Knee Injury Revisited

It's been a week since I took the dive. I'm healing pretty nicely. I swapped to bandaids to prevent chafing and irritation from my jeans, but the cuts are otherwise shrinking in diameter. The bruises got worse over the past week, but are now fading.

I ran 20 miles today.

I'm in severe pain after the fact, but the run itself was awesome. I felt great, strong, motivated. I got faster as I went even. Miles 6-13 were beautiful. I ran along with another marathoner along the 2-3 mile stretch through Bedford. They don't plow the Bikeway in Bedford, by the way. Heads up. Lexington and Arlington plow, but it still remains relatively icy since they don't use sand or salt. Bedford however just waits for snow to melt. Rough terrain once it ices over all lumpy too. It was encouraging not to be the only runner along that stretch however. And man, not only was she faster, but she just glided without hesitation over some icy-lumpy stretches. I stick to my theory that running on ice is all about confidence, not friction. I think when people hesitate and stiffen up when walking/jogging on ice, it changes their stride and it automatically unbalances them. It's almost better if you didn't know you were running on ice.

Anyway, great run. Sore knees - both. Long, long, long nap.

But I'm photographing my injuries again because of the weird stripes that developed on my left knee during the course of the run today. Check out the striations:



The right knee coming along and one of the bruises is yellowing:

Hell yeah.

16.4 miles straight, with a 0.6 warm-up run beforehand. Total mileage today: 17.0 miles. Time 2:55:45 - average 10:41min/mile - those last two miles I was having a hard time with my knees. I felt a little slower today than usual, which obviously played out in my average mileage. I gained 10 sec per mile. I woke up this morning sore, especially in the upper body, from last night's workout. I only had about a 12 hour recovery period.

Around mile 3-4, a group of runners very slowly came upon me chatting, so I stepped off to the side to let them past, since the talking was kind of distracting. So I ended up running behind them, letting them pace me for a while. But really close behind them. When they pulled off in Lexington, one of the guys ran after me since I kept going. Apparently they thought I was someone named Kate who they wanted to verify I was running home. I apologized and explain that I wasn't part of their group. He looked confused but headed off. They were super pleasant people - one was wearing a chi running t-shirt. I was a little tempted to ask which group they were, but hey, I wasn't about to turn back.

I filled up with G2 (the red kind) in my water bottles today. I have to admit that I really appreciated the extra sugars and electrolytes that I wasn't getting in water. It really helped push me through today. I think that in the future, I may have to buy a couple more water bottles for the belt, or invest in a 4-pack fuel belt. While I anticipate the necessity for training, it's not something I'll wear during the marathon itself, given water/gatorade station every few miles. I think that my two 6 oz bottles were definitely not enough today though. I even drank the rest of the Gatorade bottle before the run, and had fueled up on water the night before.

By the time I ended the run, my legs and knees were just screaming at me. I felt like I just got off a horse or something - walking funny. But I headed into Whole Foods, where there were lots of free samples of oranges, watermelon and other yummy stuff. That tackled the starvation re-fueling factor. I ended up grabbing a Naked Protein shake and a Builders Bar. Ha, 50g protein total. Maybe a little more than I needed. But I just entered my run into the training log on Mapmyrun.com and it says that I burned over 1800 calories. So I figure my 800 calories were probably not so bad in the grand scheme of things. I seriously needed refueling.

Anyway, I'll laying down now, giving my legs a much needed rest after walking home. I might take a little nap before I do something more productive than running today. I'm just really quite blissfully happy. While I couldn't have made it those extra 9 miles to a marathon after today's run, I still have 1-1.5 months to get there. I just need to pick up my mid-week runs. I can't keep getting distracted by lifting and sickness.

Vehicle of a plan

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success. - Stephen A. Brennan

I more than doubled my weekly mileage over the past couple of weeks. I went from doing medium-short runs on weekends with little in between to long runs on weekends with short runs during the week. Tuesday there was a lack of cardio machines available at the gym, so I ran for 25 minutes. I fast run, 5K speed, down to the Mass Ave bridge and back. I clocked a decent pace. It was flat, in the 40s and just after dusk. I was able to continue with my workout after the run as well. I think I'll start running along the esplanade regularly from here on out. I have no interest in the cardio machines as it is, and well, I've yet to get myself to get up early enough for the morning jogs yet.

