2014 Running Thread

Hi all -

I have been an infrequent poster because I have had such hit or miss success with trying to get myself "back in the game." Even before all the BC stuff reared it's ugly head last March, I had been taking time off from running because of a broken wrist  in a full arm cast and sling (student pushed me down at school). But yay, I am finally feeling like things are normalizing! Was able to get out for an eight miler today in absolutely gorgeous weather.

Kayb, I am an older runner. 60. I feel so lucky that I am still out there. So what if I'm slower, who cares. I still feel so awesome after a run no matter what. If you are running 3 miles every other day, guess what. You are a runner!

lovestorun, you can put me down for two dates:

3/9 San Diego Half Marathon

8/31 Disneyland Half Marathon

Donna

I miss running! I usually do my long runs Sunday morning but instead I'm sitting in bed typing. I'm almost seven weeks out from my BMX and just cleared by my PS to start running again but I'm finding the TE's really hurt. I had my first and hopefully last "overfill" last week and have been really sore every since so I'm hoping to try running again in a few days and see if their is any improvement. Anybody find the couldn't run with the TEs and had to wait for the implants? In the meantime, doing a lot of walking, and hope to to start back yoga and cycling classes this week.

I love reading your running post Makes me feel a little more connected while I impatiently wait. Goldlining-  love DC Rainmaker! I have a Garmin 310xt that I use for triathlons, and anytime I don't know how to work something I go to his blog. My watch doesn't work with my iphone though so I just looked up your 620 and that has some great features! 

Below are the races that I am committed to at this time...waiting to see how training goes before adding anything else. 

3/15-Shamrock, VB- 8K 

9/6-Patriot Half 70.3, relay, swimming portion (this was a defer from 2013 due to biopsies that halted training)

11/15-Richmond Half

Happy Running!

It's inspiring to read all your posts. I used to run - picked up the bug when I was 38 and completed 5 half marathons and the Disney full marathon last jan - 2 months before my bc diagnosis. 

Now I am doing the couch to 5k program and having a hard time with my breathing. I am wondering if the Herceptin treatments affect that?  Thinking of signing up for a race as motivation!!!

Wahoo apparently has a beta Android app. Not sure what features it includes, e.g., how it would communicate with stride sensor for cadence, but this is the link I stumbled on and maybe worth playing with to see.

http://support.wahoofitness.com/entries/22766104-...

Welcome Aloha and ukkate!

ukkate, I did not have Herceptin (or chemo or rads) but my cardiorespiratory system was sluggish for a good 18 months after my DIEP. I blame recovery from the anaesthesia for that, just because I had nothing else to explain it. I felt like I was exerting myself just as much as formerly, but my pace was noticeably and consistently slower. If you slow your pace down, you may find you can tolerate more distance. You will get your pace back, but right now you just want to be out there. I'm a big believer in signing up for events as motivation. It gives me things to look forward to instead of just drifting through time and space.

Goldlining, thanks for the referral to Wahoo.  I will check it out more deeply.  Much appreciated!

bobogirl, I am not Ellen (funny thought though!), but yes that's her picture.  Sometimes students (I teach at a college) who want to get on my good side tell me that I remind them of her.  Now that I'm growing my hair out, that's less common.  Regarding what you deserve, I would say at the very least you deserve a new PT and some good running shoes, even if you're walking for a while.  I say look for a 5K maybe in May or June, do some ramping up now if you feel like it, and then you'll have a bit more base to go back to when you're post-surgery in March.  Then if you walk the 5K, who cares, you did it and you had something to point your feet toward the future.  While you look for a new PT, your current PT doesn't have to know you're easing back into running.  Don't ask, don't tell.  As goldlining says, running is key for mental and emotional health even if it did nothing for us anywhere else--although of course it does.  Looks like you've been on BCO for a year, same as me.  Long ride.  I have been learning that we don't just "move on" so easily, but getting one positive plan in place that's just a bit future-oriented has been helpful to me.

Ukkate, I did the Disney full a year before you did.  During the training I told my family it was a one-off, but then I got injured and my time was crap and of course that made me wonder how much better I could do.  Now I'm setting my sights on another full maybe in 2015, but not that early in the year.  My daughter will be going off to college that fall.  Maybe a late fall marathon would help distract me.  (See how I'm already stressing out about that?)

Let me ask you girls a question. Does having a Garmin and using an app help with your motivation and setting and achieving goals? I have never used any type of equipment in my 35 years of running, and now I feel like I'm missing out on something that may help me. 

Congrats on that first mile aloha! You took the first step and I know from experience how good that feels.

I didn't have TEs so I can't comment on that. I did a TRAM and I know that a nice, tight sports bra really helped me for a while.

Bobo go get some shoes! I didn't need new ones, but I was at the Nike outlet and they had my shoes in a beautiful turquoise that I couldn't resist, and it gave me a real boost. New running tights are great too!

Totally! I started with Nike+ five years ago last October, and it has played many roles for me. At first, it was a speed limit, to keep my pace from going faster than I could maintain. I never really paid attention to the challenges. If I did it, I did it, and if I didn't, well, I did what I did. But I liked looking back and remembering. I especially like looking back at the GPS maps especially for travelling. Thanks to running, I have maps from New Orleans, San Francisco, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Paris, Singapore...  I like having the heart rate data because my HR goes pretty high and I think it's prudent to monitor during the run, and I like the stride rate as well. 

