Well my kickball injury is just about healed and I am feeling 100%! So tonight I will go out for a run. Going to try to keep it simple as I have hated this past week...unable to run due to injury. Don't want to push too far too fast and end up sittin on butt reading about you all out there getting the miles in

lucky13 - great job on that 4 miler, you speed demon you!

midwife - 3 miles in the rain, sadly that sounds really nice in theory hehe...we have been super hot here.

Anne - Miles in the bag, always admire runners who get their runs in the morning...I just cannot wake up that early/

yp - 30k, cannot even fathom that. I am always so impressed with your dedication though, you are my inspiration lol. Glad your knee is feeling better.

Nikki - YOU ARE RUNNING...you can focus on time or distance...I think you are doing fine.

Batmomm - It is always so much harder to get your momentum back when you stop running for a while. I am in the same boat.

Nikki -- , I agree with the others you are definitely a runner

No run for me today, I just gotta get back into the swing of things... I'lll run on the treadmill tomorrow for sure, I feel like such a slug when I don't run for a couple of days...

Thanks ladies...
I took a break tonight, I ran the last 3 nights and my knees and shins are painfully slowly killing me tonight, so I need to listen to my body huh, though my mind is telling me to go outside. I think tonight I will do some weight training and then hopefully tomorrow get back out there.

Well ladies, got a beautiful run in tonight. Not enough to aggrevate my recent injury but enough to push myself and calm those voices yelling "you should be out there running" I just hate missing it ya know? I feel like it is such a big part of my life now.

ilene - You deserve a break you super woman. I know how you feel, I feel sluggish when I dont run too.

Nikki - Gotta watch those shins, great job going 3 days in a row though. Take some time off if your body needs it. Nice to meet you btw.

Nikki -- When I first started 3 years ago or so, I only ran every 2nd or even 3rd day depending on my knees. I also take Glucosamine, DH and I swear by that stuff, my knees get sore right away if I don't take it for a few days.

I had some of that Glucosamine, but it got lost in the move when we transferred from Texas to California. Guess those movers needed it too j/k j/k
Nice to meet all of you!!

I finally managed the 18 mile run this morning. Well, it was a bit short, but roughly 18. And it wasn't all running, but I did at least cover the distance. I got to 8 miles and my hip started niggling again, but not as bad last week so I decided to run/walk the other 10 miles to start rebuilding my confidence a bit. Sadly shortly after that decision I tripped and went flying to the ground, so the last 10 miles ended up being more walk and less run than I'd intended. I bet I looked a sight with dirt all over my front and a grazed knee! I've decided I definitely need to use gels to go any further, even run walking I was seriously low on the energy by the end, I was OK to get home, but couldn't have gone any further. I had more energy drink than I usually do (I've just got myself a camelbak which means I can carry 2 litres on my back and drink through a hose rather than having to carry a bottle), but I think I need something more than that.

I've got myself some new running shoes today which have a bit more cushioning than the ones I currently wear, so I'm hoping that they will help the knee/hip pain too.

I'm hoping to do 8 - 10 miles tomorrow, the intention is to try to get just past the point where my hip usually starts to hurt and try to push through it for another mile to try to push that point back. I'll see how my legs feel when I get up though.

Way to hang in there Helen. Keep taking care of that hip. After Berlin you should definitely think seriously about more cross-training. That is one of the two main reasons I went from primarily running to triathlon. It really helps to keep the fitness level up and the injuries down.

Biking for me today, got in just over 2 hrs. Last time I trained hard with cycling my running got a lot better too--faster. I'm a little stiff since it has been about as long off the bike as it was off the run. My next run is scheduled for Tuesday. Looking forward to it.

Anne

I'm definitely planning on more cross training and possibly trying tri next year, I just need to sort out a bike! I'm quite into the idea of cycling into work, it's not far and I'm fed up of the bus or paying for parking!

Nikki, Welcome! And I agree with Ilene, I had to take a lot more rest days when I first started running. Even now, my legs/knees/feet prefer that I only run 3 days in a row before taking a rest day, although I can push it to 4 or 5 once in a while.

Helen, way to go on gutting out your 18 miler. It's really tough once you get into those sort of distances. 8-10 miles is a lot the day after a long run though. I find an easy 3-5 miles at most is about all my body wants to do.

