Over the last four months that I have been training I have had some good days and some bad. I have to say that with regards to my training this Friday was the worst day I have had yet. As I mentioned before, this week has been pretty chaotic at work and the overnight shift this week really seemed to take its toll on me. Just to add to it, I had to through together a last minute case presentation on Thursday night that I was going to be presenting in front of a visiting Chairman of Medicine. Essentially, I woke up Friday absolutely exhausted from a long work week.
Since I want to do my best to get as close to 100% as I can for my big run on March 27th, I decided that I would hit the elliptical after work. As the workday on Friday went on, I could feel the long week just catching up to me. I really just had no gas in the tank. I had been in similar positions over the last few months at which point I was able to push through it and manage to have some decent workouts and I had hoped I would be able to do something similar today. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out that way.
I got out of work around 5pm and headed over to the Y. Again, it was nice out with temperatures in the low 60's. From the second I got to the Y things just weren't going my way. I got changed and went to head up to the elliptical when I realized I forgot my headphones to my iPhone. This was a crushing blow because the elliptical is boring enough by itself, but add in listening to awful YMCA sponsored music (essentially a playlist consistent of Justin Beiber, Nelly Furtado, and Britney Spears) and it becomes essentially unbearable. Nonetheless, I was determined to get this workout in so I proceed up to the elliptical sans music. My day took another turn south when I actually got up to the elliptical and found that out that the workout area of the Y isn't air conditioned. Instead, their only mode of ventilation are two small 17" fans mounted on the way. That was essentially strike three for me ... #1 Pure exhaustion from a long work week, #2 Forgetting my head phones and trying to do an elliptical workout without music, #3 The fact that it was at least 80 degrees with 95% humidity in the gym. I tried one last time to push through all of these miserable circumstances and fit in a workout as I figured even 20 minutes is better than nothing. In the end, I did a total of 7 minutes and 47 seconds before I called it quits. Honestly, it felt longer than the 2 and 3 hour workouts I have done on the elliptical.
Looking back this is the first time in my whole training that I wasn't able to complete a workout. In the past, I was at least able to knock out a quick 30 or 40 minutes, but on this day. I figured it would be better to skip the workout, go home and catch up on some rest and come back stronger with a solid workout this weekend. To help motivate me to have a good workout this weekend, Renee and I both signed up for the South Boston St. Patty's Day 5K Roadrace. We figured we would go for a run and fit in 5-6 miles before hand, and then use the race as a fun way to get in some extra mileage. In total, I am hoping to do about 8-9 miles this on Sunday. For the upcoming week, my work schedule is pretty light so I am hoping I get can get in 4-5 good workouts during the week in preparation for next Sunday ... the 20 mile L Street run that encompasses the first 20 miles of the actual marathon course. Here's to looking ahead to this week!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Quick Run & PT
This week actually went by pretty quickly and unfortunately didn't give me a good chance to get in very many workouts. Monday was essentially a recovery day that was filled with lots of ice and rest. Tuesday also turned out to be a recovery day since the IT band was still a little bit irritated. Unfortunately for my training, this week at work has been pretty hectic. As there are three chief residents at Tufts, normally there are at least 2 of us around to get all of our daily duties done. For the most part, these consist of doling out admissions to the medical services, dealing with any issues that arise with the residents and setting up for conferences. What made this week so crazy was that both of the other chiefs were away this week as Kevin was on vacation and Eugene was the attending on the Gen Med Service. This meant that my days were crazy and hectic. In addition to an already crazy schedule at Tufts, I was also moonlighting on Tuesday night at Shattuck Hospital. Basically, this meant I was getting to Tufts at 6:45 am on Tuesday, working until 5 pm at which point I took the T to Shattuck Hospital, working at Shattuck Hospital from 6pm until 7:30 am on Wednesday and then taking the T back to Tufts to work 8 am 4pm. Needless to say once I got done with that shift ... I was beat!!!
