Back to Back

Yesterday and today were back to back all around bad runs. Yesterday it was raining pretty hard and I set out to run between 6 to 10 miles. After just over 4 miles I stopped. I was running slower then I have been and did not understand why it felt so hard. I did start back up again and run 4 more miles after about 8 minutes of walking but it still just felt like a bad workout. Today was no better. I set out to run just 6 miles and after about 3.5 I stopped. Again, I was running slowly and it just seemed so labored. After walking for a few minutes I ran about another 1/2 mile. The humidity when I got back was 98% so I am hoping it had something to do with the bad run. It just seems like there are days when I am in horrible shape and others when I could run forever. Perhaps the most puzzling is that I have been running far better after being on my bike for 20 to 30 miles. Tomorrow I think I am going to ride my bike to work again. I think it will be good to have a day off of running. Hopefully my next day back running will be better.

I am so excited

Well, I just registered for a fall marathon. The Columbus marathon in Columbus, OH. I am really excited that I am healthy again and back on track to run another marathon. I am very confident that I will do far better then the last. I am trying to have very realistic expectations and will be happy with anything under 3:45. I have mapped out a new training schedule and it is much less grueling than what I was trying to do before I became injured. It also involves some cross training/cycling.

Riding Blind

If you read my post yesterday then you know that I missed my long ride/run because of the weather. I could not bear the thought of missing it for the entire week so I decided to squeeze it in today. Saturday is my long day because I don't work and there is no church. In order to get in the long effort today I knew it meant an early start. Church starts at 9:00 and we live about 15 minutes away. I also wanted to be back in time to eat something, shower, and help Tiffany with the kids.

With the bad weather out of the way the next obstacle would be the morning darkness. The sun does not rise until 6:30, and I set the alarm for 5:00. Running in the dark is not a problem but I was planning to ride first. Fortunately I live right next to a 73 mile bike trail. Therefore, I only have to worry about being able to see and don't have to worry about people being able to see me. I have a head lamp my dad got me for one of our hiking trips and decided to attach it to my bike with some zip ties. I took it for a spin and it worked perfectly.

At 5:00 I awoke and set the snooze for 5:14. At 5:14 I got up and went downstairs where everything was ready for me. I ate a bagel, chugged some water, and got dressed. By 5:25 I was on the road. One thing I had not planned for was thick fog. As I turned onto the bike trail I realized I could only see a few feet in front of me. The trail is straight and flat so it really was not much concern just extremely creepy. It is through the middle of the woods so it was really dark and there were plenty of rabbit and deer that I stirred up along the way. After being on the bike for about 45 minutes it slowly started to become light.

I rode my bike for 1:36:00, and covered just over 30 miles. Then I parked at my house and transitioned for about 2 minutes. Would have been faster but Tiffany and the kids saw me and came out to talk for a second. About 3/4 mile into the run both of my sides started hurting and I was beginning to think I would have to stop. Immediately I thought to myself, "you did not get up at 5:14 to only run 3/4 of a mile, pull it together." That is exactly what I did. I focused on my breathing and was quickly running very comfortably. I ended up running 7.3 miles at a pace of 7:39.

I also included a picture of my new tri shorts because I am excited about them. They were much more comfortable than running shorts while riding the bike and I really like the compression aspect of them while running.

Today's workout
Ride 30 Miles
1:36:00
18.8 MPH

Run 7.3 Miles
55:53
7:39 Pace

Rain Rain Go Away

I awoke this morning at 6:00 ready for a 3 hour brick. I purchased some new tri shorts and was really excited to try them out. I went down to the basement to change and heard a loud sound that sounded like thunder. I had looked at the hour by hour forecast before going to bed and it did not call for rain until the afternoon, so I just figured I was crazy. Arriving back on the ground level of our house I heard it again, this time there was no mistaking it. I went quickly to the front door, swung it open and found the beginnings of a rain storm on display. Still unwilling to except what my eyes had just seen I turned to a more reliable source, the internet. Sure enough 90% chance of rain. (perhaps about 10% low). The hour by hour showed thunder storms all day. I don't mind running in the rain, but I am not brave enough to bike in the rain yet. However, today is not just rain, there has been plenty of lightning. So my once a week opportunity to get a really long brink in has been dashed. Guess I will wait until next week.

Feeling Great

This morning I set out to run 9 miles. The 9 mile route I ran is somewhat daunting. It is an out and back course, which means if you stop somewhere in the middle you have a very long discouraging walk back home. It also has a couple of pretty serious hills in it. Leading up to the marathon I set out to run that route a few different times and was not able to accomplish it. It was really turning into a mind game. So any time I think about that route I get a little nervous.

