Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured

Just got back into SL after a quick trip to Boise.  We went to see Jay's nephew play in the 4A Idaho State Championship.  They blew the other team out.  Go Burley!   My body is feeling much  better.  Still not a 100% but I am anxious to see how tomorrow goes.  Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend!! 

I am so glad to be back running today.  We headed out and took it slow to see how I felt. Overall I am feeling much better.  I am still not back to 100% and I cannot do any pick ups but the slow pace felt pretty good.  There are still twinges and I am very hesitant at pushing to much because I do not want to be were I was last week.  

Ave pace 9:08

Happy Running! 

Headed out today in the wind.   I am sad I missed so many good weather days last week.  The first 3.5 were very tough.  I felt like I was pushing as hard as I could and going so slow.  The legs were dead.  We head up a 1 mile  gradual hill and I started feeling much better and I pushed as hard as I could and I could feel my old self coming back.  We decided to add on a little to give us 7 for the day and we ran the 1 mile flat (which felt great also) and then turned for the winding downhill home.  The first third was pretty gradual and I could feel my quad tightening but I was okay.  The second third is steep downhill.  Soon as we started down the hill my knee pain return with a vengence.  We walked home.  The good thing is I have a good idea where to target some massage to relieve the knot.  We will run on flat elevation the rest of the week.  I am pretty unsure about the Spectrum 10k at this point because so much is downhill.  Overall I am happy with todays run because I had some moments of feeling really good with good running  and I have some ideas on why there is still some residual knee pain and how to resolve it. 

Ave Pace 8:52

Happy Running!

Very sad..............Knee not feeling well at all today so I decided not to push it and go home.  I am going to get a deep tissue massage and hopefully that will help.  

Happy Running! 

Went to see Kacey for the deep tissue massage.  She worked me over pretty good!  I kept telling myself the pain is good. She said that I was pretty tight and had some good knots.   When I left my knee actually felt worse but as the day has gone on it is feeling better.  I am going to stretch good tonight during my 4 hr long conference call and then take tomorrow off and we will see what Saturday brings.  I keep telling myself, a little time off now is better than a lot of time off later.  Hopefully, Saturday is a good run.  

Happy Running & Deep Tissue Massage! 

Back at it today!!  I still was very unsure what to expect today.  We headed out and the first 1 1/2 miles my knee was still pretty sore but I told myself to just keep trying to work through it.  I ended up feeling really good.  I still cannot get any sort of speed but I ran the entire time and never had to stop.  We had to stop a light with about 1 mile left and my definitely tightened up so I will need to remember to keep moving at the lights.  The route up until the last .25 had been flat or slightly up hill, the last .25 we took on a slight down hill to see how the knee would hold up.  I could feel it tighten a little more but I did not have to stop.  I think that today is the first step on the way back.  I just need to remind myself to continue to take it slow and build back up.  I will be in Seattle for work on Monday and so I will be running on my own.  This will be hard to do with out Paula reminding me.  

Ave Pace 9:09

Happy Running! 

Ran today in Bellevue. I head out and did not my flat boreing run so went the other way.  Probably was not a good decision.  It was incredibly hilly, 12% grades.  I felt okay, the knee hung in there but, it was a very difficult run.  I am amazed at how much I have lost over the last 2 weeks.  The downhill was okay, just really slow.  A big thank you to the 7-11 that let me use their bathroom.  It was one of the cleanest public bathrooms I have ever been in.  Overall felt pretty good, I just cannot really get going or push off on my right leg.

Ave Pace 9:38

Happy Running!

Went out with Paula tonight.  Again it was a very painful 1.5 mile warm up and then I was good to go, except that I have forgotten how to run with out a limp.  Even with the knee not hurting, I am still limping.  I tried several times to correct my form but really struggled.  I made it to 5.4 and then my IT band started to hurt a little.  I immediatly stopped and walked for a minute then tried again.  Still hurting so we walked home.  I dropped Paula off and had .1 to get back to my house and I decided to run it.  It almost feels better if I try to run faster than it does going slow, but I still have a limpy form.  Overall a good day and we will go at night again tomorrow because I have a 6:00 am meeting in Ogden tomorrow.  Hopefully today's run is a step in the right direction.

Ave Pace:  9:38

Happy Running ! 

