The first half of my run felt great but during the second half I kept getting a twinge of pain on the outside of my left knee, so I slowed it down a bit. I finished the run ok, and I did run for longer periods before a short recovery walk. Maybe I pushed too hard. I don't want to hurt myself before the 5K next Sunday!
I agree with classon. It sounds like the IT band. Mine bothers me when I run too much on the treadmill or if I don't stretch enough. Try googling "IT band stretches" and work some of them into your regular routine.
After running my 5k route for 13 weeks (more or less), I finally finished in under 40 minutes! This is huge for me, but now I need to give myself a new goal...The best reward came last night when I ran up to the mall to try on some fall clothes - in a smaller size!! Oh yeah!! So the moral of my story is don't give up, even if it seems you are not making progress - you really are! Be patient and you will see results.
nancyl says:
:woohoo: That is wonderful.
I have one more week to go before I do a 1/2 marathon.
carriew says:
I will be running the 5k Great Race in Pittsburgh in a week - this will be my third year to participate, and I feel like I am ready finally!
Good luck to you next week in the half-marathon - that will be my next goal!
baldassini says:
Hey Carrie
keep up the good work. Thats awesome what youve done so far. Your goal is to continue to keep it up and improve maybe even increase the mileage a little each week. Look at maybe doing a 10K
cheerios019 says:
Have to say I'm quite jealous. My 5k is in 10 days and I'm not feeling anywhere near ready!
sparty7798 says:
Thanks for everyone's encouragement! It has been very helpful and now I can finally post and say thank you!
After my 5k run this morning, I am almost back to where I was 2 weeks ago according to my time and how I feel. A week off did not help but could not be avoided, so now I am ready to get back to work running quicker, better, and enjoying it.
Tomorrow I will return to the gym to resume my strength training and see about getting help from a personal trainer. My son has a home xc meet today and I always find those motivational!
After a week off due to illness and a family crisis, I got back on the trail again this morning. I had to miss the 5k I registered for last Sunday that I was looking forward to. The next 5k is a little of 3 weeks away so I need to get busy preparing for that race.
Today I decided to fast walk the first half of the course and then just do interval runs the second half, with brief walks when I got out of breath. That worked well and I felt good. My lap time increased a little but there's still time to work on that, get back to where I was, and improve before the next 5k. Plus the weather has been absolutely beautiful to run this week, cool with low humidity. I do love fall weather!
rcblu2 says:
Nice. You have a good pace going there. Watch those shins!
This morning is overcast, 70 degrees and very humid. I wanted to get a run in early and my goal today was to run my 3 miles in 40 minutes. The last time I did this lap, I ran until out of breath and then walked 30 secs or so and repeated. I decided to try that again today since I seem to be able to go faster.
The run really did not feel very great because of the humidity but I slogged on. The last 50 yds I really pushed myself. I stopped my watch at the 3 ml mark and then glanced down as I walked to cool down - 40 min 2 sec!! I'll be happy with that for today.
My husband, son and I are doing another 5K fun run on Sunday morning. This one is on a level course and ends up in Heinz Field - how could I pass that up!
So today I decided to do a 3 min warm-up to start my 3 mile run, and then run as fast as I could for a few minutes (until I was really huffing and puffing and/or my hr over 80%) then walk fast for a minute, and then repeat.
I had my best time so far, almost ing a 13 min mile! For runners that's pretty darn slow but for someone who started with 15 min miles, I can tell I am making some progress. I was trying to make myself run for long distances without a break, and it really slowed down my pace.
The weather was just great this morning also - it the mid-60s, slight breeze, low humidity. I am sure that helped me keep going at a faster pace as well. I feel good and am looking forward to a run on Thursday!
rcblu2 says:
You are building muscle so maybe your weight is holding steady as you trade muscle for chub. Just don't eat more because "you need more energy." Stay with it.
It was a beautiful morning to run this fun neighborhood 5k run/walk. I ran as much as I could the first mile, which was level but on cobblestone streets. The second mile was not so good - trail running, all uphill, on a dirt/stone/cinder path. At least it was mostly shady. I ended up walking just about all the second mile as my heart rate was way beyond my target heart rate. The third mile was all downhill on the trail and I ran down it all, trying not to hurt my knees or fall on the stones. I passed alot of people which was really cool. I got a big kick and finished running hard, at least hard for me.
My husband and son were waiting for me at the finish - they were done long before me - with a beer in hand and a carnation. I was so glad to be done! My husband kept telling me how proud he was of me...I guess I am pretty proud of myself too!
mike R says:
Congrats to you and your family on your great finishes!
Cobblestones? That's something I've never run on before.....
