New Bike! - and a run home

Yesterday was a big day (in a small way)! I finally bit the bullet and got a new bike. All winter I've missed riding to work since my once trusty steed of the past 10+ years has disintegrated before my eyes and became less reliable than public transit. (Ouch, sorry old buddy, but the truth hurts!)

After some deliberation, and spurred on by the coming of warmer weather, I went to perhaps the best bike store in the city and had a bike built. It's a touring frame built up as a single-speed with a flip-flop hub. I've never tried cycling on a fixed gear, but look forward to trying. The fixed gear option will also mean that no matter how cold it gets I will not have the same freezing issues to contend with that my old bike and it's freewheel was susceptible to. Here's a glamour shot:



I also got some strength routine stuff done in the evening, but that is much too dull to go into...

Today I ran home from work. It was a good easy run and I was quite pleased with how my foot felt. I think that the massage has already paid off a little and I look forward to more torture on Monday afternoon when I go back for a second helping.

I ran 7km in 37:26 at an average pace of 5:20/km (8:36/mile). My average heart rate was 147bpm, but the second half of the run was a bit harder since I chose a route that took me straight up Broadview Avenue, a bit of a long if not terribly steep hill. All in all I am quite pleased with this run as I prepare for the longest training run ever (for me) on Sunday: 24km! The plans are not concrete, but I may be joined by a friend if he feels up to it. He's been a bit sick lately, but still wants to run the Around the Bay race and this would be a good test (or so he says). I told him to take it easy, but if he does want to run with me it will at least slow me down, which is a good thing. On a good day he can kick my ass, but in this case I might be in a position of hurting him via a faster than acceptable pace.

Oh yeah, I've also crossed the 200k mark for the year!

Garmin don't lie.

Acting Conservatively, Feeling Guilty

I'd say it's fair to place me left of centre as far as most things go, liberal if you will. So it is not in my nature to play anything on the conservative side (except when it comes to money, where I am ultra risk averse). Last night I was all set to go for my planned 6k run, had the Garmin primed to go, shoes lined up, the whole bit. Then, at the last minute, I totally bailed on the run on account of the soreness in my foot and felt appropriately guilty for the rest of the evening. Earlier in the day I called my physio and now have an appointment to see her, but not until March 25th since she is away for three weeks (bummer!). I could have run since the pain is what I would describe as manageable, but I didn't because I was worried that if I did run then my planned 20k this weekend would have been jeopardized. I am determined to keep running, whatever it takes (and I think it will take slowing way down).

Naturally I am a little depressed by this whole thing and hope that this wonky appendage fixes itself in short order. It is curious that I am left leaning in most things and that all my issues seem to be localized to the right foot/ankle. Shouldn't it be my left ankle and foot that cause all the issues since I am "leaning" in that direction? Anyway, I didn't run and hate that like you wouldn't believe.

Today I decided that another pool running experiment was in order and I headed over at lunch for a half-hour of struggling up and down the lane. It was fun, I guess, but as I "ran" I thought to myself that there was no way in hell anything approaching a "runner's high" was likely to occur when performing this type of exercise. I just hope it helps me get back to running.

Tomorrow I am planning on running home from work again, but will definitely make it super slow. I think I've been going too fast for this foot recently, even though my pace is nothing to write home about. That's why I have to see the physio to see what can be done so that I can start running faster and not just longer.

Tonight I also did another strength routine. I think I have to up the reps on the sit ups and push ups, but the chin ups are still pretty hard. The squats are not difficult, but I am afraid of doing too much too soon given the whole wonky appendage issue(s).

A New Activity

Today I went for what was supposed to be just another regular swim during lunch. I was planning to do at least 1500m, but was also holding out hope that I would have enough mental stamina to endure the boredom and crank out a full 2000m. Once I managed to get out of the office and made it to the pool I must admit that my motivation was seriously waning. Standing in the nice warm shower rinsing off prior to going on deck I almost totally bailed on the whole swim idea. I'm glad that I didn't for otherwise I would never have had the chance to try...

POOL RUNNING!

When I got out on deck and saw all those people swimming laps I was not interested in just doing the same old thing. I thought back to a comment that was left on one of my posts a few months ago when a chiropractor (and fellow blogging runner) recommended I try this while my foot kept me off the road. Last night my wife made the same suggestion, for the same reasons.

Well, lo and behold the rack of floating belt thingys caught my eye and I stood there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. Part of me felt a little weird contemplating the pool running thing. I'd never gone to a pool and voluntarily gone in the "slow" lane. I am a pretty strong swimmer and am usually the fastest in the lane. Running would pose many challenges, not the least of which was my fear that I would get in people's way and piss them off.

However, that didn't stop me and I strapped on a floating belt and went to work. Almost immediately I noticed that this was harder than I thought it would be as my heart rate jumped up and I started breathing harder and harder. Technique is not a word I can use to describe what I actually did, but I had a lot of fun. It was difficult to stay upright and keep my shoulders relaxed, that's for sure. I think my traps got more of a workout than I expected.

Although it took me somewhere between 4 and 5 minutes to do each 100m (two laps of the 50m pool) I still ended up passing two or three people. My fear of getting in their way was unwarranted. And no, the people I passed were NOT pool running. Swimming? Perhaps...

I "ran" for almost 30 minutes and will likely do this again. Any tips on technique would be much appreciated as I don't want to create new problems doing an activity that is designed to fix an existing one.

This evening I did another strength routine that consists of the following:

• 3 X 25 crunches on a yoga ball
• 3 X 25 push ups with feet up on the aforementioned ball
• 3 X 15 squats against the wall with the ball
• 3 X 8 chin ups (no yoga ball as I've yet to figure out how it can be incorporated)

Then I did some more hip flexor exercises and stretched for a while. I hope the foot lets me run tomorrow night, but I am fully prepared to skip it if I have to.

And lastly, I loaded up my Garmin stats into BIMactive and will check out how this site works. Thanks Marcy for the tip! I do like the statistics summary for my year-to-date running, and they look like this:


Don't know what the whole difficulty level thing means, but I am worried that my competitive nature would use this for evil rather than good, and end up with more injury, so I will try to curb my curiosity for the moment.