Stupid Things I Do

As I'm making my way through my current knee annoyance, I've had a good amount of free time to think about what I did to cause this issue and how I can work to not let it occur in the future. I thought if I spent the time to write it out, then surely I'll go back and reference this post every few months as a reminder not to be stupid, right?

One can only hope.

In retrospect, there were a lot of dumb things I did to lead up to my knee being mad at me. Honestly, it probably should be a lot angrier. In an effort to save myself in the future, and possibly to save you from yourself, here is my list of things I definitely shouldn't have done if I wanted a happy knee:


1. Hard runs on not so great surfaces. A few weeks back I had a track workout. I asked a buddy if he wanted to join me for that track workout. And then it snowed. Said buddy shoveled a lane of the track so we could still run on it! And then the snow melted, and then froze, and then it snowed again. And finally it was time for our run. Because said running buddy had worked so hard on the track, I went out and did the workout. It went great. My paces were fast, and it felt pretty good, except for the slick patches, and the spot of packed in snow. I probably would've been better off just running those 8-9 miles at a regular effort on a clearer route.

2. Being stingy with my shoes. I have a lot of running shoes that are on the cusp of retirement. I usually try to get ~300 miles out of my Mizuno Wave Riders. I have 5 pairs of shoes that have ~250 miles on them, that I've swapped out for a fresh pair when they felt like they lost a little bit of their pep or I started to feel a little niggle of annoyance somewhere in my body. About a month ago, during a cutback week, I set out to rack up some mileage on those shoes. 8 miles on a pair here, 6 miles on a pair there, all in an effort to max them out and donate them. At least I was smart to consider doing this on a cutback week, but after rocking some serious mileage in previous weeks, this was a recipe for a disaster.

3. Neglecting strength training. I finally went back to POWER after missing 4 out of the last 5 weeks. Uff da. I need strength training in my life, but I was finding it really hard to balance running ALL THE MILES with a 5:30am strength session. I talked to the coach and told him where I was at, and asked if during future cycles, if I can scale back the intensity/weights of the lifts during the peak part of my training cycle. He agreed. Phew. I don't want to skip runs and I don't want to skip POWER so I hope this is a good way to keep them both on track.

4. Regular massages. In addition to not being able to find time to strength train, and recover from said strength training, I've also not been the best about my monthly standing massage appointment. My weekend schedule at work got messed up, which meant that my random mid-week half day schedule got thrown off and I couldn't find time to meet up with my massage guru. Thank god she is the best and could get me in for a 9pm emergency appointment before the St. Patty's Day mile, but I need to be seeing her with a lot more regularity for maintenance vs. emergency care. :)

5. Self care. Since starting to strength train regularly (with the exception of lately) I found that I didn't need to foam roll nearly as much. My IT bands stayed pretty damn happy with the newfound hip stability and glute strength (hallelujah!) and I just got out of the practice of doing it. Once I neglected to go do strength work, I surely didn't start up again, which is a terrible idea. The knots that live inside of my calves are toddler sized. Spending some time foam rolling and trigger point treating my legs from the knee down will really help keep my legs happy.

Don't Be Afraid

I was whining to Kyle the other night about how slow I (still) am, and he responded with something that has been on my mind since then, "It's all mental Jerbear. You're just afraid of doing it." Since I'm always right, I immediately wanted to tell him, "Nuh-uh!" But I think he's right.

Since starting up training again late last spring, I have been tippie-toeing around my training, modifying my training program(s) like crazy, treating my body with kid gloves, wishing on all of the stars that it stays whole and healthy for me. And knowing the ups and downs I've had with running over the last four years, part of that is being a smart runner.  But another part is being afraid.

I'm afraid to push it when running intervals, heck, I'm afraid to DO intervals, because I know that my injuries tend to flair up when I'm doing speedwork. But you know what? If I don't practice running fast with my new running form, I'll either a) be slow forever or b) be broken as soon as I do try to run fast/train fast because my form will still be all jacked up.

I'm afraid to go for a run when my IT band has a giant knot in it.  Ok, it's probably smart to sit a run out because I know this causes knee/hip pain, but if I HAVE a giant knot in my IT band I probably need to figure out why.

