Week #14 and #15 of 24

 Monday (15):  Ran 9 miles in the late afternoon.  Beautiful day!

Tuesday (16):  Stationary bike for 50 minutes & stretching at the gym in the late afternoon while Kara was at theatre practice

Wednesday (17):  Rest.  Kind of a busy day getting ready for ETM at night and transporting kids.

Thursday (18):  18 miles!!  The first few miles were miserable.  Cold. wet, rain.  I was absolutely drenched.  The rain let up about halfway through.  There were so many traffic lights too and I had issues with my phone and headset at one point.  It made the run much longer than anticipated.  I had very little knee or ankle pain.  It help up pretty well.

Friday (19):  Rest

Saturday (20):  Walked the beach with friends in the late morning as I stayed on the coast Friday night.  Was a good cross training workout.

Sunday (21):  I did a five mile pacing run and it was frustrating because I felt tired the whole run.  Like it took much effort to keep going and I had to walk three times.  I felt thirsty and depleted.  I spent most of the evening on the couch and went to bed really early.  It honestly felt like the after affects of COVID even though it's been two months.  I heard it can linger.

Monday (22):  6.14 miles.  Much better run.  I could maintain about a 9 1/2 minute mile pace.  I felt much stronger.  Amazing what another day brings.

Tuesday (23): Stationary bike 50 minutes & weights

Wednesday (24): 6 mile run with Emily at Minto Brown.  We had a great run.

Thursday (25): 13.1 mile run in the morning before Kara and I left for Virginia.  It was a really good run...not much pain.  Did not struggle that much.

Friday (26): 1.5 mile walk along the beach with my mom and Kara.

Saturday (27): Rest

Sunday (28) Rest

Week #13 of 24

 Monday (8):  My birthday!  I did an 8 mile run in the morning while listening to music from the 1970's!

Tuesday (9):  Stationary bike for 45 minutes and weights for about 15 minutes.  I was in a crummy mood due to some issues at work.  I needed to process through it.  It got better as the day went on.  I had a good talk with my teacher coach.

Wednesday (10): 17 miles!  I was so excited I completed this!  My knee held up as well.  It was probably on a pain level of about 3.  It did not get progressively worse during the run but kind of stayed the same.

Thursday (11): Rest

Friday (12):  About 40 minutes of weights/stretches and fifteen minutes of the rowing machine at the gym.

Saturday (13):  Completed the Dirty Leprechaun 5K with Derek!  We had such a great race.

Week #12 and Repeating Week #12

 Monday (22):  I did some stretching, weights, and riding the stationary bike at the gym.  Trying to strengthen my glutes to see if it will help with this lateral knee pain.

Tuesday (23):  Ran 6 miles to Bryan Johnson Park and back.  Some pain but not nearly as bad as I expected.  First time running with the wireless head phones.

Wednesday (24):  Pretty busy day getting ready to leave for Michigan so I did not make it to the gym.

Thursday (25) - Sunday (28):  I was in Michigan/Chicago.  While we were pretty active walking, I decided to not exercise and see if that would help my knee heal.  

The marathon I wanted to do on the Oregon Coast went virtual and I really don't want to do a virtual marathon.  The other one I was looking at that same weekend is on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington which would be absolutely beautiful.  It is like a five hour drive and I don't think I could get that Monday off work.  The one I want to do is in North Bend, Washington.  It has not been cancelled yet and they will make a decision on March 24th.  I am hoping it does happen.  If it doesn't I don't have a lot of options.  I am ahead of schedule training wise so I decided to repeat Week #12.  I figured it can't do any harm--it might actually do some good.

Monday (1):  Lots of walking in Chicago

Tuesday (2):  Rest.  Very exhausted from travel.

Wednesday (3):  Ran 6 miles.  Some knee pain again.  It's like with the rest nothing really changes and in some ways it gets worse because the muscles are being worked.  The dynamic stretching before I run and the stretching afterwards helps.  It makes a pretty big difference.  On a pain scale with 1 being I don't feel any pain to 10 I can hardly run, I would rank it at a 5.

Thursday (4):  Ran 6 miles.  It was  good run and there is knee pain again.  It's not any worse but not better.  It is not throughout the whole run.  Running downhill triggers it.  I would still rank it at a 5.  I am slower and and struggling on the uphill but I think that is due to taking time off.  I also had not drank enough.  I was so thirsty after running I could hardly get enough water.  I felt thirsty the rest of the day.  I have done awesome staying away from soda but I have not been drinking enough water.  I am wondering if I stay on top of it with the PT exercises everyday like when I trained for Arizona, I can keep the knee pain manageable.  I think the next few weeks will determine that.

Friday (5):  Biked 45 minutes and weights at the gym

Saturday (6):  Ran 6 miles and 4 1/2 of that was with a friend.  My knee pain was a 2 today.  I think all the stretching yesterday helped significantly.  I am also seriously thinking of doing the Willamette Valley Marathon here in Salem on May 23.  It would put me right on schedule.  I would not need to miss work or mess with travel.  I could sleep in my own bed.  Rob could watch me start and maybe watch me finish if church let out in time.  If my knee gets worse, I can easily switch to the half or even 10K.

Sunday (7):  Rest