This past week completed week 10 of my 16-week Run Less Run Faster (affiliate link) training cycle for my OBX Half Marathon. It was only a partial week of training because of Monday’s scheduled surgery on my knee, but not really my knee, just the rebellious skin above the knee.

So I’d miss one less workout, I moved my Tuesday track repeats to Sunday. With a forecast of a 90° afternoon, I arrived at the track at 6:45 AM while the temps were still only in the high 50’s. Scheduled was 4 x 1200’s at a 7:35 goal pace with 2-minute rest intervals between each repeat, bookended by a 1-mile warm-up and 1-mile cool-down. I hit those repeats at 7:39, 7:19, 7:23, and 7:11. Even my warm-up and cool-down felt easier with 9:30 paces feeling no more difficult than my 10:30’s just a few weeks ago.

 

I had scheduled as many of my clients as possible into my Monday so I’d have a lighter load on Tuesday after surgery. Always planning ahead, I made time to fit in a weight lifting session and a quick yoga workout since I knew I’d be forbidden from doing much for a week. I did; however, figure out a way not to miss a day doing my planks (getting up off the floor was the biggest issue) and on Thursday, I lifted weights focusing solely on my upper body and core.

Surgery to remove a spot following the very same pattern as my two previous melanomas went well Monday afternoon. As soon as a darker speck started to appear within the boundaries of an irregular shaped brown spot I’d had for several years, I had it biopsied. The top left picture below was taken after the biopsy so it appears pink where a portion of the top layer was removed. The biopsy came back as abnormal cells, but with my history, my dermatologist dubbed it pre-melanoma and instructed me to have it removed before things turned ugly. The surgeon was aggressive when removing the surrounding margin of tissue which resulted in a 2.5-inch incision. I left with instructions not to bend my knee for a week and to elevate it whenever possible.

Tomorrow I’ll be able to resume walking for fitness and will work on increasing the range of motion as I move away from the straight-leg-limp that has become my signature walk this past week. Assuming all goes well, I’ll return to running next Monday, the day after the Army Ten-Miler… Of course I asked about run/walking the race and when told no, I asked about walking it. My doctor and I agreed that it would be best to skip the race altogether and focus on healing so I can be healthy as I resume training for the OBX Half, my fall focus race.

 

We considered canceling our weekend trip to Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech football game… for about two seconds. It was our first conference game of the year and we’d be playing Clemson, the reigning National Champions. It was a game we didn’t want to miss.

In a perfect world, I would have run along the Huckleberry Trail from our hotel in Christiansburg to Blacksburg where ESPN’s College GameDay was being filmed, but alas, I couldn’t run so Bill and I drove over and miraculously found a parking spot close by on the Drillfield. College GameDay is my favorite show – there’s something comforting about coming in from a long run in the fall and flipping on the TV to watch the latest update on all things college football, from the day’s predictions to human interest stories.

 

One of my favorite human interest stories of the day was about the new tradition at the Iowa Hawkeyes football games. Between the third and fourth quarters, Hawkeyes fans turn to Children’s Hospital and wave to the sick children and their parents watching from the upper floors of the towering hospital. As the story unfolded on the big screen, there were few dry eyes remaining in the crowd. Because Iowa had an away game and there’d be no wave for the children, the ESPN announcer asked the crowd to assume the honors and wave. It was truly a privilege to fill in for the Hawkeyes fans.

 

Once in Lane Stadium yesterday evening, I tried to sit in or normal seats but couldn’t bend my knee enough to sit in such a confined space. I limped back to security personal in the portal and asked if there was any way they could accommodate me. The gentleman immediate pointed me in the direction of seats with plenty of leg room and told me that I could also have one guest join me. The game may not have turned out the way I would have liked, but at least I was not in any physical pain while watching. 😉

 

Back home, I’m ready to get my first week of rehab under way and can’t wait to hit the trail for a relaxing walk tomorrow afternoon. I’ll add non-weighted leg extensions and curls to my otherwise upper body weight lifting session, and focus on working on my range of motion as much as my tender skin above my knee will allow.

In case you missed it, this past week I posted the following articles:

Looking ahead to this coming week, on Wednesday please be sure to join me for my monthly Wednesday Word linkup where this month’s word is struggle.

In addition to the run I mentioned above, here’s a run-down of the limited number of other workouts I completed this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included:

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • Have you ever had to pull out of a race just weeks before it was scheduled to run? 
  • I know I sound like a broken record, but do you get your skin checked regularly?
  • Did you race this weekend? 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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