I Hate Injuries

Last night I was at mile 2.8 of my 5 mile run when I stepped on a tree branch on the sidewalk that I did not see and twisted my ankle. Of course I cried like a school girl. Well I really winced in pain and hobbled around for a couple of minutes before calling it quits for the night. I did a hobble run back home to R.I.C.E it up. On the way back I think my running looked similar to Cornelius in Planet of the Apes. I would have made a good extra with that funky gait.



I treated myself at home during the night and the ice seemed to help (last night and again this morning). I believe this is a minor thing and will not affect my half marathon coming up. Just a twist that will probably take 2 to 3 days to remedy itself. Injuries are a part of sport, it is true and there is no getting around it. If you exercise you will get hurt as some point. But I will take this little twist over the plantar injury that hounded me for 6 months any day of the week.



Oh well I get two to three days of rest. Things could be a lot worse. Everyone put in an extra mile for me.

In other news, I love this story from Muncie

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/15181455/detail.html

I love this story.

Getting back at it

Tonight the Captain (my Garmin) and I hit the roads for a little more distance on this up effort week. Next week being a cut back week, I am trying to push it this week. Here is what happened:

1:15:01, 6.60 miles, 11:22 pace, 1310 calories

Mile 1: 11:11
Mile 2: 11:03
Mile 3: 11:16
Mile 4: 11:21
Mile 5: 11:53
Mile 6: 11:30
Last .6 - 11:22 pace

My legs were a bit rubbery from Monday, but I pushed through it. The Captain will not tolerate any slacking off. So even though I wanted to stop early for a cocktail, I pushed through to the end. I would not want to see the Captain when he is angry. I will admit that mile 5 was a tough one, there were some ups as they say. I had to push through the mile to get to some level ground. I have to say that I am happy with this. I do feel like I am becoming a better runner. I can remember a time not to long ago that I strived for a 13:30 mile. Now, I get upset if a post a 12:00 on any run that is not long or hilly.

Good and unusual news: I am not injured in any way. Most people take this for granted. However, I have been a member of the walking wounded for so long that I forgot what is was like to not be hurt in some way. I just figured that exercise meant some injuries. But today, I can now say that my right foot is 100%, my shoulder that I dinged falling is 100%, my chest congestion is gone, hamstring injury is gone, back twinge and hip twinge on long runs also gone, basically I am in the pink for a change. The only thing I have to deal with is a couple of old injuries, the nerve damage in the left elbow I received when I elbowed someone in the fist when I was 20 (it creaks and pops ... could be worse) and a broken right wrist from the military (it sounds like rice crispies on occasion).

Up and coming: I have contacted a couple of folks to guest post. I am not going on vacation or anything. But I thought it might be nice to mix things up.

7 Miles Tonight.

I am still getting back into the swing of things from the flu. So I took my congestion and hit the bricks tonight. I will share a little story that illustrates my insanity to a certain degree. Let's see if you can follow my logic. I run with a Garmin 205 gps, I love it as it keeps me from having to keep track of things the old fashion way. When I was in the Army during basic training one of the drill sergeants encouraged us to name our rifles as we would be closer to the rifle than any woman. With this in mind, I have nicknamed by Garmin, "Captain." Why, well here it goes.



a. Garmin rhymes with Gavin (for Gavin Mac Leod)


b. Gavin Mac Leod was the captain of the Love Boat (Captain Stubing)


c. Hence, my Garmin is called Captain


d. It fits as the Garmin is in charge of my run much like a naval captain would be.


I also have little Star Trek moments about not having enough power to get up this hill or that hill. I have also told myself that the toilets have backed up into the warp drive when I feel like I am going to just fall apart. But this is all part of my inner geek.

So there is a glimpse into my insanity. So tonight the Captain and I went for a little run with a new pair of shoes. I said I wasn't going to use them on a long run, but I lied I guess. I had to try them out. I am glad I did. These are the best shoes I have used to date. They really picked up the impact of the run and I felt very comfortable throughout the run. Great stuff.


7.15 miles, 1:22:05 time, 11:29 pace, 1381 calories


Mile 1: 11:21
Mile 2: 11:17
Mile 3: 11:25
Mile 4: 11:16
Mile 5: 11:27
Mile 6: 11:52
Mile 7: 11:47
last .15: 11:24 pace


Mile 6 and 7 I had a few issues. First I picked up a pretty strong head wind which really slowed me down. Then I tripped. A little unusual for me I don't usually fall. But I lost a half minute dusting myself off. I am fine, just bruised ego.

The Last Day of the Year

I have been a little under the weather since Christmas and haven't run in a week. Sometimes your body needs a week off even if you don't think it does. So this was a nice break to spend time with family and just relax a bit. I was sick with fever, chills and a head cold. I am glad that the sick is over (mostly over).

2007 was a good year for running. I started running back in March and struggled to get going but I have really made a lot of progress. My times were 14 to 15 minute miles early in the year and now in late December my pace is generally down to 11:00 to 11:30 ish. So that is nice progress. I ran my first half marathon (well I ran my first races ever really) and finished, I did a few 5k's, a ten miler, a few 5 milers, an 8.4 miler and a 15k. I did a lot of racing mostly because it was fun once I got into it. I never won, big surprise but I did come in 3rd in my age group for one race. I think there were 4 men in my age group for that race. I like the medal so I am happy about my 3rd place win. Overall it was a good time on the roads.

