Stroller pushin in Texas

Taper time!  I always get a little confused about what exactly a taper really means.  One week out, I get it, but two?  Oh well, I will try my best to really relax and recover over the next two weeks.  I will mainly focus on eating a very clean, healthy diet.

Elliptical 30 minutes and TM 30 minutes.  My knee is still feeling pain.

1 hour on the stairs.  Knees hurt, no more of that.

Test run in my new shoes to see how things are going.  8 around SLC area.  Pain is there on the down and the uphills.  No so much the flat.  

Made a contract with my friend stating that I would not run until the day of the marathon.  :(

First time on my bikes in months!  I hate where I live for riding.  The SLC area stinks!  Roads are either up or down or I ride on dangerous roads with lots of cars.  It felt so good to be back on my bike!  My knees enjoy this type of exercise. 

I went back to the shoulder doctor on Monday.  They took an X-ray and my shoulder still has a big crack in it, but I am well into the recovery phase.  He told me I could start back into weight baring exercises.  Swimming is okay and after the marathon I will start lifting again.  :)

Doctor day!  I will be seeing two physical therapists today.  My knees actually feel really good today.  Probably because I have been eating Ibuprofen like it's candy. :{  Hope my knees are just inflamed.

PT #1.  He listened to me tell him about my running history very carefully.  He did a few tests to determine what exactly my problem is.  Put me on heat and stem, stretched, massaged, and gave me a few exercises to do.  Taped my knees extremely well.  I have three appointments with him next week to get things healing.  He determined that it was my IT bands being tight that are causing the issue.  He believes that the new shoes I have might be throwing my alignment off.

PT #2.  Joel @ TOSH. .  All I have to say is Joel is the coolest running PT ever!  He was completely booked today and slid me in.  He wants me to test out both pair of shoes on a run and see which pair is giving me the most grief.  He also wants me to rest and stretch a ton this week.  It is always so fun to talk with Joel about training.  He has SO MUCH insight. 

My knees feel so much better already. 

I actually ran today, my knees felt so much better.  I switched my shoes out mid-run to test which ones felt the best.  To my surprise I thought the Nike's were much better.  I will try this experiment next week as well.

I ran up and down the hills of beautiful Kamas.  I stayed the night with my Single's ward at a lovely home.  Very pleasant evening with friends. :)

I rode my bike for an hour on Wasatch Blvd.  Guess that is the place to bike since I saw a billion other bikers.