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: CAN CAUSE SEVERE DEPRESSION or A STRONG DESIRE TO TELL THE WHINEY GIRL TO QUIT BLOGGING

No run today. My knee is very sore and needing a break. After last nights run I stretched and sat in an ice bath for 15 min, I am in worse shape today than I have been the entire time. I am trying to do everything recommended but still no luck. I am going to try to get out tomorrow. I also have an appointment with a sports med doctor next week, due to the pressure from my hubby and co-workers. In other bad news, my massage girl is moving. I was planning on going back this week and called and no appointments left and Friday is her last day. Very, Very Sad. Short of a miracle tomorrow, I am also not going to run the Spectrum 10K. This is probably the biggest disapointment because it is my favorite race. I still have not signed up for the Salt Lake half. I am giving myself another week or two but if no significant improvement I will not be running that either. I keep telling myself it is more than racing and I would still run even if there was never another race. I also felt pangs of sadness, almost tears, when I saw so many runners out in our absolutely gorgeous weather today, knowing I could barely walk, let alone join them.

Happy Running!

Update:  Took a nice long hot bath and stretched and massaged my legs.  When I got out my knee felt so much better.  Finished stretching and rolling my legs with the stick.   Added on with some  ab work and  wimpy push ups. 

Threw out my Diet Coke.  I decided it was time.  I have a stash I need to get rid of, but I decided enough is enough.  I am done! (Hold me to it!) 

New Concept:  Stop running before more pain sets in. 

I had decided that it would probably be a good idea to stop running while I was still feeling good instead of  running until I was in pain.  So for the next little while I am limiting my miles.  Three it is.  The first mile is all warm up and trying to feel good.  The last 2 felt pretty good.  I was wearing  a patella band and it did not eliminate the twinges but my form was much better, very little limping.  So a windy, slow, low mileage day for me.

Ave Pace: 9:53

Happy Running!
 

Today was pretty darn great!  It wasn't overly cold and my knee felt pretty good.  Normally the first mile is pretty painful and the pain is a sharp pain.  But not today.  Today there was very little pain and when there was pain, it was dull and achy.  I felt really good today.  I felt it start to tighten a little as we were finishing up, so I know that three miles is it for right now, but 3 sharp pain free miles.

Ave Pace:  9:33

Happy Running! 

Yuck!  Body and knee did not feel good today.  I did not feel better after a mile so I walked home.  BAD ATTITUDE!  

So I blogged all this this morning and then lost it.  Due to a completely insane day at work, I am just getting back to it now.  Here is what I remember:

My husband is finally in town for a while - YEAH!  As a welcome home gift he inflicted severe pain ( deep tissue massage )  on my legs.  Yesterday was the best they have felt in a long time. 
So in my world I was back to 100%.

Got up this morning and expecting to be 100% and was very disapointed when the knee pain returned and nagged for the first 3 miles.  The first 2 miles were horrible and I really did not even think that I would make it to 3.  At about 3.5 they started feeling a little better and by 4 there was no pain at all until a little tightening at the very, very end.  Not sure what to think but I will take it.  My knee was sore this morning (esp with stairs) but feels good now.  All part of the rollercoaster ride called recovery.

Ave Pace 9:17

Happy Running!

 

WHOO HOO!!!  Today was my first pain free run in almost a month.  My husband worked my legs over again last night and today I benefited.  I wasn't sure what to expect, however I was hoping for at least the same as yesterday.  We started out really slow and but no pain and then after about 1 1/4 mile uphill (slow) warm up, we decided to see how it would go.  Our overall ave pace was 9:16 but I feel like it was faster than that for the remaining 4.75 miles.  I am still not able to really push of and go but I am so happy with today!
 

Happy Running! 

I had to go to Bozeman yesterday for a presentation and then took the early morning flight home today. I am going to give myself the day off and I see the doctor today.

Happy Running!

 Update:  I went to the doctor today.  They did some xrays of my knees and the looked fine.  He said that cross training and only running every other day would be a good idea, but did not have much more to say.  I am glad that there is nothing wrong only because my knee has felt great the last 2 days.  But somewhat disapointed he  did not have more to say. 

Headed out to meet Paula this morning and it was really raining.  When we met up we decided to go walk at the fitness ctr and then try to run  later tonight.  I was feeling a little guilty about wimpin out until we left the fitness ctr and it was snowing and there were puddles and water everywhere.  We would have been a soaking, cold mess if we had tried to run this morning.  Hope you all have a great day and more to come after our night run.

 Happy Running!
 

I ended up not getting out last night because my husband invited some friends over to watch the BYU game and the Jazz game. Out went running and in came the junk food! I at way to much!! Paula and I headed out today and my calves were tight and so I was unsure what to expect. About 1.5 miles into our run we had a 1 mile hill (gradual). I started feeling pretty good and by the top I felt great. The enitre run felt like I was making up for the past 4 weeks of hit and miss running and never feeling good. Mile 5 was by far the fastest, if I had to guess it would have been right around 8 min, maybe a little bit less. My Nike+ thing lost my workouts, time to get serous about a garmin. Anyways a fantastic run - they do not come around very often. Good stretching afterwards and I have some more muscles for my husband to work on tonight. Ave Pace: 8:41 Happy Running!

