Getting Better!

I have run a total of about7 times over the past 2 weeks.  Most consistent running I've done in a long time (like 6 months).

Went for a run yesterday on my birthday.  Have not uploaded Garmin info yet, but the run was my usual Blue Hills Run, about 4.2 or 4.3 miles.  Not sure but averaged about 8:30 miles, for a pretty hilly run.  Best trail run time in a while.  Will confirm soon.  Have been doing achilles stretches (calf raises, etc.) on a daily basis, and  also eccentric knee exercises, squats, etc.  Daily stretching for the past month.  Every morning, calves, groin, hamstrings, etc.

Thanks God, feeling better.  THank God.

 Just turned 41 yesterday.

41 will be better than 40.  41 will be inspired!  

Still feeling old....

Have now got back to about 2 times running a week.  Trying to work up to 3 but a couple things keep inhibiting my progress.  Right achilles is sore.  Not massively sore, but enough to make me think twice.  Have just started eccentric calf raise exercies and will be doing those regularly from now on. 
I continue to do my eccentric knee strengthening exercises for my right knee (left knee has begun to hurt a bit but no too much) as well.  That is slow going as the right patella tendonitis is still there.

Lastly, even though I have been seeing the Chiro since March, lower right back has not gotten any better and last 4 or 5 days has been worse. 

So, love to run but am having issues almost every time and have not been able to get consistent.  Will work to get some better shoes and continue with my exercises.

Feeling Old

Lately, I have been feeling old.  I know it's a cliche, but it has really been since I turned 40, almost to the day.  First I pulled a muscle in my chest playing basketball.  Then I tweaked my lower right back during a trail race which really got me off my game for like 3 months.  I had residual Achilles stuff from the summer of 2011 on my right Achilles that I don't think has fully healed.  Then my lower right back never really healed.  In February started to see a Chiropractor and have been doing that for about 3 or 4 months now.  Now, my knees (especially my right knee) have pretty bad tendonitis. Can't run everyday, but am trying to do eccentric exercises to strengthen the knee and the muscles around it.  So, I have felt old (really for the first time in my life).  It does present an opportunity to start to think differently about preparation, about taking care of myself, stretching, planning, taking time.  I need to do these things.

Garmen Totals April-June 2012

Total Miles - 194 in 3 months = 65 miles a month, approx 16 miles a week.
Fastest Moving Pace for 4 miles - 7:08
Fastest Moving Pace for 5 miles - 7:12 (MAD Scramble)

MAD Scramble (5 mile) in Milton

Long time since I posted (since no one reads this that's cool).  Did the MAD Scramble in Milton, a 5.13 mile mixed race, on June 28th.  Pretty hot and humid at race time, with temps just over 80 at the 6:30 pm start.  Harland did the 500 yd dash and Olle did the 50 yd dash (so cute).
I went out well, but quite a bit faster than normal (6:45 pace), must have been the adrenaline.  Then settled in and felt pretty good most of the race, even on the long 1 mile uphill around mile 2-3.  Ended up finishing in 38th place http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/Jun28_MADScr_set1.shtml with a time of 36:48. good for a 7:12 pace (I was shooting for 7:20 so given the conditions was really pleased with the time).  My goal is to work that 5 mile pace down under 7 minutes, but getting harder and harder to chop seconds off the pace.  When I started running seriously in February (serious being 3-4 times a week, 12-20 miles a week) I was at like an 8:10-8:25 pace per mile, so have dropped about a minute, but that was the easy part.  Have been largely running 3-4 times a week recently, including some really hot 90 plus degree days (which is hard).  Will keep on plugging away.  No real races signed up for in the next couple months, but will probably add one somewhere soon. 

Blue Hills Trail Race

Last Sunday (April 29th) I did the Blue Hills Trail Race for the third time.  I love this race! Very well run, small (250 max for the 2 distances (3 and 10 miles), and a great course with nice mix of ups and downs.  Have been training since late February and felt better this year than ever.  Probably been running 20-25 miles a week which is a good space for me (probably would like to bump up to 30 a week).  Been doing a lot of runs on the Charles River, but also some training runs in the Blue Hills (both the actual course a few times, and hill work).  Beautiful day for a race (high 40s and sunny by start).  Felt much better than last year and definitely did the hills a lot better than in the past.  Wasn't sure how I was doing until near the end, the goal was to break 1:25 for the 10 mile run (Last year did it in 1:27 approx.  Did much better than expected, finishing in 1:20:33.  Felt great.  Did some good tapering week before.  All in all the best race I've ever had by far.  Here's to keeping it up.

Blue Hills Run

Terry and I did almost an hour (58 min) in the Blue Hills on Saturday morning.  I'm thinking maybe did a 9 or 9 1/2 minute pace (forgot my watch).  Both of us felt pretty good and probably could have gone longer.  Wearing ankle braces on each side (thanks to Miriam for the suggestion) and really helped a lot. Going to try to do a 6 mile run today, then a run or some hills Wednesday and Thursday, then a longer Blue Hills run on Saturday. 

PHATLEKS!

Did just over 5 miles on the Charles.  For most of the run did phartleks.  150 -200 meters sprint, 100 meters walk.  Felt pretty good.  Still using the Hayasas (today got two really good ankle braces for my sore outside of feet) and seemed to work pretty good.  Nothing real fast.  Fastest pace was 4:18 (basically sprinting) and averaged about 9:06 (which included the walking).  Felt okay.  Starting to do some new trail running strengthening exercises including 1 and 2 leg squat, push ups/ pull ups, one leg stands with eyes closed.  Also going to incorporate more foam roller exercises.  

