The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • New Mystery: Why Does My Chest Hurt?

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    Ruth Carter

    My new drug of "choice."
    My new drug of “choice.”

    As many of you know, I’m training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Arizona in January. Unfortunately, I haven’t run a step since November 29th. I feel fine when I run but I started having chest pains after my long runs. After the second time it happened, I felt like a giant lumberjack stomped on my chest while wearing his work boots and then kicked me in the ribs. The night sweats are a bitch too. I woke up soaking wet halfway through the night last night.

    I saw my general practitioner who referred me to a cardiologist. They couldn’t get me in for a week so I had to walk last week’s miles. Do you know how boring it is to walk 8 miles?

    My friend Bill warned me that I would look very out of place at the cardiologist’s office – and he was right. The only person who looked close to my age was a woman who was there with her father. All of the patients were at least 25 years older than me.

    My doctor seems like he knows what he’s doing. He asked a ton of questions, took lots of notes, and listened all over my torso. To my dismay and frustration, he didn’t have any answers for me yet, and if his has any hypotheses regarding what’s wrong with me, he didn’t share them. He created a solid-sounding plan of action to figure out what’s going on:

    • Ultrasound of my neck and heart
    • Stress test (that’s the one where you’re on the treadmill)
    • Heart monitor for 24 hours
    • Prescription for Prilosec in case there’s an acid reflux issue
    • He told me to switch from ibuprofen to acetaminophen (Tylenol)

    I think taking me off ibuprofen is evil. Every woman I know (except those with stomach issues) swears by it. It’s the cure-all for everything – headaches, cramps, sore muscles, etc. I was not happy to hear that instruction. When I filled my prescription, I bought the biggest bottle of acetaminophen in the store. Between the headaches I’ve been having and the pain I get in my legs from working out, I’m going to need it.

    My doctor echoed my general practitioner’s instructions that I can walk but I shouldn’t run until we figure this out. All of my testing is this week, but I won’t have my follow up appointment to get the results until next week. So I will be walking for the next 10 days – including the 18 miles I’m scheduled to do this weekend. 18 miles of walking?! This is going to suck.

    Since I deal with the world and my life through blogging and social media, I’ll be documenting this whole process.

  • Marathon Training Week 12 Recap: WTF is Wrong with Me?

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    Ruth Carter

    12 by Jalil Arfaoui from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    12 by Jalil Arfaoui from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    My training had a major setback this week. My chest has been killing me since last weekend. At first I thought it was just costochondritis, which I’ve dealt with off and on for years. The pain was bad on Sunday night and it extended into my neck, head, shoulders, ribs, and arms. I started having night sweats over the weekend too. And I mean sweating – I had to change my shirt two hours after I feel asleep because my shirt was soaked from the neck seam to the waist seam.

    Monday: Holy shit my chest hurts. It hurts to take a deep breath, laugh, bend over, and sit up straight. I called my doctor as soon as the office opened and got a same-day appointment. They ran an EKG, which was normal (yay). My doctor listened to my chest and referred me to get a chest x-ray and to see a cardiologist. My doctor recommended that I walk instead of run my miles this week. (I suspect he’d prefer I not work out at all.)

    Tuesday: My chest and head still hurt but it’s not as bad as yesterday. The idea of walking this week’s miles make me cringe. I run partially because I don’t have the patience to walk. I walked my 4.5 miles this afternoon. My foot hurt a bit and my chest and ribs hurt a bit. I kept myself entertained by listening to multiple episodes of The #AskGaryVee Show.

    I got my chest x-ray results: normal. I’m glad the news was good but it’s annoying not knowing what’s wrong with me.

    This is my night shirt after a night of night sweats. I took this photo 6 hours after I took this shirt off and it was still drenched!
    This is my night shirt after a night of night sweats. I took this photo 6 hours after I took this shirt off and it was still drenched!

    Wednesday: My chest and head still hurt but the chest pain is continuing to improve. Walking is boring and I don’t like how much time it takes up. It took 2:10 to walk 8 miles today. I entertained myself by listening to the Dr. Drew Podcast and Evo at 11.

