I am freaking out on the inside, trying to not let it come to the outside since I'm not home yet and out of the public eye haha. I have not been able to run all week, not even half a mile, so lame! I biked 2 - 10ks and that has been it for me - lots of ice cream and snack cakes tho, but I digress.
So, once I get home tonight there should be a UPS package waiting for me with my compression band in it. I am going to test it out at the gym tonight and see if I can run a mile or so with it without sharp shooting pain. If it works, I will do my last training 10-11 mile run with it tomorrow, either in the rain/snow/yuck we are getting or we will come to work and use the good treadmills here and be in for a REALLY long boring indoor run haha.
Seriously, I would MUCH rather have a long boring indoor run than no run at all! No run at all or at least not a successful 10-11 mile run tomorrow means no race for me next Saturday. I am all upset about this and it has been all I could think about for the past week - seriously, FREAKING OUT!
I know it is not the end of the world or my new running career... but it is still super upsetting because we have worked so hard and made so much progress to be cut off a week before the race :-(
... just had to post even tho I don't have an update, just had to get this out of my head and share it with... I dunno... anyone? lol *sigh*
AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Last training week... not looking good :(
Maybe I picked a cursed race date or something because I REALLY think fate is working against me on this one :(
Our 8 mile run on Thursday was GREAT but there is no way I could have any longer at the park that day - my leg was already pretty sore by the time I was done. I was hoping Saturday would be just as good and I could run longer but it def. did not turn out that way.
I made it 2.6 miles and needed to walk for a bit - tried to get going again and just sent Luke on by himself. Just could not get into it and my leg was hurting and I felt like throwing up for the first few miles... not fun at all.
Luckily for me my friend Leslie came jogging by after I had walked about half a mile alone so I turend around and jogged with her. She is training for the same race that we are! We ended up doing 4.5 miles together which was awesome - way more than I thought I was going to do that day! The distraction of having someone new to talk to really helped me to keep going even when the pain started getting a bit worse. She finished her laps and went home and Luke and I started off on another lap so I could do 10 miles for the day - did not happen. I could barely make it .3 and my leg was screaming at me in pain... walked the .3 back to the car and just waited for him. SO LAME :(
In total I jogged 7 and walked 8 - a lot better than it seemed like I would do that day after the rough start but less than I needed to do 2 weeks before race day :(
After a hot shower and an ice pack, my leg was ok for the rest of the weekend, thank goodness, but I am REALLY disappointed about our training and the chances of me running the race are not so good at this point. It is just so hard to face that possibility after last Thursday's run - we were doing a faster pace than I ever run, made it 8 miles and it was great - I was so psyched up and positive. *sigh*
So... plan is I will take it easy this week and hope for the best on Saturday. Saturday is our last long running day before the race and the last day we will sign up for it.
I need to run 4 laps on saturday (10.4 miles) and still be able to walk just fine after that in order to sign up for the race. If I can barely walk after 8, which is what has been happening lately, there is no point in paying money to try and run 13.1 and just not being able to do it and pushing myself too much out of frustration and injuring myself further.
Incredibly disappointed but still hoping that maybe, just MAYBE there is a chance that a rest week will help. I will just do a 5k tomorrow and bike the other 3 days of the week at work and hope my leg feels like behaving on Saturday. If not ... well... at least I know I gave it my best try. Physically I can def. do the 13.1 - I am fit enough and have trained enough - it is only that knee pain caused by my IT band that is holding me back. Without the pain I would have run 4 laps at the park by now and would have been ready to go for race day. *sigh* O well... you live and learn I guess. If we have to postpone until the Spring that is life... very sad and frustrating... but so is life :-p
Wish us luck... maybe it will help! ... 5 days until I sign up or declare defeat :(
Our 8 mile run on Thursday was GREAT but there is no way I could have any longer at the park that day - my leg was already pretty sore by the time I was done. I was hoping Saturday would be just as good and I could run longer but it def. did not turn out that way.
I made it 2.6 miles and needed to walk for a bit - tried to get going again and just sent Luke on by himself. Just could not get into it and my leg was hurting and I felt like throwing up for the first few miles... not fun at all.