I woke up on Thursday and was feeling totally exhausted. I knew I had a physical therapy appointment scheduled at 5:30pm and was concerned that I wouldn't be able to fit in a workout at all since I was already going to be cutting it close as I was getting out of work at 4pm. Thankfully, I was able to time the bus perfectly and got home at 4:30 pm. As this was one of the nicest days of the year, with the temps in the low 60's and the sun shining, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a Castle Island run in. I changed into the running gear, through on the sun glasses and took off. I had exactly 40 minutes before my physical therapy appointment started and was going to try to fit in 4 miles.
To switch things up, I decided to do some intervals. I ran my first 1.25 miles at a 7:40 min/mile pace and then walked for a bit. In total, I did a bunch of intervals with my final tally being 3.95 miles in about 36 minutes. While the time seemed good for me, it wasn't the best run I have had. I think that the first 1.25 miles at a sub 8 min mile pace really gassed me out. Regardless, it was a beautiful day, I got to run around Castle Island which is my favorite and I made it to physical therapy on time.
On this day, however, I think PT stood for "punishment therapy" instead of "physical therapy". I told Declan that when I was doing the foam roller at home I found a spot higher up, near my hip that seemed to be pretty tender. His response was "that just means its another area of inflammation, we will get it out". What I didn't realize is that by "get it out", he meant I was in for about 15-12 minutes of the most painful therapy I have had yet. In order to "get it out" Declan started with a deep massage, moved towards using the point of his elbows to help do pressure therapy and then moved to the rolling pin (see below). Honestly, I think the rolling pin could be a substitute for water boarding because it was basically torture. For about 10 minutes I laid on the table laughing because I was having the outside of my leg crushed with a rolling pin in an attempt to loosen this damn IT band. Ultimately, Declan asked me why I was laughing and I basically told him because if I wasn't laughing I would be crying.
I do have to say though that since that physical therapy appointment, while my leg has been sore (in a bruised type of way) the knee issues do seem to be much much better! Guess it comes down to the old saying ... no pain, no gain.
I woke up on Thursday and was feeling totally exhausted. I knew I had a physical therapy appointment scheduled at 5:30pm and was concerned that I wouldn't be able to fit in a workout at all since I was already going to be cutting it close as I was getting out of work at 4pm. Thankfully, I was able to time the bus perfectly and got home at 4:30 pm. As this was one of the nicest days of the year, with the temps in the low 60's and the sun shining, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a Castle Island run in. I changed into the running gear, through on the sun glasses and took off. I had exactly 40 minutes before my physical therapy appointment started and was going to try to fit in 4 miles.
To switch things up, I decided to do some intervals. I ran my first 1.25 miles at a 7:40 min/mile pace and then walked for a bit. In total, I did a bunch of intervals with my final tally being 3.95 miles in about 36 minutes. While the time seemed good for me, it wasn't the best run I have had. I think that the first 1.25 miles at a sub 8 min mile pace really gassed me out. Regardless, it was a beautiful day, I got to run around Castle Island which is my favorite and I made it to physical therapy on time.
On this day, however, I think PT stood for "punishment therapy" instead of "physical therapy". I told Declan that when I was doing the foam roller at home I found a spot higher up, near my hip that seemed to be pretty tender. His response was "that just means its another area of inflammation, we will get it out". What I didn't realize is that by "get it out", he meant I was in for about 15-12 minutes of the most painful therapy I have had yet. In order to "get it out" Declan started with a deep massage, moved towards using the point of his elbows to help do pressure therapy and then moved to the rolling pin (see below). Honestly, I think the rolling pin could be a substitute for water boarding because it was basically torture. For about 10 minutes I laid on the table laughing because I was having the outside of my leg crushed with a rolling pin in an attempt to loosen this damn IT band. Ultimately, Declan asked me why I was laughing and I basically told him because if I wasn't laughing I would be crying.
I do have to say though that since that physical therapy appointment, while my leg has been sore (in a bruised type of way) the knee issues do seem to be much much better! Guess it comes down to the old saying ... no pain, no gain.
