2014 Running Thread

Hello all...

I am struggling with myself now.  I have lapsed in training since my diagnosis.  I live near Chicago and we have been having a very brutal winter.  I have previously run all miles out doors.  I have a treadmill but it holds things..LOL.  I ride a bike and train Slim in 6 or P90x style but I am having the arm pain too.  It feels like intense pulling at the node incision site and light I have taunt tendons running up my arm. I think I will be about to run but Friday was just 2 weeks post op and I had huge breast swelling.  I was afraid I might put my eye out!  LOL  No, seriously, I did not want to dislodge incisions.  I plan to start Monday, run walk, using the damn treadmill. I was a huge distance runner and not running is hard for me but I guess I have to start over, just like the first time we all ran.

And Bobogirl, every day one step further is all you have to do.  Run Walk is the BOMB for getting started!!  Look at book, Running: Getting Started from Jeff Galloway.  It is excellent.  I used it to run my first marathon.  It will work.  There are excellent plans to follow in there and great, great information. I will start over with you!  

YoungTurkNYC that is so great!  I am amazed you want to do 5 days a week of your top distance.  Maybe you're a lot younger than me?  I have been running no more than 4 days a week, generally 3 (when I manage to), since I was about 35 and a doctor told me you know, that's plenty.  Training plans will generally differentiate the runs too--some shorter, some longer, some faster.  Just thinking about this myself.  Princessrn, I agree with YoungTurkNYC, easy does it.  My surgeon said to give it two weeks, but I'm very small breasted and I had no swelling.  Maybe you wait a little longer?  Or just run walk and see what feels OK.  I do think you should get the tight node incision looked at if it doesn't get better soon.  A lot of us have had PT at that site and it really helps if done well.

Woo hoo!  So happy to have found this thread, and fun to see some of you from other threads.  I am more of a mini "triathlete" (or biathlete - I avoid the swim whenever I can!) than a runner, but I did do a 1/2 marathon 3 months before dx last year.  I like triathlons because I think of them as the "buffet" of exercise - just a little of each so I don't have to train too hard in any one area .  I just started exercising again about 2 weeks ago (mostly hiking), and today was the first time on my road bike or running in almost a year.  DH and I did an 11 mile ride, followed by a 2 mile run, and it felt amazing.

Goldlining, thank you so much for the recommendation of the shock absorber bra -  I am still tender from rads and ran most of today with my elbow "cupping" my breast - too much jiggling!  Can't wait to check out the website and hopefully get one ordered.

springlakegirl your video was amazing and so inspirational - and you are too adorable.  Congrats on your achievements!

alaskamama I am going to check out your blog today…

Congrats to all of you for being the warriors that you are.  We did not have a choice to get cancer, but we certainly have a choice whether or not to get back up after being knocked down.

welcome ycats70! Looking forward to reading your runs.

I am still dragging from the flu. In fact my lungs are getting a little wetter and I have started to have the severe muscle cramping again. I need to be AOK in a month for my tune-up surgery! Definitely not out there courting irritation from the icy air. Wednesday I fly to Florida so will take shoes and see how it goes. May try to see the family physician before I go to see if there is anything else that will dry the lungs out. 

:-P

Keep the run reports coming for those of us running vicariously!

So after my first mile last sunday, I was so excited to have a week of great exercise...it didn't happen:( No yoga, no cycling, no more runs during the week or even walks...so sad. I think I over did it last Sunday. After my 1 mile run, I walked 4 miles later in the day and then washed my car. The rest of the week I was wiped out-went to work, came home, went to bed. I did meet with my PT twice and I'm counting that as my exercise these days:) PT gave me a good analogy of a circus tent and a person trying to pull and hold it up and explained that is what my back muscles are doing while I'm sitting at a desk in front of a computer at work, also dealing with the stretched pec muscles. Makes me feel a little better about being so tired. I need to be patient with this new body!

On a positive note, I did wake up this morning feeling better so I decided to go for a run and was able to get 3 miles in!!! And of course, I am already now plotting what else I can do this week to workout:) So maybe I'll try to add one new thing back this week and take it from there. I'm sure my body will let me know what it can handle. 

All you ladies ROCK!  Am I the old one?!  I am 47 soon to be 48. I run for a charity group.  I was days away from signing up for the Chicago Marathon when I found out that I would be having chemo and not just radiation.   I thought hey, I can train a bit before and until I can't and then rest a bit and start again.  HA!  Other plans I guess. 

I always want to run the long distances and then when I get there I am looking at all the people on the sidelines with there Starbuck's and snacks thinking,"GAH!  What was I thinking?!"  So this May 31, my sister, who I conned into running will be running and I will be cheering with my Starbuck's and snacks!  LOL.  Actually, I am hoping to run her in the last 1-2 miles.  This is a half marathon in South Bend, In at the Notre Dame Campus.  You finish on the 50 yard line of the stadium. You know it girls, ME and Touchdown Jesus!!

