I've now gone a week without doing any significant running and I have to say that I am starting to grow inpatient. I never thought I would every be upset that I couldn't go for a run outside on a cold January day, but the last week has been tough. I did that one short 3 mile run but other than that my training has been on hold to rehab the knee. The knee has felt great over the past week and I think the stretching and the exercises are starting to pay off (at least I hope so).
Today's workout was low impact to continue to give the knee time to improve. I ended up doing some lower body lifting to again help strengthen the quads / hamstrings. After that was done, my cardio workout came via the elliptical machine. As I have mentioned before, working out on the elliptical machine is almost as exciting as watching grass grow. It just gets so damn boring without any change in scenery. It really makes me appreciate how much I have grown to enjoy running, especially those group runs where other people are out there with you.
In total I ended up doing about 60 minutes on the elliptical and felt like I got a pretty good cardio workout. In hindsight, I think it also helped with the quads since I had the resistance cranked up for a decent portion of the workout. Most importantly, the knee didn't have even a twinge of discomfort. I guess as a complete back up plan I could always do all my training on the elliptical (just kidding, I would die of boredom).
So looking ahead, I am trying to plan out my workout schedule for the rest of the week. I think I am going to hit the elliptical again tomorrow for a little more cardio. Wednesday is going to be a tough day to fit in a workout since we are going to get another major snow storm and I am working 30 hours straight again since I picked up an extra shift in the ED. I think I would like to do a 2-3 mile run on Thurs, a 5-6 mile run on Friday and then gear up for a long run this Sunday with L Street. The long run is scheduled for 17 miles, but I think that is a little above me at this point in my training. My goal is going to be ~14-15 miles.
Hopefully the snow fall won't be as bad as they say. There's no room to shovel it too and it is going to make running outside really hard.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
"Feeler Bet"
So today was basically what you could call a "feeler bet". The term feeler bet is a poker term and basically describes a situation in a hand of poker where one player is trying to gauge the strength of his opponent's. In order to do it the player will make a small bet and see how the other person reacts. A raise from the opponent generally means they are strong, while a fold obvious means that their hand was weak.
So today was my feeler bet ... with my knee. I have been feeling great for last 48 hours. My activity has been back to normal and I was able to walk up / down stairs & down snowy streets without the least bit of discomfort in my knee. Now I know that I have been saying I am going to take a full 2 weeks to get better ... but ... I think like everyone who is training for a race this big I started getting inpatient with waiting around and letting time go by. So I decided to try a "feeler bet" ... which for me ended up being a short run to see how my knee would react.
I got geared up in my winter running gear and headed out. The weather wasn't that bad for the run. It was 23 degrees, clear and there was about a 10 mph wind. The problem was that last night we had a storm that dropped about 13 inches of snow on us. This made the run difficult since the snow piles in South Boston are getting pretty out of control. Since the sidewalks were a mess I did my run down the main roads in South Boston. I ran down East Broadway to the end of West Broadway and then back down 1st Street. The run started out great, I felt strong and attacked the first big hill on Broadway without any problem. After about the first mile and a half I felt the first twinge in my knee. It wasn't bad, didn't really alter my run but it was just enough to let me know that the knee wasn't as good as I thought it was.
In the end, this run ended up being more of a tempo run. I didn't do a long distance, only 2.5 miles, but I was able to do it at a pretty good pace. I ran the first 2 miles in 18 minutes, which is faster than my long run pace. Then the last 0.5 miles of the run I was able to speed up to a 7:45 min pace. In total, I was able to do 2.5 miles in just about 22 mins.
So my feeler bet didn't exactly work out as planned. I think the fact that my knee wasn't completely better let me know that it still has some healing to do. After the run, I iced down the knee and currently it feels fine. I will probably end up going back to my plan of trying to hold off on running until the first Sunday in February (if the knee was fine on this run I was going to do 5 on Saturday). I need to keep reminding myself that the goal of this process isn't to do a long run in Feb or March, but to complete the marathon in April. I think taking the time to heal now will pay dividends in the upcoming weeks.
So today was my feeler bet ... with my knee. I have been feeling great for last 48 hours. My activity has been back to normal and I was able to walk up / down stairs & down snowy streets without the least bit of discomfort in my knee. Now I know that I have been saying I am going to take a full 2 weeks to get better ... but ... I think like everyone who is training for a race this big I started getting inpatient with waiting around and letting time go by. So I decided to try a "feeler bet" ... which for me ended up being a short run to see how my knee would react.
I got geared up in my winter running gear and headed out. The weather wasn't that bad for the run. It was 23 degrees, clear and there was about a 10 mph wind. The problem was that last night we had a storm that dropped about 13 inches of snow on us. This made the run difficult since the snow piles in South Boston are getting pretty out of control. Since the sidewalks were a mess I did my run down the main roads in South Boston. I ran down East Broadway to the end of West Broadway and then back down 1st Street. The run started out great, I felt strong and attacked the first big hill on Broadway without any problem. After about the first mile and a half I felt the first twinge in my knee. It wasn't bad, didn't really alter my run but it was just enough to let me know that the knee wasn't as good as I thought it was.
In the end, this run ended up being more of a tempo run. I didn't do a long distance, only 2.5 miles, but I was able to do it at a pretty good pace. I ran the first 2 miles in 18 minutes, which is faster than my long run pace. Then the last 0.5 miles of the run I was able to speed up to a 7:45 min pace. In total, I was able to do 2.5 miles in just about 22 mins.
So my feeler bet didn't exactly work out as planned. I think the fact that my knee wasn't completely better let me know that it still has some healing to do. After the run, I iced down the knee and currently it feels fine. I will probably end up going back to my plan of trying to hold off on running until the first Sunday in February (if the knee was fine on this run I was going to do 5 on Saturday). I need to keep reminding myself that the goal of this process isn't to do a long run in Feb or March, but to complete the marathon in April. I think taking the time to heal now will pay dividends in the upcoming weeks.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Road to Recovery
Nothing but good news today. As you know, I devoted this week to trying to rehab my knee since it flared up on me after my long run this past Sunday. I was pretty worried since I was having some pretty significant discomfort on the lateral side of my left knee on Monday. The pain was at its worst walking down stairs, and I had to go one step at a time. Ever since the knee starting acting up, I have been trying to figure out exactly what caused the injury. In hindsight, I have come up with a few things that likely contributed:
1 - Shoes - I think I made a mistake when I decided to go with my old shoes for my last two long runs. I did it to try to be proactive since the left shoe was starting to irritate the top of my foot. In hindsight, I think that this decision may have contributed to my knee problem since my old shoes don't quite have the support that the newer ones do.
2 - Weak Quads - As I mentioned before I think that the knee pain I am having is likely from patellofemoral syndrome. The etiology of this is likely from weak leg muscles. I think my mistake was that I was too focused on the running aspect of my training, and didn't devote enough time to strength training. As of this week, I have started some strength exercises to improve my quad & hamstring strength to hopefully those will help.
