Saturday, April 13, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Sidelined by injuries
I'm sure I don't have to tell you that injuries suck, but I am going to anyhow! 7 weeks into my marathon training I hit a huge roadblock. At the end of week 6 I ran 10 miles on the track, which irritated my knee with all of the turning, but I worked through it not thinking much of it. Wednesday I ran 4 miles, Thursday I ran 5 miles, Saturday I ran 7 miles, and by Sunday my knee was pretty much done, but I pushed to 15 miles. Pushing through an injury is not the way to go. My mileage was pretty much at a halt for 4 weeks. I did try to be smart and rest, but I still kept testing the waters which lead to a minimal 4.5 mile running week followed by a 1.6 mile week. The third week off was a little bit better with a few 4 mile runs, but still disheartening when you are "only" running a couple of miles when your marathon training partners are building and running 17-19 miles. I kept the miles low, and then 3 weeks ago it was push or pull back time.
With the Wisconsin Marathon 6 weeks away I needed to get back to double digit runs, or I would be dropping down to the half marathon for sure. I got up early on Sunday and met with my ASR friends, and we headed out Mineral Point for our run. Fortunately for me I had my friend Nathan to run and chat with. Coming back from an injury and marathon training together are an interesting thing. In marathon training you are training not only your body, but also your mind. In any given run perhaps I feel a minor tick or twinge, but it usually is not anything to warrant stopping. In marathon training I am mentally preparing myself to keep going through perhaps pain, but where do you draw the line and stop? In my 10 mile run I felt fantastic up until about the 9 mile mark, when my knee became slightly painful. I also felt that perhaps it hurt more because I was consciously tracking how it was doing so I didn't overexert it.
Fast forward to last weekend when I was in Minneapolis, I just went out to get lost for 14-16 miles. A few times I felt a slight pull in my knee, but nothing more so I kept going. This time instead of inventorying my knee constantly I focused on maintaining proper running form and engaging my quadriceps if I felt any twinges. So what else did I do while not running? I decided to focus on swimming when my mileage was low, as well as hip strengthening. The hip strengthening exercises are really simple. While standing I place my resistance band either around my thighs or calves and do abductors to the side, front leg lifts, and back leg lifts concentrating the movement from the hips.
I hope that if you read this perhaps you will be more cautious if you feel an injury coming on. Happy running!
With the Wisconsin Marathon 6 weeks away I needed to get back to double digit runs, or I would be dropping down to the half marathon for sure. I got up early on Sunday and met with my ASR friends, and we headed out Mineral Point for our run. Fortunately for me I had my friend Nathan to run and chat with. Coming back from an injury and marathon training together are an interesting thing. In marathon training you are training not only your body, but also your mind. In any given run perhaps I feel a minor tick or twinge, but it usually is not anything to warrant stopping. In marathon training I am mentally preparing myself to keep going through perhaps pain, but where do you draw the line and stop? In my 10 mile run I felt fantastic up until about the 9 mile mark, when my knee became slightly painful. I also felt that perhaps it hurt more because I was consciously tracking how it was doing so I didn't overexert it.
Fast forward to last weekend when I was in Minneapolis, I just went out to get lost for 14-16 miles. A few times I felt a slight pull in my knee, but nothing more so I kept going. This time instead of inventorying my knee constantly I focused on maintaining proper running form and engaging my quadriceps if I felt any twinges. So what else did I do while not running? I decided to focus on swimming when my mileage was low, as well as hip strengthening. The hip strengthening exercises are really simple. While standing I place my resistance band either around my thighs or calves and do abductors to the side, front leg lifts, and back leg lifts concentrating the movement from the hips.
I hope that if you read this perhaps you will be more cautious if you feel an injury coming on. Happy running!
Monday, April 1, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Run While You Can
Happy Valentines Day, I think? Yes, it is, because I was able to get out tonight and run the fastest 5 miles I have ever run. For this I am thankful.
7 years ago, my Grandma was in the hospital recovering from surgery when my Grandpa left to but her flowers for Valentines day. Upon his return he was devastated to find that she had passed away.
