Week in Review

44 Miles
2 Lifting Sessions
5 Ab Sessions
0 Doubles
0 Days Off
0 Workouts

Each run this week was better than the run the day before.  My body felt rather confused and angry at me for making it run when every single muscle and tissue seemed to scream at me to turn back around and stop running.  After 20 minutes, my runs immediately feel much better and more bearable.  By the end of this week, I was even enjoying the art of running again as I could tell my muscles were beginning to finally fire fairly normally.  I hit the one-hour mark on both Saturday and Sunday and fought the urge to add on more miles since the weather has been sunny and in the 60s.  Fortunately, I know that I can wait to put the longer runs on my legs until next week.

Volunteering at Saturday's Inaugural CRC Winter Flight 8k early in the morning didn't prevent me from logging some fun miles with Heidi Hullinger, a former Duke star who is in residency for Spinal surgery stuff in New York, but applying for Fellowships in Charlotte.  The CRC race went off without a hitch that I can think of and the Club even made some money from the small race!  Hopefully we can turn this race into a tradition that people continue to participate in.  I was also really impressed with all the CRC members who dedicated their time to volunteering for the event, even if it was 30 degrees and dark when they arrived.  The true camaraderie of the Club was showcased on Saturday at McAlpine, and I was thrilled to be a part of it.

As part of the post marathon symptoms, I've noticed a weakness in my left side of my hip flexor and glute.  I've been focusing on a consistent lifting and ab regime, but I knew that something else was missing.  Fortunately, I had the opportunity to have Dr. Greenapple of Greenapple Sports & Wellness take a look at my marathon-wrecked body on Friday.  Everybody in Charlotte knows who Greenapple is because he works on many high school athletes and is very involved with the running and triathlon communities.  We spent the first ten minutes getting to know each other before he took me into an assessment room to test the strength (or lack thereof) in various parts of my body.  He found that my left gluteus medeus is very weak and that my psoas is tight.  We went over some light exercises for me to add to my lifting program (donkey kicks, bridge, bridge with marches, clam shells until I can't do them anymore, single leg squats on a stool, etc).  To help increase the flexibility of my psoas and to focus on other body corrections, Greenaple prescribed ART, mobilizations and possible acupuncture for future sessions.   I'm excited to work with Greenapple and know that performing these corrective, strengthening exercises will be the key to helping me achieve my goals in 2012.

Coming up next week, I will continue to run purely on feel and, if I feel up for it, attempt two low-key workouts:  minuters and a progression tempo with no goal pace target.  I don't want to push my body too far too fast, so I'm taking things slowly so that I can be fully ready to set new PRs later this year.

Oh, and for your own enjoyment, I included a photo of my recently healed blisters!  You can notice the dead pieces of skin that I cut off and where the new skin has formed under my big toe and also on my third toe.  Yum!!!