Muay Thai Hurts the Weak

well i am worn the eff out from last night. Jhanex tried to kill me - literally. we did 80 squat jumps, 80 bear crawls, 80 squat jumps, 80 bear crawls to start the class AFTER our running warm up, shadow boxing and jump rope...the middle sets included 1) jab/straight/jab, two right, two left 2) 10 right, 10 left 3) jab/straight/hook/straight, 5 right, 5 left 4) 15 right, 15 left...we ended with 50 sit ups, 30 sit ups, 50 sit ups, 30 sit ups......BRUTAL! esp for being out for two straight weeks with a shoulder injury AND going low carb trying to find my sweet spot, ugh!!!! he just smiled the whole time - he was having a blast making us all hurt.

it felt great to be back, even though i was sucking it up! i had planned on going this AM too, but my shoulder just felt really tired this AM and kinda throbby (but not hurty like it has been), along with my body feeling like it had been thrown into a moving MAC truck so i opted to sleep a little bit longer. the doc said to get back in it easy so i decided that getting in tues/thurs nights this week will be good and then i can start doing Tony's classes on mon/wed/fri next week too. so muay thai 5 days a week until the shoulder is back to 100%, YAY :)

i do have to say that the rehab exercises are really helping. i can feel a pretty noticeable decrease in my shoulder pain and i've only been doing them consistently for a couple of days so that is fantastic news! now to just get my cardio level back up to par, oh the fun that will be had ;)

a bit of good news

well, i finally went to see the good doctor and he gave me some good news - my shoulder is not torn (possibly some micro tears, but no major tear) which is great news. he gave me the ok to modify crossfit workouts and go back to muay thai along with rehab exercises to do daily - so that was a huge relief. he said to get back into it VERY slowly and that i am not allowed to go heavy under any circumstance. like the 25 lb bar at the most IF it doesn't hurt it, so we'll see. he says if its not better in two weeks, we'll give it a steroid shot to see if that helps. he believes its a case of going too heavy without proper form and not having the strength needed in my scapulae to stabilize the movement which in turn has irritated my rotator cuff quite a bit and is probably causing some tendinitis. obviously don't do anything that hurts it, but to try to modify movements to get it moving and strengthen it. he was impressed with how much stronger i was overall so that is good. he says probably 4 more weeks of recovery which means not going 100% which is damn near impossible for me. i hope i can pull this off with out losing my sanity! i guess my week is going to look like this (with the unsaid "taking it easy on the shoulder" clause in full effect):

mon - PM warm up with 4 X 400's, 4 sets of 25box jumps, 25squats, 25back extensions and 25sit ups then my rehab exercises. maybe the elliptical after that for a bit.
tues - PM muay thai
wed - AM cross fit (YAY!)
thurs - PM muay thai
fri - cross fit (YAY!)

i doubt i'll get much of anything in this weekend, but i'm shooting to at least squeeze in a run - we'll just have to see how the weekend goes.

recovery week

i'm just plain run down. my body actually screamed obscenities at me last night during my hour an a half long massage. it is very UNhappy with the current state of things. and when i actually sat down to contemplate the complete demise of my structural being in terms of reality in both past and present training situations, it is absolutely no different for me to take a recovery week now vs. when i was tri training. its actually quite dumb to not, knowing how my body reacts to extreme workouts - it basically starts to shut down. so in retrospect, this is exactly what needs to happen and i'm okay with it now if i think about it in those terms. although my body is still refusing to act accordingly. my stomach has decided to take over and i'm eating everything in sight - like i was starving the poor thing this whole time or something (which for the record, i have not been - i have been eating better than ever, more regularly and healthfully than ever, but maybe, just mayyyybeeee not enough). then of course, the Cross Fit workout today kicked ass and i, of course, missed it and i think that's the hardest part of taking off right now, missing the great workouts! when you take a recovery week in tri's, you know you're not missing anything - its always there waiting for you thanks to your good old coach who delights in making you do it all. in this type of training though, no one waits around for you or goes back to do the good ones again with you - you're kind of on your own in that aspect. ah well, tis time to rest and rest i shall - until next Tuesday. God, i pray this shoulder heals by then!

