See Diva Run

January ended so much better than it started! My goal for 2009 is 260 hours of exercise, which is 5 hours per week. I got 31.3 during the month of January. That time included time spent stretching and building strength as well as aerobic activities, but stretching and strengthening make the more strenuous activities possible.

Last Month

* You exercised 63 times on 27 days, for 31.3 hours, and a total of 101.47 miles.
* You did flexibility 12 times on 12 days, for 3.3 hours.
* You did other (rowing) 12 times on 12 days, for 4.6 hours.
* You ran 13 times on 13 days, for 9.4 hours, and a total of 48.2 miles.
* You did strength training 14 times on 14 days, for 5.1 hours.
* You walked 12 times on 12 days, for 8.9 hours, and a total of 30.17 miles.

I ended the month strong with my best rowing workout in months (5.3 miles in 29 minutes) on Friday, and a 5 mile run on Saturday (my longest since early December). I even managed a 2 minute plank for the first time in months on Friday. My total running miles for the week were 12.25. I feel much stronger, but I know I have a lot of work left to do. I’ve been doing a lot of core work, and made progress everywhere buy my abductors. They remain tight and weak, and can be quite painful after exercise. I read this week that weak abductors are associated with lower extremity injuries in women. If only I had known that when I first started dealing with plantar fasciitis 15 months ago!

This week is going to be very difficult due to work and family obligations, so there may not be much exercise. We’ll call it a rest week.

Would you believe that I flew to San Antonio for the Rock n Roll Half Marathon, and forgot to take the Flector patches? If you haven’t been following the blog, I’ve been suffering from plantar fasciitis (The Fascist) for a year, and the Flector patch is a topical treatment I apply to my foot every night. The patch makes such a difference, that I noticed immediately the first morning I woke up without it. I limped around the expo, and bought a pack of Salonpas patches. I also picked up a sample pack of something called Emuprofen, which is an Ibuprofen cream that also contains emu oil.

After the race, the walk back to the hotel was more than a mile. By the time we got to the hotel I was barely hobbling. I iced my feet for a long time before showering. After the shower I decided to use some of the Emuprofen cream. I applied it to the soles of my feet, my calves and my sore toenails. We finished getting ready, and met our friend Kevin down in the lobby to go for dinner. I was still not feeling great, but Kevin observed that I was walking normally. That was an improvement. We picked up another friend and then drove to Mi Terra for a fabulous dinner. We were in the car for at least 30 minutes. When we parked I went to ease out of the car, expecting the worst. To my surprise, it didn’t hurt. We walked a block to the restaurant, and then wandered the open market while waiting for our table. I didn’t hurt at all. I couldn’t believe it. Not hurting has been a rarity for the last few months.

We sat down to dinner, and were there for at least an hour. When I got up, I hesitated, waiting for the pain that was bound to be there, but it wasn’t. Everyone was tired, so we made an early evening of it. I applied a little more before bed. The next morning I felt better than I had when I woke up the morning of the race. How crazy is that? We wandered up to the Alamo and around the downtown area, then walked the entire Riverwalk, including a section of trail that runs along the river but is not part of the Riverwalk. We must have walked at least 5 miles, if not more. By the time we got back to our room, I was starting to feel a little achy. I iced my feet for about 20 minutes, and applied more Emuprofen. I was still feeling a little achy on the walk to dinner. We had a 20 minute wait, which was mildly uncomfortable. After dinner when I got to my feet, there was no pain at all. We had a pleasant walk back to the hotel.

The really amazing part is that I still felt good the next morning, even though I had used all of the Emuprofen the night before. I tried ordering it online at Emuprofen.com before we left San Antonio, but I never got a confirmation e-mail. On Friday, when I was starting to recover from my stomach problems, I gave them a call and asked if my order had gone through. It hadn’t, but they took it over the phone. It arrived today, and I swear I was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning. It is more effective than the Flector patch, and at $29.95, it costs as much as my co-pay for the patch. I’m using it for the inflammation in my neck & shoulders, too. Tonight, I’m a very happy diva. If it hadn’t been for the amazing results I saw in San Antonio, I wouldn’t be contemplating the Tahoe Triple.

I did a little web searching today, and found that I wasn’t the only person who picked up a sample in San Antonio. Check out Jill’s product review. I also found out that you can by Emuprofen from Amazon.com, and get free shipping. I paid $3.95 for priority mail. It was worth it!

Emuprofen Topical Ibuprofen Cream

One of these days I might even write a race report!

I thought I should pop in and let everyone know that I did survive the Rock n Roll San Antonio Half Marathon, plus a few miles of walking to the start and back to the hotel. Our finish time was a personal worst by 17 minutes, and that is going to bug me for a while, but it will also be the inspiration for a few serious efforts at a PR for the half in 2009. Perhaps the biggest news of all is that I seem to have recovered from plantar fasciitis. I’ll dedicate a future post to that subject. I will also write a race report eventually. Right now, I’m going to share a cautionary tale about NSAIDs.

