*SF2HM = San Francisco 2nd Half Marathon
Halfway through this week, I realized that the 1st blogaversary of Running Tangents came and went without me even noticing. D’OH! When I think back to that first blog post from April 13, 2012, I would’ve never predicted how much support and encouragement I’d get from y’all — through both public (blog comments & Twitter) and private (email, text messages, and in person) channels. So thanks for reading and for your feedback! Special thanks to the Gypsy Runner for his proofreading skills, saving me from the humiliation of publishing posts with spelling and grammar mistakes (the horror!).
To commemorate this 1st blogavesary, here are some random stats from the past year:
- Total views: 17,052
- Most popular post (all-time): Gear Review: Garmin 210
- Strangest search term referrals: “riding down the street with water with the windows down”, “i feel pre race anxiety all nighg [sic] long”, “my boyfriend wants to pimp me out”, “tired legs for three months cannot run or spin”
OK, without further ado, here’s what happened this week, training-wise:
Mon: Rest.
Tues: Easy run around the Lake. Nothing of note except that I saw a homeless lady sans pants, which I only realized upon second glance. I originally thought she was wearing beige-colored leggings. Sadly, I was mistaken.
Stats: 5.7 miles @ 10:18/mile + 30 min stretching/rolling.
Wed: 45 min bike commute to/from work + 60 min core, PT exercises, stretching, rolling. I’d like to make the bike commute a weekly thing, except I’ll definitely need a seat with more cushion for my bony butt!
Thurs: I decided to “woman-up” and do the dreaded mile repeat workout. The semi-arbitrary goal was to run 3 x 1 mile @ 5K pace (8:27) + 0.5 mile jog/rest, with 1 mile warm-up and 1 mile cool-down. Actual splits: 8:22, 8:43 (headwind – boo), 8:43.
Even though I didn’t hit my target paces, I was still happy with this workout because:
- as I stated, the pace was semi-arbitrary. The real goal was to run as hard as I could, which I did. I’ve read that effort matters as much as (if not more than) actual pace, so I’m sticking to that.
- it is a significant improvement from the last time I ran the same workout, when my splits were 8:47, 8:51, 8:47.
- at least I did it. It’s easy to talk myself out of doing tough workouts, so I’m glad I didn’t wimp out.
Stats: 6.2 miles @ 9:45/mile + 30 min stretching/rolling.
Fri: Now that I’ve established a firm running base, I decided to add another day of easy running. This was a gentle recovery run.
Stats: 3.8 miles @ 10:43/mile + 15 min stretching/rolling.
Sat: We went rock climbing for a friend’s birthday, which was really fun (I climbed my first V1!)… until I jumped down from the top of the bouldering wall and landed weird on my right ankle. It’s been bugging me ever since — a very acute pain whenever I bend my ankle. Luckily, it’s not very swollen, nor is it tender. I was able to walk/hobble around on it yesterday and today, which suggests that it’s not broken or a super serious sprain. However, I’m bummed that I had to cancel my long run this weekend, and might also have to sit out of next week’s 10K. Boo hoo.
I’m currently wearing a brace to help with compression and limit range of motion. I’ll continue to RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). Any other ideas? I’m not sure about going to the doctor, as I have crappy insurance and don’t feel like paying $$$ just to find out that nothing is broken and all I need to do is rest it. Has anyone out there suffered a similar injury?
Stats: 90 min rock climbing
Sun: Unplanned rest. 😦
Well, at least I still have that ankle brace from my surgery 5 years ago… (Side note: my toes are really weird looking!)
Gratuitous photo of my handsome cat, Sasha.
WEEKLY TOTAL: 15.7 miles + ~4.5 hours climbing, biking, PT/stretching + 4 days of planks
How I felt about it: Everything was going well up until Saturday. Looks like I’ll be resting for the next few days. B.
Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.
Running Tangents 
“My boyfriend wants to pimp me out”??? Really? Oh people kill me. As for the ankle, I think you’re taking the right approach. I’d wait at least a week to go to the doctor, if the pain doesn’t lessen or cease by then it may be worth forking over the money.
Thanks for the feedback! My ankle is already 10x better since yesterday, and my co-worker, who is a RN, told me that I’ll probably be fine by the end of this week. Hooray!
Happy Bloggeversary! And sorry about your ankle! Last year during a very small 10-K, I tripped on a “miniature” alcohol bottle and twisted my ankle pretty badly. I did all of the things you are doing, and it healed after a few days, but the ligaments are loose now, and that ankle is more prone to injury. And pants…who needs them?
Haha, who needs pants, indeed. Glad to know that you recovered OK from your ankle injury. My self-diagnosis is that I have an anterior impingement — which is more of a strain than a sprain. Hopefully this means no loose ligaments. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Happy 1-year! It seems like its been longer but at the same time it seems like time has flown by…odd. Heal up, I am on the mend too, it sucks!
Oh no! What’s going on with you? Hope it’s nothing serious.
Not sure really. After finishing my last leg for RAGNAR I commented that I felt great physically and was happy it was over…then about an hour later when we stopped to get out of the car my knee really hurt. It feels like a strain/overuse injury since I didnt feel anything happen during my actual runs. The knee just didnt feel stable last week but its been getting better the past few days. I have done Yoga on it and ran 3 miles but I am trying to be smart and let it heal, its just hard to look back at my week and see 3 miles total! I am sure you understand, sometimes we just have to be smart for the bigger picture!
I know *exactly* what you mean. Well, it sounds like you’re doing all the right things, so I hope your knee keeps getting stronger. Let me know if you need any knee rehap exercises — I know all of them (from when I tore my ACL 12 years ago)!
You know where all of this information would be useful? A RACE RECAP. Then I wouldn’t have to stalk on Jen’s blog just to see how your races are going. Hi, Jen!
LOL. Amy has a point, Dominick! I’m waiting for that race recap too.
Happy Blogaversary…and your cat is VERY cute! But when did the gypsy runner want to pimp you out??? This must have been before I started reading!
hahahaha! No comment… 😉