Making it to the Boston Marathon 2014

Hi Enrique – So good you are still swimming and not feeling the TMS symptoms right now. Sometimes an easy workout is a great confidence booster. It’s true, after a year the body should be healed. I have to keep reminding myself that about my shin which I do think was truly injured 2 years ago (from running huge runs and then the 50K race).

I took off almost a week from running, had a sports massage that focused on my shin (this helped me right before the Philly marathon) and then ran last night. It went well. Just did 4 easy flat miles to get back into the groove and build some confidence. Today’s a bike day (rode to work ) and then I’ll try and run Friday-Sunday. Staying positive and trying not to let my TMS consume me. I’m also taking the pressure off myself by not worrying too much about the Baystate Marathon on 10-20-13. If I can only run the half marathon it will be OK. My coach is going to modify my training for July so there are no track workouts. Perhaps I still need to build more base mileage and get my lower legs stronger.

Very cool about starting a meditation practice! I started off with 7 minutes and then each week increased it by a minute. But I have been steady at 10 minutes for a few weeks. I do think it is really helpful especially while we battle TMS. I bought a few books at the Meditation/Retreat a couple weeks ago but will check out Waking the Tiger. It sounds familiar to me….The book I’m reading right now is about Meditations for Healing (book is at home so I can’t give you the author and correct title). I’m hoping this might be helpful too.
I will see the TMS doctor on July 5th but am not too excited about a 3.5 hour drive each way and spending most of the day in the car. But a small price for something that might be helpful in getting over my TMS/shin issues.

Monte sent out a letter earlier this week which was helpful. Here are the key paragraphs that resonated with me:

“Have you heard the adage: "Learn the lessons that life comes to teach rather than resenting the teacher". TMS is a teacher, it is not a punishment! TMS is essentially a learning experience/situation/challenge that has a message. The big picture message of TMS is that something is out of Balance in your life. We are quite fortunate that our mind-body system has an inborn mechanism that seeks balance. Our job is to make some adjustments (minor or major) in how we are Being. What are our big, huge tension generators? Perfecting, Pleasing, Striving, Holding in feelings, Controlling, Being Competitive or Overly self-conscious, Habitual worry? When we are heavy duty in some or all of these patterns we are (1) Generating Inner Tension and we are (2) Repressing or Avoiding our Emotions. Eventually we get the effects of this unbalanced way of being.”

“Fear, doubt and rational/intellectual thinking. These are the typical qualities of the person who has not accepted TMS 100%. Again, Dr. Sarno's genius was making us aware of the intelligent Pain/Distraction Strategy associated with TMS. People keep the strategy 'alive' with fear, doubt and rational/intellectual thinking. Fear consumes and keeps you focused on the body and who can fix you. Doubt keeps you searching for a different cause or treatment. Rational/intellectual thinking is the sophisticated way to stay stuck. You can rationalize almost every TMS symptom into a physical cause or dysfunction if you try. The more you rationalize and intellectualize your symptoms the more irrational TMS will respond to you. It's all distraction. Distraction is your enemy and the TMS Strategy's best friend. Belief, Confidence, Conviction and Acceptance are your invisible allies that reverse and defeat the TMS strategy. These are also the qualities that allow you to genuinely live the lifestyle approach to reversing TMS.”

 

Well I made it through the weekend with a 6 miler on Friday, a 6 miler on Saturday and then 13 miles on Sunday with my shin still doing OK. Taking almost a week off prior to that, stretching and icing seemed to help. At this point I think it was combination of TMS and a real beginning of a shin splint from running.

The funny thing is that on my 13 miler my right inner ankle started to feel sore and it’s been sore since. But this is TMS I have gotten a few times while running and it eventually goes away. It’s more of a nuisance that tries to get me to worry. Monte helped me a lot with this particular TMS symptom last summer when I started increasing my long runs. So I’m betting my ankle will be fine once again. I actually welcomed this TMS symptom as I wasn’t focusing on my shin which did pretty well on that longer run. Any TMS symptom is better than a sore shin for me personally!!

