Posts Tagged ‘knee injury’
Distance: 21.74k
Time: 2:37:38
I was hoping to do over 22k today, but it didn’t quite work out that way. For those that live in Victoria, I ran from my house to the Johnson Street Bridge, along Wharf Street to Government and along the waterfront through James Bay, along the breakwater, and then along Dallas Road to the Ross Bay Cemetery and back home. The weather wasn’t the best, but I know that I won’t get to pick the weather for the marathon, so I need to run whatever it looks like outside. It wasn’t too cool, and it only drizzled for part of the run, so it wasn’t too bad. A little sunshine would have been nice, though.
The good news for this run is that I finished the 20k a bit faster than when I ran around Elk Lake, probably because Elk Lake is more uneven. The less good news is that I was way more sore, probably because concrete is much less forgiving than the trail. My knees didn’t hurt at all (at least not until after the run and ice bath), but my hips and butt started to get sore at the 10k mark. I kept up my strategy of stopping every 5k to have a drink and having a Gu at the 10k mark, and it seems to still work well for me. I tried the Chocolate Gu this time and found it much easier to take. Maybe it’s because the texture reminds me of caramel when it has that kind of flavour to it. Whatever it was, I am definitely going to take a couple of the chocolate ones with me on the marathon.
Speaking of races, the Times Colonist 10k is this Sunday! I’m starting to get excited, although thankfully I’m not really that nervous. The advantage of these long runs is that I’m “only” running 10k for this race. I am still hoping to finish around the one hour mark, but I won’t be too upset if I don’t make it. I just think it’ll be so fun and inspiring to run with about 14,000 other people. This will probably be the largest race I do this year, so I can’t wait to be part of something so huge.
I’m hoping to get in one more short, “easy” run before the TC 10k, and I’ll definitely post a race report if I don’t post earlier. If you’re reading this and you’re running in the race, let me know, and if you have a blog, I’ll link to it from this site. Good luck to the runners!
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Posted in Running Marathon | 
Tags: ice bath, knee injury, long run, racing, rain, runners, Running, Times Colonist 10k | 
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Distance: 4.76k
Time: 35:32
This was a strange run. I went out with the intention of doing a minimum of 10k, and possibly even 15k to get my long run in for the week. It was one of those days when I just had the itch to run as long as I could. I psyched myself up to go for a longer run and was looking forward to it. When I headed out, I felt good about the distance.
Instead, I ended up only doing 5, for several reasons, only one of which was run-related. Firstly, I got called to switch my day shift at work tomorrow for a night shift tonight, so I thought doing a long run just before a night shift was unwise, especially since I needed to try to fit in a nap before work. In fact, I got the call to switch my shift while I was running, which totally messed up my RunKeeper, since the program paused when I took the phone call, and then wouldn’t start up my music when I resumed the tracking. I ended up having to pause it a couple more times to get my music going again. Then, the weather started to change from sunny and warm-ish to cooler and threatening rain, with a pretty strong wind. I was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt and crops, so I was not dressed for colder weather or rain. Finally, my knee was hurting. Again. All of this just took the wind out of my sails, and after 5k, I was done. It was a bit discouraging, but I was more disappointed with my time. Why so slow again?
And, this whole knee pain is really bumming me out. Sometimes, it is sore for the rest of the day after a run, and even into the next day. Other days, it stops hurting once I stop running. Now that I’m working three night shifts in a row, I decided to use that time to take a mini-break from running. I know I won’t run between nights, because I need to sleep. I’m not sure if I will be able to fit in a run on Saturday, because my husband made plans that afternoon, and I’ll be asleep all morning. So the next day I know I’ll get in a run is Sunday, which means I won’t run for 4 days. That is a long time for me now; I usually get antsy after 2 days of not running. But I’m hoping that taking the time will give my knee a chance to heal, and maybe I’ll get in a pain-free run. The real dilemma I have is whether to take it easy for this run, or to take advantage of having a good rest and try to do a long run. I’m leaning towards doing a shorter run, because I also work Sunday night, but then I probably won’t be able to do my long run until next Tuesday. That seems like a long time, and I’m still behind my training schedule.
