Okay, so when I left off, the knee pain was starting to kick in and I was employing the little knee strappy thingee, some drugs and some gumption to power through this mess. And power through that 18 ile training run I did. ANd the blessed 90 minute massage (all together now, ahhhhh)
This week was a hot mess on multiple fronts. One: I am three weeks away from submitting my first ever NIH R01 grant. It's a big sucker: 25 pages of research proposal, about another 50 pages of administrative junk. Basically it's a request for 700,000$ or so for 5 years worth of work. It's pretty difficult to project out 5 yrs, let alone 5 weeks! So the runs are kinda a nice break for me.
Now due to this craziness, I am actually very glad to be training during this time, as everyone I know loses it during this last push, usually resulting in weight gain. So at least I can hold steady during this time, due to the training. And I am keeping my neck muscle seizures to a minimum right now. They still creep up when I want to throttle people, but not as bad as 6 months ago, when they incapacitated me!
Anyway, this was a not very good week for the knees. After the weekend's exertions, Monday was a bad day for knees, but I had to go and test things out. I was supposed to do 5 miles or so, but I decided to do 4.2 in the back meadow again, so as to keep off the pavement. I cant tell you how much it hurt to start running for the first 2 minutes. I was kinda throwing my right (good) side around and hopping on the left side. The biggest problem was that my left knee is locking in the straight position on the back pushoff. It's basically trying to buckle backwards. Now, if I focus on form and LIFT MY KNEES, I can start to resolve these issues. But it's only working so much. I have screwed with my knees for so long now, this was bound to happen. I mean basically I have done 25k training before. But the longest run I do for those is a 12 miler, and I only do that once, along with a 10, a 9 and two 8s. This has been 12-18 miles like 8 times now! Anyway, with a little bit of run-walk, I slogged through the 4.2 miles in an 11 minute mile. Okay. I can deal with that. I iced my knees that night though, and drugged out on some ibuprofen.
Tuesday I had my trainer session and we backed off on leg extensions, which was good. Did a lot of upper body and hamstrings. I ran on the treadmill for about 3 miles, as we did linebacker for 60 minutes as a threesome, instead of the usual 30. It was rough. The circuit was treadmill, weights, versaclimber. I passed out that evening at 9pm.
Wed: I went to my strappy cardio strength training class. A lot of step aerobics to start, so I immediately felt like a 90 yr old woman. I slogged it out and got another great upper body and hip workout.
Thursday: No trainer today so I went and hit the meadow again for another 4.2 miles. This tie I did not walk any parts of it, and after pushing through a very uncomfortable 2 miles, decided to say screw it and kick it into a 9:30 for the last 2 miles. It kind of worked things out and my stride elongated and I was nt doing the Quasimoto shuffle any longer. I also diverted my attentions during this run by constructing a letter to Oprah in my head, cursing her for setting the bar at a 10 minute mile for the damn race. Curses Oprah, curses! Anyway, made it through, unscathed. Iced it up big time again when I got home.
Friday: not an off day. This was CUSTER DAY! Hurray! Custer is my FAVORITE mountain bike trail in MIchigan, where I am two-time defending champion (in my age group, and class, but pay no mind to the details). I love to go really fast at Custer as I have been able to memorize a good portion of the trail, and despite munching it BIG time there during a race, I still come back for more as it is a technically demanding trail. I took a half day from work (really should not have) and went to meet Graveels and Jenn. This was Jenn's inaugural ride at Custer and I think, despite her teeth grinding and mumbling, she likes it. I have never seen a 100lb person wipe out and kick up such a ginormous cloud of dust as Jenn. Anyway. Custer was what the Dr ordered. We did 8 miles or so- I would have liked to have done 15-20mi if I had the time, as it just worked out all the knee pain from the past week. It was unbelievable.
Saturday: Worked at my house digging crap up again. Didnt eat enough as usual. And then Graveels had a brilliant idea to make nachos for dinner. Mind you this is a pre-race dinner as I am in town to run the Bridge run with Jenn.
I
AM
Dumb
I was so hungry I scarfed it down, damn the consequences, which reared their ugly heads at 6am. I'll spare you the details.
Sunday: race day. An exercise in what not to wear. Like the long sleeved shirt. Dont wear the giant long sleeved shirt when running, just because it's 45 degrees at the start. Because you'll want to rip it off within 2 miles. Okay so here's where I meet Jenn and we jog to the start line from the stute. It's pretty pathetic since she is hurting from her Custer falls, and my knees have reawoken just in time for the race. We talked it over and were shooting for a 10 minute mile + pace. Apparently Speedy Gonzales had other plans- like an opening 8:45/mil pace. What the shit?! Well, we also discussed that if one was faster - just go. This was not a no-drop run. It was a race. So Jenn powered ahead and I kept looking for a damn portapot, as she convinced me that my full bladder would just go away once I started running. Ummm, no. Hit one at 6 miles finally, and came out, and the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I felt 15 lbs lighter!
I had promised myself to finish in 100 minutes, a 10 minute mile for 10 miles, and holy crap I finished in 100.00 minutes to the second! I am glad I did this race, although I gotta tell you, I was seriously flogged afterwards.
So our tally, going into the last huge training week prior to the taper...
Mon 4.2
Tues 3 + Xtrain
Wed Xtrain
Th 4.2
Fri 8 mile bike
Sat 0
Sun 10.
so run: 21.4 mi + 8 mi bike
And this was a back down week? WTF!
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