rolfing

session 1: Let the Torture Begin...IT's and chest

i got to Iris' because its half way between my place and Roz's (the inflicter) and waited for what, i wasn't sure. all i knew going into it is that these things tend to be really painful. its a 10 session series that addresses the breaking down of the myofascial tissue that cradles and envelopes your muscles. this myofascial tissue, after years of misuse, over training, emotional trauma and other such things that cause strain on the organ, gets overly tight, sometimes adhering itself to the bone. sometimes it becomes so tight, so overly engrossed around the muscles, that the muscles themselves cannot move freely and independently of the tissue which may cause extreme tightness, miniature tears and painful movement. i find out as soon as she arrives that the first session concentrates on the chest area and the IT bands...duhn, duhn duhn. we started on the chest and it went well enough. pain but the good kind - the kind that hurts so much it feels good. and then it all came to a screeching halt. she started in on my IT's and i quite literally thought they were being ripped from my bone. the pain was indescribable and the only two thoughts going through my head were along the lines of 1. Mother Lord God in Heaven All Mighty...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! just. make. it. stop. and 2. marathon pain, yep this is what the marathon felt like at mile 6 and on...good God Almighty, i am one tough son of a bitch. who signs up for this shit? really, it was horrifically painful and i have a pretty damn high pain threshold. the next day, i looked like i had been in a cage fight with a dominatrix - i had bruises the length of my thighs combined with the soreness of boot camp, i was hobbling around like a little old lady with osteoporosis. if anything touched my outer thigh, i'd wince and yelp in pain. thank God that session is over with. and her closing remark to the night, "congratulations. you have the tightest IT's that i have EVER worked on!" wow, now that's an awesome award.

session 2: Who Knew You Could Have Knots There...feet

knowing the amount of pain i went through last week, i went into this session knowing it couldn't possibly be more painful so i wasn't too worried about the next hour and half, plus is was the feet session...how bad could it really be? i've had a foot massage before and its definitely not painful. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. as she really started working on the soles of my right foot we both got a big shock as she passed over a knot the size of Dallas on the mid center area of the foot where i almost, involuntarily mind you, kicked her square in the face with such force that it would have definitely knocked her unconscious - that soccer player is still in there alive and kicking we soon discovered. each time she passed the knot, i yelped and kicked. it was quite entertaining...for her, i on the other hand was almost in tears at the pain. then we moved to the right side and Good God in Heaven Above...why?! it was even tighter than the other side, but in new and surprising places yet to be discovered by the elite explorers of the infinite universe...the most unsettling aspect of this particular torturous rendezvous was that each time she passed over the achingly tight fascia of my feet, extreme pain would shoot up my legs and into my knees, right where the damn things hurt me on a daily basis. it was so surreal to make the connection of the seemingly disassociation of my knee problems to the tight spots in my friggin feet! and then i got another award, much like the last, "wow, i'm amazed at how incredibly tight the fascia is down here. its the most tense i've ever felt!" nice, nice kb - way to be a star in the "over extended use of the fascia" show. in the end, i stood up to find that i felt eerily grounded to the earth, like nothing could topple me. my feet felt all tingly and strangely anew, like i was a baby and had some new toys to play with...weird.

i woke up this morning feeling better than i have in a long, long time. grounded, steady, centered.

a drug induced state

Tuesday: 345PM went to the see the doctor - my knees still get really angry at the drop of a hat, my lower back on the left side is in a constant state of pain ranging from 2 to 6 and i've been having some nightmares lately on the state of my health. while i was getting my examination, he asked me to open my mouth so he could look at my throat. first major sign of a problem - i couldn't open because my jaw was so sore. my wisdom teeth had been coming in for about a year now, breaking the skin, but for some reason they had just started to REALLY hurt in the last 24 hours. he confirms the fact and tells me to take some Advil for the pain and swelling and we get back to the business of my original ailments where he prescribes "intensive physical therapy" he thinks i can do this season...i sure hope he's right. 9PM sitting up in bed, after already finishing the last of my Advil bottle and some sleeping pills, my knees tucked into my chest, crying and moaning in pain - it was everywhere. in my ears, all along my jaw line, in my nose and in my eyes. pain swept through my face like a runaway steam engine. 1145 PM up and pacing the room, crying softly having crazy thoughts about morphine and what i'd have to do to get some. are there channels for this stuff? can't have vicodin or codeine because i'm allergic to it. what else to do except load up on more Advil? so off to the drug store to buy Orajel and Advil in my state of excruciating pain. can teeth really cause this sort of reaction?! don't sleep for the entire night, praying the clock would just speed up so i could take more Advil.

