Saturday - 5/22/10

9 months ago today I started the Couch to 5k program. Tomorrow I am running (walking, limping, whatever) in a Half Marathon! How nuts is that?!

So I have had 4 days of physical therapy, 4 days of stretching, icing, and rest, and 4 days to way over analyze everything and anything to do with this Half Marathon. I have talked to anyone who will listen about my injury and gotten advice from 4 different running professionals.I have come up with 3 different plans, changed goals a ton of times, and had emotions ranging from happy to sad to annoyed to excited to apathetic. I am not sure where I am now other than just ready to be done with it all.

My brother says you should always have 3 goals each time you race, which I do.
Before my injury my 3 goals were:
1. Finish without passing out/ throwing up
2. Finish with a time under 2:35
3. Finish without walking at all

It has taken me the past 4 days to come to terms with where I am and what is realistic for tomorrow. Actually I really do not know where I am since I have not run since Wednesday and have had 2 treatments since then. I don't know if the hours of stretching and having an ice pack strapped to me has paid off or if I am still going to be in pain. I think the not knowing is what is keeping me motivated. I am sort of excited (for lack of a better term) to see what will happen tomorrow.

But since I am a Type A uber planner I do need to have the goals and plans in place. So my new goals, based on the assumption that I will not be able to run much are as follows:
1. Finish without passing out/ throwing up (Did I mention the high for tomorrow is 93 degrees?)
2. Finish in under 3 hours (I will need to almost speed walk the whole thing if I don't run any of it)
3. Finish and still be able to walk.

I was going to run until my knee started to hurt and then walk the rest but 3 others talked me into running a mile and then walking a mile. Since I can go a mile without pain, this plan may extend my running time and allow me to run further since there would be a break in between miles.

All I know is that out of 1,058 runners I don't want to be #1,058 to cross the finish line!

Wednesday - 5/19/10

Training plan: Run 3 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .50
Running total - 2.2 miles
Grand total - 2.70 miles

The PT wanted me to run again to see if the pain had changed. It doesn't seem better or worse, just different. It is still there but in a bit of a different location and not quite as stabbing. I was able to run 2.2 miles before it started to twinge.

No more running until the Half. Just lots of stretching, icing, and rest.

Its going to be a long couple of days

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Tuesday - 5/18/10

Training plan: Run 4 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .80
Running total - 1.25 miles
Grand total - 2.05 miles

Today I went to a Physical Therapist because my knee and leg pain had gotten so bad that I could barely walk up the stairs. My new friend Brad at the local running store recommended this Physical Therapist because she specializes in what is called Active Release Technique.

Taken from the web site:
What is Active Release Techniques (ART) to Patients?

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

She wanted me to run after the treatment and run until the first twinge of pain. I was only able to get to 1.25 miles before I felt my knee start to go bad. I wanted to keep going but I did restrain myself and walked the rest of the way.

I will go back for physical therapy the rest of this week with the hopes that I will still be able to run the Half Marathon on Sunday!

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Thursday - 5/13/10

Training plan: Run 10 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .90
Running total - 3.88 miles
Grand total - 4.7 miles

I did not have high hopes that I would make it to 10 miles since the knee pain is still on going but I really wanted to try. I ran/walked 3.88 miles in 51:05 so you can tell that it did not go well. I am so Type A that I will normally run through the pain but this time I could not.

I am going to take a few days off to rest, ice, and stretch, and then try again another day.

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Tuesday - 5/11/10

Training plan: Run 5 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .80
Running total - 3 miles
Grand total - 3.8 miles

My left knee is still really hurting so I stopped running when the pain started up again. I was only able to go to 3 miles before I had to stop. It started to rain so I just bagged it all and went home

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Friday - 5/9/10

Best goodie bag so far!

For the Bellevue Offutt Runway 7 mile run we got a reusable tote bag, a first aid kit, a water bottle, sport jelly beans, and a tech shirt!
There were also a couple of health magazines . . And best of all, no coupons for bridal photos!

Wednesday - 5/5/10

Training plan: Run 9 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .42
Running total - 9 miles
Grand total - 9.42 miles

So running 9 miles in brand new shoes is probably not a good idea.

I went to a running store to be properly fitted and to get new shoes but they didn't have the ones they recommended in stock. So I ordered them from an online store and for some reason the shipping was delayed a day. I skipped a day to wait for them and then was behind a day with running. The smart thing would have been to run in my old shoes and then break in my new shoes gradually. But in my running craziness I ran 9 miles in them.

Miles 1 and 2 were bad but they always are. It doesn't matter the distance, 3 miles or 7 miles, my first two are always bad. At about mile 4 my knee started to hurt. My knees have never hurt so I was a bit surprised. Mile 5 my knee was on fire and felt like someone was stabbing me in the kneecap. At mile 6 my lungs and brain hit the runners high and I felt fantastic. I honestly felt like I could run forever and was on cloud 9. My body felt like it was floating and I was barely even breathing. I could totally see why people get addicted to long distance running.

But if my lungs had hit the runners high then my knee had hit a runners low.

It was awful. Making matters worse I was on an out and back course so no matter what I had to go about 3 more miles to get home. Me being me decided to run it instead of walking because I would get home that much faster. Probably not a smart idea.

When I got home it was almost like my body had a split personality. My lungs felt great, I was not out of breath in any way even after 9 miles, and really wanted to keep running. I could have run a half marathon that day.
But my kneecap felt like it was about to pop off of my leg and my hip was a hot poker that stabbed me any time I moved.

What caused all of this besides not breaking in new shoes? Well, at mile 8 I looked down and saw that my shoe was untied, really untied and loose all through out my foot, and my foot was floating all around in the shoe. The laces had gotten caught behind my foot pod so I didn't notice them flopping around but I still don't know how I didn't realize that my shoe was so messed up.

Just my running luck.

Times for the run:
5k - 33:59
10k - 1:08:54
8 miles - 1:35:08
9 miles - 1:47:00

Even with all of the shoe/knee drama I still had a decent time and a faster 10k time than the last run.

Now it's off to ice and rest. At least until I can't take it anymore and go run again.


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Saturday - 5/1/10

Training plan - 3 miles cross training.

We had a Fly Ball tourney all weekend so both Saturday and Sunday were cross training.. sprinting to be more exact. I did not wear my foot pod but we estimated a few miles for the weekend. I know that by Sunday night I am utterly wiped out so that has to count for some sort of training!


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Friday - 4/30/10

Training plan: Run 8 miles. Warm up and cool down.

Warm up/Cool down - .69
Running total - 8 miles
Grand total - 8.69 miles

Wow.. 8 miles. I never thought I could go that far!

I ran at Lake Zorinski today because I am running out of places to run in our neighborhood now that I am adding miles. All away around the lake is 7 miles so it was the perfect place. It is a bit hillier than I would like and a little desolate in places but overall a great place to run.

Times for the run:
5k - 33:22
10k - 1:10:36
8 miles - 1:34:52


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