Runner's knee, you will not be the end of thee!

I woke up Monday morning to my knees feeling sore and hurting. At first, I thought that it was probably nothing and that it would go away at some point in the day. However, this soreness and pain wasn't what I was used to with muscle aches from a hard workout. I should have taken the hint right away that something wasn't right, but instead, I shrugged it off. 

Today, I woke up still in the same amount of discomfort. I began to rack my brain. Did I hurt myself somehow over the weekend, or do something differently? After some thought and quick research online, I came to the conclusion that I have runner's knee on both legs (mostly on my right though). Thinking back and connecting the dots so to speak, I believe that my walking more on the sidewalk the last couple of walks, not to mention not using my knee support may have been the cause (also, now that my desk has been moved upstairs at work, I'm going up and down the stairs a lot). Also, I have to admit that I didn't stretch much all weekend after my 6-miler or my bike ride on Sunday evening. Definitely not helping my case any with very little post-workout stretching.

So, I'm going to do the right thing here and follow the treatment regime to get my knees happy again. I've already started to take some Ibuprofen, and I'll be icing tonight. Also, my foam roller is going to get some serious attention this week. My right knee has always been a bit weak, but I haven't had this kind of discomfort in awhile from my knees. It's not fun in the slightest, especially with working a desk job where my legs already get too much rest during the day. I've got 11-miles to do this Saturday for my 1/2 marathon training, but I'll have to see how things go as I might be cutting my mileage down for my long run day.

I've got my RoadID!

As an athletic gal these days, I like nothing more than to go out for a good power walk or bike ride to get in my calorie burn. While I love working out and being active with others, more often than not, I am a solo athlete, hitting the pavement on my own. I recently began to wonder, what if something happened to me? Of course, I hope it won't, but what if it did? No one would know who I was or who to call since I don't my license during those outings. With that in mind, I began to research what other runners and cyclists carried with them when they headed out the door. A good deal of them have some kind of ID like RoadID.

After debating if the RoadID would be a good fit for me, I was offered a chance to get one for free back in late July. A promotional company that works with RoadID contacted me via twitter asking if I'd like to get my own RoadID. Of course, I was interested and responded back just that. There are a few style options available, I went with the RoadID Elite. Once I conquered the sizing and cutting part of things (the Elite requires you to cut your own once you get the bracelet), I was good to go! I now wear it every time I go out for a walk or bike ride. Sometimes, I even wear it anyway, since it's so comfortable. The first time I wore it, the bracelet did feel a bit heavy on my small wrist, but now I barely know it's there. 

If you are the outdoorsy type and don't carry ID with you, or are seeking a wearable ID, check out RoadID's offerings. They guarantee their products, and the ID itself is easily updated when needed.

Countdown to 15k...

I will be participating in my first 15k race on Saturday. At this point, I'm both excited and nervous about the event. A couple of weeks ago, my 1/2 marathon training called for a 9 mile walk, and I made it through, but it was a push during the last 15 or so minutes. I came to the conclusion that I needed more fuel. By the end, I was not only very hungry, but I was feeling light-headed and tired out since I had only taken one Gu Energy Gel at about mile four. I'm hoping that carrying an additional gel/chews as well as part of an energy bar broken into pieces might help curb those previous problems. Walking for almost 2 1/2 hours takes a lot out of you, and I know now that I wasn't really prepared for that time span.

My only other worry is that my sciatica might cause me some trouble on the course. It comes and goes sometimes, thankfully not as bad as it used to be, but I have had times where my left leg gets numb during a walk. So, I'm doing a lot of positive thinking and praying for this weekend. I know that I have a lot of strength inside and out and that I can do this 15k. I had similar concerns right before my 10k back in March, so I suppose it's just a matter of keeping your head up and knowing that you can and will cross that finish line. I'm thankful for the support that I have in my dailymile running friends. They are great motivators and inspiration for me when I'm having to push through a tough time.

1/2 Marathon Training Update: Week 5

As I enter my second month of training, I thought an update on how things were going was in order. I would be onto week six at this point, but I got sick about week two, so I restarted the week that I only made it partially through. That's okay though, as the Space Coast 1/2 Marathon isn't until the end of November, so more than enough time to repeat weeks when necessary.

