Treadmill Running

Written Thursday,

I love my treadmill!  I know treadmill running is nothing like running outdoors, and I agree, that it can be very boring (although audio books and music help).  However there’s nothing like shivering the whole walk home from the metro in the dark and then running 6 miles in shorts and a sports bra perfectly comfortably.  

I realize this is ironic for me to write about after just posting how brave I was running outside in the freezing cold on Saturday, but there’s something so much more difficult about facing yucky weather before or after a hard day’s work.  Plus Bennett wasn’t running so I had no choice.

The other reason I love my treadmill is simply that I can run without Bennett.  I have the ability to run more often than him without needing to track down other runners for every run.  Yes I need long run partners no matter what, but I can run how and when I want during the week with the lovely treadmill.

I also managed to multitask.  I ran almost 5 out of those 6 miles while talking to my sister on the phone.  As my iPhone earphones that do hands free are broken, I actually had to hold the phone for those almost 5 miles…which was definitely interesting!  I really love multitasking though J  this morning, however, when I picked up my phone, I was confused why it felt kind of dirty…  Then I remembered I probably got sweat on it from my run.  Kind of gross but also funny. 

Winter Running

Written Tuesday

I have become one of those people I always thought were crazy running outside in extreme weather.  This summer I forced myself to run in 80% humidity 90 degree weather because I had to train.  Yet again marathon training has me pushing the weather I ever thought I’d run in.  

Saturday morning we set out for our 10 mile run in 27 degree weather.  By the end of the run, it had warmed up a whole 3 degrees to be 30 degrees out.  It was sunny and not windy, which definitely makes a huge difference, but we were definitely dodging ice in a few places.  I was very very happy for thermal running tights and shirt along with my other layers, hat, and gloves.  Yay for technical wicking materials! 

Chocolate milk has made a comeback in our fridge.  This is my recovery drink of choice, but during the past few months of light running, I really couldn’t justify the need for it.  Now that I am back in training shape, the chocolate milk is back!  I’d almost forgotten just how yummy it is!

Return to the blog...

I have abandoned the blog over the past two months for several reasons including the fact that I didn’t think I had much to write that anyone would find interesting.  Well, I’m still not sure I have anything of interest to write…but blogging helped me through training for MCM and I will now return to blogging as I return to serious marathon training. 

I also stopped writing because I opted to sulk more privately about the fact that I did not bounce back from MCM as well as I wanted to have done.  A brief recap in case anyone both cares and doesn’t know…  Each time I ran following MCM my right outer knee hurt as well as my lower outer hamstring tendon.  This would start a few miles into a run with the exact distance varying by the day.  I tried resting and icing, but stupidly did not try getting more massages. 

After about a month I got in to see a physical therapist who determined that my hamstring tendon was seriously knotted up and very tight.  This had caused some other muscles and tendons to tighten in response and was the source of the knee pain.  He also said a weakness in my hip and butt muscles most likely caused the overload on the hamstring tendon.  So strengthening exercises and massages have been my tasks since the beginning of December. 

I’m kicking myself that it took me a month to get my leg looked at, but I guess it was a valuable lesson.  It’s mostly better, but I’m continuing the massage and strengthen exercises.  My right leg is still somewhat tight, but I ran 10 miles last weekend without any knee pain.  So hopefully I’m on the right track.

The next marathon is at the end of April, Gettysburg North-South marathon.  This is going to be a completely different experience from MCM.  The Gettysburg marathon is small with a field of around 1000 runners compared to about 30,000 runners in MCM.  It is also a rather hilly course which I admit scares me.