8/12/10 - Easy 30 minute run

15:02 out
15:01 back

Ran along bayou down to just near the skate park. I did my stretching and exercises there and headed back. Nothing too intense and nothing too painful.

8/11/10 - No Run

8/10/10 - ART

Went for my 2nd treatment on Tuesday. Man, I tell ya, that therapy can get a little painful, but I know it's a good thing, and I know it's going to work. No pain, no gain, right?

No running...just therapy.

8/9/10 - Easy Run...maybe overdid it Today

42:53 out and back
21:13 out
21:40 back

After several days of 3-4 miles of running, it was foolish of me to go about 6, even if at an easy pace. Headed up Blossom, down Crestwood to Memorial, then when I hit the park, the mile to the Tennis Center for water and stretching, then back along the same route.

Maybe I was trying to run too fast back. Perhaps, my desire to negative split the run got the better of me, but on the run back home, I definitely had to slow up down Blossom. The discomfort was there... was nearing the pain threshold. If I was running a longer run, it was enough that I'd have cut the run short. But, knowing I was nearing home and only had about a mile or so to go, I just toughed it out at a slower pace.

I tried not to be too disheartened by that, as I'd had several good running days here. Also, therapy on Tuesday afternoon. So, I'm trying to remain optimistic...especially when you put things in a particular perspective...like below...

8/8/10 - Easy Running...feeling a little better each day

I ran about 20 minutes with my brother today, as he is working himself back into running shape after some knee problems late last year and early this year. After finishing that up, at maybe 12-minute pace, I headed out for 10-minutes out and back. It actually turned out to be 10-minutes out and 9:28 back. Did my exercises and stretches right after the run. We ran at about 11 am, which made for some rough conditions, but felt good.

We'll see when I meet with the Doc on Tuesday if the Achilles has gotten worse or if it shows some improvement. It's been a week since that first treatment, so I'm not expecting there to be much change in what he sees, but there is definitely a change in what I'm feeling.

8/7/10 - Easy Out and Back Run

13:07 out
12:28 back

From my brother's place, just ran out to a corner where I stopped and stretched on the curb. Then headed back and felt pretty darn good. Nowhere near 100%, but the stretches and exercises and use of the foam roller really felt good.

8/6/10 - No Run

8/5/10 - Another easy Run...3.8 miles

Down to Crestwood water fountain and back.
Out - 13:49
Back - 13:14
Total - 27:03

I felt like changing up my normal scenery a little, so rather than running on the undulating road that is Memorial to get to the park, I just headed up to Blossom to Crestwood, left to the water fountain at the corner of Crestwood and Memorial, then back the same route. It's about 1.85 miles to go that way, so roughly 3.8 miles.

The Achilles was definitely on it's better behavior today compared to what it had been over the last few weeks. I felt good heading down there and back. Still using Saturday as my reference point, it was good to get the whole run without this increasing pain that gets to a point where I have to stop. All in all, a good run.

I'll follow this up with a run on Saturday, Sunday and Monday before my next appointment. I'll be in Dallas Saturday all day and Sunday, so I need to be very disciplined to get my exercises done there.

Brick by brick, my friends. Brick by brick...

8/3/10 - Easy 3 Miles...easing back in...

3 Miles
20:55
7:20, 6:47, 6:47

On Monday, I got some recommendations and called up the MultiSport Health Center and got a 3:30 appt. All the nerves I felt were unfounded, as Dr. Leist came in, talked with me, asked me questions about the pain, when, where, how, etc. He took a look at my Achilles, did some "tests" to test strength, balance, flexibility and made his assessment. Long and short, it's going to require some Active Release Therapy (ART), exercises on my part, and (my favorite part) to keep running.

After therapy and stretching, he told me to run 2-3 miles, especially since that was the pain threshold it seemed my last time out running, a couple of times between visits. My next appt was scheduled for Friday, but I had to move it to the following week on Tuesday @ 3:30.