3 - Poor Flexibility - After doing some reading, I also found out that improper stretching may predispose you to knee injuries as well. I think that as my mileage has gone up, I have failed to devote appropriate time to stretching / warming up. Normally, I spend a quick 10 minutes before my run to do some quick and easy stretching. From this point on, I am going to be devoting more time to my warmups
The good news of today is that my knee is almost back to 100%. With some intense stretching & strength training over the past three days, my knee feels great. I am walking up and down stairs without difficulty and am looking forward to getting back on the road. I know that I said I was going to take 2 weeks off, but if I feel this good tomorrow I am probably going to try a short 2-3 mile run to test out the knee. I am glad that I have to work this Sunday because if I didn't I would probably try to do our long run again.
82 more days until April 18th ....
1 - Shoes - I think I made a mistake when I decided to go with my old shoes for my last two long runs. I did it to try to be proactive since the left shoe was starting to irritate the top of my foot. In hindsight, I think that this decision may have contributed to my knee problem since my old shoes don't quite have the support that the newer ones do.
2 - Weak Quads - As I mentioned before I think that the knee pain I am having is likely from patellofemoral syndrome. The etiology of this is likely from weak leg muscles. I think my mistake was that I was too focused on the running aspect of my training, and didn't devote enough time to strength training. As of this week, I have started some strength exercises to improve my quad & hamstring strength to hopefully those will help.
3 - Poor Flexibility - After doing some reading, I also found out that improper stretching may predispose you to knee injuries as well. I think that as my mileage has gone up, I have failed to devote appropriate time to stretching / warming up. Normally, I spend a quick 10 minutes before my run to do some quick and easy stretching. From this point on, I am going to be devoting more time to my warmups
The good news of today is that my knee is almost back to 100%. With some intense stretching & strength training over the past three days, my knee feels great. I am walking up and down stairs without difficulty and am looking forward to getting back on the road. I know that I said I was going to take 2 weeks off, but if I feel this good tomorrow I am probably going to try a short 2-3 mile run to test out the knee. I am glad that I have to work this Sunday because if I didn't I would probably try to do our long run again.
82 more days until April 18th ....
Monday, January 24, 2011
Rehab, Rehab, Rehab
So today I found out that my decision to do a double digit run yesterday may not have been the best idea I have ever come up with. Over the course of the night I was woken up a bunch of times by some knee pain when I was rolling over in bed. This morning, the knee was definitely not happy with my decision to run 10 miles yesterday as it was pretty painful. The pain is still located on the lateral leg, mostly on / under the knee cap and on the superior lateral portion of the tibia. The pain is at its worst walking down stairs, and I was actually breaking the two floor rule a lot today(the two floor rule is the rule where you shouldn't take the elevator to go less than two floors or less unless you have a medical condition that prevents it or you are carrying food or heavy objects). Overall, the pain at the start of the day was about a 5/10, but after some icing it got down to about a 3/10. Again, I think these symptoms point more towards a diagnosis of patellofemoral syndrome & some bursitis.
Most of my day today was spent in my office at work with bags of ice on my knee. I am lucky in the sense that my job gives me the time to ice my knee multiple times throughout the day. Today, I think I literally iced my knee for at least 4 hours, which is pretty good if you ask me. So with this minor set back, I need to come up with a game plan for my training. The race is 83 days away, which is basically 12 weeks. I think the next 10 days or so is going to be spent rehabbing my knee. Bascially, the treatment of patellofemoral syndrome is to strengthen the quadriceps to help prevent abnormal movement of the knee cap during running. In addition, icing + anti inflammatories should help cut the inflammation of the soft tissue that is causing the pain.
So, in sticking with my plan I did about 30 minutes of quad exercises when I got home from work today. After doing them, I think I can say without hesitation that my quads are definitely too weak!! My exercises basically consistent of a bunch of moves from the legs portion of P90X, namely squats, 80/20 squats, skating lunge, wall sits and some simple leg extensions. After a few sets of each of these, my quads were on fire and I could barely sand up from a sitting position.
Not quite sure how the legs are going to feel tomorrow, but my goal is to do these exercises daily or at least every other day to build up some strength in the legs! Hopefully the muscles will be stronger in 10-12 days, but I am not sure.
Most of my day today was spent in my office at work with bags of ice on my knee. I am lucky in the sense that my job gives me the time to ice my knee multiple times throughout the day. Today, I think I literally iced my knee for at least 4 hours, which is pretty good if you ask me. So with this minor set back, I need to come up with a game plan for my training. The race is 83 days away, which is basically 12 weeks. I think the next 10 days or so is going to be spent rehabbing my knee. Bascially, the treatment of patellofemoral syndrome is to strengthen the quadriceps to help prevent abnormal movement of the knee cap during running. In addition, icing + anti inflammatories should help cut the inflammation of the soft tissue that is causing the pain.
So, in sticking with my plan I did about 30 minutes of quad exercises when I got home from work today. After doing them, I think I can say without hesitation that my quads are definitely too weak!! My exercises basically consistent of a bunch of moves from the legs portion of P90X, namely squats, 80/20 squats, skating lunge, wall sits and some simple leg extensions. After a few sets of each of these, my quads were on fire and I could barely sand up from a sitting position.
Not quite sure how the legs are going to feel tomorrow, but my goal is to do these exercises daily or at least every other day to build up some strength in the legs! Hopefully the muscles will be stronger in 10-12 days, but I am not sure.
Too Soon
With my new found motivation from earlier this week, I had problems telling myself that I was going to sit out from this weeks long run. Although I had been having some knee issues all week, it had improved as the week progressed with ice, motrin and rest (a recipe for success with any orthopedic injury). As Sunday morning approached, the knee felt good. I was no longer in pain and could walk down stairs without difficulty. I decided that since my cardiovascular exercise this week had only consistent of trying not to die of boredom on an ellipitcal, that I would suit up for the L Street run.
The planned run was ~15 miles, but I knew ahead of time that I likely wouldn't be able t complete the whole thing (nor did I want to as I knew my knee would be sore after that given the fact that it had only been a week). As 6:45 am rolled around Sunday morning, the alarm went off. I got up, showered and got the winter running gear on. Once Renee & I had suited up, we headed out to meet our friend Lauren to start our run. This was probably one of the coldest days that I have attempted to run outside. It was a clear day, the temperature at the start of our run was 11 degrees, with the windchill it was 0 to -5 degrees. Even with this cold, after the first 0.5 miles I warmed up and never had as much of a chill from that point on.
As we set out on the run, I wasn't sure how much i was going to be able to do. I figured I would start running and play it by year based on how my knee felt. This weeks course took us down into Milton. We started running and the knee felt great. The first two or three miles went by without so much as a twinge in the knee. After a while we hit our first water stop which was at mile 3.7. It was at this point when Lauren wasn't feeling well and decided to head back. I figured that since the planned run took us further from South Boston, that I would head back too that way if the knee started acting up I would be closer to home and could just walk back.
