Standing up against pancreatic cancer - Welzel Strong

Dear friends and readers,

I wish I could write you with better news, but unfortunately that is not the case this time. Just a few weeks back we found out that my goofy, thick-Boston accented, marathon ace Aunt Jane has pancreatic cancer. It certainly wasn’t what I expected to hear that afternoon, and the feeling of déjà vu was unpleasant and unnerving. You see, several years ago, my mom got the same phone call about her brother, my uncle Andy, who eventually lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Thus, this diagnosis is a double-whammy for my family. Pancreatic cancer can be genetic, and having two siblings in a family afflicted means that we need to jump into action for genetic screening and perhaps routine monitoring for the rest of us. You better believe that the first thing I did after finding out was to pull up PubMed and start researching the success rates of treatment, stats on increased risk for familial inheritance, the latest in screening options, and success of early detection. I won’t lie and say the numbers are favorable…

While the odds are against us, I know that if anyone can fight this, it’s Jane. She certainly has everything that can work for her, working for her. After all, if anyone is going to stand up to cancer, it’s going to be a Welzel. (Long-running family joke that Welzels regularly refuse to sit and would rather stand: maybe restless leg syndrome is hereditary too). Besides, this wouldn't be the first time Jane has overcome extraordinary odds. First of all, she qualified and ran in 5 U.S. Olympic marathon trials.  Not impressed yet? She broke her neck in a terrible car accident in between Olympic trials #1 and #2, and spent three months in a cast. I can still recall some hilarious stories my mom told me of taking full upper-body cast Jane out for walks: with a few falls and ensuing hilarity in trying to get back up since her legs still were remembering how to function. And that’s only a drop in the sea of the endless “crazy Aunt Jane” stories (like the time she spent a night in a tree after being chased on a run by a moose during mating season, or when she taught my little cousin Kate an age-inappropriate catch-phrase:  “kick-ass Kate”, or the shorts with fake plastic butts that she wears with her friends to  trick people into thinking they are being mooned). In her professional life, she is up against another difficult statistic – the prevalence of eating disorders in athletes. As a psychotherapist, she specializes in counseling those with eating disorders. My point is, look up resilience in the dictionary and don’t be surprised to see a Welzel standing there (yep, still not sitting!).

I am telling you all of this because in support of my entire family for what we have been through, what we’re going through, and the future unknown challenges, I am fundraising money for pancreatic research and awareness. As a scientist, I know first hand the impact that public awareness can have on funding levels. The most fitting way that I can see to try to help my family is through running: on June 14^th, I will be toeing the line for the second time at the PurpleStride 5K in Washington D.C.. I ran this race last year  in honor of Uncle Andy and in my first time breaking 20 minutes on the roads. Little did I know just how much more special this race would feel to me one year later. And that is why, despite all the odds against me (being out of shape from having pneumonia in February and an unrelenting work schedule), I am going to attempt to break 19 minutes for the first time at this race. Besides, what’s post-pneumonia lung compared to a broken neck? In these next two months, I’m going to be training “Welzel Strong” to beat the odds at this race. I'd love to have anyone who lives nearby join me!

Thanks for reading my story! I hope you will consider donating a few bucks to my fundraising page if you can afford it. The link to donate is below.

http://purplestride.kintera.org/dc/welzel_strong

Jane - nicknamed her tumor "Pigpen", from Peanuts, for when she beats it, the dust will settle.
(unlike her opponents, who she left in the dust)

The Anti-Gravity Experience

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the ways that I got back on my feet (literally) as soon as I did was because I ran on an anti-gravity treadmill. Its huge advantage is that you can run at a percentage of your body weight to minimize the impact on your legs. I ran so much more than I thought I would be able to, but before I recount my weightless experiences, let's go back a little farther.

The summer before senior year of high school, my mom connected me with a colleague and friend who coached and ran. Her guidance and support, among other influences, helped me reach the next level of running and training, and senior fall I finally had the cross country season I was hoping for, and got my 5k times down enough to run in college. This mentor, Marcia, helped me think about my training, connected me with a sports masseuse, and got me in the pool the first time for aqua jogging. Marcia is the queen of aqua jogging, due--unfortunately--to the many injuries that have plagued her over the years. She has since stopped running, but we've kept in touch and she always inquires into my running when she sees my mom.

December, when I broke my leg, was the first time I considered an anti-gravity treadmill. I knew that elites often ran on them, but never thought that I, a mere D3 college runner, could or should try it out. My mom brought up Marcia and her connection to a local AlterG (that's the brand) at my very first orthopedist appointment. I was barely on crutches, but was already planning on my return to running via an anti-gravity treadmill.

