So as it turns out...
When things aren't going so well on the running/cycling front, there isn't much to blog about. Nor is there a lot of motivation to read blogs about the running/cycling of others.
Who knew?
It's not like I haven't been doing ANYTHING. It's just that what I have been doing isn't all that exciting because my knee continues to be problematic. And I'm really struggling to keep a positive attitude right now.
But here's how the past week unfolded
* Sunday: Walked 2.0 miles with the dogs. Obedience training is really paying off.
* Tuesday: Met the running group. They did fartleks. I "ran" 4.2 miles very slowly.
* Thursday: Unplanned rest. Bad weather (thunderstorms) & sick kid (tonsillitis).
* Friday: Walked 1.5 miles with the dogs. Cut short due to more thunderstorms.
* Saturday: Ran 4.2 miles even slower than Thursday. Walked 0.5 miles with the dogs. Went on slow 17.5 mile bike ride. Walked another 0.5 miles with the dogs.
So that's 12.9 miles by foot & 17.5 miles by bike for the week. Not horrible; not great.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Making Due
Yesterday, I set out on my bike with the intention of doing hill repeats. However, my knee wasn't happy with doing hills at all, so instead of repeats, I just did one hill this time.
While I enjoyed cycling on Friday, it's nowhere near the same for me as running. I love running. I don't love cycling. *sigh*
A few of you asked whether I have thought about trying to see a different specialist. I have considered it, but it only gets me in about one week earlier and a new person won't have my medical history available. All-in-all, I think seeing the same guy a week later is still the fastest path to getting this worked out.
I've decided that my 'run' total this month will include miles walked. It's my life, my log, my rules. :-)
Have a fun weekend everyone!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Benched...
The weekend got worse from a knee pain perspective before it got better. By Sunday afternoon, I was hobbling around. Not good.
I called the orthopedic guy's office early Monday morning. They cannot see me until the end of June. Why is the lead time to see a specialist soooooo long? Even if he does start me on Euflexxa injections again, we're looking at July before treatment starts. That's a good two months away. Then the downtime from the injections. This is going to mess me up throughout the entire summer. Sigh.
Between now and then I will simply use my best judgement. Coach thinks I need at least a full week off. Then we need to keep the volume, distance, and intensity down to a level that allows me to run without pain. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have any races on my calendar at the moment.
So I guess I will try to find ways to cycle more, assuming that won't bother my knee nearly as much. In fact, if the wind isn't too bad today, I think I will cycle over to my running group's meeting spot and back. I can't run with them, but I can still meet up!
I called the orthopedic guy's office early Monday morning. They cannot see me until the end of June. Why is the lead time to see a specialist soooooo long? Even if he does start me on Euflexxa injections again, we're looking at July before treatment starts. That's a good two months away. Then the downtime from the injections. This is going to mess me up throughout the entire summer. Sigh.
Between now and then I will simply use my best judgement. Coach thinks I need at least a full week off. Then we need to keep the volume, distance, and intensity down to a level that allows me to run without pain. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have any races on my calendar at the moment.
So I guess I will try to find ways to cycle more, assuming that won't bother my knee nearly as much. In fact, if the wind isn't too bad today, I think I will cycle over to my running group's meeting spot and back. I can't run with them, but I can still meet up!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Turn of Events
Haven't had much of interest to blog about. I could write about how I had to work Tuesday evening and didn't have chance to run. Or about skipping Thursday's run in favor of attending my Son's Senior Class Honor Assembly. Or about how I had the 'pleasure' of an emergency Friday night dental visit when a crown came loose during dinner. None of that would make for interesting reading though.
Instead, I decided to wait for today and my planned 8 miler.
So...the run group was meeting at a different place this morning. The route that was planned out was a loop. The planner thought the loop was 'about' 8 mile. Six of us showed up, and away we went.
The temp was ~50 deg when we started with a gentle breeze. Quite nice actually. We naturally broke into approximately two groups based on pacing. The small group that I was with was doing ~10:45 pace. Something I've been running comfortably for the past few months.
Around mile 5, however, my left knee started to hurt. It started as a gentle nagging pain, but quickly turned into the same pain that I experienced in 2008. Some of you have experienced this yourself. It's the 'you really need to have someone look at this' pain.
