Where does the time go?

Man, I can't believe I went through an entire long weekend (Family Day holiday here in Ontario) and couldn't find a spare moment to update the bloggage on my running. Between the rather disappointing Opening Ceremonies, featuring the unique inferiority complex apologetic rhyming stylings of neckbeard man and the questionable dancing abilities of our First Nations, more Birthday Parties that the boys attended, skiing, doing work for work on a weekend (blah!), and house related duties the three days just went by and I woke up this morning wondering what the hell happened.

Anyway, as far as running went I managed 6km on the treadmill on Tuesday; I walked to work and then ran over to Owen's school at the end of the day for a total of 8.3km; and then I ran 8km on the treadmill last Friday. Both of the treadmill runs were at a setting of 6.8mph and at 2.0% incline, but the Friday run felt much easier than Tuesday's for some reason. I think I was overheating of Tuesday or something. However, by Friday night my right knee was not cooperating and I was pretty down thinking that my running "career" was in jeopardy.

I am over that little lull somewhat, but I still am wondering when this bloody joint will hurry up and heal already! On Saturday morning I was faced with the prospect of missing my run, but by the afternoon I talked myself into trying it out. For the first time since last Summer I wrapped up the knee (don't even know if it helped the knee, but my brain appreciated the extra support) and decided to run laps of the neighbourhood just in case I had to bail and crawl home. I ran super slow and gingerly four times around the same rectangle for a total of 11km and even though it was near walking pace I was happy to have finished it. The knee felt no worse afterward, so I took that as a good sign, and am now icing the sucker on a regular basis. Also, I am still on track to average 30km per week for the month of February since I managed to run 33.4km during this past week (32km the week before). I just hope I can run about the same amount this week, but with less pain.

Sunday we went skiing, but because of work that I had to prepare I decided to stay in the cabin while Monica and the boys hit the trails. Giving myself the first full day off since early January was a good idea given the knee, or so I consoled myself.

Monday I headed off to the gym and did my usual leg and upper body routine. The legs are definitely getting stronger, but I am still feeling less than confident that this will provide my knee with the support it requires to finally heal completely. I will give it another month, but if I am still feeling pain at my scheduled physical in the middle of March I will ask my doctor for a referral to a knee specialist of some sort. Maybe there is a tear or something that will never heal on its own? I sure hope not, and I hope I am completely pain free by then and this becomes a moot point.

Today I had meetings all day and could not fit in my usual treadmill run so I went out in the evening. Once again, I wrapped up the knee (and thought of buying a sleeve for the knee to give me support) and ran an easy 7km while Malcolm, Owen and Monica attended the annual Scouts pancake dinner (on Mardi Gras, so I suppose it fits). The idea of eating pancakes for dinner makes me ill and I was happy to skip the festivities. I ran nice and easy at the beginning, kind of feeling out the knee, but picked up the pace as I went along. It was fun, and really, that's the best thing one can say about any run.

February off to a Good Start

Week one of February has come to and end, at least from my exercise perspective as I hear there some sort of a football game on later tonight (BTW: Go Saints!). As far as my running went it was a very successful week, with and asterisk.

The success was completing a total of 32km for the week, my highest total since last summer. I am on track to average 30km per week this month, as planned. I've already posted about the first two runs of the week, but the other two went like this...

After an off day on Thursday, when I did leg weights and rode on the stationary bike for a half-hour, I hit the gym and the treadmill at lunchtime on Friday for what turned out to be 7km. I went a bit too hard in retrospect (resulting in the asterisk mentioned above) and paid for it with worse than normal pain in the right knee. I started off at a relatively easy 6.5mph and had notions of sticking to that pace for 6km, but feeling pretty good I decided to shake things up a little and ended up running a pyramid in this fashion:

• 5 minutes @ 6.5mph
• 5 minutes @ 6.8mph
• 5 minutes @ 7.1mph
• 10 minutes @ 7.5mph
• 5 minutes @ 7.1mph
• 5 minutes @ 6.8mph
• 2:14 minutes @ 6.5mph

The whole thing ended up taking me 37:14, which meant I ran at an average pace of 5:19/km. Although in and of itself this should not have posed a problem, I think the fact that the treadmill was set at a 2.0% incline means that I actually worked harder that the pace would have indicated. In any case, by the time I got home my knee was tight as a finely tuned banjo string and I was forced to pull out the ice pack for the first time in months.

By Saturday I was feeling better, though not 100%, and went out for another run through Rosedale. It was pretty cold out, but nice and sunny and pretty still. The only time I was really chilled was when I ran over a few bridges and had the wind blow right through me. I ended up doing a nice and comfortable 11km at a (for me, and for the moment) decent pace of 5:43/km.

Today we cross-country skied and it was great. It was cold when we started out (-12C), but sunny and no wind. The wax on our skis was working perfectly for the most part and we managed a really fun 13km before eating lunch and heading home.

The best part about the first week of February? I can't wait for the second.

Humpback - Summary of the Last Few Days on a Wednesday

Another Wednesday, and another successful day of exercise. Though the right knee still reminds me that I have to "take it easy" and "watch it" and "run less than you think you should", I cannot help but delude myself into thinking that all the weight training that I am subjecting myself to will ultimately shut that sucker up for good.

Case in point, for the past few days I have been feeling, and this is a poor description to be sure, somehow "properly packaged". Not almost any piece of cheap ass electronics that come in those impossible to open, never to disintegrate, clear, hard plastic, "g'damn it why won't you open without a chainsaw!!!" coverings, but rather like everything is starting to work the way it was intended to.

I had a great run last Saturday where I went way faster than I should have, but those 8.25km felt so very good, easily the best run of the year. I really felt like keeping going, but remembered that my body has a nasty way of slowing me down if I don't stick to the conservative plan and so I stopped, happy that I still had energy to spare.

Then, skiing on Sunday was fun and it was just cool to take things easy and not worry about "getting a workout", something I suffer from both in self-imposed guilt as well as physical injury. 12km on the trails with my better half while the kids were taking their lessons.

Monday I had a great leg workout at the gym (things are starting to feel like they are getting stronger, and I actually look forward to doing squats!). In the evening I rode the stationary bike for a half-hour to finish off the day.

Tuesday saw me doing more weights, this time of the upper body variety, and running on the treadmill, where I completed just over 6km holding a nice steady 6.5mph pace even though I had a huge urge to try and match the 7.0mph setting of the guy running next to me. The fact that I didn't inch my speed up to that level shows a level of maturity that surprised me. Am I actually getting smarter, or just old, lazy and complacent? Either way, I was proud to have held back. It also helped that my would be adversary had to stop and stretch out his obviously shitty hamstring at one point before making a failed attempt to resume his run. Ha!

Today was another walk to work, run home day. I walked just over 6km to the office after dropping of the boys at the school bus. I attempted to maintain a decent clip, though I was slowed down by the snow that had fallen overnight, making traction a real problem the entire way. At lunchtime I once again hit the gym for upper body weights and had a good time of it. I am even beginning to like doing ab exercises as I am really seeing progress. Now if only I could limit my intake of highly processed, and ultimately useless, carbs that six-pack of my swimming youth days may actually make a cameo. It's tough giving up sweets for me...

...because they're soooooooo sweet.

The run home from work was pretty good, all things considered. It took a while for the Garmin to locate satellites, which is always annoying, but once the watch was ready I took off at a slow and steady pace towards Owen's school. The snow from the morning, which had made walking a bit tricky, seemed to be completely gone and I was quite pleased with this until I hit the Viaduct and was faced with a slippery, slushy mess. For the entire second half of the run I had to contend with slush, snow, ice and all three combined. This made the run more of a challenge than it otherwise would have been, but I made it through OK, a bit overheated. In the end I completed a decent 8km, changed into a dry shirt at the school, and walked home without freezing my ass off too badly. Some stretching later this evening is definitely in order...

The Week in Brief

It's been a typically busy week for me, even though I've been diligently sticking to my plan and making sure this was a recovery week for my wonky legs.

As such, I've still been going to the gym lots, riding the stationary bike now and then, and after skipping Tuesday (when I would typically go out for an easy 5k or so) I walked to work and ran home. The run was not too bad, but about a kilometre and a half from Owen's school I had to stop to wait through a red light and once I started up again my right knee decided to remind me that it was not fully healed. I felt a pretty bad twinge under the kneecap and had to stop to stretch and evaluate my options. I was very close to home and considered heading there, grabbing the car and using that to pick up Owen. Instead I decided to jog as gingerly as I could.

