August: In Which I Hurt Myself. Again.

How is it almost the middle of September already? The beginning of the school year is always busy getting The Girl all set and ready. Sophomore year. I am not sure how that happened. Time is flying by so fast! So forgive the tardiness of this August recap.

So I mentioned that we joined a gym in July. I didn't get to go as regularly as I'd planned throughout because of Ragnar, recovery, etc. So I hit it full steam in August. I really like the Elliptical - it's a great way to add more mileage in without too much strain on the hamstring. Or so I thought.....

And, as per usual, I overdid it a bit. I'd been averaging between 30-35 miles from about April on. Then came August and I did about 25 miles running and an additional 23 miles on the Elliptical. Adding on an extra 10-15 miles on in one month, even if it was lower impact, really did a number on my left calf.

My upper hamstring tendonitis is on my left leg and for the past week and a half, I've had some serious pain in my left calf. Not the muscle exactly, but right under it. Google tells me that is could be achilles tendinitis. I do NOT need more tendon issues. Seriously. I am over it. I've been resting and haven't run since the 9/4, icing and wearing my compression sleeve when it's really tight. But it makes me really sad. I miss running. I miss long runs. I miss thoroughly exhausting myself and getting all the angst out on the pavement.

I'll be taking it easy until the pain is gone....if I'm not feeling better in another couple weeks, I'll make a Dr.'s apt or go back and see my PT. Until then I'll be taking it easy and hoping it goes away.

Progress.....Real Progress

I am finally feeling it. The 'it' being closer to running again. Yay!! I am finally healing and feeling like I am getting stronger too. Working with my PT has brought a better understanding of my body and it's particular structural issues, if you will.

Mainly, I've discovered that 1) My core is not strong. At all. 2) The lack of engaged muscles deep in my abdomen and pelvis allowed my pelvis to shift slightly with the continual force that running was putting on it. 3) The miss-aligned pelvis and lack of core strength caused an imbalance and overuse of the left leg, which led to the injury.

To 'fix' this, we've been focusing on core strength. I've been doing a set of exercises at home that are targeting the deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles. I already feel more balanced and stronger. It's been really helpful to learn how each part of your body is engaged while running and we've been working to stabilize the core so that when my body is balanced on one leg (which it always is while running), I am in line and my muscles are engaged properly.

We've started incorporating walking back into the picture. I will be spending the month of December walking to build back up to being able to run again, likely after Christmas. Boo ya! I was assigned a 3-5 mile walk over the last couple days and it was so nice to get out there, listen to music and just let my mind wander. Oh how I've missed that so much.

The plan is to continue PT twice a week through December. In January, we'll go down to once a week as I am able to start building my base back up. A few weeks after I am consistently running again, we'll go to once every other week for a couple weeks and then as needed. But once I am running again, she is going to give me a pretty detailed plan on building the base and smartly increasing my mileage back to where it was. I will also be focusing on being more well rounded so that I can keep my body healthy to keep doing what I really love. Strength training, yoga and incorporating warm ups and cool downs, which I've never really been good at doing. All of that will hopefully keep me injury free and prevent a relapse of this awful injury.

Yay for progress!!

First Run in 14 days

I was allowed to run again a couple days ago. And of course, one 30 minute run/walk was enough to shift that pelvis back again. I've been to PT 5 times now and each time, the amount of shifting from one visit to the next has diminished almost completely. The correction techniques she is using and the strengthening exercises I've been doing every day have made things more stable and able to withstand normal movements, but the run jarred everything back again...

I had been going on some test walks to see how the leg felt.....and there was no more of the sharp pain that I've grown accustomed to. So I asked if I could ease back into running and my PT agreed I was ready. But it has to be slow and easy and I have to stop immediately if I start feeling that sharp pain again. My last appointment this week was yesterday and I won't see her again till Tuesday. Between those two, I will be able to run 3 times, increasing the running and decreasing the walking if I feel good. Right now I'm alternating between 3 minutes walking and 3 minutes running....I'll run again tonight and see how I feel.

My PT is great....I really like her. She's a runner too, so she gets it. And from here on out, it's likely that I'll need to be constantly adjusting and strengthening and evaluating as I get back into shape. But the easing back into things is taking longer than I was hoping it would....the whole month of August has been pretty much a wash. I will be readjusting my training schedule for PDX and submitting it to my PT for evaluation next week. I certainly don't want to jump back into things too quickly and re-injure myself. So we will see what she says.....trying not to think too much about how painful it's going to be to get back into the shape I was in. I already feel like my clothes are way tighter. Boo hiss.

Training. New Plan. It's On.

Alrighty. It's time. Focus is officially switching to full marathon training. Which, truthfully, has sort of gotten lost in all this Ragnar relay madness. In exactly 9 1/2 weeks (ha!), I'll be running my first 26.2 in Portland. And I'm behind. Officially, but not irretrievably.