Luckily for me my friend Leslie came jogging by after I had walked about half a mile alone so I turend around and jogged with her. She is training for the same race that we are! We ended up doing 4.5 miles together which was awesome - way more than I thought I was going to do that day! The distraction of having someone new to talk to really helped me to keep going even when the pain started getting a bit worse. She finished her laps and went home and Luke and I started off on another lap so I could do 10 miles for the day - did not happen. I could barely make it .3 and my leg was screaming at me in pain... walked the .3 back to the car and just waited for him. SO LAME :(
In total I jogged 7 and walked 8 - a lot better than it seemed like I would do that day after the rough start but less than I needed to do 2 weeks before race day :(
After a hot shower and an ice pack, my leg was ok for the rest of the weekend, thank goodness, but I am REALLY disappointed about our training and the chances of me running the race are not so good at this point. It is just so hard to face that possibility after last Thursday's run - we were doing a faster pace than I ever run, made it 8 miles and it was great - I was so psyched up and positive. *sigh*
So... plan is I will take it easy this week and hope for the best on Saturday. Saturday is our last long running day before the race and the last day we will sign up for it.
I need to run 4 laps on saturday (10.4 miles) and still be able to walk just fine after that in order to sign up for the race. If I can barely walk after 8, which is what has been happening lately, there is no point in paying money to try and run 13.1 and just not being able to do it and pushing myself too much out of frustration and injuring myself further.
Incredibly disappointed but still hoping that maybe, just MAYBE there is a chance that a rest week will help. I will just do a 5k tomorrow and bike the other 3 days of the week at work and hope my leg feels like behaving on Saturday. If not ... well... at least I know I gave it my best try. Physically I can def. do the 13.1 - I am fit enough and have trained enough - it is only that knee pain caused by my IT band that is holding me back. Without the pain I would have run 4 laps at the park by now and would have been ready to go for race day. *sigh* O well... you live and learn I guess. If we have to postpone until the Spring that is life... very sad and frustrating... but so is life :-p
Wish us luck... maybe it will help! ... 5 days until I sign up or declare defeat :(
Friday, October 21, 2011
Another PR!
Man someone must have put the crazy juice in my water this week because we set another PR on our longer run yesterday! Another 5k in 33:17 - and our full 8 mile run was 84 min of running, plus a 4 minute break at mile 5.2. Running was 10.5 min/mile the whole time - add in the break and we are still at 11 min/mile - AWESOME! If you want to know a secret, we also walked .2 of that because of my knee... so the running time was really fast for me to keep up that average!
If we could run that pace the whole race on the 5th then we could hit 2:30 for our race time - I would be SO happy. Only issue would be the hills... PA is VERY hilly, especially Lancaster County - which is why I won't beat myself up too much if we don't hit 2:30 - anything under 3 hours is fine with me because at this point I am just going to be happy to run the race!!
Speaking of which... right now it is looking like a 75% chance that we will be running in the race. Tomorrow we have 4 laps scheduled at the park - 10.4 miles. Not 100% sure I can hit that after yesterday's fast 8 mile run, espec. because I am having major problems walking this morning. So bad I messaged my boss this morning and asked her to bring in an icepack since she comes in a few hours later than I do and was still at home - it is that sore and stiff :( Next week I am only doing 3 - 5ks and then our long 10-11 mile run on Saturday and that is it - need more stretching and resting time for this poor leg of mine. If I can live through next Saturday and can still walk, we are def. signing up for the race.
Wish us luck! 2 weeks from tomorrow... ahhh it is getting SO CLOSE!
If we could run that pace the whole race on the 5th then we could hit 2:30 for our race time - I would be SO happy. Only issue would be the hills... PA is VERY hilly, especially Lancaster County - which is why I won't beat myself up too much if we don't hit 2:30 - anything under 3 hours is fine with me because at this point I am just going to be happy to run the race!!
Speaking of which... right now it is looking like a 75% chance that we will be running in the race. Tomorrow we have 4 laps scheduled at the park - 10.4 miles. Not 100% sure I can hit that after yesterday's fast 8 mile run, espec. because I am having major problems walking this morning. So bad I messaged my boss this morning and asked her to bring in an icepack since she comes in a few hours later than I do and was still at home - it is that sore and stiff :( Next week I am only doing 3 - 5ks and then our long 10-11 mile run on Saturday and that is it - need more stretching and resting time for this poor leg of mine. If I can live through next Saturday and can still walk, we are def. signing up for the race.
Wish us luck! 2 weeks from tomorrow... ahhh it is getting SO CLOSE!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
A new 5k PR!
Although our training plan called for a 6 miler yesterday, getting home only 20 min before sunset makes that a bit difficult. Luke had a headache and since running alone is boring, I decided just to do a 5k. To justify a shorter run, I decided to work on speed and guess what.... I set a new PR!! 33:15 - my best time before was 35. Felt SO good even tho I thought my lungs were going to burst on that last quarter mile. My goal by the end of the year is to get a 30 min 5k on the treadmill with a 1% incline - but for now I'm SUPER happy at shaving 1:45 off my current outdoor PR. Happy happy kid :)
My knee wasn't bothering me too much during the run, just a few pricks of pain here and there. Hoping that if I rest and roll and stretch today it will be ok for our longer run on Wed/Thurs (whichever ends up not being rainy - boo to weather interfering with training!)