I began to ease up on my pace and slowed to something closer to 11:45. It helped somewhat. Also part of the route was on dirt. That was a little better as well. But by mile 7, even a slow pace on dirt wasn't enough to compensate for the knee pain.
At mile 8, we were still a good mile from our starting point. Normally I don't mind going a little longer than planned, but not today. I made it to about 8.5 miles and decided to turn off my Garmin and walk in.
The best description is that it is crunchy and painful. I'm fairly certain that it's a repeat of what ailed me before. I probably need to see the orthopedic for Euflexxa injections again. If I go that route, however, it will likely be a good 2 months or so of down time. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
In any event, I believe I need to do the following in the short term: 1) scale back on distance and intensity, 2) increase the frequency of my PT maintenance exercises, and 3) call on monday to schedule time with the orthopedic guy.
Additionally I will think about doing more cycling. And maybe even get back to the pool again...
Instead, I decided to wait for today and my planned 8 miler.
So...the run group was meeting at a different place this morning. The route that was planned out was a loop. The planner thought the loop was 'about' 8 mile. Six of us showed up, and away we went.
The temp was ~50 deg when we started with a gentle breeze. Quite nice actually. We naturally broke into approximately two groups based on pacing. The small group that I was with was doing ~10:45 pace. Something I've been running comfortably for the past few months.
Around mile 5, however, my left knee started to hurt. It started as a gentle nagging pain, but quickly turned into the same pain that I experienced in 2008. Some of you have experienced this yourself. It's the 'you really need to have someone look at this' pain.
I began to ease up on my pace and slowed to something closer to 11:45. It helped somewhat. Also part of the route was on dirt. That was a little better as well. But by mile 7, even a slow pace on dirt wasn't enough to compensate for the knee pain.
At mile 8, we were still a good mile from our starting point. Normally I don't mind going a little longer than planned, but not today. I made it to about 8.5 miles and decided to turn off my Garmin and walk in.
The best description is that it is crunchy and painful. I'm fairly certain that it's a repeat of what ailed me before. I probably need to see the orthopedic for Euflexxa injections again. If I go that route, however, it will likely be a good 2 months or so of down time. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
In any event, I believe I need to do the following in the short term: 1) scale back on distance and intensity, 2) increase the frequency of my PT maintenance exercises, and 3) call on monday to schedule time with the orthopedic guy.
Additionally I will think about doing more cycling. And maybe even get back to the pool again...
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Tired, Sunburned, and Happy
On Friday afternoon, I was able to get on my bike for a decent ride. This was a big deal, because I really haven't been on my bike since early March!!
I decided on a route with some serious climbs. It was exhausting, but satisfying. I ended up doing 19 miles total and met up with Husband to ride home for the final 5 or so. Here's the profile:
I decided on a route with some serious climbs. It was exhausting, but satisfying. I ended up doing 19 miles total and met up with Husband to ride home for the final 5 or so. Here's the profile:
Yeah, those hills were challenging, and I was pretty slow going up, but I did it!
Saturday morning I went out for my 8 mile run. The weather was beautiful, but I was really struggling the whole way. It was one of those runs that just *sucked*. It certainly didn't help that I was out there solo, no friends on the trail for motivation. I couldn't figure out why it was so awful, but now I'm thinking that maybe that bike ride Friday afternoon may have had something to do with it?
This afternoon, Husband & I went out for another bike ride. This time ~25.5 miles on much flatter terain. For some stupid reason, I failed to apply sunscreen. Ouch. Don't think I'll make that mistake again any time soon.
As today is Mother's Day, I was showered with gifts when I got home from the bike ride.
Son put a lot of thought into finding some music that he thought I would enjoy and got me a CD. He also asked if there was something that I would like to do. Yes! I asked if we could load the dogs in the car and take them down to the ditch bank for a walk. And so we did. Bliss!
Daughter got home from work just before we came back with the dogs. She cleverly put some dark chocolates and a card that she made on my pillow. She also sat me down to tell me some of the reasons why she appreciates me. Given that she's a teenager, that was truly special.