So Lauren and I set off back towards Southie. I figured at the worst if I ran back to the house I would have completed about 8 miles. The run continued to go well until I got to about the 7 mile mark. It was there that I started to feel some pain on the outside of my left knee & knee cap. As it wasn't that bad, i decided to push through and ultimately did ~10 miles ... which isn't bad considering I almost didn't go for the run. The frustrating part of this run was that when I stopped I felt great from a cardiovascular standpoint. I definitely would have been able to rock out a bunch more if the knee didn't flare up.
I spent the rest of the day icing the knee. Still to this point I am not sure what is causing the knee pain. I think its a combination of patellofemoral syndrome as well as a possible bursitis. Regardless, i think my plan of action for this week is going to be rest and rehab. The race is still far enough away that I can take some time off to heal without compromising my training that much. Hopefully the knee gets better or else its going to make for a long 26.2!!!
The planned run was ~15 miles, but I knew ahead of time that I likely wouldn't be able t complete the whole thing (nor did I want to as I knew my knee would be sore after that given the fact that it had only been a week). As 6:45 am rolled around Sunday morning, the alarm went off. I got up, showered and got the winter running gear on. Once Renee & I had suited up, we headed out to meet our friend Lauren to start our run. This was probably one of the coldest days that I have attempted to run outside. It was a clear day, the temperature at the start of our run was 11 degrees, with the windchill it was 0 to -5 degrees. Even with this cold, after the first 0.5 miles I warmed up and never had as much of a chill from that point on.
As we set out on the run, I wasn't sure how much i was going to be able to do. I figured I would start running and play it by year based on how my knee felt. This weeks course took us down into Milton. We started running and the knee felt great. The first two or three miles went by without so much as a twinge in the knee. After a while we hit our first water stop which was at mile 3.7. It was at this point when Lauren wasn't feeling well and decided to head back. I figured that since the planned run took us further from South Boston, that I would head back too that way if the knee started acting up I would be closer to home and could just walk back.
So Lauren and I set off back towards Southie. I figured at the worst if I ran back to the house I would have completed about 8 miles. The run continued to go well until I got to about the 7 mile mark. It was there that I started to feel some pain on the outside of my left knee & knee cap. As it wasn't that bad, i decided to push through and ultimately did ~10 miles ... which isn't bad considering I almost didn't go for the run. The frustrating part of this run was that when I stopped I felt great from a cardiovascular standpoint. I definitely would have been able to rock out a bunch more if the knee didn't flare up.
I spent the rest of the day icing the knee. Still to this point I am not sure what is causing the knee pain. I think its a combination of patellofemoral syndrome as well as a possible bursitis. Regardless, i think my plan of action for this week is going to be rest and rehab. The race is still far enough away that I can take some time off to heal without compromising my training that much. Hopefully the knee gets better or else its going to make for a long 26.2!!!
Motivation
This past week Renee & I were lucky enough to be invited to a motivational talk put on by our friend Tom. As I mentioned earlier in the blog, Renee & I became really close friends with Tom and Lyn while on vacation and try to meet up every few weeks for dinner to catch up on things. This past week, Tom invited us up to a talk that he was hosting for his financial clients. He had a friend of his, Dave McGillivray, all lined up to do the talk.
For those of you who aren't familiar who Dave McGillivray is (god knows I was before I met Tom & Lyn), he is actually the race director for the Boston Marathon. He grew up locally in Medford, and as I found out during his motivational talk he has completed some extraordinary athletic feats in his life. His talk basically started out about how he was always limited in his early years by his short stature. He was picked last for sports and at times didn't make the team. He went on to say how this served as motivation when he found his true calling in running. From his teenage years on, he was big into running and attempted to run his first marathon at age 17 with minimal preparation. Unfortunately, he didn't finish but learned a lesson from that failure when his grandfather told him that you don't get something for nothing, and you need to put the work in to achieve things. Ultimately he went on to run the marathon, and has done it every year for the past 39 years.
In addition he also talked about some of his other athletic achievements: Countless marathons, 8 iron mans, a run from Medford, OR to Medford, MA in 80 days (he averaged 40-50 miles a day without taking a day off) and being able to run his age in miles every year on his birthday since he was 13 (yep, he is now 56 and just ran 56 miles this past August). By all measures, he is a super athlete ... even a freak of nature. Being a physician, it amazes me that anyone can run the amount he described without injury but he seems to have done it.
In the end, his talk had some key points that didn't revolve around any of his athletic accomplishments. In fact, he didn't seem to think much of any of them although to me they appeared to be superhuman. While he made tons of great points, the ones that I took away from the talk were these:
1 - You don't get something for nothing. If you want something, you have to put the time / training in to get it as its not going to be handed to you.
2 - One of the best quotes I have heard in a while, "The people who say 'it can't be done', shouldn't get in the way of the people who are doing it'". I don't know why but that quote really seemed to mean a lot to me. I think deep down, I can relate to this quote because for the longest time I was one of those people that believed running a marathon was impossible. Now, I am actively training to do it and have come farther already than I had ever expected. I remember when I ran my first 10k about 5 years ago. When I crossed the finish line in Holyoke, I can remember thinking to myself that I was so exhausted that I would never be able to run more than this distance. Now, 6 miles is just a maintenance run for me. I guess this quote helps me remember how far I have come, and that the goal is achievable.
3- Use the abilities to help others. One of the most impressive parts of Dave's talk was that he didn't do these superhuman athletic feats for fame or glory, but rather to raise money for charities. It really helps ground us and helps us remember that there are people much less fortunate than we are.
Overall, I thought the talk was fantastic an really help sharpen my focus. I appreciate the invite and was extremely happy to spend time with Tom, Lyn and family.
For those of you who aren't familiar who Dave McGillivray is (god knows I was before I met Tom & Lyn), he is actually the race director for the Boston Marathon. He grew up locally in Medford, and as I found out during his motivational talk he has completed some extraordinary athletic feats in his life. His talk basically started out about how he was always limited in his early years by his short stature. He was picked last for sports and at times didn't make the team. He went on to say how this served as motivation when he found his true calling in running. From his teenage years on, he was big into running and attempted to run his first marathon at age 17 with minimal preparation. Unfortunately, he didn't finish but learned a lesson from that failure when his grandfather told him that you don't get something for nothing, and you need to put the work in to achieve things. Ultimately he went on to run the marathon, and has done it every year for the past 39 years.
In addition he also talked about some of his other athletic achievements: Countless marathons, 8 iron mans, a run from Medford, OR to Medford, MA in 80 days (he averaged 40-50 miles a day without taking a day off) and being able to run his age in miles every year on his birthday since he was 13 (yep, he is now 56 and just ran 56 miles this past August). By all measures, he is a super athlete ... even a freak of nature. Being a physician, it amazes me that anyone can run the amount he described without injury but he seems to have done it.
In the end, his talk had some key points that didn't revolve around any of his athletic accomplishments. In fact, he didn't seem to think much of any of them although to me they appeared to be superhuman. While he made tons of great points, the ones that I took away from the talk were these:
1 - You don't get something for nothing. If you want something, you have to put the time / training in to get it as its not going to be handed to you.
