catherine's running efforts

Yesterday was just a bummer day all around, so I got some extra sleep and didn't run. I was looking forward to this morning's run, but about 3 miles into it my right IT band started hurting. This kind of worried me because a long time ago, before I became Forefoot Catherine, I had IT band pain all the time and it kept me from running more than a few miles at a time. I powered through today, stopping to stretch at about 6.5 when it hurt kind of a lot, and I went straight to the foam roller when I got home. 

The Internet suggests several causes for IT band pain. I've been ignoring some minor hip pain for awhile and I hardly ever stretch, so I'm hoping that my pain is because I need to stretch more and do some strength stuff and not because sometimes I run a bunch and sometimes I don't run at all. 

Yesterday I realized that Toby runs within blocks of my house, so last night I asked her if I could run with her this morning. We planned to meet up at 5:25, and it actually didn't feel *that* early when I woke up this morning. My tummy was a little queasy from a late dinner, and I wasn't sure if my knee was going to hurt, so I was glad that I knew Toby would be waiting for me if I didn't show up because otherwise I think I would have just skipped it. But my knee *did* hurt, so when I made it to her I told her that I was going to go back home. I had to walk for the last block. 

I went to the PT at the student health center (I'd really like to go to someone who does ART, but since last year I quit the job that gave us the awesome benefits now we just have crap student benefits, and we've already shelled out a bunch this year to fix the pee problem and for Elliott's feeding therapy so on this one I think I'm just going to go ghetto student style) and they did some stuff and gave me some exercises and confirmed that yes, it is the IT band (but I was sure that was what it was anyway). I think that it was the course on Saturday - almost all of my runs until a couple of weeks ago were on the treadmill, and I kind of just plopped down the downhills on Saturday (plus there were a lot of turns). I don't think it has to do with mileage. So I'm going to stick to running on an incline for a bit and see if that helps.

In other news, remember when I did the bod pod in January and was bummed because I was only moderately lean (and moderately lean is also moderately fat)? I did it again today and was really expecting to have bumped down into the lean category since I've lost about 5% of my January weight and can see leg muscles in my race pictures, but I was still just moderately lean (even though I was about 4% lower). I was outraged. Outraged! Then I thought, "Oh, self, who are you kidding. You had 4 KFC biscuits and some bacon for dinner last night." So I stopped by Krispy Kreme on the way out of Provo. The frosted maple didn't really do anything, but the raspberry filled one helped me feel better about myself.  

I made a plan to just run on an incline on the treadmill until my knee is better, but this morning that hurt. So I just hiked for an hour at 8%. I know it's not "running" running, but it's not like I'd cut those miles out of a race if I walked up a hill. So I'm counting it. 

Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow! We're going to be in Provo to watch Eric's sister do that marathon, so maybe we'll get to see some awesome FRBers.  

This might be a lie. I really can't remember. I'm pretty sure it was at least 2, though. 

After I hiked a mile at 9% (I know many run at that, but I don't) I stopped in the bathroom for a sec and heard someone talking about an awesome class that puts muscles in between the ribs. So I went to it. It was the pilates toning class and it was pretty much core stuff and exercises similar to what the PT told me to do for my knee. And some stuff that's like doing the barre on the ground. I liked it. Then I ran 3 miles at 4%. 

Only 4 again, but this time it was running the whole time at 4%. Using the incline makes me sweat a lot more. It's pretty gross. Still not like how Eric sweats, though. When he does the stair machine it's like it's been raining. And my knee hurt during the last mile, so I think I'm moving into more of a long-term-fix mindset. 

Zumba. 

Hiking and climbing in Rock Canyon. 

Hiking in Battle Creek Canyon (?). 

With Eric. Was supposed to be 10, but I couldn't do the last 3 because my knee hurt too much. 

This isn't true. I just wanted to fill in something for the week for my graph. 

Last night we realized there was a free 5k a few blocks from our house this morning, so we registered and made a plan to run to the start. But somehow in between both of us being up with Elliott we turned off/slept through our alarms and didn't make it to the race. So we just did an easy out-and-back on the bike path. It's an uphill/downhill route, and my knee didn't hurt at all until the downhill. I was really hoping it would be healed since I've taken so much time off, but it's not. Whatevs. I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but there's enough else to be stressed about right now that I'm not going to add not being able to run very much to the list. 

I wish we had gone to the race, though! It sounds like there were at least a few FRBers there (congrats, Melody!) and the course covered some of our normal running roads.  

A quick 2 miles before going to a doctor to talk about my knee. I'll write more about that on another day.