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| I just wanted to put this in here since it is essentially the same "rolling pin" that was used to absolutely crush my IT band during my physical therapy appointment this week. |
A Few Days to Recover
So the early part of this week was spent recovering from the aftermath of my most recent long run (a run which also happens to be the longest I have done up to this point). Monday and Tuesday were tough days because the IT band was pretty sore after the 3 hours of running it endured on Sunday. I spent most of Monday & Tuesday icing the outside of my knee to help cut down some of the inflammation that was going on. It helps working in the hospital since I have access to an ice machine, plastic bags and ace bandages. Literally, over the course of Monday & Tuesday I think I iced my knee at least ten times. Like before, when my IT band is really flared up I have some problems walking down stairs just because that is a motion that is notorious for irritating the inflamed tendon. I used the elevator a little bit more than normal at work but I was able to get by.
Thankfully, I had two physical therapy appointments scheduled for this week since I knew that I would likely need it after a 15 mile run. Monday's appointment was pretty uneventful and went like most of the other appointments had gone. It started out with some ultrasound therapy (still haven't looked it up to see if it really works, but I am will go with anything at this point if someone tells me that it will work), deep tissue massage on the IT band to try to loosen it up, stretches aimed at the hips & legs and then it ended with quad / hip strengthening exercises. Overall, it took me a little bit longer to recover from this run but I am assuming it was just because of the shear distance of the long run.
Thankfully, I had two physical therapy appointments scheduled for this week since I knew that I would likely need it after a 15 mile run. Monday's appointment was pretty uneventful and went like most of the other appointments had gone. It started out with some ultrasound therapy (still haven't looked it up to see if it really works, but I am will go with anything at this point if someone tells me that it will work), deep tissue massage on the IT band to try to loosen it up, stretches aimed at the hips & legs and then it ended with quad / hip strengthening exercises. Overall, it took me a little bit longer to recover from this run but I am assuming it was just because of the shear distance of the long run.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Do or Die
That was pretty much the feeling I had heading into this weeks long run. Its definitely crunch time and with my longest run up until this point being a 13 miler, I needed to get back on the road for some serious mileage. As I mentioned in my last post, this weeks L Street long run was scheduled for a 15 mile stroll through Boston. As Sunday starting to get closer, I could definitely feel some anxiety building up. I didn't know if my elliptical training was enough to get me ready for this type of distance or how my knee was going to feel during it. Regardless, there is literally 4 months of training riding on the fact that I can do these last few runs and complete the big run on April 18th.
As I wrote about in my last entry, our Saturday night was spent at the DMSE Gala with Tom and Lyn. Unforunately, this weekend happened to be daylight savings time ... which meant that we turned the clocks ahead and lost a precious hour of sleep. Regardless, Renee and I ended up getting to sleep around 12:30 am (after pushing the clocks ahead). Before I knew it, my alarm was going off ... 6:30 am! Despite the fact that we were meeting our friend Lauren at 7:30, I woke up a little bit early so I could shower to make sure I was wide awake and to get some serious stretching in.
The weather this Sunday had finally started to warm up. In the morning, it was in the 40's with overcast clouds and barely any wind. I decided to wear shorts, a T Shirt and a wind breaker. As we stepped outside, I knew this was crunch time ... and I was pretty focused on having a good run. Renee, Lauren and I started out an slow - average pace. From what I had noticed based on my last few runs, my IT band pain seems to be better if I am running at a faster pace (apparently, after doing some reading online this is pretty common). After we hit the first water stop at about 4 miles, I decided to try to run at a little faster pace and ended up breaking away from the girls.
The first four miles had gone by like nothing. For the next leg, I increased my pace a little bit and was lucky enough to find a group of 4 runners that happened to be running at the same speed I was. I ducked in behind them much like a race car will draft one in front of it, and I used them to help me maintain my pace. The next few miles seemed to fly by. While I didn't have our watch on, I am guessing that my pace was probably around the 9:30 mark. I passed another two water stops and before I knew it I heard someone say that our mileage was up to 8.5! Yep, thats right, I had just run 8.5 miles and barely even felt tired. While my knee was starting to get a little bit sore, I felt great.
