Second Wind

Finally I do a true recovery run for once in my life.  Not much to report other than it was slow and easy and actually felt pretty good.  Meg and I have decided to switch our first 20 miler of this cycle to tomorrow instead of next week due to scheduling problems.  I don't think it should be a problem moving it up a week, and what a change for me to actually get to a 20 miler during a training cycle without being too injured to run.

Time 55:38  9:15/mile

NB768 379.51 NB768(new) 68.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Wasn't concerned with time today other than subcontiously I was shooting for sub 3 hours or 9:00/mile.  Since this is my first 20 miler since March 8 I didn't want to go out and push the pace.  This week also ends with 52 miles for me which is the most since the week ending March 8 as well.  I wanted to put in the 20, feel fairly good doing it, and not risk any injury in the process.  I think I accomplished these goals today and it feels really good.  I have never made it this far along in my marathon training without being injured and that feels good as well.  All the major muscle groups in my lets were screaming by the end and I know additional 20 milers before SGM will help with that fatigue factor a ton.  I walked about a mile after the run just to "cool down" even thought the temps were pushing 90 by the finish.

On my schedule leading up to SGM right now I have a 20 miler every other week and 17 milers on the other weeks.  That gives me the chance to get in four 20 milers before the big day, but if I get two it will be more than I have ever got in the past.  I don't know if that many 20s in such a short time is over kill or not, I will just have to pay attention to my body and listen when it says to stop.  If I can get all those 20s in I think it will yeild huge dividends on race day

Time:  2:57:24  8:52/mile

NB768 379.51 NB768(new) 88.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Rest.

NB768 379.51 NB768(new) 88.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Nice recovery/easy run today.  Everything felt pretty good considering the long run on Saturday.  Recovery seemed to go well and legs felt really awake and good by the end of the run today.  Will be doing at least 7 miles each day this week with some intervals and a tempo run on Tuesaday and Thursday respectively.

First couple of laps were a bit strange today.  First lap we had a kid ask us if we had a cell phone and we told him no we don't run with a cell phone, his response was, "really?"  No, just kidding, her you go son......what the... Later in that same lap we came across a kid laying in the middle of the road so we ran up to him and asked if he was okay, he said he was so continued on.  The next lap we came to an area in our development near one of the exit/entrances to the main road which can be busy at times.  It is a three way "T" intersection and we always stop and wait if there are cars coming because it is usually fairly dark and we don't want risk them not seeing us.  Anyway, we come running along the top of the T heading straight and a truck is coming directly toward us getting ready to turn left in front of us so we begin to slow down to a walk so he can make the turn.  A second and third car pull up to the stop sign on our right waiting to turn left in front of us.  At this point we are standing there waiting for the cars to clear, the first guy in the truck, with the right of way, just sits there, the two cars coming in front of us from the right pull out in front of the truck and turn left and the truck still is sitting there waiting for us.....HELLO!!  Another car pulls up on the street to our right and Meg has had enough so she started going and I just went along with her hoping not to get hit.  Living in Vegas you never know what idiot is coming home from the casino drunk and tired and you never want to risk running out in front of a car even if they have a stop sign or stop light, unless they are stopped or you make eye contact.  Needless to say, we survived to run another day....whew.....wierd.

Time:  1:01:40  8:49/mile

NB768 386.51 NB768(new) 88.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Today I ran 800 intervals.  In the spirit of building up slowly I kept the quantity at 4 and decided to try and keep the pace around 3:20/800M range.  Before the run even started I commented to Meg that my legs felt a little dead this morning.  I wonder if I am still feeling fatigue from our 20 miler last Saturday.  I have no soreness and no aches and pains in the legs, they just felt tired.  Decided to go through with the workout and maybe the legs would wake up.  Did a two mile warm-up and then changed the Garmin over to doing intervals.  These are the splits:  3:18, 3:15, 3:18, 3:20.  Felt pretty good throughout the workout and even went a bit too fast on that second interval.  During the cool down my hamstrings and lower back felt a bit tight so I will do some extra stretching during the day today to see if that helps.  We are pretty much into the last big push before SGM, hope the body holds up.

