Tackling Speed Work Post-Injury: This Girl Tells All!

Why hello there!

I hope you are all enjoying your hump day!

I have been a busy little bee today and didn’t have time to post this morning. Deepest apologies. ;) Don’t worry I will make it up to you with a super amazing Whole Foods giveaway tomorrow! You won’t believe how fun this contest is going to be.

I have some other exciting news that has kept me from all of you today! Fresh restaurant has agreed to sample my Glo Bakery goodies!!!! So I have been busy trying to figure out what to send them and I have also been testing out a new Biscotti recipe. This could be a huge opportunity for me (if they decide they like the products and want to supply them in their restaurants), so I am really keeping my fingers crossed. Please send me glo-ing vibes!!!

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Light Exercise on Off Days

Yesterday, I decided to do some light walking on my off day to see if it helps with recovery.

I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at incline 10% walking at speed 3.5 mph. It was enough to break me into a light sweat, but I didn’t feel like I had to exert too much energy.

It is hard to say whether it helped much because I wasn’t really sore after my 12.40 mile run on Monday. However, my legs felt like lead so I am sure it helped get the blood flowing! I am going to try to get some light walking on most of my off days to see if I notice any difference in recovery long term.

With that being said, if I really don’t ‘feel’ like it on my off day, you can be assured that I won’t be pushing myself to do it. You all know how I feel about my off days! ;)

I also did something yesterday that I have been meaning to do for a long time now.

I did some knee strengthening exercises!

As you may know, I have been wearing knee sleeves since I started running again post-injury back in April/May. My knee sleeves have been a saving grace for me and have literally taken away 99% of my knee pain. It has been nothing short of miraculous.

However, I would eventually like to address the root of the problem which is likely weak muscles surrounding and supporting the knee structure. That is what my Sports Medicine Doctor told me in the Spring. At some point (when I can afford it) I would like to see a Physical Therapist so I can have targeted and professional help with strengthening my knees!

However, in the meantime, I have decided that I am going to try and strengthen my knees on my own.

You may have seen this excellent demonstration video that Caitlin put together:

I did these moves last night, in addition to this one:

It is now my goal to do knee strengthening exercises on a regular basis!

Now the only question I have for you guys is when should I do them? Should I do them on my off days or on my run days? I really have no idea.

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Tackling Speed Work Post-Injury

Today I tackled speed work!

I have almost entirely backed off from speed training since my injury. Aside from the two races I ran (10 km and 10 mile races), I have literally not done any speed work at all.

As you may recall, speed work was what contributed to my pelvic injury.

I was running a lot of Army Fitness Tests (run 2 miles as fast as you can) and I was pushing hard. The one I did right before my injury was 2 miles in about 13.46 minutes. I am almost positive pushing that hard is what contributed to my injury, along with doing the 30 Day Shred and intense yoga sessions. Superwoman syndrome, anyone?

So naturally, I have been really scared to really challenge myself speed wise. Today, I mustered up the courage to run a 10k speed run, but I promised myself that I would really listen to my body.

Lately, on my long runs, about every mile or so, I turn off my music and just do a check-in with my body.

I find music can be really distracting when you are trying to read the feedback your body is giving you. I just run in peace and quiet and do a scan of my body to make sure there is no strange pain. Once, I do this I can often put the music back on until the next scan. This has really given me an appreciation of working with my body when running. I highly recommend check-ins for all of you runners out there!

So when I headed out the door today, I told myself I would do my check-ins. Any strange pain, and I would stop. Easy as that.

The conditions today were pretty intense- it was one of the chilliest mornings we have had so far this month (11C/51.8F) and really intense winds (~25km/hr). I wasn’t sure how fast I would be able to run in this weather, but I gave it a shot. After all, no one says the weather conditions during my half marathon will be ideal, right? We could have snow for all I know! haha.

I started off dressed like this (sporting my ‘I Like It Green’ tee):

Went outside and came back in to put on this:

Yes, I am Canadian but I am a total cold weather wuss! Anyone else?

It will be nothing short of a miracle if all of you can motivate me to run outdoors a bit this winter. ;)

Once I got warmed up, I actually had a great 10k speed run!

Here are my mile splits (estimates from memory):

Mile 1: 9:15 min/mile (big hill)

Mile 2: 8:31 min/mile (big hill)

Mile 3: 8:27 min/mile (strong wind)

Mile 4: 9 min/mile (strong wind, stopped to walk 30 secs.)

Mile 5-6.2: 8:07 min/mile (strong wind, steady hill incline,stopped to walk 30 secs)

I was really happy with this run. My goal was to finish strong, like I would hope to in a race. And my final mile was my fastest, so it worked out well.

10k stats:

• Duration: 53:17
• Avg pace: 8:42 min/mile
• Max HR: 175 bpm
• Avg HR: 163 bpm (much higher than Monday’s long run stats)

I was so excited hitting my watch at the end of the ‘race’ look what I did!!!!!!!

Major ouch!!!!!! Right down to the skin!

This run felt absolutely awesome! :) I came home and guzzled a shot of protein, Amazing Grass style:

And had one of my ‘RENEW’ recovery Glo Bars (11 grams protein). Thanks for your help with voting on the name everyone! You guys rock. I really like the name Renew.

Afterwards, I stretched, did a mini ice shower and I’m feeling on cloud nine right now. :)

My running plan over the next 10 days:

My running plan for the rest of the week is to take tomorrow OFF and then run another 6 (easy!) miles on Friday. Saturday is probably going to be some form of cross training as we are going to Eric’s parents house for the weekend and will likely be active doing some kind of sport.

Next week is my TAPER week since the race is the 27th!

I think I am going to run 3 easy miles on Monday and Wednesday and then *maybe* 2 slow miles on Friday. I’ll play it by ear. I want to be very rested for Sunday morning (7:30am start time- gulp!)

For the racers out there- What do your taper weeks look like?

I’m so excited for my race I can hardly stand it!!!

Do you think I have caught the race bug?

I can’t remember being this excited about ‘exercise’ in years and years- if ever!

We have some huge giveaways coming up on OSG! I will be announcing the winner of the 6 bottles of Barney Butter Giveaway tomorrow morning (I have extended the contest until midnight tonight so get your entry in!). And then tomorrow I will be announcing a new contest for a Whole Foods Giveaway of over $350 of Whole Foods Gift Cards!!!! And yes, this will be open to US and Canadian residents once again.

Another reason to be excited? Tonight marks the kick-off of the Leafs first pre-season hockey game!!!! I love hockey season!

You don’t want to miss this contest!