So today is an easy 5 miler and I look forward to getting out for my run. Hope everyone else is doing well with their running, biking, swimming, etc…

 

Wow. It sounds like you are doing really great! That's more volume in 3 days than I'm putting in weekly Thanks for posting those paragraphs from Monte. It's good stuff.

I'm doing well also. My running is coming along and I'm working on my speed and strength (hills). I'm not feeling any pains below the waist except for some gluteal pain on the right side which I supposed could be construed as piriformis pain if I was to diagnose myself. I don't have a TMS Doc so I must do that. I know that piriformis syndrome is a TMS equivalent so I am treating it like that. Just thinking psychological. I have had the pain to a very slight degree since I started running again in February, but it hasn't impeded me in any way.. it's just there.

On Saturday, I did a 1 hour bike ride which I did broke up into 20 minute segments (easy, medium, easy). I am not using a power meter as I was last year so I am just using my sense of RPE to judge what those intensities are. 1 hour is the longest I've ridden with some intensity thrown in. It's REALLY interesting that when the middle segment started, my mind immediately went to thoughts driven by fear. "Am I going to hurt myself again?", "The last time I did this kind of workout I re-injured my knee again", "If I hurt my knee know, I will not be able to run for a while and lose my fitness again.". I had to fight off those thoughts pretty hard. It took all my concentration to move away from those thoughts and think of something else. It was a big, big struggle in my mind. But in the end I won. I finished the 20 minute medium segment with no pain and the final 20 minutes feeling really good.

I've had to curtail my plans to do the Half Ironman in August and will do the Olympic distance race instead. I'm just not going to have enough volume built up to finish the race even. So the Oly should be more realistic as far as my preparedness. I'll do one more sprint tri on 7/20 as a fun event and then the Oly in August. I'm really having a blast just being able to swim/bike/run again.

Stay the course Joyce. You're doing great!!

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement Enrique. I’m so glad your training is going well too. I do think the piriformis pain is indeed TMS. Monte used to get that all the time while running before he discovered TMS. I think the reason I haven’t gotten it yet is that I already believe that piriformis symptoms are TMS and I would just dismiss it right away after reading Monte’s books. And after reading an account of a runner overcoming IT band syndrome in one of Dr Sopher’s testimonies, I no longer have IT band problems like I did this past January. Funny how 100% true belief can keep certain “running injuries” away.

I sometimes get TMS symptoms in my left knee when cycling. But the more I ride and the less I worry about it the better it becomes. I didn’t feel anything this morning on my bike commute to work (14 miles one way). So I bet your knee TMS symptoms will eventually become a thing of the past.
I think it’s smart to change your tri goal to an Olympic distance if you feel you are not ready for a half ironman. There’s nothing wrong with that. An Olympic distance sounds fun and I bet you will do very well. You can think of it as a stepping stone for when you are ready for the half ironman.

Yesterday’s 5 mile run went well and just some minor soreness in my right ankle which I’m not really too worried about. I know that is just TMS. Luckily my shin has been behaving. I am still icing, stretching and foam rolling but with the shin I can’t take any chances. I didn’t ice my ankle as I feel it’s just TMS and it’s only mild oxygen deprivation to that area. I have 3 months of official training under my belt so there’s no reason for a sore ankle!

Looking forward to a 4 day weekend!! It’s been extremely rainy here in the North East and it feels like a tropical rain forest lately. But I think the weather might be better for the weekend. Hoping to do a 50 miler on my road bike this Friday or Saturday. And I’m also hoping to get an open water swim done on top of my running. Sunday will hopefully be a 14 mile run.

Hope you all have a nice weekend!

