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...

Swimming Again

Not really all that much to report, and it's getting a bit late and I'm a bit tired so this will likely be a short post. I went for something a little different at the pool this afternoon since the straight 1500m swims have gotten so boring. I set my watch for 3:30 intervals and did 10X200m for a total of 2000m. After each rep I had between 37 and 45 seconds rest, so that means I was swimming a bit faster than the usual 1:30/100m pace, and that was good. A couple of slow people in the lane were not exactly helping out either and I had a bit of an altercation with this one guy who kept getting passed by yours truly and everyone else in the lane, yet he refused to swallow whatever pride he had (along with the chlorinated water that he seemed to ingest with every attempt at a breath) and move over to a more appropriate lane speed-wise. He also had this rather strange serpentine stroke that took up a good three-quarters of the available space so passing him was always a bit perilous with other swimmers heading the other way straight towards me. On one of these occasions I had to squeeze right beside him and ended up pushing him right against the lane rope in order to not collide with the oncoming traffic. I did manage to leave a long scrape down the side of his leg with my fingernails, and no, I did/do NOT feel bad about it.

Tonight was a bit of a hectic night with yet another baseball game to coach. The kids played great and we pulled out a come from behind win, which was nice. More importantly, some of the kids that have been struggling at the plate got some awesome hits. Others made terrific plays in the field that surprised everyone, especially themselves.

By the time I returned home there wasn't time for much other than grabbing some food and icing my knees. I am pretty much finished that and would like to do some light stretching when they warm up. My knees are both feeling a bit off, likely from all the biking and sitting I've had to do at work, but I hope that tomorrow they feel better. Even though it's closing in on 10pm I'd like to think that some sit ups and push ups may still get done...

Is It Even Worth It?

I wonder, as I drag my sorry ass out of the office and up to the pool, if it's even worth it. Not swimming, that I think is a good thing, but rather posting about it. It certainly is good cross training, though I fear I do too little of it. But since last September my lunch time swims have pretty much been the same - 1:30/100m pace no matter what the distance. Case in point: today I managed 1500m in 22:22. I suppose that's a shade under 1:30 pace, but just a shade. That being said I am not swimming to get faster at swimming. I am swimming to get faster at running.

The other thing that I absolutely have been meaning to do, but never seem to find the right time to start, is strength training. Sure, I will do the occasional sit ups, push ups, and chin ups, but there is no consistency with those workouts. And I have not been able to incorporate any leg strength exercises for a couple of reasons: 1. my legs hurt after running and I need the rest; and 2. my legs hurt after running and I don't think it's wise to kick them while they're down.

How does anybody do leg strength stuff between runs? Or perhaps you do it on the days when you run? If so, do you do it before or after your run? I'd like to start doing some basics like lunges and squats, and I guess I should get back into a daily routine of hip flexor and butt strengthening exercises too. It all just seems too much to handle, and I'm only in the first week of marathon training. Yikes!

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.

A Little Concerned

Too much stuff going on so this post will have to be short, though not sweet. I skipped my 5k run yesterday since I was still feeling a bit of pain on the outside of the left knee. The run got pushed back to this evening instead. It was a late run since I had baseball practice to coach and then Owen's Spring Concert at his school to go to. By the time I got out it was closing in on 9pm. The weather here has been pretty humid and hot the last couple of days, and although I will never complain about the heat I can tell that my body is not yet acclimatised.

The run was crap. My knee is not better, my pace was slow, and it did nothing for my confidence heading into the race this Saturday. I managed the 5km in 29:36 for an average pace of 5:55/km, or 9:31/mile. I definitely do NOT feel speedy and have no idea what to expect when I line up at the starting line on Saturday evening.

Now it's late, I have not yet packed for our trip to Ottawa, nor do I have the kids' stuff all ready to go. We are driving tomorrow and it's stressing me out a little bit since I really want to miss rush hour traffic if at all possible, especially with a 7 and 4 year-old in the back seat.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. I did get to the pool this afternoon and swam 1000m in 14:53.

Garmin don't lie.

A Missed Run, and Swimming Up

Last night I had planned on a nice easy 3k recovery sort of run, but things kind of forced that to not happen. It was Owen's swim-up ceremony from Beavers to Cubs, and the whole process is quite involved and lengthy. The boys had a great time, though, which is the most important thing. Even though Malks is too young to even be a Beaver he got involved in the ceremony and a couple of the games afterwards. It was very cute watching him run around trying to keep up with the big kids, and Owen did a fantastic job of watching out for his little brother the whole time. I'm so proud of both of them! Here's Owen after his swim-up, his Beaver uniform now off, and waiting to get his Cubs woggle for his scarf, awesome hat head and all:


Since I didn't run last night I really didn't want to miss my swim this afternoon. Even though I felt very lethargic I forced myself to go and in the end had a good swim. I managed 1500m in 22:21 and it felt pretty easy. I have to keep up this swimming a couple of times per week since I think this has already paid off in my cardio and in letting my legs rest between runs. On top of that, as long as this plantar fasciitis continues to stay like an unwelcome guest I have to manage my running very conservatively. I'm not sure how much I will swim throughout the summer, but that's still a month or so away when my membership expires and I have to make the decision.

Later in the evening, as I watched Roy Halladay manhandle AJ Burnett and the Yankees like A-Rod manhandles a syringe (not to mention blonde ladies of the night), I also did some chin ups (3X9), sit ups (3X50), and push ups (3X35). I have to get back on the upper body stuff for it looks like that's the thing that falls off first when I get busy. Jays are now 23-12 on the season. The Yankees? NOT! And thanks to the Phillies beating the Dodgers as well this makes Toronto the first team to reach 23 wins on the season. Hope they can keep it up!

Going the Distance

Today I did make it to the swimming pool after a two week absence and managed 1000m in 15 minutes. It was a struggle mentally to go, I'll be honest. I very much felt lethargic and didn't really feel like swimming. However, last night I had one of those classic mid-night wake ups that may keep me from running for a couple of days: 2am CALF CRAMP! I haven't had one of those in years, and it wasn't fun to get reacquainted. Now my calf feels like there is still a bit of a lump in there and I don't want a recurrence of what happened back in March when my calf decided to force me to take a couple of weeks off.

In more interesting news, I did receive an email from the race director for the Sporting Life 10k in response to my inquired regarding the length of the course. Since so many of my fellow runners seemed to have measured significantly longer distances on their Garmins, and the MapMyRun method also produced a longer course, I emailed the folks at the race to ask about their measurement specifics. Here's the response, for your reading pleasure:

"After every race we receive a fair share of emails from GPS users stating that they ran a course that was long. You can be assured; the Sporting Life10k course is indeed 10k. There are a couple reasons your Garmin would read long:

1) When we measure our course, we always take the shortest line possible, where as runners tend to run in the middle of the road or weave to avoid slower runners

2) Garmins, while an incredibly handy training tool, aren't the most accurate tool around. When it comes to accurately measuring a course, nothing beats a good old fashioned bicycle and a Jones counter. I wish GPS units were as accurate as the Jones counter method since it would save us most of the 10hours it takes to measure a 10k course (don't ask about how long it takes to measure a marathon).

Our course was measured by Chris Fagel (Course Director) and Bernie Conway (IAAF/AIMS Grade A measurer for all of North America, who's list of measured courses includes the marathon course for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics). Our course certification # is ON-2009-020-BDC.

Also, if the course was 900m long, the 28:13 ran by Moses Macharia would have been closer to a 25:50... a world record for a road race 10k by over a minute. Moses ran a great race, but not that great :)

Hope this helps. Please forward to your Garmin wearing friends."

Not sure where he got the "if the course was 900m long" part, but I'll take this reply as authoritative and now begin to question just how accurate my Garmin is when it says I'm running at a good pace on a training run.

As far as forwarding the information to my Garmin wearing friends? Done, and done.

A Busy Busy Thursday

Today was super busy on my end, but I still managed to get some exercise in. This morning was spent with the younger son as he had an appointment that I had to take him to, and we had a lovely time. It's so nice to just hang out a bit sometimes, even if there is some other stuff that gets in the way. I really should just take a half vacation day here and there when there isn't some other pressing reason...

Then, after I dropped him off at daycare, I sped off to the pool for a swim before going into work. I was one of the first out on deck and got to swim through still water for a few hundred metres before others started jumping in. It was awesome! I managed 1500m in 22:31 and headed off to the office.

The afternoon was also quite busy as things at work have really ramped up recently. I am also studying for a professional certification exam at the moment, so time outside of work is tight as well. On top of all that I had my second baseball practice with the team this evening. It went quite well, the kids were happy, the parents were happy, and our first game is this Saturday.

