Sidelined…Again

Seriously, maybe I should just plan injury into my training plans. This is just getting ridiculous. At least this time it’s not my knee (although then it might be an easier fix).

Monday: I had scheduled 4miles. I went to my normal spot and started out. I felt okay the first mile, but then mile 2 started and my shin started to hurt. Bad, bad, bad. I ended up walking back and ending my run.

Tuesday: 7miles scheduled, but I wasn’t sure if I could run them. So I planned on testing out the first mile and see. Yep, stupid shins. So I quickly scheduled a chiropractor appointment because he helped my knees and then I went to Runaway Shoes and purchased some expensive awesome compression socks. I iced and compressed like a motherf’ker last night.

Wednesday: I wore my less expensive awesome compression socks to work today. Fashion diva here. And then went to the chiropractor where he tortured my shins (because, you know, I have shin splints). Went to the YMCA instead of running and even the bike hurt. So I did LOTS of weights. Taking out my aggression.

My plan for the rest of the week:
Thursday-rest. I have an appointment tomorrow after work and I’m going to just come home and rest, compress, and ice, ice, baby. It’ll be a grand time.
Friday- Day off of work, so I might go the YMCA early in the day because I have things to do in the afternoon. We’ll see how the rest day goes tomorrow.
Saturday- Sad to say, but I probably won’t be going to my running group. YMCA is again on the plan. Though there is a trail that runs right in front of the Y, so, if I’m brave, I may try out my shin on there.
Next week- All next week I’ll be up north. I plan on bringing my running clothes, but if my shin isn’t better, I’m going to walk a ring around the lake. Walk, walk, walk. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

So that’s the plan. I’m really frustrated because my training was going so well, but I’m doing everything I can right now to get back in the game.

Juneathon Day 5: “Run like you can’t stop”

“Run like you can’t stop.” Someone wrote that quote on the trail I was running on today. I thought it was fitting when I saw it because it was during my last mile and I was trying to end really strong.

I got out of work an hour early today, which is always a plus. And the weather was absolutely beautiful out! Nice breeze, sun shining, not too hot. The perfect running weather. I only hope it will be like this for my race on Saturday.

After not running for two days, my legs were a little heavy getting started. I took it pretty slow for the first mile and then sped up for the rest (besides the turnaround point, that’s always slows me down).

Wonderful trail

Because I didn’t run yesterday and have to move my 3mile run to Friday, I’ll be running 5 days in a row. The last time I did that I got injured (stupid knees). So I really want to play this smart. I slowed down my 5miles today. I need my knees and body to feel good for the remainder of the week: 3miles tomorrow, 9miles on Thursday, 3miles Friday, 6.2 race Saturday. Getting to bed early and giving my legs rest is on my agenda this week. As well as not strength training until Sunday. I know my weight work outs have been going well because I’m a little sore, so I want to give my body some healing time from weights until after my race and I’m back on my routine.

After the first mile, I felt pretty good. My legs remembered what they needed to do and I just thought about the rest of the week. My average pace for the majority of my run was between 9:20-9:23/mile. That felt pretty good. I kicked it into high gear for the last mile and my average was 9:16/mile. A good run in my book.

Mile 1: 9:33
Mile 2: 9:12
Mile 3: 9:23 (stupid turnaround)
Mile 4: 9:18
Mile 5: 8:58

Ready for my 10k on Saturday!

Sorry, blurry

Juneathon Day 5: 5.1mile run. 47:19

Snap, Crackle, Pop: Wake Up Call for my Bones

Well, it has been a few very trying days. After resting all weekend and having a couple breakdowns on Monday because it still hurt to run, my mom suggested I go to her chiropractor to see if he could fix my knees. I didn’t work out on Monday at all. Sad day. Tuesday I took a walk with Barnaby. And Wednesday was the appointment.

