A glimmer of hope (18M)

I began last week not expecting to run at all, but looking forward to being active again thanks to Jake's strength circuits. God, however, had a different plan and I am so grateful. I got in four runs that were about a mile long or more, and one of them had almost a full mile at 6:40 pace (I'm not a slow, completely-out-of-shape slob yet!!)! Each run was painful, and there were a couple days where I tried, but just couldn't eek out the run without being dangerous with my bio-mechanics and stride, but it was "doable" for those four runs!

I see the orthopedic doctor tomorrow afternoon and will hopefully get some more answers then, so I'm going to wait until then before I write out my plans for this week.

Sunday, October 14th
20' run with 3 pick-ups at the end + lower body strength circuit

Monday, October 15th
20' run with last half up-tempo + upper body strength circuit
COMMENTS: Least discomfort and pain I have had yet while running, up until the end! Anytime I was running downhill, my knee and hip would lock up and I would lose form, but level ground and uphill running was fine! I think I pulled something in my back doing the upper body workout though, haha. :)

Tuesday, October 16th
20' run + 10' bike; 60' rehab exercises & foam rolling in the evening
COMMENTS: I met with my Orthopedic doctor today and found out it's only ITBS. Definitely a relief, but the hard part is figuring out how to heal it. ITBS takes an average of 6 to 9 months to heal, so if we aren't smart I could be out for a while. I'm going to do rehab exercises/foam rolling every other day and he found some AlterG treadmills in Dallas that I can try to get use on as well. I'm also going to continue running whatever my body allows. Jake's good coaching friends says that ITBS is something you may as well run on until it doesn't let you because the movement increases blood flow and promotes healing. I'm not sure I agree 100%, but I do think it will be beneficial to continue light, short runs as much as possible. Mostly I'm just thankful to have an answer!

Wednesday, October 17th
30' run
COMMENTS: Got it in! Every step I take, I take it wondering if I'll be able to take one more. I try to stay as close to where I started as possible so I don't have too far of a walk back, but so far I've been able to tough it out for the full runs. I'm just hoping this is helping and not delaying the healing process. I'm going to keep doing rehab every other day, but not sure where the balance is with my running.

Thursday, October 18th
Full body circuit

Friday, October 19th
20' run (5' easy, 5' medium, 5' of 30" fast, 30" easy, 5' hard) + rehab
COMMENTS: I am getting tired just aimlessly running for whatever amount of time my body lets me, so I snuck out during my lunch break for a quick "structured" run. I spent 5 minutes running easy, then picked up pretty good for 5 more. After that, I went straight into 5 minutes of 30" fast, 30" recovery, and then finished it up with 5 minutes hard. Let's just say I was BEAT by the time I finished!! :) As embarrassingly short as 20 minutes is, I'm very thankful for this run today!

Saturday, October 20th
4M run + rehab
COMMENTS: I went to out to Kiest park for this one; I've been doing all runs since I started back in the neighborhood, so I thought I would try getting to a softer surface where I didn't have to turn every 100m. It ended up being a bitter sweet choice. I got in four miles (longest run yet) and actually ran them pretty quick to finish in 29:35, but it was also my most painful run yet. I was in pain from the start, but not sure how to get back to the car without finishing the loops! Regardless, I got in 30 minutes of running and can rest it up to be ready for tomorrow!