solar squirrel

First off - I’ve been consumed with school so sorry for the absence of posts.  (Had to go to class all day Friday and Saturday including a presentation on a book that I stayed up all night Thursday night reading…)  Also work has been killing me, but I FINALLY had a breakthrough this past Thursday and my software written in C appears to be playing nicely (and, more importantly WORKING) with the assembly code that I integrated with it.

If that above paragraph doesn’t give you an indication as to why I run, you obviously handle stress better than I do.

So - I went to the Dr. - the same one E-Speed went to - and he told me that the problem I have been having with my knee isn’t IT band like I thought, but something called “Synovial Impingement Syndrome”.  I think this can also be referred to as ‘runner’s knee’.  Basically I have irritated the cartilage or something and it’s causing swelling and pain.  I think this is related to my IT-band becoming tight, so the stretching can’t hurt.  My treatment:  overdose on ibuprofin for 2 weeks but I can continue to train as usual.  My plan is to deal with the pain until after the Tow Path marathon.  After that I’ll take a minimum of 2 weeks completely off from running, possibly 3.  The Dr. said that running won’t do any permanent damage, so if I have to deal with a little pain then I will.  It’s just kind of scary taking so many ibuprofin - I have taken more in the past week then I usually take in an entire year!

I’m planning on running 20 miles at about an 8:30 pace in Solon with SERC on Sunday, so we’ll see how that goes!

Sunday was the Portage Lakes Triathlon - after ‘resting’ all week (6 days without running because of ITB issues) I decided that I could go ahead and let myself do a triathlon - after all, the run was only 6.2 miles. I haven’t biked since GCT (a month ago) and I seriously cannot remember the last time I swam - it was well over a month ago (swim was canceled at GCT). So - basically I was going into this in a fairly unprepared state. Whatever, I knew it was a fun race so I was just ready to go out and have a good time. I talked Todd into doing the Duathlon, which he wasn’t training for; so we both were just going to have fun.

Todd started the duathlon about 30 min before my swim wave start, so I got to see him take off - my dad was there too, taking video of the entire thing. Todd looked strong and I figured he would probably place in his age group even without training. After we watched all of the duathletes start, my dad and I headed down to the lake to watch the first swim waves start. My wave was one of the last ones - all of the Olympic distance women started at the same time. There were about 30 of us - not too many, but enough that it would be crowded in the water at the start. I should have started in the front, but I let a lot of people stand in front of me and when they started us I was stuck behind a ton of people kicking me. Aargh! I hate that! It is the weirdest thing because you have all these arms and legs everywhere and you are trying not to get kicked but at the same time keep track of where the next buoy is so that you don’t get off course - OH - and there was seaweed EVERYWHERE!!! It kept getting caught in-between my fingers and in my nose-plug string. It was hilarious! I almost laughed out loud because I was thinking about telling Todd that there were barnacles - I guess I don’t even know what a barnacle is, but I know that the name is funny and that’s the first word that came in my head while I was swimming. So anyway - I was dodging barnacles (seaweed) and lots of appendages and it just really got my rhythm off. Needless to say my swim time was not that great - towards the 2nd loop of the swim it finally thinned out enough that I was able to get into a better rhythm, but by that time there wasn’t enough distance for me to really make up enough time. Oh well, I didn’t drown.

Coming out of the swim I felt strong and I was able to get into transition area rather quickly. All swiftness on my part faded (as usual) in transition. My dad was there in transition video taping me - so I was able to see FIRST HAND how freakin’ slow I am in transition!!!! I will have to see if I can edit out that part of the video and post it - I am so slow - putting on my shoes and socks, and my gloves and helmet…like - I feel like I’m being sort-of fast when I’m doing it, but watching it I look like I’m going in slow motion! It’s like I don’t know what to do next - I definitely need to practice if I want to get serious. To add to the long transition was the fact that I couldn’t find my dumb bike - the rows were super crowded and they were labeled with letters rather than numbers, and I couldn’t remember if they were in alphabetical order from the entrance or exit.

The bike was pretty uneventful, except for the fact that it was raining lightly, which made the road slick and made me afraid of falling. I went back and forth with this lady for a while - she was faster on the flats and downhills and I was faster on the up-hills, so we kept passing each other. Finally she got in front of me at the end and I never did catch back up to her. I decided I would rather live and let her pass me than die from slipping on wet pavement and getting hit by a car. (The roads were pretty empty, though, which was good). My bike to run transition was no better than swim to bike - not sure what the hold up was but comparing my time to other people it was embarrassingly much slower. Again - I felt strong starting the run - it was almost like my legs were getting let out of a cage after being pent up. I was talking and cheering people on the entire time - I saw Todd at about the 3 mile mark and he told me there was a girl ahead and to pass her, which I of course did. He told me I looked strong - I felt great! Unfortunately, around mile 3 my dumb knee started to feel weird - but I still felt good - it didn’t seem to hinder my performance any - but it was still very depressing to feel a dull pain with every step. I was still running great, though, passing quite a few people - I got passed by a few guys, but that’s it. The pain wasn’t enough to slow me down or cause me to change my running (at least I don’t think it did); but just the presence of it probably messed me up psychologically. I had my eye on the lady that passed me on the bike, and I think I could have passed her had I been more mentally strong. After the knee pain I decided to maintain my pace, rather than pick it up and risk possibly hurting myself, so I didn’t catch her. I finished with a 2:33, which at the time I thought was a 2:57 because I was going on the finish clock time - duh - my wave started a half hour AFTER they started the clock! I took 3rd in my age group, and Todd took 2nd in his - so we both got cute little medals!

