I ran my regular weekday morning route and once I got to the park 3K from my house, I soon discovered that all the paths were covered in ice. So I pretty much did a silly skating, slidey thing through the park until I thought I had good enough grip and started into a run again, only to fall right on my left knee. I now have a lovely bruise on said knee. But that's not all! I get up, shake it off and make my way out of the park. Once I get back onto the street, I start running home. I'm less than a kilometer from my front door, I round a corner and go down on my left hip. It was very slippery and my feet just came right out from under me. I actually just went limp, and other than my ego, nothing was bruised. I almost didn't want to tell my husband because I just knew he would give me hell. I'm not gonna lie, I was stiff all day yesterday, especially my calves. I think they need stripping again because I can feel the muscle knots in them.
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| Doing my bridge exercises at physio with Pizza Pizza right outside my window! |
My physiotherapist has me stretching regularly, and I'm faithfully doing the exercises to strengthen my lower back and glutes. My physio appointment tonight was a very good one. My back and left leg have much better mobility and he can totally see lots of improvement. Exactly what I wanted to hear. He was super impressed that I rested for three days. Something he would have never dreamed of asking me to do. Even though that was hard for me, I do give myself credit for realizing that I am not Wonder Woman and that it's okay to rest when I need to. I will not gain 120 pounds by resting for a couple of extra days when needed. That folks is progress!
Tomorrow night we do speed work again. I have decided that if my hamstring becomes painful as soon as I start to sprint (like it did last week), I will just be running my normal pace around the track. It's just not worth it for me to re-injure myself again. My goal is to finish the half marathon on the 3rd of March, not break any records. I can work on my speed when I'm feeling 100% again. This plan made my physiotherapist very happy. By the time my week is over, I will have run 52K (32M). My week began Monday and ends Sunday. That's a lot of mileage for me. The most I would have run in a week.
My half marathon clinic is almost over. We only have a couple of weeks left before my race. Then what? I've worked myself up to the half marathon and have my 15K of the Around the Bay on the 24th of March, but then I have no running goals. I debated whether or not to move onto the Marathon Clinic, but my dilemma is that I would be taking it with unfamiliar people because none of the Back of the Rat Pack Girls wants to move onto the full marathon. This means that I would likely be running alone because I'm not as fast as the marathon group. If I'm gonna be running alone anyway, I might as well just train by myself. I already know how to do hill repeats and speed work, and I already have the training schedule.
I'd like to run the Road 2 Hope in November, which is a a full marathon and a Boston qualifier. I definitely won't be qualifying for Boston this year, but definitely a goal of mine for the next year, or the year after that. In the meantime maybe I'll do some smaller races this spring and summer with another half marathon thrown in for good measure. We shall see. All I know is that I have to continue running because I can't imagine not running. It has become such an important part of my life and no matter how busy or hectic life gets, I always make time for runs. It's what keeps me grounded and sane. When life gets crazy and demanding, a run always makes me calm and helps me focus. It's the cheapest therapy out there!
