My quest to run a marathon before turning 30 and my road to recovery after hip arthroscopy
Saturday, January 15, 2011
FYI...
Sorry.
Long Run #2 Update
My training schedule calls for running every other day, so that puts my long runs on a Sunday one week and then a Saturday and continues to alternate. At first I thought this would be problematic since Tony works on Saturday mornings and I would therefore always have to run in the afternoon on those days or adjust the schedule. I am hesitant to adjust the schedule because I really like the idea of running every other day. It gives my body just enough time to recover and I believe I am avoiding injury as a result (I'm crossing my fingers).
Today was phenomenal. The afternoon run worked out perfect and alleviated some of the GI issues I had experienced last week and on previous runs. I was able to sleep a little longer (7:15...I know, the life of a mom of young children), enjoyed some coffee, and had 5 mini muffins. I was able to get ready at my leisure and this left me plenty of time to use the bathroom, etc. I also had plenty of fluids prior to the run, probably 32 oz. of water at least and had some more of my ghetto pasta around 11am because I figured that would be enough time to digest before running.
When Tony returned from work, I started getting ready to go. I fed Tyler so both of us would be content during the run and I was able to make it out the door by about 1pm. I added a little Gatorade to my water bottle and set out for my first of two routes I planned.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Weekly Update
This should not have come as a surprise to me, but I struggled with my music on Thursday. Neither Tony or I are greatly into music, so we have never had an iPod or really gotten into iTunes (nor would I even know how to use either if given the opportunity). Tony did invest in a small MP3 player (at least I think that is what it is) at some point during one of his marathon trainings. Since we don't have quite the selection, he uploaded Matchbox Twenty, Dave Matthews, Beck, some Sarah McLaughlin (yes, Tony loves Sarah McLaughlin) and, wait for it, Christmas music.
As a result, I asked my sister to help us out in this department. She was nice enough to put together some songs she thought I might like and gave it as a Xmas present. We finally got them uploaded to the device and I tested it out on Thursday. Needless to say, there is no sort of rhyme or reason to the order, so I spent nearly 10 minutes just trying to find a song I actually liked because I had to get through the first 200+ that Tony had for him. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this, but as of now, we can't figure out how to create a playlist on the device that we have.
Despite the musical difficulties, the run was pretty good. I was able to find some tunes that I enjoyed for my cool down and Lady Gaga even got me through my longest held plank since having Tyler, 60 seconds.
Tomorrow I have my long run, which should be 9 miles. I am excited to get out there and see how I feel. I had an interesting dinner to load up for tomorrow. We typically do our grocery shopping on the weekend so right now it is slim pickings for dinner. I am getting better at planning meals out for the whole week, but assumed we had some pasta for tonight and you know what happens when you assume...you end up with ghetto pasta concoction of broken lasagna noodles, elbow macaroni, and tri-colored rotini. I hope it does the trick for tomorrow! I am not sure how the food will directly affect me because my run won't occur until the afternoon due to Tony's work schedule. I can only hope this will work!
Monday, January 10, 2011
A New Appreciation for Yoga
The class went a little longer than I had thought--I kept glancing at the clock and asking myself, "Is this class longer than 60 minutes? Shouldn't we be doing some sort of relaxation to cool down?" The instructor did comment afterwards that he kept us a little long...probably 80 minutes, but my body was thankful.
I'm no expert at any of the balancing poses, but I think I'll keep trying.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
First Official Long Run
Despite the fact that I got up with enough time and had everything prepared, I was running around like a crazy lady and didn't get out the door until 7:43. I drove to the designated parking lot which happens to be right next to the school I teach at, so it was quite convenient. There were at least 20 other crazies in the cold so I was glad to see I was not the only one.
After signing in, they started lining us up by pace. I was convinced I would be the only slow poke. Fortunately this was not the case. I didn't want to run with the 10 min pace group because I knew I was supposed to slow my pace down on the long runs. So I positioned myself just behind them and ran the first 4 miles with Del and Sue Ellyn. They made great company, but I picked it up a little bit after the aid station and made it with the 10 min group by about mile 6. I ran the last 4 miles with Bonnie, the 70 year old, who has run 46 marathons. I let her do the talking and really laughed at myself that I was struggling to keep up with this woman and she made a point to slow down to stay with me!
Overall, it was a good run. I felt great, even though my knees and hips started to really bother me the last 2 miles. I didn't wait around long afterwards and made it home in time to use the bathroom. Unfortunately for the 10 minutes that followed my bathroom stop, I felt HORRIBLE. I thought I was going to pass out, throw up, etc. I knew I was somewhat dehydrated since my water bottle froze at the top and I couldn't drink from it the last 4 miles. I wasn't hungry, but knew I was supposed to eat some within the first 30 minutes after the run (man, I've been reading too much). I also had a hard time of drinking my hot chocolate Tony had prepared for me that I had so looked forward to. Thankfully, I forced myself to eat a piece of bread and drink and feel pretty good now.
I'm still a little cold, even after a very hot shower, but I feel pretty good. Much better than I have after my long runs in November. I hope this is a good sign. Tomorrow I hope to try out yoga at the gym to start loosening my body up. We shall see how that goes!
Not sure how long it took me to finish, I accidentally messed my watch up at some point. I know I was probably somewhere between 10 and 11 minute miles.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Brrrrr...
I decided to take Ellie with me for part of the run since, as you can see, my running gear features BLACK which is not the best choice for nighttime (I'll have to invest in some reflectives of some sort). Tony suggested I wear his bike reflectors that are for legs around my arm. I did, but we could only find one. I have also stolen Tony's devil horns hat and have been running with it lately. I told 2 of the girls I run with that I knew they would either be totally embarrassed or totally jealous--they were jealous!
I didn't have an actual route and was a little bit fearful after hearing a safety talk by the police officer at the kick-off meeting, so I did 3 completely random out and backs for around 2 miles. I did drop Ellie off and stopped inside after each to drink some water and go to the bathroom. As a result, it took me awhile, but I truly felt great, which is important. My hip has still been bothering me quite a bit so I did extra stretches afterwards and even used my roller.
Yesterday I made sure to start some sort of core workout routine and I added some random stretching as well as hip strenghtening excercises that I just made up as I went.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Day 1
I had my first official training run yesterday after the kickoff meeting. I ran a whopping 3.25 on the treadmill. I gradually increased my speed from a 10:30/mile to a 9:05/mile with an average speed of 10:00/mile. I felt pretty good, but didn't get a good stretch in because it was getting late and I wanted to get home to bed. I can feel it in my hip today, so I stretched quite a bit tonight.
A 5-6 mile run is on my plate for tomorrow.