I am so sick of injury's

Mon Aug 17th

Did long run today since didnt get the chance to do it on Sat.. I hate running first thing in the morning because it takes so long to get my body warmed up so for the first 2 miles my body hurts and feels stiff.. I pulled my inner top thigh muscle almost where it goes into the hip flexor last week doing to much weight.. Ever since then my legs have been sore.. And the running has aggrevated it more.. Hope it heals quickly.. Got in 8 miles with avg pace of 9.58 which was better then I thought.. I was constantly watching my garmin which I really didnt want to do but I couldnt help it and I was constantly dropping below the goal pace in the mid to high 10 min range and it didnt even seem like I had changed my pace but I guess I did.. But then there were times I was in the 8 min range so I guess it averages out. So that was good... My highest mileage so far..... But Today I was really tired and sore and my knee started hurting around mile 6 and really nagged me all the rest of the way. I barely made it today.. I def dont think I could have done a half today.. And I got 3 diffrent huge blisters on my toes.. Ouch!! Hope weds running goes better.. I am going to skip the easy run and try the scheduled tempo run to get me back on track.. I was supposed to have an easier week last week with less mileage but I somehow forgot about that. I was supposed to do an easy 3 miler on Sat so I dont feel to bad about getting my long run in.. I should have just sticked with the sched for today and did a light run so I guess I will do the easy run on Sat instead since I did my long run today and stick with the speed work for weds.. That should put me back on track..



Wow have I confused you yet??

Tues 18th-
13 Mile bike ride according to map my run.. Felt a bit longer then that but I didnt have an accurate way of measuring until I get the cadence for the forerunner so had to use the map my run website..

Aug 19th
Goal was to do 7 miles 3x1600's at 8:06 pace.. with 800 jogs in between.. I knew that I wasnt going to be able to do it that is pretty fast for me.. I was still hurting up in my leg from lifting weights the week before and mondays long run really aggrevated it.. I am definently not the smartest person. I thought I could go do my speed work today and maybe the pain would work itself out.. My dad came along on his bike.. It was great having the companionship.. It made it go alot faster but it also hindered me alittle in the fact that when I was really hurting I should have stopped but I didnt want him to have to wait for me so I kept running with the pain and now I am really paying for it..
The good thing was for the first 2 miles of speed work I hit my goal which really surprised me.. The first mile I got in at 7:31 and the second mile was at 8:00 pace so that made me really happy but by the 3rd mile I was really starting to hurt and I had to slow down considerably and did that mile in 8:51 then the last 2 miles of easy run I dropped clear down into the 12 min mile pace and walked the last .25 mile well actually limped home. I was having alot of pain in my hip and thigh and down into my groin. I tried doing some rolling and an ice bath which was painful in itself but didnt help too much I have been limping on it eversince and because of the limping it is starting to cause pains in other areas... What a mess!!! I ended up pulling my muscle that goes from the outer hip across the front hip flexor into the groin and down the inner leg.. I have never experienced anything like this.. It hurts so bad.. I have actually had to resort to using crutches or a cane.. I went and saw a chiropractor lastnight hoping he could help get me lined back up and he said I was a mess.. Just what I wanted to hear.. I have alot of muscle tightness everywhere and said I needed some work on that so I guess I need to go find a massage therapist.. Plus I have a very mild case of spinal bifida which is why I have a weak lower back and have always struggeled with it.. So I am not sure how long I will have to take off from running to heal but I am hoping its not too long since my half is only 4 weeks away..

Aaaghhh this is so frustrating... If its not one thing its another.. Knee's, shin and now this...

Vacation Running..

Mon aug 10th

Increased my mileage for this day.. 4.01 miles in 10:08 Had no problem with the pace in fact avg pace was 9:33 I actually had some times where I broke into the high 7 mile pace.. I was excited about that.. I knew this week would be hard for my sched because of going on vacation..

Weds.
Dissapointed.. went outside in Fort Madison Illinoise to run and couldnt find any roads except the freeway to run on so only did a mile then went and finished up the rest of my run in the hotel excercise room which sucked.. The room was like 85 degrees they offered no towels no water nothing.. Their treadmill sucked.. I was wanting to do intervals today but didnt work out to well.. Got in 2-3 reps of 5 mins going around 7.6 in speed with 3 min rests in between but ended up running out of steam to fast and had to cut back alot and ended up doing more of a mild tempo run instead.. Was going to do 5 miles but only ended up with 4.6 and couldnt do anymore..Wasn't the best idea to do this type of run then go spend all day walking around in Nauvoo in 90 degree humid weather.. I had a hard time today.. Over did it I think!

Thurs
Had a great bike ride with my dad today.. We figured we went somewhere between 12-15 Miles.

Couldn't get my long run in on Sat because of traveling all day back home. I hate getting off my schedule but there was nothing I could do about it..