Went geocaching last night with the family for FHE.  Didn't know how easy it was to load the coordinates into my Forerunner 301 and head out the door to hunt for treasures.  Geocaching is when people have hidden boxes (usually ammo cans or small tins) in different areas around town and other people use GPS to go find them and then you write in the log book in the cache and log your find on the website.  Once you make the find you can remove some of the loot and replace it with your own treasures or just add your own treasures or do nothing.  The kids really enjoy the hunt and seeing what is in th treasure box.For those of you interested in finding out more about geocaching go to www.geocaching.com.

Time:  58:23  8:20/mile

NB768 386.51 NB768(new) 95.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Nice and easy recovery run today.  Legs felt pretty heavy today and I have just been feeling tired the last day or two.  The summer cold bug is going around my house right now and maybe I have caught a touch of that, hope not.  Meg didn't run today because her knee started bothering her from the first step so she got the bike out and went for a ride.

Time:  1:02:07  8:53/mile

NB768 393.51 NB768(new) 95.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Ran a 4 mile tempo run today.  My legs finally felt a liitle better this morning, I wouldn't say they had zip but at least they weren't dead like they have been the last few days.  Wanted to keep the pace around  7:10/mile which would have been about the pace of my tempo run a couple of weeks ago.  Ended up going a little faster than expected and I was pretty pooped by the time I finished.  Here are the splits:  7:03, 7:00, 6:53, 6:59.  I'm not sure what happened in that third mile, I did stop for gatorade.......maybe that stuff really works.  I think once I set the bar for myself on that first and second mile I felt like I needed to maintain an even pace for the whole run.  Really had to concentrate hard and try to relax on that las mile to bring it in even with the others.  tomorrow will tell the story of whether I pushed too hard or not.  Lots of extra stretching for me today.

Time:  53:51  7:42/mile

NB768 393.51 NB768(new) 102.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Just a run of the mill recovery run today.  Kept the pace nice and slow.  Didn't feel as tired as I was expecting from yesterdays tempo run but I did have a twinge of soreness in my left quad for the first several steps of the run.  Nothing else really exciting to report from this run, other than it was hot and humid......again.

Time:  1:02:56  8:59/mile

NB768 400.51 NB768(new) 102.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Another long run today, this week was a 17 which I am hoping to alternate with 20's every other week from now until the taper.  There was a fairly nice breeze for the first several miles of the run and it seemed to keep the heat down a bit in the early miles.  I had planned to try and add in some marathon pace miles (7:28/mile) during this run to see how it would feel to run that pace on tired legs.  At mile 7 I said goodbye to Meg and went off with aspirations of going 6-7 miles at MP.  Well only made it 3 miles before the fatigue was too much and I just didn't have it in me to continue.  Did a U-turn and ran backward to Meg and we ran together until 16 miles when I decided to finish strong with another MP mile.  During the mile after the marathon pace miles I did not feel real well, just felt really tired and felt like I may have to just quit.  Ended up gutting it out and after that mile started feeling better.  It is encouraging to me that my body seemed to get back into a rhythm after feeling so crappy but it's dicouraging that I was only able to manage 3 marathon pace miles.  I think I can blame it partly on the past two weeks being very tough training for me with higher mileage and higher intensity than I have done in a long time.  Hopefully during the next couple of weeks the body will hold up and adapt to the rigorous training schedule.

Time:  2:24:28  8:29/mile

NB768 400.51 NB768(new) 119.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Rest.

Started out today's run feeling pretty crappy.  Didn't sleep real well last night and woke up with one of those headaches that gets worse with any sort of physical movement.  The rest of the body felt okay so I went ahead and suffered through the first 4-5 miles before I finally started feeling a little better.  Still not feeling really great and want to go back to bed.  Hope I am not coming down with the colds my kids have been passing around the last week or so.

Time:  1:02:57  9:00/mile

NB768 407.51 NB768(new) 119.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Yasso's!!  Yep, another day of the lung scorching 800s.  The last few weeks of doing these has caused me to be pleasently surprised.  The reason I say that is I have been feeling some pretty good fatigue lately and when it comes time to find the strength and speed to do these things, it's there.  This morning when I started my two mile warm up I said to myself that I would take the Yasso's one at a time and see if I was able to continue after each one.  Well after I had completed the first interval I felt so good that I knew I would have no problem completing the whole workout.  Here are the splits:  3:17, 3:14, 3:16, 3:23, 3:07.  I know splits 4 and 5 look a little out of whack so here's the story.  I use my Garmin to do half mile intervals but I also have a half mile area measured out near my house which I use, so with or without the Garmin I know where the half mile starts and ends.  The Garmin apparently went to breakfast during my fourth interval and I ended up running about 150-200 feet further than needed before it finally registered a half mile.  I would estimate that the fourth interval was right around 3:15 as well.  Anyway I was a bit upset about the garmin being off during that fourth interval that I grabbed the bear that had been hitching a ride on my back threw him to the ground put him in a choke hold and took off like I stole something, determined to make up for the garmin screw up, well, I guess I did.  Cooled off at the end with a mile and called it a day.  Another successful interval workout in the bank, hope it pays big dividends, with few penalties.