I’ve actually considered trying to switch from the marathon to the half instead in June, but when I really think about it, I know I can do it. I mean, I should be able to run the distance of a half in about a month, or even less. I’m just a bit worried because I’m still behind on my long run distances with my training plan, and my knee pain may put me even further behind. Also, my sister had pretty major surgery a couple of weeks ago, and I’m worried about when she will feel up for running again, that she will need time to get back to where she was before the surgery. Maybe I just worry too much.
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Distance: 5.16k
Time: 35:52
This was the slowest time for a run I’ve had in a long time. There are many things I could potentially blame, such as the cold, windy weather, or my (still) sore knee, or my still having a bit of a cold. But all those things were there on Sunday, and I got my best time. So, I’ll just have to blame it on running slowly. In spite of the time, this was one of the best runs I’ve had for several days. There’s no single reason why, but I felt better after this run than I have in a while. My knee was sore, but it actually got better the longer I ran. My foot pain from Sunday night vanished, despite wearing my old runners, and my toe pain on my left foot (which I haven’t really talked about) was gone, too. I think most of that pain was due to pulling the laces on my shoes too tightly. I loosened the laces for today’s run, and my feet feel much better. I had actually thought it was due to the shoes being too narrow, so my new shoes are wider, but I think I can tighten them up a bit, once I start wearing them.
I think part of why this run felt so good was because of where I was mentally. I’ve had a lot of stress the past few days, worrying about getting this job, and about getting enough hours at work. Although I was hoping to be working today, I decided to let it go and just enjoy the day off. I also wanted to really enjoy knowing I have this job, because even though I’ve known about it for a week, it didn’t feel real until I found out my schedule yesterday. I kept worrying that something would happen and I wouldn’t get it. Now that I have a schedule, it finally feels real to me, and I’m letting myself be happy. Also, I had to leave a lot of stuff up in the air pending this job, because I didn’t know if my schedule would change, like the Times-Colonist 10k in April. So, I got to go on my run without the burden of all this stress weighing me down.
Oddly, I’m not worried about the Edge to Edge Marathon in June, although I probably ought to be. I’ve already booked it, and I don’t know yet if I’m supposed to be working. I just have a feeling that it’ll work itself out. I think I’m less concerned because it’s still 3 months away, so I have time to figure something out.
Again, I’m hoping to be called in to work tomorrow. But if I don’t, I’ll probably go for another run. Maybe this time I can go a bit faster!
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Posted in Running Marathon |
Tags: Edge to Edge Marathon, knee injury, marathon, New Balance, runners, Running, windy |
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Distance: 5.08k Wednesday, 12.68k Friday, 5.0k on Sunday
Time: 34:32 Wednesday, 1:29:57 on Friday, 31:59 on Sunday
I have gotten so far behind on my posts that I have had a hard time getting motivated to write, because I keep thinking it will take so long. This is why I hate procrastinating, and really don’t do it very much. I much prefer to do things at once as they come, because it seems to take less time. So, I promise to post more often, so that I don’t have to catch up. This last week has been pretty full, with a job change in the works, my longest run ever, and my new 5K PR, but I’ll start at the beginning as much as I can.
First, last Wednesday’s run. It was so much better than the one on Tuesday. It was warm and sunny, and a pleasure to be outside, although I tried a different run tracking program this time, iMapMyRun. In summary, I hated it. On the plus side, it seemed more accurate than RunKeeper, although I had to turn its own lock function on instead of just sleeping my iPhone for this accuracy. And this is where the program annoyed me to no end. I received a text message while running, which I had to shut off to keep the program running (not its fault; Apple won’t let third-party applications run in the background during a phone call, or when a text message is received until it is turned off). The program’s internal button lock feature was so good, I couldn’t unlock the damn thing and must have spent about 30 seconds pushing random buttons on my iPhone until the program screen came back on. Then, the program was still running anyway! At the end of my run, I had to spend another few seconds randomly pushing buttons to unlock the program to stop it. FYI, RunKeeper doesn’t have its own lock feature, and you just sleep the iPhone the normal way. Way easier to use, even if the accuracy is a bit off. It’s worth my sanity.
Another cool thing about Wednesday’s run was that it was the first time in over a month that my knee didn’t hurt. I read an article from Runner’s World about injury prevention, and one of the tips was to shorten your stride. I tried it and it actually worked! I also found out on Wednesday that I got a job I applied for in late February, on the postpartum ward, which is where I’ve wanted to work for years. Now I just had to wait for my bosses to give me a (hopefully) good recommendation, and find out my start date.