Anne, wow, after 2 hours straight on a bike I don't think I'd be able to sit comfortably for a while.

I've been out with some sort of stomach flu for the past few days. I managed a 5km run Monday, then another difficult 5km on Wednesday, but that was it until this morning. I was feeling better last night, so I decided to try out a shortish run this morning to see if my body was up for tomorrow's long run. 8km at marathon pace went fine, so 32km early tomorrow it is. My last long run before the marathon. 3 weeks to go and I'm already getting nervous and anxious.

My schedule does tend to back up two long runs over the weekend, the main reason I switched the long run to Saturday was because sometimes doing 8 miles on Saturday takes it out of me for the really long one on Sunday, so I wanted to get the really important one out of the way and then see how much energy I have left for tomorrow. I'll see how it goes, and just do loops of the lake in the local park so if I run out of steam I'm not miles away from home.

Helen, I completely understand the reason for the back to back longer runs and I actually started marathon training with a schedule like that, but ended up deciding that it was too tiring for me and also too disrupting to my family life (dh needing to get up with the kids both days on the weekend). But, I'm sure you'll be better prepared for all the work. I'm sure today's run will feel more like the last 8-10 miles of the marathon than the first for you!

I'm DONE my last 32km run before the marathon. Well, it was actually 32.2 (and those .2k certainly count when they come at the end of 32k). It was nicely cool, slight breeze, and lots of sun this morning. I challenged myself with a hillier route than I've done for my other 32k runs. It was tough and I did end up slowing down for the last 5km. But only 2 stops--one for a washroom break and one to take a gel and wait for someone else to finish with the water fountain before I could refill. Now I get to taper, run a 10k race next weekend, and panic about how I'm going to finish a full 42.2km in 3 weeks time. Taper madness here I come.

I didn't do the back to back long runs in the end. My hip was sore all night and I was seriously considering not running at all. I was seriously considering doing any exercise, but I managed to persuade myself to go to the gym to at least go on the bike for a while and do some weights, and ended up doing 20 minutes on the bike as well as a 30 minute run on the treadmill, which I was really pleased with because there was no pain at all. maybe the new shoes and the more cushioned surface helped, I don't know, but I didn't want to push it any further than that. I will try something longer during the week though.

I am so totally impressed with you girls-YP1 and Onlyme!! I went out yesterday to run in my neighborhood, something I never do. It's too hot, too hilly and I'm just too used to running on the treadmill. Anyway I've got to get used to outside b/c I've got a series of 5k, 8k, 10k all coming in the next couple months. So I went out and ran and ran and ran-for the life of me I have no idea how to pace myself outside. Finally I was done and went to drive what I ha just run to see how far I went...

1.4 stinking miles... Thank goodness my 10k training program starts on Saturday, I def need some help.

WTF Helen and Only me (sorry don't know your name), those are great long distances to be running, I would love to be able to run that far one day. Keep watch on that hip though, you don't want to aggervate it so much that it is still aggervating you when you are older.

Batmom, in TX I was using at the gym and it was so much easier because there was the distance and times right in front of you and I swear there was some padding in the thread, so when I moved here and tried to go outside in the neighborhood it felt so weird, the ground is hard, and if I try to run on the grass it is so uneven I think I'm going to twist my ankle. I bought a pedometer to help me with my distances, only 10$ or so at walmart, and it has been a life saver (Well not really) to me, I'm obsessed with looking at it and my stopwatch, I need to know how far I ran, how much longer in distance and time there is, etc. But really I would suggest you get one, so you can measure your distance if that is what you are looking for. And 1.4 Miles is a great start to start off with!!

Last night I got back out there and ran 1 mile, stopped for about 2 mins to do a better stretch and then ran for 2.5 more miles with a total of 3.50, I was really proud of myself, I felt like I could run more, but it was already 8:15 and dark and well I probably couldn't have ran that much more, it was the runners high talking to me. Well today my inner thighs hurt, thank goodness, my shins are okay and well my knee, its kinda aggervated, but not as bad, I'll do a lot of RICE today.
my husband has Night duty all week 4pm-12A so I dont know what times I'll be running next week, maybe 2pm if its not too hot, I hate morning runs, so I don't know.
Alright off to finish watching backyardagins with my DD..

Have a good sunday