For a while there, it seemed like everything was working against me. I couldn't run, bike, or swim. Homework was piled up, and grading was just the icing on the cake. Luckily, all that is turning around.
The school work is finally subsiding (or will be on Monday). I'm starting to get grades back from midterms, too, and lets just say this semester is strongly resembling my last one. I have nothing to grade. Let me reiterate that: I have nothing to grade. I even got to go home for several days last week, which was phenomenal since I got to see my cousin for the first time in a year since he also drove to Illinois for the weekend.
To top it all off, I think this knee is getting better.
I made it out for a run this morning, which was great! I decided to only run around the block, which was about 3/4 of a mile. There's no point in pushing it. It was only a little test run to see how my knee reacted. It did react, a little bit. I could feel it a little bit at the top on the right side of my right knee, but it was a very dull pain.
More importantly, I didn't feel as though I regretted it afterwards. My body didn't say "ohhh, you shouldn't have done that!" I'm considering myself on the mend and am planning to swim Tuesday night, then run again on Wednesday morning assuming all goes well these next few days. Update: I woke up today (Tuesday) and my knee is hurting again. Back on the roller coaster, I guess? Ugh.
Despite the good news, I'm officially canceling my half marathon for the spring. Sure, I might be able to do it, but it's a really bad idea at this point and simply begging for a relapse. Everything else is still on, unless this knee takes longer than expected to heal.
And don't think I forgot: Happy St. Patricks Day!
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Weekly Recap 03/10/08 - 03/16/08
This week's recap is going to be a little different than usual. You know why? No workouts. None at all. Unless, maybe, you count randomly jogging to my car to test out my knee.
I'm not frustrated, though, not like last week. Last week's recap got posted immediately after finding out I couldn't even water run. I was ticked, frustrated, and ready to bite someone's head off after finding out my last means of exercise jumped out the window.
But this week wasn't that bad, I just just RICED: rest, ice, compression, elevation, and DRUGS (don't worry, just Aleve)! Plus it was spring break, even if I spent the majority of my time working on stuff, the last few days were break-like.
I ended up going home, and got to see my cousin and his girlfriend both of which I hadn't seen in over a year. Hung out with them, played with the dogs, all the stuff I miss down in Kentucky. All in all, I'd call it a rewarding week.
Nutrition completely went out the window this week. Completely. It was no where to be found. I was only eating about 5 times better than Marcy, and that's saying something! Common foods were pizza, BBQ ribs, and pizza. Common snacks included home made cookies, ice cream, cake, and girl scout cookies. The motivation to eat good just completely goes out the window for me when I don't look at it as fuel for tomorrow's workout!
Luckily, workouts commence tomorrow. I'm planning a very easy one or two mile run just to test out this knee. I'm optimistic since it has been feeling better these past couple days. Then Tuesday I'm swimming. If this knee is still hurting, I'm still swimming. I will use the pull buoy for a full 90 minutes if thats what it takes to get a workout in without hurting my knee. I hate the pull buoy, but I'm going to make it my b*tch if I have to.
And now, I'm off to dream land, hopefully. My sleep schedule is all jacked up after break, as expected. I spent a lot of nights up til 3am with my cousin (which is 4am EST), so it's gonna take some work to get back some normal sleep patterns to form again!
Hope everybody had a great week!
I'm not frustrated, though, not like last week. Last week's recap got posted immediately after finding out I couldn't even water run. I was ticked, frustrated, and ready to bite someone's head off after finding out my last means of exercise jumped out the window.
But this week wasn't that bad, I just just RICED: rest, ice, compression, elevation, and DRUGS (don't worry, just Aleve)! Plus it was spring break, even if I spent the majority of my time working on stuff, the last few days were break-like.
I ended up going home, and got to see my cousin and his girlfriend both of which I hadn't seen in over a year. Hung out with them, played with the dogs, all the stuff I miss down in Kentucky. All in all, I'd call it a rewarding week.