19 days... just 19 more days to go :)
My knee wasn't bothering me too much during the run, just a few pricks of pain here and there. Hoping that if I rest and roll and stretch today it will be ok for our longer run on Wed/Thurs (whichever ends up not being rainy - boo to weather interfering with training!)
19 days... just 19 more days to go :)
Monday, October 17, 2011
20 days and counting down!
Let's talk about Shot Bloks... do they have a physical or just a psychological effect? In this package are 6 little gummy cubes that are supposed to give me energy while running more than 1 hour. I'm not sure if they really work, but even if they are just a placebo it seemed to help my run on Saturday! 9.5 miles and I wasn't dragging the last couple like usual. Now, this could be due to the fact that sharp shooting pain in my knee made me walk .5+ of a mile within the first 2.5 miles, as well as take 2 drink/shotblok breaks where I was able to sit down, rest my leg, and catch my breath... but considering the fact that it only took me 2 hours to get through 9.5 miles, I couldn't have been THAT slow. (Slow is a relative term... we are talking about 2 hours not being slow for someone who runs a 11-12 min mile on average :)).
The draw backs to these little gummies include the following:
1. Hard to chew while running - must stop to chew up 3 and drink enough fluid to get them down
2. You spend the next 5 min focusing on licking them out of the crevices in your teeth, which may slow down your race pace due to lack of concentration
3. The package is hard to get open - I had to chew it open
4. These little things are STICKY which is ok for the first 3 but the other 3 that you roll back up in the package and put in your pocket to eat in 45 min might be a bit of a mess
All in all they were tasty and I do think they may have helped sustain my energy level and keep me from hitting "the wall" - but not very practical.
Wednesday we will run 7 miles so I figure at mile 4 we will try a Gu this time around:
A small packet of less solid goo to slurp down with water while running - should have the same effect as a shot blok - just easier to carry, open, and no chewing involved. We'll see if I can gag it down or not ;-)
... as far as a training update let's just say that my IT band is causing me issues but I'm going to keep trying to work through that in these final 2 weeks of training. We have 20 days until Race Day and I have every intention or holding out hope until the last minute that I will be able to run. The 29th will be our 11 mile run and the last Saturday before the race - we will decide then if I can do the race or if Lukas will do it alone or not at all.
Run - roll - stretch - strengthen - rest - repeat will be my life for the next 20 days - wish us luck!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Dear leg - you suck - love, Tiffany
Apparently I hurt myself a lot worse last Saturday than I knew. I was in pain on Sat. and Sun. and come Monday stairs of any type made me just want to cry. I think it may have been my IT Band that got stressed out last Sat. because the area on the outside of my left knee sounds very much like what all the IT Band injuries online describe.
So... TRYING to be a responsible adult, I put training on hold this week. Tuesday - Friday I've been doing a 5k-10k on the exercise bike and then 1-2 miles on the treadmill and that has been going well. My knee/leg was hurting so bad on Tues/Wed/Thurs, working out seemed to be the only thing that helped. Today it is feeling a lot better but I'll still go for the 5k stationary bike and 2 mile plan just in case.
Tomorrow we are scheduled for a 8-9 mile run since we did not go on Wednesday. I am super excited about it, but a little nervous. If I can't make it this week on my long run, I might not be able to do the race. After this week we only have 2 more weeks of training and both have a 10-11 mile run in them. I NEED this run to go well tomorrow... send positive energy my way please!!
On a good note however, my short runs have gotten a lot faster! Even on a 1 incline on the treadmill I ran my 2 miler on Wednesday in 20 min and my 1 miler on Thursday in 9:24 - so exciting! Today I am hoping for a 19 min 2 miler... we shall see. If I can keep it at 20 I'll be cool with that too. At least its some improvement, helps ward off the disappointment of putting training on hold for the whole week.
So there is my whine, yes I would like some cheese with it :) Wish us luck and hope you have a lovely weekend!
So... TRYING to be a responsible adult, I put training on hold this week. Tuesday - Friday I've been doing a 5k-10k on the exercise bike and then 1-2 miles on the treadmill and that has been going well. My knee/leg was hurting so bad on Tues/Wed/Thurs, working out seemed to be the only thing that helped. Today it is feeling a lot better but I'll still go for the 5k stationary bike and 2 mile plan just in case.