Meg had a cortisone shot in her heal yesterday afternoon so she did 20 on the bike and I had to do my intervals solo today.  I am usually solo on interval day anyway because she runs her's at about a 3:30-3:40 pace but at least I see her as we pass each other going back and forth.

Time:  0:57:03  8:09/mile

NB768 407.51 NB768(new) 126.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Just a simple recovery run this morning.  Legs were dead as usual but started to feel better as the run progressed.  I think my body is getting ready for a bit of break.  Next week is a reduced mileage week so maybe these legs of mine will have a chance to recharge.  Temp was actually cooler today at 78 degrees, hope it keeps going in the downward direction but it's probably wishful thinking....it's still August.  Meg was by my side again this morning with her cortisoned up heal feeling better.

Time:  1:00:58  8:43/mile

NB768 414.51 NB768(new) 126.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Today was our hill/freeway overpass run.  My left knee was bothering me for the better part of yesterday, yes this is new.  So I was a little worried about going out and running up and down hills on it.  Decided the uphill portions wouldn't be bad and I could just take it easy on the downhill and see how things went.  I took 800mg of ibuprofen before bed last night and woke up this morning actually feeling pretty good for once.  Even my legs didn't have much of the usual fatigue......miracle drug.  Anyway, the run went fine and I kept the pace and effort fairly easy.  Will plan on icing, elevating and stretching a lot today.  I have avoided it too this point but I think I will have to start an ibuprofen regemin for a few days to see if I can rid myself of this knee pain.  I have decided to retire my old shoes at 414.51 miles since that is usually about as far as I ever take a pair of shoes and that may be contributing to the knee pain.

Time:  1:02:40  8:57/mile

NB768 414.51 (retired) NB768 133.08  Saucony A2 11.9

Today was a nice recovery run and a test on the knee to see if it will be up to running 20 tommorow.  Well, the knee felt fine at this pace and the legs actually felt pretty good.  The pain is now in my left foot on the outside of the foot and up into my ankle area.  A couple of years ago I rolled that ankle really bad playing basketball and maybe all my rolled ankle over the years are coming back to haunt me.  I was able to run on it but it wasn't very comfortable.  I'm hoping some ice and ibuprofen will do the trick today and we will see how it feels tomorrow.  Weather continues to be quite hot with the temp at 84 yesterday and 85 today at 5:00 am.  It's supposed to be 86 for the low tommorow so it just gets better and better.....oh well, things could be worse.

Time:  1:02:53  8:59/mile

NB768 140.08 NB768 (new) 0.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Dang Day Off!  Well the thing on the outside of my left foot is turning out to be worse than first thought.  There is a little bit of swelling and it's a bit painful to walk on.  I guess I will try to get in to see my podiatrist this next week to find out what it is, until then, no running.  It's kind of a weird deal as it just appeared out of nowhere, no warning, no build up of pain.  I'm hoping it's just some tendonitis but I suppose it could be a stress fracture or something else, who knows.  I'll give it the weekend to see what it does and go from there.  What a dang bummer, just when things are going good, something always happens.  I guess I will just have to kick back and watch a few movies today......darn :)

Rest.

Foot was feeling a little better this morning so I decided to go out and give it a try.  Didn't want to push it so took it really easy and decided to stop at two.  I have no doubt I could have kept going but I didn't want to make things worse so called it a day and will try to make and appointment to see the podiatrist soon.  Compared to last Friday, the foot is looking 70% better with much less swelling and pain.  Hopefully it will continue to improve.