This evening, as I watched the Jays win their fifth series in a row to start the 2009 season over the Texan Rangers I managed to do the old strength routine. 3X50 sit ups, 3X35 push ups, and 3X8 chin ups. I also did most of the ankle/foot strengthening routine, which I have to post about sometime. It's pretty involved and takes a long time to complete, which explains why I haven't had the time or energy to write about it. Some of the things I have to do are difficult to describe, so a camera and pictures will have to be involved. It will be time consuming to do this post, I can tell, but I'd still like to manage it.

Now, back to reading up for next week's exam.

T-Ball Practice for the Littlest One

This evening was Malcolm's first ever T-Ball practice, and it was a blast. I really hope he enjoys playing this year and has a great time while learning all the important things - sportsmanship, sharing, cheering, making mistakes, getting better, etc. He's so cute (though I recognize I am totally not objective here)!

(Gotta love that ready position!)

As far as my situation, the cold is almost gone. I say almost because it is lingering in that ultra-annoying stage where I feel like I am constantly in an airplane and my ears just won't pop. Even swimming this afternoon at lunch didn't seem to help much. I managed 1500m in 22:42, but the airplane seems to work under water for some strange reason.

After the T-Ball practice I managed another strength routine consisting of 3X50 crunches on the yoga ball, 3X35 push ups with the yoga ball, 3x8 chin ups without any yoga ball. This is a short and sweet routine that seems to be working pretty well for me. I absolutely have to involve some leg strengthening stuff, but given that I have a lot of exercises and stretching to try and cope with the plantar fasciitis and (to a lesser extent) the lingering hip and runner's knee I can't really start anything right now. Tomorrow I plan on heading out for a nice 5k and if my body cooperates I would like to pick up the pace a little bit for at least a small portion of it. Less than three weeks to go until the Sporting Life 10k, and even if I am running this one for fun only it would be nice to go a bit faster than training pace.

It's a Bit Hectic Right Now

Man, the time is flying by and I can't seem to find the energy to do much these days. Between the demands of two energetic boys and things really picking up at work there's not much time to cope with my foot pain, running, and all that stuff. I've been very diligent about doing my stretching and exercising and such and I hope that all of this will help the plantar fasciitis to finally start it's long awaited journey off of my right foot. I am sort of planning to do a post on what exactly I am doing in the next little while since I think it might be of interest to anyone who is either suffering from plantar fasciitis or this other thing I just learned about (and think I have) called sesimoiditis, but I simply don't have the time right now.

Today was one of those busy busy days, and the weather has been so crappy this week that it somehow makes things even more difficult to deal with. The gear I have to wear and trek around with in order to bike to work is such a hassle and I can't wait for those warm sunny days when I can just jump on the bike with short and t-shirt (and for the kids out there, a helmet of course), but for now it's a matter of staying warm and dry. I did manage to get myself back on the bike at lunch and jumped in the pool for a quick 1000m in 15 minutes. I wanted to do more, but had a prior commitment to sit on a panel on information policy for an old professor of mine who asked me to speak to her class. Crazy! I guess that makes me an adult or something...

Tonight I did the whole strength routine and managed a good amount of stretching and strengthening of the foot. Actually I am working on both feet since I figure if I fix one then the other will take its turn to kick me in the ass. Tomorrow I will try to get a short run in (5k range), though I have to attend a coaches meeting for the first of two baseball teams that I will be coaching this year. Just when I thought things might get a little less busy! Should be fun, though. I never played this sport, and coming from Eastern Europe baseball was a real oddity to me when my family arrived in Canada, but now I think it's great. BTW: the Jays had a nice comeback win tonight, so it's all good.

Month in Review

On this last day of March I thought it was worth a look back and take stock. As I started this month of running things were going pretty well, though my plantar fasciitis was once again flaring up and prompted me to make an appointment to see my physio to try and get to the root of the problem. As she was away my assessment had to wait until the 25th and so I had to run and manage as best I could on my own. I managed to up my long runs to 18k and 20k without any problems, but ran into some issues when I attempted 24k. Due to my lack of proper hydration and nutrition in the two days leading up to this milestone run I paid the price with major calf crampage that would pretty much ruin the last two weeks of planned training leading up to the Around the Bay 30k. After getting some massage therapy the calves loosened up just in time, but on the short test run before the race a new problem crept up in the form of hip/ITB pain on the left side. I didn't let this stop me and ended up making it to the starting line with the goal of just finishing the 30k, which I did despite some major pain. In short: mission accomplished! I'm also a little wiser for the effort.

I also managed a new monthly high in mileage by running 135.6km.

Now, a couple of days after the race, I am pleasantly surprised to find that my expected pain, which I though would be debilitating, is not that bad at all. The biggest thing still lingering from the race is my plantar fasciitis in the right foot, and the hip is feeling like it's pretty much back to normal. Is it possible that I shocked it back into shape? I don't know, but I really don't care.

Today I biked up to the pool at lunch and swam a pretty decent 1200m in about 18 minutes. It was interesting that my shoulders, especially the traps, were tight from the race. I guess when you run that long for the first time your whole body gets a workout at the end just to get you through.

Tonight I did another strength routine with the yoga ball consisting of sit ups, push ups, and chin ups. I'm comfortably doing sets of 40 sit ups and 35 push ups now so I think it's time to think about upping these as of next week. The chin ups are still a challenge, though I think that's partly because I do them after the other exercises, and I'm still stuck on sets of 8.

Tomorrow I am actually planning on heading out for a nice easy 5k, but will leave the final decision until the evening. My quads are tight, but I think with another night off and some stretching and such they will likely be ready for a short recovery run. Here's hoping I'm right! The foot is status quo and I should be able to manage the pain as long as I run slowly. I am working on my range of motion as far as dorsiflexion goes and have already improved on that front. When my range was measured by the physio I only managed 12cm on the right foot compared to 14.5cm on the left (measured from the wall to the longest toe while keeping ones heel down and touching the knee to the wall). Today I measured myself and have improved the right foot to measure 13.5cm! I hope that increasing this range of motion will eventually help the plantar fascia to heal.

I Hope It's Not A Mirage

This morning, after an evening spent either with a hot water bottle strapped to my calf, sitting in the tub, or rubbing Arnika Cream onto/into the affected area, I woke up with a hint less of pain than the previous morning. Could this be, or is this just a cruel mirage come to taunt me? I decided to let it slide and not think about it. After all, my physio appointment is tomorrow and I don't want to show up with nothing hurting for her to ponder and prod.

After another application of Arnika Cream and a morning of rushing the boys out the door on time to catch Owen's schoolbus, I biked down to work. When I got off the bike the calf continued to feel less tight than I expected. Again, I warned myself that wishful thinking will get you nowhere and tried to ignore the lower extremity. Perhaps this was one of those things that, if ignored, would simply begin to act properly in hopes of winning back my approval? Hmmmmm. Maybe.

At lunch I once more got on the bike and headed off to the UofT pool for a short and easy swim. I decided to just be satisfied with 1000m (it took about 15 minutes) and then use the rest of the time I had to stand in as hot a shower as I could handle while stretching a bit. This was a good thing and my legs felt a bit better afterwards. I massaged in more Arnika Cream and headed back to work. On the way I had the strangest feeling of warmth in my quads and inner thighs. I didn't put anything there and if anything I would have expected some sensation in the calves, but the whole quads thing was pretty weird. It was as if I was absorbing the rays of the Sun in this area only, like a cat taking a nap on a windowsill where the sun is only hitting one spot of fur. I wonder what the hell all that was about? Can a 34 year-ol guy get hot flashes in the thighs for some hormonal reason?

The afternoon at the office was spent working (duh!) and sitting at a desk (double duh!), which resulted in my calves tightening up again. I should have practiced some more office stretching, but alas my hindsight is myopic and I forgot my rear view glasses.

On a side not I'd like to thank NWGDC for leaving a comment on my last post re: Chi Running. It seems that absorbing the spirit of this technique, if not the letter of the law, has helped him to run injury free for the past year and a bit. This testament makes for a great boost as far as my running goes and perhaps there is hope that I too can learn how to run more efficiently, minimize injury to the point that will allow me to train for long stretches of time, make all my planned races, and have fun in the process.

In the evening I did another strength routine, this time upping the sit ups to 40 reps and the push ups to 35, all with the yoga ball. I'm still doing reps of 8 on the chin ups, but they are starting to get easier and easier.

A Swim and More Stretching

So, after my post about stretching at work I totally went all out today and pretty much didn't care about what the others thought. I stretched everything I could all day long, and though I may not be as limber as I would like to be I feel like this can only end goodly. (As opposed to badly.)

I went for another swim as well. I did 1200m freestyle in 18 minutes and that was all I could handle. Swimming has become pretty boring these days, which is why I made the switch to pool running a couple of weeks ago. But given how my legs are feeling, and the fact that Around the Bay is a week and a half away I didn't want to tax my legs any more than necessary. I will return to pool running in April to be sure.

