Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Easy morning run with Catherine. Nice.

23:38

I think the twinges in my knee are unrelated to injury, but I'm still not certain enough to just jump back into things. So, I think I'll continue to cut my running miles this week while filling in the gaps with cross training. I hope to make it out for a long run on Saturday and finish the week somewhere in the 40-50 mile range.

This morning, I ran a quick two miles on the treadmill (13:00) before jumping into another spin class (a little more than 50 minutes). This one wasn't nearly as loud as the last one, and there was less focus on upper body strength. It's not my scene, but it still seems like a good way to pack a hard workout into a short time.

My plan was to run 45 minutes this morning, but after a little more than half of that I started to feel like my knee wasn't cooperating, so I hopped on an elliptical to round out my time. 3.2 miles in 23 minutes, plus 22 minutes on an elliptical.

I went to the gym this morning for more crosstraining/running/playing it safe. I figured I would run until my knee hurt, then finish on an elliptical or a bike. But I made it to the gym later than expected, and there was a spin class about to start, and there was an empty bike, so I decided to hop in. This was my third class, and my third completely different experience. A very estrogen-loaded class ("Good job, girls! And guy."), although there was one other male (some kid who was in the class with his mom). It was easier than the other classes, too, which was fine with me since all I really want to do is ride the bikes. Anyways, class was 45 minutes, and after that I hopped on the treadmill for 3.3 miles in 20 minutes, since I was all warmed up. No problems with my knee, so maybe I'll try to run my whole workout tomorrow.

It's sad to see my mileage so low for the week.

Meh.

More treadmill miles. I started with a slow (real slow) warmup, and then I cranked up the speed, but since it was late in the day I wasn't feeling so hot. So I went back to real slow and played around with the incline for a while. But my knee didn't like that, so I rounded out the hour watching Mexican soaps on a recumbent bike. 

Catherine ran with Melody this morning, so I had her drop me off at the gym in Orem so I could use the stair stepper. I counted the miles, because as far as I'm concerned they're the indoor treadmill of a very steep hill. Of course, the machine I was on said I did about eight miles, which seemed unreasonable, so I cut it in half.

I started with 45 minutes of intervals: 3 minutes off (180 watts), 3 minutes on (370 watts). It felt pretty easy at first, but I had to slow down for 90 seconds in the middle of the last interval, so I think I got the intensity just about right. After the intervals I finished with 15 minutes steady at about 215 watts.

What a day. My final project for my legal writing class is due at 8:00 on Monday morning. Last night I decided I'd rather turn it in today. I started working this morning, and I went to the library and turned it in at 10:00 tonight. It was a long day, but after almost a month it's nice to have that project finally out of the way.

Of course, to make sure I got my writing done, I had to skip my Saturday morning trail run. I guess that was going to happen anyway, thanks to my knee, but it's still a bummer. I just felt antsy and lazy at the same time all day long.

After turning my paper in, I went to the gym. My plan was to run for as long as I could before my knee told me to stop, and then move over to a stair stepper or into the pool. I started out running 6:30 miles, thinking maybe I could bang them out for an hour, and for a while it looked like I might get away with it. But then my knee started protesting, so I slowed the treadmill way down, cranked the incline up, and started hiking. That seemed to feel okay, so I started running again and did a 12 minute mile at 15 percent. But by the end of that my knee was protesting again. I had no motivation to do anything else by that point, so I jogged an easy mile on the flat to cool down and then went home. Six miles in about 47 minutes to finish my lowest mileage week since my last knee injury. At least my knee waited until the weather turned before betraying me.