Wednesday: 730AM at the office waiting for Angie to get there so we can figure out what to do with insurance - i never got my insurance cards replaced after my purse was stolen so i was in a bit of a pickle. 8AM finally get through and talk to the nurse at the dental office - she says to come in right away. 830AM first round of x-rays that didn't take so another set administered. in so much pain that a constant stream of tears has taken residence on my cheeks. 945AM emergency surgery scheduled. "highly aggressive infection" has been wreaking havoc on my system and had i waited any longer to get in, the infection would have quickly made its way to my brain. 1030AM antibiotics intravenously pumped through my veins along with anesthesia to put me out so the two wisdom teeth on the bottom could be broken and removed. my jaw still won't open, so they have to put me out quickly so they can move fast. 1130AM (i think, time is now lost) im waiting for BG to come and pick me up with instructions to not do anything except medicate, 800mg of Advil, percocet and amoxicillin every 4 hours until gone (or as the pain dictates).

Thursday - miss work, in a drug induced state all day long where in the middle of that day i get an idea i can't shake and drive over to PB to get something done that i'd been wanting for a long time and since i'm out of commission for at least a week, i had to do it then due to the timeline of the healing process - i don't want to give Coach anymore excuses as to to why i can't do my training. i HAVE to train after this round of meds is over. its now or never. yep, a new tattoo. the things you do when your not in your right mind - mom is going to kill me...back to bed and loaded up with more meds.

Friday - try to go to work and make it till 930AM where i found myself almost barfing because sitting up straight for 4 hours in a row has made me more nauseous then i had imagined it would. have to lay down on the floor for 20 minutes before i can drive home. my body is NOT used to having this medication whirling around inside it. the antibiotics are too much for my system to handle and its making me sick. the drugs to kill the infection are killing me and i have to go back to bed...

detox, you are the devil

katie's mini detox:

Aloe gel caps (taken as directed)

continue to take daily vitamins

medical grade food (1Xday, 2Xday, 3Xday, 2Xday, 1Xday)

Breakfast/lunch shake:

1c Raw colostrum (http://www.organicpastures.com/products_colostrum.html)

1/2c Carrot/orange juice mix (not from concentrate)

1c Strawberries (i buy fresh and then freeze them bc they're on sale right now)

1scoop MRM all natural whey protein

Dinner/snacks:

Steamed cabbage

Steamed carrots

apples (gala or honey crisp)

de anjou pears

Drinks:

Lots of water

Green tea

(hot)Herbal teas

fresh squeezed lemon water

No sweeteners (except Stevia)
No oils/added fat except one table spoon of flax seed oil per day (on steamed veggies)

No chemicals of any sort (no gum, sugar free sodas or Fuze type drinks)

the detox plan:

Monday-Friday as mentioned

then a half a sweet pot and piece of light white fish for dinner Friday PM

then sweet potato for breakfast Saturday AM

nutrition as normal on ride (80 miles)

then chicken and veggies to recover afterwards

FYI:

i'd go longer if i didn't have this 80 miler planned for Saturday

and a 114 miler the following weekend

probably at least 14 days, but this eating (or not eating) is NOT conducive to long rides

so that's my plan

hope it works so the sicky is gone for good

happy detoxing

WHAM!

hit by a moose. and not the cute and friendly Bullwinkle type of moose either. no. no it was a big, hairy, snarling mean moose - going 90 miles an hour on a dark and lonely one way road. i was meandering - the kind of meandering you do after a killer 40 mile ride followed by a mile swim and a 9.5 mile run the following day - minding my own business, keeping to myself and WHAM! out of nowhere. blind sighted by a moose. and boy howdy am i feeling the effects today. my legs feel like lead logs. my arms feel like dead tree limbs. my chest feels tight. i've felt barfy all day long and my body just doesn't want to do anything that even remotely requires energy expenditure - much less swim, bike or run. where in the hell did that damn moose come from and how in the hell did he get into the streets of San Diego?! its a conspiracy i tell you. the mooses of the world have decided to unite and try to knock katie b off her rocker - which you may already think has happened - mentally, but this is an attack on my physical. how dare they. don't they understand that i just want to do really well at this upcoming race. like better than really well, i want to do great and greatness comes from relentless training, determination, fortitude, sacrifice and guts...