Sad Sad News:  I went to go leave for work today and my husband asked me to wait a minute and come to the back yard for a minute.  We had be vandalized last night.  There is a church behind our house and kids hang out and skateboard in the lighted parking lot.  The fence between us capstones on each of the posts.  The kids had knocked them off onto the pool.  Needless to say they ripped two big holes into the cover and made a huge mess!  The blog is not really the place to talk about this kind of stuff but I am so angry and I needed some place to let it out!!   

Paula and I had planned a long run today.  Okay, not that overly long, but considering the past month it is fantastic.  We headed out and ran through Lake Park and then through the new Highbury area, back through the rec ctr and home.  It was really pretty uneventful, we saw 5 airplanes land all within a few minutes of each other, yes boring!  When we headed through the outside trail at the rec ctr, tons of people were lined up for the Easter Egg Hunt and not really wanting to move for the runners.  Like I said uneventful run, but a very good run at that!

 I have to give a huge THANK YOU  to Paula for organizing our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.  She does it every year and does an absolutely wonderful job! (and works around our running) 

Ave Pace:  8:46

Happy Running & Happy Easter!

 

We ran a route today that we used to run once a week. There is a big mile long hill at 1.25. I really pushed up the hill today because I could see the effects of being injured. It was harder than it should have been, however, I feel that I ran it very hard so I am happy with that. Took it easy for 1.5 and then pushed really hard again for the next mile. It has a gradual down hill, but nothing compared to the up hill portion of this route. I barely got it under 8 min at the very end. Even though there were two portions of this run that I really pushed hard, my brain kept wanting to check out and have a nice easy run, I had a difficult time staying focused today. So for tomorrow a nice easy run.

Ave Pace: 8:51

Happy Running!

Nice slow easy run. I let my mind check out and just really took it easy today. I cannot believe it was 49 degrees when I left - I almost wore shorts. I had a dream last night that I was doing lots of squats and plies to strengthen my knees - If only dreaming it had the same effect.

We got vandalized again yesterday - probably the same kids. So now we have two more tears in the pool cover. The police came and said there is not much we can do unless we catch them in the act, so my husband is going to put all of his TV Crime knowledge to work on catching them, I will keep you updated.

I also fell of the wagon yesterday and had a Diet Coke. It had been an absolutely terrible day at work and with the vandalizem I could not take it any more. Not quite sure if I am ready to climb back on or not.

Ave Pace: 9:08

Happy Running!

Now that my right knee is feeling better, it is time for the rest of my body to have issues.  I have been having this pain in my left calf  right where the calf muscles meet behind the knee.  I have been stretching and having my husband work on it but it is still bothering me.  When I got up today I was limping a little so I decided to call it a cross training day.  Paula and I went to the gym and did the machine kind of like an elipticle and then rode the bike.  I definitely could tell my legs needed the cross training because they are very week.  My new pain bothered my a little bit during the work out but was gone by the time we were done.  Lots of stretching when I got home and some planks for core work.  Not sure what to do for  mileage today, maybe 4.5?

Happy Running! 

Went out in the afternoon due to the crazy weather in the morning.  I did 1.5 while my daughter was at softball but my left calf was in a lot of pain.  It radiates from the middle up to my  knee to down to my ankle, all on the outer calf.  I went hope and did a little more on the treadmill but still the same.  I had my husband work on the muscle and we found a really big knot that was pretty deep, so I will see how it goes. 

 Happy Running!
 

Last night my leg was sore all evening, so I called Paula and said that I was not going to run today.  I woke up in pain during the night and took some IB and it helped a little.  Needless to say, I have a very large bruise on my outer calf today and it is still very sore.  I am thinking that some time off completely is in order.  I do not think I will be running Salt Lake.  I would rather get healthy than hobble along all year and not be at my best.

Happy Running!

Complete Rest, Day 2:

    Not much to report.  Still a big bruise on my leg from the DTM.  There is still some pulling so apparently we have not quite found the knot causing all the problems.  It still hurts a little to walk on and yesterday we went bowling and it did not like that at all. 

 Spent this morning watching my girls play softball.  They both played really well.  Us the fans just tried to endure the freezing cold wind.  My husband saw Paula out running so a big "WHOO HOO" for her because it was pretty nasty.

Happy Running & Resting!

Complete Rest, Day 4:  I woke up this morning with absolutely no pain!  I was so happy until I put on my heels and went to work.  They are definitely contributing to my issue.   Overall I am feeling pretty good.  Some tightness around my IT band and a little muscle pain in the calf.   I am going to have to be creative with what I wear to work to get away from heels but knowing they are contributing makes it an easy fix.

Happy Running!