Week in review Sept. 14-20: Ugh and ouch

Not much of anything this week.

It was a discouraging week. Running-wise, I got off to a decent start with a nice, easy run Tuesday evening. But then I had commitments after work Wednesday, Thursday AND Friday. I had a nice, quick run with my crazy dog on Saturday, and after that, believe it or not, lifted some weights!

And then I went out for my long run Sunday, started experiencing searing pain in my knee about 1.5 miles in, and had to limp home, discouraged and frustrated.

I can’t help beating myself up a bit about this. July, I ran the most miles I ever have in a month, and was feeling cocky. But what I WASN’T doing was stretching, my pre-hab exercises, and paying closer attention to my shoes, which I’d run in for far too many miles.

My SI joint got out of whack, and I’m sure as a result threw off my kinetic chain. And now my IT band and I are both paying the piper.

So as of today, coincidentally, I have 26 days until my fall marathon. I have been doing a lot of yoga, doing my hip-strengthening exercises, and obsessively Googling and worrying. I did take the mutts for a long walk yesterday and my knee felt fine. I am going to force myself to take at least the rest of the week off running, and then reevaluate.

Last week included:

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 11.75 miles in just under 2 hours. Ugh.

Yoga: Three times, all self-guided, for a total of just longer than an hour.

Weights: One video immediately after a 3-mile run Saturday (so I skipped the warmup) for about 50 minutes.

Pre-hab: One hip-strengthening session of about 15 minutes.

Total: Eight sessions in just longer than 4 hours.

I’m not happy about last week but I’m trying to stay positive. I’ve actually gotten a lot of cleaning and organizing done, and the dogs are happy with the extra walks, cuddles and belly rubs. Most importantly, I have to remind myself that this is one race, I want to live to race another day, and I need to be healthy to do that.