1/30

Last of the month--this month definitely hasn't gone how I would have envisioned.  Oh well.

5 miles; no stretching stops (we'll see how that goes later...).  8:37/mile.

Now off to that wonderful-feeling ice massage.

1/28

5 on the treadmill this morning; stopped to stretch at 2.5 and at 4.1 to fix my sock (it was starting to rub a blister), another ice massage post-run.

Knee discomfort yesterday after I ran the previous day, but it gradually went away throughout the day and was gone by night.

5 miles; 9ish/mile

starting slow

Tried running again tonight--no pain, but some grinding, popping, and clicking post-run.  I think this is still an improvement.

As per the directions of the physical therapist, I ran on a treadmill, with no resistance, very slowly, and stopped to stretch after a couple of miles.  And I didn't run as far as I normally would, stretched a lot afterward, did a couple of inner quad strength machines, and then I iced my knee to the point of numbness when I got home.  It was extremely incredibly nice to run again.  The end.

4 miles; 9:11/mile

figuring it out

I spent a couple hours this morning figuring out what's going on with my knee; I saw a sports doctor and he diagnosed a problem with the tracking of my kneecap (incidentally, I should say that my left knee has been giving me problems for the last decade whenever there's a storm; in the last 6 months it's started hurting occasionally when I run and in the last month it's gotten worse, and then REALLY bad the last week).  So he sent me to a physical therapist, who worked with me for an hour and gave me a whole bunch of strengthening and stretching exercises to strengthen my inner quadriceps and to loosen the tension in my IT band.  And during the course of this, he also noted that my right hip is higher than my left, and my right arch is higher than my left, and attributed it to an ankle injury I had when I was 15 that put me in a cast & crutches for six weeks--it was crushed to the bone when I hit an underwater concrete barrier diving into a swimming pool.  It healed up after about four or five months, but I've been left with a huge lump of scar tissue on that ankle, which apparently changed the arch of my foot when it healed, and then (probably during pregnancy) gradually misaligned the right side of my pelvis.

Anyway, long story short, I now have an orthotic lift in my left shoe, which evens out my hips so they are both the same height.  And lots of exercises to do, and weekly physical therapy.  Supposedly after a couple of days of doing the exercises I can start running again a little bit, and then a little bit more, but only on the treadmill until my kneecap is stabilized again and it stops grinding and popping.  And I have to ice it after every single run--my last run was on Wednesday and it was still swollen today.  It was kind of crazy doing some of the exercises because I would start out with good form and then my kneecap would just--shift sideways--and I couldn't do anything about it.

I'm excited to get this under control and ditch this pain that has been bothering me off and on for years!

1/23

oh look, it's 1:16 am and I'm online!  this is not going to be fun tomorrow.

I haven't run since Wednesday for two reasons:  first of all, we had a nasty snowstorm and there are cars going off the road ALL OVER THE PLACE (seriously, I drove one of my running routes to see if it was runnable, and let's just say that after the guy in front of me went careening across the road into a ditch, I decided I didn't want to get hit while running and I would stay inside).

And secondly, and majorly why I haven't gone looking for more treadmills--my left knee has really been acting up.  After Wednesday's run I spent most of Thursday and part of Friday with a heating pad on it.  It's been awful.  So I am taking a break and looking for a sports doctor.  Any local recommendations?  Anything you've done to alleviate knee pain?  I'm worried about totally blowing it out and having to take months off--this knee has bothered me off and on for the last ten or fifteen years (I always have to use a heating pad on it when the weather changes--it's a very effective barometer) but it's gotten worse over the last year.

Suggestions?  Please?

1/18

Six on the treadmill--loooong boring run.  Very so incredibly horribly boring.  Tried a different gym and I didn't like it at all. Dark, too crowded, and boring boring boring.  I actually prefer the last gym where I could watch myself running the entire time--it motivated me to work on my form, thanks to the big mirrors.  Also I was crazy tired (too many sick kids waking up at night).  So tired that I fell asleep on the floor while the kids were playing and Luke was crawling into my head over and over.

Stumbled a couple minutes in and accidentally turned off the treadmill, then stopped at 4 miles for water and then finished out the six.

6 miles, I think 8:43/mile?  Felt so slow today and I was playing games with the speed the whole time in an effort to distract myself.

