MobyCarp Member

Barefoot caveman weather!

Set myself back mowing the lawn a week ago. Thought I didn't need to wear the boot for that. I was wrong. The weekend was scary, because I had regressed. Fewer steps, more time in a boot. Almost better by Monday, mowed the lawn again, this time wearing the boot. Spent most of yesterday and today out of the boot, but not…

@lporter229 Great race report! I saw your splits in real time, nice and even. Ended up abandoning my post as Kenmore Square before you got there, over concern about managing in the rain with my stress fracture. Probably would have missed you anyway; I missed several people in the crowd even though I got the 40K text…

Hmm. I wonder how much of the "being male" prong is because most women won't have the first 3 risk factors? And how much is related to the classic mating call, "Hold my beer and watch this!"

Got a nice sunny day with temp in the 60s F this afternoon. Still no running, but I got the oil changed in the snowblower and lawnmower, and mowed the lawn for the first time. Then I needed to retreat inside and put my foot back in the boot for support. There is progress. But I don't anticipate overshooting my April goal…

Survived Boston as a spectator, didn't gain weight. Spent more time out of the boot than authorized on Monday, due to rain. Didn't want to have a wet boot liner for the trip home. The foot isn't all better, but it's better now than when I left. I'll take the progress. Still not time to run, but probably time to do some…

Still not running, but today I managed to find Meb and thank him for pacing at the Shamrock Half 4 weeks ago. This time, my sister was along to take a picture. Wearing an air cast and an old Boston Celebration jacket gets a lot of sympathy in Boston this weekend.

Still not running, but got over 12K steps walking today. That wasn't intended, it was just what airports, T stations, and getting to the expo to pick up my very expensive long sleeve tech shirt added up to. On the bright side, I got to talk to several first time Boston runners, and some people who are repeat Boston…

Two weeks after finding I have a stress fracture of a metatarsal, the good news is I can get out of the boot half days now. The bad news is I still have to DNS the BAA 5K and the Boston Marathon this weekend. Going to have as much fun as I can being a spectator and talking to first-time Boston runners.

Travel day. Normal breakfast at home, lost track of tracking on the road but I think I managed to be reasonable today. Tomorrow will be an excessive food day. Got over 12K steps in, for the first time since the stress fracture. Getting from Logan Airport to the hotel was a challenge, and getting around the expo was more…

In theory, I could wrap a plastic bag around the boot and tape it shut on my calf. In practice, I expect the bag would soon tear open and I'd get wet anyway. Historically, I've done better in the rain planning for how to manage being wet than trying to stay dry.

I have an iPhone 7, and I'm happy with it. It is the successor to my first smart phone, an iPhone 5. Way back when I was thinking about my first smart phone, I talked to my daughter about it. She was Android all the way, but advised me to go iPhone because a) I wouldn't need anti-malware software (a cure almost as bad as…

Yeah, that worries me. I know how to deal with that while running, but it will be a major challenge for spectating. I'm particularly concerned about drenching the liner of the air cast, making it unusable when I need it the next day. Oh, well. Decision has been made, I'll be there and do the best I can. Current thinking is…

Tested going without the boot for 3-4 hours today and a couple days ago. It's livable, but I can tell it's not yet time to be out of it full time. Packed for the Boston trip today, fly out tomorrow. Showers in the forecast, possibly rain all day on race day. :( Just have to do the best I can. My current thinking is stay in…

The foot feels fine, as long as I keep it in the boot. And it's mostly okay out of the boot. There's just that threat of pain and delayed return to running if I do something stupid.

OK, I'm jealous of the people running marathons. @midwesterner85 Way to tough it out! Your experience shows. @mbaker566 First marathon, have a cold, and it didn't feel like it was taking forever until mile 24? You killed it! Saw my podiatrist today. He didn't clear me to walk around Boston without the boot; he said wear it…

Good news: This morning my weight was down to 0.6 lb. above my goal target. That's really reasonable for as inactive as I've been. I don't think I'll need to cut calories any more than I already have. Good news/bad news: Saw the podiatrist today. I was hoping to be cleared to walk without a boot at Boston, fearful of being…

Heh. I took the weight off and kept it off for 3 years before I ran a marathon and discovered that I happen to be Boston Marathon material. I wonder if that means I shouldn't tell people how I lost weight and kept it off? Still haven't conquered boredom eating, just forced it into a plan that makes the weight trend…

I have arthritis in my right foot. Don't know exactly when it started, probably triggered by undiagnosed and unevenly healed stress fractures of the metatarsals. I've completed 5 marathons, and I know I've had this for at least the last 3 marathons. It will only get worse, so life is a process of managing it rather than…

Reprise of swag display. This arrived in the mail today. It will go on my coffee table and my coffee mug will sit on it from time to time: Actually, getting it was just a little depressing. I'd feel better about it if I were actually, like, *running* this week.

Probably haven't overconsumed by 7,000 calories in a week; but 3,500 is not impossible. I don't really know exactly how far I need to cut to maintain at this week's extremely low level of activity. I'll just watch the scale and react at the table. Good news is this morning, the weight jiggled down by 0.6 lb. I know that's…

Today I found the heel inserts I used in 2014. Turns out they're just the right thickness to even out the left shoe I wear now with the boot. Put the other one in my right shoe, and it's less hassle to change between boot (for home) and shoes (for driving and shopping). It's not hurting to walk in the shoes with inserts,…

Current year non-marathon medals on the left. Marathon medals from all years on the right. Prior years' non-marathon medals in boxes in a bookcase, to be examined or discarded by my daughter after I die. The rack on the left was affordable at the Wineglass 2018 expo. The rack on the right was expensive at the Boston 2017…

Like many things, it depends. For shorter, faster speed work I usually need the peer pressure of club practice to get it done. I can do longer tempo intervals on my own, but it's nice to do them on club practice evenings so I can go back and tell people what I did. I find it really, really hard to be motivated to do speed…

@lporter229 I have a bike. I wore a boot on the other foot in 2014, and found that riding the bike with the boot on was not practical. I rode the bike in the period when I was out of the boot but not yet allowed to run. Bike on a trainer is essentially an exercycle, i.e. the most boring form of cardio known to mankind. I…

Day 7 in the boot. It's easier to control my appetite now. That's good, because the scale is telling me the residual fast metabolism from marathon training is slowing down a bit, and I cut another 100 calories per day out of my target. Now it's a process of re-learning how to eat at this level. I found that I can do…

@Scott6255 On a 1400 calorie diet, 170g to 230g carbs is roughly 50% to 65% of your calories from carbs. That's quite reasonable for a runner, I wouldn't want to cut it any more. You might want to avoid sugars, and go with less processed carbs; oatmeal instead of cheerios, for example. On the satiety front, I lost weight…

*Everything* is less convenient with the boot. I can take it off to drive, but the hassle of taking it off and putting it back on makes me think about where I want to go, how long it will take to get there, and how I need to be careful when I'm not in the boot. So . . . I canceled my last gym membership years ago, because…

Day 5 of wearing the boot. Still the easy part of the process. I've cut calories, and managed to keep my weight stable for these 5 days. Keeping it up will become either routine or increasingly challenging, but I don't want to deal with excess weight in addition to de-conditioning when I start running again.

Before I got the stress fracture, I'd thought that about 160 miles would be right for April, with taper and reverse taper before and after Boston. Now I'm on Day 5 of wearing a boot as much as I can tolerate. Still don't know if it will be practical to go spectate at Boston. But the important thing is to get better and run…