So, I got out this afternoon in the blazing heat for 3 easy miles. So that I didn't strand myself if the pain set in while out on the run, I opted against an out and back route, and just did the 1-mile loop right outside my place. I focused on, as odd as this sounds, regardless of discomfort, maintaining my stride as close to normal as possible. Didn't want to change footstrike, stride length, arm motion, etc. I wanted to run as normal as possible, so that if there was great discomfort or pain, I'd be able to accurately report back.

All in all, the discomfort was present, but not unbearable. I tried to put it in terms of my 2-a-days... would I be able to run 7-8-miles like this? The answer was definitely yes. It wouldn't have been fun to run feeling that way, but compared to Saturday, it was a pure delight to get 3-miles without it increasing into full-fledged PAIN.

I got in some stretching before having to head out the door for a long night at J # 2, where I was on my feet all day and fortunately felt no after-effects.

I know this is only one run, and I've only had one therapy session, but boy does this make the outlook seem just a little brighter. I can tell you that my habits, my attitude towards my running and towards the trials have all taken a hit. I'm having trouble getting my body back into the routine of being up early to do things...even though I'm not doing what I was before (running), I need to at least maintain the habit.

My mission this week is to get my body back into that routine. It won't be long till I'm able to get back to 2-a-day running, even if it's not 15-17-miles/day, but when I am cleared to start ramping up mileage, I'm going to start with 4 and 4, 5 and 5, 6 and 6 and so on until I'm back up to 8 and 8 regularly. To do that, though, my sleeping and other actions need to be in line with it.

Here's to hoping....

8/2/10 - Visit to MultiSport Health Center

First Doc visit this afternoon, and he started Active Release Treatment. The treatment was pretty easy to handle most of the way through... but, as expected, there were parts of pretty good discomfort/pain. Nothing I can't handle though... at least, I say that now. :-)

Stretching and exercises after, and the recommendation that this week to run only 2-3 times, but after, the running can resume.

Hope? You better believe it. I see a light at the end of this tunnel of Achilles pain... I feel pretty certain, after today's visit, that it's not a train....

Tough Week Behind...Big Week Ahead

So, I haven't actually made an appointment, but this week will definitely see either a Dr visit, or at the very least, getting a Doc appt scheduled. Another tough week of training "climaxed", so to speak on Saturday when I actually looked forward to the idea of attempting a run over an hour...something I hadn't been able to do in a week and a half. As Friday came, the decision I made for Saturday was to a do a mini-tri. I started out for about 250-300m in the pool (took me a long time, as I'm not a strong swimmer in the least, and stopping at the end of each swim across my apt pool). I followed that with a quick change in the fitness center and hopping on a stationary bike for 30 minutes, with 5 minutes thrown in there of a decent intensity. Finally, again, a quick change and heading out for 45 minutes of running. The idea was that a little loosening of the legs and Achilles, while not really straining it might do me some good on the run. I knew I wouldn't be able to run long, but wanted the 1:30+ of actual work.

When the running got going, though, it drove home the final nail in the decision to make some changes on my plans. I could only make it about 2 miles before having to stop, stretch and let the pain subside, before going again for another 2 miles and repeating the process. I only made a 6.5 mile run in those 45 minutes. As I described to my parents, it's frustrating that I couldn't even get to the point of being tired on my run.

So, changes to make....over the last few weeks, I've put a lot of pressure on myself to get healthy so I could get on to a sustainable training schedule in preparation for Twin Cities. Now, facing 9 weeks to race day, I realized that it was all but over for this race. As I completed the run, I walked inside, did some stretching again, and pretty much admitted to myself that Twin Cities is not going to happen. I will be scheduling an appointment with a doctor to take a look at the Achilles this week.

Keeping in mind that the goal remains the same, in order to get the volume back, I need to heal. And in order to heal fully, I need some professional input and some time off. We'll see what happens after the visit...

Concluding a tough week of Running

Last week was a combo type of feeling... on the one hand, I was on vacation, had my daughter, and just felt great about that.

