Maria's Running Blog

just an easy recovery run. Felt fine, except for the new pain in my left leg. It is similar to the pain in my right leg, which I've had for about a year now. But now it's in my "good" leg as well! It hurts on the outside of the knee, and also directly under the knee on the back of the leg. It's a weird thing, and doesn't fit into any of standard running injuries I know. It got better after I warmed up - it hurts most when I start walking after sitting down. I can only guess it's some sort of strain on tendons connecting hamstring and calf, or maybe ITBS. I first felt it in my left leg last Thursday after the 5K. I'm sure running in flats didn't help. I'll ice it tonight, and hope it doesn't get worse, because I'm a scoring runner in tomorrow's track meet, so I can't back down.

Total time: 33:23 (8:57 pace).

Went to the meet in pouring rain. It rained all evening, and it was freezing cold in the wind. Stayed under the covered bleaches, but was still cold. I'm taking 3200mg of Ibuprofen a day, so my legs were perfect - no pains whatsoever.

Did 200m first, warmed up for 0.5 mi, no time for strides - traffic was crazy and it took me almost 2 hours to get to the track, and 200m was the first event. Oh well. I got lane 6. Passed lane 7 within first 10 meters, and was running first. In the last 10m, lane 7 tried to stage a comeback, but I saw her from the corner of my eye, and made one final push. Got 33.5 - not as good as a month ago, but ok. Considering conditions and no one to chase, I'll take it. I won the event, as everyone else was slower. My knee was fine.

Then sat around for 1.5 hours waiting for the relay. I skipped 3000m for fear of aggravating the injury. Had to do another warmup as I was very cold and wet. Ran about 1200m for warmup. I was the anchor leg for the relay, but by the time I got the baton, we were so far behind, there was no way I could bridge it. I did catch up a lot though, but just ran out of distance. We won the meet though, so that was good, and I had fun, despite the dreadful weather.

Test run to see how the knee felt. No Ibuprofen today, so I could feel if the knee started acting up. It turned out that the knee was ok, although I felt couple of twinges in the first mile, but then it went away. I ran some distance on grass parallel to the paved path to minimize impact. But my quads and hamstrings are STILL sore from sprinting on Monday. I'm amazed how 33 sec. of max. speed can cause such soreness! Although this time it's better than a month ago when I raced 200m for the first time - that time I was crippled for a week. Interestingly, Ibuprofen has no effect on muscle soreness, at least for me - I was still feeling it. Maybe I was feeling it less than I would have without Ibuprofen, who knows.

So, it wasn't a comfortable run, but I was glad to get out after 2 days of not running. The weather continues to be the worst in years. The floods are a huge issue now in England with thousands of people displaced and homes destroyed. It reminds me of hurricane Katrina aftermath, although probably not on the same scale. It's been raining again all this week, and today there was a massive storm with violent winds, horizontal rain and it was as dark as nighttime. A lot of my coworkers jumped from their chairs and stood glued to the window - they say they haven't seen anything like this in years and years. But by 5PM it cleared up somewhat and that's when I rushed home and went for a run. I'm so ready for our vacation next week (going to Nice). At least to see some sun this summer and not have to wear a jacket in the middle of July!

In other news, I got London marathon official magazine with the entry form in the mail. I'm debating whether I should apply as "good for age" with my Rotterdam time, and beg them to let me in despite being 45 sec. over the limit. Or I can apply to Boston, for which I qualified legitimately. My main feeling though, especially after my fiasco in Rotterdam, is that I'm really not that interested in running another marathon unless I can run 3:15-3:20. And that can be predicted once I'm able to run the half in 1:30. I can race many halfs and recover in a few days, and not disrupt my flow of training. Marathon tends to destroy my rhythm for many weeks. If I can run half in 1:30 then I at least will have a shot at a decent marathon performance. I think I need to focus on increasing my fitness and bringing my times down in shorter distances, without getting hung up on the marathon.

Total time: 54:40 (8:57 pace).

Long run before heading out to airport. My knee seemed to have held up ok, although I felt it sometimes, but no pain. A very warm day compared to what it has been lately - around 70F and sunny.

Total time: 1:58:14 (8:57 pace).

I'm hoping to run along the beach tomorrow!