Tonight we entertained a friend of Malcolm's for a "movie night", with her Mom over for dinner and such so I didn't manage any strength stuff. The night is young, however, and I might get to it yet. There's a third of a bottle of wine left on the table however...

Still Hurting

I am still recovering from my weekend of poor judgement (which is how I will refer to it from now on) and my legs are tighter than a Puerto Rican bongo drum. I actually have no idea if Puerto Ricans play bongos, or how tight they keep the skins if they do, but I'm watching the World Baseball Classic game between Puerto Rico and the US and the fans seem to fancy hand drums a lot.

I did swim a short distance at lunch today. 1000m in 15 minutes was enough for me. I was unable to go all last week on account of the Canadian National Swimming Championships taking up the pool, and just wanted to get a little swim in. This was all I could muster.

Tonight I did some more crunches, push ups, and chin ups. No squats though. I was afraid of tearing something south of the border...

On a nice note I received an unexpected email from my Uncle in Poland today, totally out of the blue! He's not my real Uncle (who seems to have disappeared down under in Australia a couple of decades ago), but as my Dad's best friend that's how we always refer to him. He told me that he's been following my blog and wished me well. Awesome! Thank you! Perhaps I will have to start writing this blog in two languages? Hmmmmm...

Newbie To Hydration, Oldie to Swimming

Not much to report today really, just a “business as usual” kind of day. I swam at lunch for a total of 1500m in my usual time of 22:30, and it was fine. My left shoulder hurt a bit from the allergy shot I got just before going swimming, but nothing to worry about. I would have probably swam another 500m, but I had to get back to work and didn’t have time.

Speaking of not having time, today just didn’t work out to go headphone shopping. I also have to buy some Gatorade powder or some such thing for my long runs now that they are well over an hour in duration. This is uncharted territory for me and I know absolutely nothing about powders, gels, beans, gu, bars, or any other such thing designed to keep you going long and strong. I guess this will be a trial and error type of thing until I come up with something that works for me, but I must admit that I do not look forward to the process in the least. Therefore, my plan is to start by mixing a pretty dilute Gatorade and water solution since I find Gatorade on its own way too sweet. Is there something other than Gatorade powder, or a specific type of Gatorade powder, that is recommended? I’m shamelessly looking for advice on this since, as explained, I KNOW NOTHING!

This evening I also did a bit of a routine of strength training (or a fair representation thereof) using a yoga ball and some exercises that I took from the RunnersWorld website. It was ok (situps, pushups, squats, and chinups), but I lacked energy. I'll try to do something strength related twice a week as that part has been suffering lately in favour or running.

Back in the Pool

Last week I wrote about my issues with the beast, commonly known as the University of Toronto, and how they all of a sudden decided that I was no longer a student, making my regular lunch time swims at the Athletic Centre impossible. Thanks for the heads up, dumbasses!!!

Well, I've gone through a week of being bounced from the Graduate Services office to my Faculty and back again just to find out that, indeed, I am no longer considered a student and, therefore, my membership at the athletic centre was inactive. It turns out that they are refunding me half my tuition (for the Winter term), which is nice of them and all, but then they will charge me, in a separate transaction, a "balance of degree fee" that is about $300 more than the refund I am so generously to receive! What a Fruitin' joke!!!

Today I decided to go back to the pool and buy a membership as a 1st or 2nd year alumni, which entitles me to a reduced fee. You can imagine my surprise when I was informed that I was not eligible for this reduced membership fee since technically I won't "graduate" until June, and so I have to pay a different alumni fee, which is more than the 1st or 2nd year alumni fee (where I should friggin' fit in since I JUST FINISHED!), but at least a little cheaper than the "anybody off the street" fee. My question, which resulted in a stonefaced dumbfounded look on the three robots behind the counter, is how can I be considered an alumni when I haven't technically "graduated", but not a 1st or 2nd year alumni when their own system tells them that I just finished my last course in December?!?! Naturally, they came up with zero by way of explanation. The best I can come up with is that you can be considered an alumni by this fine institution even if you drop out (probably so they can send you letters begging for money), but when you "finish" is only determined by the School of Graduate Studies and their confirmation of convocation.

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

Long story short, I paid for a 4 month membership, rented a "non-student" locker (and had to move all my crap for fear of them cutting my lock within seconds, a warning the robots were quick to administer), and swam 1500m in 22 minutes.

The other upside of the membership is that I will have access to this fancy new outdoor race track when the snow melts, where I will be able to do some speed workouts when I get to that point in my running plan. It should be soft and cushiony to run on this:

Catching up

Boy, it's been a busy few days on my end and I am behind on the blog reading and writing. Since blowing a tire on the highway on our way to Ottawa we had a nice weekend of spending time with family and skating on the canal. Also, I caught up with a friend from my grade school days, who now has a three-month old baby boy and was brave enough to meet up with us for some skating in -14C temperatures on Sunday morning. Her little guy slept through the whole thing, nicely sheltered in a stroller!

The world's longest skating rink was nice and solid on account of the cold and we had a great time! There was no lack of space either:



We also hit a great bead store on Bank Street because Owen wanted to make a necklace for his granny as it was her Birthday. The necklace turned out awesome, though it was a bit tough for the little guy to choose the beads he wanted given the massive selection (and this picture captures only a fraction of what was available):



I took Owen back out on the canal on Monday morning as well to get some more skating in before hitting the road back home. There was one last piece of pie left from the weekend and (for some strange reason) someone (who will remain nameless) decided to pack it in a Ziploc bag for the trip back home! If you've never enjoyed a bag of pie, you've never really lived:


Monday evening proved busier than I'd anticipated as another old friend of mine, this time from my undergrad days, called last minute that he was in town from the west coast on a last minute business trip and could we get together? Unfortunately he was staying in the west end of the GTA, about a 45 minute drive in a part of Mississauga that I find completely devoid of any redeeming qualities, and it didn't make sense for him to stay with us for it would put him too far away from where he needed to be the next morning. I drove out to see him anyway and we had a good time catching up over dinner.

Then, on Tuesday, I was back at work and got in a lunchtime swim: 2000m in 30 minutes. I also did some chin ups (8-8-8 pull and 8-8-8 chin) and a few hip flexor things. I haven't run in over a week, but am thinking of heading out tonight as the knee seems to be pretty much pain free except for one spot right at the bottom of the kneecap where it hurts when pressed. Anyway, it's supposed to be freezing tonight, but I'd like to make it out for a short run and hope that it happens.

Keeping the Faith

This afternoon I was contemplating yet another skipped run (in this case tomorrow's) on account of the knee pain as well as the technical and logistical issues that would inevitably arise with me trying to transfer this blog to my new domain. As far as the run goes I think it is likely off since my knee is still not well, but the website was a pleasant surprise. I thought that the process would take days and a lot of wrangling with tech support to get everything from the old domain to the new. In the end the fine folks at Stormweb made the whole process easy as pie. (Now, I've never baked a pie from scratch, but making one using one of those frozen ready-made crusts is pretty easy indeed!) If anyone is looking for reliable, affordable, and helpful hosting services check out this company - you won't be disappointed.

Anyway, as you may already see, the old wonky domain now redirects to this slightly less wonky one. For those who come and read my blog on a regular basis I very much appreciate you taking the time to do so and hope that you will update your readers to the new address. Your continued support is in no small way responsible for motivating me in this running and general health endeavour, especially through all the aches and pains that seem to continually plague my inferior skeleton.

As far as running goes I choose to think positively about my knee ailment, which kept me from running last night. This is a typical case of runner's knee, where I feel the pain right in front just under the kneecap. I can run through the pain, and in fact as I warm up it goes away, but I know that this is not a good thing to do so I am staying off of it right now. I may even have to skip tomorrow's run, with my next one hopefully planned for Sunday when we are in Ottawa.

With all that in mind, I managed to do some other exercise related stuff yesterday evening. I did some push ups (45-55-35-50) and sit ups (50-50-50-50), as well as a bunch of hip flexor stuff that I should have been doing all through December. Stupid me! It was the perfect time to get my core in shape for my return to running, and now I am paying the price. Oh well, live and learn. I still have lots of time to prepare for the Around the Bay race at the end of March (or at least I keep telling myself that I do).

Today I managed another lunchtime swim. As mentioned previously it is getting more and more difficult to stay motivated for these sessions, but I know that as long as my legs keep me from running as much as I would like the swimming will at least help to keep my heart in some semblance of "shape". I managed another 1500m in 22:30 and then had to get back to work on account of the all popular conference call for which I'm sure you all share my affection...

