5.5 miles, 9:08 pace, roads

felt tired from yesterdays run, but my knee felt good. Just an easy run, walked a couple hills. 13 days until McNaughton!

5 miles, indoor track, 7:14 overall pace

I went to the track for a 5 mile run after work. The original goal was to run 5 miles right around 8 minute pace, as I've been feeling pretty out of shape since I've gotten back from running this week and I didn't know how fast I could go. I felt pretty good so I just increased the pace as I went along. the first 3.5 miles were pretty easy the last 1.5 were pretty tough. Nothing spectacular about the pace, but I was happy with it considering I haven't run in the last 3 weeks. I didn't really even thing about my knee during the run, it felt 100%, for the first time in about 2 months. My form really started to fall apart in the last 1200 meters. My leg turnover was getting sluggish and I my heart was pumping pretty good.

Mile 1: 7:40
Mile 2: 7:30
Mile 3: 7:18
Mile 4: 7:00
Mile 5: 6:47

5.55 miles, hilly roads, 9:40 pace

I ran 5.5 easy miles tonight after work. I was worried about my knee today because it felt a little tender throughout the day, but it didn't bother me at all during the run. My legs felt pretty heavy but my breathing was better (no huffing and puffing) with the reduced pace.

5 miles total

4 miles running, hilly roads
1 mile walking on a 15% incline

I did 2 loops of the 2 mile loop around campus today, for four miles of running. My knee felt pretty good. It did start to ache a little while running down a big hill as I was finishing the second mile so I slowed my pace and it went away. It came back As I was going down that same hill the second time, so down hills are still a slight problem. It didn't hurt but I could feel it. My pace was about 7:30 for the first two miles and 8:30 for the second two. I was pretty tired after that, which doesn't make me feel so good about the fact that I'm going to try and run 150 miles in two weeks, lol, but it's OK. I really don't have any expectations for McNaughton anymore. I'm just going to go and see how far I can get, but with my injuries and lack of training I'll be lucky to finish 50 miles, let alone 150!

After the road run I went to the rec and did leg presses and extensions, 3 set of 20 of both exercises. Then I walked one 20 minute mile on the treadmill at a 15% incline.

I ran two miles tonight on hilly roads. No knee pain at all. I felt great, accept for the fact that I was huffing and puffing going up hill, and felt totally out of shape, but that's OK, my legs didn't hurt! I still have a slight bit of limited mobility in my left ankle from the sprain, but it's nothing that really effects my running. I started off the first half mile pretty slow then picked up the speed as I went, averaging out to 7:50 pace.

Well, I finally went to the doctor today. He took some X-rays and looked at my knee but really didn't know what was wrong with it. It's been feeling better the past couple days anyway, so I'm hoping the rest is all it needed. The doc said it could be caused by a lack of strength or Flexibility in my quad which causes the quad to pull something in the knee. So I am going to do some stretching and Strength training for my quads. I went to the gym to day and started off with some Leg presses and Leg extensions. I did 3 sets of 20 of both exercises with light weight. I didn't feel pain in my knee but it did feel a little weaker than the other knee. Then I set the tread mill on 20 min/mile and walked a mile, 3/10 at a 10% grade and 7/10 at a 15% grade, that felt pretty good, with only slight twinges of discomfort in my knee every so often. After that I ran one mile slowly (10 minutes) I didn't feel any discomfort in my knee at all.

I'm going to go back tomorrow and try to run two miles. If that goes OK I will run 3 miles Wednesday, 5 miles thrusday, ect. If I don't feel anymore pain in my knee I'll probably do a max of a 10 mile run before McNaughton. It's only 2.5 weeks away, so any running I do now won't help my race anyway, it will just give me confidence that my knee won't fall apart. I think I am going to try and walk the 150, with small amount of running. I do have 54 hours.

I thought I would use my Photoshop skills to modify the pickle on Mike's and Rob's blogs into more of a running pickle to better represent myself. What else does an injured runner have to do with his time, lol.