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!!! :)

Pennies in my penny bank (18M)

Right now I'm managing an average of twenty minutes on runs before my leg gets too tight and starts to give out. Twenty minutes is not much, but it does keep me in the running motion and it's a daily reminder of why I want to be healthy again. I love the feeling so much that I have a renewed desire to get back at it every time I get a small taste. This will be my first full week of PT and steroid stim treatment, so maybe by the time I blog next week it'll be thirty minutes that I'm averaging. :)

I agreed to do a relay on December 9th with some other ladies in the Dallas area, so I do want to be working towards gaining "running" fitness again; even with the barrier my IT band is putting up right now. Jake wrote me out a cross training/ running/ strength plan to try this week, so I'm going to put my body to the test and see how things go. It will be much more time consuming than what I've been doing, but I suppose when you're not able to log miles on foot, you have to make a few other sacrifices.

Sunday, October 21st
10 mile bike with Jake at the lake + 2.7 mile run at Norbuck Park
30' rehab exercises at night
COMMENTS: I was hoping to get in four this morning, but my leg just wasn't putting up with it. Not sure if it was the surface, the PT work I've been doing, or something else, but I didn't have a choice to push through this one. Called it about 20 minutes in and counting it as a few more pennies in my bank. It'll add up one day.

Monday, October 22nd
PT in the morning
3M hard at lunch (6:55 AP)
45' cross training (HR avg 173) + upper body strength in the evening
COMMENTS: PT was much better this week than last. Not much work physically, but an eye opener to some very poor balancing skills and an awesome knee massage. My three miles were very solid, and probably way too hard. First mile 8:16, then 6:20, then 6:09. For not having warmed up and doing no drills or stretching, it's no wonder I felt like it was a full on race! I did the run through our neighborhood and capped it off with a 1/2 mile recovery jog to get my breath back! I noticed my leg in the first mile and in the recovery, but not much during those two hard miles. Did 10' elliptical (had to stop because it hurt my inner thigh/hip/pelvic bone on the left leg), 10' rowing, 25' biking. HR% was about 70 for the elliptical and bike, then 75-80 for the bike. It was extremely hard work to get it up and keep it up! Thirty seconds of recovery biking would drop it straight back to 130! 

Tuesday, October 23rd
60' bike (HR avg 143) + 5' core in the morning
30' rehab exercises and lower body strength during lunch
PT session after work
COMMENTS: It is seriously SO hard to get your heart rate up on the bike! And once it is up, it's very hard to keep it there; especially for 60 minutes! I don't think there is a such thing as an "easy" bike when going by HR! :) But I'm excited to know I'm actually getting work in! Legs were shaky after strength workout during lunch. Also, the therapist had me stop halfway through our exercises because of where and how my knee was catching/popping. Said it was characteristic of meniscus problems and wanted me to have my doctor get the MRI film instead of just the results. I'm guessing it's nothing big though.

Wednesday, October 24th
3M run (HR avg 164) with Jake in the morning + 3 x 15" strides
COMMENTS: Felt like trash my run this morning and when I looked down about five minutes in my HR was at 188! In fact, my Garmin says it picked up a max HR of 210! I think I figured out part of the problem during the day though since I felt worse and worse as time went on. Sore throat, headache, earache, and what felt like a fever. Bleh. Skipped the 45' cross training and strength workout at night.

Thursday, October 25th
PT session, 3.5M treadmill run (HR avg 163), 30' bike (HR avg 145)
COMMENTS: Very long day today. Had to be downtown by 7AM for some testing, felt nauseous all day afterwards because of what I had to drink so I couldn't workout at lunch. Went to the gym after PT and got in what I could up until 8:30 and then called it quits to go fix dinner and get some rest (so no, I did not get in the full 60' cross training that was scheduled). Ran the first mile at 8:15 pace, second at 7:30 pace, last 1.5 at 6:58 pace.. felt okay aside from my stomach. Leg was starting to get bad during the last half mile so I couldn't have slipped in one more half. Considering PT as my lower body strength work for today.

Friday, October 26th
1M run + 3 x 15" strides during lunch
4M run (HR avg 168) after work in 30:20
COMMENTS: Went out in the cold during lunch to try and get in my run but my leg was having none of it. Locked up for good .75M in, so I stretched a bit and luckily was able to run back. Stretched a good while afterwards and in between each 15" stride. Got in my run on the treadmill at night. I was able to finish without it locking up, but was in major major pain for the run. Really starting to wonder if I trust this doctor's "you can run through this" statement...

Saturday, October 27th
45' very casual bike alongside Jake while he ran