Ragnar wasn't the only thing that threw me and my training off this month. I was averaging about 100 miles/month since March but only did 60 in July due to my pulled butt muscle. There was a couple weeks of self-imposed total rest and a lot of the runs were cut short. Which means that I have quite a bit of ground to make up. I've been back to somewhat normal this week so far. I've run three days in a row, just my short 3.5 mile loop and I'm feeling ok. Received the Stick I ordered this week and have been putting it to good use. Seems to be helping a bit. It's hard to tell if the ohmygodimgonnadie feeling is mostly coming from the injury or the fact that I am having to do some serious make-up fitness. Probably both.

I've revamped the training schedule yet again....it still feels a bit ambitious for how I'm feeling...but I'm going to slog through for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes, while I simultaneously go through the rig-a-marole for finding a PT and navigating through my insurance requirements. Fun times. I had lofty goals for this cycle. I was going to go all out and really up my weekly mileage...and not just for the weekend long runs. Pre-injury plan had me running a full 26 a few weeks before PDX and was fairly aggressive in the weekly increase. I've dialed it back a bit.....still planning on trying for a full 26 during training but it meant getting to that point in less time than anticipated.

And going from an average of 25 miles a week to peaking around 45 will be a challenge. But it's time. Over the course of this year, I've built up to a good weekly plan that keeps me in 'half shape'....which to me means that I could do a half tomorrow if I wanted to, without doing anything different to prepare. Training like that got me through a very fun series of half marathons this spring and my regular Ragnar Relay. But now it's time to raise the level of both the training and my game.

I've never run more than 13.1 miles before. Next weekend, I'm tackling 15 for the first time. And it only goes up from there.....It will be fun to come up with some new routes, and add on to some of my existing favorites to make them longer. Maybe when I get up to the high teens, low 20's, I can do a crazy loop incorporating my two favorite long run routes - the Seattle waterfront to the Magnolia Bridge and the Madison to Lake Washington loop.

Also, take a look at the plan for Ragnar in November! Totally makes me want to vomit. But I'm ready. It's time to work on the mental game, b/c this is about to get 'real'....

Week 16 in Review --7 Days until Heroes Half

It's here. One week away. And I'm nursing a weird foot injury. I honestly have no idea what I did to it. If I strained it somehow during my speed workout on Wednesday, it didn't start hurting right away, since I felt fine on my run Thursday. A mystery indeed.

I also got my Wear Blue shirt in the  mail this week. Just in time to wear on my run Saturday!

Monday
A nice and easy 4 miler to start off the week....
 4.15 mi; 41:30; 10:00

Tuesday 
A rainy 3 miler after work. Did the regular loop at an easy pace...
3.48 mi; 34:44; 9:59

Wednesday
Killer speed workout at the park near my house. Kept all three mile repeats at pace and it was a toughie....was sore for a couple days after this one.
6.2 mi; 59:58; 9:41

 View from my "track" tonight

Thursday

Easy 3 mile loop around the hood. Felt good the whole time and the foot didn't hurt at all....

3.48 mi; 35:16; 10:08

Friday

Rest day. Foot started to hurt for real....limped around until I could ice when I got home. Elevated it and did a few more ice treatments.

Saturday

Based on how the foot was feeling, I knew that I wasn't going to get the full 12 miles in. I set out to see how I felt and stuck close to home so it would be easy to get home if it started hurting too much. Made it 5 miles and decided to call it a day. No biggie...just starting the taper a bit early.

12 mile long run

5.11 mi; 55:18; 10:50 

Sunday

Ice, rest, elevate and more ice. We shall see how it feels. Fingers crossed it will be better soon.

Ouch.....AKA Taper Week Starts Early

...Like about 7 miles early. I had 12 planned yesterday. But on Friday, the outside of my right foot started to hurt. I iced, elevated, took care of it, etc. Felt ok Saturday so decided to set out and see how I felt. I knew I wasn't going to get in the full mileage but thought perhaps 8 or 9 might feel ok.

Not so much. After about 4 miles, it really started to hurt. Decided to call it a day after 5. Iced, elevated, and babied it all day yesterday. It still hurts.

I didn't want to write about it. Acknowledging it makes it real, not just a temporary little twinge that will go away. But it's still here. So taper starts early....Taking rest today and Monday...easy 4 milers planned for midweek and then rest on Fri/Sat before race day Sunday.

I really hope rest and ice will make this pain go away. Hopefully it's just a little bruising that will heal  in a few days....*sigh*

It's ON Bitches

I felt pretty good after yesterdays run...only did 3.42 miles at an easy 10:03 pace and felt great the whole time until the last .4 or so. Then my thigh muscle started cramping up and my knee started hurting. Immediately iced when I got home-both knee and thigh-and repeated several times the rest of the day. Drank lots of water (and only ONE glass of wine last night) and I got a greats nights sleep. 

All that to say--It's ON Bitches. I am running my 5K this morning and am so excited. Still going to take it easy and not "race" it for myself....My awesome friend -who I used to work with at my last job and who kept me sane- has a husband who runs. So he's been my 'race buddy' for a few races now. I'm excited for this particular one with him - so I'll report back later on that in my recap.

Until then--Let's kick off 2012 the right way--with a race!