WillRunForPizza
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2022
- Messages
- 1,463
March 31 - April 6, 2025
5K training week 2 | 42 days until Hero Dogs 5K9
In which things fall apart
Monday
"Easy"/hill strides: 5.9 miles (10:23), avg. HR 158, max 185
Core
Oof. Something went horribly wrong here. Despite running pretty slowly for me, my HR was quite high. There's more elevation than usual on this route, but not that much more. Yuck.
Tuesday
Workout: 2.2 mile WU/strides + 5 x 1 mile @ LTP/90s RI + 2 x 30s uphill + 1 mile CD
9 miles, avg. HR 168, max 192
Lower body strength
Well that was a mess.
It would have been a nice day to run if not for the wind. The wind was annoying. I ended up running in the afternoon because the wind chill was yucky in the morning.
It went...not particularly well. I could tell about a minute into the first rep that I was not getting to seven. I thought five was a stretch. I know about what my HR should be at lactate threshold, and I was already above that. And I wasn't running too fast.
I survived the first interval, though. Things started to go off the rails around interval #2, with my tummy feeling quite uncomfortable. At least my timing was good for a pit stop - it just made my recovery interval a bit longer than planned.
You'd think that would make me feel a little more recovered for rep #3, but no: I just felt sort of wobbly. I had taped my ankle, and it didn't hurt, but maybe it just sort of pushed the problem up the chain, because at the very end of #3, I felt like my knee was going to collapse. I actually stopped with like 0.02 miles to go because I literally couldn't run.
After a minute of frantic stretching/moving things around, I managed to start running again, but I was seriously concerned that I wasn't even going to be able to jog back, let alone finish the workout. But the recovery interval seemed to let it work itself out, at least temporarily (while I went through all of the form cues I could think of to try to fix myself).
I was actually okay for interval #4, if quite tired. Mostly I was just happy my knee was working. In #5, my tape started to fall apart, so I guess I didn't do a very good job. But the last rep was the closest to the (unadjusted) pace I was actually supposed to be running, so that's something.
I did one decent hill rep, and then on the second I just couldn't anymore. So I skipped the rest. Honestly I'm kind of surprised I got through even five mile repeats, so I wasn't too upset about it. The hill strides were just kind of a bonus anyway. So at that point, I felt reasonably okay.
Wednesday
Recovery: 5.8 miles (10:58), 100% Z1-2
Upper body strength
Yep, turns out I messed up my knee too. And bruised my toe, which actually happens all the time but is not usually uncomfortable. I guess this is just my lucky week.
At this rate I'm going to need a cast for my entire left leg soon. I miss not hurting. 
Most of my aches and pains felt slightly better when moving, so I did run, albeit very easy. (Forgot my armband so HR data isn't great, but I was just shuffling.) I had my ankle taped again and dug out an old knee band to deal with that issue. The tape did not fall off this time, but I didn't get to the point in the run where it came off the last time, so I didn't know if that was meaningful.
Thursday
Easy/"hill strides": 7.2 miles (10:35), avg. HR 147, max 176, 95% Z1-2
Core
I convinced myself before I went out that my knee was feeling better (false). At least the tape seems to be helping my ankle some. It did start to fall off a bit again though.
I don't know if this is from compensating for all these aches and pains or just running for months in a very flat area, but I feel like I have zero power going uphill. You can't even see the hill strides on my pace chart, they were so wimpy. All this is making me feel very blah.
Friday
Medium-long: 10.1 miles (10:24), avg. HR 151, max 165, 97% Z1-2
Total body strength
Unplanned double: 2.8 miles (10:54)
And here is where things really took a wrong turn.
My knee was not better. It was also not worse (yet), but still. My ankle was maybe a little better? The tape seemed to be helping, and it even stayed on this time.
I tried to do strides but my knee did not like running fast. After all that, I decided to skip the strength training. Partly I was tired, and partly I didn't want to do any more damage than I already had, but mostly those are just excuses and I didn't feel like it.
However.
Then I went to an alumni reception at my grad school in the evening, and when I tried to get home the bus never showed up. The next one wasn't for about half an hour. I said to myself, "I could run home by then."
Then I said, "Ugh."
So I ran home. In loose athleisure sort of slacks, and a t-shirt, and a regular bra, and dangly earrings, holding onto my purse so it wouldn't bounce all over the place. I almost tripped on my flaring pant leg about six separate times. I was at least wearing old running shoes, because I'm pretty much always wearing old running shoes.
