Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A new PR.. and a new injury, ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Last week I went to visit the Physical Therapist at the gym we've been attending and got a free evaluation. She and the other PT were super informative and helpful in explaining the MANY things that are wrong with me and why I keep getting injured so often. It mostly comes down to weak hips and butt, and the fact that biomechanically I have some issues along with being a giraffe but mostly the lack of muscle support makes those things worse. Soo.... my plan is to keep taking strength training classes like kettlebells mixed with cardio and some strength training on the side and hopefully eventually things will get better. I honestly cannot afford to go to a PT so hopefully I can work on these things on my own. May eventually have to shell out the money for 1 or 2 sessions but I will avoid that as long as possible.

Apparently my form on the treadmill is even worse than my normal bad form running outside and that is what has been causing the pain in my right calf I've been experiencing for the past few weeks. I've been told to stay off the treadmill and only run outside short distances at first and stop immediately if anything hurts. REALLY annoying since it has been snowy, cold, and rainy here - mostly cold and rainy but that snow/mush/ice was a nasty mess a week or so ago too.

As always, I decided to test my limits after a week break and hopped on the treadmill yesterday just to see if running without an incline would help at all. It did, no calf pain, so I decided to be really stupid and see how fast I could run for a mile. Good news and bad news... I set a new PR - 9:15/mile - yay ... bad news tho, I pulled a muscle I think and caused myself some major pain in the pelvic bone area. Too much information I know lol but it is such a weird injury I had to share :) No clue what is going on but I am still a bit sore today so I am skipping my lunchtime workout and hoping to get outside in the 50 degree weather after work and run a few laps if I feel better.

My mom told me I am getting old (28) and probably not made for running if I keep getting hurt so much, but hey... men weren't made to fly and we do it all the time in airplanes so I'll just keep trying and hope it gets better... before I am ancient ;-)

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A new year, a new start, & new shoes!

It is a new year and I feel like my workout goals are off to a GREAT start! I ran 5 days last week - only 1.5-2 miles and then some elliptical and weight work around that, but it felt great! I will only get in about 3 days of running this week because I've been so busy but I am getting in 2-2.5 miles a run and still feeling good.

While we were in Germany we went running twice but I kept it at 15 minutes and a comfortable pace - probably around 11min/mile. I didn't want to push it after taking 2 weeks off completely but I needed to start somewhere. Started up again at jogging only 15 minutes last Monday to start off the new year and have been adding on around 1 min/day. No ITB-knee pain so far and I feel like my endurance is getting better and I am getting stronger. 2.75 miles yesterday (including .35 walking at a brisk pace) was a tough stretch - esepcially pushing myself to run 2 full miles before taking a .1 mile walk break was rough but I did it. I am getting around a 10.5-11 min/mile average pace which isn't so bad, especially with the walking breaks here and there. Just doing my best to take it slow, build up slowly, and listen to my body. If all goes well I will be up to 4 miles by the first Saturday in February and ready to start 1/2 Marathon training the first full week in Feb - wish me luck!

To help with this new start to training, Luke and I both got new running shoes. Instead of upgrading to this year's model, we decided to save 50% and get the same model we currently have. I was REALLY lucky tho and was able to get mine in PURPLE! Happy happy joy joy haha. Have started slowly breaking in these babies during my rehab runs so that they will be nice and comfy for when I start 1/2 marathon training again. It is fun having a new color and "new" shoe with it still being the same model I am used to and comfortable with.
Def. good to not get swept up in the "I need the new color and enhancements!" craze, especially when those enhancements don't make much of a difference if your old model was super comfy already, and it sure saves a lot of money on expensive running shoes especially when you need 2 or 3 pairs a year!

Hope your goals are off to a good start this year and if not, you have plenty of time to work on them so get started today! :)