Perhaps that was a mistake, perhaps not. I finished the 8km run and walked home, a bit chilled in the wind and rapidly cooling winter weather. The temperature has since gone totally frigid and Toronto is finally feeling like Winter has arrived.

Anyway, Thursday I didn't run, but made it to the gym for some leg weights and then rode the stationary bike in the evening. My knee feels a bit better this morning and I am planning to do an easy 5-6k on the treadmill at lunch.

Here's an early summary of my January exercise exploits to date (because I do not have the time or energy to go into it in detail). The month is rapidly coming to a close and I enjoy seeing this calendar filled up with stuff. A surprisingly good motivator!:

As Smoothly As Can Be Expected

Here we are just a couple of weeks into aught-10 and I am already taking stock. WHA?!

OK, perhaps not taking stock so much as looking down the line and trying to figure out if I am going to be able to do what I intend for the coming year. The latest thought, of many as far as variety goes, is that I would like to average 25k/week in January, 30k/week in February, 35k/week in March, and 40k/week in April. That would lead into May where, if all goes well, I can average 45k/week, or that magical 25 miles, that I believe will prepare my body for the planned marathon training, which is due to commence in June and lead me across the finish line of my first 26.2 at the end of September.

Is it just me or is there just never enough time? When I was planning on building a good base for marathon training I was really hoping to run 25 miles per week on average for a good three months before starting training for the marathon, but given my history of injury I am hesitant to hike up the weekly mileage so aggressively.

It also doesn't help that the Internet articles, and those in running books, are all over the place when it comes to advice for building a solid base prior to marathon training. What I've described above is conservative as conservative can get, but even with that in mind I still have reservations about how my body will respond to this plan, which amounts to more running than I've ever done.

With that in mind I am still on track for another successful week. On Tuesday I made it home in time to strap on the old Garmin and such and run an easy and enjoyable 5km on my way to get Owen. Then, on Wednesday, I walked to work (6km total) and dashed out of work to run to Owen's school and a parent-teacher interview that was rescheduled since early December because the teacher was ill.

This 7.5km run was a bit frustrating. My Garmin would not lock onto any satellites and so I had to just push the start button and go or risk being late for the interview. I ran about 2km before the thing picked up a signal and then started giving me really odd readings throughout the run. Noticing that I was running a bit late I also pushed the pace a bit more than I would have liked and got there with exactly one minute to spare. However, because of the pace, my right knee was bothering me for the rest of the evening and continues to hurt today. I'm hoping that the day off will help it heal and allow me to stay on track for the next two runs, a short one on Friday and a slightly longer one on Saturday.

Also, my gym membership starts tomorrow and I may end up doing my Friday run on the treadmill! It's been over a year since I've used one and my hatred for these contraptions has been dulled by the passage of time; I actually look forward to getting on one again. That will also mean that I don't have to rely on the Garmin, which is in my doghouse at the moment for screwing me out of my prized metrics...

Of course, a large part of the reason for joining the gym was access to weight training equipment so that I can work on my legs and (hopefully) leave my patellar tendinitis issues behind me for good. I find my legs to be weak and I can't seem to get any real progress doing exercises at home.

A Weekend Packed With Accomplishments

Wow, what a weekend! Sometimes it’s actually a relief to be back at work, though equally rewarding to look back and be happy with all that was accomplished.

On Saturday the first thing I did was go for a run. I wanted to go somewhere between 8 and 10k, but ended up running a bit further because I misjudged the length of the route I had decided to take. As a result I ran further than I had since last summer, a total of 12km. My pace was decent as well, even though I am not yet concerned with it and don’t pay attention to it while running. It ended up being 5:39/km (9:06/mile), which is pretty good for me at the moment. The whole thing took 1:07:58 to complete and my right knee felt pretty good as well. I was worried that running that far, when my previous longest run since my surgery and layoff was 9km, would be bad, but in the end I feel fine. Must keep doing the exercises that seem to be helping…

The rest of the day was spent driving one kid to a birthday party, taking the other one grocery shopping, dismantling the Christmas Tree and putting all of that stuff away (a surprisingly time consuming task), preparing our skiing stuff for the next day, and taking Owen to his first indoor baseball practice of the year.

On Sunday we were off just a few minutes past 8am for our first cross-country skiing trip of the year. The weather was absolutely perfect for the kids’ first lessons, and for the parents’ own jaunt on the finely groomed trails. After two hours we all met up for lunch, where tonnes of food was consumed thanks to the packing of said massive amounts by the lovely Monica. After lunch I took Malcolm out on the trails while Monica went off with Owen. Malks was so good on the trails too! He got over his fear of downhills and showed off his new gliding abilities. He was so cute! I did a total of 10km of skiing, which was a decent amount for the first of the year. More imprtantly, the knee didn't bother me at all, which means I will be able to push a bit harder on subsequent trips and actually get a great workout!

After we got home I had to work on my bike to get it ready for the week, a task that is not always pleasant, but so necessary given how grimy everything gets during the winter with all the salt that gets put down on the roads. Not sure why I’m mentioning this here, but it does feel like yet another thing that got accomplished, and my bike ride to work this morning was very smooth as a result.

Whew! What a weekend… Next weekend looks to be much the same, except BOTH kids have separate birthday parties to attend. There just simply isn’t enough time to fit everything in.

A Couple of Runs and Squeezing a Tennis Ball

This week is almost at an end (well, the working week anyway) and I managed a couple of runs after skipping Tuesday's due to discomfort in my right knee (more on that later).

After walking to work on Wednesday I ran home for a total of 6.2k. It was pretty nice out, all things considered, though the city seems to be putting down way too much salt on the sidewalks for my liking, making everything all slushy and gross. My running was very slow and even because I had a pretty heavy backpack on, but overall I felt pretty good. The right knee gave me less trouble than I'd expected.

On Thursday I made it home in time to make a quick decision about fitting in another run before picking up Owen from his school. I ran a total of 6.8k and again felt pretty good. Though my pace continues to be super slow (as in right around the 6:00/km, or 9:30/mile range), I am not worrying about it right now. My focus is on listening to my body and slowly building up my weekly mileage. I really want to have a consistent year of running rather than the up and down, off and on sort of thing that happened throughout 2009.

As far as the right knee is concerned, I think I have found something that might help. As I continue to read up on all the potential causes of the dreaded "runners knee", I came across an article that talked about a potential cause that I hadn't encountered previously: lateral quad strength out of balance with medial quad strength. Everything else I'd ever read just referred to overall quad weakness as the culprit, and so I continued to work on hip flexors and glute meds, all the while completely ignoring the inner thigh. For the last couple of days I've been doing a very simple exercise that seems to be helping. I squeeze a tennis ball between my knees while in the sitting position. And let me tell you, those muscles are not very strong!

So far, the knee seems to feel better while running, but it's only been a few days. I look forward to trying other exercises for the medial quads, especially once my gym membership kicks in and I have access to all sorts of fancy equipment. I think the technical term for this motion is adduction, but I get it screwed up with abduction. Either way, I figure a little of both is in the cards. (I also look forward to having treadmills at my disposal, which will hopefully help in the process of gradually upping my mileage at a nice controlled rate.)

This weekend I have a run of between 8 and 10 kilometres on the books for Saturday, and then we are off to cross-country skiing for Sunday. Looking forward to both!

The Beginnings

I have been more than a little lax in keeping up with this blog, and I hope that this does not signal the beginning of the end because I am just as committed to running as I've ever been. My time, however, seems to be more scarce than ever before and so I have trouble working up the energy to fire up the computer to write something about my running travails.

That being said, I do have a few things that I should record on this little thing. First, I have been running and listening to my body. Six days into the year and at least I've made it that far without breaking that resolution! Case in point, yesterday I skipped my run because my right knee was bugging me. The fact that it was snowing and more than a bit windy helped in the decision making process, but I'm confident that I would have stayed home even if it had been perfect weather for running. Instead I did some stretching and hip flexor/core strength exercises, then rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes while watching the World Junior Hockey final. (Great game, BTW, and a big kudos to the team from the USA who coughed up a two goal lead with three minutes to play, but still won it in overtime.)

Today, I walked to work and am going to run home the 6 or so kilometres nice and easy. The knee problem has been a persistent pest for a good year now, off and on, and I am really hoping that I find a solution soon. I continue to work on my glute and hip flexor strength, but now I am also thinking that my quads are weak. When I look at my legs in the mirror and tighten the muscles (bringing the kneecaps up, just so you can picture it) I notice a significant difference in the size of the Vastus Intermedius on the left as compared to the right. That's the muscle right in the middle of the quad, and I'm guessing this might have something to do with it. I plan on correcting this problem as fast as is safely possible. My new gym membership starts in a couple of weeks, so that will give me access to all sorts of equipment to aid in this endeavor, but until then I will be refocusing on stretching and strengthening at home.

