Hot Running

So, after PT finished I told myself I’d jump back in, no more excuses.  I didn’t.  The heat, time, long nights, other plans, they all added up.  And then I learned the valuable work out buddy lesson again.  Make plans with friends to work out, and then you know what, you will do it!

So, I made plans for this week to run with Park.  I hadn’t been back to the Park since just after my injury and I was excited to start my running again there.  We could have cancelled due to heat, but we didn’t, and I’m so glad.  We walked a couple of times, but really pushed ourselves to the right limit and got a great work out in.  I left feeling happy, hot, tired and excited.  We made plans for the next week, and I’m going to keep them!

One of the friends will be training for a 1/2 in the fall and we committed to running alongside her as she ups her miles.

The great thing, I did not feel an ounce of pain behind my knee.  The downside, I was totally exhausted the next day, darn heat!

Back to the gym tonight.  Gotta love working out in A/C!

PT and Running

I’m on my last week of PT.  Besides the having to get up early and get in to work late, it has been great and well worth the time and expense.  Within the first week she had sensed that my pain was most likely coming from a Baker’s cyst.  After reading about it on my own, it made sense.  I often got a feeling of swelling prior to the pain, and it hurt most with constant flexing and extension.  She assured me that it was very treatable and that just doing the PT for a few weeks and being careful as I increased my mileage would help.

The week after I ran on a foggy morning for two miles and felt great.  I was so relieved.  Each time I’ve gone, she’s had me on the treadmill for at most 10 minutes and never have I felt the pain behind my knee.

On Friday, I went for a 3 mile run with my Mom and Brother and felt great, no pain!  I’m so happy.  I know I still have a ways to go and I have to be very careful to not overdue it and cause the swelling to return, but still- I can run again!

Some bullet points about PT:

• I feel like I”m in college again getting stim and ice and ultra sound.
• Can I count it as a workout?  Cause I do.
• I’m bad at remembering to do my stretches everyday.
• Sports massages are awesome and painful and great.
• I wish my specialist co-pay wasn’t $40, or that I didn’t have to pay it everytime.

And lastly,

I went for a run and a swim on the same day on Friday- almost felt like Tri Training- oh the thrill!

For First Timers

Hey!

Very exciting   When I trained for my first one I used this plan: http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon-training/Olympic-Triathlon-Training.php (I cut and pasted the plan and put it in excel to help me track, because I’m anal like that)  It is for an Olympic Distance Tri (1 mile, 15-20 miles and 10k) but my tri was .75 miles, 15 miles and 4 miles so it really helped me feel prepared.  The first time I trained I pretty much followed it to a T, not necessarily the days of the week, but I got in the amount needed and felt totally prepared.  The second time, I was not good about following it and felt a lot less prepared.
Below is another type of training plan you could use if it fits you better.  Both sites, trifeul and beginner triathlete are good resources.
http://beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=261

The important stuff-

If you don’t swim a lot, get in swimming time- it is the first event and you’ll be anxious, so better to go in knowing you can do it easily than being worried about being prepared.  Generally, the swims are easy although depending on how many people they let go at once it can be overwhelming at teh beginning.  The way I approach the swim is to just swim, not to be competitive with myself or those around me.  That way, when I exit the water I’m not exhausted and I’m ready to take on the next two legs.

Biking- you HAVE to have a road bike.  My friend did her first tri on a mountain bike and she was miserable.  Get in a lot of on the road bike practice- so you have the shifting down.  Do hills, do LOTS of hills.  My first time I would road bike when I was in NH but for the majority of the training I did spin classes and would stay after class and keep spinning to get in the time needed for my training that day.

Running- do you run now?  If yes, the one thing you should be prepared for is that after you get off the bike, your legs will feel like they’re made of jello and you won’t really know what is going on or how to keep moving, you are running though, so just keep going the feeling will subside!  If you don’t run now, at all- then I might start with a couch to 5k program just to get yourself moving.  If you run a little, but not a lot- then just listen to your body as you increase your mileage.  Don’t focus on speed, just focus on increasing mileage.  If you focus on both you’ll hurt yourself.  As much as you can, try to train with out music and by yourself so that you’re prepared for race day (no music, and probably no buddies to chat with, although I do tend to chat people up on the run, makes things bearable.)

The most important thing I can offer, especially after injuring myself badly this year is listen to your body.  If something hurts, stop and then rest and ice.  If something feels like it may hurt if you keep going, stop and rest and ice.  I don’t know how competitive you are, but I get really competitive- especially with myself and I push myself beyond my limits.  For the most part, this has worked for me and I do know my body and how hard I can push it.  However, I recently pushed too far and too hard and I’ve been unable to run for a month which is utterly depressing for me.  So- let that be a lesson!  Don’t beat yourself up if you have to miss a day for any reason, you can make it up and don’t’ beat yourself up if you get hurt and need to take multiple days off, you’ll be better for it in the end.

