Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 25th Run (Week 6, Run 69)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 25th Run (Week 6, Run 69)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

I think I learned a few things on my run this morning:

- I think you can run too slow. I was running and my pace was way down, and my knee started hurting. I picked the pace up & the pain subsided. Weird, huh?

- I think I need a new pair of shoes. The outside edge of my left foot started hurting about mile 7. I checked when I got home & sure enough, the cushion on the sole has worn WAY down... like dangerously worn in my opinion. Wonder if this is what has been causing my knee pains.

- I think 8 miles for my second day back on the road was a little too ambitious. I had to walk a couple times, which really didn't bother me. My pace was still way slow, which I fully expect to last at least a little while longer while I strengthen up my legs from that dreaded elliptical machine.

All in all, not a bad day of running though!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 24th Run (Week 10, Run 68)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Feb 24th Run (Week 10, Run 68)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning!

Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you, The Great Thaw!

Man, it was nice to get back out on the roads today. I have decided, I DISPISE the elliptical though. While I admit, it kept me in some kind of running shape, even doing hill repeats on the machine, I managed to lose 7 minutes off my goal pace. Got to kick it in to high gear now and get that time back for the big race... 9 more weeks of training to go until I suit up and jog my chunky body through the streets of Paris.

My route was pretty much all clear of ice, except for 2 spots. 1 is right around the bridge area where I turn right before entering Linden and is about 25-50 feet of mostly patchy ice. The other is on my uphill climb as I round the corner from the bridge. This one is the one that worries me. It's on a pretty steep incline and it's a pure sheet of ice, probably 7"-10" thick... may take awhile for that one to thaw. It's about 100', so the entire uphill portion. At least it's not the downhill portion of that hill too. That'd be treacherous.

I feel a little tingle in myright knee, the one I suspected I have Illiotibial Band Syndrome in, but there is no pain. Hopefully the time on the elliptical actually helped in that aspect. We'll see tomorrow when I run my 8 miler. That'll be out & around the church in Horbach & back. Hopefully this weekend I can go out with the camera and take pictures of my route out to 10 miles & back, so ya'll can see what I see. No such luck on the Paris one though... but hey, ya'll can always come for a visit and we'll head out there and you can see it first hand! LOL!

Enjoy!

Poor Posting

Hey ya'll!  Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting.  If I can't show ya'll my runs, there is relaly no point in posting that I ran on the elliptical!  Kind of boring!  Well, here's what has happened since I have been away:

I hurt my back on Jan 16th Run, which I posted about.  I actually ran outside that day.

I was laid up from the 16th till the 26th letting my back heal.  I began easing back into the elliptical to test my back & by ITBS issue.  I am beginning to pick back up the durration of my elliptical runs.

Bonus was I found some awesome DJ mixes (MTV Mash-ups Vol 1-14) that I am loading up on to my iPod to run to!  LOL!  I found running on the elliptical is less monotonous if I slap on some TV shows.  I have been replaying episodes of Glee & Friday Night Lights... yeah, odd pairing I know, but it gets me through!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Jan 16th Run (Week 13, Run 54)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Jan 16th Run (Week 13, Run 54)

Click the link above for my run details!

Man it was great to get back out on the road again! It had been awhile. Bad news again today!

I got through my stretches and warm up and took off on my run. Everything was great until I got back. It was a little icey and I slipped a little on the trail, not sure if that added to what happened next. I did have to walk just over a half mile due to my knee... same issue that I think is ITBS.

I finished the run and walked back to the house, as was my norm, letting my heart rate drop a little and getting some water in me. I get back to the area in front of the garage and begin my cool down stretches. The norm, hamstring stretches, quadricep stretches, a little extra attention to my right knee, etc. When I go to do my back stretches, my lower back muscles sieze up. I litterally had to push myself up to get back upright. It was excruciating pain! So, needless to say, I'm hurt again and have to figure out how to get over this injury bug that is plaguing me!

Jan 7th Run (Week 14, Day 52)

Yep, no link today.  I woke up this morning to a fresh layer of icy snow on the sidewalks.  There's no way I can run with me trying to check out my knee on ice today.  So, I threw on some tunes, and ran on the elliptical in the Dog House.  Sorry, the Dog House is the first floor of our house here in Germany.  It's my area... all my uniforms, my bathroom, a spare bedroom, and our game room.  Basically, it's my area in case Maria ever gets mad at me, I can get away and she doesn't have to see me till she calms down.  Not to mention, with as much running as I have been doing, I didn't want to track my smelly clothes through the house!

I ran for 30 minutes today, granted there was no real impact on my knee to check it out 100%, but I am comfortable saying that I am at at least 80% right now.  It ffelt really good to run in just shorts & a short sleeve shirt today!  It's been awhile since I have been able to run with this little clothing!  I felt almost free!  Hahaha!

This will not count in my final tally for mileage & time.  I am only going to count the runs that I do out on the street for that.  I really think our elliptical console is unreliable as it said I only ran 1.4 miles today in 30 minutes!  That's extremely laughable since out on the road I am running 6 miles in an hour and I run 1.5 miles in around 12-13 minutes.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back out on the road on Saturday for my long run day.  I probably won't go the full 10 miles like I am supposed to, but I got to get caught back up to where I can do my LRDs.  Without those, April will be a flop.  I will probably just let me knee decide what Iam going to run on Saturday.  Wish me luck ya'll!

The IT Bands Have It

I think I have self diagnosed my knee issue that arose last week.  Basically, as a refresher, I felt a little pop & started getting pain as I ran up hills.  I did a pretty exhaustive search online and came up with what I think is my issue... say it with me now kids,

     Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ill-e-o-tib-e-al    ba-n-d    sin-dro-m-e)

In  a nut shell,

ITBS is one of the leading causes of lateral knee pain in runners. The iliotibial tract (iliotibial band) is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, moving from behind the femur to the front while walking. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed. 

That according to the experts at Wikipedia.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here ya go!

So, basically, it's a more severe form of Bursitis.  See the bursa that the line is pointing to above.  Well, you have these sacks of fluid where tendon or ligaments can rub against bones.  These sacks of fluid prevent chaffing of the tendons & legaments.  Something happens creating friction on the sack, which in turn causes swelling & inflamation of the bursa, also called, you guessed it, Bursitis.

For those of you who knew me at Korea, I had a bout of Bursitis in the same knee, though it was below the knee where the patellar tendon connects, that had me hobbling around base for a good month.  This one hasn't been as bad.  Not really sure what caused the bout in Korea, but this one I think was either caused by running on the ice, which is a crazy ballet style of running; or by taking the break then jumping back in to it running all out.  Not really sure, but could be both, who knows.

Anywho, I am going to attempt to run again tomorrow and see what it does.  Hopefully I won't be too far set back.

Pictures

Just a quick note to let you all know that I uploaded a few pictures of my father, John Solomon, who is one of the people I am running in memory of.  Thanks to my Aunt Willie, I now have 2 pictures of my father that I, nor my brother, had ever seen before, inicluding one of his Purple Heart Ceremony!  The red hued one we had seen, but I have no idea where my tattered copy of it is at... surely in a box of pictures still packed up downstairs!

If you'd like to see the pictures, it's the post titled "In Memory Part 1".  It's also tagged "Memory".  Or, you can just click HERE!