Weekly Review: Injury, forced cross training, & Run for Your Life 5k

Ousel Falls on Monday

Happy almost Halloween! I'm joining Hoho Runs and MissSippiPiddlin's Weekly Wrap linkup. Be sure to visit the hosts if you haven't already! 

October 23 – October 29
Monday: 7.8 miles (hike, some running)
Tuesday: 1.5 mi (walk)
Wednesday: 3 mi (run) + 1 mi (walk)
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday: 1 hour circuit workout + stretching
Sunday: Run for Your Life 5k

Total (combo) miles: 16.4 mi
Total elevation: 2,185 ft

Injury update 

I mentioned last week that I had some swelling on the back of my knee. I had an informal chat with a PT and she said it isn't a Baker's cyst or anything spooky. The swelling is at my knee/hamstring connection and is potentially hamstring tendonitis. Prescription: RICE. She suggested some stretches and told me not to run far. If it doesn't get better by midweek I'm going to visit her office.

Looking downstream from Ousel Falls

Alex took off Monday, so I followed suit (yay work from home) and we went to Big Sky for a 2 mile hike at Ousel Falls. It was a bit icy in one section, but otherwise it's a nice, developed trail with a lovely waterfall (at top). Afterward we went to a brewery for samples, then another for lunch.

Lava Lake - the sun was very bright if you can't tell. ;)

On our way back to Bozeman we decided to stop at Lava Lake. I've hike it once before, but Alex hadn't. We had a time crunch: Alex had to be home for a meeting at 6pm. It was 2 something and we had almost 6 miles to go and a 40 minute drive home. We kept a pretty quick pace on the rocky climb up (~1,600ft). We took some photos at the lake, turned around and ran the flat parts down. We made it home with time to spare. Not bad.

On Tuesday my knees were still bothering me (I wore knee supports most of last week), so I skipped a run and we took Tobias out on a 1.5 mile walk. He had a blast.

Fields burning in the distance (controlled burn)

The weather was so lovely on Wednesday I couldn't resist a run, so I went out after work for 3 miles. My legs hurt after, but it felt so good to be running. AHHHH. Torture! We did another dog walk near sunset, so I got to try out reflective gear.

Thursday was more rest, ice, and compression to make up for Wednesday's run.... plus a dinner out with a beer tasting. Friday was another day off to rest up for Saturday and Sunday.

What a turnout!

On Saturday we went to Alex's gym (soon to be mine) for a circuit style workout. One of my Oiselle teammates was diagnosed with breast cancer – mere months after her husband was diagnosed with MS – and the workout was a fundraiser to benefit her family. There were at least 100 people and we were divided into 4 groups and rotated between stations for an hour. We did kettleball swings, planks with dumbbell rows, box jumps, burpees, squats, lunges, crawls, you name it... It was tough. I barely made it through the last 9 minute rotation, but 10 minutes after we were finished I was talking to Megan (teammate) about joining the TRIBE.

Dino onesies from Target were a little too warm for running.

Alex and I were sore after, but it was nothing compared to the soreness on Sunday. We had the Run for Your Life 5k Sunday morning. Before my "injury" I intended to run it fast, but that went out the window. Add in Saturday's workout and my new goal was to run as much as possible.

Stuck in "traffic" with Megan and her unicorn friend, Lindsay

Alex ended up sticking with me and two others. We chatted our way to a 10:30 pace and finished 228 and 229 of 653 participants. I forgot my Garmin, but I'm sure we started slow and got faster. The course was narrow so there was a bottleneck during the first mile, but I didn't mind. It was a fun race with scary characters along the route (example: a scary witch standing in the middle of the trail, guy with a chainsaw in the woods, and a bunch of Disney villains in the "Enchanted Forest"). I met some Oiselle teammates before, we got donuts at the finish, and it was all for a good cause (suicide prevention). I'd definitely run the race again.

Some Oiselle teammates

After the race, Alex and I hobbled around town for brunch and errands, then sat on our butts to watch football, Hell or High Water (excellent movie), and the World Series. I could barely stand up from the couch I was so sore. Heck, I'm still super sore.

Summary
Saturday's workout was a killer and unfortunately I can't tell if my original knee pain is gone because everything hurts. On the bright side: my minor injury has led me to alternative workouts and stretching... two things I avoid as much as possible. If I can somehow keep up my strength and stretching I think I can kick this pain and finally get back to running at my full potential. What a weird two months!

Do you go to group workout classes?
Ever had tendonitis?