Sunday, August 29, 2010

Success!

"It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thursday, I successfully completed my 12K run and for the first time since my knee injury, I was under 11 minutes per mile (10:56 to be exact)...my lungs were a little ticked off by the end, but my knee was definitely much better. Yesterday, I had 18K planned and considering I had felt some pain around the last 1.5K of a 15K run recently, I knew this was a good test for the knee. Before going on, I'd like to take a minute to thank Joseph, my PT, for his amazing support and advice...because, I ended up running 18.8K with no knee pain. YAY!! My calves are definitely tight due to the new running shoes and form, but they did good! The lungs are starting to do better and didn't give me a hard time either. Overall, an excellent and very encouraging run. My new running form is really starting to come together and feels more natural with each run. I'm able to maintain a 180 steps/minute cadence without thinking about it too much anymore and my foot strike is automatically mid-foot with my new shoes. This improved running form and cadence are what I gained from this injury...hopefully, these changes will help me avoid further and/or more serious injuries. I've also learned to respect the healing process and not try and push myself too much, too soon. Plus, I learned that cross-training needs to be balanced with the running and that overtraining is not the best way to get back from an injury.

Next weekend is the Montreal half-marathon and I am really looking forward to it! My brother and super sister-in-law are both running their first marathon and I am soooo excited for them! :)

Following that, the next few weekends will include longer runs than I've ever done before and will be the deciding factor in my decision to either go ahead with the marathon or scale down to the half for Niagara Falls...but, I'm feeling more and more confident ;)

I hope you're all having a great weekend!
Cheers!

24 comments:

Jamoosh said...

Challenge Accepted!

Black Knight said...

Challenge accepted too, thank you.
You are coming back fast and I like your positive attitude.

Andrew Opala said...

The quote from Goethe is good ... he has a few good sound bites.

Good luck to your family and their marathons.

And Good luck to you!

mommaof3ontherun said...

Great job! I'm so happy that you are feeling better!

Julia said...

Oh I'm so happy for your great come back Anne! Your family is so lucky to have you there for their first Marathon....which I know is BIG DEAL..... I aspire to some day....Glad your are feeling so good!

ajh said...

So glad you are running pain free! Injuries are just no fun.

Laura said...

Sounds like you're doing really good with your running and getting over the injury well :-)

LMC said...

You should be confident and encouraged. You are doing great!! Glad that you are getting through your long runs without pain. Good luck to your relatives on their upcoming marathons!

Matty B. said...

Super jealous that you get to take on Montreal; I've never been but would love to see all the beautiful French-Canadian things, e.g. poutine.

Congrats and keep rocking!

Char said...

Such good news about the knee. It's great that you're well on the road to recovery.

misszippy said...

Great that you are feeling so well! And sounds like you have made peace with your decisions, so that's all that matters.

Johann said...

I’m so happy that you could run that far without knee pain, wonderful news! Your PT certainly did a great job. Wow, now you’ll be venturing into the longer distances. I think you will love it.
Thanks a lot for the award and the kind words. I really appreciate it. I’ll get to doing what is needed with the award soon. I’m just in a very busy period at work now. Have a great week!

Giorgio said...

Challenge Accepted Anne! Thank you.

Seems the test for the knee went well and I'm glad that the lungs are starting to do better :) Good luck to your family for their first marathon!

Marlene said...

Yay! Great news on the long run! Glad the knee and lungs are holding up for you.

Tara said...

Way to go! That is just the type of run that you needed, a BIG confidence booster where everything went right! I'm so happy that the knee and lungs are hanging in there. :)

Amanda - RunToTheFinish said...

yeahhh for running without pain!! so glad things are on the mend for you

Kate said...

I just found your blog, and WOW, it is inspiring. You are so incredibly fit and have such a great attitude. :)

kilax said...

So happy your knee is feeling better. And wow, that HM is sneaking up on you! :)

Irene said...

I'm glad to hear you're getting a handle on that asthma! Fall gets to me, too. :)

Wifey said...

Congrats on your run! So excited for you!

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey

Melinda said...

I'm so glad your knee is holding up well for you. Good luck in the half marathon this weekend!

And congrats on the award!

AM-GoalsfortheWeek! said...

Hi there;-)
nice, nice job with your cadence and foot strike. that is huge!

and i hear you on wishing I could take things back when i lacked judgement, but it's all part of the process right? At least that's what I try and convince myself of;-)

Molly said...

that is so great about your run! And I like how you gave the male bloggers a shout out!

Iron Mike said...

Totally picked the wrong week to take vacation!

Thank you, thank you for the award, very cool Question, I'll have to ponder that.

I think it's pretty easy for us to be positive, after all, we get to wake up each morning and enjoy this beautiful world. We're very lucky.

Finally, excellent job on the 18+K run, you've earned a good long training run.