Back At It

Ran around exploring the new hood.  I do like that the area is so open and I don't have to deal with very many traffic lights.  Ankle seems to be getting stronger with every run.  IT Band still buggin me but I think I'll continue to run through it til it gets better; unless it gets worse.  Currently foam rolling about 6 times a day and starting a cycle of ibuprofen.  Hoping for the best.

The goal was an hour and I accomplished that at the JRP.  IT Band didn't bug too much on the run, but when I stopped to walk around and cool off before jumping into my car it started screaming at me.  I guess I'm taking tomorrow off to make sure I don't aggravate it too much.

Didn't get out til late today but I wasn't going to miss my run.  All I wanted was a half hour to see how things are feeling before I do a long-ish run on Saturday.  Things turned out pretty good, just a little knee pain.  My last mile was at 6:30 pace which is the fastest I've been able to go in several months, so that was fun. 

Looking for at least 14 on Saturday so I can round out the week with 30, which was my goal coming into this week.  I won't be afraid to shut it down early though if things go south.

Didn't make my goal of 14 for the day.  Things felt really good until about 3 miles in then my knee just progressively got worse, and finally came to the point where I knew I had to shut 'er down.  Frustrating to say the least.

Went to the gym this morning and all the eliptical machines were taken, and not a single treadmill was being used.  Uh, when does that ever happen???  So I hit the treadmill and did a half hour of intervals.  Made sure to keep it short and sweet so as to not aggravate the knee.  It didn't bother me one bit today but it's definitely still tight.  Band is still snapping over my knee occasionally when I walk.  Also did a circuit of weights.

Pathetic run at the JRP.  Knee seems fine til about mile 3 then all hell breaks loose.  Strength training and eliptical only until this clears up.  Zion's looks unlikely and Squaw Peak is now in jeopardy too.

Mill B North trail.  Told myself I was just going for a hike to see where the snow line is at.  Of course, I dressed for a run and took a handheld so I'm sure you can guess how "hiking" went.  Got about two miles up before I hit major snow.  No other foot steps much past where the snow started, so I just went off memory of the trail.  Turns out my memory is pretty good since I found the trail 3 times in spots where the snow was melted down.  

My legs started getting shredded from post-holing in the crunchy snow and I had already taken the only gel I had, so I decided I'd turn around once my watch said 2500' of vert.  I forgot how tiring it is working through snow.  I eventually hit my mark and turned around.  The run down in the snow was painful on the shins since I was post-holing with every step, at times almost up to my waist.  I'm not gonna lie though, it was an absolute blast!

I bombed the descent pretty hard, but with about a mile to go I started feeling the knee flaring up a bit so I took it easy.  However, I was able to run the entire 3 miles down so that's encouraging.  Lots of hikers out and I got plenty of stunned looks.  The combination of shorty-shorts, pasty white legs, and the huge smile on my face probably scared some people.

At the advice of Bryce, I scheduled an ART session for Monday.  Crossing my fingers that I can get this ITBS under control.