Ice Bath

Two weeks 'til race day! I went for my long training run yesterday! I attempted 13 miles, but stopped at 12.3 miles when my knees started to get a little too achey. I'm not too proud to stop. In a race situation I would've had no problem finishing, but this wasn't a race, and I have no desire to injure myself... especially this close to race day!

Ya think the cuteness of my running skirt outweighs the dorkiness of my fuel belt?

Yesterday I took my very first ice bath! I felt it was as good a time as ever. It took my body hours to warm up after, but I think it was worth it. Today my muscles feel good.... tired, but not sore.

Good pain... I think

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....

Kick in the Ass

I've been watching the show I Used to be Fat on demand on MTV. It's addicting. Not as addicting as Teen Mom, but what is?! Anyway, the episode I just saw had a girl who weighed >200lbs & her goal was to get a 10 minute mile. Her trainer told her that she could physically do it, but she was just holding herself back- mentally. After a couple months she overcame that mental barrier & did it... without ever really running much before. It kinda made me feel like a loser (for lack of a better word) since I've been hovering around 10 minute miles for my entire life (pretty much), but don't consistently do them.... at least for any reasonable distance. I've decided that it's ridiculous actually.... I ran a 10K last year at a 9.12 pace, but when it comes to turning that damn treadmill to 6.0 I hesitate.

Let me use today's run as an example. I ran 4 miles in 41 minutes. My first 2 miles were run at 5.6-5.7 mph. The third mile was 5.7-6.0. My final mile was 6.0-7.0, and most of that mile was kept at >6.5 mph. So, I'm obviously capable of running at 6.0 or greater all the time, it's just that number that psychs me out when I know I have to maintain it for >3 miles.

Thus, I have determined that this whole running thing is a mental challenge for me. Sure, I have days where my calves are too tight to continue, or the arch of my foot is stopping me from running (my 2 classic "injuries"), but on 97% of the days I'm just fine to be running at a reasonable (ie >6.0 mph pace). All of this led me to bust out my training journal from last year. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I started to look at my runs. A huge portion of my runs had me running miles & miles at 5.0-5.5 mph. Seriously. No wonder my husband repeatedly told me last year that I wasn't challenging myself enough & that I was capable of running better & faster. In the end I finished my half marathon in 2:13, even with my lousey, inadequate training! In defense of my training last year, all I really wanted was to finish the half. I never had a goal time during my training, and even the day of the race I only wanted to finish it in 2:30. Well, now that I've got that under my belt it's time to take it to the next level!

So, I've decided to kick myself in the ass & get in gear. In my head I've always thought my goal time for finishing a half marathon is 2 hours. I've never said it out loud 'cause I was afraid that I couldn't do it, and I didn't want everyone to realize that I did not attain my goal! Whatev. Now I've said it & hopefully announcing it will make it more real & I can start to take my running seriously.

Here goes nothin'!