Week 5

My week was bittersweet. On one hand I finally figured out what was ailing me, but on the other hand I missed out on a lot of running.

I went to the gym on Monday to do a 3.5 mile run. I got 1.25 miles into it and had to stop because the pain in my back was so excruciating. This had never happened before; I had always been able to run through it. I was hobbling around after I got off the treamill and just in a lot of pain. I left the gym feeling so discouraged and frustrated and not understanding why this was happening. I called the doctor when I got home to make an appointment because I thought at this point, what else could I do really? I was seen the next morning and diagnosed with an SI Joint injury. I was given anti inflammatories and told that Airrosti treatment was another alternative if these didn't work (that is a program that rehabs althletes in just three days). I started taking the Aleve twice a day right away and thought I was feeling better. My real test was going to come when I ran though as that's when the pain always flared up. I was told I could run in 3-4 days so I decided to err on the side of caution and wait four days. This also put me on pace to do a run on Saturday morning, which was easier than trying to get to the gym the day before.

Saturday morning came and I was so excited to get back out there. I put on my new Garmin watch for the first time and began my run around the neighborhood. Mother Nature was not on my side this weekend as the winds were pretty strong that morning. I am still waiting for that perfect running weather here before the heat sets in (and I am really not looking forward to that!!). I made it about a mile before I started to feel very tired and around 1.6 miles I had to walk. I walked about a tenth of a mile and then ran until 2.5 miles and walked the last 1/2 mile (I wanted to get up to 3 miles). I was a little bit discouraged to tell the truth because I wanted to be able to get back out there and have everything just fall back into place. Shouldn't it be like riding a bicycle? I felt a small amount of pain when I was running but it was seriously a thousand times better than it had been before. That in itself was uplifting to know that I had been correctly diagnosed and the medicine and new shoes were working.

I decided to go out again on Sunday morning. This time the winds were even stronger. I ran the first mile with the wind at my back. When I reached the end of the mile I felt great and thought this was no problem and I could definitely go farther today. Then I turned around right into 30mph wind gusts and was out of breath in about a minute. I felt so discouraged again. I managed to run two miles, veering off into side roads so the wind wasn't pushing me directly back, but rather from the side. I walked about .3 miles and then ran up to 3 miles. I felt better about that run but it has definitely taught me that I need to get outside and run more to get used to the elements. After all, I am not running a half marathon on the treadmill! I thought that if I could do five miles on the treadmill getting outside would be no problem. It's a little difficult to run through a neighborhood and I would prefer to find some kind of running trail, but I am not willing to drive anywhere to run. I'd rather just step out my door and get on with it.

So it's back to full time training this week at the gym and I'm curious to see how far I can run. My training schedule calls for four miles today, but I may have to modify this week a bit to make up for all the time I've missed. I'm also getting a little nervous about my four mile run in two weeks. I hope I am able to do it. Even more than that, I hope that it's not windy on any of my race days! I am not sure what I'll do! My dreams of doing some kind of race in San Francisco someday may just have been blown out the window.

Nonetheless it has been an encouraging week running wise since I was finally able to get back out there. I also bought a workout DVD that I'm hoping to use a few times a week to tone up and do some strength training (can I brag for a second that I am in size 2 jeans now??). Anyway, I hope this week is looking up. I could use some of that in my life now :)