More Thoughts on Athlete Identity and Next Week’s Goal

Date: March 15, 2015

Author: astottler

I love reading all your comments on athletic identity! I think that with all I do, I am still an athlete, but I just seem to have a mental block about realizing that. I think part of this recent feeling stems from the fact that I haven’t exactly been pushing hard in my workouts lately-while being sick for a while, I felt like I was just in maintenance and survival mode, but now I’m ready to get after it! This was especially apparent when I did Crossfit Open 15.3-I swear I used to be better at wall balls!

15.3 was 7 muscle ups, 50 wall balls, and 100 double unders, for 14 minutes. Since I am definitely not able to do a muscle up, I did the scaled which was 50 wall balls, and 200 singles for 14 minutes. I initially wanted to try double unders but after trying for a while, it was just taking too long. This one was tough-my arms were dead. Partially probably due to the fact that we did a TON of push ups the day before and so my shoulders were already sore!

Also-I’m feeling more like an athlete after today’s half training run. I’m back to double digits! I started the morning with my typical pre-run breakfast, jazzed up with some frozen blueberries. It’s basically a mess of egg whites, banana, and a few oats. I would normally put cocoa powder in it, but I’m not reacting too well to chocolate as far as I know, and didn’t want to take any chances.

After my foot felt really good all week, it flared up on me again yesterday. I used twice last night, and I still woke up with it sore. I even iced immediately upon waking up. I honestly didn’t have too high hopes for the run, given my foot and the fact that I felt pretty sluggish last week, but ended up surprising myself and having a great run.

My left calf had been a little tight this week, and strangely enough my calves get less tired if I’m running a little faster, so I picked up the pace a bit at the beginning and just got in a groove. I was well under a 10:00 mile for most of the run (minus a hilly mile) and kept up my splits right to the last mile. Ok? I’ll take it!

I think the fact that I was eating less junk this week totally helped! Also-in terms of race day plans, I’m not trying to PR. I just want to enjoy the race. In my last race, I ran all of my training runs at a pace to PR (in the heat and humidity no less), and went out way too fast, and ended up crashing hard at the end as a result, leading to one of my worse times. So no flying and dying for me this time!

Next week is finals week, so I went home after my run for Physics help and a home cooked meal. This is chicken and dumplings from Cooking Light-the dumplings are stops of whole wheat tortilla! The perfect mix of protein, carbs, and salt post-run!

We also had some blueberry pie, because pi day! I don’t have a picture of that, but here are the mini pies I had last night! My sorority sold them to raise money for our philanthropies (and yes, selling pie on pi day was totally my idea…). My friend and I split mixed berry and apricot.

In terms of finals, I have one Monday, one Tuesday, and one Friday. Luckily, I seem to be on track with my studying so far, which is why I actually have time to post this!

So-weekly goals. This past week’s goal was pretty successful-I think I nailed 5.5/7 breakfasts and lunches this week! So moving on to this week’s goal: no nighttime eating. During dead and finals week, there are treats and study snacks at every corner. While I know some people swear by their nighttime snacks, for some reason eating late at night always gives me stomachaches. While I would say I’m 99% fine after being sick, things that would normally give me a stomachache are magnified, and nightly snacks have not been kind to me as of late. So that’s this week’s goal-I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes!

Did you have pie for pi day?

Life With Plantar Fasciitis

Date: November 17, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! As promised, I’m doing a “real” post today.

As most of you probably know, I’ve been dealing with plantar fasciitis for about a year now. This is a fairly common chronic injury, especially in runners, so I thought I’d go through what my experience with it is, and some ways I manage it. For those that don’t know, plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the plantar fascia, and normally appears as heel or arch pain.I’ll start by going through what I might do with it during a normal day.

Wake up. Remove my night brace. This thing is amazing and helps so much, but I can’t stand to have one on both of my feet at once. Luckily, right now one foot is much better than the other so this is fine. The brace keeps my foot flexed, which keeps everything stretched out so I don’t wake up so stiff.

If it’s bad, I might take some Advil right away, especially if I’m running. I usually don’t have to do this though. If I’m running, I stretch and then head out. I often stop to stretch my calves a little during the run. Besides making it feel a little better, I also do this because the extra stretching keeps my calves looser overall, and calf tightness can make plantar fasciitis worse.

After the run, I really should ice. I generally don’t have a ton of time to before class, but I can usually at least put in a few minutes with the frozen water bottle, which I use to roll out my heels and arches. Just a little bit of icing can go a long way in terms of pain for the rest of the day.

Then, I generally take Advil (if I haven’t already) if I want hope of being able to walk that day. The day of a run is generally the worst. Sometimes the day after is pretty bad, but by 2 days after it is pretty good.

And then in the evening, if it is sore, I’ll ice. If I’m running the next day, I’ll probably take Advil. Honestly, the pain level is WAY better when I’m taking Advil constantly, but I really don’t like to have to do that.

