run this amazing day

It's day 2 of the running embargo here and spirits are high.  Last night I went to the gym and did every kind of stretching or strengthening exercise I know for my IT bands.  The one-legged squats on the Bosu are my favorite.  For some reason I feel like it just really gets into my problem spots.  Also, foam rolling after a massage is a giant suck sandwich, in case anyone is keeping track.  My IT bands today feel like hot lumpy potatoes.  Yum. This morning I went and did another round of IT-related balance stuff, and then parked it on a stationary bike again.  I'm not a fan of the bike, because I get so bored and my tushie falls asleep. I've basically decided to not run until at least Sunday.  I'm going to see if I can volunteer at the 5K so I won't be tempted to run it.  On Saturday, I might try a 1 mile jog just to see how things feel.  And Sunday morning: what will be, will be.  On the one hand, when I get to Sunday, I'll b...

I love my massage woman.  She kicks butt.  We yap the whole time, and it's only occasionally (okay, very often) interrupted by my "ouches" of pain.  I LOVE IT.  HURT ME HARDER!  She spent most of my hour working on the IT band, and it.was.amazing.  I could tell that there were two knotted spots, and they felt sore and wrung out by the time she was done.  Hopefully this is a good thing.  I'm going back in a week for another round.  She mentioned a 2-hour session (I have some prepaid massages stacked up) and when I commented that it would be dull to work on IT bands for 2 hours, reminded me that I do have other body parts.  Oh, right.  So next week's session will be 2 hours.  Probably an hour on IT bands and an hour on those "other" body parts. I'm going to call it a workout because I sweated for 60 minutes and I make the rules. 2 IT bands destroyed/1:00/avg. destruction 1/2-inch per minute x 4 billion times. Also, I've figu...

I spent a lot of yesterday feeling sorry for myself.  I've struggled so much with injury, especially the last two years, and I was so frustrated and upset to be dealing with it again. But you know what?  I know how to deal with this.  This doesn't have to end up in years off and a complete change in my mental state.   This is not the end of the world.   I'm going to try really hard to hang onto THIS mind-set.  Instead of all the negative thoughts that keep popping into my head. So I rolled and stretched and iced and strengthened.  This morning I'm going to get my ass kicked by my amazing massage person.  If I do run tomorrow, I'm going to do one mile.  And if I don't, that's okay.   I'm also trying to figure out where I went wrong.  I took off 10 days post-surgery.  My days back look like this (mileage): 5-2.5-off-2-8-off-3.  What kind of special crack was I smoking?  Sometimes I get overtaken by how much joy...

I got back in bed for about an hour with some Easter candy and a book and just generally felt sorry for myself. But now I need a plan. Tonight: go to gym.  Lift all the major leg muscles, do all the IT-related stretching and strengthening I know how to do, plus all the balance-related core work I know how to do (balance stuff helped my L IT, don't know why).  Foam roll probably 2 more times, plus a few rounds of icing. Tomorrow: I already have an appointment with my masochistic massage person, so I'm going to have her spend the whole hour on my two IT bands.  This has helped me a lot on the left side, hopefully she can work out the right.  I'm putting a lot of hope on this, because it's worked so well in the past.  Then, gym again, cross-train on the bike, balance and stretching/strengthening.  Ice myself happy. Wednesday: I had 5 on the schedule, but I think I'm going to knock that way down - maybe just do 1 or 2, or maybe don't do anything at ...