8 mile jog and apple pie

It was a perfect day for a jog on the Minuteman Bike Path... and I did all 8 miles I was aiming for with very little pain.  Extremely sore in the calf area now of course, but I'm hanging in tonight with my friends ice and ibuprofen.

8 miles, total time 1h 24min, average pace 10:30 min/mile.  I'll take it!

Stretching, very very important.  The Huzz roller bladed and met up with me towards the end for the not so flattering shot above.  The Minuteman has a particular way of crushing one's time (and making one suffer) at the end. The last mile is a long straight away and a steady climb.  Except, it doesn't look like a steady climb and the straight away looks like it should fly by but it becomes never ending.  I pushed myself so hard today, wanting to end the run strong.  I thought I had picked up the pace... ha!  I couldn't breath when I finished and my last split was an 11 min/mile! 

In conclusion-
Minuteman Bike path:  beautiful.  hard.
and Huzz: great company : )  nice wheels.

and, and homemade apple pie:  the perfect after run dinner.  mmmmm

Oh hi there!

Not to make other blogger's outfits look dated or anything, but I did turn A LOT of heads on my jog today...

I love how the different shades of pink complement each other : )

In actual running news, I did 3.2 and 3.5 miles yesterday and today respectively.  Still feel stretching and soreness in my right achilles. Ugh.  But I did average 10 min/ miles today and just under 10 min/ miles yesterday.  I am gearing up to set another new PR in the 5k next Saturday!!  At least that is the semi-stretch goal.  If I don't get a PR in the 5k then I immediately have another chance on Sunday in the 5 mile race.

What do you call 2 back to back races? Best Memorial Day weekend ever! 

Hey, don't judge a runner's somewhat sick idea of fun.

The plan for tomorrow is spinning and the plan for the day after is over a 6 mile jog.  Hopefully somewhere closer to 8 depending on the calf.  I have a half marathon to run in 5 weeks you know calf!

The biggest challenge

The biggest challenge is not the marathon (which I have decided I will not be running in Seattle in June... I will run my second ever half marathon instead). 
The biggest challenge is overcoming disappointment and discouragement. 

I have wanted to run a marathon since I first got hooked on running 12 years ago.  I knew someday eventually I would, but it always felt so insurmountable that I never took the first step to get there.  In December, when the Huzz and I signed up for the Seattle RnR marathon at the end of June, it seemed like my dream would finally happen.   When I ran 14 miles in the beginning of April, having hit all my training runs for 3 months on the dot, the dream seemed even closer.  I had run through hip pain, knee pain, the flu, and exhaustion... then I strained my right calf and achilles. Out, just like that.

While there is some comfort in knowing that this happens to a lot of marathon hopefuls (and that some people get even closer before the "out" happens; sometimes in the middle of the race! Ugh!), I would be a liar if I said I wasn't deeply disappointed and even mad at myself.  Ridiculous, I know.  I have cried, just a little, over the frustration... but after taking a week completely off, I picked myself up and threw myself at what I could do: spinning, pilates, yoga, walking, weight lifting.   Everytime I did something, anything!, I felt stronger. I felt more like a fighter and less like a marathon-giver-upper. 

I am now swinging back into some running, gently, and my new goal is a PR in the half marathon.  And the marathon will come.  Potentially in Connecticut in October : )  but it will come.  Because I run on the road long before I dance under the lights... and the key is LONG.  As long as it takes.

The Body Manic

First, a re-cap of the Push-a-little plan week:

Mon - 3 mile jog
Tues - track workout: 5 miles total with 800 intervals, 400 recoveries (A HIGH)
Wed - doggie hike/ rest day
Thurs - PT (THE BIG LOW-bowski, I will splain later)
Fri  - rest day  (A LOW)
Sat - Pilates (A HIGH) and 2 mile jog
Sun - 5k, new PR!! 30:08 (THE BIG HIGH)

My body, and mood, have been all over the place this week.  It started out so well; a couple short runs with only minor soreness and then an encouraging track workout.  The track workout could have ended discouragingly, as I attempted to keep the interval pace with the slowest group of women but ended up falling behind after 3 sets.  I chose to be encouraged though because the pace I could not keep up was a 9 min/ mile pace (and I knew as soon as I saw the 9 that it wouldn't last), plus I ran over 5 miles total... again, with only minor soreness/ pain afterwards.

