Week in review Aug. 19-25: A slow start but a good weekend

A good amount of riding.

It was an OK week. I had commitments Monday and Wednesday evenings I had to work/work out around, and had zero mental energy Tuesday evening and didn’t do anything except go out to dinner. But even that slow start was enough to sustain me through the work week so I could rally for a pretty good weekend.

Monday’s trainer ride went pretty well, and Tuesday was beastly hot anyway, so it was a good evening to skip an outside run. It was still pretty hot on Wednesday so my “easy” run became a “short and easy so I don’t die” run. Hey, I survived to run another day, which is important. I was exhausted by Thursday so did a slightly easier trainer ride and felt a million times better afterward, like I almost always do.

I tried to rally for “fast Friday” and it went only OK. I had wanted to do four increasingly faster miles but I struggled with the first two. I walked a bit, and the third went better. I stopped for a drink, and was really able to push that final one. Unfortunately I did have a few twinges in my knee with the chondral fissure, especially on downhills, so I really tried to focus on good form. That makes me a little nervous and I hope it’s just some mild inflammation from a bit of faster running.

Saturday was a great day! I made it out to the closed-to-car-traffic route and rode for a couple of hours. It was beautiful weather, everything felt good, it wasn’t too busy, and I was just happy to be out there. It was a ride that makes you happy to be on two wheels on a summer day. My husband was busy doing other stuff so after I came home and had a snack I went through my entire heavy/body home weight routine and did my running PT homework. I knew doing all the pullups that I would feel every one of them later, and I still am today. =)

After our Sunday errands I was able to rally for a “long” run in the afternoon, which turned out to be 4.5 miles of running with walk breaks as needed, plus a walking warmup and cooldown. My legs felt tired from Friday and Saturday for the first time in FOREVER, which actually made me a little happy. But, I had a few more twinges in my left knee a couple of times. I think I’m going to postpone my next run to Wednesday to give my knee an extra day to calm down, and take it easy until then. I did manage another round of PT homework later in the evening.

I really want to add another easy run day to my week, but I’m going to hold off until I can run a little faster and/or a little farther without getting these twinges. The jury is still out on whether that will even happen. My orthopedist did bring up the possibility of chicken cartilage injections if the pain doesn’t go away. So for right now, I’m in a holding pattern of watch, wait, strengthen, and increase speed and distance slowly. We’ll see if a couple of days of rest helps at all.

Numbers-wise, it was:

Bike: Three times, twice on the trainer for 31 fake miles and once on the road for 32 real miles, for about 4:09 all together.

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 13.25 miles in about 2:20. I’m going to have to be happy with slow progress for a while.

Weights: One round of my heavy/bodyweight routine for about 1:15.

PT: Two running-specific homework sessions followed by stick rolling out my quads and calves for about 1:10 all together.

Total: 9 sessions in about 8:54. I can’t be disappointed with averaging more than once per day and more than an hour per day, especially with a rest day in there.

This week is going to be busy and I have commitments several evenings already, but I am hoping I can shuffle some workouts to the morning. Next Monday is also a holiday (Labor Day) in the U.S., so I will have a bit of leeway on Sunday for extra relaxation and maybe even an extra workout. It’s looking to be nice weather for the last unofficial weekend of summer, which I can’t believe is here already. =(

I hope you had a great week last week and have a great week this week!

A running form evaluation! And it wasn't all terrible news!

Heel strikes and hip drops and weird leg splays, oh my!

I had my running form evaluated a few weeks ago. It was fun and interesting and very helpful, even for someone who will likely never win a race or even move very far out of the middle of the pack, for that matter.

I noticed right around the time I hit 35 years old I started having more and more running-related injuries, especially when I increased mileage. I had to take some time off running while 70.3 and marathon training in 2015 because of SI joint pain. My knee went kablooey in the fall of 2017 and I had to take months off. And recently, my hamstring has been acting up and causing some pain, like it is inflamed. All these have happened on my left side, so I figured I had an issue with form, spinal alignment, something else I didn't know about yet, or some combination.

I put out a call to a local running social group and got several recommendations for a local physical therapy clinic that also does running form evaluations and I thought, perfect! I’ve been to PT to try to rehab both my knee and my hamstring, but I don’t ever want to have to go back to PT to rehab anything again if I can help it. I want to find out what’s going on and then work to correct it ahead of any injuries instead of responding to them.