I told them my knee problems (here and here). First, the doctor checked some spots on my body, mainly my back, neck, and knees. He left to go ponder his findings and another doctor checked my blood pressure (low as always) and my lower back. That hurt. The first doctor came back and gave me the report. I can’t believe I was able to run at all after he told me.

• Tibia’s aren’t aligned right. One is pushed back and the other is pushed toward the inside. Ouch.
• IT Band is tight. Really tight. It hurt so bad when he was checking it. That is going to suck.
• Hips aren’t aligned right either, probably from my bad tibia’s.
• Something in my lower back needs adjusting.
• I have a lot of tension and stress in my shoulders.
• Neck needs some adjusting too.

Basically, he said he needs to tighten up my knees and loosen my neck. Fantastic. As long as he can fix me, I really don’t care what he does. Yesterday he started to realign my hips and worked on my knees. That hurt a lot and I was glad I only worked 4.5 hours. I iced my knees when I got home and also after work and they aren’t sore today (thank God).

As far as running goes, I haven’t asked him about it. I go back tomorrow morning, so I will ask then. I will probably have to walk in the race this coming Sunday 😦  But I will have to ask him. Maybe he will approve of some light jogging. I lifted some weights today for my upper body and did 15 min on the elliptical. I didn’t want to push myself too much on there, because I wasn’t sure how my knees were going to feel.

Have you ever gone to the chiropractor?

Is there a part on your body that always gets injured during exercise or any physical activity?

Reorganizin’ Ma Schedule

I wrote about my new “pain”/knee wonkiness (yes, a true word) here. All day Saturday I looked up and searched what I could do. I followed Rest, Ice, Compress and today my knees feel much better.

All day Saturday I wore my compression sleeves and iced on and off.

My awesome compression sleeves

Doesn't everyone ice their injuries with mixed veggies?

Today, Barnaby had wrestling, so I wore my sleeves for a little while there, but my knees actually felt pretty good. It’s mostly when I sit in one position too long (bending my knees sitting).

During my strength training, I’m going to start trying to strengthen my quads and hamstrings. That was what I kept reading about, strengthening the leg muscles. Also stretching after runs (which I have been doing) and icing after runs (which I haven’t been doing). I’m going to do all that, so this doesn’t happen again. Cuz it sucks. Big time.

This morning I changed up my half-marathon schedule to incorporate another rest day. I did this for a couple reasons.

• The first being injury prevention. The original Hal Higdon plan had two rest days, but I added 2 miles to get more miles in. Well, maybe that isn’t such a good idea. Thursday’s and Sunday’s are going to be rest days. This is going to be so weird because I ALWAYS work out during the week. ALWAYS.
• Second, I moved my long runs to Friday’s instead of Saturday’s. I have time during the week for running and usually not on the weekends. For most people, that is the opposite. But Friday’s work better for me. And it’s right after my rest day.
• On my old plan, I had my one rest day on Sunday. But it never really was a “rest” day. Last Sunday we went to the zoo and this Sunday Barnaby had wrestling. So I never really was resting, sure I wasn’t exercising, but I was still on my feet, walking around the zoo, taking pictures and being active during his wrestling show. Having a rest day on Thursday, I’m hoping for that to be a TRUE rest day. Sunday will probably turn into more of an active rest day then, but at least I will have Thursday.
• Cross-Training moved to Saturday’s. If I’m pressed for time (like if I have plans on Saturday) I can do something quick. If I’m not busy, I can do something longer. It’s more flexible for me.

After my reorganizing, I hope this plan leaves me off the injury/pain list until AFTER my Half-Marathon. I’m still hoping to do my 3mile run tomorrow and I might just run in my compression sleeves, depending on how my knees feel in the morning.

This coming Sunday I have my first 5k of the year!

Have you had to tweak a schedule because you were injured/didn’t fit your lifestyle?

Are your rest days during the week or on the weekend?

