7 mos to an injury-free marathon

Yeah, not creative, too tired for that. But here I am, less than 7 mos to Lincoln Marathon. My goal is to keep my knees strong and to run a good race, not sure of any sort of time expectation at this point. I am taking these next 10 weeks to do some strengthening and recover from my 50K. It should be interesting since I'm not an icy weather runner but at least I have a treadmill this year so I can get by with 4-6 milers on that when I have to. 

I have the hips of death workout printed out, ready to start working on that.

This morning I ran 9 miles on the same trail my 50K was last week. It was sort of fun, to look at the different places and think "oh that was mile 23 last weekend. My knee was a little sore. I probably shouldn't have run so far but it ended up OK. 

Getting excited to run Lincoln, just the whole sleeping in my own bed the night before, eating my own food (which really does matter when you have a really sensitive GI system), having my family cheer me on without the guilt that I just made them suffer a long car ride.

Running is easy...blogging is the hard part! That title works for me.

Sounds like you made a good choice for good reasons and are putting together a good plan. My bet is that you'll make it to the start line well prepared and ready to go.

Yay!  A new blog and a new adventure.  Smart plan to start now and focus on strengthening before you start ramping up the miles.  For the first time I've really mixed up my training with speedwork, hills and surfaces and have had the least injury issues ever, so think about factoring that into your plan.

Which marathon training plan did you decide upon?

Yay, a new blog!! I think the name works

Good luck with your off cycle running!!

Thanks! Dot- running Lincoln since it's local and too easy to just get up in the morning and drive there. 

3 miles today and finally did my hips workout.

+1 on the title of this shiny new blog. It's a theme, and a reminder!

Enjoy the easy miles now as you recover from the 50.

Well, I'm still here but training has been really boring, long runs of 10-13 miles on the weekends and 6 miles week days, 2 rest days. But I ran 13 ish today and 5.5 was on the sidewalk parallel to a half marathon 6 of my friends were running so I got to cheer them on and that was really fun! My knees are healing, today's run I didn't have my tape on and they still felt fine.

Another goal I've been thinking a lot about has been finishing up my wt loss, especially while I don't have the pressure of fueling for long long runs right now. I just have a couple of lbs to reach pre-pregnancy weight but would still like to go lower. I'm pretty hit and miss with my logging everything, though. I don't know what my deal is. I don't want to get obsessive about it but I know it wouldn't hurt me to lose a good 10 + lbs, either.

Good luck on this effort, Julie.  I know of an orthopedic surgeon, who is also a runner, wrote that for every 10 pounds of weight lost, you can estimate a reduction in marathon total time of 9 minutes.  The article didn't come out until after the 2012 Houston, when I had lost 30 pounds in 2011.  And my marathon time had decreased 27 minutes from the 2011 Houston.

Sounds like you're getting a decent amount of miles in. I would think that just a slight decrease in calories along with the mileage you're doing would result in a nice slow weight loss if that's your goal. I'm terrible about dieting and even worse about tracking calories and stuff like that but you've proven to us that once you decide to do something you carry through. Best of luck but don't stress out to much. You still have a very busy life!

Thank you, both. I am a very determined person, just need to shift some of the determination to this area of my life without making it an unhealthy obsession, which is no fun. 

We got our first ice underneath snow last night. Seems too early for me. Hoping to get out in the a.m. at least. Have I mentioned I don't really like indoor exercise? 

Thought about you this morning when they were showing pictures of Nebraska and snow.  We are going to get the cold, but I think we will be protected by the lake (since it is obviously not frozen as it was 67F here yesterday) and not get any snow here )on the west side).  As for the east side of NE ohio into Buffalo, I think its inevitable.  And yes it seems way too early, but then again, it is November.

Julie, do you have an app that will help you keep track of calories consumed, exercise, etc.?  I find that very helpful in maintaining a given level of calorie consumption along with providing a nutritional breakdown by the day/week/etc.  It is equally good when training gets into the peak periods to make sure you are consuming not only enough calories but the right composition of macronutrients.

