Maria Week 27 - Recovery

Big week for me! WOW! As you can see from my previous three posts things have been a bit crazy.

So Saturday was the BIG day. And as you can see from my post about the half-marathon I was really hurting by the end of that race. I was in a lot of pain on Saturday, soreness and stiffness of my knees set in pretty quickly. My hip hurt, but not like my knees. The sciatica issue is easily remedied. Stop moving. As I mentioned - it hurts worse to walk than to run, but if I stop moving COMPLETELY, then the majority of the pain goes away. I thought, like following my 10 mile run, I'd need a day to recover. My hip would feel better in only a few hours really. What I was not expecting was the intense pain in my knees....WOW! I truly underestimated the damage they had suffered.

Woke up Sunday morning at about 4 AM - very uncomfortable in my current position, but to try and move - unbearably painful! It was all I could do not to cry or scream whenever I tried to move I was in so much pain. (It's hard for me not to cry now just thinking about how painful it was.) You just have no idea how much you use them (even when you don't think you're using them) until every tiny movement is excruciating.
The rest of Sunday was pretty bad, but I loosened up a bit by Sunday evening - to the point that I could walk by myself and could actually sit in a chair and then stand back up by myself.

Sunday night/Monday morning I set my alarm for every few hours to wake up in the middle of the night and take meds as needed for the pain. I think that helped a lot. Was pretty stiff again by the morning, but after a few hours I loosened up again to the point that I could do many things by myself - including move my foot from the brake to the gas without too much pain so I could drive to work.

By Monday night I was feeling pretty good. As my knees loosened up I started to feel how sore my muscles really were. My left knee didn't really hurt at all anymore and my right was feeling much better. Went to bed Monday night feeling pretty good again.
Woke up Tuesday morning a bit stiff and sore again. But loosened up pretty quickly.

So my recovery has not been as quick as I had originally expected, but quicker than I estimated based on how terrible I felt on Sunday morning. I am just about going crazy actually taking time off from working out.

Now ... here's what I've learned from all of this ....
Huge way to relieve or prevent sciatica - stretching.
The problem with my knees, based on some internet research (not a doctor's diagnosis) - IT Band Friction Syndrome. Very common in runners. One of the easiest ways to prevent it - stretching.

Moral of this story - STRETCHING IS IMPORTANT! Take a leaf out of Mj's book - stretch.

It's going to be a new goal for me. I am going to stretch every night for 15 minutes. And for every week that I do that - a milestone.

Depositing - $8. $6 for working out and $2 for the half marathon milestone.

Maria Week 26 - Can I sympathize with Mj?

I'm in the final home stretch of my training....for THIS half marathon anyway. I hope that there will be many more to come and if all goes well, perhaps even a full marathon someday. I don't want to make a habit of running full marathons, but one or two might be nice. IF I can stand to continue running.

I want to thank Brady for his words of encouragement regarding my running issue. You have given me hope. I am determined to become a runner. That was a very daunting thought in the beginning, but now I believe that I can learn to love it. Thank you for that.

On Saturday I ran 10 miles - my longest distance yet (and a milestone). I started off the run with some minor pain in my hip and knees. Knee pain and often shin splints at the beginning of a run are very typical with me and if I can tough it out for about 30 - 45 minutes the pain usually goes away. Saturday, the pain in my hip slowly increased. By mile 7 it was approaching unbearable. By mile 8 I was choking back the tears. By mile 9 I considered, for the first time, walking - at least for a short distance. And it occurred to me - I've been in this same stride for so long that I'm not really sure how to walk at this point. But after a few minutes of serious thought I figured out how to walk again. The pain was unbearable! I probably only managed to walk about 15 feet when I had to start running again. It was much more painful to walk than to run. (Go figure!) So I kicked it back into gear. I cried the last mile. And by the time I finished I was in so much pain I wanted to collapse and just sob. (I nearly did). I don't know what it's like to live with that pain everyday, but Mj, for one day, maybe I could sympathize just a little. You are a real trooper.

I do at least one hour of cardio everyday but one. And on one day I did nearly 2.5 hours (Saturday). I am also pretty good about eating fruits (although not so good with the veggies). So I'll be depositing $12. My max amount plus one milestone.

Maria Week 24 - To be or not to be....That is the question

What does it take to be a "runner"? Do I qualify. I run 3-4 days a week. And I have now run as far as 8 miles in one run. I am signed up for and training for a half marathon. But does that make me a runner? I sure don't feel like a runner. And while I plan (at this time) to continue to participate in races and half-marathons; I plan to continue to run 3-4 times a week; I gotta be honest with you all ..... I don't think I enjoy running. And that sort of bums me out. Because I want to like it. Hopefully my problem is that my running at this time is primarily on a treadmill. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that THAT is my real issue here; that once I get outside with the sunshine on my face and shoulders and a breeze in my hair - I'll catch the running bug and be addicted!

Ran 8 miles last Saturday - new milestone!

I want to take just a minute to revisit a monster from my past. By the time I had graduated high school I had never successfully run more than about a mile and a half without stopping to walk a while. By the time I was 31 I had never run more than about 2 miles without stopping to rest or to walk a while. I have now run 7 miles without stopping at all. (I took a much needed potty break with my recent 8 mile run - hehe). I think I'll pat myself on the back today. And when I finish that half marathon in a little over 2 weeks - I think I might reward myself. Not sure what my reward will be yet. But I believe I will have earned SOMETHING!

Depositing $12. Max $10 for workouts and fruits and veggies and $2 for the 8 mile milestone.

Maria Week 23 - Totally Bummed!

So the totally cute guy checking me out at the gym is totally not checking me out afterall. I am so bummed!

That's twice now I've been disappointed at the gym. The first time was when some guys started whistling at me and I turned around to discover they are my brother-in-laws buddies. Not that THAT alone makes it disappointing - but clearly they weren't whistling at me cuz they think I'm hot.

Oh, well.....I still have Kyle Whittingham.

Anyway .... depositing max $10 for workouts and fruits and veggies.
Narrowly missed a milestone as I mentioned in my Jordan River Parkway post. Bummed about that too. Darn it!

Jordan River Parkway

Nearly a year ago - I took a walk along the Jordan River Parkway. I started at 12300 South and walked as far as I could stand. I felt like I had walked forever and there was no end to the Parkway. It made me very curious. It had to end eventually and I wanted to know where. But it was clearly too far for me to ever able to find unless I was on a bike. Well....that was last year. This year - I am strong enough to find the end of the Parkway. And it wasn't walking it - it was running it!!!!!!

Only....the thing is....I didn't really find it. I ran into a residential area and thought that was the end. Called it quits, turned around, and ran all the way back to the beginning.

I got onto www.mapmyrun.com to map out how far I had run - the goal was 7 miles. And the beautiful satellite photos of the parkway and my running trail showed me that 1- it was NOT the end of the parkway at all! It continued on after the residential area. And 2 - I had only run about 6.7 miles! DANG IT!

So I missed a milestone this week. Next week is my scheduled 8 mile run so - I should hit that milestone and just bypass the 7 mile one altogether. Oh, well! Whatcha gonna do?

But I am very proud of myself because that was my first time running on the road and not on a treadmill. Holy crap - you use completely different muscles on the road vs a treadmill and I was SORE! It helped build my confidence and that is a good thing. Moab doesn't look quite so scary anymore.