2 - One of the best quotes I have heard in a while, "The people who say 'it can't be done', shouldn't get in the way of the people who are doing it'". I don't know why but that quote really seemed to mean a lot to me. I think deep down, I can relate to this quote because for the longest time I was one of those people that believed running a marathon was impossible. Now, I am actively training to do it and have come farther already than I had ever expected. I remember when I ran my first 10k about 5 years ago. When I crossed the finish line in Holyoke, I can remember thinking to myself that I was so exhausted that I would never be able to run more than this distance. Now, 6 miles is just a maintenance run for me. I guess this quote helps me remember how far I have come, and that the goal is achievable.
3- Use the abilities to help others. One of the most impressive parts of Dave's talk was that he didn't do these superhuman athletic feats for fame or glory, but rather to raise money for charities. It really helps ground us and helps us remember that there are people much less fortunate than we are.
Overall, I thought the talk was fantastic an really help sharpen my focus. I appreciate the invite and was extremely happy to spend time with Tom, Lyn and family.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Tough Week
So this week didn't go as well as I had hoped. After the long run this past Sunday, I felt great ... mentally. I was elated with the fact that I had accomplished a couple huge goals - 1) I was able to run on one of L Street long runs with their running club, 2) I ran the distance of a half marathon. Unfortunately, what I originally thought was just normal post-run soreness turned out to be a little bit more. Like I said in one of my last posts, I has having some pain in my left knee. After doing a little bit of thinking, I realized that I likely was suffering from patellofemoral ... an overuse syndrome that leads to inflammation in the tissue below the knee cap. Its normally due to the quadriceps not being strong enough during the runs which leads to movement of the knee cap.
I thought that the discomfort would go to way after a night of icing, but unfortunately it didn't. I decided to take Monday off and didn't try to exercise again until Tuesday when I went to the gym. As there was a big snow storm on on Tuesday, I was planning on doing a 3-4 mile run on the treadmill. I did my stretching and hopped on the treadmill. I started slow by walking 1/4 mile before I took off on a medium pace jog. Within 30 seconds of running, I started having pretty bad pain on the outside of the knee cap. I tried to run through it but it continued to hurt. I decided to play it safe and not push it. Instead I hopped on the elliptical and was able to rock out 30 good minutes on that. For the rest of the day, I was barely able to walk down stairs because the pain in my knee was that bad.
Since that point I have been pretty conservative with the knee. I decided to rest it up for the remainder of the week. I have been icing the knee ~3 times per day for 30-40 minutes each time, taking Motrin 2-3 times per day to cut the inflammation and just resting it. It seems to have worked as the knee feels great right now. The plan from here is to try to do another run tomorrow morning with L Street. Unfortunately, I don't want to try to do the full 14 mile course since I know it will flare up the knee again. Instead, I am going to try to do a 7 mile run. In addition to the running, I am also going to need to hit the P90 workouts this week as well to try to strengthen my quads to prevent the knee issues from continuing.
I thought that the discomfort would go to way after a night of icing, but unfortunately it didn't. I decided to take Monday off and didn't try to exercise again until Tuesday when I went to the gym. As there was a big snow storm on on Tuesday, I was planning on doing a 3-4 mile run on the treadmill. I did my stretching and hopped on the treadmill. I started slow by walking 1/4 mile before I took off on a medium pace jog. Within 30 seconds of running, I started having pretty bad pain on the outside of the knee cap. I tried to run through it but it continued to hurt. I decided to play it safe and not push it. Instead I hopped on the elliptical and was able to rock out 30 good minutes on that. For the rest of the day, I was barely able to walk down stairs because the pain in my knee was that bad.
Since that point I have been pretty conservative with the knee. I decided to rest it up for the remainder of the week. I have been icing the knee ~3 times per day for 30-40 minutes each time, taking Motrin 2-3 times per day to cut the inflammation and just resting it. It seems to have worked as the knee feels great right now. The plan from here is to try to do another run tomorrow morning with L Street. Unfortunately, I don't want to try to do the full 14 mile course since I know it will flare up the knee again. Instead, I am going to try to do a 7 mile run. In addition to the running, I am also going to need to hit the P90 workouts this week as well to try to strengthen my quads to prevent the knee issues from continuing.
Monday, January 17, 2011
"Half" Way There
Well this Sunday was my first official run with L Street Running Club. I have to say that I was pretty nervous about this long run for many reasons - 1) It was my first run ever with a running organization, and I do not consider myself a runner by any means, 2) I didn't know the route and was afraid I would get lost, 3) It was the first time I had run early in the morning since starting my training about a month and a half ago, 4) At 13.2 miles, it would be the farthest distance I have ever run.
In preparation for the big run, Renee and I decided to lay low pretty much all of Saturday. We did some chores around the house and tried to get to bed early so that we would be well rested. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well because I was pretty anxious about this run. At 6:30 am, my alarm went off and I jumped right out of bed. I decided that my morning meal before these long runs would be a peanut butter sandwich, so that is was I had.
At 7:45, Renee and I set out towards the BAC which was the starting point of this run. We started the run at 8 am, and I decided my best bet would be to run with Renee & her running partner from last year, Lauren. The weather was great. It was just starting to get sunny, skies were clear, slight wind and temps in the high 20's. Our run started out great and mirrored the course of the Run To Remember pretty closely. Its pretty intimidating when about 5 minutes into our run all of the legit runner just blow right past us! Anyway, after 2.8 miles we got to our first water stop. I can't even explain how clutch these stops are. It gives us about 1-2 minutes to grab some water, stretch and recover before heading out.
We continued on through downtown Boston until we ultimately got to Beacon St at which point we ran from the Commons all the way down to Allston and back. I got pretty tired at about mile 7-8 and had the feeling that our pace was a little faster than I thought it should be on our long run. As I didn't have our Garmin watch (Renee did), I had no clue how fast we were running. It wasn't until we finished that mile that Renee told me we were cruising at a 9:30 pace, which is faster than my goal pace of 10 min / mile on my long runs. We ended up finding our rhythm and made it back to the water stop at the commons which signified the 9 mile mark.
At this time, I felt pretty damn tired ... but was actually having a lot of fun. I realized that it makes a huge difference to run with a group of people that actually enjoy running. I know that my run wouldn't have been nearly as good if I went out and did it alone. I helps give you the motivation to keep running and also allows you to run behind someone which helps you keep a pace going. After that last water stop we looped around the commons and down East Berkley, running right past Tufts Medical Center. I was definitely starting to feel pretty fatigued at this part and just kept thinking that these were the "Championship Rounds" for this run. "Championship Rounds" is a term used in UFC as championship fights can potentially go for a 4th and 5th rounds if needed ... these are rounds beyond what everyone normally trains for. For me, any mile past what I have run before feels like one of these.
As I made my way up Broadway I was starting to feel it. I felt pretty damn tired and my left knee was starting to ache a little. It had given me a few problems on this run ... namely when I would stop at water stops the first few steps hurt when I started running. As long as I stayed moving though, it didn't stiffen up. I kept pushing through at this point and thankfully got to the last water stop which was located at the 11.8 mile mark. It was actually outside of a running store and had lots of cool samples including - sugary packets for energy, glide, and a bunch of other stuff you need on these long runs.
