Running Chick

Or at least that’s what I thought around the two mile mark of my five mile run tonight.

Then, I felt a twinge in my left leg. 

Now, being a runner, I’m pretty accustomed to random twinges during my runs.  Sometimes I’ll get one during a stride and it’ll disappear in the next.  Sometimes it’ll stick around for several strides before fading away.  So, I’m not usually too bothered by them.

This was a different twinge.  It was accompanied by a burning, aching feeling that spread from my ankle to my lower calf.  It was a twinge with attitude.  Then, my hamstrings decided to tighten up and every step became a battle between me and my legs.  Immediately my hey-i-think-i’m-getting-better-because-there’s-no-pain run turned into a i-hate-my-legs, i-hate-running, why-does-this-always-happen-to-me, screw-this-I’m-just-going-to-sit-on-the-couch-and-get-fat self-loathing pity fest.

Somehow, through sheer will or sheer stupidity (with me, they seem to be interchangeable), I made it through the last three miles and I felt like crap afterward.  Not just physically but mentally.  My legs were throbbing and I was just disgusted with myself and running.

I think my big mistake in all this was running two days in a row.  But, I’ve been feeling pretty good the last few runs.  I’ve had minimal pain and my speed is starting to come back.  I’ve slowly started to incorporate uphills, downhills and pavement back into my routine and everything’s been okay.  However, I was only running three times a week with a day or two between runs.  So, I think running two days in a row was just too much for my disgruntled tendons and they let met know it in no uncertain terms.

I’ll take the next two days off then have an eight miler on the schedule for Saturday.  We’re going to be camping in Marquette, so I need to find some soft trails to run on because I don’t think my legs can handle any more pavement.

Last week’s totals:  13.04 miles @ 10:55

Unimpressive, to say the least.

Wow, it’s been that long since I’ve blagged.  I didn’t think it was that long so I guess I’ve been busy.  What have I been doing?  Well, we took a trip to Iowa for a few days and did the touristy thing.  That was a lot of fun.  I have a bunch of pictures, but I’ve been too lazy to get them uploaded to my gallery.  One of these days…

Before we left for the Land of Corn and Tractors, Josh and I ran timing for the Miner’s Revenge MTB race.  It’s called the Miner’s Revenge because the race actually goes right through the old Adventure Copper Mine in Greenland, MI.  Our friend James over at Bad Decision Bicyclist was competing and it’s always fun to go to his local races and make fools of ourselves hooting and hollering when he rides by.  This was our first time working rather than spectating and it was a lot of fun.  I was a little bit nervous that a ton of people would cross the finish line all at once and I’d screw up everybody’s time, but the riders were spread out enough that the most we head to deal with was five riders finishing in a clump.

Finally, I’m happy to report that the other thing I’ve been doing is running.  I ended up taking a six-day break because my tendonitis was being pissy, and that turned out to be the smart thing to do because I’m running without much pain now.  It’s not gone completely, but it is about 80% better than it was a week and a half ago. 

I did add a new weapon to my arsenal to get me healthy.  I started taking glucosamine & methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) supplements daily after reading about a fellow blogger’s success with it.  Glucosamine & MSM are commonly used in tandem to treat or prevent osteoarthritis.  Among the many marketing claims of MSM, the most appealing to me were the anti-inflammatory aspects.  Glucosamine can help repair cartilage and joints - not that I’m having those types of issues – but I figured I couldn’t hurt.  So, I started taking the pills containing 1500 mg of glucosamine, 750 mg of MSM eight days ago and either they’re magic or I’m falling for some snake oil trick because I think they’re helping.  Actually, it’s probably the MSM that’s working because that takes about 3 days to kick in.  Glucosamine takes something like 6 weeks.  Anyhoo, after about three days of gulping down these horse-sized pills, I noticed that my left leg didn’t seem as annoyed and some of my swelling also looks to have gone down, too.  The pain on my first run (5 days after starting the pills) was 50% less than compared to my previous runs and each subsequent run has been more and more pain-free.

So, I don’t know if it’s actually the pills or it’s all in my head, but all I know is that I’m running regularly and every run is better than the last.  It’s giving me hope (cut to me looking for some wood to knock on) that I’ll actually be able to do the Appleton HM in September.  For a while there, I was pretty well convinced that I was going to have to pull my entry, which would have really sucked.

Well, until next time…

I’ve been doing the same weight training routine for the last several months and it’s getting seriously boring.  So, based on the reviews at Amazon.com (and a few glasses of wine), I picked up this new DVD.

One review said “…[the routines] are tough and leave you feeling it the next day (or two)…”.

Ha!  My back and sides are in agony!  It’s pretty apparent that the DVDs I’ve been doing don’t even hit those muscles.  I didn’t dare do the second portion of the workout today because I figured getting up off the floor was important.

Hopefully I’ll be recovered enough tomorrow to attempt the next routine.  I watched it today and it’s a killer.

Can’t wait!