Training Log Archive: Traut

very frustrating that the HR monitor seems to have stopped working. First mile is also really off...

Beautiful day out on the north ridge trails in late spring growth after a rainy day. My body, however, was not so beautiful.

Right knee had bad steps right from the beginning. The funny thing is that, for the first time this spring- I did feel my self get "on top of my hips" and be able to spin my legs "lighter"of the ground. It was either too little too late or not enough for my right knee as I had to stop 1.5 miles in as it just felt like the irritation caused was too great for the gain. I did walk the 1.5 miles back on the trail and felt fine.

I am actually walking away from this run in a pretty positive space. The last few years have been rough as a year plus of rest and PT wasn't effective, just as shorter spans of rest following I just kept ending up in the same place. Good stretches would turn south and this past year I just had fun and raced and did want I want anyway, ignoring common sense. That finally, of course, caught up to me as well.

Now I feel like a mess, but I am starting over and am giving myself the time and space to do so. With that comes a sense of patience. I am heading somewhere and I saw that today. I had my year of fun, now I will ease in and hope for the future again.

Event: FallsQuest Urban Rogaine
 

Had time for a short ride before heading out to a marketing event for work at Schenley Park). As most rides have been, an hour was about right as everything was harder and slower then it should be. The nice thing though, is that biking does feel productive. Where running, right now, feels somewhat impossible (my knees quads just don't handle the stress at any pace or attention to form), cycling feels like I am working my quads constructively. It just doesn't make sense how all-of-the-sudden weak enough they are to need that level of work. Why are things at such light levels creating so much work all of the sudden?

strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/59378642#

Hills were slow as expected and HR higher as has been.

Aqua-jog at the Y to keep off the quads between Gail getting back home and needing to head out to the neighborhood graduation party.

Not sure why HR monitor didn't work.

After our school picnic at Kennywood I decided to check out some of the new connections from the Great Allegheny Passage to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail (was finally completed this year with the Connection complete at Sand Castle and through to McKeesport. I went form Duquesne to McKeesport, through the really old industrial areas that have remained somewhat untouched. Really interesting to see 100year old + mill works along the way. The bridge across the Monongahela was great. An interesting place to run for sure.

My attitude was to try running really slow and focusing on form. It ended up at like 8:00 mile pace, so the slow was there. The frustrating thing, of course, was that my quads still couldn't absorb the impact correctly. I have said this before, but it feel like this spring, my body has just forgotten how to run. I have rested and done the PT for years. I am stronger, but I can not run. I have no explanation for why my stronger quads seem to perform even worse then when they were weak. I do have plenty of frustration. Despite feeling just as bad on the run, the good thing is that my quads did seem to recover slightly slower at after the slower run.

After full flexibility, I did wall squats. My quads did recover better from the slower run, but they were still beat up.

I hot the pool in between the end of work and graduation, but the universe seemed to be against it. After about 20 minutes in the water I saw Dave Battista swimming. He had just become a member, so we talked a bit. I had enough time to get in a full hour with that stop, but then 10 minutes later thunder was heard outside and the pool was shut doen for at least 30 minutes of no thunder. I did not have time for that. I had to shower and head out to graduation.

day off to let quads repair. Just a short walk. Full flexibility and 4-way hips PT.

Quads were really really tight after yesterday's run. Even 45 minutes in the pool didn't help.

Did extensions, leg press, and hamstring curls all single leg as usual. Tough to focus on correct movements with my quads as they were. Right knee got a little tweaked during leg press, so just flexibility at home and skipped quad PT.