My leg was really sore all day yesterday. I used the "Ice Man" and that helped. This morning, I was careful to not overdo it so I kept the pace slow and only ran 5 miles. It was starting to hurt around mile 4 but it feels ok now. I might do a couple more late tonight.
T-37:30 (7:30) 5
PM: Hit the treadmill again in the evening. It was a struggle. Too soon after dinner and I now have the full blown cold that my family had. Probably a waste of time, but at least I am trying.
Another 5ver on the treadmill. I am not seeing much progress with the knee/leg injury lately. I am not feeling that great anyway, so maybe a rest week was due anyway. Stupid colds!
After watching the Olympic trials on the computer this morning, I was all pumped up to run my own marathon. It was very inspiring. I am super impressed with many of the performances including Paul's. Today is the anniversary of his first race back from injury and what a year he has had. The race he ran one year ago was the First Dam 5K. That race is held here in Logan today and I wanted to run the 10K SO BAD!! However, I knew my leg was not up to par for a satisfying race and I would have risked messing it up worse so against my will, I didn't race it today.
To satisfy my urge, I ran over to the course and ran it solo as a training run. I ran a good minute a mile slower than race pace, but it fulfilled the urge to race. I was sub 7 min pace until my leg flared up around mile 4 so I cooled the jets and coasted on in. 43:35 My body has finally recovered from the cold and with the low mileage this week I am feeling tapered so the body was ready to roll, just not the knee. Oh well, it seems to be getting better SLOWLY. I did see James at the start but had to leave without watching to see how he did. I am sure he represented the blog well. The 2 miles back to the house wasn't too bad, but my leg was super tight by the time I got home. Time to stretch and ice and massage....
I was not sure whether to stop running to let the leg heal or continue to take it easy. I seem to err on the non-cautious side so I ended up running this morning. I ran an easy 5 on the TM. My leg felt ok until about 4 miles into it then I could feel the muscles tightening and pulling on the knee. It wasn't too bad though. I found a new game to entertain me on the treadmill. I started out at 7mph and would bump it up .1mph every min until 2.5 miles then back down to 8mph and hold it there. It helped pass the time. Well, that and "who's line is it anyway" playing on the TV. I am still optimistic that the leg is improving, but it will probably be another week before I can up the mileage at all.
T-37:10 ( 7:26) .5% incline
PM: Ran with Bethany on the Planet Walk (2 miles) in the evening. It was a nice run. She was moving pretty good. It got me all warmed up and I ran home (1.5 miles the long way) to satisfy the urge. My lungs and heart were just itching to go fast. So I started playing around with different speeds to see which pulled the worst on the knee. The slower the better, it seemed. Anything faster than 7 min pace was too much.
Easy 5 on the treadmill in the morning. I have decided to rate the pain to show progress (or lack thereof). On a scale of 0-10 where 10 is how bad it was last saturday (day of injury) and 0 is perfect. Today was a 5. I could feel the inflamation but it didn't slow me down. If I can't get down to a 1-2 within about a week or if I get up to an 8 or 9 then I will be taking time off running completely. At least that is the plan today.
I played the speed up/down game again today with some tweaks on the incline too. The best thing about the run was watching 24 on the console. That is the perfect show for the treadmill. Time passes quickly as I get into the show.
T-37:10 (7:26) ~.5% incline
PM: Slow 3 miles in the evening on the treadmill. I wanted to watch another episode of 24 so to not be a total couch potato I visited the TM. First mile in 10 min, the next two were faster, but still easy. The pain scale read a 2! Probably due to the slower pace. It did appear when I started playing with the incline. Note to self...Don't do that again for a while.
The pain hit an 8 at around mile 2.5 so I quit at 3. Bummer. Otherwise an uneventful few minutes of 24. It feels great now after 200mg of Ibprofin and lots of stretching.
So, after flip-flopping and just plain worrying and fretting over what to do, I decided to take the rest of the week off (decision made easier by all the feedback I have received). It won't kill me (contrary to what I believe) and it might actually help. I have been stretching and using the stick non-stop but I don't think it is enough. I think I need to give it a rest and be more patient. So, at least 4 days with no running. Monday, I will go easy on the TM and stop as soon as it hurts, or hopefully make it 5 miles. That will be my limit on how much I will run at once for a while (subject to change). Bummer...
Does walking on the TM help or hurt? Because I already have too much energy, but no access to a swimming pool or some other form of x-training. Walking may be the only way to vent the energy.
This morning I attacked the TM with a vengence. Ok, not really. I wanted to see if by laying off running for a few days, my leg would magically get better. It was looking good (between 8:30 to 7:30 pace) through 2 miles (a 0 on my pain scale) when by 2.5 my hammy had tightened up enough to pull on my knee. The pain creeped up to a 5 and I started to walk. It immediately felt better walking so after 1/4 mile walking, I tried again. In a 1/4 mile of running, it hurt again so I walked some more. I attempted it one final time but at 6mph to see if that helped. It did, as the pain stayed low (2-3). I feel I can run though the pain as it isn't that bad, but I am worried that I am making it worse by running through it.