You’re probably seeing a theme-antinflammatories are super important!

So let’s now talk about some things to expect.

1. I don’t run back to back days, in general. If I do, I have to be pretty careful the first day of running to take really good care of my feet post-run. Another thing I’m starting to do is if I run Sunday morning, I’ll push Monday morning’s run to Monday afternoon.

2. I can’t wear any shoes. I am banned from wearing flip flops. In general, if you have plantar fasciitis, you probably need to be prepared to spend some money. Good shoes with good support is crucial. And on top of good shoes, you may need orthopedic inserts. Pretty much all my shoes at this point have some type of insert. Even the boots I just got that have pretty good general support have orthopedic inserts for extra arch support.

3. Replace running shoes often. I just replaced mine, and it made a world of difference.

4. For me, standing around a lot is a pretty surefire way to flare up the pain. While I know sitting generally isn’t good for you, I have to sit when I can.

5. For me, walking is the most painful activity. Period. Running is generally not too bad, but walking is so. awful. Especially if I’m walking somewhere after sitting in class for an hour.

6. Sometimes time off certain exercise is necessary. While this injury has still allowed me to run regularly, I did have to back out of a race and take some time completely off running.

7. It may flare up for no reason. My feet sometimes have a mind of their own, and I could do everything right and they’ll still hurt. Yayy.

8. I almost always do Crossfit in my running shoes now. I really like my Reebok Nanos, but if the workout has any significant amount of running (like more than a 400m warm up), I just can’t wear them. They have very little support, and my feet just aren’t happy with it.

9. Honestly, a chronic injury like this really stinks. It stinks to have to deal with pain on a regular basis. It stinks to be able to run one day, and barely hobble the next. But I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and I’ve learned to manage it so that running doesn’t usually hurt. It’s just unfortunate to have a chronic injury. I’m still optimistic that I can get rid of this, but it takes time and patience. I’ve started doing some exercises that I’m hoping will help, but I think it will be a while before I figure this out.

If you have any questions about plantar fasciitis-let me know and I’ll try to answer them!

Kinda Over It

Date: November 10, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m popping in again today to talk about running!

Despite definitely not going to bed early enough Saturday night, I was surprisingly up bright and early and ready to run. Since I’m not technically training for anything right now, my running schedule has been pretty low key and variable. The night before, I mapped out a route and made a playlist, which took me about 7.5 miles. It was a loop that went around the outer edge and beyond of campus.

Before the run, I had some dates and sunflower seed butter. I picked up some dates at the Farmer’s Market the other day, and I love having them for before a morning run for some quick energy.

The run went well. I went Garmin-less since I knew the route and distance. My foot was a little bit grumpy for the whole thing. It wasn’t the type of pain that made me stop or limp, but it was enough to be annoying.

My route took me past a whole bunch of changing trees with beautiful fall colors. This is actually the farthest distance I’ve done in a long time-since before taking time off to heal my foot! I’ve been running 6 miles pretty regularly, but nothing above that. Yeah…around the 6 mile point I was kind of over it, and my toes were hurting. I think 6 miles is my sweet spot right now! The race in my most near future is a 10k Turkey Trot, so ideally I’d be a little bit above 6!

Overall, great start to the day. Plus, brunch was open by the time I got back. I didn’t have nearly enough carbs the night before, so I was ready to dive in.

Salad, roasted kabocha, eggs with cream cheese, and a couple of raspberry white chocolate pancakes.

In the afternoon, I got a delivery from my parents-still warm homemade pumpkin bread! It’s a pretty healthy recipe (whole wheat flour) plus we tried some things with the sweetener so it wasn’t that sweet, which was great! The sweetener is a story for another day. It’s going to be nice to have before AM Crossfit. Luckily, some of it made it to the freezer but MAN is it good!

Dinner was a little weird/sad. It was Mexican food, but they tragically ran out of guacamole. Plus it was weird because they only had beef and fake meat, and the fake meat was really strange. I fixed my food into a taco salad, with a mini quesadilla on the side.

For dessert, I had a little bit of chocolate ice cream, and another slice of pumpkin bread as I was slicing and freezing some of it.

In terms of my eating, I probably should have had less pumpkin bread. In terms of the big picture, after tracking calories and activity for almost a week, I’m getting a sense of where I should be. That being said, a calorie is not a calorie, and certain foods result in different things. So I can’t just expect calories to do their magic!

What is your favorite pumpkin product?

I have to say I love the classic pumpkin bread!

Return to Running

Date: October 5, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well folks, for months and months I was planning on running a half marathon this morning. That very much did not happen. However, I’m SO glad I made the decision not to run. And the fact that it’s been about 95 degrees lately here and the race was in San Jose and not SF, which is much hotter. I’m so glad I didn’t run because had I run, I wouldn’t be able to walk right now. Or tomorrow, and possibly not for the next week. I wouldn’t be running for a while, and that’s still assuming I didn’t injure myself in a more serious manner (I was worried I was going to give myself stress fractures from limp-running so strangely).

