Back in the Gym

  I've now gone a week without doing any significant running and I have to say that I am starting to grow inpatient.  I never thought I would every be upset that I couldn't go for a run outside on a cold January day, but the last week has been tough.  I did that one short 3 mile run but other than that my training has been on hold to rehab the knee.  The knee has felt great over the past week and I think the stretching and the exercises are starting to pay off (at least I hope so). 
  Today's workout was low impact to continue to give the knee time to improve.  I ended up doing some lower body lifting to again help strengthen the quads / hamstrings.  After that was done, my cardio workout came via the elliptical machine.  As I have mentioned before, working out on the elliptical machine is almost as exciting as watching grass grow.  It just gets so damn boring without any change in scenery.  It really makes me appreciate how much I have grown to enjoy running, especially those group runs where other people are out there with you.
  In total I ended up doing about 60 minutes on the elliptical and felt like I got a pretty good cardio workout.  In hindsight, I think it also helped with the quads since I had the resistance cranked up for a decent portion of the workout.  Most importantly, the knee didn't have even a twinge of discomfort.  I guess as a complete back up plan I could always do all my training on the elliptical (just kidding, I would die of boredom).
  So looking ahead, I am trying to plan out my workout schedule for the rest of the week.  I think I am going to hit the elliptical again tomorrow for a little more cardio.  Wednesday is going to be a tough day to fit in a workout since we are going to get another major snow storm and I am working 30 hours straight again since I picked up an extra shift in the ED.  I think I would like to do a 2-3 mile run on Thurs, a 5-6 mile run on Friday and then gear up for a long run this Sunday with L Street.  The long run is scheduled for 17 miles, but I think that is a little above me at this point in my training.  My goal is going to be ~14-15 miles. 
  Hopefully the snow fall won't be as bad as they say.  There's no room to shovel it too and it is going to make running outside really hard.