Well, after weeks and weeks with no issues, I had a couple concerning niggles this week. Nothing to panic over, but I would prefer to be niggle-free. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown. Let’s just see what happened…
Monday
4 mile run. With all my complaining about the time change, I did appreciate a cooler run, since it was an hour earlier than usual. I’m not a fun of running in the dark but it was light by the time I finished, as you can see.
Tuesday
Upper body day at the gym! Good workout.
Wednesday
13 mile “short” long run. For once, everything worked in my favor for this run. My daughter had jazz band (phew, that meant I could drop her off an hour earlier), once again the time change worked in my favor, AND it was a beautifully cool day!!! In the low 60s when I started and low 70s by the end. That might not sound cool to some people, but it was also CLOUDY the whole time, and that makes a huge difference in Florida.
I felt so good on this run, I considered just continuing on and making it a really long run. I mean, I won’t get a better weather day in March or April. There were two big reasons why I didn’t- one is, I didn’t bring enough fuel. And the second… in the last couple miles I could feel that my left achilles was aching.
Now, I felt so good on this run that I ran a LOT of sandy areas of the trail, and I think it was too much for that achilles. I finished the run with it feeling, not injured, but stiff and achy.
Thursday
Well, I’m not taking any chances! I got myself to the gym and got on the bike, because the stationary bike is so much fun. Just kidding. I didn’t want to stress that achilles at all, and I figured the bike was my safest bet. I listened to a podcast and the 45 minutes flew by! JUST KIDDING. Those minutes crawled. Darlene, I feel your pain. But I got in some cross training and rested that achilles, so it was good. UNTIL…
Later on at work I was getting up from a seated position and I felt a strange and painful twinge in my left quad. NOW what??? I’m up and down all day at work- kneeling, squatting, sitting, standing, and every time I got up or down that quad got worse, until by the end of the day it was seriously sore. The only explanation I can think of is when I was on the bike, in order to combat the crushing boredom, I switched up the resistance a lot. Nothing hurt (if it had hurt, I wouldn’t have done it) but when I had the resistance higher, I noticed that it was a quad burner. Well, I wasn’t too happy. Here I was trying to do something good for my body (give it a break by cross training) and I ended up with a new problem. Sigh.
Friday
In light of recent events, I decided on a nice walk this morning. For some reason I always measure my walks by time, not miles, and I went for 40 minutes. It felt SO GOOD! My achilles felt back to normal, and I could feel the quad pain but walking didn’t seem to make it worse. As a matter of fact I’m sure it helped. Motion is lotion, right?
Saturday
4 mile run! I didn’t feel the achilles or the quad at all, and I got to try out my new shoes, New balance 880s.
After work I went to the gym. It was leg day, and I approached it cautiously. I warmed up with some air squats and then did some light sets on the squat press machine. Everything felt good, so I decided to try a set of squats with just the bar. I did four squats- everything was fine- but on the fifth one a jolt of pain went through that quad. I stopped IMMEDIATELY. I did some hamstring curls, but other than that switched it to an upper body and core workout. Those areas definitely need work, but it was still a bummer.
Later I went for another walk. I pretty much set my quad back two days by attempting those squats (WHY???). It’s sore, but the walking felt good.
Sunday
DAY OFF. Except that at some point in the day I’ll go for a walk. I’ve decided to take a page from Kim’s book, and get out for a walk whenever I can. And no more bike at the gym! The bike is evil! It will destroy your soul and quads!
Moving forward… I have a big, big long run coming up on Wednesday. I feel confident about the achilles (although I won’t overdo the sand running this time) and almost confident about the quad. Running doesn’t seem to hurt it, and I should be able to get it all healed up again by Wednesday. No more bike! No more squats! Fingers crossed.
How was your week? Did everything go as planned?
Did you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? – I forgot all about it.
36 Responses
I really hate when something good for us hurts us! Fingers crossed for your long run on Wednesday. Sand is a beast to run on!
I know, sand is hard. I learned a couple lessons this week, and one is, beware of the sand!
A bunch of random niggles? Someone is getting close to race day!
I completely and totally forgot about St. Pat’s. Oh well.
Yes, I guess it was bound to happen the closer I get.
Now I’m seeing everyone’s weekly rundown posts with St. Patrick’s Day outfits and festivities- not that I usually do much for the day, but I usually do something. At least drink a beer.
I’m so sorry you experienced Achilles pain after your run. You were smart to give it a break with some cross training, but the bike, just like running needs to be eased into… “The bike is evil! It will destroy your soul and quads!” LOL, not true! 😉
I know… you’re right. Why did I even push myself on that bike- it was supposed to be an easy day!!! Live and learn, I guess.
Glad your Achilles turned out to be nothing serious. You have had a good training block hold on till the race
Yes, I have to hold on now and make sure NOTHING ELSE GOES WRONG.
I concur with Debbie, the bike will not destroy you (or your soul or quads), LOL.. BUT, I respect not everyone will love it as much as others. The same goes for bananas, beer, and coffee 😉 Anyways, I hope your quad is feeling better this week…total bummer to have another niggle pop up unannounced.