So what I want to say, but am having a hard time finding the words for is: run and do the things that you love while you can, there will be a time when you cannot; love those around you, and tell them, not just today, but every chance you get. I am thankful for all of my running (and non running) Valentines tonight. You all push me to be better <3
7 years ago, my Grandma was in the hospital recovering from surgery when my Grandpa left to but her flowers for Valentines day. Upon his return he was devastated to find that she had passed away.
So what I want to say, but am having a hard time finding the words for is: run and do the things that you love while you can, there will be a time when you cannot; love those around you, and tell them, not just today, but every chance you get. I am thankful for all of my running (and non running) Valentines tonight. You all push me to be better <3
Sunday, January 27, 2013
13 miles to go
As you may know I started my marathon training January 1st for the Wisconsin Marathon May 4th, so I am currently at the end of week 4 training. For the past few weeks my mileage has been hovering around 24 miles or so, but this week I got to up the mileage. On Saturday I had a 6 mile race pace run on the schedule. I went out by myself with a plan to stay around a 9:30, I have a really hard time achieving my "normal" race pace of about a 9 minute mile. So the plan was to go out to Wright Road and just run the neighborhoods and check out some houses. Running alone is never ideal, but I seemed to find my groove around the 3.3 mile mark, and started to kill it. I ran the next 3 miles around an 8:53 pace, which is pretty fast for me. Another reason I feared my 13 miler today. By 7pm on Saturday my legs were already feeling sore. I suppose tiring your legs out the day before a long run is actually the plan so you are used to running on tired legs, but I was not thrilled about it.
This morning I decided I better suck it up, and go meet my friends at ASR. I am so thankful that I did. Although the plan was the hills in Oakhill Cemetery and back to ASR for 8 miles. I was running with Dustyn, and we both decided we were not feeling the hills, so we made our way out of the cemetery and down to Riverside to run. We did have one big hill down there, but I didn't mind too much. We made our way back towards downtown on the path and headed towards the bus station for a little bit of extra mileage. I'm glad I had someone to run with and keep me going. On our way down Jackson we saw Maria and Andrea on their way out for more miles, they were the only other ones doing more than 8 miles, I asked where they were going, and decided to jump in with them. I ran miles 8, 9, and half of 10 with them, until my turnaround point. Maria joked that I might as well just keep going with them for 17. I said no thanks and started to make my way back. When I hit mile 11 I felt a small surge of confidence, I COULD do this. I had been contemplating with myself scaling back to the intermediate mileage for the week, which was 11. At mile 12 I knew I could do it. My ankle felt tweaked but it didn't matter I was going to run 13.1 miles in less time than my first half marathon. This may not feel like a huge deal, but it is to me, I am about 5 minutes from being a sub 2 half marathon, which is one of my goals for this year.
I can't express how awesome it feels knowing that I had an almost 20 mile weekend, and I feel great! I can't wait to keep going. Thanks so much to my running and non-running friends for their support. 13.36 down, 12.84 to go :o)
This morning I decided I better suck it up, and go meet my friends at ASR. I am so thankful that I did. Although the plan was the hills in Oakhill Cemetery and back to ASR for 8 miles. I was running with Dustyn, and we both decided we were not feeling the hills, so we made our way out of the cemetery and down to Riverside to run. We did have one big hill down there, but I didn't mind too much. We made our way back towards downtown on the path and headed towards the bus station for a little bit of extra mileage. I'm glad I had someone to run with and keep me going. On our way down Jackson we saw Maria and Andrea on their way out for more miles, they were the only other ones doing more than 8 miles, I asked where they were going, and decided to jump in with them. I ran miles 8, 9, and half of 10 with them, until my turnaround point. Maria joked that I might as well just keep going with them for 17. I said no thanks and started to make my way back. When I hit mile 11 I felt a small surge of confidence, I COULD do this. I had been contemplating with myself scaling back to the intermediate mileage for the week, which was 11. At mile 12 I knew I could do it. My ankle felt tweaked but it didn't matter I was going to run 13.1 miles in less time than my first half marathon. This may not feel like a huge deal, but it is to me, I am about 5 minutes from being a sub 2 half marathon, which is one of my goals for this year.
I can't express how awesome it feels knowing that I had an almost 20 mile weekend, and I feel great! I can't wait to keep going. Thanks so much to my running and non-running friends for their support. 13.36 down, 12.84 to go :o)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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