After this last stop Renee and I finished our run strong. At the end of the run, the only thing that felt sore was my left knee and my feet. I actually made a tough decision right before we left in the morning, and that was which pair of sneakers to wear. As I mentioned before, I had been having problems with pain on the top of my left foot from my shoelaces. I actually thought this was throwing off my gait and leading to my knee being sore. So ... I decided to go back to my old pair of sneakers for this long run. Not the best idea to do a long run in a different pair of sneakers but I gave it a try anyway. In the end, the pain on the top of my foot was gone but I still ended up with a sore left knee and some pretty big sized blisters on both of my feet. I am not exactly sure of what is going on in my knee but I think I might have just strained by LCL (lateral collateral ligament). Its a small ligament on the outside of the knee that helps to stabilize it. Should be fine after some ICE and Motrin and I will hopefully be able to go for my maintenance runs this week without difficulty. I am actually going to look into getting a soft knee brace just to give the knee a little bit of support during these runs and hopefully prevent it from flaring up.
In the end, this run was a huge turning point for me. It was the first time I had ever run a half marathon distance, it was the first time running with a well organized club and it helped prove that I have come a long way from a month and a half ago when I struggled to run 4 - 5 miles! Although its still only half the distance of the actual marathon ... I was still pretty pumped up about finishing this one!
In preparation for the big run, Renee and I decided to lay low pretty much all of Saturday. We did some chores around the house and tried to get to bed early so that we would be well rested. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well because I was pretty anxious about this run. At 6:30 am, my alarm went off and I jumped right out of bed. I decided that my morning meal before these long runs would be a peanut butter sandwich, so that is was I had.
At 7:45, Renee and I set out towards the BAC which was the starting point of this run. We started the run at 8 am, and I decided my best bet would be to run with Renee & her running partner from last year, Lauren. The weather was great. It was just starting to get sunny, skies were clear, slight wind and temps in the high 20's. Our run started out great and mirrored the course of the Run To Remember pretty closely. Its pretty intimidating when about 5 minutes into our run all of the legit runner just blow right past us! Anyway, after 2.8 miles we got to our first water stop. I can't even explain how clutch these stops are. It gives us about 1-2 minutes to grab some water, stretch and recover before heading out.
We continued on through downtown Boston until we ultimately got to Beacon St at which point we ran from the Commons all the way down to Allston and back. I got pretty tired at about mile 7-8 and had the feeling that our pace was a little faster than I thought it should be on our long run. As I didn't have our Garmin watch (Renee did), I had no clue how fast we were running. It wasn't until we finished that mile that Renee told me we were cruising at a 9:30 pace, which is faster than my goal pace of 10 min / mile on my long runs. We ended up finding our rhythm and made it back to the water stop at the commons which signified the 9 mile mark.
At this time, I felt pretty damn tired ... but was actually having a lot of fun. I realized that it makes a huge difference to run with a group of people that actually enjoy running. I know that my run wouldn't have been nearly as good if I went out and did it alone. I helps give you the motivation to keep running and also allows you to run behind someone which helps you keep a pace going. After that last water stop we looped around the commons and down East Berkley, running right past Tufts Medical Center. I was definitely starting to feel pretty fatigued at this part and just kept thinking that these were the "Championship Rounds" for this run. "Championship Rounds" is a term used in UFC as championship fights can potentially go for a 4th and 5th rounds if needed ... these are rounds beyond what everyone normally trains for. For me, any mile past what I have run before feels like one of these.
As I made my way up Broadway I was starting to feel it. I felt pretty damn tired and my left knee was starting to ache a little. It had given me a few problems on this run ... namely when I would stop at water stops the first few steps hurt when I started running. As long as I stayed moving though, it didn't stiffen up. I kept pushing through at this point and thankfully got to the last water stop which was located at the 11.8 mile mark. It was actually outside of a running store and had lots of cool samples including - sugary packets for energy, glide, and a bunch of other stuff you need on these long runs.
After this last stop Renee and I finished our run strong. At the end of the run, the only thing that felt sore was my left knee and my feet. I actually made a tough decision right before we left in the morning, and that was which pair of sneakers to wear. As I mentioned before, I had been having problems with pain on the top of my left foot from my shoelaces. I actually thought this was throwing off my gait and leading to my knee being sore. So ... I decided to go back to my old pair of sneakers for this long run. Not the best idea to do a long run in a different pair of sneakers but I gave it a try anyway. In the end, the pain on the top of my foot was gone but I still ended up with a sore left knee and some pretty big sized blisters on both of my feet. I am not exactly sure of what is going on in my knee but I think I might have just strained by LCL (lateral collateral ligament). Its a small ligament on the outside of the knee that helps to stabilize it. Should be fine after some ICE and Motrin and I will hopefully be able to go for my maintenance runs this week without difficulty. I am actually going to look into getting a soft knee brace just to give the knee a little bit of support during these runs and hopefully prevent it from flaring up.
In the end, this run was a huge turning point for me. It was the first time I had ever run a half marathon distance, it was the first time running with a well organized club and it helped prove that I have come a long way from a month and a half ago when I struggled to run 4 - 5 miles! Although its still only half the distance of the actual marathon ... I was still pretty pumped up about finishing this one!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Birthday Week
The title of the blog post says it all ... apparently unlike most people who celebrate their birthdays for a day, my 30th birthday turned out to be a week long celebration. It started with a surprise party, work happy hour, celtics game, and nice dinner out with friends. Throw into the mix ... Snowmaggedon 2011 which dropped about 18 inches of snow on South Boston and it is a perfect recipe for disaster.
Thankfully through all the festivities and the blizzard that dropped 1.5 feet of snow on Boston, I was able to get in two runs. With 18 inches of snow on the ground, the decision always comes ... is it better to run inside on a treadmill or brave the elements and run outside on sidewalks / roads that could be poorly shoveled. I figured running out side is always better when you can do it, so that is what I decided to do. I suited up in all the winter gear and started my run.
My first short run was in the dark and didn't get off to a great start. I originally started on the sidewalk, but multiple sections were poorly shoveled and covered in ice which leads to a lot of walking and risk of fall. I decided to bump into the road and just run along the snow banks, which turned out to be a good decision. I ended up having a great 3.5 mile run ... staying mostly on well plowed, low traffic volume streets. The only problem with this run is that after it I was having a little soreness in my left knee. I think it is just from poor running form given the ice and the fact that I am having some pain on the top of my foot where the laces come across it. Not quite sure why the laces started giving me pain, but it only happens in my running sneakers.
