4/26/11 - Off Day

Yesterday was indeed an off-day. I woke up with my left calf a little on the tight side. I suspected I might have over-done it the day before, as I did the 7-miles (which was fine), but to hit two miles sub-7 was a little much. It didn't take any cardio effort, but was probably more "strain" than my leg should have taken.

I took the day off from working out/running, but will resume this afternoon. I'll hit the road for a run (4.5-7, and plan on a gym visit after for some stationary bike time, core and upper body).

All I need to do at this point in the game is keep enough fitness and positive mental vibes before beginning Chicago training. Each time I run, I'm fast-forwarding in my head to when I can hammer out a 20-miler, do a 10-mile tempo run, a 9-mile progressive run, 30-30s at the park, 60-60s through River Oaks, etc.

All in all, the idea of Chicago training is really getting my heart-rate up and getting my competitive juices flowing. I just hope and pray that it is in the grand scheme of things that I can survive training and run this race.

4/25/11 - 7.1 Miles

7.1 Miles
50:06

Felt pretty darn good for this run. A little calf fatigue at the end, so I need to be careful there. Trying not to get ahead of myself, but things have been progressing well. But, I need to be mindful of aches and tightness and such. We'll see what the body says to do tomorrow...might be a day off.

4/24/11 - 4.5 Miles

4.5 Miles
32:06

Warmed the calf again the same way, but no compression socks (still dirty from the prior day of wearing them). I can honestly say this run felt good from start to finish. Felt good to be out the door and hitting the road, I tell ya. Great way to start my Easter Sunday.

Happy Easter to all! Hope it was a wonderful day for any and all of my readers.

4/23/11 - 7.1 Miles

7.1 Miles
51:12

I heated a wet towel and wrapped my calf in it, then repeated a couple of times. Then, added a pair of compression socks for my run...seemed to do the trick.

I started out my run and didn't feel all that great about it, but about a mile in, I felt pretty loose and just kept on around the park. Not sure about whether I negative split the run, but it was a good one. Just happy to get the mileage in. Confidence building by the day.

4/22/11 - 4 Miles

4 Miles
31:00

A little bit of an uncomfortable run after a massage the prior day. I might should have taken the day off, but opted for a 9am run down to the park and back. Calf just a little sore.

4/21/11 - No Run - Massage Day

No run today, even though I felt great when I woke up this morning. The calf does require a little Connie attention, so off to see her this afternoon I will go for my 2nd massage.

Later, it's soccer practice night, so I'll be running around the field with the kiddos for that. That should be enough for me today. :-)

Ready to hit the road tomorrow morning and throughout the weekend for a little mileage.

For those that have ever missed time while injured, or just couldn't get out when you wanted to, you know the sheer joy of getting back on the roads. Right now, I can only say I'm sort of basking in that glorious feeling each time out.

4/20/11 AM Easy Run, 4.5 Miles

4.5 Miles
33:45

Great feeling run today, but legs definitely telling me "Hey, you haven't run 4-days in a row in a looooong time." A little sore in the calf, but not like it has been...I really feel like this is left-overs from the issues I had been having. Massage appt scheduled for tomorrow. In the meantime, pretty sure I'm not going to do any running tomorrow...maybe. But, if things feel okay, I may get out for a morning 30-minute run. Logic, though, says I should stay off of it, and just get the massage, run Friday, then try to go for another hour run on Saturday.

We shall see. :-) Either way, it is just good to be back on the roads.

4/19/11 - AM Easy Run 7.1 Miles

7.1 Miles
52:23

Awesome feeling run. There is still some issue existing in my calf...pretty much lay-over from the tightness I've been battling. However, running felt awesome.

Here is where patience will come into play...I want to run this afternoon so badly, but all of this return to fitness is going to take a patient process. That journey has officially begun.

Changing Tides

On a few folks' recommendation, I looked into some new shoes, as I embark on my endeavor to get my calves and legs healthy and ready for some training. On Sunday, I ventured into Luke's Locker to see what kinda recommendation on a shoe I could get. I have alternated between being told I pronate heavily and need stability control, to being told I can go with neutral shoes. I was beginning to think that my neutral shoes were to blame for my injuries, and to a degree they were. But it seems it wasn't the lack of stability control, but quite possibly (and I stress the word POSSIBLY) the brand. I got into my first pair of Mizuno's in early May of last year, and was sidelined with Achilles issues a month later. After much attempts at healing and some time off, I ramped up mileage again, and got into another pair of Mizuno's in December, and was again sidelined after mid-January. I'm not sure if that was the cause, but.... So, yesterday I purchased a pair of Asics Gel Starspeeds. They are light, neutral trainers. After two 30-minute runs (one yesterday afternoon and one this AM), I'm sold. They shoe felt good, light and just what the doctor ordered. The best part of my run yesterday, was my little girl running a mile with me. She has no idea of her talent and potential...she ran and conversed with me the entire mile, but said she was spent at the end of that mile. She just looks so natural for an 8-year old. We'll see what comes for her. More to come!

