Jeanine - welcome to the group.  Congratulations on finishing the C25K program.  For HM training programs, check out Hal Higdon novice program or Jell Galloway's walk/run program.  I tried both of them and worked well for me.  Keep us updated.

Britta - please do not over exert yourself.  Remember you are still in the rehab/recovery phase.  I think you are barely a month out of your injury.  Avoid re-injuring yourself.  Big Sur HM is 7 months, that is a lot of time to build your endurance and speed.

Mary - how is you knee?  With just three weeks away from our HM, hope you are fully healed from the knee discomfort.  Did you enjoy your early morning run?  Good luck on your next 2 races this April.

Andy - thanks again for the cycling advice.  I read Tri-newbies sprint training program for beginners.  It is a 10-week schedule but I will extend to 15 weeks if need be.  Is it okay to train for another HM in late September or early December while training for the sprint triathlon?  I have no specific Tri events yet. Is this advisable or just wishful thinking or just inviting injuries to happen? 

I had an 11-mile long run this Easter morning.  I practiced my nutrition intake with clif bar, energy gel, bloks, Gatorade, and water.  I had a banana before my run.  No cramps, no stomach issues.  I consumed a half of the clif bar, 3 pcs of clif bloks, one whole packet of energy gel, a total of 32 ounces of Gatorade, and an 8-ounce water during my  run.  It was basically a flat course with gradual inclines.  No steep hills.  I iced my knees and propped my legs as soon as I got home.  Surprisingly, I had energy to spare to go grocery shopping and do some house chores.  Monday was rest day.  Tuesday, did a 3-mile run.  Wednesday was a 5-mile pace run.  This Sunday will be my last long run 12-miler and will start my 3-week taper thereafter.  So excited for my second HM on May 6.  After that, my new road bike is calling my name.  That's my gift to myself, well deserved.

Run safe and run fierce.

Penny, you are so right! :-) I will not over exert myself... honestly I feel like an elephant which is running and huffing and puffing :-) So far those two mile runs are rather on the tough side, I think the breathing is the hardest part.. at least last time my legs didn't feel so weak anymore and I overall felt better. And I am improving a bit - the last run was 8 seconds faster than the one before, haha ;-))) My pace right now is 11:10, that's okay-ish for me. I will be very patient and honestly at this point I am still so much out of shape that I don't think I could push myself to much more. 7 months hopefully is enough to build my endurance up again. I could have waited with registering for the HM, but I needed some kind of motivation and on top of that is was an early bird special. :-) congrats on your 11 mile run, that's amazing and I am truly happy for you! Good luck for those last weeks before your race!!

Debra, PT really seems to help a lot and I religiously do my exercises :-) So far I am building up my mileage very slowly, but this is okay. Like I said before, I am still struggling with the two miles - afterwards I am as sweaty and exhausted as I usually was after my really long runs. On the positive side though yesterday the hip discomfort while running was less than usual and my overall feeling during the run was better. Legs felt a bit stronger too. So there is some improvement and I know the key is to be patient with myself, to give myself all the time I need and to stay positive. Regarding your glute... as you know I never got my mileage as high as yours is and therefor have not the experience of such a long run, but just reading your post, I am thinking maybe try to give yourself a little bit of rest. You are already running 12 and 13 miles, so you know that you will be able to run the distance of the half marathon. Like I said I have no experience in that matter at all so far... good luck for your appointment and let us know what they recommend!  Good luck to you, too!

Debra, hate to say it but your symptoms sound identical to mine, except mine seem more bothersome. Mine also bothers me in my sleep, particularly my knee. Think I have glut and calf muscle strain from hills in conjunction with knee inflamation from too much work all in the same general region, same leg, so it seemed like one injury but probably is two. Hope your's doesn't get worse. I've babied mine this week again and it gets better with PT. They would tell you it doesn't help that I'm still running but have cut back to one short run, one gym bike session, two PT sessions and one attempt at a long run per week. Don't know what I'll do this weekend though, the weather couldn't be better, 70, a slight wind and clear. It's killing me that I'm on this computer, not to mention how much sitting still hurts.