I knew you cyclists would disagree with me! I just overdid it. Sigh.
So here’s what I tell myself: You can do everything. Just not all at once. That means when I’m training for long distance I still strength train but I don’t do so to failure. There’s too much risk and the body gets fragile after stressing it in different ways. I hope everything calms down and stays that way, and you don’t tempt fate again. Hooray for more runnable weather!
Marcia, you are so right. I have to push myself in my runs and take it easier everywhere else. Lesson learned!
What Marcia said. She’s wise and I always listen to her.
I’m having little niggles too, but I guess that’s what happens when you start pushing yourself harder than you normally do. I just have to make sure I’m doing my PT/rehab work. BTW, I tried those TJs Froobies and YES! They are on my very short list of fuel for my race. Thank you for suggesting that.
Oh good! That’s funny because this week I’m trying the Uncrustables, and I got that idea from you. And you and Marcia are right… as usual.
Congrats on the 13 mile run and glad that you felt good most of the time! Hopefully the achilles stays relatively pain free and the quad pain goes away. Just say away from the bike, it’s evil (kidding!!). Good job taking it somewhat easy — you’re being smart about it all.
Thanks Melissa, and I’m not taking any chances- I’ll stay away from that bike.
I also endured the boredom of the stationary bike this week. Bad, so bad 😂😂 Even watching a movie! I’ll stick with elliptical, which is only slightly less boring. Isn’t it crazy how those little aches and pains just pop up from nowhere? Hopefully they are nothing. Glad you got a break finally with a cloudy, easier run. We had some crazy windy, cool days. Dislike that wind a lot! Great to hear the shoes have worked out so far. Fingers crossed you have found a winner!
I agree about the elliptical- it’s not great, but better than the bike. The bike is at the bottom of the list. I guess I should learn how to use the rowing machine.
I think your cold weather translated to slightly cooler, more pleasant days here. I wish it would last! You probably do not.
My teacher asked us to do single-leg hops in a cardio class I was doing. I KNEW BETTER, but I did it and tweaked my bad leg and IT’S ALL MY FAULT because I just should have done double-legged hops and then I spent three days babying my bad leg. I have suffered no long-term impacts, but STILL. Anyway, I hope those niggles go away and you don’t have any more quad issues! Sheesh. You have got to stay injury-free!
Well, I’m sorry that you tweaked your bad leg, but I feel a little better that I’m not the only one who does things like this. What is it with us- are we just too optimistic or something? Maybe we’ll be more cautious (for a while.)
Hope all those niggles go away.
I need to remind myself to be patient once I start to run again.
Obviously things didn’t go as planned this weekend. But I tried to make the best of things.
I know your weekend was not what you wanted. But I hope it was fun- all we can do is make the best of things.
Yikes, glad you listened to your body! If it’s not one thing it’s the next, it seems!
You know, I like to say “it’s always something” but until now, I had a long streak of uneventfulness, which is how I like it.
I am all about walks.
How are the shoes? How are you feeling?
I wore green and went out for tacos on St. Patrick’s Day. No regrets.
The shoes are feeling really good so far!
I knew you would celebrate St. Patrick’s day in style- good for you.
Hope your body (and brain) stay in harmony and it is very clear what to do/what to avoid!! Sending you the best of vibes. Hope the shoes feel good!
We did nothing for St. Patrick’s Day. It was March Break for the kids and I forgot about it. My daughter did wear green that day, but it never crossed my mind. I don’t really consume alcohol and I’m not a big holiday person outside of Christmas and Easter, so I don’t feel like I missed out too much? But it IS fun to take any and every chance for celebration, I guess!
That’s funny- you were probably wondering why Abby was wearing green.
My shoes feel good. Not so sure about the quad. Updates to come!
I love power walking – sometimes I like to do that vs. running, especially when the weather is nice.
I love your new New Balance sneakers!
Yes, I’m loving them too so far! And I’m liking my walks. It is a nice change.
Ugh on the niggles — so much worse than the wiggles. 😉
So how are the New Balance shoes working?
I hope your really long run goes well!
Well… I don’t know if “working” is the word, but the shoes definitely aren’t hurting, yet! I’ll find out for sure after the first long run. You just reminded me to re-lace the left one with the ladder lacing.
walking seriously helps! I mean, yes, I end up doing it more just b/c we don’t have cars and have two dogs that get us out for lots of walks too, but often times when I have something that is sore, those walks really help loosen it up (most recently with some outer shin to knee tightness.) I hope you can stay on top of those niggles! The sand running I’m sure was tough on that Achilles.
How do you like the 880’s so far? I’m a big New Balance fan, though I really wanted their super shoe to work for me and it was too narrow for my fat feet!
So far I like the 880s! New Balance is another company that has been making their shoes more and more narrow though, unfortunately. Yes, I’ve noticed that you walk a lot- I’m sure it helps balance out all those miles you run.
Glad you had a good week of workouts overall and that the niggles didn’t seem to impact you too much! But I wish you’d have an issue free week!
Yes, I do too! Although I’m having the crazy thought that I’m glad things aren’t going TOO well. If these niggles are all I have to deal with, I’m good.