The second short run ... was not nearly as good as the first. It started out great and I was able to bust out about 2.25 miles in 20 minutes (pretty good pace for me). I was still having that pain on the top of my left foot from my shoe lace, and tried a bunch of things to get it to go away - loosening the laces, putting a little padding under them, etc ... but nothing worked. I just decided to rough it out but shortly after I got to the 2.75 mile mark, that left knee started getting a little bit sore again. The last 1.25 miles was plagued with periods of walking due to traffic, stopping because that knee was sore and walking over icy patches. In total I completed just under 4 miles in 40 minutes (despite my great start) ... which was pretty disappointing. I decided it was better to end the run early (I had planned on doing 5-6 miles), and coming home and icing down the knee. Again, I think its just sore from bad form over ice / snow and this lace thing ... but I wanted to play it safe as I have a 13 mile run coming up in 2 days!!!
On a good note, I did see the best sunset I have ever seen over Castle Island. It looked like the sky was on fire with a pink / orange tint over the snow covered park with the water being completely calm. I really wish I had the Nikon with me to snap a picture of it because it was definitely amazing. I actually may go back tomorrow night with the camera just to see if I can get a picture of it.
Anyway .... 13 miles in 2 days. It will officially be the longest distance I have ever run. Wish me luck.
Thankfully through all the festivities and the blizzard that dropped 1.5 feet of snow on Boston, I was able to get in two runs. With 18 inches of snow on the ground, the decision always comes ... is it better to run inside on a treadmill or brave the elements and run outside on sidewalks / roads that could be poorly shoveled. I figured running out side is always better when you can do it, so that is what I decided to do. I suited up in all the winter gear and started my run.
My first short run was in the dark and didn't get off to a great start. I originally started on the sidewalk, but multiple sections were poorly shoveled and covered in ice which leads to a lot of walking and risk of fall. I decided to bump into the road and just run along the snow banks, which turned out to be a good decision. I ended up having a great 3.5 mile run ... staying mostly on well plowed, low traffic volume streets. The only problem with this run is that after it I was having a little soreness in my left knee. I think it is just from poor running form given the ice and the fact that I am having some pain on the top of my foot where the laces come across it. Not quite sure why the laces started giving me pain, but it only happens in my running sneakers.
The second short run ... was not nearly as good as the first. It started out great and I was able to bust out about 2.25 miles in 20 minutes (pretty good pace for me). I was still having that pain on the top of my left foot from my shoe lace, and tried a bunch of things to get it to go away - loosening the laces, putting a little padding under them, etc ... but nothing worked. I just decided to rough it out but shortly after I got to the 2.75 mile mark, that left knee started getting a little bit sore again. The last 1.25 miles was plagued with periods of walking due to traffic, stopping because that knee was sore and walking over icy patches. In total I completed just under 4 miles in 40 minutes (despite my great start) ... which was pretty disappointing. I decided it was better to end the run early (I had planned on doing 5-6 miles), and coming home and icing down the knee. Again, I think its just sore from bad form over ice / snow and this lace thing ... but I wanted to play it safe as I have a 13 mile run coming up in 2 days!!!
On a good note, I did see the best sunset I have ever seen over Castle Island. It looked like the sky was on fire with a pink / orange tint over the snow covered park with the water being completely calm. I really wish I had the Nikon with me to snap a picture of it because it was definitely amazing. I actually may go back tomorrow night with the camera just to see if I can get a picture of it.
Anyway .... 13 miles in 2 days. It will officially be the longest distance I have ever run. Wish me luck.
First L Street Run ... Umm ... Not Quite
As mentioned in my last post, my next run was supposed to be a nice, organized 11.25 mile run with L Street Running Club on Sunday morning. Although I was well prepared for the run, I didn't quite end up making it! After my moonlighting shift on Saturday, I had planned on coming home, eating and heading to bed early to get ready for the big run. Instead, Renee and I decided to go out and "meet our friends from London who happened to be in town for the weekend". Instead of walking into a bar to meet the Swifts for a drink, I ended up walking into a room filled with about 30 friends for a surprise 30th Bday party. Needless to say, after the drinks got going ... I wasn't able to wake up for an 11 mile run at 7am the next day.
Since long runs appear to be the key in training for races (at least this is what I have been told), I decided that I would get my long run in on Monday once I had recovered from the party. Monday started out well and I was actually able to get out of work on the earlier side ... at about 2:30pm. This is always a bonus because it means that my run will be in the light of day rather than in the dark. The bad part was right when I got home I got some bad stomach cramps and some pretty bad nausea. I got really scared that I had caught another GI bug since all of my friends had recently had it. Despite the stomach issues, I decided to head out for the run with the thought that even if I got 4 or 5 miles in, it was better than nothing.
The run started out well. It was sunny, no wind and temps were in the 30-35 range. Its actually pretty surprising to me because I always thought that the biggest barrier to me training for a spring race would be the weather. Ever since I got my new running jacket for christmas, I have never once felt cold even if it was windy out. Anyway, back to the run. It started out well and I was able to get into a good pace early. I actually didn't use the Garmin watch for this run since Renee was doing her long run that day as well. I went down my normal route starting on East Broadway, running to the end of W Broadway, back down W 1st, past the convention center, down to South Station and back through the Seaport. I don't know if it was the fact that it was sunny out or what, but the run went great. I was about 6 miles in and hadn't even thought about walking. To add some extra distance, I decided to run around Castle Island when I got back to South Boston. Unfortunately, this was a bad idea. I had thought that the walking path around the Island would have been plowed ... unfortunately it wasn't. This totally screwed up my rhythm since I couldn't get in a good pace as I had to stop and walk over huge portions of iced up sidewalk. Although I was able to finish my run with a total distance of 10 miles, I think my time could have been a lot better if I could have kept my rhythm around Castle Island.
Overall, I was pretty pumped with the run. Its my first run in my training where I hit double digit mileage. Also ... now that I think about it ... This was one of my first "short term" goals that I set out to accomplish when I first started this blog back in early December. My next short term goal is start to optimize my weekly workouts. As of yet, I haven't included Yoga in the training like I had hoped. I am starting to get some stiffness in the hips and knees and think its likely due to just poor flexibility ... so this week ... Yoga it is.
Since long runs appear to be the key in training for races (at least this is what I have been told), I decided that I would get my long run in on Monday once I had recovered from the party. Monday started out well and I was actually able to get out of work on the earlier side ... at about 2:30pm. This is always a bonus because it means that my run will be in the light of day rather than in the dark. The bad part was right when I got home I got some bad stomach cramps and some pretty bad nausea. I got really scared that I had caught another GI bug since all of my friends had recently had it. Despite the stomach issues, I decided to head out for the run with the thought that even if I got 4 or 5 miles in, it was better than nothing.
The run started out well. It was sunny, no wind and temps were in the 30-35 range. Its actually pretty surprising to me because I always thought that the biggest barrier to me training for a spring race would be the weather. Ever since I got my new running jacket for christmas, I have never once felt cold even if it was windy out. Anyway, back to the run. It started out well and I was able to get into a good pace early. I actually didn't use the Garmin watch for this run since Renee was doing her long run that day as well. I went down my normal route starting on East Broadway, running to the end of W Broadway, back down W 1st, past the convention center, down to South Station and back through the Seaport. I don't know if it was the fact that it was sunny out or what, but the run went great. I was about 6 miles in and hadn't even thought about walking. To add some extra distance, I decided to run around Castle Island when I got back to South Boston. Unfortunately, this was a bad idea. I had thought that the walking path around the Island would have been plowed ... unfortunately it wasn't. This totally screwed up my rhythm since I couldn't get in a good pace as I had to stop and walk over huge portions of iced up sidewalk. Although I was able to finish my run with a total distance of 10 miles, I think my time could have been a lot better if I could have kept my rhythm around Castle Island.
