Tag: Physical therapy

Big Sur Marathon Training-Week 1

Well crap, it’s real huh, now that it’s in writing. 😜

This week went almost exactly like I planned. Notice I said like I planned and not according to THE plan.

Plan-

Week 1

Life

Monday 5 miles / PT exercise- I couldn’t waste a perfectly good day off so I moved Wednesday’s 5 miles to Monday. It just made more sense. I also finally found the sluggish feeling I had been expecting to feel on Saturday’s and Sunday’s run. Then again it has also been a while since I’ve run 3 days in a row. Other than sluggish, it was a pretty solid 5 miles though. Could have done without the buzzard spectators though. Back off buddies.

Tuesday- Rest/ PT exercises. Nailed it. Work was crazy busy so that’s all I had the brain power for anyways.

Wednesday- 3.1 miles/ PT exercises Slow, sore, treadmill miles. Man, my back was so not happy so I was really glad I switched Monday and Wednesday around. I was also very surprised by how empty the gym was. I had been expecting to find a crowd but instead I was able to find both a parking spot close to the gym and a treadmill easily. What gives? That is highly unusual for January 3.

Thursday- Physical Therapy I had another session of lumbar traction, this time with increased tension. Is that what it’s called? While it felt good, I was super sore too. I took easy the rest of the day, doc’s orders.

Friday- Rest If only that word was an accurate representation of how Friday’s actually go. 🤣

Saturday- 8.3 miles/ PT exercises First long run of training! Just to play things smart and to be nice to my back, I was keeping to my intervals of run 1 minute, walk 1 minute. Also helped that my watch was set to that and I was too lazy to fix it. My pace was keeping pretty steady in the mid 11 range, which I was more than fine with and my plan was to pick it up for a fast finish. Everything was working great up until mile 6.5. Then I felt AND heard something pop on my back near my left shoulder-blade and came to a screeching halt. Literally. I was ripping off colorful words in multiple languages and probably sounded like I was screeching. Are you freakin’ kidding me? Now, this is unfortunately an injury that I am familiar with. This is the 5th time it’s happened, first time while running though. Usually, it leaves me with restricted mobility on my left side for 3-5 days, how the hell was I going to get back to my car let alone finish running??

I ran a pace that didn’t jostle me too much and stopped multiple times to stretch. Stretching would have gone better without my Orange Mud pack on, but I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it back on it I took it off. I made it back to my car and stretched as best as I could before driving home. Grrrr.

Sunday- Rest. Damn shoulder. Running actually seemed to help it a bit because it didn’t seem as bad today as it was the last time this happened. Which oddly, was almost exactly a year ago. So I rested and worked on some deep stretching with my foam roller.

16.42 miles. Other than the damn shoulder, the miles are exactly how I thought this week was going to go, so yay for that! I had originally thought about making up Thursday’s run on Sunday but again, shoulder.

How was your week?

Week 50- Behind

Barely running and I still can’t get these recaps up on time lately. Oops. End of the year ennui, maybe? Embracing the inner Slacker? Hmmm.

Maybe I can blame the darkness? Even though I actually did run more miles in November this year compared to last. Fingers crossed that pattern holds for December! Though considering I had the flu from hell last year, that’s a low bar.

Last week saw me starting PT, so you’d think my body would be feeling better. And it kind of did… on Monday. And mostly Tuesday. Too bad I didn’t run those days. 🤔 Instead I deliberately rested since I had run Saturday and Sunday and then had PT. I completed my PT exercises 3 days last week and would have twice more but my stomach was being a total asshat. Kind of hard to focus on moves that rely on your core when your stomach is behaving like a demon. Grrrrr. As for the other 2 days, well that was just me being a Slacker.

So what did happen?

Monday- Physical Therapy Why is my right side such a problem child??? And I’m so glad I had the forethought to change into running pants first. Some of those exercises were awkward enough in pants- what would have happened if I had left my skirt on??? I also experienced a TENS device for the first time. Kind of odd.