I felt I was up to the challenge. I started out slow and finished the first half in 37:00 (8:13 pace). It was perfectly comfortable, no pain at all. Then I decided to slowly pick up the pace, and finished the second half in 33:29 (7:26 pace). The best part was I still had a lot left at the end. I could have easily run 13 to 15 today, which does a lot for me mentally. Tomorrow I will be riding instead of running. I am trying to take it slow but feel I am already ready to better my last marathon time.

Today's Run:
9 Miles
1:10:29
7:50 pace

I love Bricks

Today I set out for my first real brick workout. I have done a couple of pretty easy ones where I got off and ran a mile or two but today I wanted to take it up a notch. I started out by riding my bike 28.1 miles. I choose a really hilly course so my time was not great, I think an average speed of 17.4 or so. Then I got off the bike, took about a minute to take my helmet and gloves off and gulp down a little water.

I took off for a 10K. It is a really weird feeling running after being on the bike for an hour and a half. At first it feels like your legs are going to give out. It also feels like you are barely moving. I knew from a previous run off the bike that you totally loose the ability to know your pace. I would have said I was running a 9 minute mile, instead my first mile was 7:20. I knew I needed to slow down a little bit but still managed to maintain a pace of 7:39 for the 10K.

The entire workout took about 2:25 minutes. That was my first workout that long since the marathon. It felt great, and I have felt a since of accomplishment all day because of it.

If only I could have swam .93 miles to start the workout I could have gotten an Olympic distance triathlon in this morning.

To work and back

One thing I like about the bike is its practicality. Today I rode to work for the 3rd time since the purchase. It is 16.9 miles and it is pretty up and down, it takes me between 50 minutes and an hour each way. It is really the only way I can get two a day workouts in and not miss time with the family. It actually takes me about 40-45 minutes to drive home so it really does not take much longer. It is also good for the environment, and saves me the wear and tear on my car as well as the gas money. So pretty much it is a win, win.

Tomorrow I am hoping to run about 7 miles, I can't wait.

Thanks to all of you who stopped by and wrote comments. It really made my day.

A lot to say

I will try to bring you up to speed as to what happened to me. My heel continued to get worse and I became so discouraged that I could not bear to write about it. When I am injured, I try my best to avoid anything to do with running. I won't even read my Runner's World magazine when it comes in the mail. I was the most motivated I have ever been and was running great. Then all the sudden out of nowhere I was sidelined again. My running does a lot for me mentally, emotionally, and physically so it has been very tough.

Determined to stay in shape, I purchased a road bike. The first week I got it I rode 140 miles and loved every minute of it. It was my first experience on a road bike and it was really good. But then the unthinkable happened. I got an injury from the bike. The upper part of my shin/lower part of my knee had become very sensitive and was hurting when I placed pressure on it. I continued to push through the pain but it was getting worse. After 3 weeks I made an appointment with an ortho. I have had bad experiences in the past but I just had to give it a shot.

Last Friday I went to see Dr. Hill. He was great. My favorite thing about him was that he wanted to come up with a solution that kept me active, and he was curious about what active for me was. His prognosis was irritation and inflammation. He prescribed an anti inflammatory and told me not to slow down. Well, I took him seriously. The next two days I road 50 miles and ran a mile. That's right, I ran a mile and my heel did not hurt, neither did my shin/knee.

On Tuesday morning, I got up very excited knowing I was just going to be running. I had no pace goal or distance goal, just wanted to run. Well, I ended up running 5 miles at a 7:30 pace and it felt very comfortable which helped me feel like I was not completely out of shape. It also made me feel like I still have a fall marathon in me. I am really going to scale back my goal and just enjoy running for a minute.

Today I rode 11 miles really hard with an extremely difficult hill, then I jumped off the bike and ran for 2 miles. It was awesome. I really love brick workouts.

If you are reading this thanks for coming back after all this time. I am back and have never felt better.

Where I have been

Well, my heel problem got worse. It hurt pretty bad on my Thursday run and even more on my Friday run. Then it hurt most of the day on Friday. It was obvious that it was getting worse fast. Not wanting to cause any real damage I decide to take the weekend off. Two straight days off. It was feeling much better yesterday and thought I was ready for my run this morning. Well, I hate to admit it but I talked myself out of running this morning and slept in. I must say that I felt guilty all day today. The good news will hopefully come tomorrow with a pain free run, I have my fingers crossed. I still can't believe that I took 3 straight days off. Hopefully it was just what I needed to get past this heel pain and start running well again.

Recovery

I have read a lot about how important it is to get the proper food into your system after a hard workout. However, knowing what to do and putting it into practice are two totally different things, especially when it comes to food. I have experimented with several things before and after my workouts.