Thursday I repeated Tuesday, except that instead of 3 miles, I went 4 miles with a loop across the bridge, into Cambridge and back. A little slower pace. I felt really sluggish coming out. I'd just finish a 1 hour muscle conditioning class. But once I hit the 2nd mile, I was good to go. My pace picked up as my legs warmed up. Afterwards I went back to do my upper body routine. I almost wish I could have run further. I might start thinking about running down to the BU Bridge and looping around in the future. I imagine that that could add an extra mile or two onto the route.

Today was my long run. Now I had a lot of hesitation about actually doing the run this morning. I have 5K in the morning tomorrow and didn't want to suffer any leg fatigue after the 12 miles today. I missed the first bus, so I managed to get out to Bedford around 10am. I started out easy and clocked 10:30 min/mile the entire way. Something to improve upon, but I'm satisfied for now since I didn't want to push myself with the race tomorrow.

I spent the entire time listening to NPR's Planet Money podcasts. I honestly have to attribute how quickly the run passed listening to their decisions on the economy, banks and stimulus. At the moment, I'm just eating up anything that has to do with finance and economics, but only once before had I listened to it, let alone for any length, during a run. How distracting! I'm going to start saving up all of the juicy podcasts for the weekends from now on, so that I can have 2-3 hours of uninterrupted radio talk! Screw music - the sound of Alex Blumberg, Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum drive my pace!

When I did arrive back home, I caught the bus which dropped me off by the pub where we picked up our bibs, chips and t-shirts. I took a leisurely walk home again, munching on a Kashi energy bar and sipping gatorade. I proudly remembered to refuel with 20 minutes of finishing my workout. I had brought along water in my fuel pack, drank at the end and around mile 8. I still am a little wary of consuming too much water, and I still haven't gotten the stomach for some energy gel or something supplemental, but I don't feel enough fatigue or disorientation to worry too much about my intake. Afterall, I treat myself before the run to a chocolate-glazed donut from Dunkin' Doughnuts. It's the only time I'll eat one of those things - but I can tell you that it actually tastes amazing when you know you have 12 miles or more ahead of you!

I swear - Planet Money and Dunkin' Donuts are the key to long distance running.

Never stop running.

Never stop running.

Sometimes when I'm running I come up with cheesy slogans. Running slogans. Like something out of a Nike ad, I imagine starting a running campaign based upon three powerful words. If you go to some place like Cafepress.com, you'll see a lot of these sayings and slogans ready to be emblazoned upon a t-shirt, coffee mug or canvas tote bag. I love reading the backs of t-shirts during a race - but I can never find the shirt at the end, never remember the clever slogan I was so excited about.

My favorites seem to utilize intimidation tactics. They certainly allude to an athletic capacity far beyond my reach. When you're running alone down a dark path in a deserted scenic area, every little bit of bravado seems to help.

Trample the weak. Hurdle the dead.

My sport is your sports punishment.

Pain is weakness leaving the body.

In any case, this is what I was thinking about during my run on Sunday. It's not that interesting, I'm sure, but when you're jogging along with little else to contemplate and a strong desire to get a frappucino, this is what keeps me going. I bring up frappucino, not because I typically like them, but because there is actually a Starbucks along this bikeway. It's all surrounded by trees and then suddenly this little a-frame Starbucks sign appears propped up off to your left next to a staircase leading into the back of an otherwise unmarked two-story building. It's just unnatural. Unnaturally tempting! I think that its meant to lure in the cyclists, not the runners, but the promise of a cool beverage is highly appealing. This is why I wear a fuel belt.

My actual run on Sunday didn't quite go as planned. You see, I haven't run the pathway since autumn. As a result, I forgot that the bus that takes me out into the middle of no where, where it starts, doesn't run on Sundays. Just Saturdays. So I couldn't get to the no-other-way-home-but-run startline. Instead I had to compromise. I ended up running 6 miles outbound and then another 4 miles back. I ran the full distance I was planning on it. I actually even felt good enough to keep going the last two miles home, except that I had forgotten to wrap my toes. I had killer blisters that were threatening to disable me. So I called it a day and caught the train.