The manic-ness started on Thursday when my physical therapist got WAY too carried away with an ART (scraping) massage.  His tool of choice was a large spoon and the scraping actually felt okay on my tendon... but then he took on the knots in my calf muscle.  Over and over again.  My whole calf went raw and numb and I should have said something.  But I didn't.  Perhaps my pain tolerance is a bit too high.

Here I will demonstrate how you too can destroy your own calf with a spoon:
Step 1:  Eat a tasty cereal dinner while reading a good book

Step 2: Finish the cereal and lick the spoon till it's nice and clean (don't waste any!)

Step 3:  Have at that naughty calf: the rougher, the better

The big low-bowski has left me with a welt the size of soccer ball on my calf that is slowly turning puke-color.  And it made me miss my Friday run.  And I'm never going back to that therapist again. Hey, saving some money! silver lining.

The big high is my magical PR today at a local 5k.  Perfect running weather: 55 degrees and overcast but no rain.  Small race: about 77 runners.  Beautifully in sync with my body: 30:08!  My mantra was "let your body do what you know it can do".   Now, you'd think after 3 weeks off from any quality or long runs, my body would not be able to set a new record... but the more I paid attention to my breathing, my legs, and my form... the more I felt like my pace was sustainable and my body was strong.  So I went with it.  And I had Sister Gwen to run me in!  I felt so cooool.

Gwen PRed herself AND she won the bronze medal for her age group.  So proud (and happy to have brought the camera).  Go Gwen!

A couple more baby steps

A short summary of spinning as a cross-training necessary evil helpful tool:
Spinning has been getting ever slightly more bearable.  The first few classes were torture; the difference between running and biking muscles/ endurance were painfully clear as I gasped for breath and blatantly disobeyed instruction: frequently giving the resistance knob a quarter turn down when the evil instructor called for a quarter turn up.  I am now to the point where I only fake a turn up and don't actually turn down the resistance... so proud. I also have a new-found respect for runners turned tri-athletes.

Yesterday marked the end of the Gentle Plan week.  I completed what I was aiming for (the PT adjusted goal) with my Sunday run: 3 miles at the track.  And I did it in a good time for me: 30:40.  My mile breakout is as follows:

mile 1-   9:38              mile 2- 10:38               mile 3- 10:24

As you can see, I was a little too fast out of the gate and while I tried to keep the pace up, I invariably fell back to a "fast for slow Karen" pace.  I was definitely out of breath at the end of mile 3 though; my endurance has taken a beating. That and I need to get used to running in warmer weather. 

Yesterday after the run, and today as well, my right calf and achilles have been very sore and tender.  I really really wanted to have a good run AND feel good afterwards.  Not to be this week.  I am still happy to be able to run!  But also frustrated at the slow progress of healing.  I would make my mantra "patience" except that it's not so inspiring to chant "patience" over and over again.  Hmm... I'll have to come up with a good recovery mantra this week.

I am calling this week's plan the Push-a-little Plan:
Mon.    -  2-4 mile jog
Tues.   -  track training with MVS running group and Sister Gwen
Wed.   -  spinning in the AM, walk in the PM
Thurs.  -  physical therapy
Fri.      -  spinning in the AM, jog in the PM
Sat.     -   pilates
Sun.    -   5-8 mile jog (pending PT adjustment, but I really need to get over 3 miles at this point!)

Not gentle enough -- a setback

Evidently my "gentle plan" for the week was not gentle enough for my physical therapist.  To quote him, "I hate working with runners, they never listen to you. They always just run anyway". Well!  I'll forgive him this once. Just because I got my fancy pink tape job back...

I'm under direction not to run till Sunday which sets me back quite a bit.  The gentle plan also fell to pieces yesterday when I set my alarm for 5pm instead of 5am and missed spinning, which preceded a rainy evening and no walk for Buddy. Big sigh.  Will I prevail?  I threw the word "half" around in my head today.  I've almost done it before but stopped myself at "ha".  I told myself if I didn't get some good runs in this week that I was pushing it to keep aiming for the full marathon.  I haven't given up yet; but ha has definitely turned to half... and I need to prepare myself mentally for the possibility.  Here I am preparing myself:

Not good enough.  Preparing more:

Also, for those who noticed (aka are watching me : ), the Garmin was on super sale. And how's a girl supposed to know if she slowed down because she hit a hill from miles 5.8 to 7.3 or if she's really just that slow? 
The tortoise wins the race.
Think the elites would ever stop for a nap?  Me either.

