The view from up top and building back up!

This is the view from the trail that I ran on a few weeks ago.  It's simply gorgeous.  I've only done the lower part over again, I don't want to push it, but my family hiked up to the waterfall that's below it so I had to take some pictures while I was there.  Next Saturday is when I plan on running it again.  And I even found a crazy running partner who wants to do it with me!  Yeah!  

So to catch up the last couple of weeks:  
Saturday:  3 miles

Monday:  Stair stepper for 60 minutes Full body weights and stretching

Tuesday:  Run 2 miles Jumped rope for 15 minutes

Wednesday:  Ran 2-1/2 miles

Thursday:  Ran 3-1/2 miles

Saturday:  Ran 5 1/2 miles in the wind.  Yuck.  Still no pain. 

Monday:  Ran 3.25 miles hard, full body weights, stretching, hike in the afternoon

Tuesday:  Ran 3.25 miles easy with 3 small hills

Thursday:  Ran 3.25 miles full body weights

Friday:  Ballet, walked 2 miles

Saturday:  4.5 miles hard hills

Monday:  4 miles full body weights, stretching, hike in the evening

Tuesday:  35 minutes of jumping rope

Wednesday:  4.25 miles 

I'm actually really proud of myself that I've shown such great restraint.  And it's paid off.  I've only felt my IT bands a couple of times and it's only been the tightness.  I've really tried to build back up so that I don't stay injured for months.  The Wasatch Back is coming up fast and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  More to come on that later!

Blogging slacker

I guess I've been a posting slacker.  I really wanted to take some pictures of a run I did recently, but it snowed and so you couldn't see the trail as well.  I keep waiting for it to melt, but it keeps snowing.  So here's the report without the picture.  

From 2 and 1/2 weeks ago:

Monday:  2 miles.  Still felt a little spent from being sick and didn't want to over do.  Full body weights and stretching.

Tuesday:  2 miles.  More stretching.  I was feeling much better by this day and was rearing to go.  

Wednesday:  5 of the toughest miles EVER!  I was feeling really great physically this day.  However I was really stressing over some other things so I took it out during the run.  I went back to the new trail I had found near my house.  It's almost 2 miles to the trail: the perfect warm up distance.  Then the hills start.  I was a little worried about my piraformis acting up, but it did great!  The trail looks really fun from down below it.  There's a newly developed part that leads to a higher one.  It looked like it followed the mountain back to my house so I decided I'd brave it.  It was such good weather!  Once I started on the LONG climb, I started wondering what I was thinking.  It was not a developed trail, more like a deer trail.  I was jumping over sagebrush, avoiding rocks and one dead deer.  I climbed over a big barbed wire fence and then over another fence.  Once at the top, it was beautiful.  I ran over (and through) a little stream and could see the whole valley from up there.  I just couldn't find the trail down.  I could see my house, but couldn't see how to get down.  I ended up having to run clear across the mountain and double back to get down.  Really hard.  Really fun.

Thursday:  Did full body weights and stretching.

Friday:  11 miles, the furthest I've been since August.  Felt great.  No pain at all.  Great weather.

Saturday:  Ran to ballet class.  3 1/2 miles.  LOVE this class.  I don't know what I'm doing, but it's SO much fun.

Sunday:  woke up with excruciating IT band pain.  It only got worse as the day went on.  I was pretty much limping by the end of the day.

Monday:  saw the chiropractor.  Yep, it's those rocky hills that he thinks did it to me.  I was instructed to ice it, not run for a week, and stretch.

Tuesday:  full body weights, dance video, and stretching.

Wednesday:  more stretching.

Thursday:  feeling much better, dance video, full body weights, and more stretching.

Saturday:  Ran 3 1/2 miles.  More ballet, more stretching.  No pain while running, although it felt a little tight at the end of the day.

Tuesday:  Did the stair stepper for 60 minutes, stretching.

Wednesday:  Full body weights, stretching.

Friday:  More stair stepping, 60 minutes, stretching.  

I guess I'll start up again next week slowly and avoid those rocky hills for a while.  I know I say this a lot, but when will I ever learn?  My body and my mind have different ideas of what they can do.