I am glad to have found you all.  I need running.  I need to be connected to women who want to run while this is happening to them.  I do, I need it, I want it and I won't let cancer take it from me. 

LOL Gold I am liking those shirt slogans. 

I get that way about my age too but never forget my birthdate.

You should blog. You have a wonderful way with words. 

princessrn - I see those people on th side lines with their Starbucks and it just gives me more motivation to finish faster so I can make my way over to Starbucks and get some coffee for myself I think we all have various mantras we repeat to get us through hard runs and often mine is "coffee, coffee, coffee".

As for the One More Mile stuff, I was just going to comment on the "if you see me collapse, pause my Garmin". After my run yesterday I am so getting one of those at the next race expo I see them at. I went out for a run with my girlfriends and we decided to cross the Rideau Canal on the ice surface as opposed to the bridge that really steep. That's the great thing about winter, you can walk across frozen water. Normally the canal is well kept up for walkers/runners too, not just the skaters, so it's not like we were doing something completely crazy. Often we will run on the canal as opposed to the path beside it because the footing is better. Let's just say that yesterday the ice was beautiful for the skaters, not so much for the runners. I'm sure you all know where this is going! Just after stepping on the ice, I felt my feet slip from underneath me and the next thing I know is that I'm in the air, then flat on my back spread out like a starfish. First thing I did, before even getting up or responding that I was ok was stop my Garmin. Heck, my pace has taken a hit lately that I was not having it take a greater hit because I was sprawled out on the ice I was lucky and not injured, so it's all good. After that it was a great run.

Hope everyone had a good run this weekend and welcome to all the new ladies.

While I posted those two slogans for princessrn, the "stop my Garmin" slogan was the one that caught my eye (a friend has that one too, as well as the "there will be a day I cannot do this. This is not that day."). I also like "this IS my race pace" and "race strategy: start off slow, then taper off". 

I don't feel "my age" either. I think it's being around university students all the time, and the playful subject matter area of my research and, well, "you're only young once, but you can be immature forever." 

(I do blog and also tweet, but on those I am personally identifiable, alas, and am a fan of keeping support group stuff incognito.)

I love all of these slogans!!!  And by the way ladies, we are never too old to run.  There have been plenty of women (and men) who appeared to look twice my age who all left me in the dust in running competitions!!  So, all the power to you who keep running regardless of age!

Haha lulu - I'm 60 also, and one of the benefits of being 60 is it bumps you into the next age class at most races!

Aww man you guys are the best!  This is just what I needed.  I just need to run and not a 8:45 for marathon pace with friends.  My girl is still swollen and although my garbage guys, the ones who see my at 4:30 am, might like the enlargement in general, Ia m being a good girl and waiting.

I see the surgeon tomorrow for followup.  It is healing nicely but still swollen.  Now the cord thing, I am 100% sure that it is cording.  I have an appointment with a LE PT right near me.  I am quite grateful for that and for noticing so that I won't have a delay in treatment.

I think every mile at any pace is great!!!  GIRL POWER!!!!

AS for slogans:  I have the "pause my Garmin"... hanging above my desk at work

       I like : In my mind I'm a Kenyan!

                 Toenails are for sissies!  I have that as a bumper sticker. If I only knew I would really get to test that out                                 multiple times!

                  And...Does this shirt make my butt look fast?   

YoungTurk, SO GREAT that you had your first race back!!!  All these milestones are so important.  Back off, BC, we've got races to run!

princessrn, that's great data about the value of strength training for your marathon training.  Also good for you for jumping on the cording problem.  I called an LE therapist today about my heavy tingly arm which was starting to freak me out pretty badly.  She reassured me that I'm not in imminent danger and gave me some good general dvice.  I told her about the website we discussed on this thread a while back that said to start with 1-lb. weights and never use resistance bands.  She thought that was rather alarmist, as she uses resistance bands all the time and would start people at higher weights if they felt OK with them.  I told her I'm training for a half marathon and she said I'd need the strength training for that, as well as to stave off LE.  Very helpful.  I initiated a referral process through my surgeon and I'm going to see her for a consult and a strength training program.  I hope to see her in a few weeks when I have my next surgeon visit.  She's well over an hour away so I have to plan it out.

Socks are a big topic with me because I hate having cold feet and I live in a really cold place.  After years of failed experiments with many sock brands, for the past 6 years or so I have worn Smartwool socks every single day about 8 months out of the year.  So pricy (a bit better online), but I add a few pairs every fall and I've now built up quite a collection. Best Friends model for work, usually black, and a few different ones for running.  Note to self:  Buy stock in Smartwool.

lovestorun, I use my iPad with a book/magazine holder.  Mine would have gone flying too (and with it, my ladylike language) if I'd just used the little half-inch lip on the TM.  Good thing yours didn't break, phew!