Back in the Saddle Again

November has been a rough month of false starts and hopes and skinned knees. The last time I ran at the beginning of the month, I fell and banged up my knees pretty good. And my injury never got better until I rested it. But today seems to be a new turning point for me in my running. I ended up having to take off two weeks to heal this injury while cross training. I still wasn't sure that I was OK at the beginning of this week and thought I may need more time but it looks like I'll be fine.

I did two 3 mile runs earlier in the week and topped it off with a 4 mile "long" run today. This is what Hal Higdon's 1st week of the novice half marathon plan required. I'm starting over so as not to injure myself again and get a good base going . I wanted to use the Run Less, Run Faster plan but it requires that you are all ready running 15 miles/wk. I also don't think I'm in a position to push too hard with the speed work it requires at this time.

This injury has been very frustrating and has opened my eyes. I really didn't think I would ever get injured. With the exception of a past back strain from doing yoga, I've been able to abuse/overuse my body and do pretty much whatever I wanted until now. I really hated not having the luxury of doing whatever type of exercise I pleased on any given day. It has made me deeply appreciate the gift of a healthy body. I plan to be much more kind to it from here on out!

Steady Improvement

It's been about a week since my last post and things are looking up. I'm really trying to be careful about training and not overdoing it. I really put my legs through a lot the past four days:

Sun- I cycled to my destination and ran 3 miles

Mon- Did a killer leg workout of bb squats, db walking lunges, ball curls, and single leg squats. Lunges always make me super sore.

Tues- Killer spinning class. There were times I felt like I might have to stop!

Weds- Warmed up with the elliptical and then ran 4 miles. My longest run in a month! Also had a great pace at for me at 9:41. I plan to stay at 4 miles for a week or two. I'd love to do the 100th Cincy Thanksgiving Day Run 10k. But we'll see. It always seems like I need a few more weeks to get ready than what I have.

I had to take a break today. My hamstrings are so sore (especially just above the knee behind the leg which has been bothering me) and I had plans to run tomorrow. Now I'm thinking of opting for some upper body weight training instead and do the run on Saturday. I was a little worried about my soreness last night and this morning. I've iced a lot! I have found bags of frozen corn to be miraculous for this purpose. I feel much better tonight. If I wake up feeling perfect, I'll run. But if not, I'll wait and take another day for recovery. Not sure if I'm needing so much recovery time due to injury, running less over the last month because of injury, or just need more time to heal due to age. Maybe it's all the above! lol

Well, all I can do is keep on keepin' on! Hopefully I'll be able to work through this. Just have to take my time with it. "Slow and steady wins the race" Right?