I switched to the Garmin GPS watch due to the iPhone dongle thing, and I really like the additional diagnostics. As a hate-stuff-on-my-wrists person, it's surprisingly tolerable. The touchscreen is cool. 

Having the gadgets make me feel like I am taking it seriously. It's not an expensive sport, but little treats once in a while are a nice reward.

Here's another question for everyone: Other than your Garmin or app, what other "serious runner" equipment do you like best? For me, I think it's the compression tights. And compression knee socks for afterwards / recovery. Nice to have fresh legs.

Does my "fancy schancy" Garmin 410 motivate me? Well that depends on the day, but I like to know how far I have gone and my pace so it helps for that. I've pretty much always ran with a Garmin, I got my first one within months of starting to run because all the cool kids had one and what can I say, i like my gadgets! I prefer a Garmin over a phone app because I don't always bring my phone, I find it bulky to carry and it's easier with a watch type gizmo. I'm also highly motivated by goal races, no goals and my motivation goes down the drain.

As for my favourite running gear, it's a four way tie with my Garmin, CW-X compression tights (helps keep IT Band issues away), my Shock Absorber sports bra (I'm very picky about sports bras and I hate any movement) and my Fuel Belt (water belt with smaller bottles equally spaced around your waist so it doesn't bounce as much). 

It's interesting to see that I'm not the only one finding that my stamina on runs has gone down since treatment. I was attributing it to the extra 25lbs on my body since last spring and the fact that I stopped for a couple of months but maybe it's more than that. I just had a MUGA Scan (heart scan with radioactive tracers) so it will be interesting to see the results. 

Welcome Mely!  This is an inspiring and helpful thread!   Good luck getting started!

I decided to cross-country ski on Saturday despite the sore arm.... and it was worth it!  My friend and I skied for an hour in the sunshine, which was just what I needed after a long and cold week!  It was only 9 degrees but it felt balmy and so good to move.

On Sunday, I talked to a friend at church who is a physical therapist, and she is going to do some research about my arm pain and whether there are other physical therapist in this City (Duluth, MN) who have experience working with people after breast cancer surgery! So I am hopeful that some therapy will be in my future soon!

I got together with friend from my running group to watch the Superbowl. It was fun to talk about spring and summer races! I hope to run Grandma's Half Marathon on June 21 and will sign up for the lottery next week.

\

I've had an inhaler for about 20 years now. I mostly only use the brown/orange steroid one (flovent) when I feel a bug coming on, to fight off irritable airways that also I get with dogs and smokers. I also use flonase for the sinuses under the same circumstances.

I almost never have to use the blue one (ventolin) for rescue purposes but it's the blue you're supposed to use pre-exercise to open the airways. There are no steroids in the blue. It's just a bronchodilator. 

I used to use it every time I went out, and noted it made a difference in my pace because I felt like I was oxygenated. However, I have found since running, my breathing has improved so much that I have not felt that I needed to use the inhaler before regular exercise at home. 

However, as I recently discovered via Dr. Google after the symptoms hit me, warm humid air can irritate exercise induced asthma as much as cold air does. I have a lot more experience with cold, where I live, than with warm and humid air, but I was in Florida. What I figure is that the air I was breathing was humid, and then my airways constricted, making it harder to expel the moisture in the air. It certainly felt like I had a litre of water rattling around in the bottom of my lungs when I stopped. Breathing shallow (a trick I learned from a few dances with pneumonia), I avoided having too much coughing, and was able to do the half marathon the day after the 10K, but when I went for a run 4 days later, all the accumulated fluid got agitated and I added more new fluid, and either there was pathogens in there already or I licked a doorknob somewhere along the way, and it took off. 

I noted that my husband and daughter were sick within 24 hours of me arriving home, so I think more likely I encountered a fast-multiplying pathogen at the point when I re-irritated my lungs with the 3rd run. I got much sicker than either of them because of the base layer of asthma irritation, I think. 

Because the flovent and ventolin were not relieving the crap in the lungs, they switched me to advair (the purple one) which is a combination steroid and long-acting bronchodilator. The purple has been terrific and I will be kind of sorry to go back to the blue when the time comes. However I don't expect revisiting my medication to lead to any discontinuation of inhalers permanently. If it was just an acute case of bronchitis and after some treatment was gone for good, I could see them discontinuing it, but I have asthma for the long haul. I have a mild case, but it is what it is. 

I am down to coughing maybe 20 times a day. Much better (but hoping it's not just that I am shallow-breathing it away). I am concerned about getting the last bits of goop dried up so there are no contraindications to doing my tune-up surgery next month! I also hope to do some running when I am in Florida again next week!

You rock, runningfrom!

"in the freezing cold" - that's commitment!

Hi Ladies,

With the motivation and inspiration you are all giving me, I have been running or running/walking every day.  Yesterday, I approached three miles.  It is my goal today to run 3 miles without walking, and then once I reach that, try to run 3 miles 5 days a week and work on increasing my pace.  Thank you all for your support.  Also, I was able to locate a store that sells Shock Absorber athletic bras in my area.  I will go check it out this weekend.  Thank you for the recommendation.