Monday, November 30, 2009

November 2009 Summary

November 2009: 13 runs, 38.6 miles

January 1 through November 30, 2009: 150 runs, 649.9 miles, 12:30 average pace.
Am not going to achieve the goals that I set for 2009. If I had been healthy/injury-free, it could have been accomplished. But since that wasn't my luck, there is no way that I can run 50 times in December, or 150.1 miles, so I'm going to consider myself happy if I come close to what I completed in 2008. Here's hoping for a better running year in 2010!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Just call me a klutz...

So... last week I fell short of my goals for running. I reset my goals to short, but frequent runs this week. And guess what... that plan failed too... It started out great, but then I was bucked by a horse during a canter on Thanksgiving day, which HURT my head and back and gave me a good excuse not to run...

Monday: I ran 2.04 in the early morning. Easy warm-up mile followed by a faster paced one. Still sore from Saturday's fall.

Tuesday: Speedwork on the treadmill: 3 Yasso 800s. 1-mile warm-up; 2x0.5-mile at 6 mph with 0.25-mile recovery, then last 0.5-mile started at 6 mph and bumped up the pace. Felt easier than last week.

Wednesday: rest day/drove to Southern Cross Guest Ranch for Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday: Had a great trail horse ride this morning with my daughter! Then an amazing lunch at Southern Cross Guest Ranch. Then participated in the afternoon trail horse ride. Was daydreaming about going for a run on the trails after the ride was finished, but my horse had other plans. The Guide suggested we canter... My horse bucked as we started but I held on. She bucked again, and again during the canter, but I still held on. But her 4th buck was more than I could handle and I went flying off of her into the woods. As I flew through the air I prayed that the other horses would not trample me. I flipped in the air and landed on my back/head and quickly rolled over since I landed on an incline. My head throbbed and my back hurt. The guide came up to me and said not to move, then asked if I could wiggle my fingers and toes. YES! It took me a few minutes to get up since I was in so much pain. My daughter, in the meantime, had dismounted her horse and went to get mine. The Guide, after assessing that my back wasn't broken, helped me get up. My head was pounding and my back hurt! I eventually got back on the horse and we walked back to the stables. The entire horse walk/ride back, my daughter kept turning around and talking to me about things we were grateful for: that I had a helmet on, that I wasn't trampled by other horses, that I wasn't paralyzed, that I got to fly, that the magical elves were in the Camelbak which cushioned part of my back, etc. This helped keep my mind off the pain. Needless to say, this incident was a very good excuse to not run this evening, but I was SO BUMMED that I couldn't.
Friday: I was still quite sore today from my fall from the horse yesterday, but decided to go for a short run anyway. Kyra was going to play games with her new friend, Madi. Madi's mom said she'd be in their room if needed. My back screamed at me immediately, but I pushed through it. I ran to the horse trails and did a loop. Then I got a text message from Kyra that a guy was freaking her out in the gameroom. I sent her a text back telling her to go with Madi to Madi's mom, IMMEDIATELY, and that I was running back. As soon as I hit send, she replied not to worry, that they were already in Madi's room with her mom. Nothing like a good adrenaline rush to speed up a run... I didn't go as far as I had wanted, but oh well... At least my daughter is safe.

Saturday: Today was our last day at the ranch. I had originally hoped to run after our last ride, but didn't want to leave Kyra with that freaky guy still around. I played monopoly with Kyra and Madi instead. My daughter's safety is totally worth a missed run. (Plus, my back still HURTS! and I have a huge bruise on my thigh and knee from the fall.)

Sunday: Still quite sore so took another day off of running. Hope to get back into it tomorrow.

Days run this week: 3
Miles run this week: 7.07
Highlight of the week: Didn't break any bones/spine during fall from horse. Had an awesome Thanksgiving at horse ranch and met new friends.
Goal for next week: Run most days of the week, even if just for a few miles.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Pitiful week of running

So I laid out a grand plan for slowly increasing mileage over the next few weeks to set me up for beginning a marathon training plan. It was totally realistic! I followed it perfectly last week, but fell apart this week. I should have run 15 miles, but did 5.6 instead. Excuse after excuse... I did my 3.5-mile speedwork on Tuesday as planned, but didn't follow through with the remainder of the runs planned for the rest of the week. I slept too late on Thursday and Friday. I thought I could make up the mileage over the weekend. My dog tripped me on Saturday which cut my 4-miler down to 2. Then it was rainy and cold all day Sunday; I dressed to run after Kyra's basketball game, but had chills and ached from my fall yesterday so went grocery shopping instead. Hopefully I can get back on track next week (no pun intended). I had planned for three easy 6-mile runs next week to equal 18 miles, but think I'll decrease the miles and increase the days to 2-3 miles every day to get back into the habit. I bought a Brooks nightlife yellow vest and hat for night-time running safety, so hopefully that will be motivation! Wish me luch!

Days run this week: 2
Miles run this week: 5.6
Highlight of the week: Pushed through 3 Yasso 800s on the treadmill even though it was hard!
Goal for next week: Run regularly; no excuses! 18 miles, mostly on trails at horse ranch (and have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Spring marathon here I come..