Also, we are starting our annual weekend cross-country skiing trips this coming weekend with the boys. They will be taking two hour lessons on their own this year, and this will give Monica and I a chance to ski on our own. I am very much looking forward to it since it is a lot of fun and an awesome workout as well! The next eight Sundays in a row, at the very least, will be dedicated to hitting the trails and so my weekend run will be confined to Saturdays.

I guess that's enough for now. Will try to rededicate myself to maintaining this blog as it does help in the motivation department. Here's hoping!

Back in the Valley

It's a hectic week leading up to the Christmas Holidays, as usual. I always mean to be prepared well in advance, but it simply never happens. With both kids in school and taking part in extra-curricular activities it seems that I have even less time these days than in years past.

Oh well. The stress of the Holiday Season is nothing new, but this is the first time that I am trying to keep up a running regimen on top of all the other responsibilities. Last year, although I'd been running for the entire year, December found me taking an extended leave due to one of my numerous injuries. This year my enforced time off happened earlier, and so I am trying to keep up with a consistent training schedule throughout the Holidays.

I ran a pretty uninteresting 4km on Friday, getting home after work and straight out the door to head towards Owen's school to pick him up. This time I didn't freeze on the way home because I took my jacket and fleece off inside the school and dried out a bit while collecting Owen. Much better than my Wednesday experience!

Saturday we were out shopping for Christmas and my right knee was feeling pretty tight so I didn't run. Therefore, I got up fairly early (for me, anyway) and went out for a decent run this morning.

I was hoping to run about 6km, but I decided to see how it played out with the knee and all. Feeling pretty good I decided to just keep running and headed down to Riverdale Park and onto the trails of the Don Valley. It was great to be running down there again! I managed a decent 7.5km and feel pretty good. We then took the boys out to a local restaurant for breakfast and I stuffed myself solid with their "big breakfast". No need for lunch given how big this thing was, and how late in the morning I ended up eating.

Reading and (hopefully) Learning

As I try and get "back" to the type of running that I was doing in the summer I find the process tedious and frustrating. I am not running nearly as much as I thought I would be more than a month into my return to running. My right knee continues to bother me a bit, though nothing like what I was feeling at the end of August when I was sidelined with this ailment as well as calf strains galore.

Anyway, I am really really trying to be more conservative and have set no goals for the year other than wanting to run a marathon next Fall. Even this goal is not set in stone, and I am not registered for any races whatsoever. In between the little bit of running that I have been able to accomplish I have been reading books on running like never before. The two most useful ones I've found are Hal Higdon's "Marathon: the Ultimate Training Guide" and Timothy Noakes' "The Lore of Running".

I am not, at this point, interested in any training plan per se, but I am very much in need of reinforcement of the concepts of not over training, listening to your body, setting realistic goals, etc. Both of these books do a great job of describing the common mistakes that rookies make, which ultimately lead to burnout or injury, and I have found more than a few that either I've already experienced or can relate to. As such, I am continuing to stay positive no matter how often, or how far, I am running on a weekly or monthly basis.

Case in point: Last week I ran 4km on Monday, then took the rest of the week off because I was fighting off some sort of throat ailment. On Saturday I went out for what turned out to be an awesome feeling 6km. It was easy, and I had a great time.

Sunday morning I was hoping to run again, but decided that my right calf was still feeling a bit too sore after Saturday's run and stayed home. Instead, I rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes and did some stretching.

I've also started doing a few new exercises that I found in the Noakes book, especially ones with stretch cords that work the hip flexors in a variety of ways. A particular one that I've never done before works out the front of the hip, where you have to lift your leg up until the thigh is parallel with the floor while having a stretch cord attached to the ankle. It's amazing how weak those muscles are and I immediately feel the difference in my knees after only a few days of this activity.

Anyway, I would love to be out there running 20+ kilometres every Sunday, but it is simply not possible at this time. Instead, I have to think super long term and get back to that sort of mileage when my body allows. I just hope that all of this new found wisdom doesn't leave me as the Spring racing season approaches and I am tempted, perhaps against my better judgement, to enter a race or two. I hope that I can race a few, but will not bank on it just yet.

I have also signed up at a gym around the corner as part of a reduced monthly rate plan through my work. The membership doesn't start until the middle of January, but I am doing this to have access to treadmills again, and to specifically work out my core and legs in order to get rid of these "swimmers legs" once and for all. Must strengthen to absorb shock better!

Strange...

Went out for a run after two full days off and happened upon something that always seems like it comes out of nowhere for me. After about 2km of easy running my left calf (i.e. non-wonky ankle side) started to feel a bit stiff, so I took a short walk break before starting to run again. I ran three more kilometres, taking brief walking breaks after each click, and tried to stretch the thing out, but to no avail. I had gotten home from work early enough to run over to the school to collect Owen, and was not particularly warmly dressed given that the weather was pretty mild. I wore shorts, and perhaps that was the source of the problem. After a total of 5km I finally got to the school.

On the walk home with Owen the calf really started to hurt. It didn't help that it started raining that cold, late autumn type of rain and I was definitely feeling chilled. Today it feels a bit better, but definitely no running for me this evening, as I had planned. Perhaps my calves are even weaker than I had suspected? I'd better start doing some strengthening in that area once this settles down.

Just hoping to run on the weekend...

Weekend Update

This is brief since the weekend is not yet over and I still have a lot to accomplish with the few hours that I have left.

On Saturday I went for a run early in the morning and had a decent time of it. I ran 3.5km with no breaks and felt pretty good, all things considered. Then I spent the rest of the day getting Christmas lights and putting them up on the outside of the house. It's amazing how long it takes to get that done!

Today I also went for a run in the morning. I didn't feel as pressed for time and so I decided to take it easy and took brief walking breaks after every kilometre. These really are barely walking breaks as I tend to take about ten or twenty steps and then run again. I ran a total of 5km and broke the 20km mark for the week (total of 20.5km). Not much of an accomplishment, but still...

I think this week I will actually try and take it down a notch and run a little less. I've decided to try and give my body a break every three or four weeks, and I might as well start now. The right knee, though getting better, is feeling a bit tight and can probably use a bit of rest.

Now I have to figure out how to install a garage door opener...

Oh yeah, we took the kids skating at Nathan Phillips Square this morning. It was fun! Malks fell and hurt his bum though. That was not much fun...

Couple Short Weekend Runs

This weekend was a lot of fun, and some running was accomplished as well. On Saturday morning I went out for an easy 3km run on my own since Monica had run with Owen the previous evening and the little guy was not up for another one so soon. I took brief walking breaks at each kilometre marker and felt pretty good. In fact, although not blazing or anything, I ended up running about thirty seconds per kilometre faster than intended. Afterwards we all headed off to Darlington Provincial Park and had a great hike through the woods and along the beach. The boys had a great time spotting dear tracks on the train, and leaving a long trail of driftwood thrown into the water along the beach.

Today Monica and I took advantage of the fact that the boys were with my Dad and drove down to Ashbridges Bay Park for another run together. It was great! We managed 4km with walking breaks, and really had a lot of fun. The terrain was really varied, which made for a soft ride: wooden boardwalk, some asphalt paths, wood chip sections, and even a bit of a dirt trail.

I finished the week having run five times, which is unusual for me, and feeling pretty good. It's so nice to be enjoying running again. My right knee continues to have a bit of pain under the kneecap, but I am continuing to do lunges and can feel my legs slowly getting stronger. I think as long as I do this, and stretch consistently, the knee will continue to improve. What will be difficult is holding myself back from running too much too soon, and too fast. That's why I am running with no goals at the moment...

A Couple More

Managed a couple more of the same type of jogs in the last few days. On Friday I went out on my own after work and did the same walk, run a kilometre, walk, run thing for a total of 3km. It was a bit faster, though still definitely in the slow and tentative range.

Today, Monica and I had an opportunity to run together and we did the same routine for another 3km. Things are feeling pretty good, and it would seem that the plantar fasciitis, which I've been battling for over a year, has finally healed. Those two and a half months of, over a week of which was spent in bed on account of the surgery, fixed that annoying issue I guess. Now I just have to be conscious of my foot so that it doesn't flare up again. That means doing some exercises.