Nutrition completely went out the window this week. Completely. It was no where to be found. I was only eating about 5 times better than Marcy, and that's saying something! Common foods were pizza, BBQ ribs, and pizza. Common snacks included home made cookies, ice cream, cake, and girl scout cookies. The motivation to eat good just completely goes out the window for me when I don't look at it as fuel for tomorrow's workout!
Luckily, workouts commence tomorrow. I'm planning a very easy one or two mile run just to test out this knee. I'm optimistic since it has been feeling better these past couple days. Then Tuesday I'm swimming. If this knee is still hurting, I'm still swimming. I will use the pull buoy for a full 90 minutes if thats what it takes to get a workout in without hurting my knee. I hate the pull buoy, but I'm going to make it my b*tch if I have to.
And now, I'm off to dream land, hopefully. My sleep schedule is all jacked up after break, as expected. I spent a lot of nights up til 3am with my cousin (which is 4am EST), so it's gonna take some work to get back some normal sleep patterns to form again!
Hope everybody had a great week!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A Run With the Marathon Dude
Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!
What? I don't make a convincing Santa? Fine, fine. I'll stick with running.
I just got back from visiting family in Michigan for the holidays. It was a really low key trip, and I got to see all my family: everybody from my 4 year old cousin to my 88 year old Grandma. It was great!
I also got together with Bill for a nice run. We tried to go on Sunday morning, but the pouring rain and 50 MPH wind gusts canceled that plan for us real quick! The crap-tastic weather subsided yesterday, though, so we met up on Christmas Eve.
Bill is one solid runner; he doesn't make those numbers up! I felt as though I was holding him back quite a bit, but if I was in top shape I could give him a run for his money! Our splits were:
8:10 (Icy trail, yikes!)
7:26
7:08
6:37 (Woah, easy there!)
7:10
Since Bill was taking an interest in everything my Garmin will tell me, here is a link to the online version of the run: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4644733
Afterwards we got a small bite to eat and took a picture, just for you guys!
My hip is feeling great today, even though that was my longest run since the Chicago Marathon. I'm still on the mend, but things are still looking up! I finally jumped out on my bike today too, since the snow is finally gone. Sweet!
Santa was kind to me this year, too; I must have been on the 'nice' list this year! I got most of what I asked for, including a stability ball, medicine ball, and the books Again to Carthage, Total Immersion, and The Triathlete's Training Bible.
I hope everybody else had a great Christmas!
What? I don't make a convincing Santa? Fine, fine. I'll stick with running.
I just got back from visiting family in Michigan for the holidays. It was a really low key trip, and I got to see all my family: everybody from my 4 year old cousin to my 88 year old Grandma. It was great!
I also got together with Bill for a nice run. We tried to go on Sunday morning, but the pouring rain and 50 MPH wind gusts canceled that plan for us real quick! The crap-tastic weather subsided yesterday, though, so we met up on Christmas Eve.
Bill is one solid runner; he doesn't make those numbers up! I felt as though I was holding him back quite a bit, but if I was in top shape I could give him a run for his money! Our splits were:
8:10 (Icy trail, yikes!)
7:26
7:08
6:37 (Woah, easy there!)
7:10
Since Bill was taking an interest in everything my Garmin will tell me, here is a link to the online version of the run: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4644733
Afterwards we got a small bite to eat and took a picture, just for you guys!
My hip is feeling great today, even though that was my longest run since the Chicago Marathon. I'm still on the mend, but things are still looking up! I finally jumped out on my bike today too, since the snow is finally gone. Sweet!
Santa was kind to me this year, too; I must have been on the 'nice' list this year! I got most of what I asked for, including a stability ball, medicine ball, and the books Again to Carthage, Total Immersion, and The Triathlete's Training Bible.
I hope everybody else had a great Christmas!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Lazy Days
These last few days have been lazy. Extremely lazy. But I'm full of excuses.