Overall, I was pretty pumped with the run. Its my first run in my training where I hit double digit mileage. Also ... now that I think about it ... This was one of my first "short term" goals that I set out to accomplish when I first started this blog back in early December. My next short term goal is start to optimize my weekly workouts. As of yet, I haven't included Yoga in the training like I had hoped. I am starting to get some stiffness in the hips and knees and think its likely due to just poor flexibility ... so this week ... Yoga it is.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Not the Greatest ... But Got It Done
I guess the title of this entry pretty much sums up how my run went today. As you can tell from the past two entries, this week has been a busy one at work. For some reason the hospital has been pretty busy with sick people. Thankfully, it doesn't impact me all that much but it makes my job of assigning admissions to teams really difficult when they are all nearly capped. As such, the last couple of days have really worn me out between work, the runs, going to bed too late and just not sleeping well overall.
For a while I thought I was going to get out of work early today but just as I was leaving a situation popped up which kept me there for another hour. By the time I got home I was pretty exhausted and just not in a great mood since I got tied up for that last hour. Needless to say, my immediate motivation for working out really wasn't there. With a little support from Renee, I through on the cold weather running gear and headed out.
The goal for today was 5 miles. The weather today was colder than the last few days with a temp of ~ 20 degrees, clear skies and some pretty strong wind gusts. I tried to get off at a good pace / rhythm, which I did for the first 3 miles. I was running at about 9:45 and doing pretty well. When I was out there all the stress and frustration from getting stuck at work unexpectedly disappeared. Just after the 3 mile mark I hit a point in my run that is a gradual incline that stretches for about 1/3 of a mile. The last few runs it gotten me pretty good and forced a 30 second walk at the top. Today, I was determined not to follow that same fate. I kept a good pace up the hill and made the turn on Summer St at the top. Unfortunately, mother nature was against me on this one as when I made the turn I found out that I was running into a pretty strong wind. Not sure if anyone has ever run against a 20 mph wind, but its like running in slow motion. I was able to make it another 0.25 miles but had to take my first 45 second walk. After the walk I hopped right back into a good pace heading at 9:50 pace. I was able to dig out another mile but then I got a pretty bad abd cramp. After a brief 1 minute recovery, I hopped back at it and finished the run. In total, I completed my target of 5 miles in ~ 50 minutes and change.
This run had +'s and -'s. Overall, I was hoping for a better run as this is a distance where I didn't think I should have to walk at all. Taking everything into consideration, I think its tough to get geared up for these runs when you don't feel well rested at the start of the day. Regardless, I did the distance. On a good note, since I run a lot of the same routes its nice to see points where I used to take turns to complete shorter runs. In particular there is one turn I used to take when a 2 mile run was my long run ... now I run past it after about 3 miles and feel great. Its a good feeling, and it helps to remind me that even though it wasn't a good run overall ... I am definitely making progress.
Looking ahead I have a couple of days off without anything planned, which will be nice to recover. Then, this weekend I have my first organized run as a member of L Street Running Club. 11.25 miles ... yikes! Wish me luck.
For a while I thought I was going to get out of work early today but just as I was leaving a situation popped up which kept me there for another hour. By the time I got home I was pretty exhausted and just not in a great mood since I got tied up for that last hour. Needless to say, my immediate motivation for working out really wasn't there. With a little support from Renee, I through on the cold weather running gear and headed out.
The goal for today was 5 miles. The weather today was colder than the last few days with a temp of ~ 20 degrees, clear skies and some pretty strong wind gusts. I tried to get off at a good pace / rhythm, which I did for the first 3 miles. I was running at about 9:45 and doing pretty well. When I was out there all the stress and frustration from getting stuck at work unexpectedly disappeared. Just after the 3 mile mark I hit a point in my run that is a gradual incline that stretches for about 1/3 of a mile. The last few runs it gotten me pretty good and forced a 30 second walk at the top. Today, I was determined not to follow that same fate. I kept a good pace up the hill and made the turn on Summer St at the top. Unfortunately, mother nature was against me on this one as when I made the turn I found out that I was running into a pretty strong wind. Not sure if anyone has ever run against a 20 mph wind, but its like running in slow motion. I was able to make it another 0.25 miles but had to take my first 45 second walk. After the walk I hopped right back into a good pace heading at 9:50 pace. I was able to dig out another mile but then I got a pretty bad abd cramp. After a brief 1 minute recovery, I hopped back at it and finished the run. In total, I completed my target of 5 miles in ~ 50 minutes and change.
This run had +'s and -'s. Overall, I was hoping for a better run as this is a distance where I didn't think I should have to walk at all. Taking everything into consideration, I think its tough to get geared up for these runs when you don't feel well rested at the start of the day. Regardless, I did the distance. On a good note, since I run a lot of the same routes its nice to see points where I used to take turns to complete shorter runs. In particular there is one turn I used to take when a 2 mile run was my long run ... now I run past it after about 3 miles and feel great. Its a good feeling, and it helps to remind me that even though it wasn't a good run overall ... I am definitely making progress.
Looking ahead I have a couple of days off without anything planned, which will be nice to recover. Then, this weekend I have my first organized run as a member of L Street Running Club. 11.25 miles ... yikes! Wish me luck.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Intervals
So today was another pretty exhausting day at work. Since I am the chief resident on call this week I am technically available for fielding phone calls at anytime. Unfortunately, last night I ended up getting to bed later than I wanted at about 11:15 pm and it was complicated by a phone call at about 2 am. Although the phone call was only a couple of minutes long, it was just enough to mess up my good nights rest. As always, morning comes a little bit too soon. 5:45 am, the alarm went off!
After the work day, I got home and was feeling pretty exhausted. Thankfully, I wasn't planning on a really long workout today and it was going to be more of a short - medium cardio workout which definitely helped with the motivation to get it done despite the fact that I was exhausted. The conditions for the run weren't all that bad. As it was 630 pm, it was unfortunately pretty dark out. The weather was good at about 30 degrees with minimal wind.
I was up in the air as to whether I should try to do hills or intervals ... I settled on intervals. So I took off and wanted to try running a mile at ~ 8 minute pace. I took off down West 1st St and was moving at a pretty good speed. I ended up finding a good rhythm and was able to keep the pace for about 0.75 miles without difficulty. After that, I definitely had to work to keep the pace for the last 0.25 mi. To my surprise, I actually finihed the mile at 7:50. It was pretty hard and I still have a hard time believing that there are people who are able to keep paces much better than that for the entire marathon! Guess it comes with practice! After the first mile I did 0.25 mi intervals as fast as I could go and then walked for 1-2 minutes after each. In total I did a distance of 2.6 miles in just under 25 minutes. It was a really good and quick paced workout. Now time to rest up for tomorrow when I try to sneak in a 5 miler.
