Believe you can!

It's been a while since I posted any kind of update. I had gotten a bit down on myself being back in physical therapy and not hitting my goals for workouts. BUT the negative thoughts didn't last long. This week has been awesome!

physical therapy 
I tore the labrum in my left hip in April 2012. I spent 4 mos straight in PT then and "recovered" well. I was able to keep running. I trained well and ran a 23 min marathon PR in November, injury free/little pain. However, I took a tumble late December and seemed to have jarred things on the ol' left hip a little. I wasn't having a ton of pain/issues but my tailbone was really bothering me. I didn't fall directly onto my tailbone so I ignored it for a long time.

I went to the dr, had an x-ray and got good news. No broken/fractured or bruised tailbone. He put me on anti-inflammatory meds for a couple of weeks and said to call back if I still had trouble. I did. I was sent to a PT specializing in women's health therapy (more on that later). It's so weird how all our "parts" connect and one thing leads to another. The tailbone was overcompensating for the hip stuff. So, once things were resolved with the tailbone after 2 visits, the hip flared up reallly reallly bad.

I've been in PT for 3 weeks with great improvements. I'm trying hard to remain positive in that I won't require another visit to the orthopedic dr OR surgery for my hip just yet. I believe if I just be patient in listening to my body and do my PT exercises as told that I can continue to run well and prolong any kind of surgery talk.

easy runs
It's been repeated to me over and over how important it is to take it easy on the runs labeled "easy run." I know why an easy run day follows a track/speed day. Your body has to recover. Easy runs should be done at an easy pace (for me during marathon training this was 9:45ish, now I'm told to stay around 10:00). The competitor in me, I guess, wants to always work hard. I'm motivated most of the time and like to run with my friends (who typically are faster). Going a bit faster on easy runs wasn't always easy but I got use to it and that became an easy pace for me.

BUT then the marathon and blah blah. My body was tired, this happened and that. And guess what? Yep, that "easy" pace became much harder especially on my easy days following a speed workout. Why? Because I wasn't allowing my body the rest/recovery it needed! Guess what happens when we push hard back to back? More prone to injury! I am not saying that is why my hip is a little flared up BUT it gives me a good reason to listen to what is being told of me and my easy run pace.

So, that all said - I take my easy runs easy and I feel so much better doing so and not letting the pace control my mood of the run. I believe that if I listen to what I have been told and am patient with the easy runs I will see the improvement I want in all my runs - long, short, easy, speed, races!

the track
In the last month or so I have been having a terrible time hitting my paces for track/speed workouts. This may be partly because I have gone to the track dreading what was on the schedule. A bad attitude rarely results in anything positive! It could also be that this winter has been terrible. So much cold, rain, snow and just too much winter around here.

However, this week has been great. I lost the attitude of "I cannot hit that pace for that workout," and I said, "Screw you mother nature and your sub freezing temps." I went to practice, listened to my coach when he told me my paces and then I ran them. Boom, bam, bizzle.

My training right now is based on speed and getting faster for my upcoming races.  Here is how this week looked. I do speed work at the track on Tues/Fri.
Tues - drills - 2mi warmup 12x400 2 mi cool down (goal 2:05-2:00 progress down, 1:00 rest btwn)
1:57 1:59 1:56 1:58 1:56 1:57 1:56 1:57 1:57 1:58 1:59 1:56

Fri- drills - 2 mi warmup  10x200 2 mi cool down (goal :53-:55, 200 m recovery jog btwn)
:53 :52 :53 :55 :52 :51 :51 :51 :50 :48
Coach ran the last one with me as a birthday 200!

I believe that if I go to practice with a positive attitude and tell myself, "I can," when I am given my paces then I WILL! 

What I learned this week:
When coach says be patient - be patient.
Lose the negative thoughts - you will see positive results.
Keep the easy runs easy and allow the body to recover. 

And for my biggest bit of advice (not that this is even an advice post, lol) ------


Believe you can and you're halfway there!