I was obviously not wearing my armband, much less tape on my ankle or a brace on my knee. The knee was kind of painful at first, but did feel better as I went on. But I stopped and walked the rest of the way when I got about half a mile from home because my ankle was starting to hurt. Also my toenail felt like it was gently stabbing itself into the nail bed every step. I recommend none of this.
Saturday
Long: 2.5 hours
So after Friday, I was already kind of debating whether it would be a good idea to run on Saturday. When I woke up, it was clear that running was not a good plan. My knee felt much worse. Anytime I started moving after sitting or standing for a while, it hurt. If I tried to bend it more than 90 degrees, it hurt. It got better as I kept moving, but then if my (walking) stride was even slightly off, it hurt. Very not good.
So other than walking the dog, I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible so my knee could rest. (My ankle and toe also still hurt! But they had not really gotten worse, so I wasn't focused on them.)
Sunday
Obviously I did not run today either. My knee is still kind of uncomfortable, but it feels less, I don't know, wrong, which I guess is something. Heat seems to help it, so I've been doing some of that, plus still putting my feet up whenever I'm not walking the dog (though I do actually need to do some chores and things today, so I won't be quite as lazy as yesterday).
Totals
Running: 6h 55m, 40.8 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 45m
Total: 8h 41m
So that didn't go as planned.
Normally if I can't run, I at least do some yoga to stretch things out a bit and get a little movement in, but I can't even do that because of the whole bending-my-knee-more-than-90-degrees-is-ow thing.
Coming up
Who knows? I'm going to give it one more day and then see where we are. If running seems okay at that point, then I'll ease back into it. If not...well, that will suck.
One more thing
On a completely unrelated but happier note, if you have 10 minutes, go watch Alysa Liu's fantastic routine from the figure skating world championships. It brought me joy during a generally crappy week.
5K training week 2 | 42 days until Hero Dogs 5K9
In which things fall apart
Monday
"Easy"/hill strides: 5.9 miles (10:23), avg. HR 158, max 185
Core
Oof. Something went horribly wrong here. Despite running pretty slowly for me, my HR was quite high. There's more elevation than usual on this route, but not that much more. Yuck.
Tuesday
Workout: 2.2 mile WU/strides + 5 x 1 mile @ LTP/90s RI + 2 x 30s uphill + 1 mile CD
9 miles, avg. HR 168, max 192
Lower body strength
Well that was a mess.
It would have been a nice day to run if not for the wind. The wind was annoying. I ended up running in the afternoon because the wind chill was yucky in the morning.
It went...not particularly well. I could tell about a minute into the first rep that I was not getting to seven. I thought five was a stretch. I know about what my HR should be at lactate threshold, and I was already above that. And I wasn't running too fast.
I survived the first interval, though. Things started to go off the rails around interval #2, with my tummy feeling quite uncomfortable. At least my timing was good for a pit stop - it just made my recovery interval a bit longer than planned.
You'd think that would make me feel a little more recovered for rep #3, but no: I just felt sort of wobbly. I had taped my ankle, and it didn't hurt, but maybe it just sort of pushed the problem up the chain, because at the very end of #3, I felt like my knee was going to collapse. I actually stopped with like 0.02 miles to go because I literally couldn't run.
After a minute of frantic stretching/moving things around, I managed to start running again, but I was seriously concerned that I wasn't even going to be able to jog back, let alone finish the workout. But the recovery interval seemed to let it work itself out, at least temporarily (while I went through all of the form cues I could think of to try to fix myself).
I was actually okay for interval #4, if quite tired. Mostly I was just happy my knee was working. In #5, my tape started to fall apart, so I guess I didn't do a very good job. But the last rep was the closest to the (unadjusted) pace I was actually supposed to be running, so that's something.
I did one decent hill rep, and then on the second I just couldn't anymore. So I skipped the rest. Honestly I'm kind of surprised I got through even five mile repeats, so I wasn't too upset about it. The hill strides were just kind of a bonus anyway. So at that point, I felt reasonably okay.
Wednesday
Recovery: 5.8 miles (10:58), 100% Z1-2
Upper body strength
Yep, turns out I messed up my knee too. And bruised my toe, which actually happens all the time but is not usually uncomfortable. I guess this is just my lucky week.
