My knees are responding well to my treatment of stretching, leg lifts, foam roller and ice. I am still not without some discomfort especially after sitting at work for hours but I am turning the corner. In fact, last Sunday I ran 9 miles and felt pretty good overall. And then on Tuesday, I went to track practice which I had not been to in two weeks due to my knee issues.
Track was great. We ran our 1 mile warm up and then we ran a 1200 followed by a faster 800 followed by a broken 800 (200 fast, 200 recovery, 200 fast, 200 recovery). Then when we were done with that, the coach said that we would be doing 1 mile as fast as we could. For me, she said she wanted me to run a 6 minute mile.
I am sure I have never done a 6 minute mile. I have gotten up to that speed for very short distances but never for a full mile. I was skeptical that I would be able to manage that pace for 4 laps around the track but I said I would try. After 2 laps, I was on track to reach the goal but my breathing was extremely labored and I was struggling to maintain my pace. At around 1000 meters I started thinking about throwing in the towel and just jogging the rest. I often feel this way in races. Despite all my training and my fitness, I start to wonder why I am trying so hard and doubt my abilities. But I can usually push through these moments and at the end of the race, I am super stoked that I gave it my all.
After my brief lapse into doubt, I started to catch up to some of my other teammates who were running slightly slower than me. For me, passing people on the track is a great motivator. As I passed people, I was able to pick things up and know that I could go hard until the end. And after that, I had one more lap to go. I was still struggling and sucking wind. I think I must have sounded like an hyena and I sort of wondered what my teammates must have thought. I gave it my all and in the end was very close to meeting my goal. I had managed a 6:05. I was pretty happy about that.
After everyone finished up and I ran a cool down lap, I told my coach what I had accomplished at last year's Monument Avenue 10K and how I had trained. She told me that if she could run a 40 minute 10K that I could beat 40 minutes. My initial thoughts were "no way." After all, she is an accomplished pro triathlete who won Ironman Canada in 2005. My experience is soccer, not road racing.
I put the idea in the back of my mind but after getting home, I started thinking, "could I really run a 40?" That would be 3 minutes faster than my last year's PR. That is a significant difference in a 10K race. I am going to have to follow up with coach K and see if she really thinks I can pull that off and what it is going to take to get there. For now, I am excited about the possibility and it has given me new motivation to fix my knees.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Vegan Pancakes
It has been quite some time since I have sat down to write. And there is a reason. If fact, I can sum it up in one word: depression. Yes, I have been slightly depressed about an injury I sustained. Basically, I over did it which makes it even more depressing. It could have easily been avoided but I was feeling so great and not really paying attention to my training plan. In hindsight, I made a very big mistake.
On January 31st, we had a hard session on the bikes in the AM and then a particularly hard session on the track in the PM. The following day, I woke up early to do a tempo run. So I ended up doing 2 back to back hard running workouts with only about 10 hours rest in between. On my last repeat that Wednesday morning, my left knee started bothering me. Ack! What a bummer. I had been doing so well and feeling so great but now I would have to slow down and skip some workouts.
I continued cycling and swimming as my knee seemed to fare pretty well during these activities. And I started doing more stretching and strength training. In particular, I started doing some leg lifts that a previous PT had told me to do. These exercises immediately paid off and with some rest and lots of foam roller, I was able to travel to run the Virginia is for Lovers 14k with Melissa on February 11th. During the first part of the race, my knee was a little gimpy but as the race went on, the pain went away and I was pain free for most of the race. Granted, I was taking it easy during this race.
I am still gimpy and need to continue to take it easy on the running. Also, long sessions in the saddle tend to aggravate the knee a bit. At this point in my training, I don't think I will be able to beat my last years time in the upcoming Monument Avenue 10K. I am not giving up hope entirely but this race may just have to be a fun race for me. Since I am doing a triathlon two weeks later which will entail a 1500 meter lake swim, a 24 mile bike ride, and a 10K run, I am not too worried about the Monument Avenue race. However, I am still a little down about the whole knee thing.
I thought I was past it but alas, it appears I am not. Worst of all, I know what needs to be done to fix myself up and prevent future occurrences. But more stretching, more warmup, more cool down, more foam roller, more yoga - these are the less than glamorous parts of triathlon training and racing and it is hard to get excited about more injury prevention activities and less actual running. I just don't have the time to do all the necessary injury prevention exercises and put in the volume I would like to put in. That said, I can still compete. My run leg during races is just going to suffer slightly. I will have to walk more and my times will not be as good.
So there you have it. I am still here training but I am also dealing with an injury. So you might not see as many blog postings from me this month. It is just a little depressing. Of course, things could be so much worse and I want to make sure that readers understand where I am coming from. I am blessed by so many things in my life, I really can't complain too much about a gimpy knee. Yes, it brings me down but at the same time, life is good to me. I need not list all the reasons why but here are some: Melissa, Love, Family, Health, Friends, Good Job w/Good Pay, Freedom, Security and of course, Vegan Pancakes.
On January 31st, we had a hard session on the bikes in the AM and then a particularly hard session on the track in the PM. The following day, I woke up early to do a tempo run. So I ended up doing 2 back to back hard running workouts with only about 10 hours rest in between. On my last repeat that Wednesday morning, my left knee started bothering me. Ack! What a bummer. I had been doing so well and feeling so great but now I would have to slow down and skip some workouts.
I continued cycling and swimming as my knee seemed to fare pretty well during these activities. And I started doing more stretching and strength training. In particular, I started doing some leg lifts that a previous PT had told me to do. These exercises immediately paid off and with some rest and lots of foam roller, I was able to travel to run the Virginia is for Lovers 14k with Melissa on February 11th. During the first part of the race, my knee was a little gimpy but as the race went on, the pain went away and I was pain free for most of the race. Granted, I was taking it easy during this race.
I am still gimpy and need to continue to take it easy on the running. Also, long sessions in the saddle tend to aggravate the knee a bit. At this point in my training, I don't think I will be able to beat my last years time in the upcoming Monument Avenue 10K. I am not giving up hope entirely but this race may just have to be a fun race for me. Since I am doing a triathlon two weeks later which will entail a 1500 meter lake swim, a 24 mile bike ride, and a 10K run, I am not too worried about the Monument Avenue race. However, I am still a little down about the whole knee thing.
I thought I was past it but alas, it appears I am not. Worst of all, I know what needs to be done to fix myself up and prevent future occurrences. But more stretching, more warmup, more cool down, more foam roller, more yoga - these are the less than glamorous parts of triathlon training and racing and it is hard to get excited about more injury prevention activities and less actual running. I just don't have the time to do all the necessary injury prevention exercises and put in the volume I would like to put in. That said, I can still compete. My run leg during races is just going to suffer slightly. I will have to walk more and my times will not be as good.
So there you have it. I am still here training but I am also dealing with an injury. So you might not see as many blog postings from me this month. It is just a little depressing. Of course, things could be so much worse and I want to make sure that readers understand where I am coming from. I am blessed by so many things in my life, I really can't complain too much about a gimpy knee. Yes, it brings me down but at the same time, life is good to me. I need not list all the reasons why but here are some: Melissa, Love, Family, Health, Friends, Good Job w/Good Pay, Freedom, Security and of course, Vegan Pancakes.
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