Second verse, same as the first

Last weeks training was almost identical to the week before, except the ride on Saturday was 1:20 instead of 1:10. So far, so good! My knee is still a little sore but I didn't have to bail on any workouts this week. YAY for completing everything on the schedule this week!!!

I struggled to keep my heartrate under (or even near) 160bpms on Sunday. I think my heart was rebelling against running in -27 and the snow.

Last week when I was at the gym, I couldn't resist the urge to weigh myself. The only time I ever weigh myself is at the pool or the gym, so I haven't done it since June. What's the verdict? 166 - this made me happy! Down another 5lbs from June. Overall I've gone from 210lbs to 166lbs, it's hard to believe this was me 3 years ago.
And this was me in June of this year (2.5 years after I started running)



Now it's recovery week, I'm looking forward to reduced, easy workouts this week.

I can't believe training for Great White North has started already. Eight months of thinking about that race. Feels just like last year except this year I know I can do the distance, now I'm just training to do it better and faster. I decided that trying to follow a "one size fits all" program doesn't work for me because of the other demands in my life. So, I've taken the big step (and gone against everything I ever said about people taking this too seriously) and hired a coach.

Week 1:
Monday - was supposed to run 40 minutes but a pain in my knee that cropped up out of nowhere last week was getting worse and worse while running so I stopped at 20mins
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday - on the bike. I haven't spent much time on the trainer before this week. It's a lot harder to get my heartrate up on the bike then it is when I'm running. It felt good though and it didn't bother my knee.
Saturday - swim and bike. I was scared of this one. I haven't trained like this in months! But I did it, and like always - surprised myself. I didn't feel so good in the water but I think it's because I never bring anything to drink (duh!). The ride was great, couldn't believe I felt so good after all of my workouts this week.
Sunday - I was really worried about knee, but managed a 40 min run with no problems and heart rate in the right zone.

So far, I feel good about this but if this is week one I'm a little apprehensive about what I've agreed to. I think this is going to pay off though. I came in with the goal of finishing GWN under 8 hours but I'll set a more definite goal closer to race day. The ART seems to have worked as well! The glute muscle is still a little tight but I feel much better.

ART

For the past two weeks I have been going to active release therapy (ART). Decided it was a good time to get this nagging hip/glute pain looked at. It's a somewhat painful way to spend 20 minutes but I do feel better afterwards. The chiropractor has noticed an issue with my hip joint and adjusted the left side. A week later I was out for a nice easy run and suddenly my knee on my right side started to hurt. The pain is underneath the knee cap and kind of feels like it is out of place. Went back for ART two days after that, mentioned the knee pain and he worked on it for a bit. It's two days later and the pain in the knee still comes and goes. I skipped running today and decided to do 40 mins on my bike instead. I still have some pain on my left side, mainly in the glute (running down the back of my leg)

We'll see what this week at chiro brings.