Second Wind

Wanted to run 7 or 8 today but the leg didn't cooperate and I just couldn't find a good rhythm.  So stopped at 6 and went inside to stretch out really good for a few minutes before getting ready for work.  Just when you start to think things are looking up you have a day like this when it seems like the injury is worse.

Rest.  Decided to sleep in and take a day off.

A fairly good 6 miler today.  Felt good for most of the run and really  enjoyed myself.  Still had enough pain to know that I am not through this thing yet and still need to be carful about how much speed and mileage I add but at least I felt like this was one of my better runs in the last couple of weeks.

I have the corporate challenge 5K coming up on April 13 and am planning on running it but am still a little up in the air about how fast to try and run.  Part of me wants to try for something in the mid 20s and part of me says take it easy because Ogden will only be a month out at that point.  I still have 9 days to decide and a lot can happen in 9 days so we shall see.

Planned on going a little further than 4 today but Meg was stopping at 4 and I needed to start getting ready for work so I just decided to wrap it up and save whatever I had in the tank for tomorrows long run.  I am still feeling some aches and pains from the injuries but I feel like things are progressing and getting better day by day.

NB 767 (336.2)

WOW!! What a difference a new pair of shoes can make.  I made the decision last night to pull out the new NB 768s and use them today.  My NB 767s have about 350 miles on them so they are very close to the end, but I wanted to see if the shoe change would help with some of the aches and pains.  From the very first 1/10th of a mile I could tell this was going to be a great run.  I couldn't beleive the absence of pain in my calf and hip.  When I started this morning I honostly had no idea how far I was going to run.  I figured I would run until I thought the pain was getting worse and then stop at whatever mile that was.  At mile 10 I still felt strong and thought, maybe I should just go 20 today since I missed a 20 miler last week.  Well, the good news is, I feel like I am getting back my pre-injury form and the pain is on the downhill slide, the bad news is, my arch is flaring up in its usual spot but at least I know that a cortisone shot from my podiatrist will cure that really quick....I just don't know if I can wait the week and a half until the appointment.  With three more strong weeks to go before the taper I hope to regain some of the fitness I have lost during my time off and reduced running these past few weeks.  I don't feel like I have lost much and if healing continues to go well I think I can get there.

Bad news for Meg.  Her knee really started hurting her bad around mile 11/12 and she gutted it out to mile 14.  I finally convinced her to stop cause she is so tough and would have finished the run at the risk of doing serious damage to her knee.  She is so ready for Ogden, I just hope she has the patience to let this knee heal up well in the next 6 weeks even if it means sacrificing a little of her fitness.  I think she is fit enough to run a sub 3:30, but not with her knee in its current condition.

NB 768 (17)

Rest.  And ohhh what a restful day it was, slept in, took a nap and enjoyed both sessions of conference.

Man I am slow!  Part way through this run today I decided to do a little trial run to see how fast I could run a mile.  We have the Corporate Challenge track and field event coming up and I wanted to get an idea of how fast I could run a mile.  Well, the answer is, not very fast.  After a three mile warm-up I ran the mile in 6:35.  I could make up all kinds of excuses like the wind, still recovering from Saturday long run and my nagging injuries, etc., etc.,  but the fact is, I am just plain slow.  Luckily there is another guy at work who will be running the 1600 and I will do the 5K the day before.  The fact is, I was planning on trying to run the 5K in the 20 minute range, but with that kind of performance in the mile, I doubt I'll make it.

Overall, I felt pretty good today and the majority of my pain lies in my arch near the heal.  Hopefully the cortisone injection I will receive tomorrow will knock that out with no problems.  I have had this shot 3 times previous over the past two years.  It seems like every 7-8 months the pain comes back and I get it done again.