Weights- a lot of plans talk about weight training.  I did a little bit during my first training season, and just Yoga during my second.  I would recommend trying to fit some in, but I honestly don’t know how necessary it is.

Gear- get good goggles, get fitted (if you can) for good running shoes and get padded bike shorts.  If you’re doing a late summer tri you shouldn’t’ need a wet suit.  I usually wear my sports bra under my bathing suit so I can just hop on the bike after (I have tri shorts, so I swim, bike and run in them).  I usually throw a shirt on over my bathing suit after the swim.  People may talk about/mention biking shoes- I don’t have them.  I really want to get them, they make a huge difference in the amount of energy you can put in to each pedal stroke.

Hmm- I think that is hopefully enough to get you started!

An Update

I just sent a long email to a friend from High School about training for her first Tri.  It made me very, very nostalgic about the first summer training.  I was so focused, so energized, so committed to training.  I felt great, I was eating great and I was happy.  I didn’t really have much of a social life, I’ll admit it, but I knew it wasn’t a permanent change.

It also made me sad that I won’t be training this season.  My injury has put me out of commission and with this seasons Tri being in July I just wouldn’t be prepared.  Luckily, the race director was kind enough to give me a refund.

Today, I start PT and I hope that in a month from now I’ll be back on my feet and running.  I could really use a good run, especially on mornings like these when the humidity has quite filled the air yet and the fog is rolling off of neighbors lawns.

So, this blog will be lacking in exciting updates this summer, but I figured I should still capture what I’m doing to get through a summer without a Tri to train for.

Next up, for any readers who are doing their first Tri or interested in doing one, I’ll post the email I sent with some tips and thoughts!

So, uh, yeah.

I haven’t been training, hence the lack of posting.  I have been working out, but it hasn’t been training work outs.  My injury totally sidelined me and I don’t see the sports medicine doc for another week.  I may try running today or this weekend, as biking and elliptical have gotten easier.  I’ve mostly been focused on just keeping an exercise routine while not aggravating the injury.  I don’t know what this will mean for July, but I don’t really want to go there because at this point, I can’t really change it.  If the doctor says- you’re fine go for it, then I probably will.  If he says, no, you need to take more time to heal then I have my answer.

In bigger news, I started doing free weight routines again and it hurts to get out of bed.  But I’ll be hitting them today at lunch.  Oh, yeah I’ve rediscovered lunch work outs.  Love.

Whining

I’m really bummed out about not being able to run right now, and I’m letting it affect my training. I’m not proud about it, but I also am not sure what to do to get myself in gear. I’ve made an appointment with a Sports Medicine Doctor, that’s a step. However, I need to do something in the interim that doesn’t hurt. Elliptical is out. Biking causes some soreness. I need to get in the pool. That means I need to get new goggles. See all the walls I’m putting up? And they’re not helping my overall mood which is my problem in the first place. Enough whining, I need to talk some action.
Wish me luck.

10 Weeks

I have 10 weeks left until the first Tri of the season.  Time to get in gear.  Last night, as I lay in bed post the first day of getting serious about dog training, yes we got a dog.  I realized, oh s*&t my work out schedule is now going to be greatly affected by having another being to care for.  We can’t as easily just head to the gym after work, or in the mornings.  I started to panic.  I was already not feeling ready or with enough time to get ready and now this?

I breathed through it, and figured Matt and I would talk and make it work, we’d have to sacrifice working out together as frequently but we’d make it work.

Today I took to my excel spreadsheet and laid out a plan of action.  What work outs can I easily get in before work without sacrificing too much sleep?  What workouts can I definitely fit in at lunch?  Which ones have to be in the evening?  This is going to work.  A few things that I’ll have to sacrifice will be a social life, and probably, no definitely some sleep.

In the end though, I’ll be ready, I’ll feel good.  Let’s go!

PS: Feeling okay about not running the 1/2, my injury is still healing so it was DEFINITELY the right decision!

Quick Update

I worked out for the first time today in 5 days. It felt good to move, and there was minimal soreness on my injury, which thanks to the help of David, my Mom’s BF I think we’ve diagnosed as a ligament tear- the one coming down from my Hamstring and in to my Tibia. Lots of ice and lots of rest does the trick, but it takes longer than a muscle pull. So the real update here, is that I won’t be running the 1/2 on Sunday. I’m okay with this. I know that many or even one of the following things would happen if I ran:
1. I’d feel pain early on and get fed up and upset not being able to finish
2. I’d finish but through pushing myself too hard and injure myself more
3. I’d have to stop and run slowly a lot and that would drive anyone nuts for 13.2 miles.
What have I learned? I don’t think doing a 1/2 at the beginning of the season is the best idea for me. I clearly did not train properly and was feeling the pressure to get to a place of preparedness and caused this injury.
So, what’s next?
I keep working up slowly to longer distances again and focus on biking and pool for the next few weeks.
The Tri in July is going to come up quickly and I’m already a week or two behind the full schedule of training. Here’s to many more successful work outs this weekend and getting back in to the swing of things in a healthy and smart way.
I have hopefully learned my lesson…

Pulls and stuff

As I sit here with an ice pack tied behind my knee I worry, slightly.  I went for a run last night with two friends.  I had to stop several times and walk due to the pain of my pulled muscle.  I felt it the entire time we ran, barring the first 2 minutes when I briefly thought, “Sweet lord I’m a fast healer!”