I have also been doing more leg exercises as well, such as lunges and squats. The runner's knee on the right side isn't completely gone, but I can feel it getting better as my legs get stronger. I will not start upping mileage to any significant degree until I feel absolutely no pain.

I am also thinking of joining a gym around the corner from my office so that I have access to more weight training equipment than I do at home. It's a corporate deal thing that wouldn't start until the middle of January, but it would force me to work on something other than endurance. Also, if this does come to pass, I will be focused on lower body and core strength. As a former swimmer my abs are in pretty good shape, but the muscles that absorb shock as I run are poorly developed.

It's great to be back at running again! Slow and easy, but at least I'm back out there.

Out Again

Yesterday was both Remembrance Day and Polish Independence Day. The first is a chance for all to remember all those who served and or perish, or continue to serve, in the military. The second is a celebration of Poland becoming a country once more on November 11, 1918 after over 100 years of being partitioned between the likes of Prussia, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And I went running again...

Monica and I both had the day off on account of Remembrance Day and I spent the morning studying for yet another exam, but in the early afternoon we drove down to the Beaches and did our little run-walk thing on the boardwalk. It was sunny, a bit windy at first, but it was a lot of fun to be jogging together. Like last time I ran a kilometre, walked a little, ran another, etc... until I managed to complete 3k. I felt pretty good, all things considered, though the achilles tendon on the right side feels tighter than I'd like it to on account of the wonky ankle, and all. I'm not too worried about it since my ankle has always improved the more I use it, and so I am planning to do another 3k jog either on Friday or Saturday.

It's the start of the long road back to proper training, but at least it's a start...

Tentative New Beginnings

I've been out of touch for a while as far as this blog goes, but I just couldn't come up with any real reason to get on here and post something as long as I was laid up and unable to walk, let alone run, for a period of time. After my surgery I was the (un)lucky recipient of a blood clot in my leg that hurt like a mofo and promptly put me on my back for over a week.

As an aside, being on medication sucks...

Anyway, it took a while after that for the pain to go away to the point that I didn't feel like I was ripping the calf muscle right off of the bone, and then out of nowhere my wonky friggin' ankle flared up on me something fierce on Halloween weekend and I felt like I was once again taking two steps back. A full week went by and now, finally, I am starting to feel better.

I hadn't run a single time since August 26th, but managed to head out on Sunday morning for a very slow and tentative trial. I walked for a bit to "warm up" and then jogged for three kilometres with a bit of walking in between each click. It was slow, sure, but at least it "was". Twenty minutes or so of jogging and now on Monday morning I feel a bit stiff. Pathetic, I know, but I'm just hoping it is the beginning of my glorious comeback.

No goals at this point other than getting back to running regularly and relatively pain free. Here's hoping for a healthy rest of 2009, and a 2010 with lots of running and racing.

A Few More Days...

..until my surgery, that is. On Friday morning I will be going under the knife and am a bit nervous about the whole thing. It's not that big a deal really, given that it will be done under local anaesthetic, but still... I do hope that this helps in the long term as it will continue to keep me on the sidelines for some time yet.

In other news my right knee continues to hurt. It's been over a month (and that includes a DNS at the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon that is depressing to say the least) since I've stopped running, but this damned tendinitis lingers on. I've been to the physio and to many massage therapy sessions, and I'd like to say things have improved, but it's more of the one step forward, one step back variety. I'm still optimistic that this will eventually clear up and I plan on getting back to running towards the end of October.

That DNS was a pain in the ass though. Arrrgghhhh!!!

And oh yeah, while rebuilding my laptop I seem to have created an unwanted issue with the network adapter. Wireless still works, but no dice on the Ethernet port. It's been a pain to get this thing working, and no solution seems possible short of performing the whole reinstall process again and hoping that this time I happen upon the magic sequence of installing the multitude of drivers that may solve this issue. Why are laptops such a pain!

Trying not to Wallow...

...in self-pity, that is. As I look at the dark parts on the world map (see sidebar) getting more and more square with each passing day I am envious of this perfect running weather that end of Summer brings. Although I can't run right now, choosing to not inflict any more damage to my crappy knees, I've taken to rollerblading more than ever before. Instead of biking to work I make the 7-8km trek with a set of wheels strapped to my feet. It's been a great change of pace! Sure doesn't feel like a workout or anything, but I'm confident that my glute meds are getting used for perhaps the first time ever. This should lead to a better kinetic chain, and ultimately superior shock absorption for when I do return to running. That's the theory, anyway...

Other than that I've been busy with work and such, and getting the little ones off to their first week of school. Owen starts cross-country tomorrow, and he's been running home with me rollerblading by his side the last couple of days. I hope he has a great experience this year!

Update

Since I haven't been running, I haven't been blogging. The knee(s) (mostly the right one at this point) have forced me to take a major step backwards. Posting on this blog makes it more difficult to not be running, and so that explains why I've dropped out for a while. I am not running yet, though I have seen my physio and have a plan to get back to normal. It may take some time and I am not very hopeful of running the half-marathon later this month (big bummer, that's for sure). My current state of mind can be summarized with the word, "Whatever..."

I have started rollerblading a bit more, and even bladed to work this morning. I hope that this works out the right muscles to get my knee back in form, but I still feel pain below the patella when walking up and down stairs, and definitely when squatting down (as I have to do whilst tying one of my boys' shoelaces and such). I'm also doing more core strength stuff, as well as a bit more upper body weights. I hope to get to leg strengthening exercises once the knee heals because I really think that general weakness in the legs is a large part of the problem. Can't remember the last time I did any sort of lunge, for instance.

I do find it amazing that I've been running with knee tendinitis since February though! What an idiot...

Anyway, I have no idea when I will be running again. Until then I suspect the neglect of this space will continue. What's the point of keeping a running blog journal type thing when there's no running going on?!

Another Short Test

Seems like every run I do these days becomes a test of how the body, and more specifically the knees, will hold up. Tonight was no exception as I got out after dark for a late run. I had eaten a big dinner a couple of hours prior to heading out and didn't know how that would sit, but I really just wanted to go slow so I figured that, if anything, the full stomach would force me to stick with the plan.

I had been out for another rollerblade last night and my legs were a bit tight, especially in the hips. That's the spot that has to work to keep my knees from taking the brunt of each step's impact so, if anything, I was hoping I could feel those glute meds working.

For some reason I wanted a nice controlled environment to run on and headed towards the track. It's a familiar place now and I do all of the rollerblading there. No traffic, no unexpected holes in surface, so little chance of accidents. Given that it was dark I didn't want to risk doing something stupid.

I ran really easy and managed a total of 8km in 47:12 for an average pace of 5:54/km (9:29/mile). A couple of kilometres I picked up the pace a little into the 5:30s/km, but other than that it was all pretty steady around the 6:00/km mark. The heart rate definitely shows this to have been an easy run, coming in at 138bpm average.

It just remains to be seen how the knees feel tomorrow. A week ago I had a good run and felt fine afterwards only to wake up the next morning to really bad pain in both patellar tendons. Here's hoping...

Garmin don't lie.

Baby Got Back... to basics

I am considering changing the name of this blog to "Running, Weak Ass and All"... It's been a frustrating month, to say the least. I've gotten completely off track with my training as a result of knee pain that flared up after a calf strain initially stopped me in my tracks. My inclination to blog, likewise, has waned. I am NOT a happy camper, and have no interest in bitching and moaning on this site since I feel it is unbecoming. After all, I don't want to be banned from the blogosphere by useless repitition like these hosers. Instead, I've been trying my best to stay positive and to find a way out of this major funk.

So, what have I been up to? Well, I've seen the massage therapist to try and relieve the strain that is affecting my knees. He's loosened up my ITB and quads, and after each session I walk out of there with much less pain. However, I know that these treatments do nothing as far as a long term solution goes, and so I've been back on the hips and ass exercises with a vengeance. I've come to the conclusion that all my lower body pain is the result of a very weak Gluteus Medius muscle. Articles like this one abound, and I am a true convert.

With this in mind, my running has taken a back seat to other forms of activity. Most importantly I've dusted off my roller blades and have been out twice for nice long sessions to try and strengthen the Gluteus Medius and other stabilizing muscles of the ass and hips. Let me tell you, I know this is doing this right thing because within ten minutes I feel the burn in all the right places. It may take some time to get back to real running, but I think that getting this in order first is the right move. Once I am stronger I can get back I can learn how to run properly to engage these important stabilizer and, eventually, to building a proper base for next year's marathon attempt. Perhaps I, too, will eventually be in good enough shape to draw amusing pictures on the urban landscape with my GPS device.

