Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry ITBS!

I'm down to stress fractures and Achilles tendinitis and I think I'll have run the spectrum of running-related injuries. Last Saturday my IT band started acting up making ITBS my latest running injury. Fortunately I was halfway smart and after it flared up again on Sunday I shut it down for a week. I've done the elliptical a couple times and today I ran a mile for the first time in a week. Tomorrow I'm going to try for two miles and see if I can make it without pain.

It's too bad because I felt like I was in a pretty good place in the base building phase of my Boston training plan. I'd averaged over 50 miles a week for three weeks but at the end of that third week my evil IT band derailed me.

I think my downfalls were building up mileage too fast after a decent-length layoff and neglecting any sort of core training. Fortunately this week has given me ample opportunity to get in some core training and I'm going to try to keep it up and prevent these nagging little injuries.

I hope everyone's having a great holiday season. Happy running!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

'Tis the Season

It's been an exciting month of running--so exciting that I haven't bothered to post about it. There's been a lot of snow and I've been doing most of my running without going anywhere whatsoever. I've been trying to time my runs so I can watch reruns of The Simpsons but inevitably I end up having to settle for Sportscenter or something like that.

I can run outside in the cold, snow, and darkness of winter just fine except that the lack of plowed sidewalks has been a problem. An inch or less of snow could be dealt with with some Yaktrax or screw shoes, but this winter has left about 20" of snow on the sidewalks in Eagan. The clearing of the sidewalks has been spotty at best and the last couple runs I've done outside have forced me to run in loops of just over a mile--not too exciting.

I've also run into the joy of being harassed by poor winter drivers. On Monday night a friend and I drove to the chain of lakes in Minneapolis only to find out that the city had yet to clear the trails. We ran on the streets and some friendly drivers honked at us. What do they think they're accomplishing with their angry honks? Do they think we're going to hear the honking and all of a sudden come to our senses and leave the road to try and make it through 20" of snow on the unplowed sidewalks?

Last night there were some particularly great drivers. First I almost got smacked by a girl trying to turn right on red and not bothering to see if there was anyone in the crosswalk. Then, a driver on his cell phone rolled through a stop sign right into my outstretched hand. Fortunately he was rolling slowly and didn't inflict any damage on my stiff arm. Ah, the joys of winter running in Minnesota.