So I set up an appointment. I was advised to wear tight leggings and a sports bra, and that the session would consist of running for a few minutes to record form, then an evaluation of strength and mobility, then a review of form, then suggested PT exercises and other action items. Let’s do this!

As promised, the first order of business was the running test. I was covered with reflective stickers on my shoes, hips, knees, and other body parts to make it easier for the recording to pick up my form and angles. There were four cameras set up, in the front, back, and either side. I walked a warmup before speeding up to about an 8:13 minute per mile pace. I kept that pace for about a half-mile to collect enough info, and then I cooled down.

Then I went back into a treatment room where we tested strength in all manner of leg muscles, flexibility, how my glutes fired, and much more. I twisted, bent this way, moved my leg that way, leaned up against the wall while keeping one foot flat, and all sorts of acrobatics. We focused a lot on muscles and flexibility of the glutes and knee-adjacent areas since that’s where my problems have lain, lately. All of my measurements were noted.

By that time the first therapist had finished evaluating my recording and was able to show me what it looks like when I run. I wish I had a copy of the video because it was something to see how my running form IS compared to how it SHOULD be. I was expecting a dumpster fire, but it wasn’t quite that bad. In fact, I have a few things going well for me:

My running cadence is at 180 steps per minute, which is pretty much optimal. Hooray!

My arm position is good. Hooray!

I am using the correct shoes (Brooks Adrenaline) for my very flat feet. Hooray!

I have good ankle joint mobility. Hooray! (I was actually worried about this, but I danced for 10 years including two years on pointe, and consistently stretch out the tops of my feet, which can’t be a bad habit to get into.)

But that was about where the good news ended. I knew I didn’t lean forward enough, and still heel strike, and that my right foot does this weird splay thing, but seeing it on video was something else. The therapist was able to measure and document all of the, ahem, irregularities and compare them to ideal running form.

The main points of bad news were:

1. I am still overstriding and heel striking. I’ve made an effort to land mid-foot in recent years, but obviously I didn’t work on it long or hard enough. Not only does this waste energy, but it could help explain the knee pain and chondral fissure from two years ago, as I'm essentially slamming my feet down out in front of me with every step. Apparently, this also correlates to tibial stress fractures, of which I did have one (although in my right leg) 8 years ago. Now what? I need to work on leaning forward and landing mid-foot.

2. My feet flatten out as I land and push off the ground. It’s not a surprise I have flat feet, and most feet do this to an extent, but mine are pretty pronounced. Now what? I need to strengthen my feet and ankles (what she called the “antipronation muscles”) to try to reduce this, because doing it too much can cause issues up the kinetic chain.

3. I don’t have any hip extension and my glutes don’t fire. I’m not exactly sure what the first part means and will have to do some more research, but I do know that any race picture of me shows my left hip dropping as I run. According to the therapist, this also correlates to SI joint and low back pain (me!) and hamstring pain (also me!) as the hamstrings overcompensate for the hips not working. Glutes not firing doubly makes the hamstrings overcompensate and get strained. And to no one’s surprise, my left hip tested weaker. Now what? I need to work on firing up my glutes, strengthening my hips and glutes, and incorporating some single-leg stability exercises.

4. My calves and quads are tight. Now what? I need to be better about stretching and rolling them. (I took a muscle rolling stick to them and almost cried from the pain. I didn't even realize they were that tight.)

The therapist was also able to calculate various angles of what my body should look like and what it does look like, the math for which goes a bit over my head. But from what I can tell, my knee flexion angles aren’t great enough; my hip extension angles both measured at zero, when they should be closer to 10 degrees; I don’t lean forward enough; my left hip drops way too much; and my feet pronate too much. One saving grace is that my foot angle (how far my toes point in or out as I land) is pretty good.

Whew!

I knew I would be leaving with a TON of information and would be overwhelmed, and I was. But the therapists sent me home with easy-to-follow PT exercises and two running cues to think about when I run: one to concentrate on now (leaning forward and landing mid-foot), and one to concentrate on after I felt I had made progress on the first (fire up my glutes). It was a lot to take in. But it really comes down to this: How badly do I want to keep on running into middle age without getting injured? Because continuing to run with bad form isn't working for me.