Cautious Optimism

So, I said I would wait till next weekend to run, but I decided on Monday night to get another 30 minutes in...or 4-miles. Saturday's run, oddly enough, was exactly 6-months out from Chicago...April 9. Not sure why, but I liked that. Monday, I got out and ran pretty decent. I don't wear a Garmin, but know my mileage points along my 4-mile out and back route. I hit mile one in 7:35, then 7:05 and hung around there, to complete 4-miles in just under 29 minutes, so I added on a little bit and finished up at 31:00. I stretched, rolled with The Stick, and just felt pretty good about the whole endeavor. I haven't made it back into my massage therapy, but need to schedule that for this or next week. It seemed to be the right thing, so I can't let that go to the side. Anyway, 8-miles done so far this week, and thinking of 4-more tonight. Just a side-note, despite looking at my watch and timing my miles, I am in NO WAY pushing anything during my run. As a matter of fact, i think I'd have been happier to stay near 7:30 pace, but I just ran how I felt. That's all for now.

Health and Reality

Just a quick stop in to post. I'm still working on getting healthy. Been dealing with some calf issues now, and I'm starting to think i'm on the tail end of those. Been working in the pool and stationary bike...mainly the bike. My iPod has been the saving grace that allows me to stay on for an hour at a time. :-) It's tough, I tell ya... not cause it's hard, but because it's kinda boring.

I made another attempt at a run on Saturday, and it was finally "successful", in the sense that I went out for a set distance and was able to run that distance... 4 miles in just under 31-minutes. I was truly pleased with that. I was on the cusp of using that to fuel confidence to run more this week, but I think that just tells me to keep doing what I'm doing, and make another go next weekend.

As for reality, I think it's time I actually said out loud that the Trials are no longer the goal. There is just no way that I can see right now that 2:19 is going to come out of this body by October 9. I'm okay with that, though. Right now, focus is getting healthy and getting on the road to get fit, so that I can train for the marathon and run a good time. Sometimes, you just have to deal with the things that life throws your way, and right now I'm learning to deal with those things.

Back Again?

So, while some of you may have wondered "Where has good ol' Sam been?" and others may think, "Oh yeah, that dork has a blog," I figured I owed an update after such a long hiatus. Long and short, I've been dealing with nagging injury after nagging injury. What started with my Achilles last summer migrated up through my leg, it seems. Right now I'm dealing with calf issues. I'm down to massages, aqua jogging and stationary biking. I attempted 20-minutes of running last night on the Clover Leaf, and ended up with a sore/painful left calf...again. Very frustrating, but not letting it shake my confidence at this point. I'm working on just staying fit with other activities while I "heal", so to speak. The time will come where I absolutely HAVE to get back on the roads for training purposes. But right now, Chicago is still just over 6-months away, so I have some time to get things right. I'll begin posting here more regularly with what I'm doing. Lately, I've essentially been up to 30 minutes in the pool and 50 minutes on the stationary, with some core and strength training thrown in. That's all for now!!

2/22/11 - 9+ Mile Run

9.3-9.4 miles
1:00:40

I planned on just an easy run, but as I got out, I just gradually picked up the pace...
7:25 to start out, 7:02 for mile 2, 6:57 for mile 3, 6:53 for mile 4. When I got out to Memorial and 610, I decided to hit it a little harder down Post Oak Ln, starting at 34:04. I covered the next 2.4 miles @ 14:44. Not sure what that comes out to, but as I look at it, it's not as fast as I thought. Ha! But, when I hit 2-miles to go, I timed those two miles for sure...5:57 @ 1-mile, and 11:52 @ 2-miles.

All in all, I feel good about the run, and was happy to have put the effort forth to finish the run relatively strong.

Tomorrow morning (I hope) calls for some easy miles. Rodriguez, out!

2/20/11 - Update

I've been running well this week, but still have had issues with my left knee. One thing I hadn't really considered was the need to use the foam roller on my lower thigh/quad.

I hadn't really gone into too much detail about my knee discomfort, I don't think. I had some swelling that started about 3 weeks before the Houston Marathon. I didn't run the marathon, but that was just the timing as it relates to the marathon. Anyway, there wasn't any pain associated with the swelling...just the discomfort that came from the swelling.

Over the course of the next 3 weeks, the swelling subsided, but it was replaced essentially by a slight, but semi sharp pain on the inside part of my left knee. Not anywhere near the knee-cap. Now, here is what I seemed to notice, however. As I was dealing with the swelling and the knee pain, my left calf was always SUPER tight after a run, so it was obvious I have been really over-working it somehow.

Yesterday (Saturday), I had planned on a 15 mile run, which I was feeling really good about, fitness-wise. Well, along the way of the run, I began to feel the knee bother me...specifically when we hit a place where we were going downhill. My whole gait changed when we did, so I cut it off @ 9miles. I was a little bothered, but mainly frustrated because of the feeling of fitness, but my knee wasn't cooperating. Sean asked me about whether I'd been using my foam roller much, which I hadn't.

So, after the run, I took my leg to the foam roller on my quads and on my calves. I'm not exaggerating when I say that on the left side, on both the calf muscle and the inside of my quad, I was almost in tears. As bad as it was, it made a huge difference today, as I ran about 10 miles and felt little-to-no discomfort in the knee. I really focused on how things felt on my left leg all the way down. It's clear that there is something going on on my left side, but it's going to take some work to figure it out. I'm not saying the foam rolling is a definite cure for what I've been feeling, but it definitely made a difference today. I spent more time on the roller today, so we'll see how it feels in the morning.

The plan for this week is 2-3 times to run in the AM and PM. Not going to hit super high mileage those days, but definitely higher than what I had been hitting, which has been 7-8 miles. I'd like a couple of 10-mile days, and give it another go at 15 miles this weekend.

I should be able to get to more regular posting of runs and workouts, as I prepare for my next race coming up at the end of March. We'll see how it all progresses.