Sunday, May 3, 2009

little by little


What's up everyone? The semester is coming to a close now and all my big projects and papers are due... hence the reason I have not spent any time "blogging." But I figured I should take the time tonight to give a little update on my crazy life.

I raced a 5K two weeks ago with my one of my best friends from high school, Danielle. It was her first race ever so I figured I should do it with her! I was up to running 29 minutes so I thought... no problem. Well, of course it was a problem... for a couple reasons. One: It was rainy and cold and just yucky that morning. Not the best weather to run it when you have an injury. Hello stiffness! Two: Not very many people showed up because of the weather, therefore when the race started I found myself in second place! Now, what do you think went through my head? Of course nothing that should have... like, "hold an easy pace, you dont want to get hurt" oh no, it was more like, "hell yeah I can win this thing!" haha, so of course what did I do... I picked up the pace and passed the girl in first and won the damn thing! Well, it probably wasn't the smartest idea, because after that my leg started hurting again... wtf! Stupid, stupid stupid! So right now I'm stuck around 30 minutes of running until the pain comes back. BUT... it is continuing to improve little by little.

Three weeks ago I started biking outside again on the weekends!!!! Oh the joy of biking outside! I missed it so! First I rode about 50 miles out to Sycamore and back on the farm roads by myself. I wanted to make sure I still had some skill on the bike before I joined a group ride... and I wanted to make sure my injury didn't hurt. Well, it did a little but not too bad. The next weekend I went with a group out in Crystal Lake, we rode about 60 miles to the Wisconsin boarder and back. It was a little cold and windy as heck! And today I rode with them again about 80 miles to Lake Geneva and back! I'm a little rusty out there, as would be expected for not biking outdoors for 6 months! But today my leg felt fine and the weather was beautiful. I will attempt another 30 or more - minute run tomorrow morning before physical therapy. Fingers crossed!

Speaking of therapy... physical theapy is going well. Apparently my leg is just all kinds of messed up! My IT band seems to be loosened up again, which is great, but my hamstring and muscle attachments by the glute and hamstring and in the knee are another story. I'm stretching like crazy, foam rolling, doing my exercises, icing, doing electrical stimulation and even started seeing a massage therapist at Lifetime who is AMAZING!!! That has helped tremendously, and I am feeling a lot better since that stupid 5K I decided to win... what the heck!!!!!

In a week and a half I leave for Arizona for Tempe International Triathlon. I'll be there May 14-19 and have two job interviews that I am super excited for. I can't wait actually! I'm praying everything goes well and I can plan to move sometime in early June. More details on this as it comes closer, but for now I am just trying to keep my mentality and attitude positive and stay happy. My new bike arrived last week and I will be fitted for it on Tuesday... so that is another awesome thing to be excited about! I'll post a picture of me with the bike as soon as I get it... it's a Kestrel Airfoil Pro, and looks pretty awesome... in the box! Here's a generic photo of it!


Time for more homework... I can't wait for this week and a half to fly by so I can be DONE with school and train, train, train!




XOXO
Cori

2 comments:

elizabeth said...

OH Cori, I am SOOO sorry about your IT band... I have been there before too and wasn't allowed to run for 3 months. I know what you are going through, its such a long process. CONGRATULATIONS on the Erin Baker sponsorship, that is really cool! Ill be at Tempe International too and if ( I really should say "when") you move back to AZ we will have to train together. Hopefully you will get the job in Scottsdale, then you will be closer :-) I have a friend of mine who is doing IMAZ too, so you guys will have to meet... she has done IMLP twice before. OKay, get back to your studying and I will talk to you soon!

Unknown said...

Cori:

Congratulations on the scholarship. In regards to your injury I know how you feel. I believe the hardest thing for Triathletes is not the training, but the recovery itself. As a coach and Biomechanist, I have written articles to help athletes like yourself on how to avoid injuries. We have a full body foam rolling article as well as some injury prevention tips in our free training articles. The website is www.kineticloop.org our company is Kinetic Loop Training System. Wish you the best in all your races.

P.S. Before foam rolling the IT band always hit the TFL first. This will help the release of the IT band.