 

Speaking of weather, we have a heat wave going on over on the west coast. It's been hovering near 100 degrees each day over where I live so running outdoors has been challenging. This morning I got up and went for a 6 miler and it was already 75 deg outside. It was a threshold run so when I got back I was totally soaked and heat was emanating from me for the next hour it seemed.

I've been continuing the mediation practice and now I'm on the 2nd week of the 8min meditation plan. The focus is on "sound". It's called the naked sound meditation I think. I'm finding it all very soothing and I think is helping me with my ability to just "allow, allow, allow" thoughts, feelings, etc to happen and just observe them before letting them go. It's very interesting. I haven't followed through as quickly as I hoped with some of the other TMS work I had planned, such as the new Gordon Program, but I'm making progress with my pains regardless. Oh, and I almost forgot, I went for a swim on Monday and although I felt some pain during the day in my shoulder, I went and did an easy 1350 yrd swim and felt nothing.... go figure.

Are you still going to visit the TMS Doc? I think you said you have an appointment tomorrow? Well, Happy Fourth of July and enjoy the 4 day weekend and your bike ride... sounds like fun! I'll be taking next week off of work since I have so much vacation time saved up and my kids are off of school so there's too much fun to be had. I hope to do some outdoor riding as well as I've only done indoor trainer type of riding since I started back up.

Best!

 

Hi Enrique – I keep hearing how hot it is out West! We haven’t gotten temps quite that high but the humidity is quite bad. Your meditation sounds really cool! I did a meditation class similar to that at work last year where we would label different sounds we heard. I was doing well with my meditation until the long 4 day weekend where I kept forgetting . I’m usually good about meditating as part of my week night routine and will get back to it tonight.

I was supposed to see the TMS doc this past Friday near Boston, MA. I decided I just didn’t want to be in the car all day and miss out on a day to get in a long bike ride. I might reschedule but am going to see how things go in the next few weeks. Part of me feels this doc isn’t going to be sure whether my shin is a real shin splint or TMS. I wish I could have some sort of correspondence with the Doc before committing to another day off and long drive. My shin gets better with rest, ice and massage which is how a real shin splint behaves according to Monte.

And speaking of my shin, it’s been hanging in there. I do feel random twinges while running but nothing alarming so far. I ran 14 miles yesterday and it went well. I did feel some soreness when I would touch my shin area later after the run but today it seems OK. I’m not out of the woods yet but trying to remain positive that I can overcome this shin splint. I’m always stretching my calves and shin and always icing now after my runs which is something I didn’t do that much in the past with my shin splint.

We did a 51 mile bike ride on Friday (first 50ish miler this year) and it was really fun. Hot, humid and a little rain, but fun! I think being happy and doing what I wanted on my 4 day weekend contributed to healthy running. I would have been miserable sitting in the car all day on Friday. Perhaps I missed out but for now I’m OK with that. I left it with the receptionist that I would try and reschedule in a couple weeks or so.

Hope everyone had a fun pain-free weekend

 

Hi, Yes, I didn't meditate much this weekend because I was totally out of my routine while we were up in Sacramento. However, I got back to it this morning. The naked sound meditation is not all that easy for me because one is supposed to hear sound and try not to associate it with the thing that is making the sound. I find that a little difficult, but sometimes I feel like I'm able to do it for a very brief moment.

It sounds like you made the best decision for yourself to not go to the Doctor. Given that your shin is holding up fine, you are likely doing the right things. 14 miles is a pretty long run! It may not seem like it when you're training for a marathon, but when you are coming from zero miles 4 months ago (like me), that is a very long run.

I ran 7 miles at 10k pace this Saturday and felt great. The weather was much cooler than it's been recently so I was able to more easily hold a desired pace and best thing about it... no pain whatsoever. I hardly thought about my knee and Achilles at all. Things are going great when it comes to my running. I am now going to add some focus to my biking intensity, adding a little bit at a time to build up confidence.

