A tale of two 6 mile runs

Yesterday after work I stopped by to talk to the athletic trainer who I've been talking to and who's been helping me with my knee. I'm still going to do a full post on what exactly is going on with the knee and what I've been doing for recovery. Promise. Soon.

Anyway-- as I said yesterday, I was stopping bye to get Kinesio taped up. I emailed her during the day about her thoughts on it, planning to buy a roll online. She replied and just told me to stop by and that she'd tape me up so I could see how it felt before buying a whole roll. SCORE!

So, I went by and she taped it up. I should've taken a pic, but I'm a blogger failure so I didn't. Basically, it was a Y shape starting just below the knee as the base of the 'Y' and then having each arm-part of the Y be going up each side on my knee. It didn't really feel like anything. I couldn't tell there was tape on it, but it also didn't immediately make anything feel wonderfully different either (though the knee isn't hurting when I just walk, so it was hard to tell).

So, I got home and immediately rushed around the house like a madwoman to get changed, lace up the Mizuno's, and hit the pavement.

I got in 6 miles before calling it-- more due to the darkness than anything else. WHY does it have to get SOOOO dark so early?? Luckily, I leave SUPER close to a college campus, so I can run around there and have LOTS of lights, people walking around, campus police roaming, emergency call stations, etc. I felt 100% safe the entire time.

Anyway, we got off track-- the Kinesio tape. Back to the run and the tape. Unfortunately, I honestly didn't feel a big difference. It definitely didn't HURT, but I still had super sharp pangs of pain on the right knee throughout the run. Each burst of pain would last about 5 seconds and then fade. When there wasn't a burst, I felt NO pain. Weirdly, the last 1.5 miles I had NO bursts of pain. Weird. The first few miles, though, they were all too common and several brought me to a complete stop they hurt so badly. BOO.

Anyway, I belted out just over 6 miles at about a 9:45/mile pace. And, for the record-- I didn't stop the watch any of the times I came to a stop from the pain, nor did I stop it when I SIGNIFICANTLY slowed down the times I almost came to a stop, but kinda limped through it. I was MORE than happy with my pace knowing that and especially since it felt like I was going MUCH slower. I didn't look at my watch once the whole time and felt like I was going SO SLOW. I excepted more like 10:45 paces, so I was thrilled with the 9:45 pace, even if it wasn't that fast.

So, I don't think I'm going to buy a roll of the tape. I'll try it again (the Athletic Trainer gave me an extra strip) using a different placement for the tape to see if that changes anything. All in all though, I'd say it didn't work for me. I've heard it works for others, though. So, to me-- it's kinda like compression gear. Not a TON of research saying it really does anything... but, if it works for you-- GO FOR IT.

Anyway, post run I did manage to get some Jillian action in.

Look at me-- all doing what I said I was going to do! Miracles do happen every now and then! I did Jillian's 30-Day Shred, Level 2 with 8-pound hand weights. Let me just say, for the record, JILLIAN KICKS MY ASS. You'd think-- oh, you just ran 6 miles! A 20-minute workout video'll be a piece of cake. Yeah-- you'd be WRONG. Girl is HARD. CORE. I love it! I love that she kinda yells at you via video, but not really. I love that she gets on the girls who are in the video too. I just love Jillian. I'd volunteer to spend a month at the Biggest Loser ranch any day. Difference between me and the people who actually do get to go (besides a couple pounds)?? I think it'd be fun! Like, a lot of fun. So, Jillian-- if you ever read this and want to make a girls day, call me and invite me on over to the ranch. :)

Notice my BFF the foam roller there on the floor. Me and my blue friend have been spending TONS of quality time together the last 2 weeks. The Athletic Trainer has me on some serious foam rolling orders that I'm following to the letter. The Hubs has been jealous that I'm spending more time with my blue BFF than him. Poor guy.

Speaking of the Hubs... guess who worked late last night and when he finally did get home, came with the best surprise a girl could ask for?!?!?

 

FRO YO!!!! What a surprise! It was damn good, too! Now... just don't tell the Hubs I had actually gotten fro yo earlier that day at lunch with a friend.

Fro yo twice in the same day? SCORE. Thanks, Hubs!!!! :) :) :)

Today started out kinda rough. I had a really hard time sleeping last night, so I decided to skip the gym again this morning. BOO. I can't start doing this all the time. MUST. GET. UP. EARLY. AGAIN.

Anyway, luckily I did have time to get a workout in at lunch. I decided to try for a run with a goal of 4 miles.

 

WOOWOO! 6.25 miles FASTER than the 6 were last night! A 9:13/mile pace. With negaitve splits. Without looking at my watch. And, again-- it felt like I was going SO slow. LOVE when that happens. What do I love even better?? (Might want to sit down for this next part)

IT WAS 100% PAINFREE!!!

 

I have no idea how or why. But, I will TAKE it. I didn't change anything really about the run. Well, maybe that's not true... today I did wear my Brooks Ravennas and yesterday I wore my Mizuno Wave Precision 12's. Maybe that made a HUGE difference. I don't think so, because I've worn both of them in the past 2 weeks and have pain both of them... but, the Ravenna's definitely give more support than the Precisions, so it might have something to do with it. I also iced and foam rolled this morning, since we're headed out of town this weekend and I won't have time tonight. I'm thinking that might have the biggest impact. Interesting. I'll definitely remember this and if I run Sunday, I'll definitely be foam rolling and icing BEFORE and after the run and we'll see how that goes.

 

Anyway-- back to today's run-- I loved every second. The sun was shining. The weather was perfect. It was perfect. One of those runs that reminds me WHY I LOVE to run. Perfection. Absolute perfection.

 

I'm worried it might have been a fluke... I have no idea how today's run was painfree when just yesterday's wasn't. I have no idea. And, you know what-- I don't really care right now. All I know is it didn't hurt and that is wonderful! It was a glorious run. If the next run isn't painfree, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, I'll GLADLY take every single painfree step I can get.

 

Best start to the weekend ever. Ever.

 

Hope your weekend starts just as great as mine did!