7 Months Later: An Update

This is going to be quite the update, since my running journey has had quite a few ups and downs over the past seven months since I last updated. In order to make this more straight forward, I will cover the major events timeline style.

April 5th, 2010: Appointment with a big name sport medicine orthopaedist. Confirmed that it was only IT band problems. Suggested rest and PT exercises. No other assistance or referrals. Very disappointing, honestly.

April 6th - June: Rest, completely stopped running.

June - July 11th: Started running again, 1-5 miles a time, several days per week. Didn't have any problems with the IT band, feel good, taking it easy.

July 12th, 2010: Began a 13 week training plan to get back in shape.

July 13th, 2010: Registration for the BAA Half Marathon at 9am. By 1pm when I went to register, it was already closed. Signed up for charity fund raising to get a spot through Dana-Farber. I've got a spot in the race!

July 18th, 2010: First week of pre-training went well. Got in 4 runs with a "long run" of 5 miles. Total 17 miles, with pilates and yoga classes.

July 25th, 2010: Second week of pre-training less good. Only two runs in. I can't remember what happened, but it was some kind of craziness. Total 8 miles.

August 1st, 2010: Third week of pre-training complete. Five runs, 21 miles total with a 7 mile long run. Some swimming and upperbody. Not hitting my cross-training targets, but running is on track and feeling good.

August 8, 2010: First week of the sub-2:00 training plan. Hit all 4 runs which included a couple of easy runs, a tempo run at 8:54 min/mil on treadmill, and a long run of 8 miles. Total 21 miles.

August 15th, 2010: Second week totaled another 21 miles. Two easy 4-5 mile runs with mile repeats at 8:25 min/mile pace. Attended bootcamp class, pilates and did upper body. Another 8 mile long run.

August 22nd, 2010: Third week continued well with 23 miles total. The first three runs mid-week included a 9:09 min/mile tempo run along with three strength training sessions. This was a 9 mile long run week.

August 29th, 2010: Fourth week was a disaster. I had an appt with a personal trainer for the TRX, which started out poorly with not enough sleep. Later that day I donated blood. It went very, very poorly. I got dizzy/fuzzy and nauseous, my blood pressure dropped really low, they were drawing blood through a valve and it hurt, and they ended up keeping me an extra hour to recover. I went home early, and was disoriented and dizzy the next day as well. My Thursday run cut short after 3 miles when I felt like I was going to pass out on the treadmill. My long run on that Sunday lasted all of 3 miles before I had to turn around and go home.

September 5th, 2010: Fifth week, I knocked out a 5 miler, but that's about it. I was still suffering from exhaustion. I should have pushed through it, but I didn't. I had a bunch of social obligations and did many miles of walking over the week, however.

September 9th-16th, 2010: Vacation in Arizona. I got in three morning runs between 3-5 miles. I was really impressed I managed it given that the temperatures were around 107F on the day I left. Mornings weren't as bad, but I got dehydrated rapidly because its so dry. My breathing in general felt totally different in my lungs.

September 19th, 2010: I felt great when I got back. That weekend I went out for a beautiful 9 miler along the beach. I felt good, got myself home. And the next day came the pain. The IT band ache. I'd been taking anti-inflammatories post-run all along, rolling and stretching before, throughout, and after. But apparently I wasn't doing something right, and it was bound to happen.

September 20-26th, 2010: Took it easy with some lighter runs, gauging how bad things were going to be on my knee. Not following training at all at this point.

September 27th - October 9th, 2010: I made the decision that I wasn't going to run for the last two weeks before the race. I figured that I wasn't going to improve my fitness levels in the next two weeks, but that I could aggravate my knee more and injure myself further. Therefore, it was better not to run and instead daily ice, roll, pain relieve, take it easy. My IT band ached horribly by the end of each day, just the 1 mile round trip walk from house to train, train to work and back was way too much.

October 10th, 2010: I went into my race with very little faith in finishing. Actually, I told everyone it wasn't going to happen. And said not to bother coming. If I was going to humiliate myself, I'd do it solo. The race gets its own post. :)

Now we're up-to-date.