1/16

No run Saturday; it was snowing and Neil left for the lab at 6:30 am and got home right at dinnertime--I was kind of bummed (okay a lot) but it was one of those days where family took precedence.  I was getting kind of stressed today about not running again (Neil had stomach flu last night and was home sick today and the kids were just crazy!  So hard keeping them quiet and away from him, plus Abigail had dance today and it was just kind of a long day what with the sick husband and the teething baby and the potty-training toddler and the two girls who are typically at school and were not today--plus Jooj has been throwing up intermittently this weekend as well.  Fun stuff).

Anyway...today was my last day of the week's free trial at the nearby gym where I've been going to get my runs in.  Neil recovered enough that I felt okay leaving once the kids were in bed, so I scampered over SO ready to just run and run and run (it was honestly all I could think about the last hour before bedtime, and I was thinking off and on all day how much I REALLY needed to run).

So I ran my five--I was hoping to do six but I got really bad stomach cramps during the last mile and given the health of everyone at home I thought I better not push it too much.  And I ran pretty slowly because I wanted to read the whole time--I've had no down time this weekend and I really needed to just spend some time reading and losing myself in another world.  It was so nice and exactly what I needed...although my knee is still bothering me.  I think I am going to meet with a personal trainer and see what I can work out for that.  Speaking of which, I was talking tonight with the trainer that I mentioned in my last post about working with him, and he was saying (Spanish accent here that I cannot replicate), "Yes, you, I have been watching you.  You are a real athlete."  Which was just about the best compliment ever.  I feel like I have SO far to go and sometimes it gets really depressing thinking about the kind of runner that I am not--but then to talk to someone tonight who was so incredibly complimentary about my endurance and lung capacity and cardio work--it was really nice.  And it made me realize how far I've come, even if I still have a looooong way to go.  

5 miles, 8:47/mile, level 1 resistance

1/13

Tired tonight and my knee keeps bothering me, even when I'm not running.  Not excited about that.  I didn't do much leg weight work afterwards tonight because I'm planning to run again tomorrow.  (I did do some of the thigh machines, ab machines, and arms--and I was sort of ridiculously excited that the personal trainer working with another guy near me complimented me on my workout when I left.  Then again, considering that most people were only spending 10 minutes on the cardio machines, my cardio was comparatively impressive, even if my post-run weight-lifting is quite pathetic compared to what it used to be).

Started out slower, ran a couple of hills, and gradually increased speed ending at 8:00/mile.

5 miles, 8:33/average pace, resistance level one + 10 minutes of level 2

Anger run

Read my main blog to see why I was so mad because I don't even want to get into it again.

Anyway--decided to run a lot of hills tonight at a slow pace (8:57/mile).  Base resistance at 1 on the gym treadmill and then cranked it up to 2 for a few minutes, down to 1, up to 3, down to 1...you get the idea.  Went up to 6 and it started getting hard enough that I didn't push it higher.  I'm trying this hills-on-the-treadmill thing I read about in Runner's World since it was rainy and cold and dark tonight and I didn't feel safe outside.

So I ran 6 miles like that at the slow pace (trying to increase my aerobic capacity and burn fat rather than glycogen because that's what the books are telling me I need to do for marathon prep, yadda yadda) and it just wasn't fast enough for how angry and mad I was.

So after the 6 I cranked it up and finished out the 10K plus a bit and ended at 6:00 pace and that still wasn't fast enough but I was just so mad and shaking and angry that I thought I should stop.  Right now it's been two hours since I finished running and I am still furious--I lifted weights for an hour and I am still so mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6.22 miles, lots of hills, paced at 8:57 for first 6 and climbing to 6:00 to finish (it was surprisingly easy even after the 6...I think the slower pace has potential for some serious long runs)

Getting desperate

Okay, so I am REALLY hoping Neil can fix the treadmill soon--he's fixed two parts so far but he hasn't had time to diagnose the next problem (I have the sinking feeling I'm going to have to order something big and expensive soon...).

I knew it was going to be hard to get my runs in once the semester started; Neil's lab times have changed and today I shuttled Abigail over to school to meet briefly with a couple of her teachers, then took all 4 kids to the pediatrician and dentist, then everyone home for lunch/naps/etc., and then in my last remaining hour of daylight we went to the dance studio so Abigail could be measured for her recital costume.  Neil got home after dark and I was thinking about going running then, but felt nervous about it, so I ended up signing up for a week's trial membership at the gym nearest to our house. (News flash:  it is not good for me to run in a room full of strangers.  I get way too competitive.  I wanted to outrun every single person and never stop for water or whatnot. Or stop, period.)