As I mentioned in the “topical post“, I spent most of the month of September in extreme abdominal pain from taking an anti-inflammatory medication called Daypro. Now that I have learned more about the potential side effects, I guess I was lucky that mine were limited to abdominal pain and the chills. I stayed on the medication as long as I could, but after 3 weeks I was barely functional, my family was worried, and my foot wasn’t any better, so I quit taking it. There have been times in the past where I took Ibuprofen for a prolonged period, and had a milder reaction. Avoiding Ibuprofen for a few weeks cleared everything up, so I have avoided Ibuprofen since I quit taking Daypro.

Tuesday morning, I woke up in San Antonio with a pain in the neck, and I don’t mean Mr. Diva. Knowing I had a long day of flying ahead, and no Tylenol left in the bottle, I took 2 Ibuprofen on an empty stomach. We drove to the airport, and had scrambled eggs while waiting for our flight. Things were fine for the first part of the trip. We got to Houston, walked to the next concourse, and boarded our next flight about 20 minutes later. Sadly there were mechanical problems which kept us sitting in a warm stuffy jet for about an hour. I was starting to feel a little nauseous, and was relieved when we finally took off. I had trouble concentrating on my magazine, so I took a nap. By the time we got to Seattle, I was experiencing sharp abdominal pains, and not looking forward to the drive home. I managed to keep my wits about me on the drive. I even managed to keep it together long enough to ferry the canine/feline Divas home from the Snohomish VCA “resort”.

Once everyone was home, I put on 2 layers of sweatshirts and crawled into a sleeping bag. I woke up about 2am in some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Worse than labor, because I didn’t know if it was going to end. It felt serious. I was pretty sure I should go to the hospital emergency room, but I was too sick & weak to get upstairs to tell Mr Diva. I woke up again at 6:30, when Jasmine was scratching frantically at the door. I took her out, and decided that I would probably live. I called my boss to tell her I was taking a sick day, and crawled back in bed. I slept all day, but felt bad again in the evening, but not as bad. On Thursday I crawled to my desk and read my 300+ work e-mails. Then, to my surprise, I got a meeting reminder about an appointment with RunDoctor. I dragged myself upstairs for a quick shower, and then rushed off, thinking I might stop and see my family doctor on the way back.

I must have looked bad, because they offered me a wheelchair when I got to my doctor’s office. The consensus was that I should have quit taking the Daypro when I first started experiencing the extreme symptoms. For now, I get to take ulcer medication and eat really bland food. Fortunately, I love Cheerios and oatmeal. I also like mashed potatoes, but I think I’ll be glad when I can eat something else. The nausea makes it difficult for me to drink enough fluids, and I’m so tired, I’m heading for bed by 8:30 or 9:00. On a positive note, I think I’m going to lose a pound or two this week.

Knowing how runners just want to run, and will do whatever it takes to keep running, please take note. I did everything wrong in my approach to plantar fasciitis, and I absolutely should have quit taking the Daypro long before I did. If you have a tendency toward stomach issues, avoid the Aleve and the Advil in favor of a topical treatment. If you must take oral NSAIDs, there are drugs (misoprostol, sucralfate) that have been developed to prevent the damage to your stomach lining. If you start having abdominal pain, ask your doctor to prescribe one for you.

Jasmine asked me to tell you that she is feeling fabulous. The crackles that appeared in her right lung a couple weeks ago are gone, and she is back on her regular diuretic dosage. The Adequon shorts are working wonders, and she is jogging around the neighborhood as if she were a much younger girl. Her appetite is excellent, and she wishes that I would hurry up and get over whatever is ailing me, so we can have better adventures, and something other than mashed potatoes for dinner.

I have been engaged in mortal combat with “The Fascist” since last December. The Fascist is the evil dictator who overthrew my plantar fascia last year, and has been perpetuating a “rein of terror” ever since. In fact the entire right side of my body seems to be engaged in guerilla warfare, as I’ve got pain from my hip to my foot, which brings us to the actual subject of this post — topical analgesics and anti-inflammatories.

After whining to 3 different doctors about “it hurts even if I don’t do that”, I decided to stick with the RunDoctor, because he was highly recommended by Shelby at Run 26, and because he seemed a bit more thorough than the previous 2. RunDoctor suggested an aggressive treatment plan that included anti-inflammatory medication. He prescribed something called Daypro, and said it was the equivalent of a boatload (OK, I forgot the actual amount) of Ibuprofen. I said that much Ibuprofen would make you sick. He smiled and said “this will make you sick”. It was both evil and endearing. I knew he was the doctor for me.