Tonight, in between folding clothes and flipping channels on the TV, I did some more chin ups: 5-5-5-5-5 pull ups and 6-6-6-6-6 chin ups. I don't know when I will ever get to 20 in a row, but for now I have decided to pay more attention to my legs. When my knee is better I will get into doing lunges and squats on top of doing the hip flexor and ass strengthening routine.

Getting Poked and Pricked

Yes, I know. The title doesn't sound very lovely, but that is what I was subjected to this morning as I went for the second of seven allergy shots and for the bloodwork that the Doctor ordered as part of my annual check up. I am not a fan of needles, but understand that they are a necessary evil. With respect to my allergies, the immunotherapy has been a major help. The bloodwork I could do without, however. It kind of makes me feel like they are stealing, seeing those vials fill up with the blood that my marrow worked so hard to create. I'll piss in a cup anytime, they can have that liquid for free, but shouldn't I get a cookie or something for my blood?

With that done, and feeling suitably violated, I managed to get to work a bit late and then (finally!) eat something after a 12 hour fast. (I'm such a lightweight when it comes to abstaining from food, I'll admit it!) I did make it out for a lunchtime swim at least, but due to the fact that I had less time than I would normally have I only managed 1500m in about 22 minutes and had to get back to work. Still, I've so far managed pretty well with getting in two swims a week since September, and I'm sure that will help with my running as I venture into my first full season of racing.

Tonight was more hip and ass exercises, and I am still feeling the runner's knee on the right side so I might have to (regrettably) skip the planned 5k tomorrow, but we'll see. I really have to stop feeling guilty when I miss runs due to aches and pains, but find this very hard to achieve. As a competitive swimmer I NEVER missed a practice, no matter what. Sick, hurt, tired - nothing mattered. I made it to all workouts all the time. Now that I am no longer in that competitive world I really have to stop thinking the same way...

But a tiger can't change his stripes, and I was born in the year of the tiger...

I also did some chin ups: 5-5-5-5-5 pull ups, 5-5-5-5-5 chin ups. The quest for 20 in a row has stalled in a major way, but someday I will get back to it.

The Thrill is Gone

It seems that the novelty of swimming a couple of times a week at lunch has come and gone, and I now am faced with the prospect of talking myself into going through the routine of getting to the pool, changing, showering, jumping in the water, swimming, getting out,... you get the picture.

However, I DID talk myself into it, after I had an unexpected visit from my younger loin fruit! He was downtown with his Mom on an appointment close enough to my office building that they decided to drop in. It was very cool to see him in this context, and he entertained the entire staff for a while until we pretty much had to force him to leave. He wanted to stay with his Daddy! Aaawwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

Anyway, the swim was OK, as far as those things go. I decided to just go until I could go no more or I hit 2000m, whichever came first. The first 400m went by nice and easy, though by the time I got to 500m I was beginning to doubt my ability to go non-stop for another 1500m. It wasn't a physical thing, more mental for sure.

But I did do it (2000m) and it took me 30:30, so that means I averaged 1:33 per 100m. Man, I am so slow compared to my younger competitive days! Of course, back then I used to swim twice a day, 7000-8000m per practice! I must have had a screw loose...

The other thing I should mention is that I felt a twinge of runner's knee in the right leg last night after my run, so I'd better stay on top of that an get back to working on my weak hips and ass... The foot is status quo, not getting much better, but not getting worse either. I think I have to just keep taking it easy.

Cold in the Head

Last night was supposed to be an evening spent doing push ups and sit ups, but I was not up for it. Seems that I've contracted another cold - nothing serious, but I had absolutely no energy at all. It's hard to listen to your body when your ears are (or at least feel like they are) clogged, but I did the best I could and went to bed early. I think it's all that public transit I've been forced to use recently on account of the snow and my bike being on the fritz. At least now I'm giving back what I've been given as I stuff myself onto the subway train mere inches from all sorts of seemingly healthy bipeds.

Today I woke up feeling not so great, but good enough to go to work and fit in a swim at lunch (and continue to spread the love via public transit). I was going in with a plan to swim 1500m, but also would cut it short if I started sucking chlorinated water. In the end I did do 1500m - 5X200m on 3:00, 5X100m on 1:40. As an added bonus, the water cleared my sinuses a bit. No such luck with my general snottiness clearing out the slow arsed swimmers from my lane though...

Perhaps tonight I will feel up to doing some other exercise related stuff, but I'm not counting on it. I am planning an easy 5K tomorrow and don't want to miss that.

Enjoying the Cold

Today was another cold day in the Big Smoke - a crisp -19C this morning! When I went out this afternoon for my lunchtime swim it was -13C and I have to admit that it felt absolutely perfect. It's all about perspective I suppose. It also looks like it will be about -13C on Saturday when we once again venture north for some x-country skiing and I wonder how that will feel. Isn't it funny how the same temperature can feel nice in one context and really not pleasant at all in another?

I had extra motivation for swimming today as well - I had received a couple of emails from UofT stating that I would have to move my locker by the 16th or they would have to cut my lock and move the contents for me on account of some maintenance that would be happening in the area directly above my locker. Now my new locker is in a shitty location, down low by the floor with no bench in front of it and far away from the showers. Oh well, at least I still seem to have access to the pool.

The swim went OK, though my shoulders were tired. I did 5 sets of 200m on 3:00 intervals, and then 10 sets of 100m on 1:40, making sure to come in at least on the 1:25 and getting a 15s break. It was easier on the brain to break it up into sets I found, rather than doing the whole 2000m straight.

Tomorrow I hope to venture out in the cold for another 5k run, and then do more push ups and sit ups before getting everything ready for skiing on Saturday.

A Busy Day

It was sloppy, wet, and cold today, making it a less than pleasant experience biking around the city. It was going to be difficult to get everything done in time using public transit, so I biked anyway.

It allowed me to swim at lunch. I did 1000m straight and my shoulders were aching something fierce. I then decided to do 10x100m on 1:40 intervals, and that was good except for the Bahama short wearing guy and Mr. No Goggles, both of whom apparently self identify as "fast" and parked themselves in the same lane. Aaarrrrgggghhhhhhh.... The total was 2000m in about 33 minutes, and my lats were pretty close to cramping at the end.

In the afternoon I had to jet on back home, pick up the car (after shoveling out the hard packed snow at the front of the driveway), grab the kids skates, head on over to Rack Attack to get the last piece to the roof rack I bought last weekend, go get Malcolm and meet Monica at the daycare, drive back home to find Malcolm's helmet, head over to the rink for his skating lessons (while Monica was off to get Owen)... I had a good time on the ice with Malcolm, though he is not completely sold on the concept as of yet.

Then, this evening, I spent two hours putting together the roof rack and installing it on the car. We now have a great way to transport our skis, though it was super fiddly getting this thing, which explains the two hours spent trying.

No chin ups this evening since it got pretty late and the whole lat cramping thing, and I have to get some sleep. I'm wiped!

Back in the Pooldle Again

First, I want to extend a belated congratulations to "the Dude" at The Longest Run who has completed a full calendar year of running at least one mile EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' DAY! Unbelievable!!! Can't wait to see what he'll choose as his challenge for 2009. I really hope that continuing to run is in the cards.

As for me: Yup, the first swim of the year! I wasn't sure if they would let me into the gym (since the University of Toronto's School of Graduate Studies says I graduate the moment I finish my last course and, therefore, the tuition I paid, which is enough to last me through the Winter and Summer sessions of 2009, is no longer valid. I paid a full Athletic Centre fee with my P/T fees, so I might fight for my right to use the gym until the end of the semester, but little ole me against the big institution might not be enough to keep me swimming through the winter, at least not at the UofT pool). Anyway, I DID manage to get through the electronic turnstile and put in a solid 1600m. I did a sort of inverted pyramid: 400-300-200-100-100-200-300 and was planning on another 400 to cap out at 2000m but my shoulders were hurting and I had to get back to the office. All told it was a decent swim, and the first one in three weeks. I'm planning on another one this Thursday, especially since I will be working off-site next week and won't be able to get to the pool at all.

On a bright note I didn't feel the customary pain in the bottom of my foot when I stepped out onto the hard tiled surface of the pool deck! This is a sure sign that I am on the road to recovery. Though I an itching to run again soon I will wait a bit more, erring on the side of caution. I want to be pain free for a few days at least before attempting my first run. Even then I will be spending the remainder of January doing a very conservative base building thing, starting with alternating walking and running ala ultra-rookie runner. Also, I am relying on my virtual running conscience in the form of BeachRunner411, who has managed to remain injury free with the wise "slow and steady" method of running, the one which I've tried to follow in 2008 but (obviously) failed to adhere to in a strict and rigorous way as I bounced from one injury to another. In my defense, though, I blame this foot thing on footwear and the inevitable trial and error process of finding the right shoes and not on my lack of conservativeness towards the end of the year. I think that taking all of December off, and then some, goes a long way to winning me over to the "listen to your body" and "look at the big picture" and "you're in it for the long run" stuff...

