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Sorry everyone! I haven't been very good with this blogging thing lately!!

So on Thursday I tried a 4km run after having such a good run earlier in the week. Unfortunately this one didn't work out as well. For some reason that I will probably never understand, my right knee ended up super sore, the same way the other one was. My left knee was fine. So, since I'd thought I would be ok, I did it on a day I had to work. It was not fun working that evening. Not as bad as the time I went in after running like 20km, but still not nice. So, I rested my knees AGAIN and went swimming and biking. A funny thing was that when I got back there was a Canada Goose on the tip of our roof and one in front of our driveway. I ran in to try to get a picture but a weedman truck scared them off. I swear the geese are taking over our neighbourhood. There was one on my neighbour's roof too.

Today I went out hoping for a longer run. I'm sick of these wimpy runs (they are wimpy for me, not for everyone, don't get me wrong). I woke up with a sore right knee and thought I might only make it 2km. I never understand this injury thing. I think maybe my knee was sore because I was playing the drums and really trying to get this one beat that requires a lot of the bass drum. But I also could have slept wrong. It drives me crazy that big parts of being able to run properly can be on things out of my control.

Anyway, so I went out aiming for 8km but would be happy with only a few km. I went 4km out and felt ok. I could tell I had been having trouble with the knee but overall it was fine. So, when I got back to my house I ran 2 extra km because I felt fine. So I ended up surviving a 10km. In theory I should be able to do 22km still because it hasn't been that long since I last did it and I probably won't lose my distance that easily. So, again I will try building up and see how it goes. If I end up able to do this marathon it won't be without considerable training and ups and downs.

So, until next time....keep fit and have fun!

On the road again

Things are looking good here. I decided to try a longer run (not like my real longer ones, but longer than 2km) on Monday. I went out intending to do a 5km if I could make it. I made sure to keep close to the house. I ran almost 2.5km out and was starting to feel some knee pain so I turned around. It was slight and ended up disappearing for awhile so I decided that if I felt ok when I was almost back to my house, I'd try for 6km. So, I felt fine and finished 6km. I was not sore at all after or for the rest of the day. It felt good to run again. It's totally an addiction of mine.
So, things are looking better and better. I'm not really feeling sore anymore at all. I did some extra swimming, biking and workouts focusing on abs and I think these workouts combined with better eating (as I sit here eating chocolate covered raisins, lol) and rest have helped get me back into longer-ish runs. If I am able to get back to 10km by the end of the month, I should be able to do the full marathon.
As always....time will tell.

2.5km and counting....

Despite the crappy weather out today, I thought I'd try to run after being off for a week. I was surprised that I was able to make it to 1km without pain. Really good news. So, I went 2.5km (didn't want to push it-I have to work later today and I stand the whole shift) and survived. I found that my knee/leg was sore after but nothing like the other day. So, I know I can run at least 2.5km. It's not the 22km I did a few weeks ago, but it's a step. I'm learning IT Band strengthening exercises and stretches and I'm going to throw in some runner's knee ones too because that's something that has bothered me in the past too. If anyone reading this is thinking of running, I would suggest learning stuff like that BEFORE you try it, lol. I think that was one mistake I made in the last 5 months-not doing those stretches, knowing that I am prone to this type of injury. I also realized I let my protein consumption slip (lazy, didn't feel like making food...lol) so I'm concentrating more on that. Little things that I hadn't thought of have had big impacts!
Anyway, so it's good news for now!

Birthday disaster

Well it's about time I update! So, on Thursday, my birthday, I got all ready for a long run. I was planning on doing 20km or more if I felt ok. If I had been sticking to my plan I would have been at 26km but that wasn't realistic after being sidelined from an injury for a bit.

So, I start my run, feeling good...going...going...going...a little bit of soreness in my right knee but ok....going...going...going....for an hour...10km away from my house, then the unthinkable happens. My knee starts hurting. At first not too much but I thought it best to turn around. I ran 1km down the road (on bad uneven dirt road unfortunately) and it didn't let up. It was my left leg, not even the one that was hurting a bit on the way out. When I say knee, I don't mean knee though...it was the IT band. The bad thing. The thing that stops my running almost immediately and puts me back to the beginning. So, I stopped and walked. Felt a bit better. Started to run...immediate pain. No good.

So, as I was 10km and an away running from my house, I became so angry. There was absolutely no warning of this in the first 10km. Usually there is something. But no. So, I walked the 10km back to my house since I had no money, no phone, no way of getting back to my house otherwise. Unfortunately, my knee still hurt when I was walking. It took me almost 2 hours to get home and it hurt the whole time. Sad but true. I wondered when I'd be able to run again and felt that my legs might as well be broken.

The next 3 days after were very unpleasant. I was in pain a lot and once in awhile I'd move my leg the wrong way and it would be like electricity through my leg. It still hurts. This is familiar from other years. Fortunately I don't work very much and was off for almost 4 full days after the run. I haven't run since and just yesterday tried a swim. It went ok and so today I did a 4.5km bike ride which irritated it a bit, but it's a good workout for me since I can't run right now. I've still been doing my regular workouts. I have 2 different workout plans that I do after a run or after a swim, isolating different parts (abs or arms usually). I'm going to try running again on Thursday or Friday but this is a huge blow.