or maybe it was a land shark. i've always believed they were real. maybe its really the land sharks of the world uniting to take me out. so maybe it happened that i was meandering down a dark and lonely one way road when WHAM! out of nowhere. blind sighted by a land shark. those pesky nightmarish animals are sneaky sons of bitches - distracting you with a gnarly workout, getting your legs and arms and lungs good and tired so they can take your feet right out from under you - leaving you crying and crawling in the dust, just trying to make your way back to the sanctity of your bed so you can rest and recover from the shock of it all. i mean land sharks - it is a rather unsettling and mostly unforeseen phenomenon when they hit. they could leave you mangled or even decapitated for all i know. its a wonder i got out alive at all in this particular assault, seeing as how i can barely hold my head up and exhaustion is beginning to feel like my go to instead of the energy i had been feeling the past couple of months.

and then, after all of this - the extreme trauma of it all - someone actually had the nerve to suggest that it was not at all a moose or a land shark - that i might just be over training. over training?! what does that even mean?! over training. hmpf. right. i don't even think that's a real thing, especially when your training for a half or full ironman. i mean long hours, tired legs, sleepless nights, early morning rising, personal sacrifice and celibacy - that's what training is all about for these long distance races. right? RIGHT?! of course it is (well maybe not the celibacy part, i just threw that in seeing as how i am celibate right now and i'm not exactly sure how i feel about that fact - but that's neither here nor there and quite frankly i don't even know why i brought it up...Lord have mercy) and i thank you for being so agreeable about the whole thing. its nice to know i have people who are on my side when it comes to this sort of thing.

so that damned moose or land shark or whatever it was that so fiercely and viciously besieged my poor ass this past Monday leaving me gimp, debilitated, depleted and spent has got to be found, wrangled, tied up and shot. he's a mean one - leaving you with the feeling that you've just been run over by a MAC truck that not only rammed you from the front, but watched you fly down the street with forceful impact, saw you in his rear view mirror, adjusted his seat belt for maneuverability, popped the gears into reverse and ran over you one more time just to make sure you were down for the count. or maybe, just maybe it was the moose or the land shark actually driving the MAC - like i said, sneaky sons of bitches. watch out kids - he's out there and on the lurk. so be weary of those murderous workouts your putting yourself through - you never know if that monster is waiting just around the next corner to WHAM! take. you. out.

skipping, swimming and other conundrums

skipping - no, not that kind of skipping. skipping as in i totally and completely blew off my evening training plans last night. yes, this is the first time i have done this. i knew going into the afternoon that it was too late in the week to actually make it up at a later date. i knew this and i still let it happen! i was supposed to take Muffassa out for a 90 minute spin but i could not for the life of me get my body to join in on the deal. it just wasn't having it. in my defense, i was exhausted. i was having a hard time keeping my head up all day long. not necessarily because i was tired - which i was - but more so that my muscles just weren't cooperating with what my mind was wanting them to do. i struggled with energy all day. i was in a piss poor mood up until about noonish, when i finally started to feel a bit better after eating my homemade sandwich (gluten free toast, fresh avocado slices, brie goat cheese, spices, lettuce, red onion and WF honey roasted turkey). this pep was probably due to my conversation with Jennifer Barney and not the fact that i had gotten a second wind. by the time i left the office, all i could do to stay awake was to promise myself a very yummy dinner. so what did i do? i ate and then went to bed. how old am i these days i ask you?! something is definitely off on the nutrition front, but i haven't a clue what it is or how to fix it. i'm now delving into the fine tuning realm that is over my head. too bad nutritionists cost an arm and a leg. i guess more trial and error are ahead. and maybe i'll do an easy ride on Sunday just to try to fit in the mileage, maybe...

