WEEK 12, DAY 2: PT Recap and Run. Run? How about walk?

PT last night went good. It doesn't seem to hurt as bad in the evening as it does first thing in the morning. (Of course, I got to go home and take a nap beforehand and I was all hopped up on iced tea, so that might have meant something.) I got specific instructions from the therapist, though: no cobblestone and no hills.

No hills? ACK! There are at least 2 little hills on every one of my routes. And the 5k I'm running on Saturday will almost certainly have some cobblestone. Well, at least I can control my 5 and 10-mile runs during the week. I wasn't really looking forward to planning my run this morning as it was certain that I was going to have to repeat legs of my route to keep it flat. But I want this stinking leg to heal, dammit.

15x2 each side:
stationary lunges, hip extension on machine, side hip extension on machine
rotations on balance board (25x2 each leg)
lying hamstring stretch (3x30 sec)
lying quad stretch (3x30 sec)
calf stretch (3x30sec)
calf/foot exercise on wobble board - 30 on each ankle
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My shift started at 10 today, and I was up well before 7. My plan was to run my 10 while I'm "fresh" and do my 5-miler on Thursday. I took two salt pills, stretched, tied on a bandana, Bodyglided my thighs like there was no tomorrow, and even slapped on my Fuel Belt and took some extra salt pills with me. And then I stepped out the door. It was like stepping into soup. My first thought - I couldn't even control it: I have to run 10 miles in this?!!

It got worse. As I got down the driveway, I saw a piece of my bike rack lying on the ground, one of the little screws. My bike rack? Nowhere to be found. Great. My bike rack's been stolen and I have to run 10 miles in soup on a pair of legs that, just 2 days ago, wouldn't go 2 miles. (Did I say soup? Make that STEW.)

I really didn't think I was going to make it past my warm-up mile, which took me around 17 minutes. I felt sure my legs were going to fall off. I couldn't even get to that point where I just sort of go numb and keep going (aka the "who needs to think when your feet just go" moment, which for me happens once around mile 3 and again around mile 10). I also had to come back to the poolhouse and pee before I went out to mile 2. By the time I peed, it was 7:25am. I don't know if it was mental or physical, but I felt like there was no way I could make it. Ok, who am I kidding - it was mostly physical, but I've run through discomfort like this before to the tune of 7, 9, 14 miles. But time was now also against me - there was no way I'd make it 10mi and get to work on time. I'm late places a lot because of my training, but this would have been ridiculous. Still, I went back out. Let me at least make it one mile.

I didn't make it running, but I made it running/walking (we'll call it hobbling for honesty's sake). I hobbled down the street past my one-mile mark. If I turn around now, that's three miles. I'll count my warm up mile. And then I hobbled to the two-mile mark. If I turn around now, that's four miles. I'll count my warm up mile and I can call this my 5-miler.

SOLD!

So that's what I did. 17:07 mi/mile for mile 1 and 13:30 and change per mile for miles 2-4. My husband text messaged me while I was getting ready for work . . . turns out he took the bike rack off last night to keep it from getting stolen. Fine. I made it 5 fragmented miles and my bike rack wasn't stolen. I went to the office and wrapped an ice pack around my shin with an Ace bandage for a good half hour.

My therapist tells me it is very common for injuries to feel worse during the first few weeks of therapy because you're "waking up" muscles you have either been using incorrectly or not using. All I know is, the "worse before it gets better" period better be over by August 26.
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In other news, I found out a few days ago that my triathlon mentor, Ironman Dawn, will be racing with me at Hammerhead!!! I say with me in a very liberal sense of the word. She's about twice as fast as I am. Her last Olympic time was well under 3 hours. So she'll be done, oh, an HOUR before me. But it's cool that she'll be there.