So for dinner I ate this Waldorf wrap with tuna, cranberries, apples, spinach, and red onion.  It was really good so I ate another one.  And then I ate broccoli, peaches, plums, and cherries (I was ravenously hungry because all I ate for lunch was a couple spoonfuls of leftover pad Thai and I had a boiled egg and an English muffin for breakfast--anyway I was really hungry).  And then I went running half an hour later in an overheated gym where I wanted to outrun everyone else and I was staring at myself in a mirror and trying to go faster because I was watching myself.  I'm sure you can guess the result. Too much food (it's going to be a looong time before I can eat tuna again), too much heat, too much speed.

I ran the first 3.5 miles under 8:00/mile--around 7:50ish--cranking up to 7:30/mile because that's what the guy next to me was doing (note:  he was only running like 5 minutes at a time and then walking for ten, so why did I feel all competitive?)  And then I started feeling bad.  So I took a drink, but that didn't help, so I stopped the treadmill, took a drink, stretched, and started running again, and I started feeling that awful YOU ARE GOING TO THROW UP NOW after 2 minutes of running, so I pretty much sprinted for the bathroom.  I didn't actually throw up but I spent a long time hugging the toilet bowl in a public bathroom.  Awesome, right?

Anyway, I finished out my remaining 1.28 miles at a slower pace (9:05) and felt sheepish and humbled.

5 miles; pace varying between 7:30 and 9:14 like the repentant fool that I am.

1/7

Ran a route I haven't run in years, which included the hill that I used to be afraid of when we first moved here (now it feels like...nothing). Pretty flat terrain compared to what I've run the rest of the week.

 Felt pretty slow when I was running but when I got back I figured that it was somewhere around a 8:51 pace (maybe I just expected it to be slow because I had awful stomach cramps this morning and I'm pretty drugged up...I guess that's one perk of running during pregnancy).

5.31 miles; 8:51/mile, for a total of 20.74 miles this week...more than I've run in awhile, esp. since the treadmill broke!  Getting to that increased mileage slooowly but (hopefully!) surely!

1/6

Easy 4 today after Neil got home for work; felt a little slow but I'm planning to run tomorrow so I wanted to save up--plus I was delayed at the start/finish (beginning by the dog that tried to attack me and the end by the muddy field that I had to walk across in order to dodge puddles--I think I'm swearing off that route until the ground freezes).

So I decided that rather than making a resolution to run more (although I'm hoping to do that too) I'm going to stop using running as an excuse to eat as much/whatever I want.  I've felt really pudgy the last couple of weeks--I should be a lot leaner than I am.  Right now I'm a size six and I weigh about eight pounds more than I did when I was only running 9 miles a week 3 years ago...some of that may be muscle, but I doubt all of it is.

the last week or so

So my last post was on Christmas Eve, and here's the catching-up since then:

• Didn't run Monday the 26th because we went over to Neil's brother's house early (for breakfast) and stayed there until naptime, then Neil and I went out that evening for our anniversary and there just wasn't time.
• Didn't run Tuesday the 27th because I was starting to feel sick (Neil had a really horrific cold that he graciously shared with everyone else!) and I didn't want to push it before skiing the next day.
• Spent Wednesday the 28th skiing all day.  It was awesome and amazing and I pulled a muscle in my left calf and ringed both ankles with really scary-looking blisters.  Still awesome.
• Thursday the 29th--no run because I was having trouble walking comfortably with aforesaid pulled muscle, plus we spent the day packing up to leave Utah.  It was quite the undertaking and I was sick as a dog.
• Friday the 30th--still sick enough that I was having trouble breathing, but hiked the 3-mile roundtrip route to Delicate Arch, which was lovely and enough of an exertion (uphill over slickrock) that I feel like it counts as exercise.  Spent the rest of the day in the car (until midnight).
• Saturday the 31st--spent the rest of the day in the car and arrived in Missouri at Neil's other brother's house.
• Sunday the 1st--Sunday, no run.
• Monday the 2nd--ran 5.38 miles at 9:44 pace with my sister-in-law Juli.  This was one of the hardest runs I've ever done--the wind was INSANE and it seriously was pushing us backwards.  So glad that she was there to keep me going--we had a great talk (between gasping in the wind!)  Still sick.
• Tuesday the 3rd--drove 8 hours home, no run.
• Wednesday the 4th--went out and ran 6.05 miles (9:15 pace) around here.  I felt slow and plodding, but I just kept running and never stopped.  It's good to be home!