    Thursday: I had to get my car serviced and pick up mail from my office. When I realized they were 2.7 miles apart, I opted to do 5.4 miles instead of the 5 miles I was assigned to do. Yay for killing 2 birds with one stone. Boo for the fact it was raining. I wore my raincoat from when I lived in Oregon but that didn’t prevent my jeans from being completely soaked by the end.

    Here’s something that’s weird. When I run, my left leg and my right hip hurt. When I walk, my right leg and my left hip hurt.

    Friday:  Rest Day.

    Saturday:  My plan for the weekend was to skip cross training and walk the 12 miles I was scheduled to run on Sunday. That didn’t happen. I was pretty run down on Saturday and by Saturday afternoon, I was feeling weak and warm. It turned out I was running a fever. I slept from 5pm on Saturday evening until 6am on Sunday morning, waking up twice to change my sweat-soaked shirt.

    Sunday:  I may be a masochist, but I’m not an idiot. My temperature was back down to normal by 7am, but I was still weak from the previous day. Plus something in my liver/lower lung area was hurting. I opted for a mellow day and did housework instead of walking for 3 hours.

    I’ll see my cardiologist on Monday morning. Hopefully we’ll get some answers and I’ll be back pounding pavement soon. Being sick sucks.

    Weekly Totals:
    Running:  0 miles
    Walking:  17.9 miles
    Push-ups:  0 push-ups

  • Marathon Training Week 11 Recap – Geez that Hurts!

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    Ruth Carter

    11 by MaretH. from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    11 by MaretH. from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    I am 11 weeks into Hal Higdon’s 18-week marathon training program. It was mostly a good week of training until this weekend when the excruciating pain started. I switched up my aural entertainment from podcasts to mostly music and it made a big difference.

    Here’s the recap of the last week:

    Monday: Monday is usually a rest day, but I knew I’d be hiking on Thursday so I did the 4.5 miles I was scheduled to do on Thursday today. I entertained myself with my race day playlist. It’s easy to zone out with good music and just run in time with the rhythm. It was a little chilly but it felt good towards the end. I didn’t have any real pain until Mile 2 or 3 when I started having a little discomvfort in my hip, left calf, and left shin/post-tib. I was pretty sure I was going to need KT Tape on my left shin and post-tib for Wednesday’s 8-mile run and Saturday’s 16-mile run.

    Tuesday: I accidentally slept in today so I ran my 4.5 miles in the afternoon. It was an uneventful run – just my standard pain in my left shin and right hip.

    Wednesday:  I ran 8 miles early morning and watched a beautiful sunrise. It had hip pain from Mile 1, but it wasn’t that bad. I wore KT Tape which helped but it didn’t stay in place very well. I ordered Tuf-Skin when I got home. That stuff makes tape stick like glue.

    I’m stepping up my push-ups this week: 5 sets of 25.

    Thursday: Today was the Annual No Guilt Thanksgiving Hike with my cousin Marian. We hiked 5 miles up Shaw Butte. It was a good trek with good conversation, and as a bonus, I felt no pain.

    Friday: Rest day.

    Saturday: I had a Forrest Gump moment during today’s 16-mile run. I started my run just as the sun was coming up and I was running next to a park that has some beautiful red rocks. There weren’t any cars or people around and I could just begin to see the sun peaking up over the horizon. It was very peaceful and gorgeous.

    The run went well. I listened to Profiles with Malone and Mantz followed by my race day playlist. I put KT Tape on my left shin and post-tib and I was annoyed that it wasn’t staying on even though I followed all their directions – and then I realized that I got this roll of tape almost 2 years ago. The adhesive is probably drying out.

    I felt good after my run until the evening when my entire body started to hurt – especially my chest. I felt like someone stomped on my sternum and kicked me in the ribs.

    Sunday:  Holy crap my chest hurt this morning – but some ibuprofen helped take the edge off. Instead of biking, I went hiking with my friends at the Wind Cave Trail. It was 4 miles with a lot of rocks to climb. Toward the end, my legs and glutes could definitely feel it. After the hike my chest was killing me. Some of the people on the running Subreddit suggested that I might have a posture issue. I definitely plan to hit the Runner’s Den injury clinic this week to get their opinion about this.

    After a nap I felt much better and cranked out 4 sets of 25 push-ups.

    Weekly Totals:
    Running:  33 miles (130.6 miles total for November)
    Hiking:  9 miles
    Push-ups:  225 push-ups