After running two days in a row there was a small twinge in my left hip when I moved my leg just right. It made me a little nervous, so I took a two days off from running and biking just to be on the safe side. This is no week for a relapse!
I ran 3 miles this morning, though, and it went really well. Okay, so it wasn't this morning since I didn't wake up until 11:30. Regardless, it feels great tonight so I'm not worried anymore!
Tomorrow I'm off to Michigan for Christmas. We've lucked out on the weather, but the trip back is going to be interesting. We're driving back on Christmas day, so everywhere to eat and go to the bathroom is going to be closed. We'll see how that one goes!
Thats all I got. Life on break is kind of boring, but I need this mental vacation. Unless you want to hear about video games, I think its best I leave it at that!
After running two days in a row there was a small twinge in my left hip when I moved my leg just right. It made me a little nervous, so I took a two days off from running and biking just to be on the safe side. This is no week for a relapse!
I ran 3 miles this morning, though, and it went really well. Okay, so it wasn't this morning since I didn't wake up until 11:30. Regardless, it feels great tonight so I'm not worried anymore!
Tomorrow I'm off to Michigan for Christmas. We've lucked out on the weather, but the trip back is going to be interesting. We're driving back on Christmas day, so everywhere to eat and go to the bathroom is going to be closed. We'll see how that one goes!
Thats all I got. Life on break is kind of boring, but I need this mental vacation. Unless you want to hear about video games, I think its best I leave it at that!
Friday, November 23, 2007
One Point Five Miles
I'm really moving up in the world now! I actually left the subdivision, however briefly, when I went for my run this morning.
My hip felt good during the run, afterwards its feeling tight again. It doesn't really hurt, but it doesn't feel perfectly normal. I stretched out good before and after, which made it feel quite a bit better. We'll see how its doing later.
Right now the plan is to run every other day, increasing by half a mile each run. Once I get up to 4-5 miles I'll start to feel like I'm in the clear, I think. For now, each run feels like a pretty major milestone, but I'm not letting myself get too excited until I know I can sustain running every other day without doing damage.
On another note, Thanksgiving dinner was pretty good yesterday. I woke up with a pretty nasty cold and had to do homework all day, so it wasn't an ideal holiday, but we had some really great food and I got to hang out with the family for a while. Its so nice to have good food again after living like a college student the past couple months!
Time to get back to the ol' homework so I can think about swimming tonight!
My hip felt good during the run, afterwards its feeling tight again. It doesn't really hurt, but it doesn't feel perfectly normal. I stretched out good before and after, which made it feel quite a bit better. We'll see how its doing later.
Right now the plan is to run every other day, increasing by half a mile each run. Once I get up to 4-5 miles I'll start to feel like I'm in the clear, I think. For now, each run feels like a pretty major milestone, but I'm not letting myself get too excited until I know I can sustain running every other day without doing damage.
On another note, Thanksgiving dinner was pretty good yesterday. I woke up with a pretty nasty cold and had to do homework all day, so it wasn't an ideal holiday, but we had some really great food and I got to hang out with the family for a while. Its so nice to have good food again after living like a college student the past couple months!
Time to get back to the ol' homework so I can think about swimming tonight!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Day 26 of 28
Today was my 26th rest day in a row, with regards to running anyways.
Right now I am feeling great. Occasionally one of the tendons in the front of my leg feels pretty tight, my PT says its likely my rectus femoris, which runs from the hip to the knee. It bothers me the most right after a shower, probably because the heat causes inflamation? Besides that, I have no other complaints at the moment. Much better than a few weeks ago!
I'm getting antsy to run, no doubt, but I'm going to put it off until Wednesday as I was advised to do by Rob. I'm thinking the first day back is going to be an easy two miles, around 8:00-8:30 pace. Heck, I doubt I can go much faster than that after taking a full month off! Hows this running thing work? I put one leg in front of the other? Then... do it again? Gah! So confusing!