After our water stop at the 9 mile mark, I hit my first group run screw up. The guys that I was following seemed to split ways and before I knew it I was running behind 3 other people. As we were coming up to an intersection at Beacon St they turned around to me and said "Any clue where we are supposed to go?". So this brings to light another fact of my running career ... since I am no where near the fastest person on these runs ... I really only look at the route for the first 3-4 miles of a run since I know that after that there will be a ton of people in front of me that I can just follow. Well, needless to say, I followed the wrong people and got myself lost. Thankfully, there was a speedy lady in her 40's who ran up and said she knew where to go.
I basically spent the next two miles running along the Charles river trying to keep up with her so I didn't lose sight of her and get totally lost. And when I say "trying to keep up with her", I basically mean trying to keep her in sight. It wasn't until this portion of the run that I started to hit a few problems with the IT band. At around mile 10 or so it started acting up a little bit but as long as I was running, I was fine.
The real trouble hit when I stopped at the water stop at mile 11 and started to stretch out a cramp I had in my right quad. I learned a hard lesson on this one ... my IT band tightens up really quickly when I am not moving. It only took about 1-2 minutes worth of standing still and them my IT band totally locked up. I spent the next 2-3 minutes massaging it and stretching it out. After walking for a short distance, I finally got it loose enough to get back to running. I knew in my head that for the next few miles ... there wasn't going to be any stopping!
The last portion of this run took us from downtown Boston under I-93 and back into Southie. I guess to make the run harder, they build in a huge 0.75 mile hill (West Broadway) into the end of the run. This is when I really started to feel fatigued and realized I probably hadn't drank enough water to replace what I had been sweating out for the last 2 hours and 45 mins. I ended up digging it out up the hill on West Broadway, and had to go right past the water stop because I was afraid that if I stopped moving the IT band would lock up yet again. In the end, I was able to push up the hill on West Broadway and run down the hill on East Broadway to complete a 15 mile run!
Like I said at the start of this entry ... this run was a do or die for me. Deep down I felt like if I wasn't able to complete this run i was going to be in some real trouble for the marathon. That being said, I am not out of the woods yet since I am still nursing this knee issue, but this run definitely gave me the confidence that I needed looking ahead at my last two big runs .... #1 March 27th - 20 mile long run ... #2 April 18th - Boston!
Its hard to believe that when I first started this blog I mentioned how the Boston Marathon was ~148 days away. Well, now its only 34!
As I wrote about in my last entry, our Saturday night was spent at the DMSE Gala with Tom and Lyn. Unforunately, this weekend happened to be daylight savings time ... which meant that we turned the clocks ahead and lost a precious hour of sleep. Regardless, Renee and I ended up getting to sleep around 12:30 am (after pushing the clocks ahead). Before I knew it, my alarm was going off ... 6:30 am! Despite the fact that we were meeting our friend Lauren at 7:30, I woke up a little bit early so I could shower to make sure I was wide awake and to get some serious stretching in.
The weather this Sunday had finally started to warm up. In the morning, it was in the 40's with overcast clouds and barely any wind. I decided to wear shorts, a T Shirt and a wind breaker. As we stepped outside, I knew this was crunch time ... and I was pretty focused on having a good run. Renee, Lauren and I started out an slow - average pace. From what I had noticed based on my last few runs, my IT band pain seems to be better if I am running at a faster pace (apparently, after doing some reading online this is pretty common). After we hit the first water stop at about 4 miles, I decided to try to run at a little faster pace and ended up breaking away from the girls.
The first four miles had gone by like nothing. For the next leg, I increased my pace a little bit and was lucky enough to find a group of 4 runners that happened to be running at the same speed I was. I ducked in behind them much like a race car will draft one in front of it, and I used them to help me maintain my pace. The next few miles seemed to fly by. While I didn't have our watch on, I am guessing that my pace was probably around the 9:30 mark. I passed another two water stops and before I knew it I heard someone say that our mileage was up to 8.5! Yep, thats right, I had just run 8.5 miles and barely even felt tired. While my knee was starting to get a little bit sore, I felt great.
