Starting back up! (26.8M)

Sunday, December 30th
2 Trinity Park Trails loops + 3 strides in the morning (gravel)
Big 12 + 43' bike in the afternoon (plan was 60 minutes, but it hurt my knee too badly)
*Each loop is about 230m longer than 2 miles. First loop took 16:20, second took 15:38. Total run averaged around 7:26 pace. I'm definitely out of shape though because I have no control over pace right now. I run what I can run, get tired, slow down, pick back up, get tired, slow down, etc. Nothing wrong with that though... Gotta start somewhere! :)

Monday, December 31st
35' aqua jog during lunch
5M progression run after work (pavement) + core routine 1M with Jake (pavement)
*Started getting bad stomach pains and cramping just before it was time to run. Got worse during the run and ended up having to call it a day after the first mile.

Tuesday, January 1st
5M progression run early in the morning (pavement)
*Woke super early to get this in before leaving for Jake's race. Kind of messed up pacing plans by poor math, but I corrected it halfway through. I'm not terribly upset by that though because it was harder than you would think even at the paces I ran. 7:58, 7:42, 7:06, 6:56, 6:39 for a 7:16 average. Stomach pains returned mid morning and actually got to an excruciating point in the afternoon. Low food intake for the day, needless to say.

Wednesday, January 2nd
Still getting over the cramping and stomach pains. Residual aching and still a few cramps, but nothing at all like yesterday. Hoping that tomorrow I'll be good to get in my workout. No core for a couple more days though.

Thursday, January 3rd
2M easy + 4 x 3:00 hard uphill, easy recovery down (pavement)
*Finally feeling good and ready to run. My calves are still sore and got really tight while running, but we'll save that mystery for another day. I enjoyed this workout and made it a little bit farther with each rep. For the first three I got to where I was breathing hard and tired, but nothing crazy. The last one I actually had some lactate build up about halfway through, so I'm considering it a successful moderate workout. Taking things slow and really trying not to rush fitness this time around. 

Friday, January 4th
4M + 3 strides (treadmill)
*Ran on the treadmill today because it's been raining too much for soft surfaces and I don't want any more pavement this week if I can help it. Before the run, I got in a good bit of wake up drills and then spent 5 minutes or so with a foam roller. I started at 10:00 pace and worked down to the last 1.25 miles at 7:24 pace... Ended up finishing the run in 32:00 on the nose (entirely unplanned). The sad thing is how tired I was doing it. Felt like I was out for a hard run, not a nice casual run! I did my strides outside on the sidewalk, in case you were wondering how I did them on the treadmill. :) I planned to also aqua jog 35 minutes today but I had a follow up doctor appointment during my lunch hour and couldn't go.

Saturday, January 5th
3 and half Trinity Park Trails Loops in the morning (gravel)
15' bike + light strength work in the afternoon
*Felt absolutely terrible on this run... My legs felt like I was working at tempo effort from the very start. I couldn't have had a quicker turnover if I had to. Also, about halfway through I started getting a pain on the outside of my right foot, fairly close to the toe. Just something to keep an eye on. Still need to figure out this random leg soreness too. What crazy week back! At least it's in the books now!

Total Weekly Mileage: 26.8M, 90' cross training

Resting with a plan! (7M, 16M)

Going to finish out my seven day rest of no cross training or running and start back with one or the other on Wednesday morning. Hopefully this gives my body the chance it needs to start over healthy! We thought about scrapping the Woodlands Half Marathon in March so I wouldn't have to rush getting fit again, but decided a short build up is best for me, even if that means not being in great shape. I need to work on finished a half before I try putting in 20 weeks for a killer time. :) With that being said, Jake made me an eight or nine week plan that picks up the first week of January, so my goal is to be healthy enough to start back solid when that time comes. Even if that means sitting on my butt until then!! :) I'll keep doing the core and rehab this week, and starting Wednesday I'll add in cross training and maybe short light runs.

Sunday, December 16th
Big 12 (push ups/reverse crunch) ladder + rehab
*This simple core and PT combination of work took me a full hour without any idle time, so I think I'm going to try to budget 1 hour each morning this week to go to the gym and get it in before the day starts. That way if I do get confident enough to try cross training, I have time to do it later in the day. 

Monday, December 17th
Core routine 3 sets of 30" reps + foam rolling before work
20' aqua jog during lunch

Tuesday, December 18th
Med ball routine 3 sets of 30" reps
35' aqua jog during lunch

Wednesday, December 19th
27' easy run at night
*I caved on this one. Wanted to not run all the way until Saturday, but I felt really sick and didn't want to get in the pool.. an easy run was the best alternative I could think of. Plus, I saw the doctor today and he said as a doctor he has no reason to tell me not to run (I won't do long term damage) and I've had a full 7 days of no running. Unfortunately, as nice as it was to be running, shin, ankle, knee, and hip were the same as before. Definitely was like heaven just to run so lacsidasically though. :)

Thursday, December 20th
30' aqua jog at lunch

Friday, December 21st
Big 12 (push ups/reverse crunches/glute bridges/sit ups) ladder before work
4M easy run after work
*My ankle bothered me the whole run but my knee did not start until about 1.75 miles.

Saturday, December 22nd
18M bike with Jake at the lake (hard!)