Luckily I have plenty to keep me busy these next few days, so I shouldn't be getting too horribly antsy. After teaching class and going to class I'm heading back to Illinois! Although, I'm not going straight home. Not yet. I have people to visit on the way.
I'm making a pit stop in Champaign to visit a friend who goes to U of I. I foresee a night full of eating pizza, drinking beer, catching up for a while, and maybe playing some Guitar Hero?
Tuesday I finish off my drive home and get to see the family again! As soon as I get back I'm heading to my dad's office to get an X-ray of this hip, just to double check there isn't something wrong which has slipped by the PT thus far. Probably a good thing to have anyways when dealing with an injury as persistent as this one, right?
Then, finally, the big day! On Wednesday I finally get to run for the first time in almost a month! Right now I'm pretty optimistic, as is my PT. My dad also told me he had a similar injury several years ago, where it mostly healed up but had some really minor problems that stuck around for a while; until he ran. Once he ran, the remainder of the symptoms cleared up. I'm really, really, really hoping this is similar! I feel like this road has to be coming to an end soon. I mean hell, Dave tore three ligaments in his ankle and came back sooner than me!
See you all on the flip side!
Right now I am feeling great. Occasionally one of the tendons in the front of my leg feels pretty tight, my PT says its likely my rectus femoris, which runs from the hip to the knee. It bothers me the most right after a shower, probably because the heat causes inflamation? Besides that, I have no other complaints at the moment. Much better than a few weeks ago!
I'm getting antsy to run, no doubt, but I'm going to put it off until Wednesday as I was advised to do by Rob. I'm thinking the first day back is going to be an easy two miles, around 8:00-8:30 pace. Heck, I doubt I can go much faster than that after taking a full month off! Hows this running thing work? I put one leg in front of the other? Then... do it again? Gah! So confusing!
Luckily I have plenty to keep me busy these next few days, so I shouldn't be getting too horribly antsy. After teaching class and going to class I'm heading back to Illinois! Although, I'm not going straight home. Not yet. I have people to visit on the way.
I'm making a pit stop in Champaign to visit a friend who goes to U of I. I foresee a night full of eating pizza, drinking beer, catching up for a while, and maybe playing some Guitar Hero?
Tuesday I finish off my drive home and get to see the family again! As soon as I get back I'm heading to my dad's office to get an X-ray of this hip, just to double check there isn't something wrong which has slipped by the PT thus far. Probably a good thing to have anyways when dealing with an injury as persistent as this one, right?
Then, finally, the big day! On Wednesday I finally get to run for the first time in almost a month! Right now I'm pretty optimistic, as is my PT. My dad also told me he had a similar injury several years ago, where it mostly healed up but had some really minor problems that stuck around for a while; until he ran. Once he ran, the remainder of the symptoms cleared up. I'm really, really, really hoping this is similar! I feel like this road has to be coming to an end soon. I mean hell, Dave tore three ligaments in his ankle and came back sooner than me!
See you all on the flip side!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Hip Check
Today was good. After driving for 9 freaking hours yesterday, and not getting much sleep last night, I somehow woke up at 6:30am energetic and ready to go!
The 5K this morning went really well. I helped with registration and handled the timing of the race. There were some little mishaps, such as clicking too many times or not enough when runners cross the line, but all was resolved in the end. The race went off without a hitch, and age group results printed as soon as the last finisher crossed the line; like clockwork. Tell me, does it get any sweeter than that?
Being at the race this morning was great. Its wonderful to see all the familiar faces when I go to races near my home town. People who understand how nerve wracking it is to go through injury this close to a race, appreciate my views on training, and have given me tons of advice as I've progressed as a runner. I saw Charlie today; he's an older guy with more marathons and ultra marathons under his belt than I care to count. When I was 9 years old and ran my first road race, he told me to have my dad buy me new shoes. I finished my first race in my humongous basketball shoes!
But the big news for today isn't the race. Nor is it the fact that I meant to get a lot of grading done and didn't even look at it. Its not the freaking amazing rib dinner I had with my family either. Although all of that is absolutely wonderful, the news for the day is my hip!
