Details, Details!

Since I've decided to forgo a steroid injection in my back, it's time to check in with some of the normal things that runners training for a big event worry about! It's nice to have these kinds of worries again.

New Timepiece: Sometime in the four months when I was confined to the recumbent bike full-time, my husband Dan took our Garmin Forerunner 110 on a trail run.....and though Dan (happily) came back, somehow the Garmin didn't. I didn't care at that point because I didn't need it. And when I started running outside again in June, I bought a cheap Casio stopwatch for $20. I didn't want to see my depressing paces anyway--it would have been counter-productive.

Now, however, with Darren interested in heart rates and my lactate threshold test coming up (date not yet set), it's time for me start paying attention to details again--not necessarily of pace, but definitely of heart rate. So, after consulting Cynthia, who sent me this excellent review (Cynthia's a bit of a gearhead herself!), I bought the Garmin Forerunner 210 last week.

It comes in my favorite color.

I've used it on two runs so far. I'm still ignoring pace for now, even on pick-ups. What I'm watching is that heart rate. It's definitely higher than the ones I see on the recumbent bike. But I'm not going to sweat it until I see the results of the lactate test and hear what Darren has to say. I'm mostly interested in setting a baseline.

Diet: My weight has stabilized back at the 128-130 range. Would I like it to be lower? Sure. But as the running as gradually ramped up, so has the appetite, and with my kids starting kindergarten and all the associated busy-ness and changes to our routine that we're already dealing with, I don't feel like doing anything more than maintaining my current habits (still no sweets except on Sunday, still trying to avoid chips and salsa and sometimes failing, still trying to eat more vegetables).

The only thing that's really bugging me about my diet is that on every long weekend run since I hit 50 minutes I've had to stop to use the bathroom. Sigh. I had that problem licked during Houston Marathon training late last year. Time to lick it again. What this means is watching carefully what I eat on Thursday and Friday before the long run. Less fiber. Less dairy. Fewer gassy vegetables. We'll see how tomorrow's long one goes. I'm still going to make sure there are some strategically placed bathrooms en route.

Races: Boy, would I like to do one! But it's still not my time.

Kathy and some of my other friends have suggested I do some of the fun races coming up around here. The Denver/Boulder area is about to get pretty amazing for race choices (it's actually always pretty amazing). Here's the one Kathy's doing--I've always wanted to do it--and here's an upcoming trail one I've wanted to try. The distances finally aren't beyond my capacity.

But with my back still not 100% and two long races on the calendar (the Detroit Half Marathon on October 21 and the California International Marathon on December 2), I'm going to let Darren tell me when I can race again and how far. It may be he won't let me do anything until Detroit, and I'm OK with that. I hired him because he is the expert. He wants me to get to those two starting lines healthy. That's what I want too.

Someday I'll be able to race every weekend again if I want to (and I'll probably want to), but right now running well in December is the thing I really care about. If Darren suggests an earlier short race, it'll be gravy.

Sleep: My kids going to kindergarten has been good for my own sleep routine. When they were in preschool, we could all wander in after 9 a.m. and no one cared. At their elementary school, they have to be there by 7:55 sharp, which means I need to be finished with my run by 6:30 to get them up, fed and ready. Which in turn means I'm getting up earlier for my run and have been much less tempted to read or putter around until 11 p.m. the night before.

Doctors and Other Therapy: I'm now seeing only Dr. Hansen, the chiropractor, and only once every two or three weeks. I'm also planning on having a sports massage with Kate at least once a month (I can only afford it that often) until after CIM. Hopefully this will be enough to keep my back and hips mostly happy.

All this is adding up to a pretty good groove for me right now. I hope I can keep it going. As with pace and heart rate, I'm not worrying about whether I can qualify for the Boston Marathon in December.

Logically, I probably can't expect to. But logic is only one piece of the running equation.