No News is .....

not necessarily good news, always.

The injury bug has once again reared up and bit me, this time in my lower leg in the Achilles tendon area. It happened Sunday morning, while I was on a long run. I had started at the Shelby Bottoms trail head and wanted to run to Kohl’s on the Nashville Stones River greenway. I didn’t realize that it was super hilly, but hills really do not bother me, so I was in good spirits all the way to Kohl’s, which is 8 miles.

The Achilles was bothering me some as I was navigating some of the hills on the way out, and I had stopped and stretched once or twice. The thought even entered my mind to stop and go back around mile 4, but I realize that my opportunities of getting these 16 and 20 mile runs in are getting shorter. So I went on. BIG MISTAKE.

On the way back, I walked up the super steep hill leading to the elementary school right before Two Rivers golf course, and it felt like a rock hit my calf. I knew that a rock had not hit me, and it had to be the tendon getting stretched. My biggest problem was that I was 5 miles from the car, and starting to limp. So for the next 2 hours, I alternated walking, stopping, walking, hobbling, and stopping, etc the 5 miles back to the car.

4 hours later I get back home, and Steph is crazy worried. Now, 3 days later, I’m still resting and messaging as best as possible. I’ve learned from my other injuries that it is better to shut down and heal, rather than trod on, just to keep my fitness up. I’m feeling pretty fit right now, not sure if I’m Marathon fit (the way I would like), but fit none the less. I am going to blame this one on the shoes, which have more than 400 miles on them, and I was looking to replace very soon anyway.

All in all, this running/training regimen may not be my cup of tea after all. These injuries may be telling me that I am NOT A RUNNER, but just a Bucket list guy. I don’t know. I enjoy running and it has helped me to trim down this year, in a good way. I feel really good, except the injury part, although I am spending too much time fretting about the Marathon, instead of enjoying being a “pretend runner.”

Going to rest for at least one or two more days, and give it a test on Friday or Saturday. Will update then.

Feet meet Street.

I've been antsy for a week now, waiting to get back out (ask my beautiful wife.) Well, finally, I hit the roads on Monday morning with a nice 6.2 miler though the Stones River Battlefield. This is the course that the Run Chickn' Run 10K will be held this coming weekend. It had been so long since I had been out, I couldn't remember what it felt like to run and I wondered how much conditioning I had lost, but mostly how my dang hip was going to feel like.

Went out sooo slooow, it felt like I was walking. Stopped quarter mile into the "run" and did the IT BAND stretch, so far so good. Stopped another 1/2 mile on the "run" and stretched. You get the point. After the first mile, I figured I was as loose as I am going to be, so I just eased into the run. Murfreesboro is a great place to run and train, as there are many places; the Murfreesboro Stones River greenway, the Gateway, the Stones River Battlefield, etc.



I turned the legs over a little bit faster though the park, but keep it dialed in nice and easy, for the most part. I could feel the bursa a little when running, but not in a painful sense, just like "hello, remember me?" Got back to the car and was pleasantly surprised with the outing: no pain, just a little inflammation, conditioning is good - not great, and not sweaty - I guess the humidity has dropped since last I was out.

WEEK 3 REVIEW - No miles - 3xBike at Y - which I gotta say, I'm starting to like the bike. Possibly an IRONMAN in the future?

I've updateed my Marathon training plan (on the right, over there). It is geared less on SPEED drills and much more on volume and training at/near goal pace (which I've also adjusted - - - DOWN.) I'll give some thoughts on the FIRST training plan that I had originally mapped out, in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who is reading this, please leave me any tips or comments that would help me toward this 26.2 folly of mine - or just any comments in general.

Week 1 Review

Pause. This is what has happened.

It is hard to explain the situation and the obsession about this training. My goal is 2 late year marathons, and I had a specific plan to train for these distances. 90% of those who attempt marathons do not train year round for these type of long distances. So for those of us who are below the 90%, we must gradually build up the longer runs, but going longer a little bit at a time. I must be able to get my milage in, one way or the other, or these Marathon attempts will not happen.

