Believe to Achieve

Oh boy, started out on my run the same as Saturday--- extremely tight and quite a bit  painful (a 6-7 level), I feel like overnight I have been given this bum hip to work with and its lame!!!  I can't lift my leg well.  I wanted to cry for all the hard work I have been doing and now this two weeks before race day?  Seriously?  At least its not two days before.  The scraping was intense but immediately I felt some release but now, as I was warned, I am sore, marathon sore, in the hip and upper thigh.   And now my groin and lower calf are my most painful areas, where we didn't scrape so obviously the other places worked.  I will have to order the tools and do some self scraping.   Anyway....form totally skeewompous, right leg dragging the left along.  How long can my right leg pull more than its own weight around?  7 miles easy.  Avg pace 8:26.  BTW--- maybe its the cotton blowing around but I was quite dizzy this morning and my sinuses feel pressurized, not stuffed.  Outside was no better and then I saw all the pollen in the air.

ReNEWED HOPE!!! : D    After work let me go home at 4 am because they were tired of seeing me whince in pain.....I came home slept til 830am.   Up for two wondering about this hip that still continued to plague me.    I iced a lot last night.  But that didn't last long.  Then I bloated up like a balloon in my stomach and felt just awful.  So...  I self deep massaged it, hurting now mostly in the front upper hip area.  Had husband hold pressure there.  Hurt so good.  Yowsers.  Went back to bed for two hours got up thinking of a "no run" day.  But just said " I got to get out there or I will give up".  So I put on shorts a nylon t-shirt, headband and gloves and faced the sunshiny wicked windy day.  It felt nice but my hip sure didn't.  The same tightness was coming on with every piece of clothing I put on.  Then as I reached for sneakers I decided "that's it I am going back to my oldies but goodies and sure enough it was a light at the end of the tunnel!!  Unbelievable the tightness gradually lessened with each step I took.  Pain level 4!!!   A 4 was a big step.  And with each passing mile I was feeling stronger and stronger, more hopeful!!  So basically I am opening up a new runner shoe shop called " JULIE'S MISFITS".  I am going to find a way to mold these shoes and have them hand made for me.  Hip still has gnawing pain but tightness improving tons since the change back.  So what if I don't conform?  so what if I am mal-aligned.  I'd rather be pain free with a poor form!!    Avg pace 8:19 for 7.11 miles.  I somehow went thru the "PG Triangle" at mile 6 my garmin stopped working.  It didn't show time moving or anything.  All keys were locked and suddenly it went off.  Then when it came back on it added my old time to my new mileage with a direct point to point.  It gave me a nice avg of 8:12 instead and 7.65 miles.  Weird.  Of course I knew better.  I was only just over a mile from home.  No cheating here.  To follow....excerpts from JULIE'S CHRONOLOGY OF AN INJURY...stupid human tricks not to be done at home....and a class I offer on-line for free "How Not To Train"  and other helpful hints to avoid injury.  

Had to get up in the middle of the night due to intense spasm-like pain in my lower left abdomen radiating to my left hip and upper and inner thigh.  Heat helped and I could finally fall back to sleep.  But that isn't going to stop me from being a die hard "got to do the workout" planned person I am.  I warmed up on a hilly course around town in PG for 4 miles then did a 3 mile tempo at short tempo speed (goal 6:50 to 6:55).  Started on a good downhill to help my turnover with this bum hip and MY CONFIDENCE.  First 1/2 miledownhill  last half mile flat (6:33).  It felt very controlled, not pushed at all.  I had to stop dead as the traffic passed on Canyon Rd. (1/2 mile mark) so lost the downhill momentum.  Stop was only three seconds. Second mile slight down hill and flat then verrry slight downhill (6:35).  Third mile--Now I am on the flat to slight uphill part of 1100 north going west into the wind and the road is all broken up on the sides.  I am having to wave cars to move over so I don't have to run in the torn up road (they are supposed to be paving it soon).  I try to be tough in the slight headwind and busy-ness but my left leg has decided to give out on me and become even tighter and I slow.  This mile a 7:10.  I was also doing this run on no fuel except two pieces of whole wheat toast and almond butter an hour and 1/2 beforehand.  No water.  I could feel it wanting to come up that last mile.  Avg for the three miles= 6:45. Total mileage 10.  Avg pace for all= 7:49. Splits:   9:16,  8:06,  8:43, 8:08,  6:33, 6:35, 7:10,  8:08,  7:53,  7:41.  I think I psyched myself out that last mile.  Those first two miles felt sooo easy, I thought wow I am going to PR in a 5K just running out on the streets and then the uphill came and I couldn't hang in that tough.  I better do some brain re-training before 10 days from now!!!

7 DEATH-LIKE MILES.  Rated # 2 for worst run ever.  7 @  8:46 pace.

Bike ride. #1     2 miles round trip to kids school at 9am.  BRRRRRrrrr!!  What's with the frozen WIND?   #2   9 miles on AF River trail and by Lone Peak and back down.  Hip/seat muscles (adductors) very sore achy at first.  Using totally different muscles than running.  Sciatic pain was an 8 all night at work.  Relieved more as morning wore on and a massage by my husband.  Took ibuprofen more liberally than I am used to as well.  No pain in back during bike ride except for muscle twinges from pedaling that was cured with standing up pedaling.     Rode to daughter's school for her "Author's Fair".  Listened to her well thought out story about a bird and a girl.  For seven she is quite the long DETAILED story writer.  The longest in her class her teacher told me.  #3  1 mile bike ride home.  Total  miles 12.  Last longer MP run tomorrow with Kim for 8 miles with a three mile warm up.  She promises to run MP and not some 1/2 MP.  We'll see.  GOOD NEWS-- I got in to the St. George Marathon.     SAD NEWS-- Kim did not.  FRUSTRATING.  I am happy but not happy.  We are both irritated.  Some people sign up in the "oh I better sign up cause it fills up, but I am not sure I will run it" in order to at least secure a spot and others like Kim who are shooting for under 3 hours and definitely will run it come the end of the earth only to stop her don't get in.  ARgghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!  Anybody have secret ways to get in besides $1000 to charity?  

Met Kim at 6:35 am.  Ran slowly up to the mouth of AF canyon, mentally preparing myself for 8 MP miles which will always end up faster than that when I am with speedy energizer fueled by no entry to SGM aggression runner Kim.  In fact poor Kim had to conform to my slowness as we headed out.  She ran a mile to my house first.  She wanted more miles.  I also stopped at the Fire Station to take a gu and a drink of water at the park bathrooms there.  Still feeling sluggish as we crested the hill but it was all mental for the plan ahead.  Ran 8 miles.  5 were rolling downhill on the Cedar Hills Pathway, with some on dirt terrain (about .4 miles) and  the rest on roads going up hill.  We stayed on the path at the Cedar Hills Golf course after surging down the hill before AF canyon ( the one I usually am climbing).  That was a nice start and then rolling downhill descent.  The rolling hills is what I wanted as it simulates quite closely the last 8 miles of Ogden.  Ending with three uphill miles the last being the greatest ascent, all uphill to my house.  Splits quite under MP of course.  Hope that makes next week seem real easy when I run my own race.  Here they are:  6:40, 7:02, 6:49, 6:51, 6:56, 7:04, 7:04, 7:13 too much uphill and All mental for me.  At least I didn't completely fall apart.  The first four miles were quite the hoot: 8:55, 9:19, 9:27, 9:28.  Total unmotivated pace and all straight uphill, the direct route to the start of the 8 miler.