It's only been two weeks, and I'm not expecting to see results right away (especially since finding time to do my PT is, and always has been, a challenge). But when I remember to lean forward and land mid-foot, running feels pretty good. I feel more graceful and less like I'm plodding down the trail. I haven't noticed any difference in pain levels or anything like that yet, but I have cut my walking breaks way down and everything is still ticking along.

I'd love to go back in a few months to check on my progress. The session wasn't cheap, but it was still MUCH cheaper than weeks and weeks of PT for my knee and then my hamstring, not to mention doctor visits, co-pays for my MRI and x-rays, etc. I really hope this is an investment into running healthfully and pain-free for a long time.

Week in review Aug. 12-18: Run, ride, be a hermit

Lots of trainer riding and some other stuff, too.

Last week I had the luxury of almost nothing going on other than work. Yes, I enjoy it when family comes to town, and I enjoy doing the occasional 5K, but I also enjoy not having to run around in the evenings and attend family commitments on the weekends.

The end result was I got a bit more training in than usual, including at least one thing every day. The weekend still had a bit of dog-related drama – one is terrified of storms that came through overnight Friday, and the other one ate something that required several early morning trips outside on Sunday. A big regional event Saturday caused some traffic problems, which caused us to get to brunch late, which caused me to not make it to my outdoor ride in time. Annoying, but I was able to regroup and knock out a long trainer ride and some PT before going out to a nice dinner with my parents later that evening. I was in a bad mood for a while but not all was lost.

Another minor victory was that I ran more than 10 miles and longer than 2 hours in a week for the first time since the end of February. It’s been a while since I was excited about 10 miles but I’m taking every victory I can at this point running-wise.

By the numbers, it was:

Bike: Three times, all on the trainer for 54 fake miles in about 3:48. This included an FTP test on Monday where I gained four more watts, and a longer-than-usual ride on Saturday trying to make the best of not getting outside in time

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 12.25 miles in about 2:05. Since my 5K last weekend, I decided to try to only take walk breaks as needed, rather than the regular run/walk intervals I had been doing. All is going well so far, considering. I can tell my fitness is NOT where it used to be, and I really have to focus on good form, but nothing hurts (knock on wood). These three runs included an easy-ish run on a hot day, something resembling speed work where I tried to run a half mile at a time a bit faster, and something resembling a long run where I went out for 4.5 total miles instead of my usual 3-4-ish.

Weights: I only did one video this week for a bit longer than an hour, plus some rolling of my calves and quads afterward.

PT: Two sessions of my latest homework exercises, focusing on hips, glutes, and the muscles in my arches, plus a bit more rolling.

Yoga: I did make time for some yoga Sunday night, about 15 minutes solo. My hips are amazingly tight and as I tell myself every time, I need to do this more often than once every 4-6 weeks.

Total: 10 sessions in about 8:22. I probably could have done one more PT session while catching up on Stranger Things Sunday, but I felt this was a good week of something every day, a bit of progress on both the bike and the run, and the other supplemental stuff that gets neglected too often.

I do have a couple events scheduled this week so I may actually have to leave the house and interact with people (ugh) a bit more, but the weather is looking good for some outdoor runs, at least. I am hoping summer can hold on just a bit longer so I can enjoy a few more weeks outside. 

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Race Report: Rock CF Pure Detroit 5K 2019

Top shelf swag at this event. =)

Sunday morning my husband and I laced up our shoes for the fourth running of the Rock CF Pure Detroit 5K. It’s close by, cheap, and for a good cause, so we have participated all four years it’s been around (2018, 2017, 2016). This year didn’t disappoint.

We had been up late-ish the night before visiting with family in from out of town, but since the race didn’t start until 9 a.m., I set my alarm for 6:45. That gave me time to have a small breakfast, take the dogs out, and gather up all our running accoutrements. I should have looked for our race belts the night before and not as I was trying to walk out the door (lol), but all was located and we were out the door by 8:15 or so. It was later than I would have liked but we still had plenty of time to drive down, park, pick up our bibs, return our t-shirts to the car, spray some sunscreen, and walk around a bit.

