Guess what y’all? I ran 4 miles on Saturday!
My 8-week training plan (post coming soon) for the Covered Bridges Half Marathon officially started today and calls for 5 miles next Saturday. I thought I’d be further along by now so I wanted to see what I had in me. I planned to go out like I would for any long run of this training cycle – 3/1 intervals, meaning 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. My running pal Lori is doing this for CBHM and because I want to run with her, I plan to do the same. Even though 4 miles hardly seems like a “long run” to me, it’s the furthest I’ve run since November 19.
I had no additional pain beyond what I experience 24/7, although I had to take one full walk interval (5ish minutes of walking around mile 3.5) because the route I ran involved a massive hill, and I promised the doctor no hills because that is a major hamstring aggravator. I started out doing a loop around the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, knowing I could just run, walk or limp home if that proved to be too much for my hammy. It wasn’t, so I kept going and did a big loop around my neighborhood that ended at the gym.
Once there, I did all my deadlifts and squats (5 sets of 5, 95lbs and 85lbs, respectively) and spent almost 30 minutes stretching my lower body – something I definitely don’t do enough of.
I guess it’s important to back up and say that after my very bad run last Friday, I was terrified to run again. So I didn’t. When I saw the doctor on Thursday morning, he was so bummed to hear about my setback. He hoped it was just that – a hiccup or minor setback – rather than a new or worsening injury. I could tell he was racking his brain to come up with a plan but when he said “I want you to run Boston, but I don’t want you to run it in 10 out of 10 pain,” I realized he thought I was running the marathon next week. Fair enough – every other runner in his clinic is. When he remembered that I’m definitely not, he was visibly relieved but still wanted me to be able to run without pain. He suggested an MRI of the problem area (really the back of my knee and the front of my calf on both sides, where the hamstring wraps around the front to attach to the knee) and no PT before then.
Fortunately I was able to get an MRI appointment for 5:30 on Friday evening and a follow-up with the doctor this coming Thursday before work. I offered to wait until after the marathon so he can keep this week’s appointments available to marathoners but he wanted me to come back ASAP with the MRI results. He should actually have the radiologist’s report today or tomorrow, and they gave me a CD of all the images when I left the scan, but I’m sure I won’t get the results until my appointment on Thursday. In the meantime, he said I could run as long as the pain was no worse than the everyday pain, hence Saturday’s 4 miles.
In an annoying sequence of events, I went to a follow-up dermatologist appointment on Friday before work and had a third spot removed for a skin biopsy – 3 in 3 months. While the others were removed because of their irregular shape and color, this one was removed because it looks like basal cell carcinoma. It was red like a pimple, but has been for 6 weeks without change, so off it came. The one of my thigh had come back “moderately abnormal but we got it all,” my forearm mole was “completely benign” and this new spot on my cleavage (wonderful, huh?) is TBD, but hopefully I get those results soon. I got the previous 2 calls on the 3rd business day after my appointment, so that would mean this Wednesday. Then MRI results on Thursday, so let’s hope for good news all around!
Plain Kelly 