The knees are still aching, but I have faith that once the ass is fixed, the rest will follow. Isn't that how that song goes???

"Free your ass,
and the rest will follow."

Hmmmmm....

For what it's worth (and this is only for my reference, I totally understand that) here are the two roller blading sessions that I managed last week: Friday and Sunday. Garmin was along for both and remains a trusted, honest ally, even if it offers no help in the ass-strengthening department.

Still Trying

Been off from running since last Friday, partly due to pain in the knee(s) and partly because there simply was no time. Baseball tournaments all weekend meant that I had to skip my planned long run whether I liked it or not. The fact that my knees felt like lead didn't help matters any.

So, long story short, running continues to be a mystery to me. I've been doing all the stretching and strengthening stuff that's supposed to help with the knees, and I've seen the massage therapist a couple of times, but getting to a relatively pain free and happy state continues to be my White Whale.

Tonight I went out for a jog and it wasn't too bad, all things considered. I didn't feel like doing any hills and just meandered through different neighbourhoods, watching people and running past houses where "the other half " (i.e. 2%) live. As far as the run went I will reserve final judgement until tomorrow and my first attempt at walking down the stairs. I managed 10km in 56:56.78 for an average pace of 5:41/km (9:09/mile). I'm bummed about the training plan, which was going so well for the first six or seven weeks, but has completely fallen off the rails in the last four. Other than that, life is good!

Garmin don't lie.

Trying to Go Faster Again

For a change of pace, literally I tried to change the pace a little bit tonight. This calf strain that sidelined me for a bit put a real damper on my training and I've been really stuck in a rut as a result. It's one of those things that makes one feel like running at a pace that doesn't resemble "jogging" is an unattainable dream...

After work we took the boys swimming at this nice outdoor pool that we've been to almost daily since we discovered it was open on the weekend. My little guys are a little afraid of the water (and as former competitive swimmers, both my wife and I have no clue how to teach non-swimmers how to get over it) so we just try and get them to have fun in and around the water. To my great delight they've both made great strides in the past few days, and so are we are all very enthusiastic about swimming. Anyway, after that my wife was kind enough to take the boys home and start dinner while I headed out for my run.

I am still feeling a bit weak in the right calf, but thought that after a bit of a warm up it would be good to do a few faster kilometres. Nothing approaching interval speed, but rather just some pace to get the heart pounding a little bit. It was hot and humid, and so I felt that the calf would be as warm as possible, thereby minimizing the chance of another cramp.

I ran the first two kilometres nice and slow and they felt good. I then decided to alternate faster kilometres with slow recovery splits. My first split of the faster variety was a bit quicker than I'd anticipated it would be at 4:24 (7:05/mile pace). I then ran a slow click, and then got into my second fast split. This time it was a bit harder and the calf was really feeling weak. I guess I babied it a bit and ran the kilometre in 4:31 (7:17/mile pace). This brought me to the hill leading out of the valley up Beachwood Avenue and I decided to run two slow kilometres since the hill was going to take a toll on the calf and I figured a bit more recovery was warranted. I then ran the third fast kilometre in 4:25 (7:07/mile pace). By this point I was really quite drained and sweating like never before. (I do not generally sweat very much, so when I do it comes as a bit of a surprise.)

In the end I ran a total of 10km in 54:35.98 for an average pace of 5:27/km (8:47/mile). The calf is alright, but we'll see if there are any adverse effects tomorrow. Here's hoping that it's all good and I can get back to training properly again. It was fun to just run a bit after all the jogging I've been doing. I realize that I like running, but hate jogging. Just seems pointless in so many ways...

Garmin don't lie.

Long, Slow, and Humid

As I type this there is a wicked thunderstorm happening right over my head. Well, I'm indoors, but the time between the lighting and thunder is zero at the moment and I am a bit worried that our house will get hit at some point. I suppose this has been brewing all day, given how humid it's been. We had a pretty big rain storm earlier, but right now it's like nothing that I've ever seen. The lighting is going off every second, though mostly cloud to cloud. It's like a fireworks show really.

Anyway, I did run this morning once more in my return from that pesky calf strain. Got up a bit later than I wanted to, so by the time I was out it was well past 8am and already hot and sticky. No real problem given that I wanted to run slow, but I was sure happy to have a bottle of Gatorade with me. I didn't bring any water, but did stop for a big drink at a water fountain in Taylor Creek Park. Other that that it was OK. Early in the run I had to adjust my stride a bit since I was feeling just a hint of that calf, but the tightness went away gradually. Towards the end of the run the outside of the left knee tightened up and I stopped a couple of times to stretch, which seemed to help make the discomfort go away for a couple of kilometres each time.

I ran a total of 20km in 1:58:57 for an average pace of 5:56/km (9:34/mile). The heart rate averaged out to 149bpm, raised mostly by the last few kilometres when I was really running out of steam. This evening, after swimming with the boys and then coaching yet another baseball game, the calf tightened up a bit more, which is worrisome. It may mean no more running until Wednesday, but I'll have to see how it feels tomorrow.

Garmin don't lie.

Running Again!

Just a short post since it is late and I am tired. I finally made it back out running after nine full days off on account of the calf strain. Happy to report that this was not an issue tonight at all! The knees felt kind of kinked, but I'm hoping that's just rust after the lengthy lay off.

I ran 10km in 57:50.84 for an average pace of 5:47/km (9:18/mile). Average heart rate was 143bpm, and overall the run was easy. The last couple of kilometres I felt a bit sluggish, and coming out of the Don Valley up Pottery Road I slowed down quite a bit, but still finished feeling pretty good. I certainly wasn't spent or anything and look forward to another run on Sunday. Hopefully a long one.

Garmin don't lie.

Changed and Waiting

So, I am taking a bit of a "forced hiatus". I will not be running until my calf heals. Also, I am now committed to running the Half-Marathon at this years Toronto Waterfront event on September 27th instead of the Marathon that I was originally hoping to complete. This loftier goal will have to wait until next year, giving me ample time to begin another training program with a much better base than the one I had starting the current regimen in early June. (Looking back on the numbers, I did not run nearly enough in April (105km) and May (64km) and perhaps that's why my calf self-destructed in the last week or so.)

That being said, I think what I am suffering from is a mild grade 2 calf strain. I do not feel pain low in the leg (which would indicate a torn Achilles) and I do not have any visible swelling or bruising (which would indicate a grade 3 strain), but I do have pain when walking (so that means it's not a grade 1 strain). According to what I've been reading this will take up to two weeks to clear up, and so I am going to wait patiently. Until then I will likely have little to say on this blog, and will take the time to pick up a few other things that I've been neglecting:

• Hip Flexor and Ass strengthening exercises (to get rid of this pesky runner's knee once and for all)
• Core strength (for this, too, has fallen off the map)
• Push Ups (can't believe I was able to do 100 in a row at one point!)
• Chin Ups (never got to that magical 20 in a row mark, but want to work towards that goal again)

All of that should make for a happier return to training. I have exactly two months to prepare for the race. I want to run this thing well, and the distance is no longer daunting, so as long as I'm healthy I should have a good shot at a decent result. I will continue to bike every day to work and back and use that as an opportunity to cross train. Though I haven't been in the pool since the middle of June I think I might also have to spend the cash necessary to get my membership renewed and get back at it. (Just have to find some money somewhere... Better check under those couch cushions and mattresses again.)

To cheer me up a bit I fall back on the numbers from the past month. In July I managed a total of 179.85km, which is a record for me. The first week of the month I set a new weekly milestone with 51km, and was on track to crush it during the last week. Small victories, but victories all the same.

Cheers! Enjoy the long weekend (if you are Canadian and get Monday off)! I'm heading out of town, will not be running, but rather trying to forget that sad sad fact. I'll also be seeing the same massage therapist that has helped me through numerous issues over the past few years, including a similar calf injury sustained last March.

Body Knows Best - Dropping to the Half

Well, it looks like my body will be the one who decides whether I run the Full or the Half in September. In fact, it will decide whether or not I run at all! This morning I went out for what was supposed to be a nice, easy 10k and had another setback. I was having a great time running along, minding my own business. The pace was not concerning me too much and I just ran on feel. It was just fun to be running properly again, and I took advantage of it. Also, I got out before work (which is a rare thing indeed for me) since I was preparing to help my Dad move some heavy old radiator down the front steps of his house to the curb. He'd arranged for someone to pick it up there, but they couldn't bring it down since their crane was not long enough. I was a little concerned about injuring myself while trying to move this 300lb cast iron thing, but I never would have suspected that I'd be hobbled long before I had that chance.