No sooner was I given the green light to run (3 months to the day that I broke my leg), than I contacted Marcia and booked an appointment on the AlterG. For those of you in the Boston area, this one is in Woburn, right off of I-93. It was surprisingly affordable for 60 minutes, and I visited once for free to work with the physical therapist to figure out the machine and focus on my stride. To get set up on the AlterG, you put on wetsuit-like shorts that zip into the bubble. You turn the machine on and it weighs you and calibrates. This is where it starts to feel exciting, because as it's figuring you out, you're being raised and lowered by the seat of your pants. I elected to run at 80% of my body weight, and it didn't feel particularly special. Any lower percentage and I felt like my feet were barely touching the ground. But at 80%, I was able to run without pain for 3 miles. We won't talk about how slow those miles were, because that short distance was a huge milestone in and of itself. Once I turned the machine off and came back to 100% gravity, I noticed the difference; all of a sudden my legs felt so heavy and leaden. This is how our legs normally feel, and the difference of 20% body weight makes me realize how much stress we put on our bodies on a daily basis. The AlterG is undoubtedly a great advantage for elites or recovering runners, and it turns out that anti-gravity treadmills are way more accessible than I thought. Many marathoners will often do one anti-gravity run a week to minimize the pounding in a high milage training plan. The treadmill looks badass, but isn't just for those hardcore folks out there. I encourage everyone to try it out, either for the thrill of weightlessness or for the recovery advantage.  

Marcia accompanied me on the last day, and as I slogged through the miles, she took pictures of me and we caught up and talked about running and life (one in the same, right?). I am so grateful to Marcia for her support over many years despite her own athletic ups and downs, and for introducing me to her secret recovery weapon. She refers to the AlterG as "Mariah" because it can be a lifesaver. This is certainly true in my case, for it not only got me back to running and kickstarted my running recovery, but it gave me the confidence and strength to tackle the humbling and invariably frustrating experience of a slow comeback. Thanks to Marcia and Mariah, I have many miles ahead of me once again. 

Training like an Elite

Three months to the day that I broke my leg, I started running again. But before I go on about how awesome it is to run again (because it is), I want to reflect on some things that happened to me during my recovery process.

Robyn was the one who pointed this out to me. After I texted her about setting up an appointment to run on an anti-gravity treadmill, she observed that I’ve essentially been training like an elite runner, minus the whole running part. And she’s right; I’ve run on both an underwater and anti-gravity treadmill, machines that your average runner doesn’t normally have access to. More on that later. I’ve also been working with a physical therapist (read: trainer) on strengthening my legs and working on those inequities that developed from 6 weeks in a walking boot. But what Robyn doesn’t know is that I’ve also formed some pretty solid connections with a couple of my favorite (actual) elite runners.

First, I was driving on Comm Ave in Newton a couple of weekends ago, looking yearningly at the runners out for their long runs and Boston Marathon build up runs, when I noticed one runner running with traffic. That’s annoying, I thought, any real runner knows to run against traffic. I looked closer and realized that there was a reason this runner was running with traffic. Clearly she was training on the exact path of the marathon, instead of sticking to the safer sidewalks. There was someone biking next to her, protecting her from traffic. She was blonde and she was going fast. Could it have been…it must have been Shalane Flanagan! Perhaps the best American female distance runner and the top American woman in last year’s Boston Marathon. I didn’t stop or roll down my window to say hi, and this may very well end up being one of the biggest regrets of my life because seriously, how cool would that be? I was still only 99% sure that it was Shalane (a Massachusetts native as well—twinsies!) so I casually tweeted at her when I got into Boston and put my phone away. Little did I expect a response. Day/week/life made:

Meanwhile, Shalane’s longtime best friend and training partner, Kara Goucher, also had some great recent news. After running for Nike in Oregon for 12 years, Kara ended her contract with the athletic goliath and moved back to Colorado to train with her coach, legendary Mark Wetmore. At the same time, Kara needed a new sponsor and after a lot of deliberation she signed with Oiselle! I’ve written about them here and there on our blog before, but it’s an awesome women’s apparel company that makes comfy and fly clothes and champions women’s running. I have loved every article of Oiselle clothing I get and I’m so glad that Kara and I will now be twinning in our neon strappy bra and rogas. Kara has been my favorite runner/role model/hero/motivation for years, so now we’re basically best friends.