Time:  8:17/mile

767 (342.2)

I don't know that I would call my three miles today "fast" but they were under 8:00/mile and they felt pretty good considering the naggng arch (can't wait for the cortisone today at 11:00).  Felt pretty crappy for the first lap and speaking of crappy had to stop in at the house for a couple minutes for a potty break.  The second lap wasn't much better but after that, things started to loosen up.  The legs began to feel strong and my breathing felt effortless.  I felt like I could have picked up the pace even faster than I did, but decided against it considering all my nagging issues of late.  Ran in the new shoes again today and they really felt good.  Don't know if it's the shoes or my mind but I do feel better when I run in the new shoes.  Will probably try to do tomorrow run a bit faster as well and then just log the miles for the rest of the week leading up the Corporate Challenge 5K on Sunday.  I'm not overly excited about running on Sunday, my usual day of church and rest, but my team needs my time and points, hopefully I can come through and earn some points.  We shall see.

Time:  8:07/mile

768 (24)

Tried using a lightweight neutral racing flat today (Saucony Grid Type A2).  I have never worn a shoe this light before for running.  It tips the scales at a mere 6 ounces and almost feels like it's not there at all except for the fact that it provides a very good cushioning.  It's also a very "loud" shoe in the sense that you cannot miss these ruby red slippers on my feet.  Luckily I run early in the morning when it's dark and don't have to flaunt these babies out in public.  I was contemplating wearing these for the 5K this weekend, and still may, but I feel a bit timid wearing them in public and not having the speed to live up to the shoes potential and show.  I'm glad I decided to run in them at least once before racing because I discovered I will need to make sure I tie them very securely with double knots (even though I had them in loose double knots for this run) or they will come loose part way through the run.

Today's run was supposed to be a recovery 5 mile run but since I wasn't really recovering from any brutal runs I decided to go out and give these shoes a fair trial run.  I decided to do a progression run where I increased my pace from 8:00/mile to 7:30, 7:00, 7:30, and back 8:00.  The 7:30 paces felt good, like something I felt like could hold for many miles.  The 7:00 pace felt a little labored this morning for some reason and was glad to get back to the 7:30 pace and finally ease off with the final 8:00.  Everything felt really good this morning on the injury front.  The arch is doing better now that it's got the corisone working full force and the left hip, knee and calf, seem to be feeling better each day.  My right leg is a work horse right now, boy it would be nice if both of my legs felt like my right leg.  Hopefully I'll get there before Ogden.

Time:  7:34/mile

Grid Type A2 (5)

I had intentions to go 12 today but my arch is still very tender after the cortisone injection on Tuesday so I ended up cutting the run short becuase it was effecting my gait.  This injury bug sure isn't making things easy for me right now.

Time:  8:47/mile

768 (30)

Took the day off due to continued tenderness in my heal/arch.  Hopefully it will be good to go for the 5K on Sunday.

Another day like yesterday.  Heal/foot is still in too much pain to run.

Well, my heal/arch was still a bit achey this morning but I wasn't going to miss a race short of being totally lame.  Today was perfect running conditions, with absolutely no wind and perfect temps.  I ran this race last year (same course) and ended up with a 23:10 so to come up with a  1:15 PR for the course today is something to cheer about.  After crossing the finish line and looking at the distance on my Garmin I was not pleased to find that the course is 3.25 miles.  I thought I was running faster than 7:05 miles and infact I was.  Again, according to Garmin my average pace for the run was 6:44/mile.  I knew I wasn't ready to run a sub 20 5k yet but I figured a sub 21 should be very possible even with my nagging foot.  I spoke with several other runners with garmins and my response from everyone on the distance was 3.25 miles.  I even went so far as to talk (very nicely) to the timing guy about the distance and he assured me that he certified the course distance himself and that the reading on my Garmin didn't really matter......ya right.

I was still very pleased with my overall run and time.  It is a new PR even though it's still not the PR I know I am capable of.  I will be running another 5K on this same course in 2 weeks, I wonder what Garmin will say then.

Will take a few days off to rest the arch and other minor aches.

Rest.

Rest.

Rest.

Rest.

Don't remember much about this run just really late in logging it.

Disneyland.  Walked about a zillion miles but no running.

Disneyland.  Walked another zillion miles and ran two easy miles with Meg around our hotel in Santa Ana.

Disneyland again and another zillion miles walking.  Ran 3 good quality miles around the hotel and feel like the aches and pains are getting a little better.

Disneyland.  Walked some more but no running.  Disneyland is wearing me out.

Last day at Disneyland and then we leave for home.  No running today again but plenty of walking.