I’m mad at myself for letting it get this bad.  I can’t regret it though, it is done, what’s the use?  Now, I’ll just keep icing and hope that by the end of next week it feels better.  If it doesn’t, I won’t run the 1/2.  It won’t be the first time Mom and I have called off a race- see This Post.

Will I be bummed out that I’m missing this race?  Yes.

Is it worth it to run a frustrating 13.1 miles and possibly injure myself more permanently.  Hell no.

I’ve got a lot more races in me and another 1/2 in November to run.

We’ll see though, a lot can change in a week.  I’m going to try 3 tomorrow and see how I feel and in the meantime I’ve started weights again, oh good lord my quads are sore! and I swam again tonight- go me!  I really need to look in to children’s goggles.

How’s your training fellow endurance athletes?

Don’t try this at home

I don’t stop when I feel pain, unless it is pain that stops me.  I push through, I push on, and that method has worked for me thus far.  It stems from early in my running career when I was first dealing with over pronation.  I had to just push on to complete runs because my ankles were hurting so much.  It also comes from my type-A results oriented personality.  I want to get it done, I will get it done.

In my last run, Wednesday morning my knees and ankles didn’t feel good so before heading out to run 9 miles this morning I checked and saw that it was time to lace up my new shoes.  They felt a little different than my last pair, although they are the same model (Nike Zoom Structure Triax- the best thing for my pronating feet).  I debated returning them and using my old pair, but talked myself out of it knowing I’d break them in to feel that same and that they were probably just the 12 model not the 11.  I prepared myself to feel a few aches and pains breaking in new shoes, but knew it had to happen before the 1/2.

At about mile 4.5 I felt a pain behind my knee, one I’d actually felt after my run last Sunday and had been able to stretch out.  I pushed on, because that’s how I do.  The pain moved around in that general area so I knew it wasn’t something acute and more likely muscular.  I stopped and stretched a little thinking it would help it like last week.  Okay, I have to be honest here.  I felt the pain much closer to the beginning of my run, but it was right after I’d climbed a hill and it felt better going back down the hill so I had kind of forgotten (aka ignored) about it.

When I reach mile 7 I couldn’t ignore it anymore, but it wasn’t stopping me so I pushed on.  The rest of my body was feeling great, my stamina was awesome and I was really feeling prepared to run 13.1.  I was picking up speed and already feeling great about what I would accomplish.

Once I crossed back over in to Westbury and knew I had about 1 mile left, I stopped again to stretch.  As I stepped in to run again my leg wouldn’t let me.  I had felt, about 1,000 feet back a slight buckling in my leg and now it was stopping me cold.  I swore and pulled my phone out to see how far I had left.  I was both happy and pissed that I had done 8 already.  Just 1 mile to go before getting to 9 and I had to stop.  I walked for a few minutes and then started to run again.  As my Dad always said, NGH.  Not Gonna Happen.  I called Matt to have him come pick me up.  He didn’t answer.  So I kept walking.  I tried running again 2 more times and the second time I could get a few more steps in, but again had to stop.  I was really pissed at myself.  I should have stopped 1/2 mile ago, maybe 1 mile ago but I hadn’t and now I’d really hurt myself.  Damnit.

When I got home we had to head right out for the Met’s game so I just strapped an ice pack on my leg and iced it in the car.  I felt fine walking around once we got to the ball park, and I mentioned the pain to Matt’s Brother who is in Med school and he confirmed it was just a muscle pull most likely.  Phew.  When we left the park it ached as I walked, so I iced it more when we got home and now it is feeling okay.

I had to cancel plans to run the Run as One in Central Park tomorrow and I’m really bummed I’ll have to miss the race, the company and the cherry blossoms.  If I didn’t have the 1/2 coming up, I probably would have run it anyway.  Well, if I didn’t have Matt telling me I needed to cancel to let my pull heal I may have run it anyway.  I need to learn my lesson this time.  If the pain is making me second guess what I’m doing, I need to stop.  I need to listen to my body as it yells at me to stop.

Here’ s to ice and low impact the next few days, and a healthy leg in 2 weeks!