The week following the 4 mile run was a rough week for my joints. My hip was locked and constantly felt like it needed to be stretched, so I was stretching at the wierdest times... One of the tricks of my job is that I have to sit down on hard piano benches for hours at a time, and I think during this week, I started to feel just how detrimental it has been to my muscles. Everytime I would stand up, I would feel like I needed to push myself up, and then my hip would pop a little bit.
I hate that it sounds like I am always complaining about my pain and issues with running, but it has been a big part of it from the beginning. Like Alec said to me last night "that's just part of sports...you're always getting nicks and you just have to fight through them." I kind of like that it makes me a little more hardcore lol!
I emailed the trainer about my pain and she told me that the knee brace was an awful idea. Just like I said in the last blog, it is only intended for temporary wear and not for a long run. She also said that not only should I be icing the things that hurt after I run, but I should be icing them anytime that I can. Watching tv, etc... I figured out that icing them during my drives to work is just about the perfect amount of time. AND, the weather has been perfect enough that it stays a little cold until I get back in the car, so I can ice it again when I am done teaching! The third thing that she said that I found helpful was that I was overtraining during the week. Typically my schedule would look like this before I spoke with the trainer:
Mon- Warmup, Stretch, Run 5 or 6 miles, Ab strengthening, Armband resistance.
Tue- Yoga, Run 5k at fastest, Ab strengthening.
Wed- Warmup, Stretch, Run 6 easily, Ab strengthening, Row 2k
Thu- Day off of running with ab and arm workouts.
Fri- Warmup, stretch, do 4 miles of cross training, Ab strengthening, Armband resistance, Row 2k
Sat- Run with the group for Team Challenge.
Sun- OFF.
Now it is more like this:
Mon- Warmup, Stretch, Run 5k-10k at fastest, Ab strengthening, Armband resistance.
Tue- Yoga, Run EASY 5k.
Wed- Warmup, Stretch, Run 3-4 at fastest, Row 2k, Ab strengthening.
Thu- DAY OFF
Fri- Warmup, Stretch, Do 1-2 miles of cross training, Ab strengthening, Armband resistance.
Sat- Run with the group for Team Challenge.
Sun- OFF
I know it is only slightly different, but it has made a huge difference, because I can save more of my energy for the Saturday runs with the team. Also, I have been sick since February 16th when I first got a sinus infection and I realize now that I was pushing myself too hard with my work/wedding/singing/marathon schedule. I was getting too little sleep, and pushing myself too hard on my runs, and the result was awful. I literally am still getting over it, and after my 5 mile run on the 3rd week of training, I woke up with an ear infection.
Speaking of the 3rd run, it was beautiful!!!! I absolutely fell in love with running around Loch Raven in the morning. The run began with a nice meeting where we did our cheer and my aunt ended up winning the spirit award! She was very decked out in her orange and blue and looking full of spirit :) We began the run together and it was a little chilly, so it took a while for my muscles to warm up; I felt like I was really fighting with mother nature to get my blood going. The first mile seemed easy enough, and then it got interesting: we had only hills the entire rest of the run. The coaches informed us of the similarities between that course and the one that we will be running in Virginia, so I made sure to pay attention to my pacing. I ended up increasing my speed from my aunt around the middle of the first hill because I felt as if I was holding back. I cannot express enough how much I loved the feeling of running up and down hills. It is exhilarating! I ended up completing the 5 miles in about 1hr, which is pretty good for all of the hills. My normal time on the treadmill for a 5-6 mile run alternates between 5.0mph and 5.5mph. If I push myself beyond that, I run out of steam on the last mile and find myself sinking into my joints too much.
At the end of the 5 miles, we all stood around a talked about our run. It has been amazing meeting all of the people that are involved! I feel like everyone there is very laid back and there is no pressure to compete. Everyone just goes at their own pace, and if it something that they want to improve upon, all the more power to them. Really it is the ideal situation for me, because I am such a competitive person that I get sucked too far into the feeling of beating others and myself that I sometimes forget to enjoy myself. Story of my life really. A friend and I were just talking about this issue in my life and it has really started to make me look at everything that I do.
I'm starting to realize more and more that if you don't take the time to simply enjoy the situation that you are in (instead of dwelling on how you can be the best in that situation), you will miss out on a lot. I've been trying to concentrate on doing that for each one of my training runs, and so far, it has been 10x more enjoyable. And I even loved running to begin with...so now it is completely fabulous. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like their progress at the gym has been too slow. Run. Do ab workouts. Do yoga. Row. Swim. You will feel great, I promise! And, if you feel like you are too far gone, or are embarassed about the way you look, take baby steps. Take a walk once a day to begin, and then maybe try taking a long walk twice a week. Then move to a bike, or swimming. Add some weights and yoga in there. And THEN, when you feel like you've started to get your wind back, throw in a run. Take it slow to begin with, and then start doing intervals. Do 1 minute on-1 minute off. I promise you that you will be feeling great in no time. And really, is that what we all want? To feel good?
Next up...No 5k for Sara/Ear Infarction/Run 4/Comments about my looks/Ankle Spankle.'
XO
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