So, it's back to the beginning for me. At this point I'm not sure if the marathon is a possibility anymore. I have 5 months left and a long way to go if I have to start at the beginning. It took me 5 months to get to halfway. So depending on where I can start again, I may or may not be doing my marathon. It's a shame when you've come this far, done everything right and because of one stupid mistake (the 5km race) that I didn't even think about, I may miss out on what I've been planning since December. There's always the half I suppose. Right now, I'll just be happy to be able to run again.

Back on track?

So after missing my 8km race (decided it really wasn't worth it if it would mean I'd be out of luck with the marathon) I gave it a shot running on Monday. I ran 4km without any knee pain (other than the normal running stuff). Felt good to be back to normal. So I am very thankful that I was able to keep myself from trying to run through the pain last week and instead I stopped. It really has taken me years to learn that lesson. I don't know if I can fully express how it feels to not be able to do something you are passionate about (unless you have experienced this before). It sucks! Fortunately I could still swim and I started biking.
Tomorrow (my birthday, by the way) I'm going to attempt a 20km. I haven't run that far in over 2 weeks, but I think when you have a long distance base, as I do, it shouldn't matter. In fact, it might even go better than my other long runs. If I am not dying at the end of the 20km, I will try to run 2 or 4km more to get back to where I should be, or pretty close to it. I'm tentatively planning a marathon in Niagara for mid-June, but it depends on how this all goes. I will really find out in a few weeks if the race begins at 30km. For me it has begun at 22km. So, it's sad for me, but I won't be doing any races this summer unless I decide not to do the marathon. At least we'll save some money! Hopefully I will have more interesting stories to write tomorrow!

A bad week

On Monday night it was time to do my weekly long run, this week being 24km. I made a discovery that day though. Working all day (standing) then trying to run does not work for me. Stubborn me decided to try running after and it was a miserably disaster. I made it 2.5km out and was in pain most of the time. It was the time of pain that maybe only a runner will understand. You can run through it but it's not good to run through it. I ran a half marathon in similar pain (much worse though). To make matters worse for me at the time, since I'd been stubborn for so long (2.5km) it meant I had to walk back 2.5km. I was dressed for a long, hot run but not for a long, not so warm walk. My hands nearly froze by the time I got home and it was not a nice walk. I've never walked well. You could say I'm a bad walker, lol. I have bad posture or something.

I think that I was still a bit sore from my race on Saturday and it was just too soon. Since I have the 2nd part of this race on Saturday, I am forced to wait until next week to do a long run or I will end up injured for the rest of the season. Running 24km too close to another run is a bad idea for me. What I was feeling on my run was runner's knee, which doesn't worry me as much as the ITB pains. Runner's knee goes away for me but the ITB pain makes me have to stop running for awhile, then start all over again. So, I will just pick up my long run next week.

I'll be spending the rest of the week swimming and biking, getting ready for the triathlon. It's really frustrating not being able to run, but I have learned my lesson over many years of being injured. As soon as it hurts, stop. You have to stop and say do I want to run for the next 2 weeks or the rest of my life.

First race of the season

So today I ran in the ENDURrace 5km. Unfortunately for all of us running, it decided to snow after many, many nice days in a row. The snow/cold wasn't so bad, but the wind pretty much sucked. But, we all survived and everyone seemed pretty happy after. This is the first race in a 2-race series. There is an 8km next Saturday evening. I figured out fairly soon after I started that I was wearing too much. I just didn't want to be cold and you would think I would know how much to wear considering I ran all winter outside, but it didn't work out so well. There were 3 hills in it, the last one being the killer long one. I was feeling pretty good and passed a lot of people on the hills (I do a lot of training on hills so I would say I'm fairly good with them). At the very end a girl passed me but wasn't going much faster than me so I sprinted to try to catch her and I did catch her but then she realized that I was gonna beat her and she sped up and I just couldn't stay that fast for the 5 seconds longer it would have been for me to beat her. It was a good challenge though.

My time was 26:16 which is ok, but not what I used to do. I was happy with it because it's the fastest I've been able to run this year so far for a 5km. I was also happy because I found out when the results went up that I had placed 2nd in my category (female age 25-29). I have actually placed every time I've run this race, so I'm happy that I am still running well, even though my training has changed. I was running almost as fast as I could the whole time.

So, overall, I'm pretty happy with how everything went today (other than the snow!). Ryan was happy with his run as well, though it's much tougher for him to place in his category because there are a lot of men competing who are very fast. The only downside for us now is that we both have sore throats/lots of coughing from breathing hard in the cold air. I was coughing so much I actually have given myself the hiccups. I also get sinus issues after this race every time I run in it. So, we are sniffing and coughing and planning a relaxing movie night! It's a small price to pay for all the benefits of doing this kind of exercise though. Off to the next race!