swimming - because of my evening slackassness, i knew for certain i would be getting in a bit longer swim this AM. a bit longer as in 2 miles. a bit longer as in i was supposed to swim 2400M and i ended up pounding out 3200M. the best part about it was that i felt fantastic. i was strong, smooth, graceful - almost dolphin like. okay, that's a total lie, but you get the point. i did it in pretty good time considering 1200 of that consisted of drills that tend to take a pretty good chunk of time. i left the pool feeling completely worn out but in good spirits because i had swam at least 200M more in the same amount of time that i had done my previous weeks 2900M and 3000M workouts. i was also feeling okay about skipping the previous night's session in favor of some extra rest because it seemed to have paid off in the pool. too bad my mile excursion in the ocean tonight didn't go so swimmingly if ya catch my drift.

conundrum 1 - so its casual Friday. i love casual Friday because, well, you get to be casual. in my office that means jeans and heels - still, its not dress pants and heels and that makes me happy...usually. usually i go to my closet, grab a pair of jeans, toss them on and go. as i am attempting to toss them on my body this morning, i notice they are quite snug in the leg and ass regions. and what do you know?! my pants no longer fit me. and do you know why? because i have re-centered myself in the triathlon world, leaving the marathon world and now my muscles have expanded in such a way that my once very comfy and almost baggy jeans DO NOT FIT ME ANYMORE. this could lead to a complex if i'm not careful so i'll just say this - it does not make me happy to have to go out and buy new jeans to fit my now very large and very in charge ass and legs into - especially when i need to purchase new tri shorts, new running shoes AND some sort of bike shipping package to get my dadgum speed racer to the starting line! not in the slightest i tell ya. and another thing, whoever said that muscle is never a bad thing straight up LIED. they must not have had to purchase a new wardrobe to fit that muscle. damn skinny asses don't know what they're talking about...

conundrum 2 - how is it that a brief encounter with someone you don't particularly ever want to have an encounter with happens, and it forever throws off the entire rest of your day?! a five second exchange and wam, bam, thank you mam you're left feeling used, dirty, dejected - i mean how can someone have that affect on another? like a 2 cent whore left on the side of the road after a night of shameful debauchery that led to a house catching on fire and underwear burning?! okay, who knows where that came from...but anyway, back to the point of this particular paradox - how is this possible i ask you?! lesson learned here kids - don't leave yourself open for surprise attacks and definitely don't take up the act of whoring yourself out, you don't want to get burned.

my trainer might be on to something

my appointment with Greg, the 5 time finisher of different Ironman races, was at 6PM yesterday. i arrived 15 minutes early as instructed by Dr. Martinez so we could chat about my progress or lack there of. the reason he gave me the okay to run last night was because i have no immediate pain in my IT area when doing the strength exercises he had given me, giving the allusion that i am good to go. seeing as how that was not the case during the actual movement, he wanted to get my feedback on the situation. because my glutes aren't standing at attention and firing when instructed, my IT is superbly tight, therefore unforgivably pulling and tworking my knees to make up for the lack of support that normally buffers this type of injury. he spoke to Greg about a plan of attack and off we were to tackle my flabby ass :)

I should state again that this was a free session (as are all first sessions with a trainer @ Coastal Sports Medicine). Greg mentioned that his client after me had canceled, so he was going to spend a little extra time with me seeing as how i had the La Jolla Half Marathon coming up in about 3 weeks and i REALLY wanted to run it. Dr. Martinez gave me the okay to do it as long as i showed marked improvement and i promised to walk down the Shores Drive (a gnarly, bitch of a hill that could likely snap my IT in two...this i believe is the hill that caused all of this mess while training for Wildflower 06). he started by stretching me out on the foam roller. wow, i never knew why so many people refer to this device as the torture roll until now. we stretched for a good 45 min, enough to bring blood flow and movement into areas that were previously immobile to a point. it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times, but i sucked it up and let him do his thing. we also went through a routine of stretches and core exercises to accomplish each morning before i leave the house. miraculously, i was already feeling stronger and more limber.

he then proceeded to take me through a pretty rigorous strength session focusing mainly on my glutes. he jokingly mentioned that i should prepare myself to have a Serena table ass - an ass so large and strong you could eat off of it)....HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA, don't know how i feel about that, but whatever gets me running pain free again, i'm game!