On the other hand, I had a pretty crummy running week.

After a successful Saturday long run, Sunday was decent and Monday was good, but hot, as I ran late morning.

Tuesday, did a progressive run with Sean, Luis, Bill and RJ. I went in highly nervous, as not having done a workout in a long while, and not being sure how all things Achilles would hold up. During the workout was good, and even during cool down. I made it half way through the 5:30/5:25 mile, and had to throw in the towel. With cool down, got 9 miles in for the day.

I struggled the rest of the week, as the Achilles was just beaten up, I guess. In talking with Sean, there are some things I need to do differently, as what I have been doing just hasn't been doing the trick. So, with that, I started this week.

6.5 miles this AM...felt decent, but not great. Still, it was a start. Looking forward to a few more miles this evening, in the heat and humidity again. Time to start trimming down as well. I got all the way down to about 147-148 lbs...the lightest I'd been since probably Jr High or early HS. Now, I'm back up to 155. Those 7-8 lbs lighter would definitely lighten the load on the Achilles. Gotta be more careful and more conscious of what I'm putting in my body, as well as the volume I'm putting in.

Alright...back to work...

Visitors

So, in looking at my stat counter, I noticed that I get about 20 or somewhere there-abouts visits to my blog/day. The best part is that the visits come from so many different areas of the country. I know that a few/couple probably started coming to my blog through my postings on a couple of Runners World forum discussions...others through other blogs. Others are folks I've known for a while and have followed my blog(s) in the past.

I'd love to hear from some of you, though...either in feedback on my blog, or just send me an email (email addy is in my profile). If we've never met and you just read my blog, that would be cool to hear from you. If you're someone I know, and maybe I just don't know that you read my blog (scary...ha ha ha), drop me a line. If you fall somewhere in between and visit from time to time, shoot me a message or leave a comment. I like to know that folks are out there, and better yet, what you feel like you get from reading my posts. I'm sure to some degree, it's curiousity on what someone else is doing. Maybe you read and think "That guy's delusional." Maybe you read and think "Woo hoo...he's healthy again. I hope he really DOES make the Olympic Trials."

Whatever the case, would be cool to hear from some of yall. I plan to post more often on some of the stuff that goes along with my training, in addition to just posting about my running. It won't be much, as I'm not all that knowledgeable or well-educated on how our bodies fully function, how diets work, etc. But I do have thoughts from time to time that may be worth sharing, or at least starting a discussion. Like I said...it's not that much, and it's not all that often.

Okay...enough of that...back to work for me.

7/17/10 Kenyan Way Long Run, 15.15 Miles

15.15 Miles
1:42:54
6:47 avg
Miles this week - 65

I woke up a little late so missed departing with the group this morning, but that turned out to be a VERY good thing. There's a good chance that had that happened, I might have called it a day early. The first 3-3.5 miles were absolutely miserable. Nothing felt right, and it was very discouraging. I was glad to be running by myself here, knowing I'd have either been trying to run faster than I should have, or I'd have been bitchin' and moanin' the whole time, making it all worse. The change, though, seemed pretty sudden. In just a matter of a couple of minutes, the pain began to subside, and I was moving really well. Stopped at a water stop and chatted briefly w/Sean, then was on my way. The rest of the way, I felt awesome. Without a Garmin, I don't know the difference between the pace I started and the pace I ran from mile 4 on, but the difference had to be pretty significant.

I completed the first part of the route back to base, a little over 7.5 and thought about just getting the extra 2.5 in and then finishing off the mileage later that day, but with how good everything seemed to feel, I was lured by the desire to get my longest run in a month and a half (5/29-19.1 miles). It was an AWESOME feeling to get going and to feel how well everything moved heading down Blossom for a loop of the park. I know this is a lot to write about a run, but man it was just such a great feeling to get this all done and feel good about how it went.

If all goes well, next week, I'm shooting for a "full training" week. That means consistent two-a-days and throw in a couple of moderate workouts, ending with another long run next Saturday. We'll see how that all goes.