Thursday- 8 miles bike I had planned on running. Took all of my gear to work with that intention but then the day just ran me down. Work ran over and I was exhausted and my right leg was oddly sore/ numb. My head was hurting but I told myself to suck it up and run so I changed into my running clothes and headed for home. Where I somehow put my shoes on the wrong damn feet. Ok, universe, message received. I went home and rode the bike instead.

Saturday – 6 miles 6 was always the plan but I underestimated how much smoke was in the air. Again. I also may have overestimated what my back was willing to do. That or it just isn’t used to carrying water with my pack again. It has been a while. 😛 I felt like I was huffing and puffing more than I would like. My leg felt tight. Everything felt rough. Then my headphones died. Grrrr. Of course as I headed towards home, my leg loosened up. When I looked at my splits later I may have been running a tiny faster than I should have especially considering the air quality.

Sunday- missed run Planned on Christmas shopping and running. Failed at both. Went shopping- ALL day but bought nothing and missed my run.

So, 6 miles run and 8 miles bike. Blah. Here’s hoping this week is a little better.

Except I already know I have issues. How is it less than 7 days to Christmas? I still need to finish shopping. I haven’t made cookies. Oh and my replacement bed is coming this week. Ok, I will gladly miss a run for the bed if the new one is less of a brick compared to the rock I’ve been sleeping on for the last 3 months. 😛

How was your week?

Are you done shopping?

Little Lessons

Things I learned today-

Don’t go to physical therapy with a good hair day, it won’t survive.
My posture sucks.
The cute new running shirt I just bought, yeah it sucks too. I bought it to be a shirt, not ride up into a sports bra.
I’m a bad friend who has still not made it to see my friends new house.

After toughing it out on Saturday, I was hoping that some decent sleep would help me feel better on Sunday. I was aiming to get in 6 easy miles. Yeah, um no. My headache had traded up from the minor leagues to a migraine. 😦 I was not up to running; I wasn’t up for much of anything at all. Normally migraines make me super nauseous and I don’t want to eat anything. I swear this one gave me the freaking munchies. I was so hungry all day. I managed to go to lunch with my mom and a friend but I hardly talked. All I did was inhale pizza. How social of me. After that I just went home and crashed.

ilovetorun.org | RUNNING CAN BE GIVEN — Or pizza…

Today, I started physical therapy for my neck. Apparently I use the wrong muscles and everything I do aggravates it. Except running, running makes my neck feel ok. 🙂 That is the only time I have good posture, but then I worked hard on that. I pay attention to my posture when I run and correct it when I start to slump. Shoulders not invited to that party 🙂 The other 95% of the time, not so much. So I let the doctor poke and prod and push and pull, I almost jumped of the table and smacked her at point, it hurt- a lot. Yeah, so maybe I should have gone in sooner. I tend to procrastinate doctor’s appointments. So now I have some new stretches to learn as well change how I sit at work as well as drive. No fun.

My head wasn’t happy today but it was nowhere near yesterday’s level, so yeah for small things! Work was actually pretty good, we are finally operating with a full staff again, woo hoo! I decided to run a few laps around the lake after work. I figured if my head started to hurt, the car would be fairly close.

It started out a little awkward. Nothing really hurt, I just felt like I was running weird. Then again, my lower back was sore was trying to adjust the way I sit all day. That may have been the reason for hinky-ness. It took about 1.5 miles before I felt settled down, and the next 2 miles flowed pretty well. I ended up averaging a 10:18 pace for the run and after the last week, I will take it. So even though I had to keep pulling down my shirt, I will call it a good run. Hopefully, I can get in a another good one in the next couple of days, maybe 4-5 miles. I have 6 days to go until my half marathon! Eek!!!!!

Gotta love Pinterest — That about sums it up 🙂

Last night, I dreamed that it was already Sunday and that I overslept. I dreamed that I woke up at 6:40 and freaked out. The race starts at 7:00 AM and is 35 minutes away. I about had a panic attack. I lurched to my phone, half asleep just to check the clock. Only 4:42, whew. Then I realized it was Monday, I still had days to go. Crazy!

So this week I have volleyball and school and hopefully one last good run in. And fingers crossed, I will get to my friends new house!

Hope everyone had a decent Monday!

Anyone else ever have any crazy race dreams?