I'm on vacation this week so I'm off for an easy bike ride with my son and then to the running shoe store to buy a new pair of badly needed trail shoes!

 

Wow, 7 miles at a 10K pace is excellent! I would be more fearful of doing that rather than doing 14 moderate miles like I did last Sunday. For me intensity is my fear and I need to gradually loose those feelings. That being said I did some light speed intervals yesterday afternoon. Just one minute hard and 4 minutes easy for 3 miles within a 7 miles run. I ran at various paces (marathon pace to even what might be a 5K pace). It went well and I only felt a few minor sensations. And today my shin seems OK. I think for now I am only going to do one day of intensity per week until I have more confidence and I feel my shin is all better.

My coach was on vacation for almost a month and I’ve been doing my own thing after taking almost a week off while she was away. Still haven’t heard from her but if worse comes to worse I think I can coach myself based on what my old coach had me doing last summer for the Philly marathon. I did send a check so I do hope to hear from her!

Hope you found some good trail shoes. I haven’t been running trails with the constant rain. Right now our trails are in bad shape so I’m going to avoid them until they dry out a bit. And of course it's raining again this morning.

Hope you’re enjoying your vacation this week! Hope everyone is doing well.

 

Very good weekend and I feel like I'm making progress on my shin splint/TMS. Earlier last week I had exchanged a couple emails with Dr Sopher who feels pretty sure my shin is TMS. He said his daughter had shin splints until she started ignoring the advice of her coach/trainer and listened to Dr Sopher. That was helpful. And according to Dr Sopher, TMS can even present itself as a very severe shin splint. I'm starting to believe my recent shin episode is just another outbreak of TMS.

That all being said my shin was very good this weekend. I road my bike 64 miles on Saturday which included a climb up Smugglers Notch and then ran 15 miles on Sunday. I even did my first open water swim with a group of friends which was a mile long before our bike ride. Finally got to use my wet suit for the first time. And my shin and body parts are doing well today after all that! It was a lot for us to do in one weekend! I can't believe I don't feel more tired . The great news is my shin is no worse but a bit better. I'd say it's 90-93% healthy.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

 

Sounds like you're doing great!! That's awesome.

I did get my new trail shoes, but returned them. I went out for a run and my left foot started hurting. I think I need a shoe with more heel/sole in it. I've used 4mm drops before with no problem, but that was last year. I may need to ease back into them at a future time. For now I will use bigger heeled shoes. I took a week off running and plan to do a light session tomorrow as it is feeling much better today.

I did get my mountain bike out from storage and cleaned it, oiled it. I went out for a couple of rides. My knee and Achilles are really doing great. I feel about 95% confident to go hard on the bike.

Be well out there!!

 

Trail shoes are such an individual thing. I can only run in Brooks Cascadias at the moment. My husband loves Solomon trail shoes. I won a nice pair of Solomons a couple years ago in a trail race. They hurt me on the top of my foot so they are sitting in my closet. Really too bad…

Mountain biking is great fun and super cross training! Our trails have been too muddy with all the rain so we haven’t been on our mountain bikes in a while. I bet you don’t have to worry about that out west right now!

Yesterday was a rest day for my legs from running and cycling. It was in the low 90s which is hot in Vermont so we went swimming. It was great. No wet suit as the water was too warm. I’m learning that I really love to swim in the open water. I do see triathlons in my future once I get through my fall marathon and Boston in April.

Shin is still doing well. And that’s the most important thing. Maybe Dr Sopher is right about the shins splints being just another presentation of TMS for runners.

 

Wow! What a coincidence that I ended up with Brooks Cascadias!! I took back the Merrell Mix Master 2's and got those instead. I haven't run in them yet, but they feel very comfy. Much more cushion than the mix masters. I'll use them for the Tri I'm doing this Saturday because the run portion is through packed jeep trail. It's another sprint like last month, but I am much more confident with my knee so might push on the bike a little more this time.

