Sunday, November 4, 2012

October Summary

Numbers

  • One 10K race resulting in one 10K PR
  • Zero cycling.  Oops.
  • 23.5 miles fitness walking
  • 47.4 miles running
  • One early voting ballot completed
  • One post-running-group-season surprise baby shower attended. 
Thoughts
  • Meant to do a half-century in November, but haven't been on my bike since August so obviously it didn't happen
  • Happy that the 10K resulted in a personal best.  
  • I essentially stopped running for the remainder of October after the 10K race.  This is because I'm having problems with my knee and I'm trying not to make it worse.   
  • I'm only counting walking as "fitness walking" if it is at a brisk pace.  Any walking at a leisurely pace isn't getting included in my numbers at the moment.  This is mostly because my running is down and I'm more conscious of the walking that gets my heart rate up.  When my running goes back up again, I'll be more lax in what I include in the walking numbers.
  • Transitioning back to work after 8 weeks off was not a lot of fun.
Plans
  • Appt with the orthopedic this coming Friday.  Hoping to set up another series of Euflexxa injections beginning sometime around Thanksgiving.
  • Not sure how much running I can do over this next month, goal is to get in a decent amount of fitness walking, 1-2 miles each day at a brisk pace.  As it turns out, my dogs are great fitness walking partners; they never turn down the opportunity for a walk and are quite happy with a brisk pace. 
  • While I'm trying very hard to "do the right thing" and not run on a bad knee, I'm finding the lack of running is having a negative impact on my overall mood and stress level.  I ended up running easy on Friday and Saturday and it helped my mood a lot.  So maybe I need some short easy runs just to stay sane.  I hope I'm not the *only* one who feels like I'm teetering on the edge of sanity when I can't run.
[After Thought:  I've been trying to learn more about the physiology behind how running affects mood.  Apparently there is some research that it can affect levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, setotonin, and noraepinephine.  Interesting.  Very interesting indeed]

9 comments:

  1. Oh, yes. I'm right there with you. If I push myself on the elliptical, I can take the edge off, but I'm really pretty dependent on running for my sanity.

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  2. I can leave running on my own with no problem, but when I have to...ugh! So hard. Stay safe with that knee.

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  3. You absolutely are not the only one

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  4. I'm definitely not fun to be around after a few days of not running. If I get some exercise then I'm at least not completely beastly. Congrats again on the 10K PR and I hope the injections go well and you're back to running soon!

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  5. I'm with you about the running, it's been almost three weeks for me! I may start the injections as a maintenance program for my knee.

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  6. I hope the doc appointment went well and you will be back running very soon!

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  7. I too need to run for stress management and mood elevation. It's always a tough call, though, when your brain needs the running but your body needs the rest.

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  8. I had some knee trouble when I first started running and a friend of mine that is also a coach for some high level international runners suggested a physical therapy practice that I started and it worked wonders. I have had no knee pain in over two years and never backed off my running for more than a week.

    One legged squats.

    I do them in the shower every morning. A set of 10 on each leg. In the beginning I would just go down several inches or so because my left knee hurt if I went deeper. By the end of the first week, I could go almost 90 degrees. Now I go very deep on both legs. 10 each, rinse off, and that's that.

    Apparently I just had some weakness in the tendons surrounding the knee and the squats help keep all that strong which helps during runs.

    For a lot less good advice but more entertainment, check out my blog when you're bored: www.yourmomreadsourblog.blogspot.com.

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  9. Nice stats, Lisa! Sorry the knees are still bothersome, but thank goodness for treatments. :) Wow, 8 weeks off? I'm sure that was tough going back to work. I'm sure the time off was more than worth it!

    As usual, I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog reading... I'm so behind!

    HUGS

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