After the work day, I got home and was feeling pretty exhausted. Thankfully, I wasn't planning on a really long workout today and it was going to be more of a short - medium cardio workout which definitely helped with the motivation to get it done despite the fact that I was exhausted. The conditions for the run weren't all that bad. As it was 630 pm, it was unfortunately pretty dark out. The weather was good at about 30 degrees with minimal wind.
I was up in the air as to whether I should try to do hills or intervals ... I settled on intervals. So I took off and wanted to try running a mile at ~ 8 minute pace. I took off down West 1st St and was moving at a pretty good speed. I ended up finding a good rhythm and was able to keep the pace for about 0.75 miles without difficulty. After that, I definitely had to work to keep the pace for the last 0.25 mi. To my surprise, I actually finihed the mile at 7:50. It was pretty hard and I still have a hard time believing that there are people who are able to keep paces much better than that for the entire marathon! Guess it comes with practice! After the first mile I did 0.25 mi intervals as fast as I could go and then walked for 1-2 minutes after each. In total I did a distance of 2.6 miles in just under 25 minutes. It was a really good and quick paced workout. Now time to rest up for tomorrow when I try to sneak in a 5 miler.
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Year ... Back on Track
So its official ... 2010 is done and 2011 has official begun!! I haven't come up with all that many new years resolutions other than I just want to continue with my running / training and hopefully watch my diet a little bit more so that I lose some weight. I actually had a life insurance physical done earlier in the week and was a little bit concerned to find out that my fasting blood sugar was at the upper limit of normal. Hard to imagine that I am actually doing more cardiovascular exercise now that I ever really have in the past and my blood tests kind of suck. Probably just genetics and the fact that I am starting to get up there in age (30 years old next week!).
With all the interruptions in the training over the past two weeks with the holidays (Christmas & New Years) and my 3 day illness, I really want to make sure that I have a good week training. Looking ahead, the early portion of the week is wide open for training, although the second half of the week gets a little bit busier. My plan is to run Monday & Wednesday and either do cross training in the gym or running some hills on Tuesday. Thursday I am overnight, Friday we have a Celtics Game and Saturday I am working all day! The long run this week is going to be difficult as its our first run with L Street Running Club! THe long run is actually longer than I thought as well. My first "short term" goal when I started all this traning was to be able to run 10 miles by this sunday. Unfortunately, 10 miles won't cut it as the first L Street run is actually 11.25! Either way, I am planning on getting it done (even if it takes me all morning).
So I actually did my first run today with my new Christmas Gear. It was about 30 degrees, dark and slightly windy tonight on my run. I wore my jacket for the first time and I have to say that it was awesome. With just and underarmor shirt and that jacket I was actually a little bit too warm at times during my run. So this run started out well. As it was my first maintenance run in about 2 weeks it felt good to get out at a good pace. I ran the first 2.5 miles in about 22:30. I ended up walking for about 30 seconds but was able to get right back on pace. I ended up walking one more time for about a minute, but completed a 4.5 mile run in 43 minutes. Overall, I felt great ... so hopefully this will be the good start to the week that I need.
With all the interruptions in the training over the past two weeks with the holidays (Christmas & New Years) and my 3 day illness, I really want to make sure that I have a good week training. Looking ahead, the early portion of the week is wide open for training, although the second half of the week gets a little bit busier. My plan is to run Monday & Wednesday and either do cross training in the gym or running some hills on Tuesday. Thursday I am overnight, Friday we have a Celtics Game and Saturday I am working all day! The long run this week is going to be difficult as its our first run with L Street Running Club! THe long run is actually longer than I thought as well. My first "short term" goal when I started all this traning was to be able to run 10 miles by this sunday. Unfortunately, 10 miles won't cut it as the first L Street run is actually 11.25! Either way, I am planning on getting it done (even if it takes me all morning).
So I actually did my first run today with my new Christmas Gear. It was about 30 degrees, dark and slightly windy tonight on my run. I wore my jacket for the first time and I have to say that it was awesome. With just and underarmor shirt and that jacket I was actually a little bit too warm at times during my run. So this run started out well. As it was my first maintenance run in about 2 weeks it felt good to get out at a good pace. I ran the first 2.5 miles in about 22:30. I ended up walking for about 30 seconds but was able to get right back on pace. I ended up walking one more time for about a minute, but completed a 4.5 mile run in 43 minutes. Overall, I felt great ... so hopefully this will be the good start to the week that I need.
Looooong Week
So as you can tell there was some time in between this and my last post. I guess I have some explaining to do. As you know, I was able to rock out a 7 miler before Christmas since I knew I most likely would get caught up in family stuff and that work out time would be short. Christmas weekend was fantastic. I got tons of great Christmas presents, of which was some hard core workout gear. One of the things I had been looking for now for a while was a light weight, warm, winter running jacket. Thankfully, with the help of Renee ... my in laws were able to find a perfect one. Its a black underarmor jacket that is light weight but really well insulated, wind resistant and warm. In addition, I get a another underarmor cold gear shirt, a nike running hat and a set of nike running gloves. With these additions, my winter running wardrobe is definitely complete!
So as Christmas weekend was wrapping to a close I started to plan out my running schedule for the week. I had hoped to run a 3.5 miler, a 5 miler, a day of cross training in the middle, and have the culmination of my week be an 8 mile long run. Unfortunately, although it was a solid plan I got a little curve ball that through it off. In addition to trading presents at Christmas, our families also decided to spread a stomach flu. As my Sunday night shift came to a close I started to feel an upset stomach coming on. In the next few hours, I was at home laying in bed with fevers, chills and muscle aches. It turns out that nearly everyone at our family christmas ended up contracting a stomahc flu. Although I was sick, I thankfully missed out on the vomiting part of the bug. Overall, it took me a solid 3 days to recover from.
Being behind on three workouts, I really didn't know what to do. Do I back up my schedule a little bit and skip a long run, or do I skip my mid range runs and just try to rock out the week's long run which would be an 8 miler. Overall, since we were planning on going away for New Years Weekend with some friends, I thought the best thing to do would be to get the long run out of the way.
So, on Friday Dec 31st, I set out for an 8 mile run. Thankfully, it was sunny, 40 degrees and not all that windy. I started out at my ideal long run pace of 10 min / mile. After about a mile I was starting to have my doubts as to whether this run was going to be possible, I felt pretty tired ... like my cold may have knocked out more of my endurance than I thought. I kept pushing through and ultimately got in a good groove. I made it to ~6.25 miles (further than when I hit problems on my last long run) before I really had to take my first 1-2 minute walk. All in all, the last 1.75 miles wasn't my best, but I ended up pushing through. I hit 8 miles in ~1 hr 22 mins. Not my best run by any stretch, but given my sickness earlier in the week I was just happy that I got it done.
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