I had a rough week, but a productive week.  Let me explain.  I went on two short runs during the week, but had a lot of pain on those runs.  I had PT on Tuesday and Thursday and I ran on those nights as well.  Tuesday’s run was worse than Thursday.  

In my appointment Thursday I showed Lisa where the pain was isolating in my IT bands and told her that instead of just the exercises, I need to break up the muscle spasms and loosen them up.  So she inflicted pain (good and bad pain), by using her elbows and digging into the IT bands along the sides of my knees and my thighs.  I am still bruised from it, but I knew it was necessary pain to go through to regain my strength and pain free running.  Thursday night’s run was better.  Not perfect, but better.

On Friday when I got up I felt things that I knew needed attention right away, rather than wait until the following week’s appointment.  So, I made an appointment and went to physical therapy.  I showed them where the areas of pain were and did my exercises and then was able to benefit from the deep tissue massage.  

This was good.  My legs were feeling better Saturday and by Sunday morning I was nervous, but ready to go for a long run.  I had hoped to get in a 10 mile run, but was open to the fact that I may not get past 6 or 8 miles.   The weather was spectacular.  It was sunny, mid 70’s and no humidity.  I had a little pain; but was in a much better place.  I enjoyed the run.  I did not have any negative thoughts in my mind either despite some fatigue and pain I was experiencing around mile 7 and I knew I still had 3 miles to get me home.  

Having a good 10 mile run under my belt, I am feeling a lot more confident about the 1/2 marathon in Disney Land.  I was sore the day after and it took a lot of heat and rolling, Bengay and stretching to allow me to walk.  Instead of running this week I made the difficult decision to take an extra day for rest and to also walk on my scheduled run day. I usually push through the pain. This pain has been something that I shouldn’t push through anymore. Especially with several PT sessions and slow progress. I would rather go to PT and have benefits of the therapy, rather than go there and do disaster recovery. It was a tough decision for me not to run, but then I realized that many times I had to not run for 7-10 days because of my back and I continued to get my alone time and training time by just walking instead, and according to Jeff Galloway you are still training for endurance by walking. So I realize I won’t lose too much of my training if I walk two of my runs instead of run them. Instead of hoping to do 13 miles this weekend I am going to hope for 5-8.

As for my packing and costumes, I am really happy.  I have my 10K costume picked out and I think I have coordinated something good for the 1/2 marathon. I purchased this shirt from rawthreads.com and I love it! Their fabric is so nice! I will be sure to purchase more from them at the Expo. I started packing my bags and putting things aside along with making my lists of don’t forgets! Mandy and I have plans for me to join her family for dinner on Friday, we’ll participate in the Run Disney so I can Eat Disney event, and I am looking forward to the meet ups scheduled for Saturday as well. With all this fun, I still have to figure out time to go into the parks!

As we are 24 days away from Dumbo Double Dare, I am getting nervous. I want to get in one more long run. My longest run this week was 5 miles. While it hurt when I started my run, I am glad I was able to do the full distance. My hamstring issue is now moving its way to my IT bands so I am wobbly and hobbling the day of my runs. I am foam rolling and doing my PT exercises religiously. I hope with at least 4 sessions of therapy that will resolve the issue quickly. Looking at the calendar in front of me, I’d like to have a 8 or 12 mile run between now and August 18 to allow time to taper before the race.

I also have on my to do list is to create a list of things for packing:
-purchase a park pass
-arrange for shuttle transportation
-check my hotel reservation
-making a list of things to pack

I remember things like pack some snacks (pb crackers, pretzels, oatmeal, tea bags and sugar) that I can have in my carry on. I want to purchase powerades while I am there to make sure I have some for race day in my fuel belt.

I have also been gathering up my costume pieces and made a pile of them with carry one bags in my room. I need to organize it all in my mind and in person.

There’s one more thing that I am working on between now and the race. I want to lose a few pounds. Who knew that even though we run, we gain weight. I feel like I am actually gaining because I don’t eat enough. Ironically, the day will go by and I will realize, hey it’s 12:30 and I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast. Time to have my lunch. But I know from the past, that you should feed your body every 3 hours (5 small meals a day). So I signed up for the program I did once or twice before, Rob Nevins’ Living Lean . I’d like to at least lose 5 pounds. I swear it’s from the beer. I like to enjoy a beer with dinner during the summer. I don’t have one every night; but it’s refreshing with dinner when we cook on the grill.

Do you all feel like even though you run, you are carrying extra pounds that snuck up on your or that just won’t go away? What do you do to get rid of them?

I had my PT evaluation today.  She did what I thought she would do,  Measured my range of motion and strength.  Then I sat on a heating pad for 10 minutes.  Then I laid on the table and she stretched out my hamstrings.  30 seconds on each leg in 3 different positions.  They are hard but good stretches.  I already felt better after she did that.  She also showed me some leg lift exercises.  Simple little leg lifts for 5 seconds (15 times); but my leg was tired.  It’s amazing how many different muscles we use when we run and if one area is weak it can have a chain reaction.  After some IT exercises (that I had also been doing at home for the past month), she had me roll on the foam roller for 4 minutes and that was it for today.  She didn’t use the ultrasound steroid gel.  Maybe I won’t need it this time around.

I decided not to run today because in the morning my legs were still very sore even just walking around my house.  No sense rushing myself into a run if I am not ready yet.  This week my plan was to back off on the miles and pick them up again next week.  By then I will have 3 PT sessions under my belt and should be in much better shape for a longer mileage run.  

I have been searching the internet for costume ideas for Dumbo,  Still getting excited, and hopeful that I will recover quickly from this event.  Does anyone have any costume ideas to share?  I have a lime green sparkle skirt that I think I want to use for the half marathon.  I am also going to look in my daughter’s dress up box at her wings to see what I can use.  I already have my idea for Minnie for the 10K.  So I think I want to see what I can do for the half that has minimal impact while running a half marathon.  Share your ideas!