It's snowing here too, but not cold enough yet to stick.  It's coming.  I'm having some trouble with my own treadmill, but I will say that since I bought mine last year, it is nice to have that option to run inside when the weather is bad.  It's boring, but if you have something good on tv, it helps.  I also find that I have to build up my mental tolerance to it--I can't just hop on after months of being outdoors and run 6 miles. I go crazy and start lower and build up.
Good luck on the weight loss.  I'm using MyFitnessPal, and I agree, it is really hard to do it and track calories without getting obsessive.  I'm bordering on obsessive with it, but when you consider that only a few hundred less calories per day can result in loss, it's hard not to be.  It's not a lot of room for error. I tried to lose while training for a half, and then again for a tri, and it just failed miserably.  You can't build up miles successfully and cut calories at the same time--or at least, I couldn't.  The running suffered badly until I started eating more.  So lower mileage may be the easiest time to lose the final bit of weight.

Yeah I have a Kindle Fire and the Lose It app, which I think is fine, I just have to stick with. I read people eat 20% less when logging everything so that alone would be enough to see a change. But yeah, trying to be healthy without obsessive but being realistic that it would be just fine to lose weight and healthy to do so, it just seems hard but yes I think the low mileage is the time to do it because my appetite always keeps up with my high mileage. My boys are nursing but not so much that I'm extra hungry from that so in that regard, I'm not really worried about milk supply so I am much more comfortable with cutting back on calories than I was a year ago. (Oh and they gained 4.5 and 5.5 lbs in the last 3 months each! Just had their 15 mo check up yesterday and are almost 22 lbs each. Do you know what that feels like to wear them both for over an hour?).

Our ice is still here. I came down with a bad sinus infection so I didn't have the energy to run the last 3 days but ran 3 this a.m. and plan to run long tomorrow with my friends. We are hitting near record lows every night this week. It's crazy!

Glad to hear the boys are doing so well!  Are you factoring calories chasing them and toting them around in your totals:D   A sinus infection and cold weather is not a great combination.  Hope the cold snap moves on soon!

I guess our cold weather came from Siberia! Just what we needed, right? 

Brian was away all week for work and my mom came a few days to help. I took the babies for 3 jogging stroller runs 7 mi, 3 mi, 6 mi Tues-Thurs, rested Fri, ran 7 today and plan to run 10+ tomorrow. The snow all melted last night and I think it got into the 50s today. The run wasn't so nice this morning, very foggy, humid, wet, cold but at least above freezing.

I mentioned on my previous blog about being a preliminary match to donate bone marrow to a man with blood cancer. I just found out yesterday that I am a match! They want me to donate peripheral blood stem cells because of the type of cancer he has it should work better to hopefully cure him. Also, for me, the recovery time is much quicker than donating bone marrow. That is scheduled for Dec 22nd. I should  be all recovered to start marathon training in January but it sounds like a long recovery for my recipient. I really hope he does well. Man, if I want to complain about some bone pain from the shots I have to get beforehand, I really shouldn't, because it is just great to be healthy and not have to deal with cancer or anything.

Julie wrote:I guess our cold weather came from Siberia! Just what we needed, right? 

Brian was away all week for work and my mom came a few days to help. I took the babies for 3 jogging stroller runs 7 mi, 3 mi, 6 mi Tues-Thurs, rested Fri, ran 7 today and plan to run 10+ tomorrow. The snow all melted last night and I think it got into the 50s today. The run wasn't so nice this morning, very foggy, humid, wet, cold but at least above freezing.

I mentioned on my previous blog about being a preliminary match to donate bone marrow to a man with blood cancer. I just found out yesterday that I am a match! They want me to donate peripheral blood stem cells because of the type of cancer he has it should work better to hopefully cure him. Also, for me, the recovery time is much quicker than donating bone marrow. That is scheduled for Dec 22nd. I should  be all recovered to start marathon training in January but it sounds like a long recovery for my recipient. I really hope he does well. Man, if I want to complain about some bone pain from the shots I have to get beforehand, I really shouldn't, because it is just great to be healthy and not have to deal with cancer or anything.

Nice job on the running, esp pushing 2 babies!