For a long time I did not eat anything before a workout and it seemed to go well. As I began running further, I felt like I needed more fuel. I started eating a breakfast bar and progressed to a small bowl of cereal. Leading up to the marathon that is what I did and I started to think that it was making my stomach hurt . Since the marathon, I have stopped eating before my runs again and it is going well.

What to eat after the run has been the much more difficult thing to figure out. Since I run in the morning, I have to stretch, shower, and then get to work. This makes it difficult to get a good meal in. For awhile, I was having a bowl of cereal while I checked my e-mail at work first thing. The problem with that is that it was typically about an hour and a half after the run. I know my body needs to be replenished sooner than that. The other problem with the cereal was a lack of protein. I did not feel that my muscles were getting the protein they needed to recover.

I just started trying something new. I have done it four times now and it seems to be working well. I got some protein and am making shakes. The great thing about a shake is you can eat it anywhere. So it works perfectly in the car on the way to work. It is also easier to get a big shake down than a big meal. The problem with it is the lack of carbs and calories. So to off set that I am adding what I can...milk instead of water, a banana, and some chocolate syrup. I try to stay away from sugars like syrup, but I can’t think of another way to add a bunch of carbs and calories. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Today’s run was a new record for me, 8 mile repeats. Each of these was done with 1:30 recovery. At some point, I plan to start cutting back my recovery time until I get it down to 1:00. I would also like to get up to 10 to 12 repeats. I have done that workout each week for the last 3 and I only did it twice leading up to the last marathon.

Today’s Run:
8 Mile repeats with 1:30 recovery, average pace 6:31
6:35
6:33
6:25
6:29
6:30
6:31
6:34
6:31

Winning the Battle

This morning I entered into an epic battle and came out glorious. The long weekend lent itself nicely to laziness. Saturday and Sunday I slept in until around 6:20, and both days I managed to catch a short nap. Monday was my day off from running and I slept in until about 7:15. This morning, however the alarm was set for 5:30 again. After a day off, I knew it was very important to quickly get back into my routine, no room for backsliding.
I awoke on my own in what I thought was the middle of the night. A look over to the alarm clock filled me with immediate disgust as I saw it read 5:20. Immediately I began to search for excuses. Internal battles are interesting and trying to find excuses for myself is much the same except I know the full truth. There is nothing to embellish or hide. I can’t tell myself that I didn’t really sleep that well or that I don’t really want to run, I know the truth.
I decided not to get up yet, but to instead get what enjoyment I could out of the last 10 minutes of sleep or lying in bed. At 5:30, the alarm went off. I got up to turn it off and on my way kept thinking about hitting the snooze. I thought maybe I had it coming since I woke up 10 minutes too early, perhaps I deserved an extra 10 minutes of sleep. Well, that was just foolish so I turned it off.
Walking in a half daze I sat in the chair in our room, not ready to accept the fact that I was going to transition from a comfortable sleep to a hot and tiring run. I just sat there actually trying to come up with an excuse. Maybe my heel was hurting, I thought to myself. I began to press on my heel with my thumb. I am ashamed to say that I was actually hoping it would hurt some so I could write the day off as a needed recovery day. Nothing, not even a hint of pain radiated from the vigorous rubbing of my thumb. After a few minutes of sitting there, the lazy me, the me that has been feeling pretty defeated lately, hung his head in shame. The me that has ambitions and dreams beyond sleep had won and was ready to run.

Todays Run:
7 miles easy
56:00

Recap

Yesterday I ran a 1/2 marathon. Not a race, just on my own. I was happy with my time of 1:42:00. That is not my fastest, but it is only a few minutes off. My best was actually during a 14 mile run so I don't know how fast it would have been without that last .9 miles, but probably about 1:38:00. Anyway that was the best distance run I have had in a while so I was pretty happy with it.

All day yesterday the back of my right heel was bothering me but I did not think much of it since I had run 13 miles earlier in the day. This morning I set out for a really easy run and ended up with 5.5 miles. It was easy but my heel was bothering me again. It has been kind of off and on today so I have decided to take tomorrow off. I really don't want to but I also don't want to end up with some silly injury. (The back of my heel. Any ideas what it could be anyone?)

Last week I finished with 52.2 miles. I am really happy with that and was hoping to run around 55 this week. However, since I am taking tomorrow off that will make it pretty hard to accomplish. I guess we will just see. I certainly don't want to push it too hard.

Overall my spirits are still up and I am really enjoying every bit of it. After 9 straight days I need a day off. I just hope it is enough time for my heel to get back to normal so I can push it hard the rest of the week.