Tomorrow we are scheduled for a 8-9 mile run since we did not go on Wednesday. I am super excited about it, but a little nervous. If I can't make it this week on my long run, I might not be able to do the race. After this week we only have 2 more weeks of training and both have a 10-11 mile run in them. I NEED this run to go well tomorrow... send positive energy my way please!!
On a good note however, my short runs have gotten a lot faster! Even on a 1 incline on the treadmill I ran my 2 miler on Wednesday in 20 min and my 1 miler on Thursday in 9:24 - so exciting! Today I am hoping for a 19 min 2 miler... we shall see. If I can keep it at 20 I'll be cool with that too. At least its some improvement, helps ward off the disappointment of putting training on hold for the whole week.
So there is my whine, yes I would like some cheese with it :) Wish us luck and hope you have a lovely weekend!
Monday, October 10, 2011
3 more weeks... the countdown starts!
(No pictures... just lots of rambling about running... you've been warned! :))
Only 3 more weeks of training to go and then a "light running week" on race week - I'm getting so excited but so nervous too! We still haven't 100% decided if we can/will do the race or not. We are waiting until the 22nd to decide and will either sign up then or find another race in the Spring to train for.
Last week was a mix of good and bad days.
Monday was awesome - we ran 5 miles at 11:10 min/mile pace which is the best I've been able to do outside and the best I've been able to do for that distance.
Wednesday was AWFUL and slow and blegh but we still ran our 4.4. It was too hot, I was too cranky, and it was just a bad running day all around.
Thursday was better, our timing was great other than me feeling like I was going to throw up and needing to walk half a mile in the middle of our 6 miles and sit down for a few minutes. Not sure what was going on but we finished and still only averaged 12 min/mile including the walking time.
Saturday... the big mileage day ... turned into a bit of a fiasco. It was hot out again and super sunny so I wasn't doing so well with that. We still kept it around 11:15-11:30/mile and we were doing pretty well(other than me needing more drink breaks) but around mile 6 things started going bad. All in all I ended up with a cramp in my right thigh, a cramp in my left calf which then moved up to my knee which then settled at the side of my knee and calf for the remainder of our run and the whole weekend as well.
My pinkie toe also turned into a full blister, seriously like 50% of my toe was and still is a blister... so that was not too fun either. I was limping and upset and not a happy kid at all for the last 1-2 miles. I told Luke to go on ahead and I finished my 8 in the end with some walking/jogging /stretching alternation and he finished 9.
Saturday's issues really worry me because with only 3 weeks left I can't be getting cramps and leg pains and huge blisters or I won't be able to do the race :( And after a painful weekend for my legs I'm still feeling sore and my knees are screaming at me when I'm going up and down stairs. I'm a little nervous about our 6 mile run today and especially nervous about our 9 mile run on Wednesday. I guess all I can do is get out there and give it a try tonight and see how it goes. :-/
Wish us luck! :)
Only 3 more weeks of training to go and then a "light running week" on race week - I'm getting so excited but so nervous too! We still haven't 100% decided if we can/will do the race or not. We are waiting until the 22nd to decide and will either sign up then or find another race in the Spring to train for.
Last week was a mix of good and bad days.
Monday was awesome - we ran 5 miles at 11:10 min/mile pace which is the best I've been able to do outside and the best I've been able to do for that distance.
Wednesday was AWFUL and slow and blegh but we still ran our 4.4. It was too hot, I was too cranky, and it was just a bad running day all around.
Thursday was better, our timing was great other than me feeling like I was going to throw up and needing to walk half a mile in the middle of our 6 miles and sit down for a few minutes. Not sure what was going on but we finished and still only averaged 12 min/mile including the walking time.
Saturday... the big mileage day ... turned into a bit of a fiasco. It was hot out again and super sunny so I wasn't doing so well with that. We still kept it around 11:15-11:30/mile and we were doing pretty well(other than me needing more drink breaks) but around mile 6 things started going bad. All in all I ended up with a cramp in my right thigh, a cramp in my left calf which then moved up to my knee which then settled at the side of my knee and calf for the remainder of our run and the whole weekend as well.
My pinkie toe also turned into a full blister, seriously like 50% of my toe was and still is a blister... so that was not too fun either. I was limping and upset and not a happy kid at all for the last 1-2 miles. I told Luke to go on ahead and I finished my 8 in the end with some walking/jogging /stretching alternation and he finished 9.
Saturday's issues really worry me because with only 3 weeks left I can't be getting cramps and leg pains and huge blisters or I won't be able to do the race :( And after a painful weekend for my legs I'm still feeling sore and my knees are screaming at me when I'm going up and down stairs. I'm a little nervous about our 6 mile run today and especially nervous about our 9 mile run on Wednesday. I guess all I can do is get out there and give it a try tonight and see how it goes. :-/
Wish us luck! :)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Cold weather speed boost!