While helping at the race this morning, I would jog wherever I had to go. It was mostly to build my confidence up that I was actually ready to run. By the time I watched the race, I was pumped up and ready to run! Afterwards, I went out for a short run. Just enough to test things out.
I forced myself to only run 2 miles since anything more might do damage at this point. But during the run, it felt pretty good. I won't say it felt perfect, because it didn't. Afterwards, it felt not horrible. Tonight it doesn't hurt. I don't feel like I did damage to it today, which is a step in the right direction. Because the run went good, me and my dad decided against the injection in my hip, and went with a different solution to finish the healing process.
I'm not sure of the official spelling, but it sounds like a 'medrol dose pack.' Its worked wonders for me before when I had trouble with my heel. I take 6 today, 5 tomorrow, etc, down to 1 on the last day. I might take more if my hip needs the extra juice. I'm hoping this will one of the things that will push my hip back to being normal.
As of right now, I'm planning to run 4-5 miles tomorrow. I will also base this on how I feel in the morning because I don't want to push it and undo all the healing that happened this past week. I am remaining optimistic, as usual. The key thing, in my opinion, is it felt worlds better after my run today than it did after my run last weekend. Healing is happening.
Tomorrow I drive back to Kentucky, too. Lets hope the drive back goes smoother than the drive here. I'll just say it was a hectic trip. I hope everybody's training (or tapering!) is going well!
Happy running,
-Doug
The 5K this morning went really well. I helped with registration and handled the timing of the race. There were some little mishaps, such as clicking too many times or not enough when runners cross the line, but all was resolved in the end. The race went off without a hitch, and age group results printed as soon as the last finisher crossed the line; like clockwork. Tell me, does it get any sweeter than that?
Being at the race this morning was great. Its wonderful to see all the familiar faces when I go to races near my home town. People who understand how nerve wracking it is to go through injury this close to a race, appreciate my views on training, and have given me tons of advice as I've progressed as a runner. I saw Charlie today; he's an older guy with more marathons and ultra marathons under his belt than I care to count. When I was 9 years old and ran my first road race, he told me to have my dad buy me new shoes. I finished my first race in my humongous basketball shoes!
But the big news for today isn't the race. Nor is it the fact that I meant to get a lot of grading done and didn't even look at it. Its not the freaking amazing rib dinner I had with my family either. Although all of that is absolutely wonderful, the news for the day is my hip!
While helping at the race this morning, I would jog wherever I had to go. It was mostly to build my confidence up that I was actually ready to run. By the time I watched the race, I was pumped up and ready to run! Afterwards, I went out for a short run. Just enough to test things out.
I forced myself to only run 2 miles since anything more might do damage at this point. But during the run, it felt pretty good. I won't say it felt perfect, because it didn't. Afterwards, it felt not horrible. Tonight it doesn't hurt. I don't feel like I did damage to it today, which is a step in the right direction. Because the run went good, me and my dad decided against the injection in my hip, and went with a different solution to finish the healing process.
I'm not sure of the official spelling, but it sounds like a 'medrol dose pack.' Its worked wonders for me before when I had trouble with my heel. I take 6 today, 5 tomorrow, etc, down to 1 on the last day. I might take more if my hip needs the extra juice. I'm hoping this will one of the things that will push my hip back to being normal.
As of right now, I'm planning to run 4-5 miles tomorrow. I will also base this on how I feel in the morning because I don't want to push it and undo all the healing that happened this past week. I am remaining optimistic, as usual. The key thing, in my opinion, is it felt worlds better after my run today than it did after my run last weekend. Healing is happening.
Tomorrow I drive back to Kentucky, too. Lets hope the drive back goes smoother than the drive here. I'll just say it was a hectic trip. I hope everybody's training (or tapering!) is going well!
Happy running,
-Doug
Friday, September 21, 2007
Homeward Bound!
