I’ll be honest, Week 4 was not a fun time. My knees were sore from my long run and a MyStryde (MS) class I took on Sunday. Plus my back started acting up and I could just feel that my hips were way out of alignment with every step I took. It’s safe to say that I was ready for my off day so I could just take it easy and stretch. I got in some yoga on Monday and then was able to shift my stress onto the latest episode of The Bachelor. Did anyone else feel super uncomfortable during that ENTIRE episode?! I have a feeling it’s going to be like that every week because Arie is a snooze fest and the girls are just trying to out-crazy one another. Either way, it takes my mind off my training for a little bit!

Tuesday night came around and I still wasn’t feeling confident with my knees so I decided to skip my run and take some time to really stretch, foam roll, dig through some of my muscles with a lax ball, and ice. I always feel so much better in the end, but boy is it painful! I literally have to mentally prepare myself before every move and then just power through for 30-45 seconds at a time.

After that intense recovery session, I felt a little better on Wednesday night so I pushed myself to try another MS class. It was the same class from Sunday with some work on the treadmill and then some strength work on a mat. I ended up wearing this band around my knee that is used to basically stabilize and simultaneously apply pressure so you can run (hopefully) pain-free. I’ve had this band since September and I’m so mad this is the FIRST time I used it. It was amazing. I felt great and I was actually able to finish all the hill sprints in class.

But then my other knee started to hurt…talk about a buzzkill, right? I decided to skip my Thursday run and use that visit my time to foam roll, massage my knees and ice some more.

Quick shoutout to Matt Ryle for being the best boyfriend and stand-in massage therapist rolled into one. I would not be able to get through this training without ya ❤ 

Much like Thursday, I wasn’t feeling my run on Friday, plus I had a ton of stuff to finish up before my Spin & Sweat to End ALS event on Saturday – raffle baskets, goodie bags, and food prep. Everything surprisingly ended up working out perfectly the next day (a rare occurrence for me).  I’ll be posting a full recap later this week, but I had a great turnout and a great cycling workout for the day!

On Sunday I finally felt like I could crank out some miles so I hopped on over to MS to take advantage of their Open Gym hours. Pushed through 8 miles in the studio and then I ran home for some fresh air to finish out a full 10 miles for the day. The run home was a little difficult since I had my backpack on, but I though it was funny that I actually had a real reason to use those straps that go across your chest and your waist for once.

This week was also the 11-year anniversary of my grandmother’s death. It was a tough one but I have to say, I really felt like she was with me. During my runs, my cycling class, even was I was in pain. She’s pushing me through these little rough patches and helping me become stronger in the end.

I was kind of upset with myself that I couldn’t pack a ton of miles in this week, but everyone keeps telling me not to worry about it. And they’re right. It’s great to follow a training plan, but you ultimately have to listen to your body and react to how you’re feeling in the moment. And my body was screaming “Hell to the No” this week.

I’m slowly learning that it’s okay to miss a couple runs here and there in order to make sure I’m doing this the right way. After all, I want to make the most out of this experience and enjoying it is also one of the most important things for me. I guess we’ll mark this one as a “recovery week”, but Week 5 watch out!

---

Check out my Crowdrise page to donate to my campaign & support the ALS Association: http://bit.ly/BostonBeginnings262