Training Week #14

This week is not as happy as the last.... Started off the week by taking a break on Monday. After the awesome 7 miler I did on Sunday my legs were pretty freaking tired. So I took it as a sign to rest and stretch.

Tuesday rolls around and Jenny and I headed out around Green Lake for a nice 4.5 mile run (since when do I think this is NICE?! I remember when I looked at the 1 mile on my schedule like a death trap!). Felt great the whole time until about the last mile. Started feeling a slight bit of tightness in my outer left knee. Nothing too crazy but it was definitely uncomfortable. The following day when I woke up it continued to give me some slight irritation, and so for my own well being I decided not to push it the rest of the week. Didn't run Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday/Saturday when my leg felt better I only went out for a walk. 

I will tell you that this SUCKED. After the training program I've been on for over 3 months having 3-4 days of pretty much NOTHING was just plain annoying. I felt trapped in the house, needed to have SOMETHING going on. It was just playing tricks on my mind!! But I know that pushing through an injury is not always a great idea. 

So Sunday morning rolls around and my knee is feeling good. No pain and so I headed out for my long run. Another 7 miler. I headed out and everything felt great. Around 1.5 miles in I felt a slight twinge in my left knee again, but it quickly passed and I continued on the run. Come to mile 3 and I have a pretty consistent twinge. Nothing major, nothing that makes me think whoa this hurts BAD I NEED to STOP! I get right at the start of mile 4, and my knee buckles slightly....and the pain starts. With this I stop....I walk it out a little and its got a pretty steady pain going through. I try stretching it, and then a slight jog....still painful. So I stop. 

Heading home to ice and elevate.....severely PISSED off. I mean come on! WHAT is going ON!? I'd rested it, I'd iced it, I'd elevated, stretched....everything I could do to give it time to recoop. And now its worse?! And what ticks me off even more is that overall I felt GREAT on the run. My stomach was great, my heart rate was great, breathing great, felt energized and ready to go! But my damn knee had different thoughts in mind. 

And I kinda wallowed in this for about an hour. Getting upset that after ALL of my hard work this was going to set me back. But I reminded myself that I had 6 weeks till race day. Better to rest it now than make it worse and really count myself out. So I bucked up and figured out an alternative. What could I do to keep myself from going stir crazy, get in a workout to keep up my cardio endurance so when I start running again I don't keel over. The Gym! Week 15 here I come!

Training Week #10

Training week 10!!! Holy cow we're almost to the half way point! Can't believe that we're already to this point though. I mean it does NOT seem like I've been training that long. And while it doesn't it does at the same time...but then I can't believe that I STILL have another 11 weeks after this...and yet again I DO believe it. Am I making ANY sense to ANYONE?! Hopefully because I'm pretty sure I don't understand what I just wrote.

Moving on. Week 10 was actually a pretty standard week. So this week I had two 3.6 mile runs, a hot yoga night and then a 5 mile run on Sunday. TWO rest nights this week but only because one of the days I was just BEAT after work and couldn't muster it up to go do anything. Ehh oh well. I've typically been doing 4 runs a week, a cross train and then one rest day. And really my rest days are a walking evening. Because I still like to have movement in my legs. Nothing crazy. Not a high paced walk or anything. Just something to keep the blood flowing and keep me feeling active. I've now started feeling like a loadtoad if I am not out at least walking or something. Gotta feel productive at the end of my day! So I don't feel bad that for one week I took an extra rest day.

The one cross training I DID do this week was hot yoga....and oh let me tell you I LOVED IT. I don't think I've said enough how MUCH I LOVE hot yoga. Well just know that I do. It just works you to the core and cleanses you mind body and soul. I sound hippyish but oh well...I live in Seattle right?! Where all the hippies are.....

This was also coupled with A LOT of walking around on Saturday and Sunday as my friend Rosie came to visit from SD! We went around and saw the sights. Walked Pike Place and just thoroughly enjoyed a relaxed touristy weekend...complete with rain in TRUE Seattle tradition :)

My average pace for the week ranged from 9min/mile to 9:20/mile so things seem to be going pretty well on the pacing side. Not TRYING to go fast at all, just going with what my body tells me. 

And for all you stat keepers out there here's the facts for the week!

WEEK 10 STATS (Sept 12 - Sept 18)

Total Miles Run - 12.2
Total Miles Planned- 12

Total Miles Walked - 3
Hot Yoga Classes - 1

Long Run - 5 miles

Training Days #5 and #6

And on the 5th day she rested :-)

Fridays are my rest day throughout training. Pretty fitting. End the work week by indulging in a little R&R (rest and relaxation..not Rock and Roll :-D). And I have to say that the day of rest was much needed. My muscles were pretty sore on Friday, plus I was exhausted from being up most of the night for the midnight showing of the final Harry Potter :)

So I woke up bright and early this morning to get prepped for our hike. This time we were only doing a 4 mile round trip (last trip was 9 miles in total!). So a nice leisurely hike in comparison. My friend Kelly and I headed out early and were slightly hesitant about how it would go considering there was a pretty steady rain going on. But we went onward and upward. Literally.

The area was beautiful. Right around North Bend. At the bottom of the mountain is Rattlesnake Lake. Its quite a beautiful area and with the light fog over the lake and mountain in the morning it was breathtaking. Overall the hike was beautiful. Had a definite incline, gaining about 1200 ft in 2 miles. Gave my already sore muscles a nice little work out. Switchbacks most of the way up that caused you to really use your legs!

About 40 minutes later we'd made the 2 mile hike up to the top and found SPECTACULAR views at the top. We'll be heading back on a nicer day when you can actually see everything. The fog hindered the view somewhat but even with the fog it was one of the best overviews I've had the pleasure of seeing. When we reached the ledge the rain was at a pretty steady pace so we didn't end up lingering too long. Just long enough to enjoy the view and get some good pictures in.

We were back in the car and headed back to the city in less than 2 hours from when we started. All in all not a bad way to start a Saturday morning, and get my training in so I could enjoy the remainder of my day. I've posted pictures below of the lookout from the ledge. There were additional trails from this look out spot (another 2.4 mile hike to East Point, and another 6 miles up to Snoqualmie Point). These will be attempted at a later date and time, and if the day is nice enough we plan to end the hike back at the bottom and enjoy the lake and sun.

Tomorrow is training day 7 and our first long run. It's a 2 mile consecutive run. While we've run 2 miles other nights this week they were broken up. Looking forward to pushing myself through it and completing the first full week of training! :)

Training Day #6 - success!