I also found some Godiva raspberry and dark chocolate truffles in a gift bag by my computer. Those must be from Husband, who is also making dinner tonight (Chicken Mole) by request.
And that, my friends, is the story behind being Tired, Sunburned, and Happy.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Friday Five
Sorry for lack of posting or commenting. I've been too busy with life this week to pause for blogging. But it's all good!
1) I wanted to run on Thursday more than I wanted to sit out another evening because of windy weather. It was supposed to be an EASY run, but nothing about running in 25mph winds was easy no matter how much I slowed it down. It was, however, very satisfying.
2) Stymie & I passed the basic obedience test this morning! We've been practicing twice a day for two weeks for this test because parts of it were difficult to master in the 6 weeks that we've had with the class. He had to demonstrate Leave It, not taking treats from a stranger, not coming when called by a stranger, Sit, Sit-stay from a distance, Come, Down, Down-stay with distractions, Heal (including left turn, right turn, about-face, and automatic sit when handler stops).
3) I'm finding a that Gardening is very satisfying albeit a lot of work. The beans are coming up. One of the cucumer hills is sprouting. Some of the peppers have tiny little fruits on them. So do a few of the strawberry plants. The almost-killed-by-frost tomato plants are coming back to life. The watermelon hills seem to be the only things not doing well (or rather, not doing anything) at the moment.
4) I'm heading out for a solo bike ride a little bit later this afternoon. The plan includes meeting Husband when he gets off work so that I can finish the ride with him. He cycle commutes on Friday, and I'm off today, so it works out well.
5) I have 8 miles on the schedule for tomorrow. First longish run since the half-marathon. And it looks like I'll be running the ditch bank alone for that one. It should be peaceful.
Have a great weekend everyone!
1) I wanted to run on Thursday more than I wanted to sit out another evening because of windy weather. It was supposed to be an EASY run, but nothing about running in 25mph winds was easy no matter how much I slowed it down. It was, however, very satisfying.
2) Stymie & I passed the basic obedience test this morning! We've been practicing twice a day for two weeks for this test because parts of it were difficult to master in the 6 weeks that we've had with the class. He had to demonstrate Leave It, not taking treats from a stranger, not coming when called by a stranger, Sit, Sit-stay from a distance, Come, Down, Down-stay with distractions, Heal (including left turn, right turn, about-face, and automatic sit when handler stops).
3) I'm finding a that Gardening is very satisfying albeit a lot of work. The beans are coming up. One of the cucumer hills is sprouting. Some of the peppers have tiny little fruits on them. So do a few of the strawberry plants. The almost-killed-by-frost tomato plants are coming back to life. The watermelon hills seem to be the only things not doing well (or rather, not doing anything) at the moment.
4) I'm heading out for a solo bike ride a little bit later this afternoon. The plan includes meeting Husband when he gets off work so that I can finish the ride with him. He cycle commutes on Friday, and I'm off today, so it works out well.
5) I have 8 miles on the schedule for tomorrow. First longish run since the half-marathon. And it looks like I'll be running the ditch bank alone for that one. It should be peaceful.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday Thoughts
Yesterday was a beautiful day. Low 70s, wind "only" ~15mph. So I was determined all day to find a way to run when I got home.
I found time for 4.1 peaceful miles along the ditch bank. I took it slow-easy, not worrying one bit about pace. With every step, I felt my stress melting away. Ahhhh!
And while I was out there, I thought about the difference between can't and don't want to.
I don't like running in high wind. I don't like running on the treadmill. I don't like riding on the trainer. It's not that I couldn't run last Thursday, It's that I didn't want to. I didn't want to run outside in the wind and I didn't want to run on the treadmill.
It's not that I couldn't cycle on Saturday, It's that I didn't want to. I didnt' want to cycle outside in the wind and I didn't want to put the bike on the trainer.
This doesn't really change anything other than an acknowledgement that I'm responsible for my own actions. Which by the way, is even *more* important in other aspects of my life. While I don't care to go into detail on that, trust me, it's an important lesson.
Here's hoping for nice weather so that I want to run and cycle outside later this week and on the weekend!
