A synopsis of the week.
June 1, 2008
Monday–I finished up my training plan with a 5K run, which went a little beyond what the plan actually called for. Yay!
Tuesday–I wanted to go running since I felt “freed” from my plan and there wasn’t anything to tell me that I couldn’t run on consecutive days, but my knee ached a little, so I decided to hold off.
Wednesday–A nice, slow run. My knee still felt a bit funny so I didn’t want to do anything that I would regret.
Friday–Unfortunately, my wisdom on Wednesday somehow left me on Friday. I ran 5K at a moderate pace despite constant “discomfort.” I won’t call it pain, because is was bearable, but it hurt. I really thought it would eventually go away mid-run like it had in the past. Well… I got home, stretched, ate breakfast, gave up on school work for the day, and took two ibuprofen which knocked me out for three hours. Yes, that last part is a little scary as I look back on it. The drowsy side effect could have been intensified my a slight lack of sleep, or maybe I now know why I usually take only one tablet (200 mg) for headaches during the day and save two tablets for nighttime.
Saturday through Sunday–I took off. I really wanted to start running four times a week this week, but I figured that recovery is more important at this point. Tomorrow, Monday, I’m going to hit the bike. And maybe the next day, and the next day… but we’ll see. Although I’m not noticing any apparent swelling, ice sure feels good.
The cause of my problem? Yes, it’s my shoes. No one needs to tell me. But, if I were to wait to start running again until after I bought new, proper shoes, I would be waiting until the end of July. (Shoes are cheaper in the US at this point, there is more variety to choose from in the US, and I don’t know enough about shoes to just order some. I need a running store.) Sorry, I just can’t wait that long. However, now I’m starting to think I might need to limit my weekly mileage until then.
A Week of 5K Run and a Rainy Day
May 21, 2008
I’m well again. The whole sore throat ordeal was rather peculiar. Usually two or three days after I come down with a sore throat the sore throat goes away and sniffles, and maybe a cough, takes its place. But not this time. Each morning I woke up expecting to need tissues throughout the day, but I never did. Weird, but I’m glad I’m better now. Those head colds sometimes last forever…
My initial goal for Monday was to run at an easy pace for 30 minutes. By the time 30 minutes rolled around, however, I felt great and decided to make it 5 km instead. This would happen to be the very first time in my life that I’ve accomplished running that distance without walk breaks. Yay for me!
Today, on the other hand, was not so fun. I woke up to rain. I probably would have still run, since it was only drizzle at that point, but today I wanted to run with my dad, which I regularly do. Well, Daddy is not a fan of rain. We waited until 4 p.m., and by that time the rain had long stopped and the roads had mostly drained as well. Our goal was to run to a certain point–somewhere around 2.5 to 3 miles. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but around the 1.5 mile mark things started to hurt. First my calf felt “funny”, and then the funny feeling pain gradually made its way up to the spot around my knee that it loves to hang out at. Besides that, both my dad and I overdressed for the weather. Sure, the thermometer said 15C/60F, but it sure felt cold when we stepped outside because it was cloudy and damp. We should have went by the temperature. Whether it was a faster pace, the unusual time of day, a little less sleep, or the pinto beans I ate for lunch yesterday, I didn’t feel like I had much energy. We finally made it though, but I’m sure glad it’s over. It’s interesting how two similar runs can feel completely different.
I’ll be trying to add a bit of cross-training to my schedule in the near future. I eventually want to increase the number of days that I run. I don’t think I’m ready to do that quite yet, so I figured that if I go ahead and do something on the extra days I plan to run I will already have a habit for that time of day.
A quick update.
May 14, 2008
I wasn’t certain about running today, because I had started coughing more than I had been. But when the saying, “Running won’t kill you–you’ll pass out first.” came to mind… I ran. I felt worse than I have in a long time, but I lived through it and don’t feel any worse off as far as coughing/sore throat is concerned.
This week , with being slightly sick, I’ve tossed the two “strategies” around. If one comes down with a cold or any other mild sickness, should he or she completely recovery before running again or run regardless of health. This time I decided to try the latter option. For now I figured, if I suddenly developed a cold right before my very first 5K, I would want to know if I could really still run “sick.”
I usually run three times a week. It’s not the greatest number in the world, but that’s what my plan calls for. On Saturday, not a usual run day, I deviated from the plan and went for a second day in a row… and I did intervals (I think that’s what they would be considered as.), which I read I shouldn’t do until I increase my weekly mileage. It was a shorter run than normal, but I alternated periods of easy–very easy–running with shorter period of faster running (certainly not sprinting, but hard enough to push myself). Afterwards I felt great. Easy running for a straight 25 minutes started to seem a tad bit monotonous because I was afraid of running too fast in the beginning and not being able to keep it up for the whole 25 minutes. This put everything into perspective. And what do you know? Saturday evening I came down with a sore throat. Serves me right.
Because of the sore throat, which I still have, I didn’t go running this morning. However, I felt well enough to run this afternoon. I don’t recommend consecutive runs jumping 18 degrees (F). Okay, maybe that’s drastic just to me, but I really did feel the heat suck all of the energy out of me. Of course, I dressed for the occasion–it was the first time this year that I’ve run in shorts this side of the Atlantic–but it was still brutal. As a result, I cut my run to the same distance as my interval run on Saturday. I didn’t mind because of the heat, and I am battling a sore throat. Another reason to run in the morning: there are no flying, swarming insects congregating around your head at all times!
I’ll see how my soon-to-be cold progresses. If I feel the same on Wednesday as I do today, then I will certainly run in the morning. If I feel worse… well, you know. Rest day.
WordPress.com related, I realized that there is no way to reply to an individual comment, as in, there are no thread-type functions on WordPress.com. So we are expected to browse through all of the blogs that we’ve already read and commented on? A reply notification system would be nice, so commentors could know if the blogger responded to his or her comment. Or maybe I’m just used to LiveJournal. Anyhow, would it be correct to assume that in order to reply to a comment, a proper response would be another comment on that same post? My thanks goes to everyone who has given encouraging comments so far.