After our water stop at the 9 mile mark, I hit my first group run screw up. The guys that I was following seemed to split ways and before I knew it I was running behind 3 other people. As we were coming up to an intersection at Beacon St they turned around to me and said "Any clue where we are supposed to go?". So this brings to light another fact of my running career ... since I am no where near the fastest person on these runs ... I really only look at the route for the first 3-4 miles of a run since I know that after that there will be a ton of people in front of me that I can just follow. Well, needless to say, I followed the wrong people and got myself lost. Thankfully, there was a speedy lady in her 40's who ran up and said she knew where to go.
I basically spent the next two miles running along the Charles river trying to keep up with her so I didn't lose sight of her and get totally lost. And when I say "trying to keep up with her", I basically mean trying to keep her in sight. It wasn't until this portion of the run that I started to hit a few problems with the IT band. At around mile 10 or so it started acting up a little bit but as long as I was running, I was fine.
The real trouble hit when I stopped at the water stop at mile 11 and started to stretch out a cramp I had in my right quad. I learned a hard lesson on this one ... my IT band tightens up really quickly when I am not moving. It only took about 1-2 minutes worth of standing still and them my IT band totally locked up. I spent the next 2-3 minutes massaging it and stretching it out. After walking for a short distance, I finally got it loose enough to get back to running. I knew in my head that for the next few miles ... there wasn't going to be any stopping!
The last portion of this run took us from downtown Boston under I-93 and back into Southie. I guess to make the run harder, they build in a huge 0.75 mile hill (West Broadway) into the end of the run. This is when I really started to feel fatigued and realized I probably hadn't drank enough water to replace what I had been sweating out for the last 2 hours and 45 mins. I ended up digging it out up the hill on West Broadway, and had to go right past the water stop because I was afraid that if I stopped moving the IT band would lock up yet again. In the end, I was able to push up the hill on West Broadway and run down the hill on East Broadway to complete a 15 mile run!
Like I said at the start of this entry ... this run was a do or die for me. Deep down I felt like if I wasn't able to complete this run i was going to be in some real trouble for the marathon. That being said, I am not out of the woods yet since I am still nursing this knee issue, but this run definitely gave me the confidence that I needed looking ahead at my last two big runs .... #1 March 27th - 20 mile long run ... #2 April 18th - Boston!
Its hard to believe that when I first started this blog I mentioned how the Boston Marathon was ~148 days away. Well, now its only 34!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
DMSE Gala
After a great night at our fundraiser on Friday, Renee and I were right back at it on Saturday. Thanks to our good friends Tom & Lyn we were able to buy tickets to the Dave McGillivary Sports Enterprise (DMSE) Gala, which was an event aimed at celebrating the fact that Dave McGillivary (race director of the Boston Marathon who I mentioned in a post back from January) has been involved in organizing, directing and donating to charities for over 30 years.
The event was very nice and had a raffle / auction similar to ours. I guess the only difference is that instead of $25 gift cards and 50% of a massage, they were auctioning off autographed bike jerseys from Lance Armstrong, 7 night cruises, tons of Red Sox memorabilia and more! I bid on one item which was an Oakley Backpack ... but in the end I ultimately got outbid.
The highlight of the night was definitely getting to spend some time with Tom, Lyn, Chrissy and Aaron. We hadn't seen them in about a month or so and it was a great opportunity to catch up. Unfortunately, we had to take off earlier than we had hoped since we had a big run planned for Sunday morning and we were losing an hour of sleep from the daylight savings time change! Regardless, it was great to see them!!!
The event was very nice and had a raffle / auction similar to ours. I guess the only difference is that instead of $25 gift cards and 50% of a massage, they were auctioning off autographed bike jerseys from Lance Armstrong, 7 night cruises, tons of Red Sox memorabilia and more! I bid on one item which was an Oakley Backpack ... but in the end I ultimately got outbid.