I hit my longest and hardest long mile day to date this past weekend. Saturday called for 7 miles and up until that point, I hadn't done anything longer than 10k distance wise. I was both excited and a bit nervous heading out the door at just after 7am that morning. The first 5k went easily, as my body is so used to that distance now. By the time I hit mile four, I was feeling a bit lower on energy, but I downed a Gu energy gel and figured I'd be good to go. The fifth mile is when the real mental push began. I not only started to have tired legs, but my bladder was less than thrilled about continuing on. Really took a lot of pushing to make it those last two miles. The last mile had me imagining how great it was going to be to complete the 7 miles and get off my feet. My music always helps me along, but hitting that pavement for long periods of time really does take some mental stamina. I made it through the full 7 miles and couldn't have been happier about it. It really was an accomplishment, the start of many more to come as well. 

I picked up my first foam roller a little over a week ago and have slowly begun to incorporate it into my after workout training routine. I will admit though, I'm not completely comfortable with it as of yet, and I already know I don't stretch nearly enough before or after my training sessions. That of course isn't good, so I'm making sure to remind myself that my time stretching is just as important as the workout itself. Hopefully, I'll get it better ingrained into my brain in the coming weeks so that it will come more as a second nature thing to me.

Over the weekend, I ended up talking with a fellow walker at Track Shack about race walking. He is a race walker and told me that I would get much better results from my walking if I used the race walking technique. The biggest thing that got me is that he said that I would be much faster race walking. So, I'm going to try to start using the technique during this week's walking days. I'd love to see a faster pace for sure. I may never win anything in the races that I do, but while finishing is the most important thing of all, challenging myself to do each mile quicker is always something on my mind.

Increasing Workouts

In preparation for my vacation in a couple of weeks, I've decided to increase my workouts a bit. Hopefully, I can keep up with this longer than just this month. I have gotten so into just my power walking that I need to change things up a bit. It will also help in case of boredom as well as toning up which is what I'd like to do.

I got my bike back out yesterday and I enjoyed riding it. On Saturday after my workout, I installed the Cateye bike computer I had gotten from my job for my Christmas gift back in December. I had been procrastinating in getting it on the bike and with the weather being the way it is, it's a great time to be out there cycling. Unfortunately, I must have set the magnetic sensor wrong on the front wheel because it's not reading anything. I messed with it a bit, but ended up giving up until later in the week when I had more time. Meanwhile, I utilized an app called Cardio Trainer on my phone which tracks my workouts via GPS. That worked out okay despite it not providing info on my speed of course.

Today, I got up at a quarter to six planning to head out for a power walk. I knew it would be dark out at 6am, but I wasn't prepared for how truly dark it is with daylight savings time and all. Seeing as how I wasn't so sure that going out in the dark was the best idea safety-wise, I opted to do a workout DVD instead. Since my back injury last March, I hadn't really done much in the fitness DVD area. I used to do them all the time, the DVDs were a big part of my fitness regime when I was losing weight. So, I was both excited and a bit nervous about the workout. I hoped for the best and put in a Jillian Micheals workout recalling that I could most likely do most of the Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD without too much of a problem. I did pretty well, only skipping two of the circuits that didn't seem to be the best moves for my injury. I also modified a few of the other sets to ease into the workouts.

During my lunch break today, I was feeling good so I decided to use part of that time to take a power walk since I hadn't this morning. I ended up doing about 1.7 miles in 26 minutes. I do enjoy walking on my break, but it's a bit more challenging not only due to the terrain around work, but due to the fact that I do my walks in whatever I'm wearing to work that day (running shoes of course though). It was pretty warm out and my legs were a bit sore from yesterday's bike ride, so I didn't do a full two miles which I normally would shoot for mileage-wise. Otherwise, it was a nice walk.

Fitness Goals

 

I've been meaning to make a blog post about my goals for 2011, but due to being sick, I hadn't had a chance to write anything up until now. Receiving my 2010 Year-End Report from Daily Mile this morning in my inbox was definitely motivation not only to get this blog written today, but for the coming weeks and months of 2011.