Thanks to browsing the internet and tips from someone which whom I went to HS, I've started doing leg exercises for my quads to help out those painful knees of mine. The dog was very confused and wanted to attack me as I lay on the floor kicking my legs around and the hubs was rather amused at my patheticness... but I got through the suggested reps and most of the exercises on my list last night.
I'm going to try to do these exercises 4-5 times a week and hopefully will see some improvement and not just soreness - like this morning :)
Saturday before General Conference we went to our favorite long loop at the park and ran 8 miles. I will admit that I was pathetically slow and we averaged about a 13 min mile for the whole thing, but at least we did it and at least it was a steady pace! That included stopping for a quick potty and drink break, but I still can't blame the slowness on that.. *sigh* o well. Slow and steady might not win the race, but it will help me finish the race injury free!
Fortunately it was a bit colder last night when we went running after work and somehow that gave me extra energy because I pushed my pace the whole way and we averaged 11:10 / mile for the whole 5 miles. That is probably the fastest I've run outside this year - felt GREAT! Hopefully I can get close to that tomorrow on our 6 mile run and get my 8.5 mile run on Saturday down to 12/mile instead of 13. Wish us luck!
Due to the colder weather setting in I was finally able to wear my awesome purple tights! O boy... do I love them! They are so comfy and there is no riding up, rubbing, etc. and they keep me warm enough to be comfortable but not over heated. If race day is in the 50s I'm going to have a GREAT race!
I've noticed a rather odd thing while running with Lukas tho - I'm always cold at home, and he is always warm - but while running, I get over heated quickly and need to wear just a tshirt, while he is cooler and needs a fleece jacket - strange right? I figure its probably because running at my slow speed is more taxing on my body than on his, since he runs around 8-9 min/mile, so maybe that is why he is cooler. Who knows... but that is why someone invented the idea of layering... so you can strip while running as needed haha.
Other than a head cold that set in on Sunday, we had a lovely and relaxing weekend. General Conference was fantastic and there were some really great talks that I personally needed to hear. I am looking forward to the Ensign (church magazine) coming out with all of the talks in it so that Lukas and I can reread them together and discuss them more indepth. Looking forward to Stake Conference this weekend... mostly because that means no Sunday School or Relief Society, haha, but in general its always a good experience as well. Some how General Conference is more motivating for me to set goals and try to make positive changes than New Years - I guess because its based on inspiration and not just the "end of the year - must make a change!" fever that everyone gets. I definitely will be writing down some personal and spiritual goals and try to improve between now and the next conference in April.
I'm going to try to do these exercises 4-5 times a week and hopefully will see some improvement and not just soreness - like this morning :)
Saturday before General Conference we went to our favorite long loop at the park and ran 8 miles. I will admit that I was pathetically slow and we averaged about a 13 min mile for the whole thing, but at least we did it and at least it was a steady pace! That included stopping for a quick potty and drink break, but I still can't blame the slowness on that.. *sigh* o well. Slow and steady might not win the race, but it will help me finish the race injury free!
Fortunately it was a bit colder last night when we went running after work and somehow that gave me extra energy because I pushed my pace the whole way and we averaged 11:10 / mile for the whole 5 miles. That is probably the fastest I've run outside this year - felt GREAT! Hopefully I can get close to that tomorrow on our 6 mile run and get my 8.5 mile run on Saturday down to 12/mile instead of 13. Wish us luck!
I've noticed a rather odd thing while running with Lukas tho - I'm always cold at home, and he is always warm - but while running, I get over heated quickly and need to wear just a tshirt, while he is cooler and needs a fleece jacket - strange right? I figure its probably because running at my slow speed is more taxing on my body than on his, since he runs around 8-9 min/mile, so maybe that is why he is cooler. Who knows... but that is why someone invented the idea of layering... so you can strip while running as needed haha.
Other than a head cold that set in on Sunday, we had a lovely and relaxing weekend. General Conference was fantastic and there were some really great talks that I personally needed to hear. I am looking forward to the Ensign (church magazine) coming out with all of the talks in it so that Lukas and I can reread them together and discuss them more indepth. Looking forward to Stake Conference this weekend... mostly because that means no Sunday School or Relief Society, haha, but in general its always a good experience as well. Some how General Conference is more motivating for me to set goals and try to make positive changes than New Years - I guess because its based on inspiration and not just the "end of the year - must make a change!" fever that everyone gets. I definitely will be writing down some personal and spiritual goals and try to improve between now and the next conference in April.
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