Think you might all enjoy this article. Laughed because I didn't want to cry. Seems so simple in words.

http://gawker.com/5900684/ lets-talk-about-pain?utm_campai gn=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Enjoy! Avoid the bad pain.

Hi everybody - just wanted to share my joy with you! Yesterday was the first time since my injury and since I started running again that I actually felt like a runner again!!!! :-))) I ran my usual 2.1 mile run and I noticed not only that the discomfort was slightly less (also during the day I was less in pain than usual esp. after sitting) but also that all of a sudden my running style felt better and smoother. And although I had to run against the wind for a big part of my run I was one minute faster than on my last run (or ever before on this post-injury 2 mile run)... I had a pace of 10min46sec... I was happy!! So I guess the endurance is finally coming back :-) And yes, I will be patient and not overdo things. This HM this year means a lot to me and is my big goal for 2012, so I really will be careful and reasonable... because I really, really want to run this HM ;-)

Mary Kay, I will remember the 10% rule! :-)

Happy and successful runs to everybody!

Britta - amazing news! You are definitely a runner with or without injury.  I guess patience is the key for your successful recovery.  Stay positive your endurance will return and you will be runny your  5k and 10k races soon.

Mary Kay - how are you feeling?  I understand your situation being so near the race and having this discomfort.  Be compliant with your PT sessions.  Maybe you can try hot / cold packs for the painful areas. 

Debra - I'm with you, our mid century bones really need recovery days.  I take 2 rest days per week if possible. I alternate swimming, resistance training, and cycling for cross training.

Len - was my fueling way too much?  I tried GU chomps and energy gel with water and Powerade in the past long run for my first HM.  With that combination, I felt bloated.  It felt like fluids were just sloshing inside my stomach. I just wanted to burp the whole time.  The gel's consistency was too thick and difficult to swallow.  That's why I switched to clif bars, bloks, and gel.  I just prefer the idea that I was eating a brownie or cookie with the different flavors of the clif bars.  May be we could trade, I will exchange my stomach for your running legs. 

Got to do my 12-miler.  Had a banana before the run.  I experimented with my fueling.  I cut it down to one whole packet of the clif bloks.  Fluids were an 8-ounce water and  24-ounce Gatorade.  It worked well during the run but was way too tired to do anything else after the run.  Just propped my legs and did nothing else. No laundry, no chores. 

Run safe and run fierce.

Mary, with 2 weeks to go the only thing you can work on now is some aerobic conditioning.  All your endurance work is done so don't worry about trying to go long.  My HM is Sunday and I haven't gone over 5 miles recently for any of my runs.  It's far more important that your knee heals up but by all means don't feel like you need to do long runs over 7 or 8 miles this close to the event.  I'm also trying to get over some allergy issues and it's felt like I was running with a cold that destroyed my aerobic capacity.  I'm improving now that we've had some rain to settle everything but come Sunday I'm just going to do the run and enjoy it no matter how I end up doing, but that's how I handle every race. 

Britta, as determined as you are that HM is in the bag already.  I have no doubt you'll be ready by the time it starts.

Penny, if you can already run a HM then a sprint tri will be easy.  Ignore the run training in the schedule and just do some maintenance runs to keep your endurance while you practice your swim and bike.  A 12 mile run will wear you down, I'm not usually very energetic for the rest of the day either after one of those. 

Every time I do a new course it's kind of like my first race.  My first race was a 62 mile bike ride (100 km or a metric century) and it took me 5.5 hours but the experience was great and I've never stopped doing events since then.  For a 5k just relax and enjoy the race, at least you're starting off with something a little more manageable!  Let us know how it goes.

Andy

No spam - real runner getting ready for an upcoming 5K run.  Great to be a part of the active community.  Good luck to everyone running this weekend.