Also, back on the chin ups thing I did 5x5 pull ups and 5x5 chin ups for a total of 50. It was pretty easy actually, but I didn't want to push it.

Swimming, Potluck, and Chinups

Last night I changed the back wheel on my bike and now I feel a bit safer. The other wheel was pretty old and saw me through my bike courier days and beyond, almost a decade! The new wheel works great and I am back in business for the rest of the winter, but am seriously considering going to a fixed gear track bike in the Spring for simplicity's sake.

I did get to the pool at lunch today and managed 2000m non-stop, though at about the 400m mark I was having real doubts that I would manage to finish. My shoulders were aching like crazy, most likely from all the push ups I've been doing.

Tonight saw us at Owen's Beaver Potluck Christmas Dinner, which is a mouthful to say and to eat. It was fun, the kids ate lots and behaved well. What more can a parent ask?

We got them home and in bed a little late, and then I did some more chin ups. I managed 8-8-7-6-6 pull ups and 8-8-7-6-6 chin ups for a total of 70. That's the most I've managed in one round since I started, but I am still having real trouble believing that I'll be able to do 20 in a row anytime soon.

Swimming and Dripping

Yes, I've managed to catch another cold (that's the dripping part, BTW). Bummer, but I suppose things could be worse.

That didn't stop me from going swimming at lunch, though I was pretty tired and weak and had difficulty staying motivated to swim the entire planned 2000m. I managed in the end, but had to break up the second 1000m after completing the first 1K straight. I did some "easy on the brain" descending sets with about 20sec rest in between - 400m-300m-200m-100m - and then got out of there...

Tonight I still did some chin ups, once more keeping the exhaustion sets out of the equation since I am feeling run down and weak. The sets went 6-6-5-5-5 pull ups, and then 6-6-5-5-5 chin ups for a total of 54 "ups".

Doing pretty much nothing but push ups, chin ups, and swimming is great and all, but I really can't wait to get back into running, you know!!! All the great race reports I've been reading from the running bloggers have got me really itching to get back out there, but alas I am weak below the ass... The foot better start behaving and get better, though I do think that in the last two days it's been getting slightly, just slightly, almost imperceptibly, agonizingly, annoyingly, infuriatingly, confoundedubadebadibidily better...

Morning Plunge

I took off early enough this morning to make it to the pool for another swim, my third of the week! Mon was kind enough to cope with getting the kids to school on her own to allow me to do this, and that is no small task as you can imagine. Anyway, I felt weak and tired this morning, most likely from the chin ups that I did last night. I think a break this weekend will be in order, especially since I have that final paper hanging over my head and due on Tuesday. I am so close to the end of my grad studies, and yet so far given that my paper is NOWHERE near completion, and the insubordinate bastard won't just up and write itself!

The swim was pretty lax and I only managed 1500m, but was happy with that. The lane was pretty crowded, with a few wide-stroking "swimmers", one of which hit me a couple of times as I passed by. Thanks for nothin', stone arms! I swam 300-200-100-200-300-200-100 and then 100 backstroke to finish off the 1500, taking 20-30 second breaks in between.

Tonight was Week 5 Day 3 of the hundred push ups challenge, and it was not easy. The sets went 20-20-24-24-20-20-22 and then the max, where I pushed out a surprising 70! I had to start taking short breathing breaks after about 35, where I "rest" while maintaining the plank position. A few times I had to readjust this a bit by bending up at the waist and moving my hands a little, partly because my shoulders were screaming for relief and partly because my hands started slipping from getting too sweaty on the hardwood floor. Either way, I take it as a good sign that I can make it to 70 any way I can. The total number of push ups was 220! In the span of a little under three weeks I doubled my max from 35 to 70, and my total more than doubled, going from 95 to 220. Now if only this foot would heal so that I could start making strides in my running.

Tomorrow I think I will head off to the library to get this damned paper done. Well, at least the first draft. That way I can take a couple of days to polish it up before submitting it on Tuesday, bringing to an end my academic career.

Bustin' a Flat

This morning was hurried and crazy, but it seems every morning is like that for our family and we still somehow get the kids to their schools on time. I know I'll look back upon these days years from now and wonder how in the world we did it? I'm also certain that all parents of little kids face the same morning challenges, with the possible exception of those in warmer climes who have no idea what it's like to have to deal with snowsuits, boots, hats, scarves, mittens, mufflers, long underwear, t-shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, turtle necks, sweaters, vests, lip balm, balaclavas, blah blah blahvas...

Anyway, as I was saying, this morning was hurried as usual. Mon got the older loin-fruit to the bus, and I managed to get the younger one to school on time. All was going according to plan until I was about half-way to work and BAM!, my back tire blew out. I pumped it up with my hand pump hoping it was a slow leak and could still get me to work where I could deal with it at lunch or something, but no - I made it about another 100 metres (11o yards for the American readers) before the thing was flat as a Chinese diver's chest. (Nothing against flat chests, mind you. It's just what came to mind...)

I stood there for a minute wondering whether to walk to work or head home. For some reason I didn't have a patch kit in my backpack! I decided to walk home, which took me a half-hour, and fixed my flat there. Naturally, I was pretty late for work, but at least now I have a spare inner tube and some patches in my backpack for the next time. It seems like there is more glass on the roads this year than ever before. I used to go for months at a time when I was a courier, biking 8 or 9 hours per day, and not get any flats. Now it seems to happen more frequently, and I only commute!

Anyway, I still managed a lunchtime swim, though I was really tired. my shoulders are so tired! I did 1000m straight, then 5X200m with 20 seconds rest for a total of 2000m in about 32 minutes.

Tonight I also managed some more chin ups. I think I have to back off a bit on these as I am feeling weaker and weaker, which is not a good thing. I managed 10-8-6-8 wide grip overhand, and only 8-8-8 narrow grip underhand, for a total of 56. I guess going to exhaustion with every set is not going to cut it and I have to do some shorter sets with maybe an exhaustion set at the end, or something...

Another Regular Day

Yup. Nothing much to report other than another regular lunchtime swim and a set of chin ups.

The swim was status quo: 2000m in 30 minutes. My left hand totally cramped up at the end, which was a bit weird. Why not the right? Gross guy in the showers also put me off a bit, and that's where I'll leave that little story, in your collective imaginations...

The chin ups were done while my wife (whose taste in most things I respect, but in this I simply cannot!) was watching The Biggest Loser. Guess how I felt given that I'll never have that time back? The chin up sets: 10-10-10 wide grip overhand, 10-9-8-8 narrow grip underhand, for a total of 65. I go to failure with each set, and it seems odd that I can go to pretty much the same failure point each time. Perhaps I need to rethink this and do it more like the push up challenge with some sets that are shorter and easier and then the last one to failure. I am making strides, though, so maybe I shouldn't mess with it at all. Mentally it would be easier to not have to go to failure with every set.

Foot still hurts, but the pain doesn't really set in until late in the day so I guess that's a good sign. Before it just hurt all day long. I guess I'd better go stretch and ice a bit now...

Swimming and Pushing

This morning I made up my "missed" swim from yesterday (on account of another High School meet bouncing me from my usual lunch time sojourn). I was a little late leaving the house, but managed to bike to the pool by about 8:15. I was on deck five minutes later and ready to go. On Friday mornings only half the pool is open for drop-in lane swimming and the "fast" lane had six other people in it. The other half of the pool I can only assume is reserved for the UofT swim team, but today it was totally empty. Navigating the other swimmers was going to be a challenge also since a couple seemed to be pretty quick and the others slower than me. In the end this was not much of an issue since I could only manage 200m at a time before my shoulders screamed for rest, and that allowed me to let the faster folks pass and to find a suitable spot to start again on another 200. I think the chin ups from last night were the reason for my shoulder fatigue, but I was not expecting this at all! I managed 10X200m in 35 minutes and made it to work a bit late, but glad to have gotten the workout in.

When I arrived, my manager dropped by my desk and gave me his extra copy of Run Less, Run Faster, which was very cool. I read this book a few months ago, and now have a copy of my own to follow throughout 2009. As good as that is, it does have me thinking of some goals for the year, the first of which is to try and get my 10k under 42 minutes so that I can dream about achieving a BQ time in the marathon of 3:15. Yeah right! The book does state that that's the equivalent time for the marathon distance, but my body may have something else to say about the whole thing. For the time being I am committed to taking the rest of the year off and waiting two weeks after my foot is completely pain free before starting to run again.