Ran 6 really good miles today with Meg.  All miles but one were under an 8:00/mile pace and it felt good to get back into it a little bit.

This was the same course that I ran on a couple of weeks ago for the Corporate Challenge so I knew it would be long.  After a week at Disneyland and very little running and eating like crap I didn't expect much today.  Warmed up for a mile before the race and wasn't feeling real great.  Legs and body was feeling a bit fatigued and it was getting hotter by the minute.  Conditions for the race were warm and breezy with a steady head wind for about a mile of the course.  Finished just under a minute slower than my time in the Corp Challenge and was a little disappointed with my effort.  Just seemed to run out of gas the last mile and had no one in reach to catch at any point in the race so I kinda ran on my own, which is tough.  The best I could do was hold off a guy who was trying to catch me.....succeeded.  Should be going into a three week taper for Ogden but I have nothing to taper from.  Will probably try to build back up over the next two weeks to around 45-50 miles and then do a one week mini taper before Ogden.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Still suffering from a little arch pain but nothing I haven't been able to ease with ice and ibuprofin.

Spent all day today at a softball tournament that my daughter played.  Her team played 6 games over two days and ended up the consolation runner-up.  It was a tought tournamant for our girls we lost a catcher and a pitcher to injuries.  The catcher got her hand stepped on while trying to apply a tag at the plate and our pitcher caught a line drive with her nose.  It wasn't pretty but they played great and finished strong despite being very worn out.....along with all the parents.

AM

Man, I don't think I can finish a marathon the way I am feeling right now......I take that back, I can probably finish, just not with the goal I am aiming for.  These nagging injuries just won't let up and I don't know if it's even worth the effort to make an attempt at the marathon and risk additional injury when I am fairly sure my BQ goal is out of reach.  Meg and I talked about running to finish and running to meet a goal today.  I have already finished two marathons, finishing is not my goal anymore, I want to run at a certain level and if I can't (due to injury) I look at it like.....what's the point?  Anyway, I will give it the rest of this week before I make a decision.....what a bummer.

768 (64.51)

PM

Had the corporate challenge walk race this evening and this is the 5th year in a row that I have participated in this race.  Race walking is an interesting sport but you look like a total dufus doing the walk if you do it right.  The whole hip movement is really......well strange.  I didn't do any specific training for this race other than my usual running.  Usually each year I go out two or three times just to get into the rhythm and build up my shin muscles.  The shins can really get sore from speed walking if you haven't built up those muscles.  I wasn't really sure how I would do with my nagging injuries as well but while I was warming up I felt almost no pain at all so I figured I would just go for it.  Long story short I averaged 10:25/mile (exactly the same as last year) and took home another gold.  In the five years doing this event I have won 4 gold and 1 silver.  The year I took silver I lost by 2 meesly seconds...doh!  Overall very fun event and I am not really feeling any ill effects from it....thank goodness.

767 (359.53)

Decided to keep it short and nice and easy this morning after yesterday's walk race event.  I wasn't sure if my muscles would be all cramped up this morning and surprisingly they were pretty good.  I still took it very easy with only 3 miles and about and 8:50 pace and was suprised to find that my nagging injuries were actually feeling a little better this morning.  Maybe it was a result of the wicked hip movements in the walk race :) or maybe it is just a fluke.....whatever it is, I'll take it.  I am going to try and run another easy 3 this evening just to get in 6 for the day.  As of today, Ogden is still on.

768 (67.51)

PM

Made it out for another 3 miles this evening.  Ran one with Cory at about 9:30 pace and then ran two more on my own at not much faster.

767 (362.3)

Another easy morning.......only because I woke up late and didn't have time to go any further.  I am still feeling some pretty good soreness from the walk race on Monday.  It's amazing the different muscles you use for walking versus running.  My shin muscles are pretty sore as well as my glutes and hamstrings.  I don't think all the soreness had kicked in by Tuesday when I did my 3 miles in the morning, that's probably why it felt so good.  Hopefully by tomorrow most of the soreness will be gone and I can get back to feeling good.  Hope to run another 3-4 easy miles tonight to make up for waking up late this morning.  Somehow I managed to get just over 100 miles this month.  Not all that great but not the worst either.

768 (70.51)