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.