so this brings me to today's run. it was a 14 miler in downtown San Diego. it was a fantastic run, great scenery and great friends. MAO wanted roaming SAG for this run, which i disagreed with because if you wait for the last runners at one stop, you miss the front runners at the next...but he is the boss so we did our best. the exact thing that i warned against ended up happening and Michael was his monster of a self, screaming "give me water!!!" when he finally did get to hit up an aide station. pretty funny seeing as how he was pushing Eli (his son) in a stroller that could have very easily held water had he been able to just admit that carrying hydration on runs was a good idea. he's stubborn, what can i say?

i felt pretty good at the beginning of the run, but as we started to get into mile 7 i was REALLY feeling it. by 7.5 i was thinking there was no way i could go on, so i stopped to do some of the stretches Greg taught me and what do ya know? i was able to get in another mile and a half before making myself stop. well, that's both true and not, i knew i should stop, but that damn competitiveness screaming at the top of its lungs wasn't going to let me puss out easily. had it not been for Jenn demanding that i stop so i didn't hurt myself further, i probably would have kept going. i listened to her reasoning and rode with Angie and Emily (our SAG) for the rest of the run. thank God i listened to Jenn because as soon as i got in the car my legs felt like complete shit. i spent the rest of the time stretching while Angie and Emily feverishly tried to catch Michael at the last aide stop, missing him by minutes, sending them into a driving frenzy. Angie ended up doing some crazy, illegal u-turn and high tailing it back to the finish/starting spot.

so going from hurting pretty damn badly in a 4 mile training run, to completing a 9 mile training run without too much pain is a bit of a miracle in my book. maybe this trainer is on to something... :)

new doctor

so i have now been to Chad (who did nothing for me but play with my feet for $75 a session), Dr. Levinsohn (my orthopedic surgeon who cleaned up my chondromalacia and small miniscus tear), Runco (the orthotic guru who got me running to the point i am currently at, moving and shaking, but still in a lot of pain) and now (FINALLY) Dr. Martinez. i must say a few words about this, as i am known to talk a lot about the people who have helped me along the way. first off, i made one call to Coastal Sports Medicine (after making 3 to my previous doctor with no response) and was able to get a next day appointment. the receptionist, Eva, was a-maz-ing. so nice, so helpful, so exactly what you want when you call a doctor's office because in reality, no one really wants to make that call...to hand over your hard earned money to have the doctor have you tell him what's wrong, agree with you and then tell you to take it easy, which has been my experience since getting back into the swing of things.

Dr. Martinez not only agreed to bill me in two seperate increments (i have an HMO that doesn't cover outside help) but he spent almost 2 hours with me doing a FULL evaluation that ended with me smiling because i finally knew what was wrong! i mean, i have never in my life had a doctor take so much time and show so much genuine concern for my well being. i was utterly amazed at the patience he showed as i babbled on about everything i could think of that was related to my pain and my running. i so highly recommend this sports clinic any time you have a small or large anything sports related. the care you recieve here is unmatched by any doctor's office i have ever seen (although, i'd assume that a pregnant women's OBGYN would have to come close to this!).

so what's wrong with me you ask? i have a pretty major IT Band injury due to the fact that i came back into this running thing a little too overzealously. my glutes aren't what they once were. they apparently have atrophied to the point that they have ceased to fire - meaning, the electrical signals that run from my brain through my nervous system to my glutes is not being recieved because i have let my ass get flabby. wonderful. glad to hear it. now not only does my knee hurt, well actually both knees, but now my ego hurts. OUCH!