Well, round two with the TM and I was KO'd. I did an experiment and messed around with the speeds. Everywhere from 5 to 11mph. The 11mph actually felt the best, but it was probably because at that speed, I am barely touching the ground. All the effort goes into forward motion. Unfortunately, after 1.5 miles (averaging 8 min pace overall), the pain was about a 5. I continued to see what would happen and lo and behold, it got worse. Imagine that. By the time 2 miles came around I was grimacing (8-9 on the pain).
Yep, I'm done. No running now until I can get this resolved. Either a doctor, or major time off. Not sure if the doc is worth it. Pay a bunch of money for tests and have him tell me, yep you have ITBS, stop running for X amount of time then come back and see me. Stupid leg..... The only silver lining is that walking gives me no pain. Looks like I will be walking until Christmas.
7.75 miles today walking on the treadmill. Crazy huh? I did 2.25 in the morning as usual. Then in the evening I wanted to watch a movie so I decided to exercize at the same time. I watched a whole movie (I skipped one chapter towards the beginning as I was bored). It was about an hour and 20 mins or so on the TM. It felt good. My HR was around 90 @ 3.5, 100 @4mph, 110 a@ 4.5 mph. I was well out of any target HR zone, but what else do you expect while walking?
3.5 miles on the old TM this morning. I need to come up with a cool name for the beast as he is now a major part of my life. I don't think "TM" is a great name. Some of you call him the Dreadmill. I think Lybi calls it Fred or Hank or something. I will have to think about that and come up with something creative. Any ideas?
15 min walking on treadmill. Followed by 15 mins on our old rickety cheap elliptical. Very suspenseful as you never know when the thing will just collapse completely. I had better spend some time on a tune up. I then jumped back on the TM for 10 more mins of walking. I am not sure how much to do on the Elliptical as I am somewhat worried about it aggravating the leg. I hear that it is not quite the same motion as running and therefore ok to do, but the main thing is if it hurts stop. No hurting today, so I think I will do more of it. I am able to get my HR up higher on that clunker than walking so it will be better for my fitness.
Happy "Best Day to Pig Out and Not Feel too Guilty about it Day"!!
Today I ran what will probably be the most memoriable 5K I will ever run. I have been laying off the running for a good 2+ weeks now and wasn't planning on racing the Cottonwood Heights Turkey Trot 5K (which is a tradition for my family to run every year, regardless of fitness). But, Bethany has come out of the blue and has been working so hard to get in shape that I decided I would run with her for her first 5K ever. She ran awesome, and blew away her projected time, but finished right at what I thought she was capable of. I would suggest reading her blog entry for the race as she can put it into words much better than I.
I really enjoyed running with her and I am very proud of how hard she worked. It takes a special breed to push their body and mind to their limits for what would appear to most people as no reason at all. All she won was a dinky "I beat the mayor of wherever" ribbon. No money, no trophy, all you get is a tired body and stinky feet. Oh, and a PR right? Was it worth it? One might ask her. "YEP"
As for me, I was pretty glad that I was able to run and not have to limp through it with a bum leg. Quite the opposite actually. I felt great and my leg did not hurt at all during the race or after. I take that as a sign that the rest is actually helping. Now, I am anxious to get back running, but know it is probably too soon.
.5 Warmup
5K in 32:08 (watch time)
2 Complete turkey dinners (one lunch and one dinner)
Two easy miles (9:54, 10:51) with Bethany and the kids on the Planet Walk. Leg felt great. Maybe the slower pace is ok for it. I borrowed a killer plug-in massager (for the last few days) that is doing wonders for the leg muscles. I imagine it is helping the progress.
No runnning today. 45 min walking on the Treadmill. Leg felt fine.
Spent the evening replacing a motherboard and re-installing software on the home PC. I spent much of thanksgiving building a PC for someone. I am now officially retired. From now on, I recommend buying a Dell. I didn't think I would ever say that.
.5 Mile walking (4mph) on the Treadmill, followed by 1 mile of running (6mph), followed by .5 mile walking (4mph), followed by 1 mile of running (6mph), followed by .25 walking again. No soreness int the knee then or now. My right hamstring is starting to tighten up a bit now, so I will have to make an effort to walk around a lot today at work. Nice and easy...So far so good...
Treadmill again in the morning. Sure beats freezing outside. 1/2 mile walk, mile run, 1/2 mile walk, mile run, 1/2 mile walk. Noticed the leg the second mile. Might be too much too soon. Registered as a 1 on the pain scale.
Some more walking on the TM in the evening. Afterward watched Blades of Glory. Hilarious