My Oly is next month and I did a 1 mile swim yesterday to build up my confidence with my shoulder. I didn't push the pace at all so it was very leisurely and peaceful. My shoulder felt fine during and afterward which bodes really well.

That's exciting that you're thinking about a Tri someday! You have the multiple sports already down. Just need to put them together during an event and make sure things like your pacing and nutrition are dialed in. Of course if you do a sprint, there's not much to get wrong since it's such a short distance.

Yes, the trails out here are very, very dry. I really love riding in the mountains, especially in the morning when it's most quiet and there are few people if any around. I used to go every weekend when I lived in San Francisco 22 yrs ago. We would head out on Saturday morning, cross the Golden Gate Bridge and ride to Marin where we would climb Mt. Tam and other nearby mountains. This was back when mountain biking was in it's early years so the bike I still have has no disc brakes or shocks and it's not very light at all. But I love it!!

All the Best to Everyone!

 

Yeah I prefer the Cascadias because they feel close enough to a road shoe when running on the trails. I also like them in the winter too for our dirt roads.

Regarding triathlons: lately people are asking me if I’m training for a triathlon. I am doing the biking and swimming and could probably pull one off. But it’s the transition and little things that I need to learn more about. I should read the book I purchased last year for beginner triathletes. I’m hoping next year will be the year…..although it is tempting to jump into a sprint just for kicks. I’ll keep everyone posted! My priority is getting to the Baystate Marathon in October.

Mtn biking is so awesome. I would love to ride out in Utah someday. It’s very technical here with the roots and rocks. And most of the time the trails can be wet and muddy. Wet rocks and roots can make it very tricky on top of all the mud. But I hear the West is a different kind of “technical” riding. Either way it’s just fun to be outside riding a bike on trails in the mountains!

TMS update: This morning I had the best run all week. I got up to run at 5:30 am to beat the heat and humidity and run 7 moderate miles. It’s supposed to be a record today with the heat! (eeek!). I ran with minimal sensations in my shin which was great after the last couple days. Last Wed I did some fartlek and while it didn’t go badly I did feel some twinges in my shin. And then again on yesterday’s recovery run I felt twinges and sensations for most of the run. I was worried it might get worse. I was doing a little skimming of SteveO’s book last night and felt more confident the twinges and sensations are just some manifestations of TMS. So perhaps it was really helpful in having a good run this morning.

Looking forward to some swimming and easier biking on Saturday (weather permitting) and a run on Sunday.

Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Friday!

 

Wow JoyceVT you are a powerful person with the spirit to match,
between you and Enriques thoughts , points , hardships and victorys
it has put a new fire in my spirit for today,
I love this thread of determination and will - fighting the good fight and winning
Did I say inspiration, you really got me as a fan, im rooting you on guys
God bless

 

Thanks Eric... I appreciate the encouragement!

Sorry I've been away for a bit. My 6 month project was coming to it's peak point this past weekend. We rolled out a new system to the entire 16,000 employees so it was a very, very long and complex weekend to say the least. Even so, I managed to sneak away and do a triathlon on Saturday morning unbeknownst to anyone at work... shhhhh don't say anything. I am in better shape than the one last month. I felt really good on the swim and my shoulder gave me no problems. I went really hard on the bike and my knee held up very well!! The only thing that didn't go so well, was that I went so hard on the bike that my legs were cramping within the first 100 yrds of the run . I looked like guy with stiff, stick legs. But by the end of that first mile I was feeling normal again... I finished very strong, running as fast as I could. Finished 25th out of 62 other men in my AG. Only 3 weeks now until the Olympic distance race and I feel really confident about it.

It sounds like you are doing really well, Joyce! Don't let those little twinges derail your confidence. Build it up and soon those twinges will, be history!! Hope the week is going well for you.

Best to Everyone!