 

According to my Daily Mile report, I ran/walked/biked 189 miles in 2010. That's over 3 miles a week when you do the math. Obviously, I want to do a lot better than that in 2011, and I know that I can and will do so. I think my back injury pulled me down a lot last year, but that injury isn't going to run my life in 2011. It may have been a rocky start with being sick in the first days of the new year, but that is not a roadblock that cannot be overcome. That said, I am giving myself a goal of walking at least 400 miles in 2011. Something I see as easily doable if I walk about 8 miles each week. Considering that on a good week, I like to walk 8 to 12 miles, I'm confident that I will accomplish my goal.

 

Other fitness-related goals for 2011 include increasing my mileage so that I can do my first 10k race. This is proving to be a bit more of a challenge than I originally thought, with my sciatica taking over when I attempt to do more than 3.1 miles in a single walking session. However, I am not going to give up on achieving this goal. It may take me a lot longer to hit 6 miles, but I can and will do it. This is my first distance goal for the year which I hope will lead to later training to do a 1/2 marathon within a year.

 

Last year, I participated in eight local races (registered for 9, as I ended up not being able to run or walk the Corporate 5k). As far as 2011 goes, since I plan on moving out of Florida in a few months, I am not planning too far ahead with races at this time, but my tentative schedule is:

 

**Lady Track Shack 5k on February 5th

**Run Around the Pines 5k on February 19th

**Winter Park Road Race on March 26th

 

The February races are pretty much a lock, as I'm definitely doing the Lady Track Shack 5k. I had an awesome time doing that race last year, as it was my first actual race that got me hooked. It's a great ladies-only race that I recommend to all Central Florida ladies, runner or walker.

Sciatica/Workout Update

Here's an update on what has been going on since I last blogged regarding my workouts and my back injury.

Last Friday, I did go back out in the morning pre-work for a power walk. I slowed my pace down some (probably not enough though, it's hard to do when you are used to pushing yourself) and did okay. Was very happy that I felt good for the most part and was looking forward to my Saturday workout.

On Saturday, I usually do 3 miles or a full 5k distance-wise. I felt a bit weak during the walk, so not wanting to push myself too hard too soon, I cut the workout short by a mile. I also decided to pick up another knee support for my left knee thinking that some extra support might help.

I had plans to go to EPCOT with my best friend on Sunday and woke up feeling good. I already planned upon doing a walk prior to the day at the park, so I headed out. I ended up doing just over 5k distance-wise which I was pleased with. I felt pretty good coming home post-workout. I then got myself ready and met my friend for our day trip to the theme park.

The day continued to go well until after dinner time. While in Captain EO, my left foot and leg began to feel numb and fall asleep. This didn't please me at all, as I was trying to have a good time. After that, the feeling would subside a bit, but never really went away. I found myself massaging my foot and leg the rest of the night once I got home. Definitely not my idea of fun. And, no matter what I did to try and calm my foot, nothing seemed to work.

Since I was having so much trouble on Sunday night, I opted to take Monday as a rest day from my walk. I figured that maybe doing the 5k and then walking in the park was overwhelming on my back/sciatic nerve. That being so, I hoped and prayed that it would calm down with a rest day.

At work on Monday, nothing seemed to calm my numb and uncomfortable foot. I merely had to grin and bear it it seemed. When I got home after work, I opted to take half of a muscle spasm pill that I had gotten from my doctor for my back injury. I was really hoping it would help calm that nerve. Since Monday had been so uncomfortable, I planned to again rest on Tuesday from my walk.

Here it is Wednesday and I'm still dealing on and off (more on) with the sciatica discomfort. I am not having any back pain per say, it's all in my left leg and mostly foot. Not a fun experience to say the least. I've rested since Sunday's walk and theme park outting, so I'm debating on whether I should continue the rest through Saturday's Reindeer Run 5k or attempt to do a slower walk tomorrow morning. At this point, tomorrow would be my only workout prior to the race since I rarely workout the day before just to allow my body to relax going in. So, I'll have to see how I feel in the morning I suppose.

Rest is important, but sometimes too much rest is going overboard as well as crazy as that sounds. I have read online that resting for a couple of days for sciatica and then slowly resuming walks and low intensity workouts is a good thing. I've also learned that my sciatica discomfort may not subside for awhile, it's hard to say how long it might stick around. I recall last winter when I rarely ran due to my wussiness in the cold temperatures. I was hoping to conquer that a bit more this year and get out there more often.