Aside from Shalane and Kara, I follow a lot of other professional and elite female runners (Lauren Fleshman, Jordan Hasay, Alexi Papas, Mary Cain, Brenda Martinez, etc) and one thing that they do often with their coaches and training programs is to train at altitude. Training at altitude is all about putting in the hard work now to reap the benefits later. At altitude, the air is much thinner so you have to work harder when you breathe to absorb enough oxygen. It takes a while to acclimate but training, or simply being, at a high altitude will allow you to maximize your oxygen intake when you come back to sea level, likely for competition.  Although this was not my intent (I won’t be racing for a while still) I headed up and out to spend a long weekend in Lake Tahoe, California with one of my best friends for spring break. The trip was so fun and Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It’s an active place so I did as the Romans do and hiked, walked, paddled and ran. Yes, I actually ran this time! My first real run back I was very careful and ran on a flat and clear bike path. I did 2 minutes running/2 minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes, plus a long walking warm up and cool down. Look at me getting after it. Even though I’m sure I was going at least 10-minute mile pace and probably looked ridiculous, I felt awesome (must have been the Oiselle apparel I was wearing) and elite-worthy. I snapped some pictures during my walking intervals to document my return to running in this beautiful and altitudinous destination.

So even though I’ve only run a total of 3 miles, maybe, since being cleared to run, you better believe that I’m out to get it. Rubbing elbows with elites and using elite-worthy equipment has motivated me to keep after it and hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy a true run outside, just in time for Spring! Stay tuned for my anti-gravity treadmill recap, since you’re probably not even reading this anymore. And if you just read this whole post, thanks and you should probably stop and go for a run. 

Pacers for Marathons & World Records

Remember back in 2011 when they decided that women’s world records that were performed with male pacers were no longer recognized? Refresher article if not:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/sports/for-womens-road-records-only-women-only-races-will-count.html?_r=0

Wellll, I’m whistle-blowing a double standard here. To be honest, I was mildly annoyed back in 2011 about this but had long since forgotten about it. When I heard that Haile Gebrselassie was pacing the 2014 London Marathon, I thought aha!, a great point to support my side of the debate.  Yes, I acknowledge that he’s not going the whole way and he’s on the older side, but Geb is a world-class runner and it would be hard to argue that his pacing contribution during the first 30k (18mi) is insignificant. Just something to think about when we glorify the “assistance” of a pacer for women’s marathoning  simply because they can go the whole race when men also have pacers for nearly ¾ of the race.

Side note for fellow running book lovers, check out The Greatest: The Haile Gebrselassie Story

Pneumonia update:

Survived 4 days of skiing with Ben, stopping to catch my breath turned out to be a good time for pictures!

I went for a 3 mile jog today and it didn't kill me, a great surprise after struggling through two 9:00 miles last week. Feels great to be back on my feet.

ffffffrozen

Mont-Tremblant 

Street Dreaming

Last week, a friend told me about a local road race that his family put on every August. I drifted off, imaging rounding the corner of this race wearing spandex and a singlet and being soaked with sweat from working hard and the warm summer sun. And in that moment, I was ready to race again. Since then, I haven't been able to take racing off my mind. When I drove into Boston to visit my boyfriend, I saw so many runners out for their Sunday morning long run along Comm Ave. I slowed to catch the collegiate logos on hats and jackets and wished I could have just jumped out of the car to join them. Later, the football coach at my school approached me about learning how to run. How could I say no? On our first day in which I evaluated his speed and fitness, he told me that his goal was to run a 6 minute mile by June 1st. Though he's coming from a place of very little fitness and I've been working out since January albeit without running, I said I'd join him. I'm thinking of challenging him to a race.

All of this is to say that I've been bitten by the racing bug and I'm working hard to embrace the run when I finally can. At this point I have maybe 3 weeks until I can run on land, so I'm continuing to bike and elliptical to get my aerobic capacity back up. I've really enjoyed the strength I've developed from lifting multiple times a week, and will likely continue that through the summer. But the most exciting development of my slow comeback is the presence of an underwater treadmill. I stepped on it today and started with a slow walk. The resistance from the water is a strange feeling, even though I haven't run on land for more than two months. After some stretches, I finally got to jog. I felt on top of the world and ready to take on anything...until I was told that I was jogging at 3.5 mph. It was humbling but nonetheless so exciting to finally take some real steps. I'm only aqua jogging once a week and I already can't wait to go back. I'm fixing all of my imbalances and strengthening my legs in way that I possibly may never have before, so I can only imagine how it will feel to finally set foot on land. Now I have goals and visualizations and motivation, and you know that come August I will be racing that 5-miler just like I imagined.