So I headed to Target pharmacy with prescription in hand. The pharmacist handed me a bottle of horsey-sized pills. The directions say take 2 tablets, once each day. He looked at me, shook his head and said, “you better start off with one”. So I started with one per day, and I tolerated it OK. The Fascist was particularly nasty, so I bumped the does up to 2 tablets. After about 3 days of this, I was so sick I could barely crawl out of bed in the morning. Fortunately I work from home (in the room where I sleep), so I could crawl if I had to. According to the instructions, I should have discontinued use immediately, but I was hoping the drugs would kill The Fascist before they killed me. To be honest, I don’t think The Fascist even noticed, but I was so sick, I didn’t notice The Fascist. After a week of this, friends & family were worried, and strongly encouraging me to stop taking the Daypro. Desperate to overthrow The Fascist, I agreed to cut the dose back to 1 tablet. It helped some. Now I was only sick for a few hours every day, instead of around the clock. Just hours before the Expedition Everest Challenge, I was drinking Sprite and praying I wouldn’t have to throw up in the Corral. The Fascist was undeterred by all of this, so after 3 weeks, I gave up.

I told RunDoctor that I couldn’t handle the Daypro, and that at this point, I wouldn’t be able to take any NSAIDs for a few weeks. That is when he told me about the Flector patch. The Flector patch is kind of like a giant bandaid that is loaded up with anti-inflammatory medication. I took my new prescription and raced back to Target, eager to take my next shot at The Fascist. I stuck one to my right foot before bed that night, and the next morning there was a noticeable reduction in the bruised sensation. The Fascist had been hit! I’ve been using the patches for about a week, and while the inflammation isn’t gone, The Fascist is losing ground. If you have a low tolerance for NSAIDs, but need an anti-inflammatory for a sports injury, ask your doctor about the Flector patch. It totally beats being sick all of the time.

I’ve been thinking that if I could mummify myself in patches at night, I might get over whatever the heck it is that is wrong with me. Failing that, I’ve been taking the edge off my hip pain with Salonpas patches. Other topical treatments that have worked for me (depending on the problem) are Biofreeze and Jones Formula 23. I discovered Jones Formula 23 at the PF Chang’s expo, when I was already battling the fascist. It eased the pain in my foot, but The Fascist is determined, and soon I had pain up and down the right side of my body, which is where this post started, so I guess it must now be done.

The tough

• Go running, but the going has been pretty stressful lately and I’ve run myself into a serious case of plantar fasciitis. Today I had to take a rest day, but tomorrow I will run again, no matter how much it hurts, because it also hurts to not run.
• Drink a little alchohol. I admit it, last night I poured a couple shots of white chocolate liquer into my low calorie hot chocolate, and then topped it with a little whipped cream. Not the way to meet my weight loss challenge goal.
• Eat chocolate. Ahh, sweet chocolate. I’ve been limiting myself to a piece before my run, but today I did have a single Malibu Rum filled chocolate.
• Drink tea. I am so over caffeinated I’m ready to jump out of my skin. This is not the way to cope with stress, but at least I get exercise dashing to the bathroom.
• What’s left? Well I had 3 minutes between phone meetings today. I was stressed out and desperate for a distraction when I saw my hot pink Hula Hoop. I grabbed it and spent 2 minutes Hula Hooping badly, which made me laugh so hard I felt a little better.
• Watch Airplane! After spending the day telling people I’d picked a bad week to quit sniffing glue, it finally occurred to me to watch the movie and have a few more laughs. I guess there are ways to relieve stress without running or gaining weight

Speaking of the tough, there are new episodes of Ninja Warrior on G4. Ninja Warrior is a Japanese obstacle course competition that is just incredible. Our son-in-law introduced us to it on our first visit to Mississippi. The most recent course is the toughest ever. If you haven’t seen it before, check it out http://www.g4tv.com/ninjawarrior

Speaking of Hula Hoops, did you know about the Hula Hoop work out? I bought my first hoop a few months ago, because I was doing hip circles to relieve stress on my hips, and I thought it might be less ridiculous if I used a Hula Hoop. It wasn’t. When I had a little trouble getting the hoop to work, I did a quick Google search and discovered a number of sites dedicated to hoop work outs. Who knew? You can buy special workout hoops for only $50, or you can make one yourself for only a few dollars. You can buy work out DVDs where skinny models pretend they got that way from hooping. According to this Mayo Clinic article, the hoop work out is not a joke.

http://www.sports-hoop.com
http://www.heavyhoop.com
http://www.jasonunbound.com/hoops.html
http://www.fitnesshulahoop.com/
http://www.hooping.org/

Welcome to Diva’s Chamber of Horrors where I spend my days (and many evenings) being tortured by databases and the people who abuse them, and my evenings running on the treadmill. The lounge chair is dual purpose. It keeps Jasmine from going in the laundry room to bother the cat, and I also use it for leg lifts that work my hips and thighs without straining my lower back. There is also a wobble board, because I am unbalanced.