1 Mile - Whoop! January 15

I haven't posted since I went to the doctor. I loved my doctor. Dr. Medlock for anyone who needs an orthopedist. He was just great, and I loved his nurse, Travis. They were very supportive of me continuing to train which I love! He confirmed that it is my IT band, and I went to physical therapy once last week. My therapist is named Deirdre, and she is very knowledgable. She showed me how to stretch my IT band, and WHY it was so tight. She gave me several strengthening exercises to do, and she has a positive outlook on my training. She told me to run once to test it out, which is what I did today.

I went to the gym and went through my Omar stretches. Then I ran one mile on the treadmill. I could slightly feel my knee...it was a low pain, around a 1-2 on a 1-10 scale. Deirdre said I should be fine up to a 5. I just went a mile to make sure it didn't hurt when I stopped running and to see how it feels the rest of the day. After I ran, I did a chest and tri workout, abs, 20 minutes on the bike, stretching, and my strengthening exercises. I went home and iced my knee. Tomorrow I'm planning on running 3 miles, swimming on Wednesday, then 4-5 on Thursday, then around the lake (at least) on Saturday.

I feel really good about things. My long runs have come really easily to me, so the endurance is not what I'm worried about so much. I want to get in another 18 mile run and a 20-22 before the race, which I think I can do and be fine. I'm trying to really focus on my stretches, strengthening and cross training. It sounds silly, but this injury may have been good for me in the long run. I think the cross training and strength training I've been able to focus on will really help me.

Swimming Again - January 8th

I have a junior league meeting tonight so I woke up early and hit the gym. I did all of my stretches that Omar gave me and swam 750 meters. After my meeting I'm going to do abs and shoulders at home, and stretch again. Tomorrow is my doctors appointment. I really really hope he says I can run. I have been dying to run! I get jealous when I see other people out for a run. It's bad.

Training w/ Omar - January 4th

I love love love Omar! He is one of the managers at 24 hour. He met with me for about an hour last night and went over all of these great stretches and exercises that I can do. He was simply fabulous! I loved how he could tell me how building up one muscle and the tension placed on it would effect other areas of my body. It was very interesting!

Today was also the first day that I woke up and my knee didn't hurt at all to walk on. Yay! So tonight I'm going to swim and do all of my new exercises, plus a shoulder workout. I'm planning on walking around the lake tomorrow. I'm going to take Dodger since he never gets to go with me anymore. I really hope I will be better by Austin...but if I'm not, I'm thinking of running the St. Louis marathon in April. The weather should be perfect, and it would give me another two months to recover and prepare. For now I'm taking things a day at a time though.

Swimming! January 3rd

One of the best crosstraining exercises and things to do when you are injured is to swim. So just call me a fish...or a dolphin..or whatever. I did a back and bi workout and then hopped into the pool. Running 18 miles is way easier than swimming to me! I swam 550 meters on my first outing. I'm hoping to do 750 tonight.

One of the trainers at the gym is going to meet with me tonight and go over some exercises I can do to strengthen my knees and legs. He has trained marathon runners and triathletes so hopefully he can give me some good advice. We're treating this as an IT band injury until I get to the doctor, since that is what things seem to point to.

9 Miles - January 1st

Bad bad day. I hurt my right knee...I stopped to get a drink three miles in to my run, and as I was getting back on the trail and starting to run again, I had a sharp pain in my knee. I was able to run through it, and it wasn't horrible as I was running, but anytime I stopped for a drink and started again it would hurt really bad. I was supposed to run 14, but I just completed the loop around white rock and left. It hurt to walk on and is till tender.

I was pretty upset by it, but I have a doctor's appointment next week, and if he tells me I won't be able to run Austin, I'm going to pick a late March or April marathon that I can hopefully be healed by. Right now I'm focusing on getting better though.

5 miles - December 27th

I normally don't post about my weekly runs but I had a great run today. I probably had a lot of "stored energy" from Christmas.....that's what i like to call overeating. ;) I ran 5 miles on the treadmill and on the three middle miles I incorporated the incline to simulate the Austin hills. I need to do this a lot more often in the coming weeks. After my run I did a chest/tri workout and legs, then 15 minutes on the bike. I think the leg workouts and bike crosstraining are key to keeping my knees from acting up. It is so nice having this week off of work. I will be able to get in all of my workouts and not be pressed for time. Yay! And this weekend I only have to run 14 miles....double yay!

18.2 Miles - December 23rd

I was much better in preparing for this long run. I picked up pasta for dinner on friday night, got a good nights sleep, and was mentally ready for this run. I got to the lake at around 11:00. I definitely should have started earlier but I needed the sleep and I was a little dehydrated in the morning so I decided to do some things around the house while downing water. It was a beautiful day though, a little chilly, I wore three quarter length tights and I would have been fine in shorts, but I didn't get too hot. I ran around the lake clockwise like I always do for the first lap. I got back to teepee hill and got more Gu out of my car, then decided to run counter clockwise for my second lap. You would think you wouldn't see anything new just going the other direction but I actually found a water fountain that I didn't know was there on one stretch...which is nice to know! Overall it was a good run. I think I could have run another few more miles at the end, but I was happy to be done when I got back to my car. It was exciting for me to run the furthest I've ever run and then have Christmas coming up. :) Merry Christmas everyone!