Dr. Martinez gave me a battery of stretches and strengthening excercises i could do on my own (he doesn't like to charge athletes to come in so he can stretch them out or anything of the like) and said to really lay off, as in do not run except for non impact movement such as the elliptical, for atleast 2 weeks...oy, that one hurt even more, but i knew it was coming becasue i have barely been able to walk for the past two days.

epic post

hey there, so this is my first post and i am hoping that there will be many more to come, as i really need to get back into my writing...


i was injured pretty badly from an overuse type injury last January and was sidelined from the Lavaman Triathlon i was training/mentoring for through Team in Training. i was not able to run at all, which is kind of ironic because the run portion of training/racing is my favorite. this was to be my (hmmm...wildflower 1, carlsbad 2, pac grove 3) 4th tri, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. i did however do the relay for wildflower last year, even in the midst of my pain, and beat my previous year's bike time by atleast 25 minutes. not to say that would have been the case had i actually raced all 3 events, but nonetheless, i was proud :) that was at the beginning of may 07. that next month i had knee surgery to repair a small meniscus tear and clean up the chondromalacia in my left knee.

after about 3 months of complete inactivity (the whole time just itching to get back out there, to do SOMETHING) i decided to try to hit the gym with my doctor's okay. i tried to complete light sessions on the elliptical. it hurt. after about 4 1/2 months, i attempted light strength moves. it hurt. after 5 months, i tried running again...10 minutes at first and then built up to about 20 minutes before i realized that the hurting wasn't just something i could keep ignoring. i then decided to suck it up and see a doctor that was known for getting people back in the game...and make no mistake about it, i wanted back in that damn game. my body was craving it, my brain was screaming for it, and my spirit needed it, not to mention my relationship with my boyfriend at the time was sorely hurting from the loss of my active lifestyle.


this is one of the somethings about me that i must work on changing...even though i was able to do the other disciplines of the sport, all i could think about was running and how not being able to run was the end of what i knew as an athlete. sure i like to bike and once i'm in the water, i like to swim...but running, oh the sweet, sweet release of everything negative building up in a body, the pounding of the pavement, the hard disbursement of all that is bad into the universe, clearing your mind, freeing your spirit...that is what running is to me and not doing it was killing me. i admit, i am a brat when i don't get what i want, and i tend to pout about not getting whatever it is. i was pouting about not running instead of strengthening my other disciplines. this (along with other things) is what sent my relationship spiraling into a fall so vast it was never to recover.


so i saw the doc. he fitted me for the most freaking expensive orthotic contraptions you can possibly imagine, and i was off to try this running thing again. to my utter dismay, running still hurt like a mother. i was told that i was coming back way too quickly, that i needed to give it more time...to repair, to heal, to strengthen...so i waited, all the while pouting about my loss of forward movement at the speed i craved, in the movement of my legs that i wanted.


finally...FINALLY...after a year of not running, it was time. i could feel it in my bones, coursing through my blood; i had waited long enough for the scar tissue to form and build a strong barrier amongst the interlockings of my knee and i jumped in...head first, eyes closed, full speed ahead.


i was put in charge of coordinating my company's marathon program. it was put to me to find and hire a coach, negotiate a group discount on running apparel and nutrition and set up informational seminars to build interest and educate on the joys and perils of the sport. we were going to be training for the La Jolla 1/2 marathon happening at the end of April, as a training run, and then our 'A' race - Rock N Roll full marathon to take place at the beginning of June. our team name was to be team [formula] for Alzheimer's. we were to raise a thousand dollars per participant in the name of remembering. i hired our coach, got all of the discounts/seminars set up and squared away, and set my head and my heart in forward motion, the direction of running and i wasn't going to stop even if it hurt.


the interest in the beginning was fantastic; our group consisted of 17 runners at first. we had a pretty solid training schedule that looked to be a bit aggressive for the non runners of the group, but we were ready to tackle it none the less. the first couple of months were going fantastically for me. i was running again. i started at about 10 min miles, which by the way was torture because just before i was hurt, i had gotten my mile down to 7 and could log at least 6 miles holding a 730 pace. i knew the time would come, but actually seeing the enormous decline in my fitness was discouraging to say the least. we were scheduled 3 short weekday runs, consisting of 3-5 miles that lead up to our long Saturday run, moving up in 2 mile increments as the season wore on. i got down to an average 815 minute per mile pace within a month. good but i still had so much work to do. i had gotten into Core Power Yoga and was loving it. the classes were so challenging and intense that i would forget myself and all the mess going on in my head for an hour and just sweat till the death...or the until the class was over in most cases :) i have to say it helped get me through the first month or so of my breakup. that and my new found ability to just run and run and run...i found that during this time i was running to forget.