My husband’s training has consisted of one slow jog last week, and I wasn’t sure how my hamstring would hold up, so we went into this race with zero expectations. We lined up near the back of the pack and after the horn went off walked for a bit until the crowd thinned, and then started our slow jog. It was a nice morning, not too hot and not too muggy, as long as we were getting a breeze. We chatted and enjoyed the course, and cheered for the leaders already on their way back as we hit the turnaround and water stop.

We walked the water stop just before halfway, and my husband requested that we walk for a few minutes a bit later (we weren’t getting a breeze in that part), but other than that everything felt fine. We were even able to kick to the finish for the last block, me teasing him, “Your wife is beating you!” as I ran ahead, which drew a few laughs. We cooled down, drank some water and got a cookie, picked up our glasses, and cheered for the young runners taking off for their Kids’ Mile before heading home.

It was our slowest time at this race so far, but it wasn’t about the time as much as it was about the tradition and getting outside to enjoy a beautiful summer morning. The fact that my hamstring and knee cooperated was an extra special bonus. Plus, with such a nearby race, we were home and had the pans for bacon and pancakes going by 10:15.

It was a great morning, a great time, and a great race. I’m already looking forward to next year – maybe by then I will be in actual racing shape!

Week in review Aug. 5-11: More family time and a 5K

It was a busy week and I have so much to write about! I haven’t been on here all week because I was spending some time with family in town from out of state. We had a blast hanging out by the pool, eating too much barbecue, and laughing at family stories.

Non-family related, last week I also had a running evaluation and participated in a 5K! More to come on those later, I promise. It has been a busy couple of days.

I got last week off to a good start with a double of a trainer ride plus weights video on Monday, followed by a nice run on Tuesday. Wednesday was my running evaluation, which I’m not counting as a workout since it was less than a mile total, and Thursday was another double of barre class plus a slightly-speedier-than-normal run.

I did take Friday off (hence the double on Thursday evening) ostensibly to spend time with family, but I did sneak out to a local park I haven’t been to in YEARS to ride for a while beforehand. It went just OK. It’s hillier than my usual outdoor ride and I was terrified of the descents and rode my brakes the whole time. I’m usually slower on this route but it wasn’t that long ago that I was bombing down descents with a smile on my face. I’m hoping if I get out there a few more times, I get my confidence back. As bummed as I was about how slow and scared I was, it was a perfect day to be outside on two wheels, and it made me happy.

I DID hang out with family Friday afternoon and the only other exercise I did was lifting sparkling rosé to my mouth and moving my pool chair into the shade. We all got together again Saturday evening for a very fun kayak trip, but except for a few minutes of paddling against the current that was more relaxing than a workout. I was writing off that day as a rest day, anyway.

Kayaking to the sunset.

We were up and at ’em early again on Sunday for a race! We did a very fun 5K for the fourth year in a row and although we weren’t “racing” at all, we still made it an enjoyable morning. And since it was close by, I had the bacon pan going by 10:15 a.m. More details on that later, as well!

A good balance of bike, run, and weights.

The training parts of my week included:

Bike: Twice, once on the trainer and one outdoor ride, for 16 trainer “miles” and 25 road miles in a bit longer than 3 hours. I knew a second trainer ride might have to be sacrificed for my running evaluation, and I was OK with that.

Run/Walk: Three times, two run-walk interval and one easy race, all on the road, for 9.93 miles (so close! The 5K was a touch long) in a bit less than 2 hours. I did not use run/walk intervals for the 5K and nothing hurt afterward, which makes me think I can consider eliminating them again.

Weights: Twice, one video and one barre class, for a bit less than 2 hours. I haven’t done my heavy/body routine in a while and it shows, but at least I am being consistent with something.

PT: It took me a couple days, but I did finally do my newest set of PT exercises from the running evaluation in about a half hour. If you’re keeping track, this is now my third set of PT exercises (knee injury end of 2017, hamstring issue earlier this year) so I am going to concentrate on doing these only for a while so I don’t drive myself nuts. Everything feels good – it’s more hip exercises than I’m used to and some foot and arch work that doesn’t use big movements but still makes me sore in a good way.

Total: 8 sessions in about 7.5 hours. Not too shabby considering I took two days off! Getting those doubles in helped a ton.

Of course I would have liked to do more, but overall I felt last week was a great balance of training, family, and other. AND we had perfect summer weather. It was a great week!

