Nagging knees and future planning

I’ve been babying my left knee following Monday’s race. I did go to my usual Pilates class on Wednesday and ventured out for a comfortable 3 mile run on Thursday. All seemed well, until Friday morning when my overly excited German Shepherd came charging down the hall and right into my knee — the good one! Are you kidding me?! My goodness does that dog have a hard head!

So there was more ice and rest. And yes, I admit that standing most of the evening at the party we went to last night probably didn’t help any! There was no run today but I will get back out to see how things feel tomorrow and hopefully do my planned runs this week. I’m signed up to run a local 5k in a couple of weeks, but I’ll have to see how things go.

Despite my current knee woes, I can’t help but start to think about future plans and I’ve been eyeing 2011 races. I know for sure that there’s at least one half marathon on the horizon for me…hopefully more than one…but which one will be my first? That I don’t know yet. But, maybe the first question should be how long will it take me to train for one cause that will certainly factor into the “when” of the race. Time to check training plans!

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Today I asked my body to go

When I woke up this morning, my first thought was that I’m now moving into new territory for me as a runner. The long run on my plan today called for 6 miles. 6 miles? Really? While I may have run five on occasion waaay back in college, I can say without a doubt that I have never asked my body to go for 6 straight miles….but today I asked.

Today I asked my body to go, even though by the first half mile my angry left leg let it be known that it was not happy – not unhappy enough to stop, but definitely unhappy!

Today I asked my body to go, even though this was not going to be a “run for the ages.” No, this was to be what I call a “survival run” – read get the distance and to heck with the time.

Today I asked my body to go, further than it’s ever gone before, and I learned that it will respond, it will push on even when part of my brain is screaming “Ok that’s far enough!”

Today I asked my body to go, and it carried me 6.1 miles….a step closer to my 10K race and into uncharted running territory.

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Just plugging along…

The goal this morning was simple….just get in a couple of pain-free miles. After having it out with my angry left leg last week, I gave in to a couple days of rest, stretching and ice. But this morning I was determined to get out on the road, no matter how slow and just get a short loop done.  Well let me tell you it was S-L-O-W! I didn’t stop but at times I’m not sure you could truthfully call what I was doing “running.” But no matter – there was no pain and that was a huge win! I’m learning that in running the path to bigger victories and accomplishments is paved with the much smaller ones. Today was one of those small ones and I’ll take it!

So I continue to plug along – week 3 with Smart Coach is underway. The goal is to get in 4 days of running as long as the left side stays under control – if not, 1 day will be on the bike, plus 2 days of pilates….and LOTS of stretching (kinda goes without saying, right?!)

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Happy Running!

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To My Angry Left Leg

Dear Angry Left Leg –

I thought you and I had reached an understanding a while ago. I thought you had finally taken your toys and gone home. But, after running pain free for 3 weeks, I see that you’re back and clearly your mood hasn’t improved! In fact, you’re crankier than usual and you’ve brought along your friend “Nagging Hip” just for kicks!

What – you heard that I signed up for another race, a longer distance, and thought your return would put an end to all of that?! Well in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m far more stubborn than you are! I have a goal and a plan to get there and I don’t intend to stop to listen to your whining. I’ll give you rest days, ice and Yamuna Body Rolling …but, in return, I suggest you get with the program ’cause I’m not stopping!

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