Great News!

First, thanks to all who have asked. I've gotten emails and messages and been asked in person about the ankle. Thanks for all your concern and encouragement along the way! We're almost there!!! The ankle is much better! It is still swollen, bruised, and tender to touch. Moving side to side is not pleasant, but running forward is pain free! So I ran this morning, and ran pretty hard.

My goal was 2 miles @ 7:03, 2 x 800 @ 3:21, 2 x 400 @ 1:31. I met Matt on my way over to Lake Athens High... er... I mean the Athens High 1.5 mile track. It was wet and soupy. We were hurdling and dodging puddles a lot! Also, it was much warmer than I expected this morning. We took two minutes between the 2 miles and the first 800, and 1:30 between the others.

1. 7:10 (just a tad over a mile 1.04, it wasn't as slow as we thought, Matt)
2. 6:45

1. 3:13
2. 3:18

1. 1:26
2. 1:24

Nice, strong finish. I hope I'm ready! And I'm thankful that the ankle is better.

Not Very Smart

I LOVE to play racquetball. I've always had a knack for it. I picked it up very quickly. Even without focusing on it, I still play at a pretty high level (middle of the pack A player for those who know racquetball's divisions). That's not true of other athletic endeavors for me. I stink at tennis. I'm not a good golfer. I'm terrible at basketball. But racquetball has just come naturally for me.

Now, I'm more fit than ever (thanks to running), and that makes it even more fun because I'm able to track down so many would-be winners by my opponent. I'm able to smile and talk trash when my opponent needs extra seconds between points to rest. So, when I was invited to play racquetball after work yesterday, I just couldn't resist. It's just so much fun!!

Well, the one thing that I didn't want to happen, happened. Yep. I rolled my ankle. I was aggressively tracking down a ball, jumped to get a good angle on it, and landed on the side of my foot and fell to the floor. I felt a huge empty spot in my stomach. I could just imagine myself trying to beat 6 hours in the marathon on crutches! The good news is that the shot was a winner. :) The better news is I was able to finish the game and play two more games, so there will be no crutches. But as soon as it cooled down, it hurt.

Ugh. It's swollen, sore, and bruised. I'm resting and icing. I was able to go 2 of my scheduled 4 miles this morning. The pain is bearable, but I'm going to rest and ice and hope for the best. I'm going to give running another try on Friday to see how it goes. Leigh (my wife) and Mark are not happy with me right now. Sorry. It was dumb, I know. No more risky behavior before the marathon.

Oh yeah, the boring stuff. Today's exercise... 2 road miles 8:00, 7:35 + weights.

• 10,10,9,6,3 chin ups
• 3 x 10 bent dumbbell rows with 55 lb. dumbbell
• 3 x 10 upright rows with 85 lb. barbell
• 3 x 30 back hyperextensions
• 3 x 10 weighted oblique twists
• 3 x 15 side bends with 55 lb. dumbbell
  

Time Off

I really don't want to do this. Really, I don't. But I have to take a few days off. I thought I was over the bruised knee last week. The training went so well with minimal pain. The long run + race went right according to plan. The goal was 20 miles with a 1:40 half and I turned in 20+ miles with a 1:40:23. Just about spot on. The tempo workout last week was better than perfect.

Often times I've said to myself or to my running partner (Mark heard this at least 50 times Saturday), "You just have to run through that." Well, that bruised left knee just won't go away. It's been a month now, and it's been nagging me. Visible bruising is probably not something I should just run through. So, I'm giving it this week to heal up. I'll probably post info about my other boring workouts and maybe some random thoughts this week. But no running at least until Saturday's long run, a 22 miler.

Half Tempo

Today's (yesterday's, actually) schedule called for 2 x 4 mile @ 7:03 (tempo). I really wanted to get this one in. It was COLD! And dark! I started at about 5:50 or so and jogged over to the Athens High track. Then I took off my jacket (mistake!) and started my 4 miles at tempo.

