Going With The Flow

Jake and I are super hyped up today about running after so many great performances at St. George, Chicago, Twin Cities, etc. this weekend! So proud everyone and I just can't wait to get back in shape and race again. My improvement the past week or two is very positive. I was able to run 3.6 miles today and really felt like a runner again. I had a little IT band tightness but otherwise felt great. I need to be careful now and set limits so I can continue this trend :)

PM - Rollerblading 4 miles with Jake. 

AM - 30 minutes of elliptical then yoga. No running today because I'm trying to be safe and not do too much too soon. If I continue to progress and not have any setbacks, I should be up to 40 mpw by the beginning of December. Eight weeks seems like a really long time to get up to that mileage, but that's with two days of no running a week and lots of cross training...I will be thrilled if I finally get out of this injury cycle by then (hopefully a lot stronger and less injury prone too!).

AM - 4.5 miles with the birthday girl!

AM - 2.7 miles around neighborhoods in Millcreek. I felt the old injury pains a little more than I would've liked. I'm taking tomorrow off so hopefully that will do some good.

Everyone that has a desk job needs to get themselves a standing desk - Using a Standing Desk Boosts Calorie Burn. "The students that stood burned an average of 0.34 calories per minute more than those who sat." I am the only person at my work that has a standing desk (and sits on a ball), and it has really helped me to not sit for hours on end, mostly in terms of my injuries but the extra calorie burn is good too :) 

PM - Hill surges 10 x 10 seconds. My hip is acting up today but this actually seemed to help a little. Thinking about doing these in place of running continuously every once in a while.

AM - I slept until 7am so I wouldn't be tempted to do any running or elliptical. Just yoga for 15 minutes. 

Just wanted to get the word out - Jake and I created a USATF - Utah Facebook page  to get more visibility to the organization and try to get the Long Distance Racing Circuit to become a big deal in Utah. Please like our page if you are interested - the more visibility, the more likely that races will be willing to join the Circuit next year! :)

PM - Weight training for 25 minutes. Then 10 x 10s hill surges, then 5 x 10s flat surges.

AM - 3.1 miles around Sugarhouse Park with Jake. 

So the big question is...do I wear my bright pink Saucony uniform tomorrow and risk embarrassing the Hurricane team by running a 25+ minute 5k or wear normal Saucony clothes so I'm not as noticeable? :)

Two months ago I signed up for this silly race, thinking - surely I'll be healthy by then. Well, it turns out that injury cycles are the worst and really hard to get out of. I am making very slow progress but not as fast as I would like. It was only this week that I thought I would be able to run a 5K without causing additional damage. So I would say this is a huge success - I even get to change my picture back to a runner since I broke 25 minutes (by 4 minutes, take that SlowJoe!).

A bunch of us met at Allie's place and the enthusiasm and excitement from the doubleheader crew was priceless. They all left soon after, and then I was hanging out with the PhD nerds. We watched the runners in the half go by at mile 1 and again at mile 8 and the finish. The best part of the finishes was Jake yelling to Devra and Allie to run faster so they would have more time (20 minutes) to warm-up for the 5K :)

We all lined up for the 5K and I saw lots of familiar faces. I love the racing scene -it's so fun! I decided to run with Allie and Kevin as long as I could keep up without injury problems. The race went by fast, mostly trying to keep Allie's mind off of her previous 13.1 mile race and grumbling stomach. I really enjoyed the race - I wasn't really "racing" so there was no pressure and I could just enjoy being out there. My psoas muscle started to get tight during the race but no real issues. We all finished strong and broke 21 minutes.

Afterwards, we ran a short cooldown then waited far too long to get a bunch of medals. I ended up with the red ribbon medal because it matched my red shoes. Honestly, it gave me some confidence that maybe, just maybe, I can get my health back soon. On that note, I bought an EMS/TENS unit today...a guy was selling a commercial grade one on KSL for 1/8th of what it's worth. So my PT is going to teach me how to use it on Monday and maybe that will expedite my recovery. At any rate, I probably won't be racing until my 2013 breakthrough year :)

No pics today... I forgot to bring the good camera and Jake's iPhone doesn't take good pictures in the dark.