Here are my splits:

Swim 1500 meters - 28:08
T1 - 3:37
Bike - 40K - 1:11:31 (20.8 mph)
T2 - 2:12
Run - 10K - 48:06 (7:46 pace/mile)

Total time: 2:33:35
3rd Place in my age group.

I guess I’m happy with this - considering all of the circumstances. Now I need to figure out what the heck is going on with my knee (almost 100% sure it’s ITB). I see the Dr. tomorrow - stay tuned!

Today is day 5 of no running for me. I am doing the Portage Lakes Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday, so that will be exactly 1 week with no running. My knee doesn’t hurt, but I can tell it’s still not right. It’s hard to explain…but it definitely feels different than my other knee so I decided to make an apt. with the person E-Speed saw. He specializes in knees, so hopefully he’ll figure out what the heck I did. (It was funny because when I called to make the apt. one of the first things the girl asked after I told her I wanted to make an apt. was ‘which knee is it’ - I didn’t even tell her it was my knee - so I guess that’s the only thing he sees people for.) I think Todd is doing the Duathlon Sunday, so it will be fun having both of us racing. I haven’t biked since GCT, mostly because of the incredible pain that I was in on the bike, so let’s hope that biking doesn’t kill me. I’m going to do this race just to have fun - my dad is coming to watch and probably take some video - should be a good time!

I took today off work because I needed a day to get things in order, call places that are only open during the week, run errands, etc. One of the things I had to do was pay my school bill and I found out that I have the option to do this EZ Pay thing - which kindly allows me to make 4 payments of $2,151 rather than one giant payment. How nice. Oh the fun things I could buy with that money. This semester I am taking a sustainable business class (which goes 2 semesters) and an organizational behavior class - both require a TON of reading - I wish I didn’t read so slowly. Hopefully this will all pay off, I sure know my undergrad. did.

Anyone else doing Portage Lakes Tri or Du?

I am obsessed with fixing my knee. This is day 2 of the all out war (last week I wasn’t really fighting it, it is war this week). Yesterday I stretched, iced, massaged, and took 1 ibuprofin. I didn’t do ANY exercise AT ALL. (Unless you count playing 2 rounds of cornhole w/ Todd).

This morning in the shower I stretched, then took an ibuprofin when I got to work and stretched some more. At lunch I did 30 min on the elliptical and did more stretching and then got some ice in the cafeteria and iced for about 30 min back at my desk. Tonight after work I rollerbladed for an hour and then stretched. Now I’m sitting on the couch - and I just realized - I could be icing right now!

Ok, I know - I am seriously going overboard, but you have to understand that in over 15 years of running I have never been injured, so this is a bit of a shock to me. Last week it hurt even walking - this week so far it doesn’t hurt when I walk, but I’ve been going down the stairs so that I don’t bend my knee. I’m planning on taking all week off from running and then doing the Portage Lakes Triathlon this weekend. If my knee acts up after this weekend I am going to make an apt. to see someone.

I have been waiting and waiting for someone to come up with an entire gym concept that encompasses sustainability, conservation, and reuse. I should have guessed that one would spring up in Portland, Oregon; the same place that has electric car dealerships. Check this place out - The Green Microgym. I’m sure you’ve always wondered what would happen if someone harnessed the electricity from your workout - at least I know I have - but I was discouraged to find out that the amt. of energy that I create is actually quite small - I sure feel like I’m generating a lot when I’m working out hard! But this gym actually has taken some really good ideas into action using solar to subsidize some of it’s energy and also using member’s art work on the walls. I’m most impressed with some of their equipment which I have never seen before. I love the idea of harnessing  kinetic energy, which I honestly feel EVERY gym should do - and it looks like this one is currently investigating it with the use of this company called ReRev. Why not use some of that energy created by all the jumping around during an aerobics class? I know there is a dance club in Rotterdam that uses the same idea from dancers on the dance floor…I am definitely going the next time I am in the Netherlands for more than 48 hours.

I haven’t posted for a while…I’ve had pain in my left knee for a week (started last Sat.). I ran about 15 miles yesterday with Elizabeth and Janet at an easy pace and it felt pretty good during the run, (after taking 4 days off) but after my knee pain is now back. I think it’s ITB, which both Elizabeth and Janet have had in the past. Todd told me not to run AT ALL, because I need to let it heal. I think he’s right, but at the same time I don’t want to loose the fitness-level that I’ve achieved so far. So I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need to get in to see someone ASAP and make sure what I have is ITB-related and go from there. Any advice is greatly appreciated!