Back on the Elliptical

  After tons of ice and a little bit of time my knee got back to normal.  I figured I wanted to work my way back into running slowly so that I didn't over do it.  As such, I decided to hit the elliptical pretty hard on Wednesday.  I did have a slight curve ball thrown my way since when I showed up to the gym there was actually someone on "my elliptical".  Yep, that's right, it was literally the first time in the last three months that there was actually someone on the elliptical that I always use.  Since I didn't feel like waiting, I decided to hop on the machine next to it.   What I didn't realize, is that there is apparently some differences in the resistance between machines because a 9 resistance on the new machine was way harder than it was on "my machine". 
    While the workout didn't start out great, I pushed through the early low and was able to rock out a solid 70 minutes (~7 miles) on the elliptical.  I was pretty spent after this workout but was glad that I was able to get in over an hours worth of cardio.
     Once the workout was done, it was time to complete my PT exercises.  I started to realize that over the last couple of weeks I have literally been spending upwards of 40 minutes a day doing my physical therapy stretches and exercises.  It really made me think about how much time gets invested into doing these races.  Literally, its been hours and hours and hours worth of stretching, exercising and running.  Thankfully, I am finally starting to see some results as I am getting better at all the strengthening exercises and starting to see a really significant increase in my flexibility. 
     Looking ahead to the rest of the week, I am planning on doing a short run tomorrow (4-5 miles) followed by a physical therapy appointment in the evening.  Friday, I am going to try to hit the elliptical again for a 30-40 minute workout.  The big test is going to be Sunday ... the long run.  This week I am going to do my long workout on the road with L Street.  The planned run is scheduled for 14.7 miles ... which will officially be the longest run that I have ever completed. Keep your fingers crossed that the knee holds strong during this run since we are down to crunch time and there really isn't any room for error at this point.