Don't eat the peas

After my 1 mile success 2 days ago and a so-you-think-you're-tough (I may have alluded to thinking I was tough) Physical Therapy session yesterday, today was my first day really pushing myself and my calf to run.

Sister Gwen and I are participating in a track training session once a week with our local running group.  After showing up to say hi, I'm injured, and bye to the coaches last week, I stuck around this week as the only "walk to run"ner.  I ended up running 3 miles.  Huge sigh of relief.  HUGE.  I tried to stay very light on my feet and to not push off very quickly.  No fast accelerating and no jumping.  After 2 1/2 miles, I did feel more tingling, heat, and stretching? tightness? in the right calf. I'm not quite sure how to explain the almost pain; but the main point here is that there was no sharp pain.

Today's run was also my maiden voyage with my new Garmin Forerunner 305:

Buddy approves. Ok, I just wanted to put a picture of Buddy up.

So, here's what I am calling the "Gentle Plan" for the rest of the week:

-Wed.    - 5:45 am Spinning class and a nice long walk with Buddy
-Thurs. - Physical Therapy and potentially a jog afterwards
-Fri.      - 5:45 am Spinning class (it's hard, believe me) and dog walk or jog
-Sat.     - 8:00 am Spinning class followed by some Cinco de Mayo celebrations
-Sun.    - Run! I am aiming for 5-8 miles

And a little bit of advice before I call it a night... Always take time to stretch and ice... and don't eat the peas!  (Let's just say this isn't the first time they've been used)

Top five perks of PT

After 1 week of Physical Therapy for tendinitis in my left hip and a strain in my right calf, I have compiled my list of the top five perks of PT (in order of their perkiness):

1. Massages that make me want to cry
2. Stretches that make me want to cry
3. Lunges that make me want to cry
4. Fun new slang (like "ice and stim")
5. Pretty hot pink tape jobs

(Super sadly, they ran out of the hot pink tonight and my fancy tape job therapist John didn't work with me sooooo, you'll have to use your imagination. Boo)

And, of course, the main perk: being able to run again.  soon. 

This is my "I'm going to run again soon" smile.

I plan on giving a full rundown of the PT experience after a few more weeks go by.  So far I am very happy with some of the immediate results (although I am making my bank account want to cry : ) but I think it is hard, at least for me, to know when to PT it... and when not to.  The hip alone could not get me to call, but the calf strain threw me over the edge.  Mainly the fear the calf strain brought on of not being able to run the marathon in 8 weeks.  8 weeks!!  C'mon PT, c'mon calf!!

Gwen conquers Wallis Sands Half Marathon!

I am excited to write my inaugural post about my strong and fabulous sister Gwen.  Gwen, the Huzz, and I had originally signed up for a half marathon this weekend as a gauge of our training/ full marathon readiness.  We all signed up for our first full marathon this year -- Seattle Rock-n-Roll at the end of June 2011 (how quickly it is approaching!).  Unfortunately, the Huzz and I were officially on the DL for the half marathon today so it was left to Gwen to "represent". No pressure.

Here she is this morning, all fresh faced and nervous.  And of course, Gwen brought it.  It's been broughten.  Goooooo Gwen!  She finished around 1:54 (I have yet to get the official time) which is going to be close to a tie of her prior PR.  Gwen joined the full marathon train farther down the track so she basically caught up to her PR from 4? years ago in only 3 months.  I'm so proud : )

I, also, had a little victory today.  After 2 weeks exactly of putting training on hold while I nursed (and cried over) a calf strain, I was able to run a 10 min. mile today with no pain.  WOOHOO!  Can you tell I'm excited?  As this is my first marathon, this is also my first experience being injured while training.  I hate it. Perhaps I will someday learn patience; but this go-round, I only felt frustration and depression. 
I didn't push it past the mile because I did feel a little tingling and heat in the calf.  I went home, iced it, and celebrated in my small victory.