Instead, here I am, capable of walking. I’m making my triumphant return to running tomorrow morning after 2 weeks off. I swear, it’s like I have completely different feet. My plantar fasciitis is still there, and it still has its ups and downs, but my feet feel better than they did in months.

I also rediscovered my love of spinning during this time. I think I spun 10 times in the past two weeks? It was awesome. I didn’t make it to much spin this past summer due to schedule issues.

So that’s what things have been like on the workout front lately, plus Crossfit of course. Friday’s workout was pausing back squats for the strength-it’s amazing how much harder these are than regular squats! To do a pausing back squat, count 2 seconds at the bottom. I used a weight that would have been insanely light for regular squats and it still left me sore! The conditioning portion was a bit brutal as well. What could be better than starting your Friday night with 90 wall balls? *I have no clue if I’m being sarcastic here or not.”

3 rds:

200m run (This was short and my feet felt good so I did this run)

100m Farmers carry

10 man makers

30 wall balls

[Man makers are performed with two dumbbells. One push up (on dumbbells), one row with each arm, and then a thruster with the dumbbells.]

In terms of food, meals have been sort of hit or miss lately.

HIT:

Yogurt bowl with mashed banana and cocoa powder, topped with sunbutter.

MISS:

The fact that the above yogurt bowl turned into brunch because I had lab through lunch. Or lunch could be the food I scarfed down immediately before dinner. Take your pick.

HIT:

These persimmons are amazing. I love my roommate.

MISS:

Dining hall dinner-the lentils were pretty salty. The kabocha was good though!

HIT:

Coffee from my favorite coffeeshop. A cappuccino.

MISS:

The above cappuccino was quite the trek across campus. At least biking back was easier caffeinated.

HIT:

Going to a different dining hall for breakfast and finding that they actually had edible eggs.

MISS:

Being too nervous to get up or move during the Giant’s game on Friday and instead scarfing down a bowl of egg whites and spinach before my afternoon class.

HIT:

Dining hall brunches have been good lately. Yesterday’s had butternut squash ravioli which was amazing, and a cinnamon roll that was good.

(Note: I try to stick to one “treat” during brunch.)

And then Sunday’s brunch which was banana chocolate chip pancakes and huevos rancheros.

Although I wasn’t a fan of the sides (vinegary kale and bulgar pilaf) for that one.

MISS:

Once again, I was glued to the Giant’s game through dinner so dinner consisted of pumpkin muffins my roommate made (amazing, by the way), egg whites, and cheese and crackers. It is what it is.

On that note, did anyone watch Saturday’s Giant’s game?? 18 innings! Insane. What a fantastic game (if you’re a Giant’s fan). Although I will admit, I stopped watching around the 15th inning because I decided it was time to move on with my life!

What are some of your “hits and misses” as of late?

DNS

Date: September 19, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Did not start.

Those are words no runner wants to see. But, I’ve decided to not run my next race-Rock n Roll San Jose-on October 4. Ever since my half about 2 weeks ago, my plantar fasciitis has been flaring worse than ever. After the race, I couldn’t walk for 2 days. I can’t go through day to day life without pain, and my training runs since the race I’ve gutted out. With my plantar fasciitis in the past, running wasn’t too much of a problem, but now it’s become extremely painful. Even worse is that the outside of my bad foot/ankle has started hurting as well.

In top of that, on my long run I felt totally undertrained. I was going to go into the race undertrained and with bad feet-I can’t even imagine what the aftermath of this race would be like.

And then I realized-why? Why would I torture myself to run this race? It’s not the race I trained for all summer-that one is over. (And I’m grateful I was able to explore DC on foot in the process.) I’m not getting paid to do this. No one is forcing me-I’m not a pro-runner. I think as a blogger it’s easy to get caught up in the hype of racing and the seriousness of the process.

So I’m actually doing the smart thing and taking a DNS. I’m bummed about this, but I would be even more bummed by slogging through painful runs leading up to race day, and the pain that would follow, not to mention the risk of a more serious or permanent injury.

The fact that I’m having trouble dragging myself out to run now because I’m lazy (my normal reason) but because I can’t stand the thought of pain is a sign that I need to take a step back. This foot issue was something I could deal with before, but it’s worse than it’s ever been and it’s time for a break. Starting Saturday, I am going to take 2 complete weeks off from running. By forgoing the race, in the day I would have raced I may be able to run pain free again. Worth it.

So expect to see lots of rowing and spinning in the next couple of week! In addition, I will be doing lots of icing, stretching, and rolling. I have comfortable shoes and inserts of every walk of life now. I also got a night brace that I tried for the first time last night, and it seemed to help quite a bit! It basically just keeps my foot in a flexed position so that it is not so stiff when I wake up.

So, that’s where I am right now! Here’s to 2 weeks of rest!

Have you ever had to back out of a race? Do you have any tips for plantar fasciitis?