The highlight of the night was definitely getting to spend some time with Tom, Lyn, Chrissy and Aaron. We hadn't seen them in about a month or so and it was a great opportunity to catch up. Unfortunately, we had to take off earlier than we had hoped since we had a big run planned for Sunday morning and we were losing an hour of sleep from the daylight savings time change! Regardless, it was great to see them!!!
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| Renee and I at the DMSE Gala |
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| DMSE Gala Flyer |
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| Keith, Renee, Lyn, Tom |
Charity Fundraiser
Friday marked the day of our big charity fundraiser, which was aimed at raising money for Generation Excel. Since Renee's official was through a charity, she was obligated to raise $3500 in order to uphold her end of the bargain. While we have been getting tons of donations from our close family & friends, you realize very quickly that $3500 is a lot of money to come up with!! At the time of the fundraiser, we were about 36% of the way to our goal with a total of $1250 raised.
Our fundraiser took place at the Atlantic Beer Garden in the Seaport District and consistent of a raffle in which we raffled off tons of gift cards and services that were donated to us free of cost from local businesses. Between charging $10 at the door and then selling raffle tickets we were able to raise nearly $1000. The best part of the whole night was when we found out that one of our friend's companies is actually willing to match the donation ... which basically means that we were able to raise a total of $2000!!! Between what we had already raised and the funds we got from the fundraiser we are essentially at our goal.
The success of our fundraiser is due totally to our amazing group of friends & coworkers as well as the multiple businesses that were willing to donate to us! It couldn't have gone better!
Our fundraiser took place at the Atlantic Beer Garden in the Seaport District and consistent of a raffle in which we raffled off tons of gift cards and services that were donated to us free of cost from local businesses. Between charging $10 at the door and then selling raffle tickets we were able to raise nearly $1000. The best part of the whole night was when we found out that one of our friend's companies is actually willing to match the donation ... which basically means that we were able to raise a total of $2000!!! Between what we had already raised and the funds we got from the fundraiser we are essentially at our goal.
The success of our fundraiser is due totally to our amazing group of friends & coworkers as well as the multiple businesses that were willing to donate to us! It couldn't have gone better!
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| Renee and I working the raffle table. |
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| All of the prizes being raffled off. |
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| One arm's length of raffle tickets for $10 |
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| Picture of Patrick Malone, who was the winner of the most desired prize in the raffle ... a free twosome to Granite Links Golf Course. He is also an avid reader of this blog. |
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Best Run in 8 Weeks
Today was a big day in my recovery and in my training overall. As I mentioned before, I was planning on hitting the road for a short - mid distance run. I guess before I should get into the run, I should talk a little bit more of the 'retail therapy' that took place earlier in the week. I know I wrote about the shoes that I bought over the weekend since I was desperate for anything that might make a difference and help me out. Well, Monday night I decided to order my own foam roller. Not sure if I described what a foam roller is, but its a big round cylinder/tube of foam that you use to "roll" your IT band. The goal of the roller is to try to stretch out / lengthen your IT band with the hope that loosening it up will help alleviate or improve the symptoms. Since I was pretty desperate this past week after my miserable run last Thursday, I decided to order this as well hoping it would help. While I was on the amazon page for the foam roller they had a section that said "Most of the people who viewed this product also bought this IT Band brace". Up until this point I had never heard of an IT band brace, but I figured for $14 it was worth a try. Remember ... its crunch time and I am starting to get pretty desperate! Well, both of these items actually came in yesterday which was perfect timing since I was able to use the brace on my run.
I got home from work today around 3:30. Despite being pretty tired (since we got last minute tickets to the Celtics game last night) I knew I had to man up and get this workout in. The weather was kind of lousy today ... temperatures in the 40's, really cloudy / overcast and a moderate wind of 10-15 mph. I actually decided to make the run today in shorts and an under armor shirt with a light windbreaker. In addition to the usual stuff, I also strapped on the new IT band brace that I had recently bought. Like I said above, I had never heard of an IT band brace and wasn't sure if it would have any benefit at all ... but I was desperate and figured it couldn't hurt to try.