Time:  18:16  9:08/mile

NB768 140.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Since I didn't think it would be wise to run 800s today I just decided to do my 6 miles and pick up the pace just a tiny bit.  The plan was to see how far and how fast my foot would let me go and then stop if it got to be too much.  Luckily I didn't have to stop.  There was a minimal amout of pain in my foot and ankle but nothing extreme.  At the end of the run I was not limping and as I type this there is only a bit of stiffness but not much pain.  I plan to continue the ice and anti-inflamatories through the end of this week and then see where we are next Monday.  The pain in the foot sort of feels like a mild sprained ankle, only I don't seem to remember ever spraining my ankle.  As some have said, it is most likely a bit of tendonitis that can hopefully heal up relatively easily.  I plan to take it pretty easy the rest of this week.  This was a planned reduced mileage week anyway so it should work out well.  Hopefully I'll get some nice recovery and healing for a good three week push to SGM before the taper.

Time:  51:04  8:31/mile

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Well started the run today and didn't make it very far before I decided I better ride the bike today.  I am still not out of the woods on this foot thing.  It was kind of hurting today so I decided it would be smarter to grab the bike and ride hard rather than push the foot and make it worse.  Made it 20 miles today on my usual route out to the cement plant near the 95 an Mt. Charleston turn off.  Most of the road out there is a gradual uphill with a couple pretty good climbs, sure is a nice ride back home.  Foot feels fine after the ride so I know biking isn't causing me any problems.  I can still feel it when I walk but I am not limping.  It was actaully kinda cool this morning at 75 degrees and riding the bike made it feel even cooler with the added wind generated by my blazing speed, felt really nice.

Bike:  20 Miles

Time:  1:19:47  15 MPH

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9 

Another day on the bike.  Foot and ankle are still bothering me so I decided to take the bike again.  Same route as yesterday and pretty much the same time.  Really need to get a light for my bike because it is mighty dark out there at 5:00 AM.  Meg went with me today just to keep me company and we really worked hard on the uphill sections of the course.  Coming down the hills back toward home we got passed by a couple of guys on road bikes.  We were going about 25MPH and they were probably going closer to 30 and still had the gears to pedal.  A nice road bike would sure be fun for these road rides instead of our moutain bikes.  Oh well, at least it is a very good work out and my legs are pretty wiped out by the end of these rides.  I know it's not the same as running, but hopefully I can at least maintain some of my fitness while I heal up.

Time:  1:18:44  15.2 MPH

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9 

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin', man my butt is swollen, raw'hind'.  Yes folks another fun filled 20 mile bike ride today and man was my butt sore today after 2 days of hard riding.  Same cousre as the previous two days and pretty much the same time if you account for stop signs and traffic signals, etc.  Strapped a little head lamp to the front of my bike this morning to give me a little light until the sun starts to come up at about 5:45AM.  The first 30 minutes of the ride is a little harry in some areas that don't have street lights, glad the traffic is lite.  These bikes probably aren't doing much for my running legs but they are definately a leg workout.  I go camping with the 11 year old scouts tonight so I probably won't get a run in tomorrow.  Good couple of days rest before I try to get back at it Monday......hopefully.

Time:  1:19:53  15 MPH

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9 

Scout camp along with some hiking, which was good, but other than that, no running or biking.

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 2.0  Saucony A2 11.9 

Rest.

Decided to go out and see how the foot is doing today after almost a week of no running.  I was still able to feel the pain but it wasn't as intense as it was last week.  I go in to see the podiatrist tomorrow and hopfully come up with some solutions or maybe even get a cortisone shot to get me through the next six weeks to the marathon.  Run felt really good and legs actually felt like they had some zip in them for once, I guess a week off will do that for you.

Time:  51:58  8:40/mile

NB768 146.08 NB768 (new) 8.0  Saucony A2 11.9 

Decided to run a goal marathon pace run today since my training hasn't really included many miles at GMP.  Started out with a 1 mile warm-up and then got right into a 7:28, or better, pace.  The splits went like this:  7:16, 7:03, 7:29, 7:25, 7:22.  I am not really sure what happened in the second and third splits but feel pretty good about the run overall.  It wasn't easy but it wasn't as hard as a good hard tempo run either.  My foot pain wasn't too bad this morning and I am looking forward to seeing the podiatrist today and get his opinion.  I'm not looking forward to the possibility of a cortisone shot.....those things hurt......especially in the foot.......and I am a big wimp.