I'm afraid of running tempo runs, and highly embarrassed to fail at them or post slow times compared to what I used to be capable of running, but if I don't do them, I will never get back to those previous tempo paces.

This post is pretty negative, but it's been a good eye opening last few days.  Unfortunately there is a fine line between being a smart runner and a broken runner for me, but I need to learn to not be so afraid to push the limits every once in awhile.  Now that I've worked to build up a fairly solid base, I'll be able to add in some more speed this winter and spring.  And in the back of my mind, my mantra will be "Don't be afraid, push your limits."  Because I think there's still a speedy runner in my legs, somewhere.  She just needs to get her @$$ kicked a little to come out.

Training Recap

I've done some thinking over the last year about this blog, and whether I wanted to continue with it once grad school was over.  For the last year, school has been so crazy that my running/training has been abysmal at best, and when you have a running blog with lackluster running, um... what's the point?

Right now I'm in the midst of a five week break from school.  Five.  Glorious.  Weeks.  Granted I'm still working full time, but other than that 40 hours a week, I have 128 hours that *I* get to decide what I do with.  I have approximately 15 books sitting on the end table in my living room, so that should give you some idea of what my plans are.  But I've also been RUNNING.

**Cue the confetti and celebratory high fives**

Spring in the midwest (albeit wildly unpredictable) is the BEST time to run.  Granted, we only get three weeks of spring, and fall for that matter, but it is a glorious three weeks.  It snowed on May 1st, so I'm hoping that we might get a smidge more good weather in early June before hot as hades hits.  I am incredibly slow right now.  Yes, running is all relative.  My slow could be your race pace (it's probably not), but it's slow for me, and I feel slow, and I don't like to be slow.  But it is what it is.

Before my long run last Saturday, I procrastinated by going through my training log from the last year.  The fact that I was able to go through it in a short amount of time should give you an idea of how little I've trained over the last year.  My last solid training effort was in March 2012.  I ran a semi decent race in Brookings in May 2012, and since then I've basically been setting PWs, or not racing.  Which is fine, you get out of running what you put in to it.  I don't deserve fast times.

However, my highest level of frustration with running has been over the last year.  I would get in to a groove of a couple of weeks of successful running.  Moderate amount of weekly mileage.  A long run for good measure, and I would end up hurt.  Repeat, 20,000 times (or so it feels).  I've never felt like quitting running more than I have over the last year.

This spring I picked up Chi Marathon.  I've implemented some of the running form suggestions, and it's making a world of difference **knocks on wood**.  If you're reading this, please also knock on wood for me, mmmk?  I've known for years that there is something wrong with my running form, because I always end up injured either after a hard race effort, or a higher mileage training cycle.  THIS IS NOT NORMAL.  I had pinpointed either heel striking or muscle weakness as the culprit (or both).  After looking at some of the "good" and "bad" running form pictures, it was pretty clear which category I fell into.  Hint:  bad.

When I run, and settle in to auto-pilot mode, I sit back on my heels and bop along.  This leads to over-striding, and when you're overs-triding, it's impossible to NOT heel strike.  Seriously.  Try it.  Not only was I heel striking, but I was also doing so with a completely straight leg.  Looking at race pictures makes me cringe.  When landing with that much force, you're essentially putting the brakes on, with every stride, not to mention forcing your joints (knees, hips) to take the shock of each step, via your IT band.  Seeing a pattern here?  Me too.

Examples?  Sure:

The trick that has helped me the most is the forward lean.  Immediately it shortens your stride, and helps to land your foot underneath you instead of way out in front of you.  I have to concentrate the ENTIRE RUN to make sure I'm leaning, landing with my knees slightly bent, foot directly underneath me.  Hopefully with time, it'll become second nature, because I miss my autopilot runs.

My pace is super slow because a) I'm out of shape and b) I'm using muscles that have never been used (or just rarely) before!  My calves are incredibly tight after each run.  Whenever people would complain about tight calves, I kind of always thought they were crazy.  :/  I did a speed workout this week, and my hammies were sore the whole next day.  Hammies are used for running??  Who knew??  And a muscle higher up in my quad is getting definition like I've never seen before.  So there's that too, I guess.

