming.. what about a swimming goal?"
And so now I am signed up for the Colin's Hope 10k Swim in September! I'm super excited about it, because I have a goal and because it involves swimming and because it helps promote water safety for children. And while I lack any of those myself, I'm all about other peoples' kids not drowning, learning to swim, and being safe.
Meanwhile I'm going to continue to ramp up my running, with the hope of doing some running events later this year and next year. And maybe some other swim events later this year.
With my delayed-onset post-awesome depression, I've been in a bit of a rut these last few months. Skipping workouts because I had no accountability, not seeing friends because I wasn't working out or I just wanted to hide in my house, and wallowing in the unhappiness that comes from gaining weight after an event, then having trouble finding the motivation/means to lose it.
But I'm excited about poking my head out of my hole and rejoining the world at large again. And nervous.
So here's nothing earth-shattering, but a summary of the past.. uh.. since Ultraman? Yeah, sorta that. But the cliffnotes version.
After Ultraman, I sort of avoided the post-awesome blues by continuing to run, and running two 50ks. I really enjoyed that, but I finally had to admit that, yeah, my foot hurt. Probably plantar fasciitis. And since I wasn't really training for anything, I figured I'd take some time completely off running.
I ran zero miles in January, thinking that would fix everything up. It didn't. My heel still hurt. Not debilitating pain. I could walk on it just fine. I could RUN on it with even less pain than I could walk on it. But it would hurt afterward. In a not-debilitating fashion.
After taking a month off running and having it not magically be all better, I swung completely the other way, and said, "Okay, foot, fuck you, if you're not going to feel better by me NOT running, I'm just going to run!" And so I ran in February, and got up to a 10 mile run (broken up in the middle by a couple hours of marathon spectation). And then my foot REALLY started to hurt, such that I'd wake up in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep because my foot was throbbing.
And so I ran zero miles in March.
The GOOD news through all of this is that I replaced my running with swimming, and I saw significant improvement in my swimming. Lots of Masters swims. And I had a blast and grew to love swimming even more.
But I also felt like I lost part of my identity, because I LOVE running, and I want to run. Also my goal race for this year was a marathon, and I was starting to panic, because it's hard to train for a marathon effectively when you can't run. So I started running again, and limiting it to 3 easy miles seemed to keep the pain roughly stable, still there, but not life-impacting.
So I'm back to running now, and after some consultation with my favorite Coach Karen, I've actually ramped up my running and my running speed (which was tragically slow for a while there) with no additional pain. There may be hope, if I can only be diligent and smart.
But I still felt like things could fall apart at any moment, and my goal marathon was creeping ever closer. I started to feel like I probably still had time, starting from my 3 mile long runs, to ramp up to marathon distance by November, but I had no confidence at all that I could BQ, which was my goal for this marathon. And then I thought, "Hey, I could NOT do that marathon," and immediately all my stress just dissipated. Fortunately I hadn't made any monetary commitment to it yet.
Now my stress was alleviated, but I also had no goal.
Then I thought, "Well, I've been swimming.. what about a swimming goal?"
And so now I am signed up for the Colin's Hope 10k Swim in September! I'm super excited about it, because I have a goal and because it involves swimming and because it helps promote water safety for children. And while I lack any of those myself, I'm all about other peoples' kids not drowning, learning to swim, and being safe.
Meanwhile I'm going to continue to ramp up my running, with the hope of doing some running events later this year and next year. And maybe some other swim events later this year.
With my delayed-onset post-awesome depression, I've been in a bit of a rut these last few months. Skipping workouts because I had no accountability, not seeing friends because I wasn't working out or I just wanted to hide in my house, and wallowing in the unhappiness that comes from gaining weight after an event, then having trouble finding the motivation/means to lose it.
But I'm excited about poking my head out of my hole and rejoining the world at large again. And nervous.