Tonight we watched Monsters Inc. with the boys, and I snuck off to do my push ups and catch the end of the Raptors game on TV. The Raptors are looking OK this year, though they are continuing their historic pattern of win a few lose a few, never stringing more than three or four wins together at a time. Chris Bosh is playing like an MVP, but I'm worried that the extra minutes he seems to be playing just to keep the team around .500 will result in injury as they did every other year he's been asked to play this much.

On the push up front I completed Day 3 of Week 4 of the hundred push up challenge thusly: 29-33-29-29 and maxed out at 50 for a total of 170. I'm definitely feeling stronger with this program, and am quite confident that I'll be able to do 100 in a row by Christmas. The question that comes to mind is will I be able to keep it going afterwards? Not to do more than a hundred, but to maintain that level of strength. It seems easier somehow to work towards a goal rather that aimlessly "working out"...

Swimming and Chinning

Official Day 2 of my self-imposed period of convalescence and, as I sit with my foot in a bucket of ice water, I am left wondering just how this non-running period will affect my weight. Specifically, I will have to pay a little more attention to eating better given that the running thing has allowed me to eat more pizza in recent weeks than I've eaten in a long long time.

This afternoon I managed a lunch time swim. I felt pretty weak and tired for some reason. I usually can do 2000m straight without stopping, but today I had to rest for a few seconds after 500m, then I stopped after another 500m and decided to mix it up a bit and started doing 100's on 1:30. I managed 8 of these before missing the interval time and finished the swim off with an easy 200 for a total of 2000m.

Tonight I managed another set of chin ups and the lethargy was still present. My sets were 8-7-6 wide grip overhand, 8-6-5-6 narrow grip underhand for a total of 46. The last set was more than the second last because I was once more distracted and lost concentration. I really must learn to block everything out when doing these...

A Mostly Uneventful Day

Not much to report other than:

1. I got my flu shot today, and my shoulder feels like someone punched it a little bit.

2. I got in the pool at lunchtime again for another 2000m, this time in about 29 minutes.

I should mention that last night Monica and I started our own little 100 push up challenge. I did 14-18-14-14-35. The goal is to loosely follow the 100 push up challenge of Internet fame and to achieve 100 by Christmas.

Added to this I have started doing lots of pull ups since I put the chin up bar in the door to our bedroom (is there a difference between a "pull up" and a "chin up"?) Pretty much every time I enter or leave the room I do 5, though this is not likely to continue. However, I did a set tonight that consisted of 7-5-4 wide grip overhand, and 6-5-5 close grip underhand. Later I will get some ab work done, and do another easy and short set of lunges. The last time I did this (sometime last week) I only did 10 lunges on each leg and I definitely felt it the next day. Pathetic, I know! But that is why I have made a commitment to improving my leg strength over the winter.

Right now I have to keep moving my foot from ice water to hot water, so g'night! Tomorrow? Another 5k, perhaps even in the morning...

Without Limits (Except when it comes to facial hair)

Last night I watched the movie Without Limits. I picked it up on Tuesday while grocery shopping for $5! How could I lose, right? Naturally, I couldn't and the movie did not disappoint. I enjoyed it very much, though I would not call it cinematic genius or anything. I could have done without the whole college crush angle, but the race scenes were great and Billy Crudup is Pre reincarnate - the resemblance is eerie! My main impressions were that Steve Prefontaine was a tremendous runner (duh!), Donald Sutherland is great and still Canadian (duh?), Monica Potter shares a first name with my wife (duh?), and I can't grow a mustache so will never be able to play Steve Prefontaine in another movie about his life (d'oh!). Yes, that's the only reason why I couldn't play Pre. What? Lack of speed? No muscle tone? CGI people, C.G. friggin' I.!

(I do realize that facial hair is easily done with makeup, but that would cheapen the whole thing don't you think?)

Anyway, after that movie I am even more motivated to run, and visit Oregon again cuz the view from Bill Bowerman's fictional home was awesome! However, I am sticking to the new plan and did not run today. Instead, I made my way through the rain on my bike to the swimming pool for another lunchtime swim. The process can be summed up with "wet-dry-wet-dry-wet-dry". I sound like a broken record here, but once more the thing lasted 2000m in 30 minutes, and I am NOT getting any faster... Maybe if I could grow a mustache like Mark Spitz then I might be able to play him in a movie, and gain some speed? Hmmm... Damn lack of facial hair has been holding me down all this time and I am just waking up to these shackles! But at least I save on expensive razorblades. Is it just me, or are these things made of oil or something because the price of a set of blades has gotten ridiculous! I say they're the reason the economy is tanking like the Exxon Valdes, not sub-prime mortgages. Unless, of course, you have to borrow money to buy disposable razor blades...

This afternoon I was supposed to get another treatment at the chiropractor's, but they had my office phone number noted incorrectly and so I never got the message that he was sick. Two issues with this thing: 1. for some reason, to them my "4" looks like a "5" on the form I filled out (and apparently it's my fault!), and 2. they can't refund the charge onto my credit card for the prepayment I made for the session! Say what? Your swipey machine thing is somehow missing the minus sign or something? There is nothing that sours me more on a business than poor customer service. Good impressions last until the next visit, bad impressions last forever and some people just don't get that.

Anyway, tomorrow is another off day, and perhaps I will try to elaborate on my developing racing plans for 2009. If you haven't noticed, the list on the right side of this page is growing and I am getting more and more excited about the prospect of running lots of races next year. The question remains, how much is too much?

Back in the Gym

After my regular lunchtime swim, where I managed another 2000m in 30 minutes (doesn't seem like I'm getting any faster yet...) I went to see the doc for another treatment. While there I brought up the whole shoe issue, and my suspicions that the current NB 1062's I've been wearing might be the cause of my foot problems. After a bit of a discussion, and a close look at the shoes I was wearing (not my running shoes since I neglected to bring them with me) it seems I might be looking for runners that offer good cushioning and some stability to support my arches. I guess that's what I will be looking for, starting this Saturday when I visit a great running store in Markham called Running Free. Apparently they really know their stuff, and I will spend as much time and try on as many shoes as possible to come up with something that will hopefully work out in the long term.

Tonight I managed to get back in the gym for some light weights. I feel pretty weak, having missed a few weeks, and I'm sure the candy I've been consuming during and post Halloween is not helping matters either. I took it real easy...

• Crunches 50-40-30-20-10
• Bench Press 12-12 115lbs
• Seated Rows 12-12 100lbs
• Lateral Flys 15-15 15lbs
• Lat Pulldowns 12-12 115lbs
• Dumbell Biceps Curls 12-12 25lbs
• Triceps Extensions 15-15 50lbs

Swimming 2k, and the Lumbar Blues

Another lunchtime swim today - 2000m in 30 minutes. I think all the lying around in bed on the weekend, or the 30 minutes on the stationary bike last night, did something to my lower back cuz it hurts today. It's like I picked up one of my kids early in the morning or something, except I don't have that excuse. I'm not worried about it, as much as it really does hurt, because I suspect it was the stationary bike thing - I didn't spend much time setting up the bike properly...

The other thing that I really don't want to admit may be the cause of the pain is that we got a new mattress this weekend, and it's super nice. My wife loves it, and I like it too, but if that's the reason my back is seizing up then things are going to be a little strained on the home front. I'll be like, "Either that mattress goes, or I go!" And she'll be like, "Can I help you pack?"

Perhaps a good soiling will bring her onside???

I was planning on going to the gym for some weights tonight, but will have to see how my back feels when that time comes around. Maybe I'll go and just do a lot of stretching, some ab stuff (I've been totally neglecting core strength for the past three weeks, and that might be another reason for the lumbar blues) and maybe some lying down resistance crap. We'll see.

Then again, a couple of Robaxacets may be the thing to do for tonight, then just settle in and watch the election stuff, complete with mucho controversies to keep the advertisers happy no doubt.

Contemplating the Future

Well, I couldn't get onto blogger.com yesterday for some reason, which I guess is just as well since I had a tonne of schoolwork to catch up on and didn't need to report on my "general body soreness", a favorite term in the NHL when the team doesn't want to let anyone know what the actual injury to a player is...

It seems that Blogger has been giving me issues when publishing posts for over a month, and I'm beginning to wonder how reliable this thing is. Perhaps I should switch to publishing straight to a blogspot.com account? If anyone has experience with publishing using ftp and a similar history of problems please let me know if switching is the right move, or if publishing to blogspot.com is also ripe with problems.

And yes, I am sore! My foot is definitely plantar fasciitising, and my quads are so stiff it is excruciating going up, and especially down, stairs. But it was definitely worth it, and in fact I'd probably be a little upset with myself if I wasn't sore.