I found time for 4.1 peaceful miles along the ditch bank. I took it slow-easy, not worrying one bit about pace. With every step, I felt my stress melting away. Ahhhh!
And while I was out there, I thought about the difference between can't and don't want to.
I don't like running in high wind. I don't like running on the treadmill. I don't like riding on the trainer. It's not that I couldn't run last Thursday, It's that I didn't want to. I didn't want to run outside in the wind and I didn't want to run on the treadmill.
It's not that I couldn't cycle on Saturday, It's that I didn't want to. I didnt' want to cycle outside in the wind and I didn't want to put the bike on the trainer.
This doesn't really change anything other than an acknowledgement that I'm responsible for my own actions. Which by the way, is even *more* important in other aspects of my life. While I don't care to go into detail on that, trust me, it's an important lesson.
Here's hoping for nice weather so that I want to run and cycle outside later this week and on the weekend!
Monday, May 3, 2010
In which I aspire to Make Lemonade
Physical Fitness over the past half week has been a whopping goose egg.
So yeah, it feels like Life has been pelting me with Lemons lately. And my mood has been equally sour. This is not a good way to be, so with my extra free time, I tried to Make Lemonade in other areas of my life.
- Didn't Run Thursday due to high (~35mph) winds.
- Didn't make up the run Friday due to cold/windy weather
- Didn't run Saturday due to cancelled groups and decision to cycle instead
- Didn't Cycle more than 5 miles due to wind sucking the life/fun out of me
- Didn't Run Sunday due to decision to skip race (btw, Husband did great!)
- Didn't Cycle Sunday due to rain, thunderstorms, and Hail
- and I won't be running with the Group on Tuesday due to a personal conflict
So yeah, it feels like Life has been pelting me with Lemons lately. And my mood has been equally sour. This is not a good way to be, so with my extra free time, I tried to Make Lemonade in other areas of my life.
- Replaced veggie plants in my garden that had been affected by late frost
- Ordered Patio furniture for the new shade structure
- Ordered Mother's Day flowers for Mom & MIL
- Ordered graduation gift for Son
- Practiced Dog Obedience skills with Stymie & Bandit
- Watched the Blind Side (on DVD)
- Spent an hour doing Wii Fit.
- Made a serious dent in Laundry Mountain (it never ends!)
- Tried a new soup recipe - delicious!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Horizon...
April Running tally came in at 75.6 miles. Not as high as March, mostly because I'm in a recovery period following my half-marathon, but still decent mileage for a 3 day per week runner. I'm pleased.
I have no races on my immediate horizon. This is not a good thing. I'm at a bit of a loss without an upcoming race/event to target. Plus, the training schedule picks back up again next week as recovery period will be over. Since I don't know what race/event is next, the training plan is somewhat generic.
I'm purposely *not* running a local 5K/10K tomorrow. I'm just not feeling it, so I decided to pass on this one. Most of the run club is running it, so we didn't meet today. I could have run alone, but decided against that.
No worries. I'm hoping the weather holds out so that Husband & I can hop on our bikes later today instead. I'm not sure if I have enough time to prepare for it, but I'd really like to do the Albuquerque (half) Century again this year if possible. Problem is that it is a short 5 weeks away and I haven't been on my bike all month. Time to put on my cycling clothes and get out on the bike if I'm going to make this happen.
Have a great weekend!
I have no races on my immediate horizon. This is not a good thing. I'm at a bit of a loss without an upcoming race/event to target. Plus, the training schedule picks back up again next week as recovery period will be over. Since I don't know what race/event is next, the training plan is somewhat generic.
I'm purposely *not* running a local 5K/10K tomorrow. I'm just not feeling it, so I decided to pass on this one. Most of the run club is running it, so we didn't meet today. I could have run alone, but decided against that.
No worries. I'm hoping the weather holds out so that Husband & I can hop on our bikes later today instead. I'm not sure if I have enough time to prepare for it, but I'd really like to do the Albuquerque (half) Century again this year if possible. Problem is that it is a short 5 weeks away and I haven't been on my bike all month. Time to put on my cycling clothes and get out on the bike if I'm going to make this happen.
Have a great weekend!
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