At this rate I'm going to need a cast for my entire left leg soon. I miss not hurting. Most of my aches and pains felt slightly better when moving, so I did run, albeit very easy. (Forgot my armband so HR data isn't great, but I was just shuffling.) I had my ankle taped again and dug out an old knee band to deal with that issue. The tape did not fall off this time, but I didn't get to the point in the run where it came off the last time, so I didn't know if that was meaningful.
Thursday
Easy/"hill strides": 7.2 miles (10:35), avg. HR 147, max 176, 95% Z1-2
Core
I convinced myself before I went out that my knee was feeling better (false). At least the tape seems to be helping my ankle some. It did start to fall off a bit again though.
I don't know if this is from compensating for all these aches and pains or just running for months in a very flat area, but I feel like I have zero power going uphill. You can't even see the hill strides on my pace chart, they were so wimpy. All this is making me feel very blah.
Friday
Medium-long: 10.1 miles (10:24), avg. HR 151, max 165, 97% Z1-2
Unplanned double: 2.8 miles (10:54)
And here is where things really took a wrong turn.
My knee was not better. It was also not worse (yet), but still. My ankle was maybe a little better? The tape seemed to be helping, and it even stayed on this time.
I tried to do strides but my knee did not like running fast. After all that, I decided to skip the strength training. Partly I was tired, and partly I didn't want to do any more damage than I already had, but mostly those are just excuses and I didn't feel like it.
However.
Then I went to an alumni reception at my grad school in the evening, and when I tried to get home the bus never showed up. The next one wasn't for about half an hour. I said to myself, "I could run home by then."
Then I said, "Ugh."
So I ran home. In loose athleisure sort of slacks, and a t-shirt, and a regular bra, and dangly earrings, holding onto my purse so it wouldn't bounce all over the place. I almost tripped on my flaring pant leg about six separate times. I was at least wearing old running shoes, because I'm pretty much always wearing old running shoes.
I was obviously not wearing my armband, much less tape on my ankle or a brace on my knee. The knee was kind of painful at first, but did feel better as I went on. But I stopped and walked the rest of the way when I got about half a mile from home because my ankle was starting to hurt. Also my toenail felt like it was gently stabbing itself into the nail bed every step. I recommend none of this.
Saturday
So after Friday, I was already kind of debating whether it would be a good idea to run on Saturday. When I woke up, it was clear that running was not a good plan. My knee felt much worse. Anytime I started moving after sitting or standing for a while, it hurt. If I tried to bend it more than 90 degrees, it hurt. It got better as I kept moving, but then if my (walking) stride was even slightly off, it hurt. Very not good.
So other than walking the dog, I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible so my knee could rest. (My ankle and toe also still hurt! But they had not really gotten worse, so I wasn't focused on them.)
Sunday
Obviously I did not run today either. My knee is still kind of uncomfortable, but it feels less, I don't know, wrong, which I guess is something. Heat seems to help it, so I've been doing some of that, plus still putting my feet up whenever I'm not walking the dog (though I do actually need to do some chores and things today, so I won't be quite as lazy as yesterday).
Totals
Running: 6h 55m, 40.8 miles
Strength/mobility: 1h 45m
Total: 8h 41m
So that didn't go as planned.
Normally if I can't run, I at least do some yoga to stretch things out a bit and get a little movement in, but I can't even do that because of the whole bending-my-knee-more-than-90-degrees-is-ow thing.
Coming up
Who knows? I'm going to give it one more day and then see where we are. If running seems okay at that point, then I'll ease back into it. If not...well, that will suck.
One more thing
On a completely unrelated but happier note, if you have 10 minutes, go watch Alysa Liu's fantastic routine from the figure skating world championships. It brought me joy during a generally crappy week.
So I did not in fact go for a run. 
, I'll probably aim for the lower end of my scheduled range for everything rather than mid-to-high as I had been doing. Also there might be extra rest days. Maybe. Or maybe adaptations will finally start to kick in! I can keep hoping, right? 
If nothing else, it'll be an interesting experience - I've never done a track race before.
Lol.
) Since my aches have been around for a while (between a couple of weeks and a couple of months) and therefore might take more work to fix, I opted for the longer end of the spectrum. (Today is day 6. I might have forgotten a dose one afternoon, but it's probably not a big deal.)
However, getting all the way down into a full squat is still kind of uncomfortable. My ankle went through some interesting phases but seems to be hurting less overall - it was a little sore today after running up and down a hill a bunch of times yesterday, but much less noticeable than before. So I'm cautiously optimistic that this strategy is at least doing something, if not a complete fix. We'll see in a couple days after I stop taking the ibuprofen.