Bump in the road

It seems that I have hit a bump in the road in regards to my 10k training. In the last couple of days, I've begun to experience sciatica pain in my lower back and a bit in my upper legs. The more I thought about this soreness, the more I realized that my leg problems with the "jelly leg" from Sunday's 4 mile walk was most likely a part of this same problem. In fact, this may go back to Thanksgiving Day.

On Thanksgiving, I took part in a Turkey Trot 5k here in Orlando. For the first time, my mom decided to sign up, so it became a bit of a family affair. Thousands of area runners and walkers joined in on the trot fun. By the end of the race, I was feeling good, a bit tired, but good. I felt so good later that day in fact, that I walked another 2 miles in the evening with my father. It was quite a slower paced walk, but I went out and did the extra mileage. My body isn't really used to doing anything further workout wise post-race. I tend to take it easy and not do anymore workouts on those days. I suppose adding those extra couple of miles may have been too much for my body to take.

The next day, my quads were extremely sore. I hadn't recalled being that sore since I was doing my weight loss workouts, or maybe since I began running in 2009. Either way, it had been awhile since I had experienced that level of soreness. I didn't workout that day, but I did go back out for a 3 mile walk on Saturday. My legs were still a bit sore, but they seemed to be a lot better. Then came Sunday, the Hal Higdon training calls for a 45-90 minute walk for this particular time of training. Heading out the door, I felt good so I had it in my mind that I was going to push to do 4 miles if I continued to do well. The first 3 miles went well, my body is used to doing that kind of mileage, so it's a piece of cake. Trouble didn't occur until I hit the last 500 or so meters of my 4 miles. At that point, my left leg became weakened and felt like "jelly." I made it home okay, after pushing myself to get there and then I felt alright. My leg seemed to calm and the weakening went away.

Monday's walk went alright, didn't feel as energized as usual, but that has happened some mornings, so I didn't think much of it. Tuesday's 2 mile walk did have a problem though. My left leg again experienced some weakness during the workout. It didn't have the "jelly" sensation that I had on Sunday, but it did feel pretty weak. Wednesday is a rest day for me, I tend to keep this day as a definite non-workout day, so I didn't workout at all. Today, I would have normally gone out for my usual 2 miles or more, but due to my sciatica/back soreness, I opted to take an additional rest day so as not to push my back too much.

Today, I have iced my back some and also used the heating pad when I can. The soreness is still here, it fades a bit but has yet to go away completely. At this point, I'm conflicted on whether or not to go out for tomorrow's power walk. On one side of the coin, exercise is good for my back injury, just not overdoing it. If I do go out, it would definitely not be at the intensity that I normally do my walks in, I'd have to not worry about my pacing. On the other hand, I'm wondering if another rest day is in order. I could take tomorrow off and then resume my workouts on Saturday, allowing my soreness one more day to relax and rest. I'll most likely see how I feel in the morning, play it by ear. If I feel okay and stretch well, I should be okay to walk at a slower pace. Either way, I'm listening to my body and my gut feeling on it.

My story

I had been an overweight girl most of my life. I would probably say that I really started to be fat when I was about thirteen years old. My father's side of the family is one that loves it's food. I recall visiting my grandparents many times as a kid and there never being a lack of snacks around. There would always be Doritos, Cheetos, cookies, nuts, you name it, it was out in a bowl or some other container ready for anyone to consume. Of course, there was a good amount of junk food at home as well. My parents tried to get my brother and I to eat as healthy as they knew how, but whenever family or friends came over, we had pizza, chips, ice cream and such all of the time. When you are an active young kid playing Little League baseball or softball and constantly running around outside everyday, that isn't a really horrible thing in the weight department.

By the time I made it to high school, my outdoor activity began to decline, as I no longer rode my bike to school and was not as interested in playing outside with neighbor kids after school. I was now taking the bus to school or one of my parents drove me to and from there. While it was great that I began active in newspaper, yearbook and other creative outlets in high school, the regular exercise and activity I had been having as a younger kid slowly but surely faded away. The weekends when friends came over for sleepovers or we had pizza nights still continued, yet I had no way of really working off the excess I was taking in food-wise. Also, there was lunch time at school. For the first time in my life, I was able to choose a bag of chips over an actual plate of food for my lunch. I was not good at making the best food or nutrition choices for myself. Thus began my more sedentary lifestyle.