I'm slowly building up my mileage right now, doing the HR training thang, in hopes that I'm somewhere back to normal-ish paces by the time marathon training starts ~2 months.  I have a couple of 10ks, and possibly a 5k thrown in there as well to keep me motivated, and then I'm going to attempt Pfitz 18/55 yet again in mid-July.

So stick with me, I guess.  This may just turn in to a fully functioning running blog yet again!

The Sweetest Words

The other night Kyle asked me a question I've been waiting forever for him to ask:

Will you create a running training program for me?



I squealed and shrieked.  And then started spouting out of a multitude of questions.  And then I think I freaked him out.  Baby steps, Jerbear.

As you may have noticed, I fell off the blog wagon after posting my grand goal for the rest of the month/year.  And that's because I fell off the running wagon as well.  I had some pain in my foot that I started to affectionately refer to as my "stress fracture foot" and after a couple of runs sans knee strap my knee was feeling wonky.  Couple that with upcoming finals, one of which that was 40% of my final grade (NBD, I'm just having a panic attack thinking about it now!), and some possible burn out on the horizon, I decided to put running on the back burner for a bit.

I was a little concerned when I wasn't missing running.  At all.  I was sleeping in on my late days at work.  I was sleeping in on the weekend.  It was... kind of amazing.  I was also studying my little booty off during every second of free time, and it was great not to have to stress about fitting in an hour of running in my already crammed day.

But Saturday I took my tough final, and Saturday night I celebrated, as I think is necessary.  And Sunday I rewarded myself with a run.  Just a measly 3 miler.  But it was nice.  And then I watched Green Bay put up another tally in the win column.  GO PACK GO!

Monday I woke up with more knee annoyance, and I was pissssssssssed.  I complained to Kyle that "I JUST WANT TO GO FOR A RUN G.D. IT!"  And he said... good.  Finally.  And he was right.  FINALLY I was excited to get back in to it.

I did a lot of foam rolling on Monday and Tuesday, and knocked out an easy 5 miler with strides on Wednesday morning.  Granted my "easy" heart rate isn't quite what it was pre-Philly.  But apparently endurance eating doesn't equate to endurance running.  Wish you all would've told me that... jerks.

And tomorrow is me and Kyle's running date.  And I'm pretty excited about it.  Since I'm not begging him to run with me, as has been the case the 3 other times he's ran with me, and it's him requesting it, I think it's a good sign that he's excited to do it.

And as for my first semester of grad school, unofficially knocked out a 4.0, while working full time and training for two half marathons and a full marathon.  ::gives herself 3 gold stars and 2 successive pats on the back::  ROLL TIDE!

P.S.  Have you met my niece?  She's kind of beautiful, no?  Takes after her auntie obvs.  ;)

Look Who's Off the Injured Reserved List

Oh man, I was an anxious beast on Monday.  I was so excited to get out and run, but I was also deathly nervous that the pain would be back.  Part of me wanted to run right away, and the other part wanted to wait til the end of the day, just to be safe.

When the clock struck 5pm, I pretty much sprinted out of the office.  I grabbed my running clothes, and proceeded to do the happy dance around my apartment as I was getting ready.  Dare I say, this small injury was what I needed to remind me how much I love to run?  ;)

I started off and was forced to run a fairly hilly route because it's so dark at 5 now.  Boo!  I concentrated on keeping good form and paying attention to any pain, should it crop up.  The first mile to mile and a half I was sucking wind pretty hard, but that was also the extremely hilly portion of the run.  After the first mile and a half, it just felt GOOD.  No aches, no pains, and what I felt was an easy pace was actually a bit faster than I had planned for.

Around mile 3 and a half I did start getting a bit tired, probably because I was HUNGRY.  At mile 4, I looked down at my watch to see what my split was and SPLAT!  Arms and legs flailing through the air, and Jeri biffs it.  Big time.  :p  Oh geez.  Finally have a healthy foot, and trying to wreck my wrists and knees.  Haha.  Nothing was harmed except for the hole in my new running pants.  Sigh.

