2013 Running Thread

Mary,

Thanks for the info - I never realized the intricacies of LE and sleeves and gloves and prevention and protection.  My BS mentioned LE in passing and my MO has never really mentioned it.  I want to be proactive in any - and every! - way possible.

Welcome not-me. I walked 5K in the hospital 3 days post DIEP (very very very slowly with rests in between the 1kms, but very proud to do the distance) and was walking on the treadmill for an hour at a time at 4mph within 2 weeks. Did not use a running gait until 6 weeks but promptly did a half marathon 2 days after that. Again, not fast but SO glad to be there. Mastectomy without reconstruction was the easiest to get back running after, because there was no jiggle. (I had unilateral and the imbalance was uncomfortable but the flat side was great.) Lumpectomy and reconstruction both were a bit more sensitive. If you feel like you are up to walking, go for it! Just listen to how you feel. 

NancyHB, any doctor that knows where the resources are can refer you, but it may not be something they get much call for. I had to wait for my surgeon's toady to figure out where the clinic was, and he was IN the same hospital. The LE clinic is part of the survivorship program connected to the hospital that did my DIEP. It is a great program. They also have a whole range of services beyond surgical onc, medical onc and rad onc, including psycho-onc (specialized psychologist), nutrition, and a whole range of things. It seems to be an all-you-can-eat service too: classroom training, massage/drainage, taping, measure and monitor my arms in detail, prescribe compression, etc. They referred me to a dispenser to do the actual fitting measurements, and it was all very convenient. I paid only for the co-pay on the gear. Part of the compression vest was covered by provincial health insurance. To get that coverage, I recall it had to be prescribed by some type of specialist. A family practitioner would not be an acceptable prescriber under the program, and my employee health would pay sleeve but not vest. Alas. However, the LE clinic director was an eligible prescriber and everything worked out. If you have to wait to be seen, you could check out the compression recovery sleeves you can buy in retail storefronts, like Adidas, and see if they are comfortable. As I say, sometimes I wear the Rx LE vest and other times the commercial sports compression top. I actually prefer the latter. 

Guess I'll check in to - still running, seem to be back to my pre-cancer schedule with it.  Want to get a little more comfortable with this (my legs are still feeling it!) before trying to up my distance, but a 10K in June is starting to feel more and more like a possibility.

Checking in. W2D2. Treadmil tonight. 2.33 miles in 33min. Apparently my c25k app was muted but running, so I did a little extra time and just kept alternating running and walking.

I have never watched the "Lost" TV series so I decided to do that while on the dreadmil, which is why I went 33min. I wouldn't stop until the episode ended.

Hope evryone has a restful night

Happy trails

xoxoxo

piper

I'm dealing with shin splints again - this happens every time I take any time off running (another reason to NEVER stop I guess!) so I'm going to run tonight, but s-l-o-w-l-y.  I need to start fitting some cross-training into my schedule somewhere, too.  I've been doing yoga for several years; any suggestions of what else I could/should be doing?

C25K. W3D1

Suggest following the Galloway method (http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/index.html) both to start running and to keep running. Biggest mistake newbies make is too much too soon - slow and easy will ensure being able to keep running and to keep enjoying running! Best of luck.

FIRSTCALL - what is your bib number for Boston? We can follow you on that Athlete Alert App!

OH, Katlou, so much of running is mental - we constantly play mind games!  This morning I upped my mileage from 8 to 10.5 miles. I was with my running partner so the last 3 miles were the same route as our usual first 3.  So I said, "Let's just pretend we're going out for our regular run and y'know what? Let's turn back and just do 3 miles today." And it worked, we both felt better putting out of our mind the miles we had just done.

Have fun out there, everyone, and Happy Easter!

Checking in, but first, congrats Katlou on finishing radiation!  That's wonderful.  No great words of wisdom on easing back into it, other than what others here have said: take it slow and use walking breaks as you get your mileage up. 

My report for the week:

Mon - 3 'miles' pool running
Wed - 4 'miles' pool running
Sat - 4 miles on land.  It was a fabulous morning to be outside - spring is long overdue in these parts.

Congrats to everyone and keep those reports coming!

Hi, all . . . here's my race report from this morning's 5K.  Forecast was for temps in the low 50s, but that was of course for later in the day.  So, I put on shorts, but pulled stadium pants on over them, put a fleece on over my t-shirt, and stuffed a long-sleeved shirt in my bag for after the race.  Heading out to catch the F train to Roosevelt Island, it was already sunny (yay!) but definitely chilly. 

No train mishaps, and the start of the race was easy to find (just follow the crowd).  I got there about 45 minutes before the start, so I immediately faced the bag check dilemma: check my stuff now, and then shiver untl the start of the race?  or wait, but what if lines got long?  etc.etc.   This was the source of some genuine anxiety for a few minutes . . . it's amazing how neurotic I can get before a race.  I finally deciided to take off my extra clothes and check the damn bag. 