Week in review July 29-Aug. 4: Ride, run, hang out with family

Bike, run, relax.

It wasn’t a great week for training, but I have good reasons for it. One evening was spent giving a former co-worker a sendoff to his next adventure, and I spent much of Saturday and Sunday with my husband’s family, celebrating a pair of newlyweds and hanging out with relatives in from out of town. It was definitely a week where I squeezed in what I could, cut my losses, and enjoyed the time off.

So although I only did three rides and three runs, all six workouts ended up being pretty good because I had to make them count. I tried another new-to-me Trainer Road workout, and took my road bike outside Saturday for an unintentional 50K. My weekday runs weren’t anything out of the ordinary, but everything felt good and I was able to manage the heat fine. And my husband came with me for a butt-early Sunday morning run before our day got busy, so that was nice to spend a bit of extra time with him.

One sad thing about last week was that the calendar flipped over to August. Schools in my neck of the woods will be starting in a few weeks. I haven’t been to nearly enough barbecues yet this summer, and I really didn’t do any traveling. No, I don’t have kids or teach, but even as an adult the back-to-school season is kind of sad for me. Summer’s over, back to work.

How many times can I play hooky these next few weeks to take my bike out or go ride in the middle of the day? Tempting….

Anyway, my family-filled week of training shook out to:

Bike: Three times, two hour-long sessions on the trainer and another two hours on the road, for just longer than 4 hours total. My 50K (31 miles) road ride was warm but clear and not quite as windy, and I tried riding with my tires at a slightly lower pressure to see if it made a difference. To be determined, but it was still a good day.

Run: Three times, all on the road, for 9.05 miles in a bit less than 2 hours. Nothing terribly special here: One easy run, one slightly faster run, one slightly longer run that ended up being a bit slower on a humid morning with my husband.

Total: Six sessions in a hair longer than 6 hours.

Let’s call it a stepback week with a bunch of fun built in. There will most likely be at least one more family day this week, so I’ll get in whatever training I can and enjoy the rest of it.

July in review: Lucky 13 rides, lucky 13 runs

July wasn't my "best" recent month as far as time spent training and number of workouts, but it still felt good. I was able to get in a few extra workouts with the Fourth of July holiday, and the first 15 days!!! were a nice, long stretch of doing something active every day. After a day off on the 16th I had another 14-day stretch of doing at least one thing every day, taking July 31st off to celebrate a friend.

So, at least I had consistency working in my favor for the month. That consistency helped me log 13 rides, two of them outside; 13 runs, 12 of them outside; a bit of PT; four weights sessions; and one yoga session. Not fantastic, but still a solid month for biking and run/walking, at least.

Nearly half my 33.5-ish hours of training in July were spent in the saddle.

July is looking pretty good for saddle miles.

Bike: I rode 13 times, 11 on the trainer on the road, for a hair less than 16 hours via 188 trainer "miles" and 50 road miles. This was slightly less time in the saddle than June, but one more ride. (Both of my road rides were 25 miles, less than what I did last month.) I tried a few new Trainer Road rides and otherwise had a good time. I'm happy with how my biking this month worked out.


Run/Walk: I felt good building my my run/walks to 4:00/1:00 run/walk by the end of the month, and my hamstring felt fine almost all of the time. There was only one run where it was way too hot for even me to try to run outside and I found a treadmill instead. I also tried to work in a bit more speed on "fast Fridays."

This doesn't count my walk warmups/cooldowns, but it's pretty close.

All told, it worked out to be 13 runs, 12 on the road, for a total of 40.3 miles in a bit longer than 8 hours.

PT: Only 6 sessions for a total of 5 hours. I should have gotten in a bit more.

Weights: 4 times, 2 barre classes and 2 videos, for a total of 4 hours. Not bad, although I would like to work up to twice a week more consistently.

Yoga: Just once for 15 minutes.

Total: 37 sessions in about 33 hours, 22 minutes.

I did do some fun stuff, too, so I can't feel too bad about not PT'ing or yoga'ing more. I hung out with an uncle I haven't seen in years, I barbecued and gossiped with multiple friend groups, I hung out at the pool, I worked in the garden, I properly sent off a coworker on his next adventure. All in all, it was a great month that also happened to have great training.

My August is already off to a good start, and I hope yours is, too.