Once I was geared up, I headed out to the road ... unsure of how the run was going to go. I started running and actually felt good. I headed down East 1st towards Castle Island and before I knew it I was half a mile into my run ... and for the first time in a while didn't have any pain in the knee! My pace was good, actually, it was faster than I expected at 9:20 min / mile. I headed down East 1st and before I knew it I was at Castle Island. With the lousy weather, there weren't many other people out there. The distance kept piling up and I felt great. After 2 miles, my cardio was in tune and my knee felt great. I actually finished my first two miles in under 19 minutes which is a great pace for me. When I made the turn to head back home my pace picked up even more. I am not sure if I was just on an adrenaline rush from being on my first good run in a while or whether it was the fact that for once I actually had the wind at my back, but my pace picked up to 8:40 min / mile.
It wasn't until about 3.25 miles that I felt the first twinge in my knee. The pain in my knee was different this time. I think the brace may have actually worked because the discomfort was much more mild and much more localized than previously. I kept pushing through ran straight to my physical therapy office. The final stats when the run was completed were ... 4.25 miles in 38 minutes! The most important part of the run was that the knee barely hurt at all!!!! Again, I am not sure what made the difference but I didn't care. Was it the physical therapy finally kicking in? Did the new shoes I bought actually make a difference because they had a firmer sole that prevented pronation of my foot? Could a $14 dollar cloth IT Band brace really make a difference and have this type of effect? Like I said, I really have no clue what it was and I really don't care. I am just hoping that my next few runs are as good as this one.
The plan for now is going to be some pretty heavy icing / stretching for the next 12 hours. I am going to try to get to the gym in the morning for a little elliptical work since I won't have time afterward with our big fundraiser tomorrow night. Then, the sights are set on this long run on Sunday. That will be the real test ... fingers crossed.
I got home from work today around 3:30. Despite being pretty tired (since we got last minute tickets to the Celtics game last night) I knew I had to man up and get this workout in. The weather was kind of lousy today ... temperatures in the 40's, really cloudy / overcast and a moderate wind of 10-15 mph. I actually decided to make the run today in shorts and an under armor shirt with a light windbreaker. In addition to the usual stuff, I also strapped on the new IT band brace that I had recently bought. Like I said above, I had never heard of an IT band brace and wasn't sure if it would have any benefit at all ... but I was desperate and figured it couldn't hurt to try.
Once I was geared up, I headed out to the road ... unsure of how the run was going to go. I started running and actually felt good. I headed down East 1st towards Castle Island and before I knew it I was half a mile into my run ... and for the first time in a while didn't have any pain in the knee! My pace was good, actually, it was faster than I expected at 9:20 min / mile. I headed down East 1st and before I knew it I was at Castle Island. With the lousy weather, there weren't many other people out there. The distance kept piling up and I felt great. After 2 miles, my cardio was in tune and my knee felt great. I actually finished my first two miles in under 19 minutes which is a great pace for me. When I made the turn to head back home my pace picked up even more. I am not sure if I was just on an adrenaline rush from being on my first good run in a while or whether it was the fact that for once I actually had the wind at my back, but my pace picked up to 8:40 min / mile.
It wasn't until about 3.25 miles that I felt the first twinge in my knee. The pain in my knee was different this time. I think the brace may have actually worked because the discomfort was much more mild and much more localized than previously. I kept pushing through ran straight to my physical therapy office. The final stats when the run was completed were ... 4.25 miles in 38 minutes! The most important part of the run was that the knee barely hurt at all!!!! Again, I am not sure what made the difference but I didn't care. Was it the physical therapy finally kicking in? Did the new shoes I bought actually make a difference because they had a firmer sole that prevented pronation of my foot? Could a $14 dollar cloth IT Band brace really make a difference and have this type of effect? Like I said, I really have no clue what it was and I really don't care. I am just hoping that my next few runs are as good as this one.
The plan for now is going to be some pretty heavy icing / stretching for the next 12 hours. I am going to try to get to the gym in the morning for a little elliptical work since I won't have time afterward with our big fundraiser tomorrow night. Then, the sights are set on this long run on Sunday. That will be the real test ... fingers crossed.
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