Run, Run, Rudolph

Not only does today mark one week from Christmas, but I was able to RUN today; for the first time in exactly one month! It made me so happy. Believe me, it wasn’t the prettiest run, or the best run of my life. But I ran 4.5 miles at an 9:18 pace.

Although this injury sucked, I have learned a lot. Instead of running this past month, I have been lifting weights and doing the elliptical. My muscles have been improving with the weight training and I definitely want to keep up with that. And after my elliptical sabbatical of 7 months, I remembered why I loved the elliptical so much. I learned how important cross training is to fitness and to keep from getting bored.

Tomorrow I plan on doing weight training and elliptical. I think I’m going to run every other day until my leg feels completely better.

How do you cross train?

Are you ready for CHRISTMAS!?

Gobble, Gobble, Hobble, Hobble

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving, full of food and family. I walked in the Festival Foods Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and here is my recap.

I woke up at 6am Thursday morning and got my clothes ready. I wasn’t really too concerned about this race because I was going to do the 2 mile walk instead of the 5 mile run. My leg/butt still hurt whenever I walked or attempted to run, so I was going to switch when I got to the race.

We left the house at 6:35 and got to the race at 6:50. I’m liking running these races close to home. The email that was sent the day before said that we should get there early to beat lines and get good parking. Well, we got there PLENTY early. I picked up my bib and switched from the 5 mile to the 2 mile. That took all of about 10 min, so needless to say, we had a while to wait. We sat in the car and watched all the people come in. There was even a guy dressed up as a cob of corn! Mental note: next year, get festive head gear.

7:30 rolled around and I figured I should head towards the start. First I picked up my cute little pie. Then I was going to try and find my sister. Miraculously, I found her and her two friends that were running too. We stood around and chatted until the race was going to start. The only thing I didn’t like about this race was it was sort of unorganized. There were supposed to be three waves. Wave 1 was the 5 milers. Wave 2 was the 2 milers minus strollers and dogs. Wave 3 was the 2 milers with dogs and strollers. Only there wasn’t any direction on where the waves started and ended. There weren’t any announcements or anything, people just started lining up and going. So that was sort of confusing.

The race started and my sister and her friend took off running (jealous) and I started my walk. I didn’t want to do a leisurely walk because I didn’t want to take forever and I wanted to get some form of workout in. I got into my quick work pace and it was smooth sailing from there. My leg didn’t hurt that much and I really wanted to try running, but I didn’t want to hurt it more. So I stuck to my quick walk pace. Believe me though, I was really jealous of the runners. I just had to keep telling myself that I won’t be injured forever and there is always next year.

I finished the race and it took me about 35min. My sister had left already, so I grabbed some water and went on my way as well. All in all, it was a fun time and I will probably do this race again next year (and hopefully be able to do the run). And I was able to wear my race shirt to my Thanksgiving’s that day. Comfy and proud 🙂

If you raced on Thanksgiving, how did it go?

How early do you like to arrive before a race?

Definitely Tapering

With the Turkey Trot on Thursday, I will be tapering my runs this week. But that’s pretty simple when you can’t run period.

I haven’t been able to run since Thursday because of my mystery injury. I have determined that it’s in my buttock and it is probably just a pulled muscle. But, it still hurts enough that I can’t run on it and I have been walking with a bit of a limp. Saturday I was going to try the elliptical, but my love/hate relationship with it stopped me (that could probably be another post), so I just did a lot of strength training and stretching. Work was a nightmare because I’m on my feet all day and it just kept getting worse as the day went on. That night I did some foam rolling and watched The Office. Sunday I took a rest day because I had Thanksgiving #1 and didn’t have time for anything. It didn’t hurt as bad but I was sitting most of the day. Today was more strength training and I tried the elliptical, but that even irritated it. Gah.

So, I guess this week will be mostly strength training and POSSIBLY some elliptical tomorrow, but I really don’t know. I just really hope I can run on Thursday.

Do you like using the elliptical?

What injuries have you sustained?