Sunday, December 23rd
4M easy run on the track in Hull

Monday, December 24th
4M easy run at Herman Park in Houston

Tuesday, December 25th
rest day

Wednesday, December 26th
35' aqua jog during lunch
4M easy run with Jake after work (pavement)

Thursday, December 27th
35' aqua jog during lunch

Friday, December 28th
4M run during lunch (half pavement, half gravel)
40' aqua jog after work

Saturday, December 29th
45' aqua jog in the afternoon

Santa's Speedy Helper Race & a break! (7M)

I made it through the relay... now it's time to take a step back and get healthy! :) No need for a thorough recap of my running this morning as it was pretty embarrassingly terrible. I'm just glad I finished and we had four other incredibly fast ladies to pull my weight and secure a win!! :)

Here's a picture of (most) of the girls on my team. They were so sweet and a lot of fun to compete and hang out with! I'm definitely looking forward to more runs with them once I'm back to real training again!

Sunday, December 9th

scattered warm-up, 4.4M race, scattered cool down

Monday, December 10th

Jake's new core routine + 10' jump rope (tried biking but it was extremely painful for my left knee)

Tuesday, December 11th

Jake's new med ball routine + 15' easy run (left knee, right ankle, and right shin were painful)

Wednesday, December 12th

10' bike, 5' elliptical, 5' kicking on side of pool (left knee hurt on bike, right ankle hurt on elliptical)

Big 12 (push-up/reverse crunch) ladder + rehab

Thursday, December 13th

Jake's core routine

Friday, December 14th 

off

Saturday, December 15th 

Jake's med ball routine 

One week to go! (21M)

The relay is almost here... I'm really excited about it too! I haven't run "with" a team in a long time and I'm definitely looking forward to the thrill of that race day pressure. It's an entirely different game when others are counting on you compared to when you toe the line solo. Lots of doctor visits this week as well, so hopefully we can starting putting the puzzle pieces together.

Sunday, December 2nd
30' with Jake on the Katy Trail around noon (no Garmin) + 8 x 20" strides, 40" rest
COMMENTS: Nothing new really to share on this one. I definitely didn't feel as spry on this run as I have the past two days, but I think running in 80 degree sunlight with wind has a little bit to do with that. :) My leg was a bit of pain, but decided to try some strides anyways since I hadn't dropped pace in a week and a half or so. Probably about a 1/2 mile worth of strides before I called it.

Monday, December 3rd
Squats, pushups, and abs before work
30' with Jake in the neighborhood during lunch (no Garmin)
Cortisone shot after work
COMMENTS: Ran for the FIFTH straight day today! Woohoo! :) I had to stop about a mile and half in to stretch, but managed to finish out the full run anyways. Nothing fancy or fast today, just a plain jane run... nothing wrong with that though! Visited my orthopaedic doctor this afternoon to reevaluate my pain. He says the place I'm complaining of pain is actually where the lateral meniscus is (or something like that), so I'm getting an MRI tomorrow just to be sure everything is okay. I also went ahead and got a cortisone shot. I know what I can and can't do as far as running goes right now, so masking pain for a few weeks won't cause me to do further damage... hopefully all it does is makes the race on Sunday feel better! :)

Tuesday, December 4th
Rest day

Wednesday, December 5th
4.5M with Jake in the neighorhood during lunch (no Garmin)
COMMENTS: Ran with Jake during lunch again. I'm really excited by the amount of pressure the cortisone shot has taken off my knee. I still have a good bit of pain as I mentioned to Jake before we started, but it's more like a 4 compared to an 8 now!! ;) My ankle is now more of an issue than my knee, but I had that checked today and he does not think it is anything serious. We're doing a few more images to see if we can "prove" any specific problems, but it will probably come down to a cortisone shot for that one as well.

Thursday, December 6th
5M with Jake in the neighorhood during lunch (no Garmin)
COMMENTS: Took until 1.5 for my knee to get to me today... I'll take that! We started too fast for my liking and that combined with some emotional stresses early in the run made for some rough breathing. Because of that I skipped out on the 30",30"s I had wanted to do. Jake and I timed our fourth mile based on where we usually hit the mile mark and it was 6:26, so I would not be surprised if all five were sub 7:00. I don't think we really picked it up at any point, just started quick so it took a while to get used to the pace and settle in.

Friday, December 7th
10' run on the trail at DBU
COMMENTS: Felt more pain than I've had for weeks on this run and decided it was not worth prolonging it with the race on Sunday. As much as I really, really hate cutting a run short, I have to be smart right now. The pain was across the top of my knee, smack dab in the center of my thigh, in my groin, and in my hip. Not pleasant at all... Kind of like a bunch of hinges that need to be greased and then jamming a square leg into a round hip hole.

Saturday, December 8th
25' of 90" run, 30" walk in the morning
COMMENTS: I wanted more than 15 minutes of moving and being outside, so instead of just running two miles sluggishly (I ran right after waking up), I decided to mix it up and do a run/ walk mix. It worked pretty well and kept my heart rate elevated for the full time without me running extra miles. Still quite a bit of pain in my leg this morning, but I am more than confident in myself to finish my leg of the relay strong tomorrow. The power of running for a team is amazing! I will say that as soon as this is over, I'm going to have to change something...