 

Hi Eric – thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

Hi Enrique – congrats on a strong triathlon! Sounds like you are really getting over your TMS! And it will be a great building block for your Olympic distance tri! Confidence is the key and you got it! And I’m glad you could sneak away from work!

My running has been going well so far this week. We took the day off yesterday for my husband’s 45th birthday. We had a nice run and later went paddle boarding which we love. Great upper body and core workout! Plus it was refreshing to break our usual weekly pattern and enjoy the beauty of Vermont. I’m sure my arms will be sore later today but it’s a good soreness!

 

Man Enrique you really got it happening there, My lips are sealed- Your finishing position sounds great, and in better shape is always a good note to think on
that's really cool how you came outta your legs cramping within the first 100 yards- used to when my legs did that , it would be over, fear would win the day
now I know to keep my cool and they will let up- good luck on the Olympic distance race I know you have Tons of supporters here-
God Bless

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I know this goes against everything TMS doctors/Guru's teach but I have been using the green Superfeet inserts in my running shoes for the last week. They are supposed to help with mild over pronation which is said to cause shin splints. Seeing that it's been a 2 year off and on battle I decided to give them a try not thinking they would be helpful. But I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. My chiropractor thinks I should get orthotics and gave me the pair of Superfeet. (I see him for alignment and running health as he's worked with Olympic runners and is a wealth of running knowledge) Well my shin has been doing the best it’s been in a long time. I even did a hard 17 mile run yesterday with hills and a couple miles at planned marathon pace. While my legs are a little tired, my shin held up great.

So guess what's been happening! The top outside of my knees that were a little sore from maybe too much biking were sore off and on during the run while my shin was fine. Seems like TMS is finding a new place to attack. While it's a little better today, I now have fear about riding my commuter bike to work tomorrow. It seems that the commuter bike irritates my knees the most and running doesn't help. I was reading Monte's first book last night and it was helpful. I think I need to do a much better job at being vigilant with my TMS and not thinking "physical" which is what I've been doing lately. Easier said than done when you get stuck in a rut.

 

PS - my left upper arm has been a little sore when swimming this past week but nothing crazy. I do think this is TMS as well. I do need to get on top of my TMS if I ever want to do triathlons seriously. Marathons are hard enough but managing different aches and pains with 3 different sports could be daunting!

 

TMS update: So this week isn’t going badly at all in regards to my TMS saga. I did hard 9 mile tempo run with 5 miles at planned marathon pace. It was more difficult because it was warm and sunny and I ran them a little bit faster. My shin and knees did great. I was too concerned with running fast enough for the tempo miles and wasn’t focused on my TMS. Even after the run everything seemed fine. I still sat in a cold mtn stream, iced, stretched and foam rolled (for overall health and proper recovery)

This morning I noticed the back of my leg (above Achilles and below the big calf muscle) is a bit sore from the hard run yesterday. It was a little sore even on the foam roller this morning (but was fine last night). So I think this is just some minor muscle/tendon soreness that should be fine in a few days. After all it was the hardest run I’ve done in a while but it was what my coach prescribed for that day.

On my bike commute to work my knees were fine until the last 3 miles where the top outsides became a little achy. I really do think this is just another manifestation of TMS. My knees are not fragile and I’ve been commuting since the very beginning of June. Plus my commute is not a long strenuous ride. I am going to put the TMS to the test and ride my road bike longer on Saturday for run. F*#K you TMS!

I’ve been re-reading Monte’s first book (the little blue book on How to Get Rid of the Pain in your Butt) at night and I find it so helpful. I love this book and find it more helpful then the one he’s selling right now on his website. That one is very good too and definitely worth having! But I just seem to be drawn back to this first one. It’s just a personal preference. It helped me run my first two half marathons with minimal problems a few years ago. I think it’s out of print but maybe Monte has a few copies.

http://www.amazon.com/Pain-Your-But...&qid=1375362699&sr=1-1&keywords=monte+hueftle

Hope everyone is doing well.