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 4.03 easy miles in 51:03 minutes. Average heart rate 140. 57 degrees and raining. Felt good!

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: Tempo run; treadmill. 2-mile warm-up (13:45; 12:15), then 2 miles at faster pace (11:32, 11:29). Thanks to Running Stupid podcast for inspiration to keep pushing. The episode that I listened to talked about there should only be a few reasons for not perservering (broken bone, fever, other severe illness/injury). It was hard to run 2 miles that fast, but since I wasn't in major pain nor had broken bones, etc., I pushed it to the end. Yay!

Friday: rest

Saturday: Original plan was to run 5K race with friends, but my daughter is sick. With her permission, I ran 5 miles around the neighborhood instead. 5 miles in 59:57 minutes. Set up Garmin for 70-80% heart rate program. Felt good. Harder effort than my typical "long run", but do-able. Was surprised at pace since I didn't look at pace during run (11:59). Yay!

Sunday: rest

Weekly summary:
Days run this week: 3
Miles run this week: 13.03
Highlight of the week: (1) Recovered from Chicago marathon injury. (2) Running faster than I planned/hoped. (3) updating my hand-written running log and gaining insight into my Chicago injury. I think I tapered too much. (4) Making positive progress... feeling good about picking a spring marathon... but which one?

Sunday, November 8, 2009

4 weeks after Chicago marathon

Monday: Today was the last Field Day that my daughter will experience in elementary school (since she'll be in middle school next year). This photo is of her in the lead in the 4x100 relay (and yes, her team won!). After Field Day, I went to Physical Therapy. After warming up with light exercises, my therapist had me try slow/easy jogging on the mini-trampoline. All went well. Then he had me do a series of lunges with slow/easy jogging (30 steps). That went well. So.... he said I should try a slow/easy jog of a few miles (or less) tomorrow. If it goes okay, then I can end therapy, but should continue doing strengthening exercises. Yay!

Tuesday: 5:27 a.m. mixed slow jog with walking. Hamstring started tightening at about 1 mile so I added more walking. Stretched afterwards. Total 2.05 miles in 29:35 minutes. Average heart rate = 129.

Wednesday: rest day

Thursday: 3.11 miles in 37:04, negative split. Jogged first 1.5 miles in 18:06, second 1.5 miles in 17:58; and last 0.11 miles in 58 seconds. Accomplished goal of negative split with no pain!

Friday: rest day

Saturday: 4.07 miles in 50:02 minutes. Easy run keeping heart rate between 70-75%. Average heart rate = 150. Felt good, no pain. Easy run in beautiful weather! Could have gone longer...

Sunday: 1.67 miles in 21:10 minutes. Average heart rate = 132. Easy jog with Riley. Too gorgeous of an afternoon to resit outside exercise!

Weekly summary:
Days run this week: 4
Miles run this week: 10.9
Highlight of the week: Kyra winning 1st place ribbons at Field Day + me being able to run again!!!!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

3 weeks after Chicago marathon

Monday: My first physical therapy appointment. The PT suspects hamstring tendonitis. It's too tender to do any stretches or exercises yet so he applied electrical stimulation and ice and said to come back later in the week. He'll add stretches and exercises once the tenderness decreases. He said I could swim or bike or walk if it didn't hurt.

Tuesday: My daughter is 11 today! She's happy she's finally a palindromic number! I took the afternoon off of work and took donughts for her class today at lunch to celebrate. Afterwards, I went to the aquatic center and swam 20 laps. The knee pain was minor, so I just did easy laps. Felt good to swim for 40 minutes!

Thursday: Both me and the dog are going crazy from not running! Riley's been destructive lately and has gotten thicker around the middle. He woke me early this morning so I decided to talk him for a walk, since I'm not supposed to run. We walked 1.42 miles in the neighborhood. It wasn't as rewarding as a run, but better than nothing. Had my second physical therapy appointment this afternoon. He had me do almost horizontal squats on the Total Gym and then bike for 12 minutes with no resistance. I could feel the tightness half-way up my leg. So this was followed by e-stim and ice. Maybe next time... Scheduled my next appointment for Monday.

Friday: Riley woke me even earlier this morning so we had time to walk for a little longer. We walked 2.29 miles in the neighborhood. He's not used to walking and pulled most of the way, wanting to run.

Saturday: Went to Fleet Feet in Lawrenceville today to use my $15 voucher before it expires. Turns out I had two! I bought a reflective vest, ear warmer headband, and balega socks. Decided that if I'm going to be outside in the dark, I should probably wear something more reflective than the tiny reflective details on my shoes. And as winter approaches, the ear covering headband will be sweet! After shopping, I came home, changed clothes, loaded Riley into the car and we went to Stone Mountain. We walked the muddy trails for a total of 3.98 miles. It was awesome!!! At least here I don't feel so bad about walking instead of running because the trails are so full of rocks and roots. It's rained a lot lately so by the time we finished, we were both muddy. Fun times!

Sunday: No exercise today... but did get an awesome new hair color and cut!

Weekly summary:
Days/Miles run this week: 0
Days exercised this week (swim/walk): 4
Highlight of the week: Walk/hike on muddy trails at Stone Mountain with Riley. Amazing views of autumn leaves! Wish I had taken the camera.