This week was 31 miles of “real running” and 31 “miles” pool running plus 3600m of swimming -- training log is here.
A bit of an eventful week. A medical procedure on Tuesday (what the heck, it was a colonoscopy mandated by my GI doctor due to the massive stomach pains and other symptoms I had after a 5K a month ago) meant that I had to fast for over 24 hours; much of the first half of the week was dedicated to preparation, procedure, and recovery. The good news was that it confirmed (well, pending biopsies, but I don’t expect any surprises) that a) I don’t have Crohns, and b) eliminating oatmeal and dried fruit from my diet seems to have allowed my digestive tract to heal – the inflammation that was apparent on previous exams has disappeared. So yay. We're thinking basic gluten intolerance at this point (I've previously been tested for Celiac, and it came out negative).
I’ve actually been starting to feel pretty good the last 2-3 weeks, and my workouts are showing it. Breathing is no longer a struggle, and my stomach has been giving me much less trouble. There’s really been 3 changes I’ve made in my training the past few weeks – a) eliminating oatmeal and dried fruit from my diet, which has really helped with my stomach issues; b) adding in swimming breathing drills to expand my lung capacity; and c) reducing my training load substantially. I’m guessing that the improvement is a result of the combination of all three.
Separately, my darn right foot had been bit sensitive and achy (combination of plantar fasciitis and peroneal tendonitis) for the past 10 days. It wasn’t hurting at all when I ran, but stiff pre-run, and sore post-run. I had just about decided to swap to exclusively pool-running for a few days when the foot decided to start feeling 100% on Sunday morning (I’m crediting a very hard massage I got on it on Friday night). Did a test run of 6 miles this morning, and it felt fine both during and after, so hopefully I’m near the end of dealing with it. In the meantime, the plan is to keep subbing in some pool-running for landrunning.
Dailies
Monday: 8.5 easy miles outside on the towpath (8:30 pace), plus foam-rolling+stretching+injury prevention exercises.
Tuesday: Had a medical procedure in the morning. In the afternoon, 40 minutes easy pool-running for "4 miles” plus foam-rolling and stretching.
Wednesday: In the morning, 10.5 easy miles outside on a hilly route (8:36 pace), followed by 1000m of swimming breathing drills (most with the pull buoy, some without). Was feeling a bit tired later that night, so skipped yoga in favor of extended foam rolling/stretching/injury prevention exercises
Thursday: In the morning, "6 miles" of easy pool-running (60 minutes) followed by strength-training and injury prevention exercises. Foam-rolling and stretching at night.
Friday: 6 miles on the track, including a 5K tempo in 20:34 (6:36 pace, with splits of 6:39, 6:39, 6:31, and then 45 seconds for final 200m). My foot was a bit tender before and after the tempo (not during) so I cut the cooldown very short and did the balance of it in the pool – 60 minutes easy pool-running for “6 miles”. (Normally Friday would be 10 miles land/2 pool; I just swapped to 6 miles land/6 pool). Got the heck massaged out of the foot on Friday evening, plus a pilates session.
Saturday: In the morning, 40 minutes easy pool-running for “4 miles” followed by 1000m of swimming breathing drills (most with the pull buoy, some without). Strength-training plus foam rolling/injury prevention exercises/stretching in the afternoon.
Sunday: In the morning, a split long run – I did the first 6 miles outside at easy pace (8:13) then hopped into the pool for another “11 miles” – did an hour easy, then 3x10 minutes at hard aerobic effort with 1:00 recovery. Followed with 1600m of swimming breathing drills (most with the pull buoy, some without). I plan to hit a yoga class tonight.
Nice week, esp. with the swimming. Is it just oatmeal and dried fruit you can't eat-- or were those the things you were eating so much of that eliminating made a real difference?
ReplyDeleteI've actually had to eliminate a lot for several reasons:
ReplyDeletea) I have chronic migraines (they run in my family), and have had to eliminate soy, MSG, nitrites, nuts, vinegar, artificial sweeteners (except saccharine and stevia) and tyramine from my diet (I also avoid bright fluorescent lights).
b) due to the GI troubles, which were both acid reflux and stomach cramps, last year my doctor had me eliminate wheat products, dairy, citrus, and chocolate (and also go on some medication). That helped a lot, but I started having some problems again when I returned to running this spring.
c) So, went back to the GI doctor this spring, and he noted that oatmeal actually does have gluten in it, and that dried fruit can be very irritating to the stomach, and is often times processed with wheat (they use the wheat to keep the fruit from sticking to stuff as it's processed). So, cut those out. And life has been MUCH better in the few weeks since.
The big positive is, migraine dietary triggers are a cumulative thing -- generally your system is more likely to have a migraine triggered if it's already under stress, be it from being sick or being under work stress or eating things that annoy your stomach. So I'm now experimenting carefully with stuff like nuts, tyramine, etc, to see if I can add them back in. If I can eat peanut butter again, I'm a very happy girl :)