I ended up doing 5 miles in 45:46 for a pace of 9:10.
1. 9:13 2. 9:17 3. 9:10 4. 9:06 5. 8:59

I just went through my training schedule for the next 3 weeks.  (My race is in 3 1/2 weeks, holy CRAP!)  I knocked the plan down from 5 days/week to 4, which knows my weekly mileage from 37-38-37 to 28-30-29.  For my long runs, I'll do 12-13-12, and I reduced one easy run/week by one mile to lower my weekly mileage.  I have no qualms about lowering any of the other easy runs by a mile if I need to.  However, I don't see my 8:22 pace that runnersworld.com predicted for me happening on race day; I will be happy with a pain free race.  Can't WAIT!

Tonight I am sooooooooo excited to sleep.  Running is my Ambien, so I've been a bit [read:  INSANELY] of an insomniac for the past couple of weeks.  I'm guessing my bed is going to be the greatest. thing. ever.

Yoga, Welcome Back into My Life. Please wipe your feet.

Over the past few weeks I've had a number of aches and pains. It started with whatever that muscle is under your butt cheek that connects to your hammie (on the left side). Which led to pain in my left hip. Then on Monday's hill workout, I started having pain in my left foot (on the outside of the foot in between the heel and that bone that sticks out).

Dear body,

What gives?!?!
Sincerely Sad,
Jerbear

I decided that in addition to getting new shoes, my old Nimbusi (my official plural to the word Nimbus) had over 400 miles on them now, I would also implement good ol' yoga back into my routine. Ever since the challenge that occurred in August and September, I've rarely done yoga. But it makes me feel sooooooo good. And so strong. Last week (while I was too cool to blog, sorry about that btw) I started waking up somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-6:45 to get in some yoga before work. It was sooooooo great. So far this week, I've only managed to get some in on Monday morning, and only some free flowing poses at that. But I am going to work on incorporating that into my routine again.

I've looked into some yoga studios in town. One of them does free classes on the first Friday of the month, which I missed as it was last Friday.  Another studio in town offers your first class for free, and their classes are considerably cheaper. I was thinking about asking for a yoga punchcard (assuming I like the studio) for a Xmas present. Yes, I'm always on the look out for great gift ideas for ME. Hehe.

After taking Tuesday off to appease the left side of my body, I had 5 easy miles to complete in addition to a volleyball game.  I ended up staying at work a half hour late, which meant that it was DARK when I got home.  :(  I still decided to use the bike trail for my run, even though there are some spots that are a little...umm...scary.  My left foot started hurting within the first mile and was hurting so bad at the halfway point that I just wanted to quit.  The unfortunate part about the out and back routes are that halfway through you are 2.5 miles from home.  :(  I sucked it up and kept going.  Every rustle of the leaves made me think that there was a crazy and/or deranged serial killer ready to jump out and chop me into bits.  Nope.  Just rabbits.  Lots and lots of rabbits.

I got home and scarfed some food and got ready for volleyball.  I switched into a different pair of shoes hoping that would help the foot pain.  No go.  We won 1 of the 3 matches, and let a huge lead go in the 3rd match which would've given us the W.  I wasn't super happy after the game, especially since I had played in pain.

After the game I came home and was a full on pout fest.  I had started throwing the word "stress fracture" out into my mind.  I did some research on the internet and it looks like it could either be that or tendonitis of some tendon that wraps from your ankle to the bottem of your foot.  I'm self diagnosing myself with the tendonitis one since it usually only takes a couple of weeks to heal vs. 4-6.  I am for sure taking the next week off from running, probably more like a week and a half.  If I need more, I'll take it.  I think I'm in good enough shape that I could still do the Dallas White Rock 1/2 in under 2 hours with training the 2-3 weeks prior.

I also think I might be breaking up with the volleyball team.  This pain came on shortly after my first game last week, and it makes sense that would be why it hurts.  Otherwise, I'm following almost an identical plan to the September 1/2 marathon, so it shouldn't be an overtraining injury.  The only variable that is here now that wasn't present then is volleyball.  Sad, because I do really enjoy playing volleyball, but if the girl can't run, poop will hit the fan!

I'm going to spend my time off rocking some bike workouts, some yoga, core exercises, and getting my push ups ON!  Anyone have any good stationary bike workouts you want to pass my way?  I'd love you forever!  :)