This afternoon I went for a short and easy lunchtime swim and managed 1200m in about 18 minutes. I am not going to the gym tonight, instead choosing to rest my legs. I have another treatment scheduled for Thursday and I hope that the pain subsides by then since the treatment I received on Monday morning was super painful! (In a good kind of way, but pretty close to unbearable...)

However, the racing bug has got a good hold of me and I am already contemplating my next race. The one that seems like it will be a lot of fun, and far enough off in the future to allow for good recovery and a resumption of training, is the Hamilton Boxing Day 10 miler. This year will mark the 88th straight year for this event, put on exclusively by volunteers from the Hamilton Harriers Running Club. Apparently the route for the race has been the same since day one! Although I am not ready to run 16 kilometres, I think I will have enough time to prepare for the distance and I will not be running this as a race, but rather for fun and to finish. Also, one can register with the option to get some pretty good gear such as running tights and a jacket, two things I need anyway so this seems to be a perfect marriage of swag and racing fun!

The other one that also seems great, though a bit farther off in the future, is the Around the Bay race, also in Hamilton, at the end of March. That one is a 30km race, and is the oldest long distance race in North America. Yes, even older than the Boston Marathon!

In the spring I will be once again trying to go under 45 minutes in the 10k, most likely during the Ottawa Race Weekend events in May, but I figure getting some longer races under my belt, and running them to finish rather than to exhaustion, will be great motivation and training for a fast 10k. Sound good? It does to me, but I am tired and sore so who knows what this will feel like in the morning.

Easy Maintenance Day, Preparing to Pop the Cherry

As I prep for the 10k I am in uncharted territory as far as what I should be doing leading up to Sunday's start time. What to eat? How much to rest? How much should I be staying off my foot? Did that peanut butter cookie ruin everything? How many litres of water should I be chugging every hour? Do I have to obey the laws of thermodynamics?

Anyway, these things will fall into place I'm sure, and I am going to have a blast!

I swam again at lunch - 1500m in 22:30. Not bad, but the pool was super busy today. All the people in my lane were experienced swimmers and everything was cool as far as passing went, which was refreshing.

Then after work I went out for a real easy 5k mostly because I felt it was prudent to get a short run in and avoid five full days of no running leading into Sunday. I really held back and went slow, trying my best to minimize the pounding on the foot. It still feels tight, which is not surprising, but I want to let it heal as much as possible before running hard. One more treatment with the doctor awaits tomorrow morning, and then I am on my own for the weekend.

Garmin don't lie.


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Pacing vs. Racing

Just to start, I think that I may have unintentionally given some the impression that I am fast or something when I listed the splits for the "slow and steady" 6K I did yesterday. Just so we are all clear, my splits are based on kilometres and not miles, and no, I CANNOT do repeat miles in and around 6 minutes!

OK, now that we've established that my pacing for "slow and steady" is somewhere in the 9:30/mile range (using my somewhat unscientific, but reasonably accurate pace converter on the right hand side of the blog... scroll a little down, and BANG, there it is!) I am soliciting help with how I should prepare for my first ever race this coming weekend. Let me say that again: FIRST EVER RACE this coming weekend.

I am coming into this thing with no experience running with/against other people, and I have only my imagination to guide me. Specifically I am wondering about how to pace myself. Do I go blind and just run on feel, or do I strap on the Garmin and come up with a goal pace and try and hold it as long as possible? This is only a 10k mind you, and for a longer race I think the answer might be more clear to me. Also, I am getting advice from other runners I know, and those who used to run, to do it one way or the other and am a bit confused. Also, if Garmin is the way should the heart rate monitor be brought along for the ride?

My tendency is to use the Garmin since I have been training with it and am comfortable with glancing at it now and then, adjusting my pace, etc... However, I am concerned that it may be a source of negative thoughts if I fail to hold the pace I set for myself, or if I realize that my goal pace is too easy and I start kicking myself for not going out harder.

As far as how my day went, I pretty much was too busy to do much of anything other than work today. I did sneak out for a lunchtime swim, though I cut it down to 1500m partly because of time and partly because I am trying to save energy this week. It took me 23:00 to finish, and I am not doing weights tonight.

And lastly, it is SNOWING here! Not much, but definitely white stuff falling from the sky. It was so cold this morning that my fingers froze inside my biking gloves on the way down to work, and the wind was so strong it nearly blew me off my bike at one point. Either it was that strong, or I've lost too much weight... The weather forecast said it would be windy, but nothing about snow.
I fired up the furnace tonight...

Summer is officially over...

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Before I get to my day, doctor and all, I just want to report that I have slain the beast Microsoft! After three days of hell, I have worked out all the technical obstacles that Bill Gates has set in my way, like a mean father who moves around the furniture and waits in the dark until you come home past curfew and bash yourself all over the place... If anyone ever needs help embedding multiple audio clips, sent to you in a myriad of formats, into a PowerPoint presentation so that the whole damned .ppt file actually includes audio, just let me know... I will save you much stress.

Now, I get a glass of scotch and continue. (Sorry FrayedLaces, but my abstinence did not account for Microsloth issues...)

OK, big swig later, and ready to blog...

The doctor checked me out, poked and prodded, watched me walk, and stand on my toes. The verdict: plantar fasciitis, but not a bad case all things considered. Apparently it all goes back to my g'damn hips! Man, everything seems to go back to my hip flexors and weak ass muscles. In short, my range of motion in the hip and pelvic area has forced my body to adapt and push off too much from the big toe on my right foot. The big toe was overworked, and as a result inflamed my plantar fascia. I will have another treatment tomorrow, and a few next week leading into the race and then things should be Happy McHapsHaps...

I managed a lunchtime swim today as well. 2000m in 30:55, and my arms felt like lead. I must admit that at the 500m mark I was having real trouble convincing myself that it was possible to not stop for another 1500m, but I persevered. My arms are likely tired because I've taken to doing sets of 30 push ups every evening: my own 100 push up challenge so to speak...

Tonight, after getting home and getting dinner started, I even managed a short weight workout. My wife had somewhere else to be at 7:30, so that didn't leave me much time, but I managed a decent quickie anyway. I didn't get any abs in, but I will maybe try to get some crunches done later on...

• Bench Press 12-12-12 135lbs
• Chin Ups 8-6-5-4
• Dumbell Military Press 12-12 40lbs
• Biceps Curls 12-12 60lbs
• Triceps Extensions 12-12 60lbs

Swimming is good, Foot not as good, and E-mail woes

I managed another lunchtime swim, and it really should stop being a suprise now that I am consistently doing these every Tuesday and Thursday. The only hickup was trying to get my lock open so that I could secure my bike outside at the pool. This lock sucks major ass, and the only reason I bought it was because I needed something when I arrived at work one day and had forgotten my lock. I spent almost $60 on this thing, brand name "On Guard", and the actual locking mechanism is terrible. Stay away from this brand if you are considering replacing your lock. I just didn't want to spend $100 or more on a Kryptonite since my bike is a real commuter that I put together over the years, and it really isn't worth stealing - no gears, super big to fit my 6'4" self, and pretty heavy.

Anyway, I struggled to get this thing open for 10 minutes, all the while thinking that maybe even if I was successful in unlocking it would it be worth the risk to secure it onto my bike only to return and not be able to unlock it at all. In the end the thing miraculously opened, though my hand was cramping by then, and I was able to get into the pool.

I did a non-stop 2000m in 30 minutes and it was back to work...

Afterwards, the lock opened with merely a jiggle and I was very surprised, let me tell you. When I returned to work, however, I again struggled for 10 minutes to get the thing open again! And once more, my hand was in major crampy mode by the time the thing did decide to cooperate. After work it only took a couple of minutes to unlock it, and once I got home I lubed the hell out of that sucker and things seem to be better now.

As far as the foot is concerned, I think it feels a bit better today, but it's really hard to tell. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. At work I have been rolling it by standing on a semi-hard ball, and that feels pretty good. I am hopeful that this issue doesn't keep me from running some more in preparation for the 10k on October 26th, that's for sure. If anything, I will run in pain and then take time off after the race. (Unless I think that major damage will occur, at which point the decision to pull out of the race will have to be made. I don't even want to think about that though!)

Tonight I was supposed to go weight train again, and since I missed Tuesday I am a little upset that this is not going to happen. I had agreed to share a presentation with a few people this evening and had emailed it to myself from work hoping to work on it a little more this evening. This usually works with no problems, but for some reason the email never arrived! My sent mail box shows that the attachment was sent at 4:42 in the afternoon, but nothing shows up in my inbox! Of course, I didn't check the option that would have stopped the program from stripping the attachment from the sent mail items. Damn it! Sometimes I just have to curse this technology! Now I have to start from scratch and redo the two hours of work I put into the damned presentation earlier in the day. Memory should help cut down some of the effort, but still - what a pain in the ass!