As I was crossing the Bloor St. Viaduct (that's the main bridge that crosses over the Don Valley and connects Bloor St. to Danforth Ave.) I felt a sudden sharp pain in my right calf that stopped me in my tracks. It came totally out of the blue, and is the exact same thing that I felt last Wednesday when I had to abort my interval workout. Now I am faced with the prospect of missing at least a week of running right in the middle of marathon training. Or perhaps I should start calling it half-marathon training...

BTW: thank you to all those who left helpful and insightful comments on my last post. It is very good to hear from experienced runners that my train of thought on this matter is rational and sound. I agree that there is a lot of value in just finishing a marathon (though I cannot speak from experience, of course), but given my history of bouncing from one ailment to another it's simply prudent to do the shorter race. Another year of running will give me the base I need to train and complete the marathon strong.

I guess my decision can be summarized by the phrase, "Respect the distance." I do.

I managed to complete 7.75km in 41:16.52 for an average pace of 5:18/km (8:32/mile). It was a good run up until that last metre! I ended up walking slowly to the end of the bridge and then using a payphone to make a collect call (a local one and all!) to Monica to plead for a pick up. She did, and I didn't have to walk all the way home. (Monica and Malcolm, if you are reading this, Thank you!) Now facing the prospect of at least a week off, and perhaps more, I am pretty bummed out...

Garmin don't lie.

A Wet Weekend, and a Run

It has been a really strange and wet weekend, and I don't even know where to start. We were out of town for Owen's baseball tournament in Ancaster, but staying about a half-hours drive away (for some strange and inexplicable reason the coach chose this location) in Burlington. We arrived Friday afternoon, and I skipped my usual tempo run since my right calf still felt like someone had punched it repeatedly. I wasn't too optimistic about running at all during the weekend either.

We had a nice time Friday evening, with the kids of the team and many of the adults (including myself) swimming in the hotel pool and generally having fun just hanging out. We'd also gone out to dinner as a team and I had to stop the kids after they'd each consumed numerous packets of sugar and got really hyped up. Let's just say that getting mine to sleep was not easy.

We woke up the next morning for our first game and came outside to find that our car had become the personal toilet for what seemed like hundreds of birds, all of which had come down with some sort of intestinal ailment all at the same time:

Then we played our first game, and unfortunately due to one bad defensive inning by our guys we ended up losing. Here's a shot of the team in the dugout:



We then returned to the hotel since our second game was not to happen until 3pm (the first was at 9am). In the end it never happened at all since the skies opened up and it just rained and rained and rained. Again the kids and adults played in the hotel pool and such, with yours truly taking full advantage of the sauna and hot tub on account of the calf cramp. By the time the evening rolled around we were all totally tuckered out.

I decided to try and run this morning and woke up to find my calf was not feeling too tight. I also found my boys in this sleepy state:



I then headed off to revisit a familiar site: the spit of land that surrounds Hamilton Harbour that all racers taking part in the famous Around the Bay 30k have to cross. It was a beautiful day for running, but I found the going rather tough right from the start. It was going to be a battle, and I decided to just go nice and slow. Here's a picture I took from the drawbridge that's made of that corrugated iron stuff one can look through to the water below, with Hamilton off in the background: (when running across this thing back in March it was really slick on account of the rain, but today I just used the sidewalk.)



Then I snapped another one at the halfway point from the beach looking back towards Burlington from whence I had come:



In the end I ran a total of 21km in 2:06:29 for an average pace of 6:01/km (9:40/mile). It was really easy cardio wise, but my legs felt super tight and sluggish. I was just happy that my calf held up OK. Now it feels a bit tighter than I'd hoped it would, but I am not planning on running again until Wednesday. Entering the last nine weeks of marathon training I am really hoping that this calf is the only and last setback I will have to face.

Unfortunately for the kids, the entire tournament ended up being rained out and we headed home having only played one game. There is talk of a makeup day sometime in August though. At least the kids got to play together a lot and hopefully they bonded as a team.

Garmin don't lie.

Major Abort

Just a quick note on my post from this morning in reference to my run on words: while on vacation I read a biography of Cicero (which was very good, BTW) and in there I learned that "books" from that period (first century BC) were written on long scrolls with no punctuation, no capital letters, no paragraphs or spacing. I can't imagine reading a sentence, let alone a whole book, in that format!

Anyway, to the task at hand...

The plan called for speed work today, and so off to the track I went with two things in mind. Number 1: I've been reading about the importance of step-back weeks in marathon training and that these are supposed to occur after every 4 weeks or so of hard training. This would make this a bit late for me, but looking at my training I've been adding mileage in a up a little, down a little, repeat type approach. Therefore, I've decided to step back not so much on the mileage, but rather on the intensity (at least for the intervals, or so I thought). And that leads me to point Number 2: I've also read something on the Runner's World Forum (in the 3:15 BQ thread since I, too, can dream) that interval pacing, no matter what distance, should be consistent.

Does everyone agree with this? What I take from this is if I am running mile repeats at 4:00/km pace (my theoretical VO2 Max pace based on a 45 minute 10k result), then my 400m repeats should also be at this pace, as well as 800s, 1000s, 1200s, etc... I've done 400m repeats at a faster rate before, so I figured to do them again at this slightly slower pace (roughly 1:37 per repeat) should actually feel rather easy. After all, last week's speed workout saw me run three one-mile repeats at this pace. Getting rest after every quarter-mile should help to make everything go smoothly, I reasoned.

I decided to run 12X400m repeats with about a minute of recovery between each. Rather than stand and wait out the rest (like I did in the heat and humidity about a month ago), I decided to jog slowly 200m between each rep.

Here is how I fared in the overcast and nicely temperatured climes of my local high school track:

1. 1:34.74 (3:53/km)
2. 1:34.45 (3:55/km)
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
6. ...
7. ...
8. ...
9. ...
10. ...
11. ...
12. ...

As you can see, this was a good workout, but 10 REPEATS TOO SHORT! Just when I was beginning to think that marathon training, though tough, is a reasonable endeavor for someone missing a ligament in the old ankle to attempt, something completely out of the blue stops me in my tracks. Towards the end of the second lap I felt a twinge in the right calf similar to what I experienced at the beginning of March whilst completing my first ever 24km training run. The only way to describe it is to say that it felt like a major cramp had come and gone and all that was left was the lingering after effects. I stopped and stretched for a bit, then got up and tried jogging, but to no avail. I ended up walking home very much disappointed in this turn of events.

I have no idea why this happened. If this was the result of this past weekend's race then one would think that my Monday recovery run would leave me hobbled. If my near crash after Friday's run (where I really felt spent and I'm sure my muscles were completely out of energy stores) is the culprit then why didn't my calf tighten up during the race? Let's just say I am almost as upset with the fact that I don't know what caused this and, therefore, am powerless to prevent it as I am with the calf issue itself.

In the end I ran a total of 3.1km (2k warm up, 2 intervals at 400m with 200m easy jog in between, and a feeble attempt at more jogging for another 100m or so) in 16:35 for an average pace of 5:22/km. 'Nuff said.

Garmin don't lie.

What The Hell Was That?

This was one of the weirdest runs I've ever been on, that's for sure. All of yesterday my knees hurt. I'm guessing those intervals were tougher on my body than I thought they would be. I took an ice pack with me to work both yesterday and today, icing periodically throughout the day. This morning the knees felt better, but there was definitely lingering pain in the right one going back to that scare I had a week ago when crossing the street and hearing/feeling something pop. So, you can see why I was a bit worried that tonight's tempo run might not go so well.

With all that being said, I was determined to get the run at least started and took off at an easy pace. The original plan was to run 2k as a warm up, then run between 6 and 8k at tempo pace (4:40-4:48/km, of 7:30-7:43/mile), and finish up the rest of the 10-12k run nice and easy. Within the first few minutes of running I was worried about just being able to complete the run itself at any pace. The right knee, which was bothering me more than the left, felt OK, but the left one was really tight and hurt like crazy. It felt as bad as it did during my short run on Monday when I had to stop every kilometre to stretch just to get through the first few splits of the 5k run. This time I also stopped after struggling through 1k and stretched. As I stood there wondering if I should try and continue or just walk home I had little hope of doing anything resembling a tempo pace.