So right off the bat, my carefully laid plans have been put on hold. I have a decision to make before the end of next week. The early period for registration at the Chickamauga Marathon is August 30th. On September 1st, the price goes up $15. I am planning to get an appointment at the Physical Therapist on Tuesday. In the mean time, I am icing and heating and using that Stick. (See my last post if you are wondering what happened.)

08/17/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #1 3x1600 @ 7:13 with 1 minutes Recovery

Headed out to the Vanderbilt Student Outdoor track facility early Monday morning, arriving at 6:30am. Did a 10 minute warm up, and then proceeded to the interval workout. The purpose of this workout is to stress the lactic acid recovery by only having 1 minute recovery between 16oo meter recovery. 1 mile=1609 meters, so this is effectively one mile at 7:13 pace followed by 1 minutes walk/jog between.

According to my VDOT Daniels formula, my goal was 15 seconds faster than my latest 5K mile pace - or 7:13 per mile. My first mile came in at 7:20 mile pace. I walked for 1 minute and set out on interval #2. Well about 1/2 trip around the track, I could tell that keeping this pace was not going to be possible today. I shut down and walked a full trip around the track (400 meters) and picked up interval #2 where I left off, finishing in 7:21 mile pace. Walked another trip around the track, and gutted out one last 1600 meter at 7:18 mile pace. A tad bit faster, but all pretty consistent, although not at goal pace. Did another 10 minute cool down and headed to work.

I did notice that my IT Band was a little sore, and found some stretches on the Internet to perform.

08/18/09 - 30 minute session on bike at Y.

08/20/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #2 miles easy - 2 miles at Short Tempo (7:48 pace) - 2 miles easy

As I documented in Wednesday's blog, I headed to the Y do this workout on the treadmill, but could tell that my hip was not as OK as I had thought. I had to shut down about 1/4 mile into the Tempo run.

08/21/09 - 30 minute session on bike at Y.

08/22/09 - Week 1 - Key Workout #3 13 miles at MP +30 seconds (9:08 pace)

WOW what a wonderful day Saturday was. At 7:00am it was 66 degrees and no humidity. Perfect running weather compared to the last 2 months of heat and humidity. I have been wanting to try out the Stones River Greenway in Nashville, so I headed to the Percy Priest Dam and headed out. I set the garmin for 13 miles at 9:20 pace and was on my way. Was I hurting? well YES. My thought process was as follows : Thursday was a disaster for my daily training, but all was well until I kicked up the intensity, so I'll keep the intensity low and have a go.

I generally will go out at what ever pace seems comfortable to do for the daily workout when an easy pace is called for, so I just let my body be the best judge at pace. I went out, intending to hit 9:20, but hit the first half mile at 8:50 pace as my "perceived effort" was slow. Yes, I knew the pain in my hip was starting to boil up, but I thought : it's not tooooo bad, maybe it will get better when I get warmer. I was totally lying to myself, as the pain was making me grimace, and other people were looking at me weird. Lots of runners, bikers and walkers were taking advantage of the greenway, which is really a nice place to run.

The farther I went, the worst the pain got. I had finally had enough when I hit a little hill and had tremendous pain in my hip and leg. I kept saying to myself that I needed to get my miles in, and what a wonderful day (unless your leg fells like it weighs 10 pounds heavier than the other one). About 1.7 miles in, I shut down and took a stretch and contemplated what to do. Nothing else really, except to WALK back to the car. What a long walk that was, but on a brighter note, at least it wasn't 3 miles.

So now I'm going to just hit the pause button until I can get into see the Physical Therapist. I have a good one that has helped me with sore calf's after the Country Music Half earlier this year, so we will see what the prognosis is. The next 2 races are now in serious doubt, the Franklin Labor day 5K and the Run Chickn Run 10K, which I was really looking forward too. Meanwhile I will Ice/Heat and use The Stick, which I highly recommend for any self message that you may want to do.