Still Running

Took most of last week off with what I think is a sore Peroneal tendon aggravation on my left outside foot, or maybe a small stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal?  I'm hoping not.  Yesterday did the 4.2 (this ended up being 4.25) Charles River Loop.  Averaged 7:54 so slowly getting faster.  First time I tried out my new shoes (North Face Hayasas) which are trail running shoes but double pretty well on the road for short distances.  They felt really good.  Still have to do some Phartleks this week do try to improve that time and get ready for the Blue Hills.  Will take today off, then run Wednesday and Thursday, then longer trail run on Saturday.

Training from March 18-22 according to Garmin

Activity Name Start Time Distance Elevation Gain Avg Speed(Avg Pace) Max Speed(Best Pace) Calories Charles River 4.2 mile Loop Thu, Mar 22, 2012 4:14 PM 33:29:00 4.22 130 7:54 5:42 500 Charles River 4.2 mile loop Wed, Mar 21, 2012 3:37 PM 34:42:00 4.21 22 8:13 6:12 498 Charles River 4.2 mile loop Tue, Mar 20, 2012 4:12 PM 34:31:00 4.21 26 8:13 5:54 502 Charles River 4.2 mile Mon, Mar 19, 2012 11:06 AM 34:03:00 4.21 27 8:06 5:49 497 Blue Hills Hill workout Sun, Mar 18, 2012 4:34 PM 31:52:00 1.01 301 31:31:00 15:21 286

Achilles 90% heeled! 5 runs in past week

I'm back to running.  This week ran 5 times, Sunday - Thursday.  Sunday was hill workout in the blue hills, Monday-Thursday was my 4.2 mile Charles River loop in Cambridge.  Best pace was Thursday, on the hottest day, at 7:56.  Training for the Blue Hills 10 miler at end of April.  Going to shoot for 8 minute mile pace (a stretch) for that race.  2 years ago hit 8:42, last year 8:41.  Got to have ambitious goals. Also just ordered the North Face Hayasa Trail Shoe, and am totally pumped to try them out next week.

Back

Ran this week 10 miles (two 5 mile loops) and achilles finally feeling better.  Also rane about 3 or 4 times in Utah over Christmas.  still some pain.  But biggest string of runs I've put together since July.

Waiting on the Achilles

So, ran Friday (4 miles) and last week total was about 15 or 16 (including skyline trail run). Really want to get up to doing 25-30 miles a week (I'm not one of those 80 mile a week guys). But, the achilles is still not right. Been taking ibuprofen semi-regularly, and trying to do some more stretches for the calf, achilles, and hamstring specifically (looking for some good exercises). I could do a light run in my ASICS (not the NB Minimus again yet) but am afraid it will linger. This week (unless it feels totally better) I will just stretch, maybe bike ride if I can squeeze it in, and let it rest. Hope to be back running by next week, really hoping.....

Run and Pizza

3 .75 mile Charles River loop. A few Phartleks thrown in for good measure, not real fast. Still trying to let achilles heal heal (ha) and at the same time get in a few miles. Stopped at Otto's in Harvard square on way back for a 3$ slice of Otto's pizza. Why? Not sure, but cheap and on way.
This morning saw a hummingbird on our back deck sipping our Fusia plant as I was having my quiet time. Didn't even know there were hummingbirds in these parts!

Achilles!

I've now run about 12 times in my Minimus Trail shoes. Definitely had a big blister on my right Achilles, but that is getting better with time. Used them in Utah on family vacation (6 mile trail runs) and ran about three times on the road (in Cambridge). Other than the normal "getting used to" phase, the transition from my Asics Gel Kahana's (which I have since started to intersperse a bit more) to the NB minimus wasn't that difficult. That is until I did the 12k Blue Hills Skyline Trail race Sunday (4 days ago). Actually, during the race, I absolutely loved them. Felt good going up and down, good feel for the ground, no pain through the sole. Great. But, soon after the race had really sore hamstrings (particularly left) and sore right Achilles. I always have had really tight hamstrings and I think that soreness was just from the nature of the course (really rocky). I have never yet though had an Achilles issue, so this is new and I think a cause of the transition and the pretty hard beating I put on the tendon during the race (probably needed another week or so of running to get to the point were I was ready). Anyways, went for a 4 mile run yesterday, and the achilles was sore but not bad (much better than Sunday and Monday). So, ibuprofen, calf and hamstring stretches for me. I am taking today off, and will test it out again tomorrow in the Asics to continue the slow transition. Really loving trail running, and I'm just a newbie with lots of room for improvement!

Charles River Run

7/13 - 4 mile loop on Charles River. Big rain and winded started about 1 .5 in. Beautiful!

Blue Hills Skyline Trail Race

Awesome run on Sunday in the Blue Hills. Normally a 12k, due to trail changes to the Skyline trail the course was extended about .2 miles. 7.4 total? 103 entrants. Beautiful day. Finished in 1:28:52. Felt great, but hamstrings really sore 2 days later. Longest run yet in the NB Minimus Trail. I think I like them a lot (as long as my achilles is just exhibiting normal soreness).