Getting Faster without Running: part 3

Last week I finally got the good news: I could walk on two feet. No crutches, no walking boot, no seat in the shower anymore. I'm still walking slowly and carefully, but what a feeling to wear two of the same shoes! Just a few days into my two-footed ambles, I am nowhere near being able to run again. I start physical therapy tomorrow and am going to work as hard as I can to get back to running sooner than later. The doctor told me that people with breaks like mine (distal fibula fracture, if you're wondering) usually don't run for 4 months. 4 months!! I still have 2 and half months to go before I run if that's the timetable I'm following, and at that point I'll still be far from any good racing shape. But one can hope.

A milestone: two of the same shoes!

In this vein, I'm calling my comeback "cast to 5k." No offense to those who have earned their stripes by following the Couch to 5k program, (and I've looked at it for some of my xc girls; it's prettttty basic) but my plan is only related by tongue-and-cheek alliteration. Despite my inability to run, I've already made strides (pun definitely intended) to run a great 5k at some point this spring. So this brings me back to...my critical nonessentials, part 3.

Since I got off crutches a month ago, I've been in the gym about three times a week lifting. To keep it safe, I've been focusing on arms and core and I can definitely feel and see differences already. I started bench pressing with just the bar, keeping the weight low with many reps. In college we lifted 3x10 (3 sets of 10 reps each) with a focus on low weight and strength endurance, and I still ascribe to that. This doesn't mean, though, that I'm not increasing my weight as I go. As I'm getting stronger and more fit, I've been slowly adding weight to the bar or picking up a heavier dumbbell. Last week I benched 55 pounds--that's 5's on each side of the bar! I'm pretty happy with myself for that. I've also been working triceps, pecs, deltoids, back and all parts of my core. Deb had us doing "7 minute abs" weekly at Colby and I still do those with great results, but I am careful not to neglect the more important but less noticeable other core muscles. Many people don't realize that your core includes your back and your hips and I would argue that having a 6-pack means almost nothing for core strength. In my repertoire of strong core exercises are fire hydrants, superman lifts and rotating planks. I've forsaken my beach body for a warm winter hibernation layer this past month, but I'm still worker towards being stronger every day.

Today I biked for 20 whole minutes with no resistance. It was harder than I expected but I'm not embarrassed about that. Slowly and steadily I will recover and return, and hopefully win that race in the end!

The Ever-Elusive Trifecta

Note: I actually wrote this post back in mid-January, but was distracted by visits from friends (yay Sarah and Colleen!), friends leaving (Abbott come back!), and interview preparations (yuck, business casual).

For some reason the phrase “ever-elusive” always make me think of one of my favorite Family Guy scenes: National Geographic special on Firetrucks. (Link below in case anyone has my same sense of humor)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTYXgHTzvz0

But back to me (blogging makes me feel self-absorbed sometimes), the trifecta is a silly little thing that I use to define the major components of my life: running, research, relationships. I'm usually a solid 2 for 3 (you don't want to see me at 1/3). Yeah, yeah, I'm a perfectionist, you caught me. It’s funny because I used to get so frustrated chasing the trifecta but it seemed nearly impossible that the three could co-exist. I ran my best cross country and track times when I was an emotional wreck. I accomplished some incredible things in the lab while I was nursing/ignoring/healing a stress fracture and subsequently falling from the top to the bottom quarter of the cross-country team as a senior.

Which brings me to now: at this crossroads of injury-free training, a month of interviewing for PhD neuroscience programs, and family and friends rooting for me. Based on my trifecta theory, I start wondering where will it crack? My bet is on the running (it usually is). In this case it’s not a matter of being out-of-shape or injured, it’s my geographical disadvantage. What’s a girl gotta do to get into a race around here?!

I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to get on the track for nearly a month and a half now for a post-collegiate racing debut in the mile. Unfortunately, the running community down here in Balto is just so much sparser and there are practically no opportunities to race something shorter than a half. I tried to race at a U of Maryland Invitational but they “didn’t have space” for me. I call BS because I know an alum who was let in to race the men’s mile, but whatever. On the plus side, I feel like I’ve got the speed back in my legs and plan on trucking along until I can race (hopefully) in an outdoor meet in March/April.

OK – enough of my complaining. Having a lack of race opportunities is hardly cause for whining (and would be majorly insensitive of me given that my poor comrade is healing a broken leg right now). It’s just that my racing blood’s a boilin’ and I want nothing more than to get cranking on the oval. My consolation prize… it seems as though I bestowed upon Baltimore the gift of New England winter weather. Payback? I like to think so.