2007 was a good year for losing weight - This year I lost 45 pounds. That is not a huge number but I started in earnest in March so it is really 9 months of work and for a few months I stagnated due to injury. I made life changing adjustments to my diet. I did this a little at at time and then added on to it slowly. Now I am eating well and I feel so much better than I did in January of 2007. I will still have junk food now and again but it is now the exception instead of the rule. So this is good progress. I hope to lose another 45 in 2008.

2007 was a bad year for injuries - I had some problems in 2007 with injuries. Mostly this was one bad plantar injury. It has nagged me for months and months. It just wouldn't heal. Mostly it was that I didn't want to back off the running. It wasn't until late November that I really felt better and I was injured back in June/ July. Besides this I have pulled some muscles in my calves in the cold weather and a couple of spills on uneven ground. But the plantar was my problem for the year. I feel much stronger now and I feel like I know how to avoid some of these injuries. Also being lighter will help me avoid injury.

2007 was a good year for martial arts training. I started training in martial arts again this year and I am glad that I did. As one of my co-workers would say, "I got my mind right." The exercise is excellent and I like the atmosphere in the training hall. The learning atmosphere is great.

2007 was a good year professionally- Not that this journal has anything to do with my work. But I made good advancement in my career this year as well. I was able to exceed a couple of milestones and I am quite happy with how my work has gone this year.

Quick Out and Back

I gave myself a serious muscle pull on Saturday during my 9 mile jaunt. As a result, the rest of Saturday it hurt to walk and up down stairs. When Sunday came around I felt a bit better, today a bit better again. So when work ended tonight I decided that 4 miles was in my future. Well it turned into 4.15 miles.



4.15 miles, 769 calories, 12:14 average pace



Mile 1: 12:29
Mile 2: 12:12
Mile 3: 12:12
Mile 4: 11:57
Last .15 12:48 pace



Weather: nice temp. with some light rain. It really did feel good. I also did something I liked I put two miles back to back at the exact same pace. That was great. Huzzah. I have also learned that on these training runs that I can't really run three miles any longer the least I can do these days is 4 miles. I am sure I will do shorter distances when I get back to more dedicated speed training in the spring when the roads are less... treacherous. But for now I am going to just focus on base miles for the winter.



Good news: Down 5 pounds since Thanksgiving. Very nice! I was getting a bit frustrated with the weight loss thing. Tough to be the run to lose guy when you aren't really doing any losing. But I have gotten over the hump. So as you can see I am all smiles.

8 on the 8th

Today was Nancy's virtual race of 8 on the 8th. The idea was for all of us blogger types to do our bit and report the results. My run was a bit tough on me. I have been fighting a cold but have still run as this seems to break up the congestion a bit. Then this morning I hyper extended my right calf about 500 meters (I slipped on some leaves) into the thing but I finished it and here are the results:

Mile 1: 12:02

Mile 2: 12:37

Mile 3: 12:39

Mile 4: 12:56

Mile 5: 12:53

Mile 6: 12:20

Mile 7: 12:59

Mile 8: 13:15

Total Time: 1:41:41 or a 12:42 pace.

It was not a good run for me. But we all have those. I ran an extra mile at the end at a 13:21 pace. Then I walked the last mile home, I could hardly walk but I made it home where I am now icing my calf. Owwww.

The end result was a 1532 calorie effort, not including the last mile walking. I hope I can stretch my calf out and get back on my feet. Congrats to Nancy on putting this together.

I hope everyone had fun out there.

Managing Pain

I have been running in pain since early summer. I hurt my foot in martial arts class by coming down hard on my heel and then I ran a lot. This created a nice plantar faciitis injury that I have sported for about 6 months. It just hasn't healed the way it should have. But that is my own fault. I have not given it a chance to get better. It has not bothered me to run at all so I have run. It is getting up in the morning and early day walking that is the trouble. I have on occasion had to crawl or hop up stairs to the bathroom in the morning. I have silently screamed as I first stepped out of bed in the morning. Although this is good for waking up, I can think of better ways.

Ouch!!!

Over the last month I have not run that much. It is really been one race and one training day per week. I have been a little under the weather so I have been taking it easy. At the same time I am a lawyer with a billable hour requirement. My monthly numbers are fine but for the year I want to get to a fairly good number. To do that I have to put in some hours. So for the past month I have been working a good deal. Now the interesting thing is that my ankle/ heel is finally healing. I should have known that extended rest was the key. I just wasn't letting myself do it. My ego was getting in the way. I wanted to run and compete with myself. I still do. You see last year I missed alot of time due to a runner's knee injury and I didn't want to go down again. So I ended up with a nagging injury that was manageable.

However today my foot feels better than it has in months. I know that is because I have been mostly off it for the past month. I think I need to do more of the same to get better. So I will follow what has been better - only two days a week on the roads. That is too bad for me because I would like to get out more. But I also need to heal so that I don't have to crawl up the stairs or wake up in pain from turning wrong.

Time to do the right thing.