Then we come to Friday’s run, the longest run I’ve done yet. And it felt long. My knee started to hurt again, even though I tried to keep my stride shorter. I really wanted to get in the distance, so I told myself that it didn’t matter how long it took. That took some of the pressure off, and helped keep me motivated to finish the distance. I knew that I could walk part of it if I needed to. I just kept saying to myself, okay, let’s do this much and then I can stop and walk if I have to. Then, when I got there, I did it again. I ended up doing just over 12.5K and I only walked up one of the hills, which I’d already run up twice before. My right knee was screaming at the end of that run, although I was surprised I did it so quickly. It reminded me again that at least part of the challenge of this distance running is mental. I need to remind myself that getting the distance done is important, not speed. I can walk if I need to, and I can stop to rest if I need to (and I did take a minute to drink some Gatorade after about 7k, before finishing the rest). I just need to get the distance in. That being said, this run felt longer and more difficult than any previous run, and I’m due to go even further next week!
Finally, we get to yesterday’s run, a 5k fun run. I started getting a sore throat on Friday night, and by Saturday, I had a sore throat and stuffy nose. But, I decided to try the run anyway, since I remember reading somewhere that it’s okay to run with a cold as long as all the symptoms are from the neck up, which they were. Also, I paid $13 to run, and it seemed a shame to waste the money. Well, all of last week had been warm and sunny, but yesterday was cloudy and cool. I wore crops, but I probably should’ve worn pants. I also wore my rain jacket that’s normally too hot, but wasn’t this time! Because the start was so close to my house, I decided to run there. My knee started to hurt almost immediately, and I got tired really quickly. Not the best confidence boosters! I decided to just get the run done, and not to worry about time, given the double strikes against me of sore knee and sickness.
My first set of running “swag”:
This is where the run was located:
Me, in all my pre-running sickness:
Getting ready for the run:
I took this picture, and it’s hard to see, because the woman in the wheelchair is smoking a cigarette, and you could smell it from a mile away:
This was probably the biggest run I’ve done yet, in terms of the number of fellow runners. It was a total jam at the start, and I spent a lot of time trying to get past the power walkers and slow runners. The course itself was fun, going through a couple of local parks, so I ran on wood chips for a bit, which were nicer on my knees than pavement. And I totally surprised myself by finishing just under 32 minutes, which was a personal best for me! I thought my time was 31:54, but the official time was 31:59, two whole seconds faster than my last 5k time of 32:01. I even won a water bottle and five free passes to the local recreation center!
And now we come to today, and I think I’m all caught up. I had to buy new running shoes today because I woke up last night with the worst foot pain on my right foot I’ve ever had, and I wonder if my shoes were to blame. It was almost like a foot cramp, but standing on it made it worse, and I couldn’t bear any weight on that foot without pain that made me want to cry out. It was a bit better this morning, and actually walking around downtown today made it almost go away. I don’t know if my shoes are just getting old and less supportive (they have about 400k on them) but just in case, I got new ones. If I don’t work tomorrow, I’ll take them for a test run, and see how they do.
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Posted in Running Marathon |
Tags: Crowded, knee injury, long run, racing, rain, RunKeeper, runners, Running |
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Distance: 4.82k Saturday, 4.96k today
Time: 34:52 Saturday, 34:23 today
You know those perfect runs, the ones where the weather is just right, and you feel like you could go forever? Today was not one of those runs. Today was one of those just-get-it-over-with runs, where I felt grumpy heading out and didn’t feel any better coming back. I know that part of it was that I had a bad day at work yesterday, and I just didn’t have the normal attitude I have when I run. Normally, I’m glad to get out of the house and push myself a bit, although my last two times have been a bit slow. I’m also usually feel much better after my run, but not today.
The weather went from cloudy to sunny with rain, and then a headwind picked up just before the last bit of my run. I know this didn’t help me feel any better, especially since my right knee also started to hurt near the end of the run. Again, it stopped hurting after my run, so I’m just waiting for it to go away (I hope).
On the good side, I got my new headphones yesterday, and they work well. They stay put in my ears, and sound good. I’m trying to figure out a place to put them so the cat won’t get at them, but also so that I won’t forget to bring them. Any suggestions?
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Posted in Running Marathon |
Tags: earphones, grumpy, knee injury, rain, Running, windy |
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