A BIG GOAL - POSTPONED

I've come a long way in my weight loss, exercise progress, and overall health over the past few months. I've lost 17 lbs and am now halfway to my first weight loss goal (which will get me down to the weight I was at when I got pregnant with James, right after Jay and I had completed P90X and I'd lost 12 lbs during the program). I've lost 8.5 inches around my bust, waist, hips, and thighs. My belt buckle sits SIX places tighter than it used to. And I've finally dropped down to the next pant size (although they are tight, therefore negating my need for my newly notched belt)! My cholesterol reading earlier this month (at my yearly wellness exam) was 196, and while that's not an awesome number, for the first time since probably high school I'm under 200 and in the normal range, so it's a big deal to me (especially with my genetic history). And no longer am I running 20-30 minutes for 3-4 days per week. Nope. I'm running (or cross training ) for 45 minutes or longer, 5 days per week, which exceeds the fitness goals I set for myself back when I started using MyFitnessPal in May. So what does that mean?

It means that I am was going to be doing something big this fall. To keep me motivated. To get the rest of my "baby weight" off. To challenge myself. I had been planning all summer to run my first half marathon (that's 13.1 miles) in mid-November. I was all set to register for the Women's Half Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL this weekend and make hotel reservations, but my legs decided they needed a break instead...

A couple weeks ago I noticed that my long standing case of shin splints (seriously, it's been going on since March!) was starting to feel different. The pain was different and more persistant. It hurt even when I ran (rather than letting up after the first mile or so, like usual). It hurt to touch my left shin. It hurt to walk down stairs. Shoot, by Monday afternoon it was even hurting just to STAND with my weight bearing only on my left leg. So I went to the doc, had an x-ray, worried I had a torn muscle based on that x-ray, went back for an MRI to get a clearer picture, and found out my muscles are ok (other than being inflamed due to the intense shin splints), BUT, I have what's called a "stress reaction", which is an early sign of an impending stress fracture. So I'm out for 6 weeks. No running. At all. And I have to wear a boot for 3 of those weeks (which I was lucky enough to be able to borrow from Ashley, so that I can instead put that $90 towards new running shoes in a few weeks). Not exactly how I'd planned to spend my fall training!

Since we'd already registered for the Ready Set Glow 5K on Saturday night, which we scheduled to be a race DATE for us (and our first time ever using a paid babysitter, i.e. someone who is not a family member or highly trusted close friend), we showed up, boot and all. Don't worry, I just cheered Jay on from the rain-soaked sideline with my BIB # crossed out to read "I GOT THE BOOT".

But after a little cry, I was over it. I mean really, it could have been a lot worse. No fracture, no torn muscle, no need for surgery. For the next 6 5 weeks (I get to count last week, since I didn't do any running while waiting on a diagnosis) I'm going to swim and bike and "aqua jog" to keep my cardio up. I'll do more upper body weight training. I'll do some exercises to strengthen my quads (in the hopes that stronger quads will protect my lower legs from shin splints in the future). And when I get back to running (tentatively scheduled for October 1st), I'll take it really slow and easy (starting back with just a few miles a week and slowly working back to where I'm at now, and only running one race: the Run For Your Lives zombie chase in Florida in mid-November, which won't be to set a PR, obviously). And I'll transition into wearing only barefoot shoes (in the hopes that my form will further improve and I'll reduce impact and prevent future injury by running "light on my feet") and not worry about my speed. Then, if all goes well for that first month back, I'll register for the Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon New Orleans (end of February), and follow a less-intense training plan than I'd set myself for the Women's Half Marathon, starting at the beginning of December:

Since I've never raced for longer than a 10K (6.2 miles), I had to do some research to figure out what exactly I needed to do to prepare myself for a race more than twice that distance. I decided to do a cross between Hal Higdon's Novice 2 and Intermediate programs, based on my current mileage base (6 miles for my Saturday long runs), desire to start incorporating some speedwork, and recent addition of yoga and pilates to my weekly workouts. I expect I'll need to alter the program as I go through it (and I don't HAVE to train to 12 miles - lots of first-time half marathon runners only train to 10 miles), but this is my plan (and you guys will be welcome to follow my progress as I track my daily workouts here once I get back in the game - there is also a link on the sidebar of the blog).

I'm pretty bummed that I have to sit out my Saturday morning long runs for a while (I've really LOVED running with Sophie and Ashley this summer!), but I know it's for the best. I just hope Cari's encouragement about "muscle memory" is true for me, and that I won't have a hard time getting back into a groove once I'm healed. Sophie is running her half marathon the weekend after Thanksgiving (we had planned to run different races, so at least I'm not leaving her hanging with my injury), so I won't get to train with her, and she may be ready for a full marathon by the time New Orleans comes around, but hopefully we can still run some loops together in the park this winter, and still do some of our weekday runs and speedwork together. And I'm doing my best to talk Christina into training for New Orleans with me! Anyone else interested?... It's so much more fun to run (and train) with friends! In fact, if we can talk Gramma into coming out here for the race, Jay has already mentioned training alongside me to run the Rock-n-Roll half as well. How awesome would it be to do our first half together?!

So anyway, that's my new "plan" (as always, subject to alterations as needed). I think the biggest challenge for me (other than healing completely and keeping my shin splints at bay) is going to be fitting in the longer weekday runs (especially the speedwork) in the second half of the program. At least most of the holidays (highlighted pink) fall on rest days for me! And luckily by the time I start training for the New Orleans half, Jay will be finishing up his final semester and we won't have to contend with juggling busy school schedules.

Other ways I've made myself feel better about this injury and the resulting change of plans is that now I won't have to run my first ever half marathon the day after racing a 5K - major bonus! And we'll save money on last-minute registration fees and expensive hotels this fall. Which means we'll have some extra funds (and days) to take the kids to nearby LegoLand, and either SeaWorld or Animal Kingdom, while we're in central Florida for the 5K zombie race, so I'm pretty excited about that. I suppose sometimes "the best made plans" fall through, and it's just not so bad after all!