It's been a long time! Partly because life has been... well, life, with all of the unexpected that comes along with it, but mostly because I have been temporarily derailed from running ! I am still not quite recovered from NY, which was a month ago at this point. Muscles and everything recovered quickly, much to my surprise, but my knee pain was very severe after the race.
A quick back story. About 3 weeks before NYC I sprained something around the left knee area. Never had an MRI or such, tried to keep running on it for a few days. As it got worse and worse, I went (out of desperation, I have a deep disdain for going to the doctor) to a chiropractic/sports doctor. This is where I got the sprain diagnosis, and for the 10 days prior to my marathon I did not run. NOT ONE STEP! Talk about building up your nerves.. the last thing anyone wants after so much training is to be on the bench. I went to the doctor's every day for the week before the race, doing stretches, getting 'adjusted', active resistance stuff, etc.
Up until the day of the race, I really didn't know what would happened when I tried to run. My last prior run had been a 10 miler, with stabbing feelings of pain. Can't do that for 26 miles! As one of my running buddies suggested though, the adrenaline completely took over. I felt pain in my knee for the first 3 or 4 miles - after that, the rush of excitement made it go away. And after that, the pain in the rest of my body masked it :).
As soon as I stopped running though, the rush of pain came back. It literally took me over an hour to get from the finish line to the family reunion point, because I had to take such tiny and crippled steps. (But at that point you're so happy you don't really care, so not too much complaint here!) The next few days I really couldn't walk. Pain in my knee and pain in my hip, which is a more chronic point of injury for me.
So fast forward ahead, we're now on the 4th of December. A month and a day after NY, and I've finally stopped feeling pain while doing everyday activities. Well, except running, which I would love to be an everyday activity again. Last I tried running, it still hurt. I'm going to try again tomorrow, with a much less ambitious goal of a few miles. As soon as pain starts though, I'm done. I'm tired of 'testing and regressing.'
What have I been doing during my recovery, you may ask? A few things. First, lots of yoga. I have taken that up as a method of self healing, and it seems to be doing quite a good job. A bit of biking. Swimming (ok, only twice). And LOTS and LOTS of race planning! I HAVE to believe that I'll be better soon, because that's what keeps me motivated to get through all of these less-than-fantastic workouts.
After much debate, I've decided that I'm going all in for the Rock 'n Roll tour pass for 2014! Also, attempting my first ultramarathon and trail race, and setting a yearly goal of 3000 miles. Why would I ever do that after getting injured? It seems kind of backward.
My reasons are both physical and mental. Physically, I hurt myself when I push. I need to learn how to do well in a race and still maintain good form, stay injury free, and listen to my body. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this knee injury came from attempting my first trail race 4 weeks out, and then hitting a 1/2 marathon hard 3 weeks out, from NY. Lots and lots of pounding on my joints, I need to work on running lighter on my feet.
Mentally, it's all about pressure. Races are great, they have excitement, fun, and friends! But they also have pressure, and I suck at dealing with pressure. I'm pretty sure my best marathon has been completed on a long training run - well, 24-25/26 miles of it anyway. That's because I'm nice and relaxed, I don't push the pace if I feel I'm dragging, and I just take the day as it comes. With races every month, I intend to do just that. No single race is so important to get stressed out over it, and a bad day is just that. Most of my races will be training runs, and if I feel great that day I may just PR. Who knows.
So here's the lineup as I see it so far (only major players included).
January : Rock n Roll Arizona
February : Rock n Roll New Orleans
March: Rock n Roll DC
April: Boston (if I'm lucky enough to get in!) or Rock n Roll Raleigh
May: Reach the Beach MA (if I can find a team!!)
June: Rock n Roll San Diego or Seattle
July: Rock n Roll Chicago Half
August: Falmouth Road Race
September: Reach the Beach NH & Rock n Roll Montreal
October: Ghost Train Trail Race 100m
November: NY (slim chance, but hey, I'm in the lottery again!) / Rock n Roll Las Vegas
December: Rock n Roll San Antonio
Ambitious, sure. But as called out above, they won't all be races. They will all be amazing experiences and loads of fun I'm sure.. and that's what it's all about in the end, right?
