Lamb or Lion? March running...

[Susan Otcenas]

No. In fact, my coach wasn't even there.

She's a big fan off Hadd & right now all my training is HR based. The idea will be to see how these amount of work I can do at each HR will change over the course of the season.

[Crankin]

On to week 3 of the C25K plan.
This week it's 5 minutes warm up, then 2 sets of 90 sec run/90 sec walk, 3 min. run/3 minute walk, 5 minute cool down
We parked our car in Concord center and ran around the neighborhoods and shops, which was fun. Ran by the LBS, the train, several restaurants, and a playground.
Knowing that going from 90 seconds of running to 3 minutes would be hard for me, I decided not to go all out on the running intervals. My splits were around 9:30 for the 90 second runs and 10:15/10:30 for the 2 3 minute runs. I had to work to regulate my breathing on the second 3 minute run.
I have to run again tomorrow, as I had a rest day on Saturday. I think I will get up early and drive to flat ground again, so I can get a more realistic experience, without the huge climbs in my neighborhood. My end goal is to be able to finish a 5K with any sub 10:00 mile time I can get, even if it is 9:59.
Then I had half of a nice veggie burrito for lunch and bought 2 pairs of shoes for 50% off at Footstock. I guess it ended up being an expensive run.

[7rider]

So, so distressed.

Thought I was doing things right.
Easy pace training.
Not too many miles added each week.
Gait analysis to work on form.
Chi Running to teach some tips.
I guess I'm not implementing all that I've learned as well as I should??

Last week, I did an 8.5 mile training run. My right knee (ITB) started talking at the end of it. Spent a fair bit of time the past week with ice, ibuprofen, and aspircreme, and self massage. I knew it was still tender.

Today, I did the "Piece of Cake 10k" with my running club (it's their birthday, hence the cake theme). Cardiovascularly, I felt great. Didn't push the pace, felt I had a comfortable rhythm and stride going. I stayed right in the middle of the road, to avoid any issues with the crown and uneven striding. But about 3.4 miles into it, my knee started bothering me again. By mile 4.5 it was majorly hurting. By mile 5.5, it was walk/jog/DG-just get me to the finish line! So so distressed.

I have a 5k scheduled for Friday, and my big 10-mile run is next Sunday. I'm completely off doing ANYthing this week. Friday is questionable. I'm going to call my chiro for some PT this week.

Drat. Drat. Drat. Drat. Drat.....

[emily_in_nc]

Yikes, 7, so sorry to hear this! I rode a century with ITB pain back in 2004, and that ended up NOT being a good idea at all. Even though it was a flat century, I had to see a sports doc and PT and couldn't ride for a long time after that. Hope you didn't do more damage by continuing to run. I know it's hard to DNF, but when you're in that kind of pain, there's no dishonor in it. Hope you'll heal up soon, but you may have to seriously curtail your running for awhile.

No running for me next week as we're off on a little trip tomorrow morning through Friday. I'm glad, as I've had a slightly twingy knee the past couple runs and think it's best to give it a rest, though we will be walking, hiking, and possibly rent mountain bikes one day if any of them fit me (hoping to find a 24"-wheeled kids one if the adult ones are all too large!)

[OakLeaf]

Oh bummer 7. Hope you heal up quick.

The one thing I didn't see on your list was hip exercises? I know Chi Running holds that that's all unnecessary, but my inexpert opinion is that most people are going be able to get healthier quicker by targeting muscle imbalances directly.

Touch wood, I don't know much about ITB issues, but I know with my Achilles, doing my PT exercises brings pretty quick relief. I'm not sure why - maybe just activating the muscles properly in a structured exercise helps bring muscle memory to use them right when I run? maybe it helps bring everything into alignment so it heals while I rest? I don't know, I just know that it does.

Hang in there, and as Emily said, no shame in DNF/DNS if you're injured. I've read that elite athletes are the most likely to DNF, and it makes perfect sense - it takes discipline to take the long view. Take good care.

Me, I woke up just sore all over, partly residuals from my fall the other day, partly I don't know why, but knowing I had to run long today. I just took it really easy and got my 21.5 done, not too slow of a pace but definitely none too fast. One highlight was seeing the skydivers and aerobatics team at the nearby air show. We'd been to the show yesterday and saw them up close - I was lucky to get an unobstructed view from probably 10 miles away. Another highlight - helping a turtle cross the road. It hissed at me and didn't act particularly grateful, but I'm sure it's happier than it would've been if a truck had squashed it.

My neck feels a whole lot better after the chiropractor on Friday. She said there was a lot of swelling - the adjustment helped right away but it still felt awfully stiff - it was popping some for the first few miles this morning and then it started to feel normal, finally. I'll probably still keep my appointment tomorrow, just in case.

[7rider]

Thanks.

Oh, I finished. Sort of a mix of walk/trot/shuffle. I think i was 22/25 in my AG! The run was all contained within a park and I dont think the cars I saw moving were volunteers patrolling the course. They might have been, but I figured the only way to get back was via my 2 feet.

Oak, one thing my gait analysis focused on a lot was hip work and muscle imbalances. I did lots of hip work particularly as I had initially a pretty noticeable hip drop on my right side. I guess I'd been slacking off, not doing them regularly enough for the volume of running I'm now doing? Active warmups and stretching (even on my rest days) had become pretty routine for me, tho, before and after working out.

I feel like I've been betrayed.

Oak - I hope YOU get better soon. Too many injuries and aches and pains around here!

[Crankin]

Feel better, 7.
I had another bad morning, mostly my own fault. I set my Garmin and drove to flat ground to run. All I had to do was press start for my C25k week 3 run. Except something looked funky on the screen, it was dark, and I didn't have my reading glasses. I reset the thing to start over and off I went. The warm up was over, started the first interval and noticed it was 1:00, not 1:30.
Long story short, I had somehow punched in some random interval program, so I ended up doing 5-6 run walks of one minute. Times were ok, around 10:30 for the runs, except one.
Now in addition to being deaf, I am also blind.