CIM minus

From the title of this post you can probably already tell what's coming: I'm not running CIM. Why? Because I'm scheduled for surgery on December 2nd.

When I had my first surgery to remove my fibroid baby in August, the surgeon was able to scrape about 80% of it out. The doc told me that, for many women, this was sufficient to resolve their problems and suggested a wait-and-see approach. I did not want to wait and see whether my hemorrhaging resumed and asked him to schedule the second surgery to remove the rest. I waited for about a month and finally got a call from scheduling offering me the December 2nd date. I told them that I had a marathon 5 days later and couldn't take the date. They said they would see if they could find something else.

A month went by with no calls from Kaiser. I was fine with this because I wasn't having any symptoms. A little over a week ago, that changed. I was back in hemorrhagic hell for about 5 days and missed a race because of it. I realized that I needed to take the surgery date that was available. I have also asked to have the inside of my uterus cauterized (called ablation) so I never bleed again--or at least for several years. Because I was able to get my blood levels up after the surgery, this episode didn't take much out of me. However, I definitely felt the impact. It is absolutely stunning how good I feel with higher hemoglobin levels. I vow to never let them drop again!

In case you're counting, this is the 5th time I've started training for and not been able to run a marathon in the last 12 months. It is frustrating, but each training cycle I have gotten a little stronger. I had some of the best training of my life in the last couple of months and that fitness does not go away overnight. As long as I keep training, it will carry right over to the next race.

The lovely Napa Valley Marathon course.

My current plan is to run the Napa Valley Marathon on March 1st, which seems fitting since it's sponsored by Kaiser. It's a great race and fast course, though the only time I've run it was in 2006--the year that there was a 15 mph headwind and freezing rain the entire way (it's a point to point course). A headwind is unusual for that race, so I am hoping the weather will be more favorable this time around. They've also had tailwind years. Fingers crossed for that!

I worked my way up to 20 mile runs with 10-13 miles at marathon pace before all of this went down, and I was feeling really strong. I am reducing the mileage of my longer runs now (though maintaining my overall training volume) and getting back to some speedier running before I launch back into marathon training in a few weeks. I'm hoping to get a fast half marathon and 5k out of my current fitness in the next month. Keeping my fingers crossed that my body cooperates.

A little hip niggle over the last couple of weeks scared me back into doing my rehab work. When I'm feeling good, I tend to forget the weaknesses in my right side that need constant attention. I have been doing tons of strength work these last several months, but as the PT noted, I am using the same compensations in that training as in my running and making everything else strong while my poor glute is neglected. Focused exercises are the name of the game. The niggle went away and I've noticed some improvement in my right side strength. It was also a good reminder to me to roll both sides of my body equally. My left side tends to be tighter than the right, but the left side never hurts. I tend to roll the side that hurts more than the other and that just exacerbates the problem leaving my left side tight and loosening up an already mobile right side.      

Speaking of rolling, if you haven't seen this guy before, you should check him out. His name is Enso, and he works miracles. All those little discs are adjustable. Painful genius.