Guess and check (20.5M)

Each run has become a sort of "guess and check" system. Guess how much my leg can handle and then give it a try. Sometimes I'll be able to sneak in an extra half mile, sometimes I have to cut it short. Hoping to see some improvements from the PT this week. I'm backing off of the cross training as I am no longer mid season or with a possible race coming up, and I hate doing just to do it... no motivation. As long as I'm getting in 30+ minutes of physical activity each day, I'm going to be happy with that and let things be.

Sunday, October 28th
4M progressive through the neighborhood in the afternoon (7:27 AP)
COMMENTS: We ran in the afternoon so both of our stomachs were upset! The plan was 8:30, 8:00, 7:30, 7:00, but we had trouble feeling out the pace. We still progressed and kept things comfortable so mission accomplished regardless. 8:14, 7:30, 7:21, 6:45 for the miles. My hip and leg were sore before started and particularly painful and different points, but when I got to about 3.25 I was back at the point of wondering if it would hold me the next step. Not a big fan of this guessing game lately. 6' of pedestal routine afterwards.

Monday, October 29th
40' bike with 20' of 30",30" in the morning
4M: 1M easy, 2M of diagonals, 1M easy during lunch (7:17 AP)
PT session at night
COMMENTS: Worst hip, knee pain today that I've had in quite a while  :( Really, really painful. I got in the run though, and tomorrow is my day off, so I'm just going to pray and trust that it's ready to go again on Wednesday. I didn't want to do diagonals on the track like planned because I was afraid of all the turning I'd have to do, so I stuck to my same neighborhood loop I've been using and just did a 30", 30" fartlek. I'm convinced that if my leg were not hurting right now, I'd be able to have some great workout because everything feels so good and easy. Miles today were 8:47, 6:36, 6:16, 7:16.

Tuesday, October 30th
Rest day. I originally planned to bike today, but was in so much pain that I felt it was smarter to take off completely.

Wednesday, October 31st
4.5M: 2M easy, 2M @ 6:45 pace, .5M easy during lunch (7:40 AP)
rehab exercises and core + 15' stair master after work
COMMENTS: I am still in pain sitting around and walking, so I was not expecting to get in a run today, but surprisingly my leg really wasn't much worse running than it was sitting/ walking around! Taking advantage of it, I tacked on a 1/2 mile easy after the planned 4 mile workout. I was supposed to run 2 easy and then 2 at 6:45 pace; ended up with paces of 9:13, 8:23, 6:41, 6:37, 7:18 which is really right where he wanted me. Felt great too, physically! I almost didn't pick up the pace after 2 miles because I was just so grateful to be able to run I didn't want to ruin it, but I decided to at least give it a try. Thankfully it still was tolerable and the pace actually felt very comfortable. Very, very appreciative! Checking back in after my evening workout.. pretty strong groin pain today so I cut the cross training short. :/

Thursday, November 1st
20' HIIT bike (30" all out, 90" recovery) + 15' steady elliptical + 20 push ups in the morning
4M progressive through the neighborhood at lunch (7:19 AP)
COMMENTS: This is the absolute worst my knee has been since day 1 of no running. I can barely bend my knee (writing this an hour after my run today) and am in so much pain. :) I knew it would be bad when I stopped and I thought about stopping early, but knowing how painful it would be after running, I decided it was best to get home running instead of walking. Definitely glad I have PT today. :/ At any rate, aside from my leg I felt wonderful on my run again. Clicking off the miles and cutting down the pace like nothing... just so comfortable! Mile splits were 8:12, 7:25, 7:02, 6:39.

Friday, November 2nd
45' bike through the neighborhood + 5' jump rope
COMMENTS: Very concerned about the pain in my leg still, so I put this off until the last minute (not expecting to do anything). Decided to try biking the neighborhood once to see how it felt and ended up not having pain doing some easy biking so I just kept going. jumping (rope) isn't bad either because I don't have to bend my knee, so I jumped 500 jumps with the jump rope before calling it a day.

Saturday, November 3rd
4M: 2M easy, 2M of 30" quick, 30" recovery at noon (7:30 AP)
45' bike in the evening
COMMENTS: Wow. I cannot tell you how shocked I was (and THANKFUL) that I was able to do this entire run. And honestly with much less pain than some of my other runs this week! I accidentally messed up and did two easy before starting the "diagonals" (which I'm doing as a fartlek for now), but I think the only ill effect of that mistake was slowing down my overall time and pace a bit since my second mile was not as fast as it would have been if I ran easy after doing the surge miles. At any rate, mile splits today were 9:11, 8:08, 6:21, 6:15. I finished off the day with a 45 minute bike since that's what I needed to hit 5 and half hours of cardio for the week.

Total weekly mileage: 20.5 miles averaging 7:27 pace. I'LL TAKE IT WITH A SMILE!!! :)