Week in Review

I've been home from vacation for just over a week, so I think it's time to address my running status. While I didn't run a ton on vacation I was still fairly active. We did a 5K run early on in the vacation, and then we did a bunch of walking & hiking, and even a 10 mile bike ride in the middle of the trip. So, when I got home and was supposed to be running 10 miles the day after my plane landed I wasn't too worried. Now, I wasn't gonna go out & run 10 miles, but I felt a 5 mile run at a 6 mph pace was well within my capabilities. So, I headed on out & felt pretty good for the first 2.5 miles. Unfortunately, as I continued I developed a stabbing pain underneath my right knee cap. I stopped to walk for 0.5 miles. The pain went away, but as soon as I returned to running the pain didn't hesitate to come back immediately. Not a fan. When I got home I stretched, iced my knee & took some IBUs. The next day I decided to just go for it & do a short jog. I didn't even get 1 mile into it before I had to stop. Not a fan. I continued to walk the rest of the way & my knee continued to hurt which was not promising...

Long story short, the half marathon, which is only 3 weeks away has officially been postponed. I don't think my knee is ready to endure long runs. It was a tough decision to make (especially since I've been labeled a quitter for most of my life), but there are still at least 2 more half marathons locally before winter. Since I was concerned about being called a quitter, I came up with a back up race to train for. Instead of doing the Flower City Half Marathon as planned, I decided that Peter & I would do the Flower City Duathlon!

The duathlon is set up as 5K run/20 mile bike ride/5K run. You can do it by yourself or as a relay. I told Peter I would run the 5Ks if he would do the bike ride. He has tentatively agreed. This, of course, is all dependent on my capability to run 6.2 miles. I'm confident that I'll be able to pull it off. There will be a break in the middle, so I'm thinking that my knee will hold up. I'm trying to look at this like a blessing in disguise. I'm hoping that by focusing on cross training & shorter runs that I'll be able to increase my speed while recovering. Too ambitious? We'll see how this goes. I've been resting my knee, stretching & doing yoga. I have since gone running in 2 mile increments pain free. I find this promising. I'm feeling good about my running season this spring/summer/fall.

Here's my planned workouts for this week:
Monday: Easy 5K Run
Tuesday: Bike 5 miles
Wednesday: Yoga
Thursday: Easy Long Run (not quite sure what "long" will be yet)
Friday: REST
Saturday: Speed 5K Run
Sunday: Yoga

This is all contingent on my knee, of course. I've decided that if my knee even slightly hurts I'm stopping dead in my tracks & I'm going home & icing it. Only time will tell....