So, on to other things.
On Mother's Day, Phillip and I went to his mother's house in Austin. I was still recovering (slightly) from the Boston Marathon, but there was a 5k that his little (9-year-old) sister wanted us to run with her. We knew she wouldn't be able to run the entire thing, so we weren't really concerned about a time.
We arrived in Austin on Friday, ran the 5k Saturday morning, and then made our way out to to a trail near his mom's house for some real running. The race was at 8:00 that morning and the sky was overcast, so by the time we made it to the trail it was just after 10:00 and it was already nearing 90 degrees. And HUMID.
Anyway, I ran 8 miles that day, and it was all I could do to get back in the car. Despite running the 8 at my normal pace, I was worn out from the heat (I don't know how people run in Austin, blech).
Needless to say, the next day (Sunday) I opted for the World Tennis Center that is mere blocks from my mother-in-law's house. Awesome. It was nice to run in air-conditioning--I ran another 8.
Here's the kicker, and I do mean kicker. We got ready to leave the next morning (Monday), and as I was approaching the railing to go downstairs, I stubbed my left pinky toe. Arrggghhh. It felt like I had broken it. Seriously. It turned black almost immediately, and the next few days the bruise seeped down into my foot. Ha! I wasn't about to let that keep me from running, however. The next day (Tuesday) at work I taped my pinky toe to the next toe and decided that would do it. It hurt for a little while, but wasn't really that bad. I thought it would be a simple little thing.
So let me see--the day after that (Wednesday) may have been the greatest mistake i've made so far this year. I ran at work over lunch, my typical 8 miles. When I got home that night Phillip decided he wanted to try running a tempo at my pace, and he wanted me to pace him. Okay, no big deal. It would be a mere 5 miles. That went fine.
Well, it did until we got back to the house and realized that his dad and stepmom had locked the door, and we didn't have a key. You see, we started running from their house, as there is a lake only a mile away. The lake itself is 3 miles around, so it's pretty easy to get 5 miles in if you want to make it a scenic run. Occasionally, we would do just that. Phillip knocked on the neighbors' door to see if they might have a spare key. Nope. He asked to use their phone to call his dad. His dad and stepmom were actually at the same lake taking a walk, only they had driven over.
Great, so on top of the 13 miles I had already run for the day, I went ahead and ran 2 miles more, FAST, over to the lake and back to get the key. I think I ran something like a 6:46 average pace for the 2 miles. It was something ridiculous like that, way too fast for having been back from Boston for only 2 weeks. Again, may or may not have been my stupidest mistake thus far in 2008.
The next day (Thursday) I ran a normal 8 miles at lunch, and the day after (Friday) I took the day off. I was pretty sore from DOMS. Then something happened. Saturday, as I was running my normal 8 miles, I noticed a twinge in my left knee. My first thought was that I had been overcompensating in other parts of my leg and foot for my stupid toe. I may or may not have been right, but I kept running. Sunday I ran again, and the same thing happened. Soooooooo I didn't run the next day, Monday. I decided to let it rest and try it again on Tuesday.
Tuesday, May 19th, ran outside with Phillip, to change it up. It didn't hurt at all. Only got 2 miles in after work, but I also did the arc trainer at lunch that day. Little did I know how much that arc trainer would become my friend...
However, Wednesday, May 20th, I tried running at lunch again. 8 miles, pain after 5 miles. Thursday, May 22nd, 8 miles and still the same pain after 5 miles. Friday, no run, only the elliptical machine for an hour after work.
Phillip and I moved into a new apartment Memorial Day weekend, May 24th through May 26th. I took those days completely off. Thought it would help my knee and do it wonders with three freaking days off! Yeah. Right.
Tuesday, May 27th, ran 2 miles and it was back. The pain was intense. So I did the elliptical for an hour. Well, I thought to myself, I was crosstraining for so long and I stopped. Maybe this will get me back into the swing of doing it again. HA! Little did I know...
