Being Cautious

Hello and Happy Monday everyone! I trust everyone had a nice weekend, mine was jam-packed full of a whole lot of everything!

Saturday I went to help my mom with her annual Christmas party most of the day, and didn't get home and in bed until after midnight, I was SO tired!
Yesterday I woke up at 7am with a zillion things I wanted to get done. The to-do list looked something like this:

-Do Laundry :)
-Put away laundry :(
-Wash towels
-Dust
-Vacuum
-Peachie Bath
-Publix
-Costco
-Clean Kitchen
-Prep food for the week
-Clean out closet/dresser
-Re-organize closet so John can actually put his shoes in there :)
-Clean off the counter
-Clean Bathrooms
-Coffee Table
-Organzie china cabinet
-Throw out old magazines/organize others
-Clean out office closet
-Goodwill trip (clothes/old electronics)
-Weed out old toiletries under bathroom sink
-Clean out pantry


Now even for me, this is a pretty lofty list for one weekend, let alone one day. There were certainly priorities, but I somehow managed to cross everything off that massive list EXCEPT Miss Peach's bath- although technically John does that, so I win again, I crossed everything off MY part of the list ;)

I felt so unbelievable accomplished when I went to bed last night, my house was spotless, all my clothes were clean, my closet looked great, I was ready for the week, had gotten to watch Love Actually while cooking, and I also tacked on 1 extra fun project. All my bibs and medals were cluttering up my jewelry stand, so I decided with as many as there are now, they probably needed their own space, so here is what I threw together

Ideally I would like to get something else for all my medals, but I had an extra cork board lying around, and a little extra time on my hands, plus I am impatient, and once I want something done, it has to be done right that instant or else I will turn to dust!


So now we are to Monday, and what I have been waiting for, my first day back to running. I was beyond excited all day yesterday, I was so ready to be able to get up and go run like normal, I have felt so naked without it the last few weeks. I actually planned out what I would wear last night and got everything ready, pathetic, a little, but in my defense I was also having to prepare for something I had never done before: 36* run! Now I will say that last winter I did 2 runs in under 45*, but both were during the day when the sun was out- my Floridian blood was about to attempt an all dark 36* run + wind, very scary!

I don't own real running tights because well, I live in Florida and that seemed rediculous. Although for some reason I have also convinced myself that owning 4 peacoats when you live in Florida is completely rational;) I have some imitation running tights that are dry fit and tight, but they are really baselayer spandex to wear when you go skiing, but with 36* feels like 28* on my phone this morning I decided faux-tights were better than capris, and I will say it was a good choice. I also layered up with a cold-gear mock tutleneck, another long-sleeved shirt over it, gloves and a fleece headband for my ears. I ALMOST took my wind-breaker, but ditched it at the last seconds, and over all I ended up feeling comfortable on the run- Big Win for me, I ALWAYS overdress!!! Needless to say, I will be needing to go and apprehend some real winter running gear tonight, the lows through the weekend range from 28*-36*!

So my coach told me to keep it easy to do and do 4-5 miles, I started the first mile with the group of girls I had normally done the bridges with, but after the first mile I was ready to speed up so I just took off on my own. My knee and IT Band felt good I was able to settle into a comfortable pace, and I was really surprised that after so much time off I wasn't feeling winded finding my normal pace, especially since I was able to maintain it on all the bridge climbs. I was really concious to keep my downhills in check since I knew that could be where my ITB would flare up, and I didn't even notice it until the very last downhill in the last mile where I started to feel a slight soreness come from my actual IT band in the middle of my leg. I rememebered everything I read and have felt the last couple weeks and decided that picking it up rather than staying slow on the downhill would probably be better in the long run, so I did- 5 miles, no knee pain ;)

5 Miles- 47:24, 9:28 average pace
Mile 1-  9:50
Mile 2-  9:28
Mile 3-  9:44 (tackling the big beast)
Mile 4-  9:26
Mile 5-  8:56

I was so happy that I still felt so good despite everything. I know that running a lot of hills while trying to build back up is not the best way to keep my ITBS in check, but I wanted to at least get out there this morning with the group. Over the 5 miles we ran 4 ambitious uphills with the accompanying downhills, and each had their own mile so I was glad to see the efforts I put in on each incline. I stretched and foam rolled like a pro when I got home, I am hoping to stay on top of this thing as much as I can. I also iced my knee once at work, again proactive is better. I am *hoping* to get back to my normal 5 days of running this week, even though the mileage will be lower than usual (~30 this week), it is about getting my body (and IT band) used to the 4 days in a row pattern again, and then I can increase mileage from there if it holds up! I am still being cautious, both mentally and physically, while I realize I did everything I could to try and disolve this problem, I still need to be prepared it may show up again.

Thanks to everyone for sticking through my 10 day hiatus, I aprpeciate all the support! It certainly was boring, and I never realized how much I would miss just being able to go run.