A quick back story. About 3 weeks before NYC I sprained something around the left knee area. Never had an MRI or such, tried to keep running on it for a few days. As it got worse and worse, I went (out of desperation, I have a deep disdain for going to the doctor) to a chiropractic/sports doctor. This is where I got the sprain diagnosis, and for the 10 days prior to my marathon I did not run. NOT ONE STEP! Talk about building up your nerves.. the last thing anyone wants after so much training is to be on the bench. I went to the doctor's every day for the week before the race, doing stretches, getting 'adjusted', active resistance stuff, etc.
Up until the day of the race, I really didn't know what would happened when I tried to run. My last prior run had been a 10 miler, with stabbing feelings of pain. Can't do that for 26 miles! As one of my running buddies suggested though, the adrenaline completely took over. I felt pain in my knee for the first 3 or 4 miles - after that, the rush of excitement made it go away. And after that, the pain in the rest of my body masked it :).
As soon as I stopped running though, the rush of pain came back. It literally took me over an hour to get from the finish line to the family reunion point, because I had to take such tiny and crippled steps. (But at that point you're so happy you don't really care, so not too much complaint here!) The next few days I really couldn't walk. Pain in my knee and pain in my hip, which is a more chronic point of injury for me.
So fast forward ahead, we're now on the 4th of December. A month and a day after NY, and I've finally stopped feeling pain while doing everyday activities. Well, except running, which I would love to be an everyday activity again. Last I tried running, it still hurt. I'm going to try again tomorrow, with a much less ambitious goal of a few miles. As soon as pain starts though, I'm done. I'm tired of 'testing and regressing.'
What have I been doing during my recovery, you may ask? A few things. First, lots of yoga. I have taken that up as a method of self healing, and it seems to be doing quite a good job. A bit of biking. Swimming (ok, only twice). And LOTS and LOTS of race planning! I HAVE to believe that I'll be better soon, because that's what keeps me motivated to get through all of these less-than-fantastic workouts.
After much debate, I've decided that I'm going all in for the Rock 'n Roll tour pass for 2014! Also, attempting my first ultramarathon and trail race, and setting a yearly goal of 3000 miles. Why would I ever do that after getting injured? It seems kind of backward.
My reasons are both physical and mental. Physically, I hurt myself when I push. I need to learn how to do well in a race and still maintain good form, stay injury free, and listen to my body. In fact, I'm pretty sure that this knee injury came from attempting my first trail race 4 weeks out, and then hitting a 1/2 marathon hard 3 weeks out, from NY. Lots and lots of pounding on my joints, I need to work on running lighter on my feet.
Mentally, it's all about pressure. Races are great, they have excitement, fun, and friends! But they also have pressure, and I suck at dealing with pressure. I'm pretty sure my best marathon has been completed on a long training run - well, 24-25/26 miles of it anyway. That's because I'm nice and relaxed, I don't push the pace if I feel I'm dragging, and I just take the day as it comes. With races every month, I intend to do just that. No single race is so important to get stressed out over it, and a bad day is just that. Most of my races will be training runs, and if I feel great that day I may just PR. Who knows.
So here's the lineup as I see it so far (only major players included).
January : Rock n Roll Arizona
February : Rock n Roll New Orleans
March: Rock n Roll DC
April: Boston (if I'm lucky enough to get in!) or Rock n Roll Raleigh
May: Reach the Beach MA (if I can find a team!!)
June: Rock n Roll San Diego or Seattle
July: Rock n Roll Chicago Half
August: Falmouth Road Race
September: Reach the Beach NH & Rock n Roll Montreal
October: Ghost Train Trail Race 100m
November: NY (slim chance, but hey, I'm in the lottery again!) / Rock n Roll Las Vegas
December: Rock n Roll San Antonio
Ambitious, sure. But as called out above, they won't all be races. They will all be amazing experiences and loads of fun I'm sure.. and that's what it's all about in the end, right?
