Program Week 4

So what a crazy and odd week! Monday was a holiday, work was so busy and stressful, Zach came into town Wed night (but because of work couldn't see him until Fri). Was then able to spend the weekend relaxing from the busy work week and enjoying time with Zach. So what about the running....??? Ended last week with my knee really bothering me again and decided to give it about 4 days to rest. Still was really bothering me as of Sunday but Tuesday decided to run even though I could still feel a little tenderness. Decided to stick with where I left off and not push additional time just to be safe so I did 6min x4 and 2 min...with 1min walk in between. Knee felt good and no issues the next day. So far so good! Thurs planned to up it 1 min per interval...but still always thinking about what was going to push my knee over the edge again this week.... First interval didn't feel too bad was able to do 7 min. Second interval...didn't feel as good so I lasted about 5:30...then on the next interval something happened and I was in a complete rhythm and felt like I could go forever....so Shelley will probably kill me but instead of sticking with my intervals I decided to keep going and see what I could do, fully understanding I may really regret this. Now don't expect a miracle here but I ended up comfortably running a 13 min interval. I was really happy!!! It felt so good!! I think I did another 2 min interval...but again I was expecting the worst from my knee the next day. Next day...not a problem. What?? Maybe it will take a day for the pain to kick in?? Friday came and my stressful week was coming to an end...just looking forward to having fun with Zach and not doing anything outside that. Planned to get up Sat morning and run but was just so exhausted from the late nights during the week working that I slept in. Zach and mom stayed the night Sat night and Sunday morning got up before everyone and went for a run. Decided to see where I could land between the 7 min and 13 min and ended up doing 11 min x2 and 5 min at the end. Felt really good...don't get me wrong...it's still tough but it's bearable tough! First morning run...went a bit later than I'd hoped...around 8 and honestly it felt much hotter than the evening runs...the sun beating down on you...even though the temp was lower. Strange how for Shelley and I it's opposites...I do have to admit maybe if it had been closer to 6 am that may have been another story. So not a typical or ideal week but I think I made a ton of progress that I wasn't at all expecting!!! Back on plan now and we'll see if I can stay the course vs. this twisted one I seem to have been on the past couple weeks. :)

I don't know what to think about the knee...ok I take that back, I do have some thoughts...whether any of them are valid who knows...
1) Muscles are getting stronger and it's helping to take some of the strain
2) I don't think I did any real damage to the knee as I was fearing (considering my prior MCL tear) but I think it's just bruising that I'm feeling and it seems to be working to just give it a few days to really rest and then restart.

Pretty simplistic thinking but right now something is working....so I'm going to go with it. I'm continually shocked by where I'm at just 4 weeks in....but also feel completely overwhelmed when I think about the end goal. Can't think of that and just need to keep on, keepin on... :)