On the road to... A Half-Marathon

My knee injury squashed my goal of running the Disney Princess Half-Marathon. But, it's feeling good, and I finally splurged for better running shoes: Nike+ Pegasus 27

I also got the Nike+ sensor to help track my runs. Can't wait to try it out! Especially because I have zero sense of time, pace or distance. So instead of me having to check distances on google maps around my neighborhood and run only on those streets, I can have the freedom to just run wherever I want until I hit my goal distance. I could just run for time, but like I said, there are times when I think I've run 3 miles and I only ran 2. Logging miles helps me stay motivated too, and on my training plan.

To keep me on track, I registered for my first Half-Marathon:

Let's hope the knee holds up. I have 13 weeks to complete Hal Higdon's novice training program.

And the running begins again... with an injury.

Come on, are you serious?

Day 1 back to running and training for my half-marathon and I injured my darn knee.

I made myself run the mile from home to my meeting today, convinced that I would not have run otherwise. Once the meeting was done and I had only 15 minutes to get back home in time to shower and leave for work -- I had to run back.

Halfway through my return run, I started getting sharp pains along my right lateral knee. I tried not extending so much, putting more weight on the left... but I ultimately just pushed through.

By the time I got to work, parked and tried to walk down the ramp, I was completely limping. Unbelievable.

Yes, I had on kitten heels which arguably did not help the situation. But, by the end of my 9-hour stint, I was hobbling and praying some nice security guard would offer me a ride to the garage, dreading the walk and flight of stairs that awaited me. Both were excruciating by the way.

I iced the disappointing knee for 90 minutes on my drive to Jersey. My disability improved from hobbling back to limping. I am really beyond irritated. It reminds me of my ridiculous ankle injury in month 2 of training for my 5K earlier this year. But, the rest of that training was a success, so hopefully there's good luck for me the rest of this training, too.


Run:
1.03 mi, 11:29 going to meeting
1.03 mi, 10:53 on the way back

A Running Attempt

Today didn't go so well. After running for 10 minutes and feeling like my right leg was about to give out, I realized it because I was avoiding the left ankle (aka, the hurt one).

When I tried to focus on running on both legs, my left ankle felt even more tight followed by twinges I didn't appreciate, so I switched to walking. In total, I ran 15 minutes and walked 25 minutes.

I'll rest for another day or two and try again this weekend. I am upset, though, that this sets me back on my 8-week plan.

Net Carbs: 30 grams
Days 'Til 5K: 43

In other news -- 2 issues from my new Running Times subscription came today. I love magazines -- especially subscriptions -- so it didn't take me long to sign up for one. So far, I am intrigued...

The Swollen Ankle Report

Remember yesterday I mentioned how my ankle hurt when I touched it, but not so much when I ran on it?

Well, it didn't really bother me the rest of the day. After I left the gym, I worked a 12-hour shift on my feet and by the time I got home, I told hubby my ankle felt swollen, but I still thought it was okay (I obviously hadn't really looked down).

He looked first and alerted me to the fact that something was obviously wrong.

This is a picture of my ankles last night. I chopped off my toes to spare you guys the horror. But, I think you get a sense of how swollen the left ankle was.

Finally out of denial, I soaked in a hot bath, then iced the ankle, wrapped it and elevated it while I slept and voila -- this morning I have creases in my ankles again.

One of my doctor buds and I figured out that it's probably an inflammation of one of my peroneus tendons.

Today was my day off anyway, so tonight I'll do another hot soak followed by icing and elevating (freezing water inside Dixie cups works great to ice injuries). But, the plan is to stick with my training schedule and run 14-minute intervals tomorrow.

By the way -- Two thumbs up for the new Panera Mediterranean Salmon salad! Without the olives, and using balsamic instead of the tangerine dressing, it was only 20 NET grams of carbs.

Net Carbs: 31 grams
Days 'Til 5K: 44

My First Injury?

Even though I got off at midnight last night, I still got up this morning for my 9am muscle challenge class followed by 30 minutes of running. I usually like to run first (while I still have all of my energy), but I was not getting up any earlier than I did.

I got up to 13 minutes of consecutive running today. The first minute or so, my left ankle felt a little stiff (it did that yesterday too), but it loosened up just fine without any pain. However, when I was stretching, I noticed that when I touched the outside of my ankle, it was tender. I massaged that ankle while I soaked it in the jacuzzi, and it felt better.

I wonder when I hurt it - if it's from poor form, or maybe when I lost my balance doing lunges last week.

Running itself went okay. I got tired around minute 11 during the second interval, but I kept going.

Ok... time to go back to work (noon to midnight again)! Tomorrow is my (work AND workout) off day. YEY!

Net Carbs: 26 grams

Days 'Til 5K: 45