movement, part two

The last two weeks -- really, the past week -- have shown me that I actually have far more mental stamina than I thought.  I've run when I didn't think I had the energy, kept running when everything was telling me to stop except for my heart, and biked farther than I ever have before and actually mostly enjoyed it.

Also, I don't want to jinx it, but I think I've done the impossible and established a pattern of exercising that my body craves. Despite being tired after a long bus ride today, I found myself one minute lying flat on the bed, fan spinning, in total relaxation - and the next, getting dressed to complete run 4A.

As I did before, I kept a record of the last few weeks of working out.  I've been suffering from some decently painful knee problems these weeks, and after some research have decided that either my gate is totally off and I don't have the right shoes to correct it - totally possible but very little I can do about it here in Cambodia - and/or my hamstrings are not quite strong enough to keep my kneecaps adjusting and moving the way they should as I run.  I spent a good amount of time resting my knees, and then stretching my knees pre- and post- run and that seems to be helping, but I would love ANY suggestions to aid in the erasure of knee pain post-running.  Much appreciated, in advance!

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Day 13- Workout 2C
Today was painful. Something crazy has happened and my knees are killing me.  Every single step that I took reverberated throughout my legs, into my kneecaps.  I ran in Phnom Penh today, varying between the streets and a park area. I did eight circuits of 90 sec runs and 2 min walks, but I also found myself being able to run a bit longer and further than the plan had assigned.  I ended up running past the 90 seconds five out of the eight rounds, including a nice four minute leg last!  I was staying in a hotel by myself, and it was glorious to come back to air conditioning to cool down.

Day 16- Workout 3A
After resting my knee for the last two days, I tackled the first run of Week 3 after Chris and I returned home from our respective mini-vacations.  As I checked out the schedule for this week's run, I noticed that I accidentally misread last week's- I was following a repeat 8 times plan, when in reality it is supposed to be me running for a total of 20 minutes.  I had accidentally re-wrote "repeat 8x" because that was the repetitions for Week 1 but I didn't take into account that I was adding a full minute to each leg. I should have only been repeating the leg six times, instead of 8, to hit the 20-ish minute mark goal!  Woops!

Today, my knees hurt a bit on the first running lap, but I think the Tylenol and extra stretching/loosening I did may have helped because they felt less tight.  The plan was a 90 second run, 90 second walk, 3 minute run, 3 minute walk, repeated twice ( I think?!).  I actually switched it up a bit because I noticed that my stamina has actually increased to a point where, on the first leg of running, I accidentally ran for 2 minutes without noticing or checking my stopwatch.  In that moment, I decided I would use the last leg of running- the second 3 minute one- to run all the way to where I was meeting a fellow Volunteer.  I ended up running the last leg for 6 and a half a minutes, and I honestly think I could have run even a bit more.  I ended up not getting the last 3 minute walk in, but after a chat, I did walk home, which definitely got the last bit in.

So today was:
2 minute run
90 second walk
3 minute run
3 minute walk
2 minute run
90 second walk
6.5 minute run

Day 19
I had an unexpected haitus from my runs the past few days, as I decided to bike to a nearby town south of our site - Kampot - with some friends and Chris.   I was worried about my knees being able to bike nearly 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) and so held off on putting them through too much stress until the bike ride today.  Thankfully too, because my legs and most especially my knees were screaming post bike ride.  It was a difficult but entirely fantastic ride.  About halfway through, after battling the headwind and traversing some small but long upward climbs (Cambodia is mostly flat, so the hills were small but with the wind my thighs were feeling them!), my legs were burning and I could barely push them forward to keep pace with my traveling companions.  Chris, leading the bikers, noticed I was hurting and stopped with me, just in time.  He helped me immensely through the difficulties and I couldn't be more grateful- thank you Topher!  With a new routine of taking a break every forty minutes, the second half of the trip felt great, and passed quickly.

I'm feeling quite accomplished and can't wait to indulge in some fantastic, calorie-laden food.

Day 22
After the best of intentions to run at least one of the two days while we were in Kampot, I decided instead to take a break and let my knees rest to be ready for our bike ride back today.  We all made the decision to bike just half of the way back, and hope on some cheap transport for the first 40k or so.  The ride back was SO EASY compared to the way down!  I felt like I could've ridden forever.  The wind at our back, a nice steady pace, most of the hill-ish things behind us, and I was in bike riding heaven.  Add to it that I ate the most delicious, fresh brownie for breakfast, and it was a fantastic day. 

Day 25- Workout 4A
I finally ran today after more than a week long hiatus.  It wasn't the best run, but I pushed through my head telling me to stop.  I think I'm going to need to find a new running location after another week or so, as I find myself pacing the laps around the park where I run, which can be a bit daunting at times.  The plan for this week- week 4- is to run 3 minutes, walk half that, run 5 minutes, walk half that, and repeat twice.  I had that voice in my head telling me to walk, to stop, the entire second half of the workout, and yet I didn't listen to it.   After icing my knees and stretching really well, I'm hoping to run the last two runs for this week tomorrow- Friday- and Saturday, so that I can start fresh with Week 5 runs come Sunday.

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