No, not the movie with the talking animals! Sure, there are dogs involved, but its much better!
I'm heading home after class today. I'll admit I'm dreading the 7 hour drive, but am really looking forward to seeing family for the first time since early August! My friend Susan is probably (better be!) coming down to visit since I'm home, and my friend Jonathan (now my sister's boyfriend) will definitely be there. We have a big festival in my home town every year called Harvest Days. Well, its big for us, since its a town of about 4,000 people.
Besides getting to see people, I get to see my dogs for the first time in almost two months! Now these aren't just any dogs. These are quite possibly the best dogs in the world. Now now, you'llow, tell me "But Doug, they're both mutts! They can't be the best!" but you couldn't be more wrong, because they do awesome tricks and Sparky's whole back half wags when I get home. Then you'll say "Doug! Its so weird how the female dog humps the male one whenever they get excited!" and, well, yeah you're right. Thats pretty freaking weird, but pretty funny to watch people's expressions the first time they see it happen.
Tomorrow morning I'm working at the 5k race my dad helps organize. Last year I wrote a computer program we run on a lap top which compiles all the results for the race. Its pretty similar to how non-chip timed races work. You hit a button when they cross, then match up the numbers with the times by entering them in order. This one just has a nice graphical interface and its easier to tell if you make any mistakes.
It went extremely well last year, so they want me to handle it again this year! So well, in fact, one of the guys who was doing the other timing (we had two systems in case mine flopped, because it was the first time) told me to patent my system and charge race directors a fee to have me do the results at their races. Now, I didn't go ahead and do this. I don't have time to go around timing races. Plus, if I'm at a race I want to run in it!
After getting done at the race, I'm sure I'll be plenty revved up about running after watching the top guys get amazing times, a lot of people get PRs, and the pure joy on the faces of the first time finishers!
Once thats over, you know what time it is. Thats right. Its running time. I can't wait! My hip is feeling really good today, I daresay it might even be back to normal, but I won't carve that in stone anywhere until I run tomorrow.
Time to get to packing!
I'm heading home after class today. I'll admit I'm dreading the 7 hour drive, but am really looking forward to seeing family for the first time since early August! My friend Susan is probably (better be!) coming down to visit since I'm home, and my friend Jonathan (now my sister's boyfriend) will definitely be there. We have a big festival in my home town every year called Harvest Days. Well, its big for us, since its a town of about 4,000 people.
Besides getting to see people, I get to see my dogs for the first time in almost two months! Now these aren't just any dogs. These are quite possibly the best dogs in the world. Now now, you'llow, tell me "But Doug, they're both mutts! They can't be the best!" but you couldn't be more wrong, because they do awesome tricks and Sparky's whole back half wags when I get home. Then you'll say "Doug! Its so weird how the female dog humps the male one whenever they get excited!" and, well, yeah you're right. Thats pretty freaking weird, but pretty funny to watch people's expressions the first time they see it happen.
Tomorrow morning I'm working at the 5k race my dad helps organize. Last year I wrote a computer program we run on a lap top which compiles all the results for the race. Its pretty similar to how non-chip timed races work. You hit a button when they cross, then match up the numbers with the times by entering them in order. This one just has a nice graphical interface and its easier to tell if you make any mistakes.
It went extremely well last year, so they want me to handle it again this year! So well, in fact, one of the guys who was doing the other timing (we had two systems in case mine flopped, because it was the first time) told me to patent my system and charge race directors a fee to have me do the results at their races. Now, I didn't go ahead and do this. I don't have time to go around timing races. Plus, if I'm at a race I want to run in it!
After getting done at the race, I'm sure I'll be plenty revved up about running after watching the top guys get amazing times, a lot of people get PRs, and the pure joy on the faces of the first time finishers!
Once thats over, you know what time it is. Thats right. Its running time. I can't wait! My hip is feeling really good today, I daresay it might even be back to normal, but I won't carve that in stone anywhere until I run tomorrow.
Time to get to packing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
