New plan, new goals

Saturday I went to the gym to do an easy 7. Still recovering from a cold, I figured I would run 2 miles easy, drink, run another 2, etc etc. (Thanks for all of the well-wishes, BTW)

Here's how it went.

Run 2. I went slow.. even warmed up by walking semi-briskly and all that jazz. Drink. Walk a lap.

Start running again. At 2.8 miles, I felt something not right in my right leg, near the knee.. Hrms. It wasn't bad, thought a kink or something like that. I finished the mile (3 total now), had a drink, stretched.

I ran another .2 miles, and I felt it acting up, again.

I threw in the towel, and called it a day. I'm 90% certain it's ITBS in my right leg.

So, after a few hours of having my own pity party.. Seriously, I was whining to myself "I'm willing to put in the miles, why can't I just go run? This blows goats' ass." Blah blah blah, shut up.

I mentally sat my ass down and got to thinking. First was a injury history assessment.
- 5 years ago or so, before running, I had a scorching case of runner's knee. It must have been 1 too many chair races or something. I'd go to stand up after sitting, and I honestly could vomit from the pain. It was absolutely horrible. I'd kick my legs in the night and bolt straight upward. The doc told me to strengthen my quads, and it would be better. I was skeptical, but he was spot on.
- Fast forward to a little over a year ago. Cranked up my mileage inappropriately, ITBS of my left leg. Of course, it occurred a mile out from my 13.1 goal, so I ran (limped) through that. Took quite a while to heal, and I'm still worried about it.

Now, as far as those 2 items go. I no longer do quad work, except for biking every so often. I don't do my leg lifts every night, that's for damn sure. My ITBS, well, I roll my left leg 3-4 times a week. I never rolled my right. (Hey, it hurt!)

So. How did I get to where I am? I suspect my mileage has been ramped up a bit quickly.. but, I don't know it that's the sole problem. I probably need to do quad work. I also need to roll my right leg.

Finishing out the weekend, on Sunday, I did the elliptical for 30 minutes. I also rolled the living snot out of my right leg on Saturday and Sunday. That bastard is tender now. Hurt like a sonnofa, that's for sure.

So, my new goal. I had wanted to try to break 4 hours in my first marathon. I'm tossing that. My new goal is to make it to the start line. Prepared, of course. I want to run the entire race, but I'm going to (try) not to worry about the finishing time.

My new plan? I'm going to try to do my best to get to the start line. Lots of leg lifts, side leg lifts, foam rolling, and we'll see where I get. I have no idea if I'll be able to salvage the Pocono marathon plan, or not. I'm going to try, though.

Keep on rockin'