Wednesday, May 28th, I took the day off from activities, and Thursday I flew to Amarillo to help my dad move to Midland. That's an entirely different topic. His brother offered him a job working as a partner in his company in Midland, and my dad accepted. After 25 years of being at Coors!!! I couldn't believe it, but it was a great change for him. He needed it after my mom passing away. He needed something positive to take him away from a job that he didn't really like, but spent way too much time doing simply because he didn't want to go home to an empty house. I think he's doing well now. He's happy in Midland, working with my uncle, travelling all the time, having plenty of free time, and I think he's getting ready to build a house there. I hope he's enjoying life despite the huge void that is there for all of us. :(
Anyway, when I flew to Amarillo I worked late into the night (11:00 pm) on Thursday helping my dad, and didn't get to run...not that I needed to or wanted to. I had severe knee pain. Friday I decided to test it out. Ran my 8 miles, sure, but it was painful again after the 5th mile. Saturday I had a noon flight back to Omaha, and when I arrived, Phillip and I went on a 9 mile bike ride. Not much, but at least it was something. Knee still hurt.
Sunday I decided to try running again. This was June 1st. I decided if I was to run that day and the pain was still there, the next day I would make an appointment with a Physical Therapist and figure out if the diagnosis was, in fact, ITBS, which is what I suspected. I ran 8 miles that Sunday, and called the PT the next morning.
Haha, even though the pain was there, I still ran 8 miles that day.
The PT said she could see me that evening, so I went by and found out the inevitable: it was ITBS. She gave me the typical strengthening exercises and basically said I could do anything at all, so long as it didn't hurt. Once the activity started to hurt, I was to stop doing it and try something else. Okay, that's fine. I would have no problem with that.
We have those machines I was talking about, the Cybex Arc Trainers, at my office. I normally use only the treadmill, balking at the people who use those Trainers. Um, yeah, not anymore. I have consistently used that Arc Trainer for weeks now, 7 weeks, to be exact, and I have never felt stronger. I have seen my hips and thighs go from being puny little runner's legs (which is GREAT, don't get me wrong--I don't mind what I had before) to these things of steel. I can't believe how strong my lower body is now. I will not say I have never been this way, as I did the elliptical machine for an hour every day for 3 years before I would run for an hour. I guess I just forgot.
I'll give you an example of how my legs have strengthened. The first week of June I did only the Arc Trainer every day, both at lunch for an hour and after work for an hour. I did that the next week, as well. The week after that, after Father's Day, I tried running. I ran Monday, June 16th, to see how my leg would feel. I ran 5.5 miles with minimal pain. I tried running Thursday, May 19th, only 5 miles. Still a little pain. Not gone, so not normal. Keep going with the crosstraining. Only a couple of runs and the pain is still there.
The next week, still doing 2 hours of crosstraining per day, I decided to try running again Thursday, June 26th. Just 5.75 miles, but nearly no pain. Decided to try again the next day, Friday, June 27th. A little pain. Not ready yet. Back to crosstraining.
More running, 5.5 miles, on July 3rd. I don't know why I thought that anything would change just because it was a holiday, haha. Still some pain there. More crosstraining. Tried running again Monday, June 7th. Same, but was able to run more miles without pain. Ran 6 miles that day. Two days later I ran 6 miles again, and two days after that 6 miles again. Two days after that was really cool--I ran 9.5 miles.
Monday, the day after the 9.5 miler, I decided I would try to see an ART therapist. ART therapy is something I have heard a lot about, but was squeemish about trying. Now I know why. I tried it two different days, a Monday and a Wednesday, and the guy wanted me to come back for two more days. It didn't really help, and I don't want someone artificially popping my back. No thanks.
The ART therapist told me to try running that first day he saw me. I ran 8 miles, but they felt as they had been for a while--probably about 90%. I ran on Thursday as well, and I ran 8 miles that day. Then Saturday I ran freaking 11.5 miles. I couldn't believe it. I just whipped it right out. That's the furthest I have run in 2 months.
That was last week. I ran 8 miles on Monday, and today I plan to run another here in a few minutes. Keep in mind that every day, whether I am running or not, I have been doing the Arc Trainer. If I run, I do an hour of running and an hour of the Arc Trainer. If I don't run I do 2 hours of the Arc Trainer. I am still the same weight as I always have been, and I feel like I'm still in the same shape. I have been running all my mileage at or just below (or just above!!) my normal pace.
Hopefully this means I'm coming back from this. Hopefully. I have a life and career changing event coming up in the next month, but I'm going to save that for another blog entry.
Thanks for reading. :)
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