A Little Worn Down

Yes, it's true. I am feeling worn down today, and as such am making the executive decision to not go to the gym for weights this evening. I spent the day at a privacy and access to information conference, but did manage to sneak out for a swim at lunch. I wasn't planning to do this, but just felt like it and took off, and boy am I glad that I did given how I am feeling tonight. It's awesome to have everything in a locker at the UofT pool so that I can make a spur of the moment decision like this and not have to plan to go and bring all the swimming stuff along with me all over the city.

The swim was great. I jumped in and swam 2000m non-stop in a little under 30 minutes. The shoulders are definitely stronger and I could have kept going for at least another kilometre, but had to get back to the conference.

Now, I am back home, kids are asleep, and the cold I caught this weekend is lingering. The foot is feeling tighter than I would like it to feel, and it definitely feels like plantar fasciitis. I've had it before and hope that rest, ice, heat, and some massage helps this to heal enough to let me train a bit more on the way to the 10k on October 26th. Anyone else dealt with this problem? I'll take all and any advice, home remedies, mysticism, prayers, whatever you've got to get this to get better fast.

In happy news, my manager (who is quite possibly the most normal, sane, and nice person I've ever had to work for) told me I could go watch Owen race tomorrow morning and show up at the conference a bit late! He watched his kids race this morning, and I'm so excited to see Owen race tomorrow morning. It should be awesome, and when I told him I'd be able to go he was very excited. I hope he has a great time and is left with many happy memories from his first running competition. I'll do the proud Dad report tomorrow on how it went, of course.

The postmortem - It's Aaallllllllll Good!

Yes, the day after I really pushed myself in the 5k and everything seems good. The knee feels great, the ankle is good, and I am rejuvenated to continue with my training as I head towards my first ever running race on October 26th. Also, a big Thanks! to all the folks that left comments on my last post - for the first time I hit double digits in comments! Your encouragement is very much appreciated. A special thank you for the sobering comment from Beachrunner who said "You never learn. LOL" - It's true man, but I try, and fully intend to slow down my runs heading into the race as I slowly continue to up the mileage. I know, Yoda says, "Do or Do Not. There is no Try.", but he's just a freakin' character in some movie based on Spaceballs, so what does he know anyway? I mean, am I really supposed to listen to THIS:


One word: toothbrush. OK two words: toothbrush, hat. And dude, whatever it is you are smoking, you had too much! Watch this for proof, though I have no idea what the images have to do with the skit, which I think was made for radio.

By the time the Niagara Falls 10k starts I will be so jumpy and ready to run fast who knows what will happen. May the Shwartz be with me!

Today was another lunchtime swim, and I was a bit more fatigued than normal. I still completed the first 1500m at my usual pace, finishing 22:54. Then a 300m cool down, for a total of 1800m in about 28 minutes, and I was out. On the way back to the office, as I was totally starving, I decided to hit up this great little Thai takeout that I frequent when I forget to bring my own lunch. Alas, the place was closed! Plan B was good too, probably the best Shwarma in the city, but I wanted more food. The Shwarma is huge by Shwarma standards, but the Thai place lets you load up a container with whatever you want, buffet style, as long as the container can still close. Oh well, next time...

Tonight I squeezed in a short workout at the gym. Not very inspired, and in fact I feel a little worn out, so I just did some light weights and got the hell out of there. Looking forward to the off day tomorrow, and I am alone with the boys for the evening so it should be a fun movie night for the three of us.

Details:

• 10 minute stationary bike warm up
• HS Chest Press 20-20 85lbs
• Lat Pulldowns 20-20 100lbs
• Dumbell Shoulder Press 16-16 25lbs
• Seated Rows 20-20 85lbs
• Biceps Curls 18-18 45lbs
• Triceps Extensions 25-25 40lbs

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet and a Big Rookie Mistake Bummer

This morning I biked with Owen over to his school for his regular 8am cross-country running practice. The grey clouds in the sky looked like they would hold off until mid morning, so I figured Owen would have a good workout outdoors instead of in the gym, and I'd get to work dry, ready for my all-day meeting. Instead, not two minutes after I left his school the sky started pissing on me hard! I stopped and pulled on my rain pants, but I did not have the right footwear. By the time I got to work my feet were totally soaked. Damn Damn Damn! Didn't bring extra socks...

Oh well, that's what you get when you bike to work I guess... I sat through the morning meeting with wet socks in dress shoes, and that just felt so lovely I can't even begin to explain how happy it made me...

At least the weather cooperated on my way to the pool at lunch time as it was no longer raining. I got there a little late since the meeting went well past it's scheduled lunch break time, and the lanes were clogged with swimmers. I vented on this subject before, so I won't do it again here. I jumped in and was ready for an uninterrupted 1500m, navigating others of course.

The swim was fine even though I had to stop a couple of times when I was hampered in my efforts to pass others. I completed the 1500m in 22:20 and then did another 300m to bring the total to 1800m in about 27 minutes. Then, got out, got dry, got wet socks back on, got on bike, got back workin'...

At the end of the workday, my marathon running manager said that he'd registered his family for the October 18th Zoorun and that he would use the 10k as a warm up for his marathon at Niagara Falls the following week. Excited by the news I went online to finally register myself for the event, and was totally bummed out to find that the event was SOLD OUT!!! Man! I'd been so looking forward to running this event, and made a rookie mistake by not registering early. I was overly cautious with the ankle and knee and didn't want to commit to something until I was more sure that my body would allow me to race. Won't do THAT again...

So, now I had to find a backup plan. The Niagara Falls race looked interesting, and it would be cool to see someone I know run the marathon. So tonight I registered myself and my wife for the 10k race on October 26th! I have no idea how this will work out, where we'll stay the night before, who will look after the boys, or anything else really, but I don't care! I'm going to race!!!

And, of course, I had to rework the training plan a bit.

Prior to the above Internet magic I managed some weights at the gym. It was fun.

• 10 minutes stationary bike warm up
• Chin Ups 8-7-5-4
• Incline Bench Press 12-12-12 115lbs
• Dumbell Rows 12-12 40lbs
• Lateral Dumbell Flys 12-12 20lbs
• Seated Dumbel Biceps Curls 12-12 30lbs
• Dumbell Triceps Extensions 12-12 20lbs
• Bicycle Crunches 50-50-50

Another Day Gone Swimmingly

Work has been a little nuts as we prepare for a major network migration, and I am the lead for the project so stress, stress, stress... That wasn't going to keep me from my lunchtime swim, though I probably should have stayed back and monitored the situation. What's 45 minutes, I figured? In the end that won't make any difference.

Today I swam 1500m straight in about 22 minutes, once again maintaining a 1:30/100m pace. It was a bit harder than on Tuesday mostly because my shoulders were tired. I then managed another 200m warm down for a total of 1700m in about 26 minutes, then got back on the bike as fast as I could and headed back to the office and the myriad of messages, both voice and electronic, that awaited me there.

On the ankle front, I am quite pleased with how this gimpy appendage feels today. I certainly expected more pain, but it seems to be holding up well. I think if things continue like this I will be able to get that 10k run in on Saturday morning! I have been slowly adding one kilometre per week since the beginning of August to get to this point and feel like 10k is a great milestone. I would like to keep adding onto the distance until I am running my longest in the 15k range, but that depends on how the body responds. This winter the theme will be getting the legs stronger so that next spring I can avoid as much of the nagging aches and pains that I think are attributable to my relative weaknesses in this area. For now, I am happy with how things are progressing and keep telling myself to hold back.

Saturday, I will be taking Owen to Ashbridges Bay Park so that he can run the cross-country course that he will be competing on with his school in a couple of weeks. This is a great idea by the kids' coach, who will be there to help them (and us parents) out. I will have to get my run in pretty early, or in the afternoon should I sleep in too late. In any case, this should be fun for all, and perhaps I will be introduced to another good running spot.

Lastly, you may have noticed a subtle change to my stated goal at the top of this blog. I have changed "to get back in shape" to "to become a runner". I feel like I am in pretty good shape now, having sustained a good routine of at least three workouts per week since last January, shedding about 20lbs of useless flab in the process, and feel like I have reached this first goal. Now I have my sights set on something else, to achieve enough proficiency in running to call myself a runner.

Tonight, another weights routine awaits. Until then, keep your sticks on the ice!

The weights update:

• 10 minute stationary bike warm up
• Bench Press 12-12-12 135lbs
• HS Seated Rows 12-12-12 180lbs
• Dumbell Shoulder Press 12-12 40lbs
• Chin Ups 5-4-3-2-1 (yikes!)
• Biceps Curls 12-12 60lbs
• Triceps Kickbacks 12-12 15lbs
• Captain Chair Crunches 20-20-20-20 (WTF!!! These kicked my ass!)

And Thanks Marcy for your comment - You are too kind!