Congrats on being a match!  Very cool that you're able to help him. I primarily work in the cancer hospital here and I've taken care of a lot of patients who have been through a stem cell transplant and have to take the neupogen / neulasta shots.  Many people don't get any bone pain.  But, for some reason, for those that do, taking claritin (the antihistamine over the counter) has been shown to really prevent / reduce the amount of bone pain.  Take it at least an hour before you start the shots and take it for however many days of injections you have to do.  Tylenol will help if you get some pain.

Penelope wrote:

Julie wrote:I guess our cold weather came from Siberia! Just what we needed, right? 

Brian was away all week for work and my mom came a few days to help. I took the babies for 3 jogging stroller runs 7 mi, 3 mi, 6 mi Tues-Thurs, rested Fri, ran 7 today and plan to run 10+ tomorrow. The snow all melted last night and I think it got into the 50s today. The run wasn't so nice this morning, very foggy, humid, wet, cold but at least above freezing.

I mentioned on my previous blog about being a preliminary match to donate bone marrow to a man with blood cancer. I just found out yesterday that I am a match! They want me to donate peripheral blood stem cells because of the type of cancer he has it should work better to hopefully cure him. Also, for me, the recovery time is much quicker than donating bone marrow. That is scheduled for Dec 22nd. I should  be all recovered to start marathon training in January but it sounds like a long recovery for my recipient. I really hope he does well. Man, if I want to complain about some bone pain from the shots I have to get beforehand, I really shouldn't, because it is just great to be healthy and not have to deal with cancer or anything.

Nice job on the running, esp pushing 2 babies!

Congrats on being a match!  Very cool that you're able to help him. I primarily work in the cancer hospital here and I've taken care of a lot of patients who have been through a stem cell transplant and have to take the neupogen / neulasta shots.  Many people don't get any bone pain.  But, for some reason, for those that do, taking claritin (the antihistamine over the counter) has been shown to really prevent / reduce the amount of bone pain.  Take it at least an hour before you start the shots and take it for however many days of injections you have to do.  Tylenol will help if you get some pain.

Oh, thanks for the advice! I am getting Filgrastim (oh, you said neupogen which is the same thing I realize!) every day for 5 days before the transplant. Is it crazy that my biggest worry is being NPO after midnight? I drink water during the night, all the time ,I am always drinking. I had to do this for my surgery 2 yrs ago and it was sooo hard on me. But like I said, I don't have cancer and I should have a pretty quick recovery and it sounds like my recipient will have to be very guarded against infections for a few months after this.

Wow - congrats on being a match.  What a tremendously selfless thing to do.  I am not amazed though as even though we have never formally met, I expect you to be that selfless a person.  I'm honored to know you at least virtually.

That's an awesome thing to do! Hope all goes well for both you and the recipient.

Thanks Michele and Nancy, I really am hoping it helps him.

I started a no sugar no flour 3 week challenge and so far (haha, day 2) it's going fine. I'm not restricting carbs but just the flour and all refined sugar. I've already lost a little wt even if it's just water.

Running has been pretty good, ran 13 mi Thanksgiving morning and just keeping maintenance till marathon training begins early Jan/or around Christmas, I'll have to figure that out.

One of my very good running friends had a really horrible heart attack the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the 23rd. He's in the hospital with some significant cognitive deficits, brain damage from the lack of oxygen I suppose. It's been really awful, 6 of us ran together Thanksgiving morning and were all thinking he might die that day since he was still on the ventilator and he's just a great friend to all of us. It looks like he'll survive now but who knows what his long term recovery will look like. Not to be all depressing here, it's just running and running friends go together in my life and he's been a great friend, kind of a father figure of sorts, for the last 8 yrs. Running won't be the same without him and I do pray he can run again. He's run all 50 states 3x and ran a half marathon a few weeks ago. It's crazy to me that someone so healthy can just have a heart attack like that (at home, not running at the time).

So sorry to hear about your friend - he will be added to my prayer list.  Peace to you, your running group, and his family.

Thanks Michele. He has been moved to a rehabilitation hospital and I hope to visit this weekend. Sounds like he's improving quite a bit.

So sorry to hear about your friend. Good to hear he's improving. Runner's are a tough bunch!