The Doc:  Well I found out I don't currently have a stress fracture (he called it a Jones fracture), or at least not one he can see on x-ray.  He hasn't ruled it out entirely becuase I guess these things can take up to 2-3 weeks to develop into something you can see on x-ray.  He thinks it is just some tendonitis in those tendons that attatch to the outer edge of the foot.  He suggested if it continues to get worse we could do a cortisone shot but since it has gotten better he suggested waiting a week or so to see what happens.  If it really gets bad he also suggested a bone scan to check for a stress fracture but that would be down the road a ways yet.  So for now I am going to continue with the Ice and anti-inflams and get back after it.  If worse comes to worse I will have a three week taper to ride the bike and tone it down and hopefully get fully healed.

Time: 53:46  7:41/mile

NB768 153.08 NB768 (new) 8.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Took it nice and easy today and had to fight to keep the pace in the slow range.  Legs felt okay after yesterdays faster run.  Stepped on a rock today during my run.  I caught it right in the ball of my foot between the 2nd and 3rd toes.  Hurt like ..........insert your own explative.  I had to stop for a couple of minutes and walk and stretch it out on the curb.  Continued running and it seemed okay but I can still feel a dull pain as I sit here typing this.  Of course this was on my left foot which has been bothering me so just another insult to my already injured foot.......holy crap!!  I think I am going to invest in a bubble and live in it for the next 5 weeks until the marathon so I don't have to face the harsh realities of the cruel world of marathon training.

Time:  1:02:38  8:57/mile

NB768 153.08 NB768 (new) 15.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Foot was still noticable today but it was the best it has been since I first injured it.  Decided to run some freeway overpasses with Meg today and it went well.   We ran 4 round trips which equates to about 3 miles of up and downhill running and then the rest of the run was on the flats.  Decided to through in an extra mile because we had time and because I was feeling good. I could still feel the spot where I stepped on that dang rock yesterday but it wasn't bad.  Hopefully it's just a little bruised and I will be able to take care of it with some ice today.  Hopefully the good times keep rolling for a few more weeks.

Time:  1:07:38  8:26/mile

NB768 161.08 NB768 (new) 15.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Dang Dogs!  Had a run in with another dog today right at the first mile marker, so it was still very dark and we were both very much still asleep.  Well we were wide awake after this encounter.  The boxer type dog came running out from in between two cars in a drive way and got close enough to Meg that she could have easily touched it.  Meg almost jumped in my arms and I let out a bit of a shout and then a few more rantings loud enough for all the neighbors to hear at 5:00AM  Heee Heee Heee!!!  Too bad Meg didn't have her pepper spray at the ready, that dog needed a real good dousing.  Anyway, we made a pit stop at home to grab the cell phone and made a call to animal control.  I doubt anything will come of it cause we never saw the dog again on any of our other laps around the neighborhood.  Maybe the neighbors heard my shouting.......oh well! 

The run felt great, the foot is feeling much better and I am looking forward to testing it out on a really good 20+ miler tomorrow.  I think our plan is to run for 3 hours or 20 miles, which ever is longer.  I suspect we will end up running closer to 22 miles but we'll just have to see how it goes.  I am planning to throw in 5-10 miles at marathon pace or faster (hopefully closer to 10 than 5 depending on how I am feeling).

Time:  1:01:08  8:44/mile

NB768 161.08 NB768 (new) 22.0  Saucony A2 11.9

WOW!!  What a glorious run today.  What huge confidence boost for my fitness and ability to finish a respectable marathon.  I set out with the goal today to run for 3 hours no matter the distance and run 5-10 of those miles right around my goal marathon pace of 7:28/mile.  I ended up running 23 miles and running 13 miles of what I will call marathon pace miles.  I won't take the time to record the splits but that the fastest mile was 7:21 and the slowest mile was 7:45 of the 13 marathon pace miles.  I think my average pace for those miles was right around 7:35/mile.  Felt good most of the way with no bad aches or pains to speak of.  The foot was pretty much a non-issue and isn't bothering me at all post run.  I did have my usual lower back and hip pains from time to time but they are tollerable.  I'm running in new territory now, I have never run more than one 20 miler in preparation for a marathon (this is number 2) and I have never run more than 20 miles in a training run.  Feels good to be getting it done.  Only two more hard weeks until the taper starts.  Then three agonizing weeks of waiting and healing.  Ended the monthe with 179 miles which is not too bad considering I had a couple of weeks with 35 and 8 miles.

Time:  3:05:42  8:04/mile

NB768 184.08 NB768 (new) 22.0  Saucony A2 11.9

Rest.