Recovery

Well I was feeling healed enough to attempt running by the end of the week, so on Thursday I got on the Elliptical so there wouldn't be any jarring and did really well. I got in 6 miles.

Friday- Went on easy run just to make sure the jarring didn't cause any problems and did fine.. got in 4.84 miles with a avg pace of 9.18 I even was able to get part of the time in the high 7 min range so that was good.. I think that was the first time I have broke into the 7 min range and it didn't even feel like I was trying that hard so that made me feel good.. Did full body weights today being careful with back.

Sat.-
It had been pouring rain all day so I really wasn't planning on doing my long run today plus I was a bit sore from doing weights Fri. but around 4:00 it stopped so I decided to get my butt out there while it had the chance and get it done.. It was pretty humid but there was a bit of a breeze which helped and was a little bit cooler in temp which helped make it tolerable.. Right as I was heading out the door we had decided we were going to go see the new harry potter movie so I was limited in my time.. Only got in 6.44 miles with avg pace around 9.32 I have noticed that I have been doing better in my paces lately.. I was supposed to stay at a pace of 10:14 for my long runs but I kept it easy and comfortable and managed to stay in the 8-9 min range so that is good. I still struggle just a little with my tempo runs.. Hopefully they will come... I registered finally for the half so now I'm stuck.. I have to commit.. Hopefully I will stick with it and be ready.. I am going to re test for the physical agility test in October (I know call me crazy) so this time I am going to get together with another girl who is doing it and a firefighter and we are going to practice the dummy rescue thing.. I just pray that during these practices I don't strain my back again before the test.. I am really going to have to focus on my strength training and get my back stronger.. Anybody have some great exercises or weight lifting moves to strengthen the lower back?? Oh ya and I finally lost my middle toe's nail that has been black for the last 2 months. Now if my baby toes nail on my other foot wood just come off....

Monday 10th
Got in 4 miles today.. goal was 4 in 10:08 My avg pace was 9:33 so happy about that.. It was so hot and humid today it about killed me. I was wet before I even got out my driveway.. We have been having such crazy storms here leaving us wet and humid and hot. It is so hard to run when its so humid it just sucks the life out of ya... Of course I was reflecting back on last years running and I swear that I was running in the 8 min range miles but that was just trying to figure it out by map my run and my watch.. Didn't have any fancy GPS gadgets like I have now so maybe my mileage or timing was off.. I don't know just seems like I am not running quite as fast.. Hope that changes..

We are heading for Illinois for vacation tomorrow so I am hoping I will still find the time to get out and run and keep up with my training while on vacation.. These next few weeks will be hard because my parents will be here and we will be traveling around the state and sight seeing, so its always a little harder sticking with the exercising when they are here.. But I just have to stay with it so I don't loose what I have gained so far.. I really want to be ready for the half and I don't feel any where near ready right now.. I am not sure I could do a half right now.. I am not doing it for any kind of record although there is that competitive side to me but I just want to be able to finish it with running the whole way and to be able to say I did it..

Here's to successful training.

Contest Giveaway

Check out my friend Julia's blog for her great giveaway of a nutrition book for athlete's.. Super cool.. I need this so bad.. I have really been struggeling with what to eat and how much and when so this would be the perfect gift to win for me. Good luck everyone!!1

Well I took the Physical agility test on Sat and failed horribly.. Not only did I fail but I injured myself as well.. AAARGGH so frustrating.. So those of you who follow this.. I was testing to become a firefighter/EMT and one of the hardest points of the test is the rescue excercise where you have to pick up and carry or drag this 120 pound burlap dummy 50 feet then up 2 flights of stairs turn around then come back down and go back the 50 feet and put the dummy back down in the starting spot all in like 2 mins.. Also you have a 60 pound air tank strapped to your back with this square plastic thing on the front of your chest and a firemans hat on so all together about 180 pounds of weight on your body that you are trying to get up and down some stairs.. It was so very hard.. I had practiced a few days before but I didnt have the air tank on and that made a huge diffrence.. I tried to do the carry under the dummys arm hold and go backwards up the stairs.. My tank kept hitting the stair case and knocking me over and I was falling back on the stairs and trying to drag myself with the dummy up backwards and I just couldnt do it.. you get 2 chances and the second time I tried dragging it by the legs and did better but still did not finish in the time allotted.. I needed about 50 more seconds..


In the process I ended up pulling all the muscles in my lower back, scraping my arms up and scraping my ankles up on the metal stairs causing them to go black and blue.. See pictures on my other blog..I couldnt even walk by the time I got home and have spent the last 3 days pretty much on bed rest.. today I can walk and it seems to be improving but I definently cant run this week.. I think I will try and see what thursday or friday brings and see if I can do a light run or at least the elliptical... So there goes a whole week of training down the tube.. I'm so bummed but it must have not been meant to be at this time.. I may try again at the next test in November... ..