After a couple of minutes I decided to try it and set off once more. My knee seemed to have responded to the short rest and it started to feel better, though not exactly great. I kept running until I had to stop at a red light, where I once again stretched for a bit. Upon starting up again I was surprised to find my knees warming up enough to allow a slight pickup of pace. I ran down towards the Queen Street entrance to the Don Valley trails, which brought me to almost 5k. Once on the trails I decided to try and go for it and picked up the pace to the desired tempo pace.
I was hoping to run for 6k at tempo pace, but told myself right away that I'd be pleased with making it through five. Let me tell you that by the time I hit 2k of the tempo portion of the run I was wondering if even 5k was going to be possible. As I continued down the trail I was dreading this one hill that I knew was coming up somewhere around the middle of the tempo part, but in the end I was able to crest it OK without dropping my pace out of the desired zone. After I completed the 5k tempo run I stopped running and decided to walk up the hill that is Beachwood Avenue given the knee issues. At the top I started jogging again to do the cool down portion of the run, and the knees once more seized up tighter than piano strings. It was not a pleasant end to the run, but I managed to complete the 12km run in 1:04:34 for an average pace of 5:22/km. The splits for the tempo portion were right on target:

1. 4:46 (7:41/mile)
2. 4:47 (7:42/mile)
3. 4:42 (7:34/mile)
4. 4:45 (7:38/mile)
5. 4:35 (7:23/mile)

In the end, as painful as it was, I consider this a successful run. I just hope that my knees loosen up for my long run on Sunday.

Garmin don't lie.

Intervals Again

On the hottest day of the year I went out and did something that's been rare in the past year of running: intervals. After an off day yesterday it was time to hit the track. (I did not swim because I am waiting for the UofT office of convocation to update the student records system so that the Athletic Centre can see that I am indeed a first year alum and, therefore, eligible for a decent discount on a membership. Tomorrow I will see if that is all doable and maybe get back to swimming again.)

Anyway, after biking home in the +31C (90F) plus humidity weather I was already pretty tired, but had been looking forward to doing some speed work for the first time in quite a while. I got ready and biked over to the track with a bottle of water and another of Gatorade as well as some apprehension over what I would be putting my body through. The plan was to run a warm up and then do 12X400m intervals with 90 seconds rest in between. I found a shady spot next to a small utility type building and parked my bike. This would prove to be a great resting place between each interval since the sun was still pretty strong in the early evening and it was definitely hot. I like the heat, but haven't had a chance to get used to it just yet. Workouts like this one should help in that department.

I ended up running only ten intervals because I felt a twinge in my right knee on the ninth one, but I still consider the whole workout a success. I was trying to stay at 4:00/km pace or faster (6:25/mile or so), which meant 1:37 per 400m. Here's how it all went down:

1. 1:33.90 (3:51/km)
2. 1:32.80 (3:48/km)
3. 1:31.80 (3:46/km)
4. 1:32.97 (3:49/km)
5. 1:34.52 (3:54/km)
6. 1:33.84 (3:50/km)
7. 1:31.65 (3:49/km)
8. 1:32.85 (3:51/km)
9. 1:35.92 (3:57/km)
10. 1:34.17 (3:53/km)

The average pace for for these intervals is somewhere around 3:50/km, or 6:11/mile, so it was definitely right on target and perhaps a bit too fast. I tended to start out each rep a little fast and then had to hang on as I came around the last bend and ran straight into a headwind. This was not an easy workout and I definitely felt a bit sick to my stomach towards the end, but that was partly due to the huge lunch I'd eaten and all the Gatorade and water that I had been drinking to try and stay cool. I think next time, heat or no heat, I will save the drinks for later in the workout so that it doesn't all slosh around inside my stomach so much. Also, my max heart rate ended up being 177bpm so I don't think I pushed myself to the absolute limit, which was good.

After the intervals I ran another 6 laps to complete the workout for a total of 8km, which was the distance planned for today. (I warmed up with 4 laps, or 1.6km and then ran 4km worth of intervals with those stationary rest periods.) In summary, a great workout. The knees are feeling it a bit tonight, but I've already iced and foam rolled a bit so I am hopeful that they recover for my Friday run.

Garmin don't lie.

Rhymes with Recovery

A short recovery run that was more of a struggle than it should ever have been. The knees both felt tight, but the left one was definitely the tighter one. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch, and slowed down even more from my already slow slow pace. Then things started feeling a bit better, though not perfect by any means.

I ran 5km in a slowest ever for me 33:01:44 for an average pace of 6:36/km (10:37/mile). The heart rate averaged out to 128bpm - like I said, it was slow and easy. But one wise man once wrote that there is no such thing as going too slow on a recovery run.

Garmin don't lie.

The Things We Do To Run

This may not count as anything all that crazy, in fact I think it's kind of normal, but as I was preparing for my evening run I had this thought that runners do a lot of stuff that the average person would shake their head at and wonder why it's even close to being worth it. What was it that I was doing, you might be wondering? Well...



Thaaaaaat's right! Shaving my knee. Oh yeah! Nothing like a hairless patch on a gimpy limb. Of course, I was doing this because my recent knee pain has lead me back to the good ole taping job that kept me on the road throughout the winter. I guess whatever muscles I had strengthened enough to let me forget about taping for the past two months have once more weakened and I have to get back on that wobble board.

Anyway, here's a weird looking after shot:


And that's another thing that made me laugh. Not only was I shaving my knee, I was also snapping photos of this non-event! And now I share them with you. Feel free to laugh and comment about just how stupid this seems. Or perhaps share something strange that you've done, or currently do, that allows you to keep doing the thing you love: run. I'd love to read about it.

So, yes, hairless knee and tape and I was off on my run. The joint actually held up better than I expected and so I just kept right on running along merrily, all the while thinking just how nice it is to be able to do this. Aches, pains, strains, and all those things are just signposts along the way. Thinking back to the state I was in two years ago, when walking to the corner store was an act of will and painful as all hell, makes me laugh at these ailments. Wouldn't trade this for the world.

Anyway, I managed 12km in a steady 1:06:07 for an average pace of 5:30/km (8:52/mile). The heart rate averaged out at 143bpm, and that felt fine. In fact, the run felt easier than the heart rate indicates, which is likely the result of the humid and relatively warm conditions. As I entered Taylor Creek Park at about the fourth kilometre I was disappointed to find the water fountain located there out of commission. By the time I got home I was totally parched. I also ran a slightly different route on account of the clouds of black flies on the trail and retraced my steps from the very first run I did with the Garmin last year when I got lost in this residential section. I didn't repeat that mistake tonight and got home just fine.

Garmin don't lie.

A Slight Scare

My usual Wednesday evening run has not been posted. Why? Well, that's the subject of this here post...

Yesterday morning started off like any other. Drag myself out of bed twenty minutes later than I'd intended, do the whole morning getting-ready-for-work-herding-kids-off-to-school routine, only to be greeted by said "slight scare" while en route to Owen's school bus. We were walking along, happily chatting and keeping a relatively brisk pace since I didn't want to have to deal with missing that bus. Everything was cool. As we neared the one major intersection that we have to cross on our way I noticed the light had changed to get us across. Given that this particular traffic light takes a long time to let people cross the major street I said, "Owen, let's make this light!" and he started running. I, too, started what I would describe at best as a trot when, on the second or third step, PPPPRRRAAAAANNNNGGGGGG! A pop in the right knee that was NOT good. I hobbled the rest of the way across and wondered what on earth all of this would mean for my marathon training. Sure, I've been dealing with numerous repetitive stress types aches and pains, but this was not one of those. This was what I guess you can call "acute". Nothing "cute" about it though...

So, no Wednesday night run. I did consider it, but then thought better of it. It's week 2 of marathon training! I don't want to miss any time at all, but if I have to I guess the beginning is better than towards the end. I iced and compressed, took some Ibuprofen against my better judgement (I hate taking pain killers), and kept my fingers crossed for the best.

Today, the knee feels way better and I hope that this was nothing more than a scare. I am planning to run tomorrow, though nothing speedy as originally I had wanted to do a tempo like thing.

I did swim today though. Again, I shook things up a bit and did the following:

500m warm up (7:12)
10X100m on 1:40 interval (managed between 17s and 20s rest each time)
500m cool down
total time of workout: 34:00

Not bad. Though a dude in the same lane told me that I should pass "on the outside". I gave him the old raised eyebrow, didn't have time to set him straight since this happened in the middle of my intervals, and kept going. Did he seriously want me to pass on the lane rope side? The words "douche" and "bag" come to mind... (also, "rookie", "novice", and "jackass"). I had no problems with this guy otherwise since he at least swam straight, but I guess he felt the need to edumacate me on the ins and outs of lane etiquette. Just wish he'd looked up the rules first...

