Ghost of Injury Past

I knew when before I declared it that 100 miles in April was a lofty goal. I even admitted it was. And considering my mileage since the beginning of the year has been low, it was not only a lofty goal, but kind of stupid….at least according to my IT Band.



Sunday marked the one-third point of the month (and after my 9 miler, I would hit 30 miles thus far for the month, or 1/3,…right on target to hitting 100). I headed out Sunday morning around 7am for a 9 mile run. It was beautiful out. Sunny and perfectly clear, but not yet hot. Miles 1, 2, and 3 ticked by and I was holding a 9:30-11 min pace! 9:30??? Yep! Go me!! Anyways, after mile 3 my knee started to ache so I slowed down and incorporated some short walking breaks to alleviate the pressure on my knee. The pain subsided and I was feeling good again…until mile 6…


All of a sudden that dull achy pain turned into a sharp burning pain. The only other time I experienced this was when I pulled my IT Band last year. Well, there it was, the ghost of injury past coming back to haunt me. I should have known better than to increase my mileage as much as I did. And why oh why did I decide to run 100 miles this month?? Again…lofty/stupid.


The last three miles of my 9 miler consisted of me hobbling down the street back to my house. The ratio was reversed now…more walking…little running. I had a sports massage scheduled for that afternoon and I was so looking forward to having my IT Band worked on. There was no way I was going to be out of running like I was last year. That was miserable.


My sports massage was great. Man oh man was my IT Band tender! My hip flexors and adductors too! Yowers! Anyways, my masseuse worked on me and it hurt like hell but felt SO good afterwards!


Monday my IT Band was feeling good. No knee pain. Around the afternoon however, my knee started to hurt. By the time I walked down to my car I was limping and screeching in pain. I couldn’t walk one foot without a blinding pain shoot through my leg. I hobbled the 200 yards to my car stopping along the way to rest my knee, and once I was home I foam rolled then iced. I literally couldn’t walk or put pressure on my left knee. I remembered when I was in physical therapy for my ITB Syndrome last year, the day after was the worst…it would take about 24 hours for the deep massaging of the muscle fibers to set in and then the soreness would sink in. Ugh.


I took Monday and Tuesday off, and today my knee is feeling much better. I have an appointment with my trainer tonight, and I’ll make sure to take it easy. As for my “100 miles in April,” that obviously will not happen. I’m not going to risk injury. Instead I’m going to cut it in half and shoot for 50. Maybe 60 next month, 70 the following, and so on and so on? I’m not sure. But for now I’m going to aim for a few 2-3 milers during the week and a 4-5 miler on the weekend and hit 50 miles for the month. Ghost of ITB Syndrome past…it’s time for you to move on now!

What do you do to prevent or nurse injury?

Seal Beach 5K Recap

On Saturday April 2, I ran the Seal Beach 5K with two of my dearest friends.  Lisa and I ran the 10K last year and had a blast!

Seal Beach 10K, 2010

We signed up for the 5K this year, and Lisa's husband decided to run it too!  He and I have been friends since forever (I was the best man in their wedding!), so it was fun for us all to get out and run.  It was a perfect Saturday for running...cool and overcast.

Seal Beach 5K, 2011

We cruised down to Seal Beach, and walked over to our corral.  I had been texting with Kristy a few days before the race and we decided to meet up if we could.  As David, Lisa and I were walking over to our corral, I immediately spotted Kristy's bright orange jersey and LA Marathon visor!  She was running with her friend who was running her 1st 5K!

I went back over to our corral and the gun went off.  It was David's 1st 5K so we decided to keep a nice easy and steady pace.  David has also been fighting the flu that week and on race day had a 100 degree fever!  How he still ran, I don't know!  Rockstar.

We ran at about an 11-12 min/mile and talked the whole time about everything and anything.  The first mile was a little crowded but soon thinned out.  We hit mile 2 and I was feeling so great.  I asked David how he was holding up with his fever and if he wanted to walk and drink some water, and to my amazement he said he didn't need to stop because he was feeling very good!  At the water station we did grab a cup and slowed to a jog as we drank.  Like I said, this was David's first 5K and first organized race, and he was pumped when he crunched his water cup and threw it!  First water cup!  Wahoo!!

Around mile 2.5 David said he was starting to feel light headed...BUT with 0.6 miles left he didn't want to walk or even slow down.  We actually picked up the pace a bit to get to the finish sooner.  As we turned the corner and saw the finish, Lisa and I took off in a hard sprint to the finish!  After crossing the finish line, we turned around to see how David was doing and realized he already finished!  He too sprinted across the finish line.  Go David!!  First 5K complete!!!

We clocked our finish at 36:16 which we all were super happy with!  Congrats David on finishing (and kicking butt) on your first race, and with a 100 degree fever no less!!!

We grabbed water and some oranges, and took this gem:

The Seal Beach Run is such a fun run and I look forward to running it in the future!

xoxo

2011 Races

Happy Friday!
In recent posts I've written about focusing on 5Ks and maybe 10Ks this year, which is still my plan!  I've found some fun races, and there are definitely more I'd like to register for to hekp fill my year.  For now this is my 2011 race schedule:


Disneyland 1/2 Marathon -- January 8 (DONE!)
Seal Beach 5K -- April 2 (DONE!)
Saints on the Run 5K -- April 9
PCRF Cinco de Mayo 5K -- May 1
Palos Verdes 5K -- May 14
Billy Goat Hill Climb 1/2 Marathon -- June 18
City of Cypress 10K -- July 23
Disneyland 1/2 Marathon -- September 4 (I'll complete the Coast to Coast Challenge!)
Chapman 5K -- October 15
LB Turkey Trot 5K -- November 24


I threw in a couple 1/2 Mary's (Disneyworld I ran with my fiance!  It was his first and we had a blast!) but for the most part it's 5Ks.  It should be a fun running year :)


That's all for now!

Goal: 100 Miles in April!

My younger brother’s friend is a big fitness dude.  He majored in Kineseology and now works for a company training elite athletes as well as amateurs and youths.  His goal for March is what inspired my goal for April, which is to run 100 miles.  I realize this is a very LOFTY goal for me, but I am conviced I can do it...or at least get pretty darn close!

I will tick each mile off as I go.  Thus far I have 10 miles on the books :)
So I actually drafted this post yesterday morning to post today, and last night my friend Kristy told me about something going on with Dailymile.com this month...they announced a challenge called "100 Miles in April"  How coincidental is that?!  I'm taking this as the universe telling me to get on board with this challenge and DO IT!  So let's do it!

Cheers to 100 miles in April!!!