Warmed up with easy jogging for a mile or so, taking in the view of the Manhattan skyline, the 59th St bridge, and the river traffic.  Next up: the requisite wait for the port-a-johns.  That killed a good 5-10 minutes, followed by some more easy jogging, followed by the realization that other people were lining up at the start and I probably should, too.

I started maybe 10 rows back from the start.  There was a guy wearing my running club's colors a row or two in front of me, joking around with another grizzled veteran club runner.  Thought about saying hi, but they were chatting like old buddies and I didn't want to interrupt.  Instead, I checked out the other runners and tried to guess their paces.  There was a short, wiry Latina in her 20s toward the front, wearing short shorts and a yellow racing singlet with "La Chinita" emblazoned on the back.  I figured her for a fast runner from one of the competitive clubs; she looked like someone you'd expect to see running the course backwards as a cooldown when you're still gasping for air in the third mile.

Horn sounds, and we're off.  My running club mate settles into a good pace and I tell myself to just try to keep him in my sights.  To my surprise, I quickly pass La Chinita.  I settle in alongside the grizzled veteran and run with him for maybe a quarter mile, before he takes off and drops me.  I feel a little embarrassed by how heavily I'm breathing, but pleased that I'm able to see red (my clubmate) and purple (the guy I've named "grizzled veteran") not too far ahead of me.  I pass the first mile marker in 6:56.  Whoah!  That's a little fast.  (My goal was to run between 7:00 and 7:15/mile pace, with 7:00 pace being a serious stretch.)

Purple keeps getting farther and farther ahead.  A woman wearing long pants and a warmup jacket passes me, looking as though she's out for a casual jog.  I think about telling her, "nice," as she passes, because she really was running beautifully, but I'm breathing too hard to talk.  Then another woman, wearing a fashionable scarf and what looks for all the world like a quilted parka, also passes me, again looking like she's not even trying, and my inclination is to longer to say "nice," but to call her vile names.  I feel a little ashamed of how nasty my pain makes me.

But what's this?  Red is getting closer and closer.  Eventually I pull ahead of him.  For a while he'll pull up beside me and I'll pull ahead again, and then I don't see any more of him.  My split for Mile 2 is 7:19.  That fast first mile cost me.

The course is basically a loop of the island, so the third mile has us running back south along the eastern, Queens-facing side.  I can see the 59th St bridge up ahead and know that's roughly where the finish is.  I beg my legs to just keep doing what they've been doing, but they don't entirely obey.  A woman passes me, then another.   I don't care.  I look at my watch, hoping it'll tell me I'm getting close to the finish, and it says something discouraging, like 3:53 -- I try and fail to do math in my head, but I'm pretty sure that means at least another half mile of this misery.  Plus I really, really have to use the bathroom.  I don't know which to focus my self-talk on, my legs or my intestines.

Oh my God, there's the finish.  Not just a chute leading to the finish, but the real thing.  I summon up a modest sprint - less out of competitive spirit than my overriding desire to end this thing.  People are cheering, I cross the timing mat and hit my watch at 22:26.  I suck in great lungfuls of air and think about falling to the ground, but know that if I do, I won't get up.  I find my red-shirted Prospect Park Track Club teammate who finished a few runners behind me, congratulate him, introduce myself and exchange pleasantries.

Then it's off to fiind a bathroom. 

Final stats: 22:25 (watch was off by a second), 7:14 pace, 12th woman overall and first in the 50-54 age group.  I'm hoping to break 22:00 eventually, at which point I'll reward myself with a pair of racing flats. 

Linda

Thanks, Sandpiper!  (I do some writing, would like to do more - can't decide whether to focus on running or my other great love, eating.)

LovLuLu, so funny you should have mentioned Uta Pippig; I think Greta Waitz had the same issue in some races.  On the one hand, I admire the hell out of their performances.  On the other hand, I once heard someone say that when Olympians soil themselves in a race, it's heroic; when a weekend warrior going for an Age Group finish does it, it's just gross. 

Katlou, totally agree that a big part of distance running is mental.  LuvLuLu had some good tips.  Just breaking things down - I'm not going to stop before that church up there; hey, did that, now I'm not going to stop before I hit the park; etc. - can help a lot.  Or finding routes that are a bit circuitous, going down and around cul de sacs, for example, instead of running straight down a main road.  Before cancer, I used to self-talk to myself about what friends who'd been through chemo had to go through, and if they could handle that, I could handle another mile, damnit -- after I joined the club, that didn't work so well. 

Seriously, I think that one reason it's been hard for me to get back into racing is that I'm no longer willing to put up with as much physical discomfort for no very good reason as I used to.  I still love running, obviously, but racing to win or place or PR is different.

Linda

First spring-like day here in the NE. Had a fabulous 9 mile run. Topped off with several hours of raking the yard and cleaning out the garden. Finished with time in the Jacuzzi. Life is good!