I'm not sure exactly when I thought I was overweight and unhealthy, but I think that deep down inside myself I knew it by the time that I was eighteen or thereabouts. I would try quick diets, Weight Watchers and all sorts of things. I was never committed enough to really drop the weight or change the way that I ate or lived in that way. There was one point in my early twenties when I did drop some weight however. My family doctor had put me on a weight loss drug which aided me in losing about 40 or so pounds at the time. Alas, it was very short term, and I gained the weight back and more soon after. Nothing really stuck with me because I was not ready. That really is the bottom line with weight loss, you have to be ready to change your life and get healthy.

The second season into a television reality show called, The Biggest Loser, I began to feel a twinge of motivation. I watched as the show's contestants battled it out each week to eat healthy and worked their butts off in the gym. About a year or so later, I heard about the show doing a tour throughout the country. The tour would include former contestants from show itself. One of my favorites from that second season was going to be in attendance. I was thrilled at the chance to go to this event and meet them. At the mall tour, I met Suzy Preston. At the time, I was sure I wanted to get myself healthy once and for all and drop the weight. I told her that she had been an inspiration to me, and I was going to really do it this time. Alas, I again started something I wasn't ready to follow through on.

Then in September of 2008, my defining moment came. At the time, I was living in Western North Carolina and had gone home to Central Florida to visit my parents for a few days. During my visit down to Florida, my father and I went to EPCOT one day. There, the two of us took pictures and enjoyed a day at the theme park together. Returning back home to North Carolina, I had two picture cds in hand, one was from the camera I was using to shoot that day at EPCOT, the other was from my father's camera. He said that I might want to see some of the shots he took. As soon as I popped his disc into my computer, I realized that my dad had taken some candid’s pictures of me. I was out there shooting photos or not paying attention and he took a few photos during those moments. Looking at the photos of myself I could not believe how fat I looked. I was mortified by what I was seeing. Something inside of me just knew then that I had to do something to drop the weight and get healthy. No more false starts, this time I was going to begin and follow through to the finish on my weight loss journey.

After a lot of good days and bad days, I succeeded in my weight loss journey by the summer of 2009. I had lost over 75lbs and had never felt more energized or healthier in my life. I worked hard to achieve my goals and knew that I was no longer that same person that had been in those pictures over nine months prior. It felt good seeing the results of my hard work and knowing that I had finally done it. Once I conquered my weight loss goals, I knew that I could not stop there. I never wanted to return to my old lifestyle. I began the Couch 2 5k Running plan. Never believing that I could be a runner, I slowly but surely began to prove myself wrong. It really is amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it and push through.

Then on March 30, 2010, I encountered a set back. After a 25 minute run, my longest run to date at the time, I experienced severe back pain later that day at work. At first, I shrugged it off, thinking it was just soreness and not being used to running that much or that far. But, by the end of the work day, I knew that I had to do something as I even had difficulty carrying my bag. The next morning, I went in to see my doctor thinking that she would say it was something that could be easily treated and not to worry. Fast forward to two weeks later, after having an MRI done of my back, I was informed that I had herniated my lumbar disc in my lower back. I was crushed by the news. What was even more crushing was that my doctor told me that I would more than likely never be able to run again due to the injury.

Once I got over the denial and the not wanting to give up running thoughts in my brain, I finally accepted that I may never again be a runner. Those 25 minutes I ran on March 30th may forever be the longest I will ever run. Now, I power walk regularly and do a lot of 5k races locally. I am also reigniting my love for biking again. Even though I can't run, I don't plan on giving up my fitness or my love for doing races. Currently, I'm training to walk my first 10k in 2011 via Hal Higdon's 10k Training for Walkers. Also, I have aspirations to walk a 1/2 marathon in 2011. I have a lot of strength and stubbornness left in me, so limitations aren't going to hold me down, they may keep me at the back of the pack, but I'm okay with that.