Marathon Training: Week 11

Total kilometers run: 434.2km

This Week: 15km

Week 11's runs:
Tuesday: Missed
Thursday: 5km easy (6:00 min/km avg pace)- on treadmill
Saturday: 5km easy (5:36 min/km avg pace)
Sunday: 5km easy (6:04 min/km avg pace)

Look at those piddly numbers up there! Ugh, it is so frustrating to be injured!! And on Thursday I must admit I didn't get a full 5km in, but only because my Chinese food came early and Chinese food will always trump the treadmill (stupid freezing rain forced me indoors). I think it was like 4.5, so close enough.

Thankfully, though, the rest and the twice daily stretches and exercises the physiotherapist gave me seem to be working. I went to my follow-up appointment on Monday and exercises that previously hurt my knee now didn't bother me at all! Yay! So she gave me clearance to run a bit further on my runs now, but I am not allowed to do really long distances yet. However, she suggested I do a bit of my long run on Sunday and then switch to the bike so I can keep up my cardio training while resting my knee. I am also supposed to shorten my strides (which I thought were pretty short to begin with), which lessens the work on the knee. So yay for a plan! 

She also worked out my IT band for a long time (think of it like a single leg massage...that hurts you) and I go back on Thursday for another session. Thankfully she has not ruled my marathon out yet and seems to be very positive in getting me there. It is just over a month away so obviously I am getting nervous since I only will have 3 solid weeks of training left (you generally don't train hard the last two weeks in order to rest the legs for the race). 

As for exercises, I am currently doing a quad stretch, a hip flexor stretch, the clamshell exercise to strengthen my glutes (which is way harder than it looks when your form is correct!!), and now I am adding in foam rolling to work on the IT band. I do the stretches 30 seconds each leg x3, in both the mornings and evenings. I do the clamshell every evening for 3 times per side with 20 reps each. And now I do the foam rolling every evening and after running on both the IT band and my quads. It actually takes a lot of time! But I am being very religious with it because I need to get better!!