Week 2 Starts Off Slow

So, I officially finished Week 1 of my marathon training, and although it did not involve any speed work or real tempo runs I still call it a success. I managed to run 41km, which ended up 9km above what I set as my bare minimum. For the curious I made up the extra distance by completing the "optional" 5km run on the Monday (I don't count these runs into the projected weekly total mileage), being forced to extend a 10km run up by a couple of kilometres in order to get home in time for Mon to leave for work on time, and then running an extra couple of kilometres on my long slow run yesterday since I was feeling alright to do so. I recognize that even this weekly mileage is on the low side as far as marathon training goes, but I am somehow mentally more confident in being able to crack the 40k mark in the first of sixteen weeks. Here's lookin' atcha, 50k!

The second week started today with another "optional" 5km run. I call them optional only so that I don't feel too guilty if I have to miss it on account of being sore after the Sunday long run, but in reality I don't plan on missing these recovery jogs if I can help it. I think they speed up the recovery more than sitting on the couch ever could.

I ran nice and slow and kept the heart rate really low. The 5km took me 29:53 to complete for an average pace of 5:58/km (9:37/mile). The average heart rate ended up at 133bpm, which was good given the fact that it was quite warm out. I generally like the heat of summer and hope that this year is not an exception. A couple of days in real heat spent outside and I acclimatize fairly well. Bring on the heat, I say! All this "below seasonal" stuff cannot end soon enough for me.

The knees still feel tight, but I think they are slowly getting better. I am really hoping to hit the track for some mild speed work this Wednesday, but that will be up to these wonky joints. As far as the ankle goes, I haven't been talking about it at all in a long time because it seems to be holding up quite well. Part of me doesn't want to jinx it and so perhaps that explains the lack of bloggage on that subject. Here's hoping this little aside doesn't kill the plan...

Garmin don't lie.

Good Morning, Good Morning

I actually managed a morning run before work! It is a real novelty for me and I have not been good about running in the mornings, but today I knew that I wouldn't be able to run in the evening (dinner plans) so I absolutely had to do it before work if I was going to do it at all. I went to bed pretty late (as usual, and the reason why morning runs are not common for me), but I set my alarm for 5:40am. I figured if I slept through it then I'd be OK with that too. Instead, I woke right up and after about thirty seconds of indecision got up and got ready. I was out the door and running at 5:55am.

The weather was awesome - no wind to speak of and about +10C. I saw a handful of other runners out there and that was cool. The run itself went well and again I was going for the low heart rate thing rather than focusing on speed. I still feel tight in the knees and so keeping things slow and steady for a bit is a good form of active recovery while I build back my mileage during the early weeks of marathon training.

I ran along the Danforth, across the Bloor Viaduct and into Cabbagetown until I entered the Don Valley trails via Riverdale Park West. I then headed back north in the silence of the morning, which was broken only by the traffic noise from the Don Valley Parkway at spots where that highway became visible from the trail. Towards the end of the run I had to climb out using Pottery Road and my heart rate went up quite a bit for a spell, but I was OK with that because it settled back into the mid 130s right after I crested the hill.

In the end I managed 10km in 1:03:40 for an average pace of 6:22/km (10:14/mile). My average heart rate was 133bpm and so I have to call this a successful run. The knees felt stiff the entire way, but it never really got worse so that's a good sign. Given that it was an early morning run the muscle stiffness and such was not exactly unexpected. I iced right afterwards while eating breakfast and stretched throughout the day. Hopefully my knees will feel even better for Sunday's run. Also, the Garmin is once again cooperating, or at least seems to be, though I did hold my breath for a moment when plugging it into my laptop. Yay for stats!

Garmin don't lie.

Hodge Podge of Info

Could this be my first ever bullet list blog post for the sake of brevity?

• Yes.
• I swam this afternoon at lunch: 1500m, 22:20.
• I upgraded both the Garmin Training Centre software and the firmware on the Forerunner 305. Hopefully this will eliminate the issue of disappearing workouts. Thanks to all who left tips in the comments section! (This all will be tested on tomorrow's run. Keep your fingers crossed!)
• The knee is feeling better and better as I continue to ice it regularly and stretch the hamstrings and ITBs. I think my lack of a cooldown after the 5K race is to blame for the tightness.
• Marcy has left the building. (Please join me in a collective "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!", or for those of European background please feel free to whistle.)
• My slow 8K run (yeah, the one that my watch pooed out without warning) has opened my eyes to heart rate training and I am curious to know what others think of the concept that precludes doing any training in Zone 3, roughly 140-160bpm. That's where I've been doing most of my training, and perhaps it explains why I've seemingly been bouncing from one injury to another.
• With that in mind I've been doing some research and found a good website that can help me figure out my target heart rate zones, VO2 Max threshold, and appropriate training paces. Check it out here, though it may come as no surprise to many "in the know". It was pretty cool to see that my VO2 Max, predicted based on my recent 5K result (where I ran pretty much as hard as I could), generated training paces that seem right on for how I've been training.
• And lastly, I've been running in my new Asics GT2140s and have found them to be quite good. Way more cushioning than either of the Mizunos that I've been using all year, and the arch support seems to be better as well. It is early in the game, but I really hope that these shoes are "the ones" since my foot seems to be getting better. In fact, I totally expected my foot to stiffen up something fierce after the 5K race, but instead it has continued to improve. I'm thinking it's the shoes until I find otherwise.
• And lastly lastly, for real this time, I have also modified my training plan to something that seems more doable than the FIRST plan upon which I had based my previous summer running goals. I am not accomplished enough to attempt the FIRST plan yet and must focus a bit more on building mileage rather than speed. Perhaps someday I will be able to take a shot at a target time (read "BQ"), but for now I just have to be satisfied with finishing. Strong though, not "just" finishing. I don't want to crawl across the finish line simply for the privilege of calling myself a marathoner.

Lost

This has never happened to me before, but recently my Garmin has given me errors when I've plugged it into my computer. Tonight I received the same error message, but upon attempting to sync up the run that I had just completed mysteriously disappeared. Checking the watch produced the same miserable result, even though after finishing my run I checked out the final pace and time, and I sure as hell know I ran. Anyway, I hope that this doesn't become an ongoing problem because I like my stats...

The run, without any proof, was nice and slow. I wanted to protect the knee, which was still feeling a bit off, and I also figured I'd try to run in the low heart rate range after reading somewhere that my typical Zone 3 workout (140-160bpm) was not only to be avoided, but to be avoided ALWAYS. I have to do more reading on this, but for tonight it was good to stay below 140bpm the entire way. In fact it was a good source of motivation and I really didn't care about my pace at all. Whenever my heart rate would trickle up to 140bpm I would immediately slow it down a bit.

In the end I managed 8km in (what I remember from the watch) 49:27 for an average pace of 6:10/km (9:55/mile). I definitely held the heart rate in the mid 130s, and the knee was tight but felt better than two days ago. My worries are now transferred from my knee to my Garmin...

Cement Knees

I've been busy and unable to really update as much as I would like, so here I am writing about a run the day after it has happened. After more than a full week off following the Ottawa 5k, partly due to the pain in my left knee that seems to be ITB related, I made it out for what was the first in a long series of training runs leading up (hopefully) to my first marathon at the end of the summer.

Lets just say this was NOT what I expected to feel like after all that rest. As I started out at a slow jog it felt like someone, somehow, had injected both of my knees with contact cement.

In short: Not. Good.

Perhaps timely is this article from today's New York Times that preaches the benefits of the run/walk method in training, leading to not only injury free running, but also PRs among seasoned marathoners. Hmmmm. Perhaps there's something to this, though I would have to beat my competitive brain into submission in order to even contemplate such an approach. That being said, maybe if I at least incorporate short walk breaks on what will be those long training runs in the 30K+ range I may give myself a better chance to arrive at the starting line on September 27th ready to do the whole thing without walking at all. The weird thing about the article though is that it seems these people with their new PRs are taking walk breaks during the race itself. Anybody out there training using this method? I haven't read any running bloggers who use this and am curious to know what traction this run/walk method has among serious and seasoned marathoners.

Anyway, the run was painful and the knee was not cooperating. More rest may help it, sure, but at this point I think a trip to the massage therapist to release the ITB and associated bits and pieces may be in order. I managed to maintain a really slow and steady pace over the whole 5k, completing it in 30:00 at 6:00/km pace (9:39/mile). I hope my body decides to wake up soon and lets me run properly again. At least the foot isn't any worse off from the race or the rest...

Garmin don't lie.