The leg felt ok, but just ok. My left knee hurt, but I ignored it and refused to adjust my stride or gait to ease the pain. Then, the knee either quit hurting or went numb. I could still feel a little tightness in my left hamstring. I just pushed through it, wanting to do this VERY challenging workout. About 100 yards or so from the end of the 4 miles, my left hamstring tightened up with the familiar pain that I've felt there before. UGH! I was so close to 4 miles that I hobbled through, walk/limp/jog/hopping. I'm sure it was funny to watch. But I knew that I was nailing the pace. I wasn't going to stop! After the 4 miles, I walked home. Jogging was too painful.

1. 7:15
2. 6:59
3. 7:08
4. 7:02 (with the walk/limp/jog finish!)
   

That fourth mile was HARD!! I really wanted to try for another 4, but my leg just would not. Sigh. Weights and rest are planned for tomorrow and another tempo attempt is planned for Thursday (if the leg is ok). Even though speed is on the schedule, I'm trying tempo again.

This is a recovery week, so I won't feel too bad about missing some miles this week. I'm going to try to get well because I'm about to hit peak mileage for the training program. I need to be healthy for it.

Unfinished Workout

Today's schedule called for 2 x 4 miles @ tempo (7:03) pace.

I jogged over to the Athens High track as my warmup. It was pretty cold this morning, so I added 5 minutes to my warm up time and wore a jacket. I was feeling pretty warm after about 20 minutes and did some quick stretching. (Really, it was procrastinating because I knew how difficult the workout was going to be!)

Regular readers may remember a ding to my left knee that I got playing tennis. Again, I dove; I didn't fall. That's my story. Well, that just hasn't healed up yet. And the pain has affected my stride. I looked pretty ridiculous trying to run this morning. It was hurting pretty much through the whole warm up. It was cold, and I was favoring that left side. I almost wish I had a video so I could laugh, too.

When I started running near tempo pace, my hamstring tightened up just a bit. That's probably related to my stride being messed up because my knee hurts. So, I slowed down after a whopping 0.5 mile tempo run and Gallowalked the rest of the way around the track and back home. The total was about 5 miles.

Tomorrow's workout is 4 miles easy, so I'm gonna say I did tomorrow's workout today and then try for tempo tomorrow if the leg is ok.

Tempo-ish

I was hoping to join Mike Greene for some speed work this morning, but I was just up too late last night. I don't think I could have made it on 5 hours sleep, so I slept a couple of extra hours and did my workout at lunch today. It was HOT! The next time that I'm tempted to stay up too late, I'll remember how miserable today's workout was.

My training plan calls for 2 x 3 miles at tempo pace. Well, I didn't quite make it. I did a brief warm-up because of the heat. Then I did 2 miles, stretch, then 3 miles, then 2 miles cool-down. Today's workout could be considered slacking. Wow. 7 miles is slacking. What am I trying to do?

7:25
7:37
Stretch for about 5 mins for IT band.
6:50 (too fast!)
7:09 (about right)
7:21 (too slow... I'll blame the heat, but I could have given more effort)

I didn't stopwatch the two cool-down miles, but they were between 8 and 9 minute miles.

Mark Freeman showed me some stretches for IT band. I did those last night, this morning, and before my workout. My knee did not hurt until after the second mile. Then, after the additional stretch, it didn't hurt for the 3 tempo-ish miles. It was somewhat painful on the cool-down miles. But... This is the first run in a long time that it didn't hurt more than it did on the previous run.

Press On

I've given my knee a bit of rest this week. I've read lots of articles and asked more experienced runners about the knee problems I'm having. I think this is what I need to do.

1. Make sure my shoes are right. I'm pretty sure of this thanks to the folks at Fleet Feet. Those guys are great. Shop there. I'm perhaps the happiest Fleet Feet customer ever. They have the best customer service I've ever experienced in a retail store. Period.
2. Strengthen my quads. I need to and will work harder on this.
3. Ice and NSAID when it hurts. That I do.
4. Stretch. I do stretch after every run, but I probably need to work in a couple of stretch sessions per day.
5. Quit being such a sissy. It's marathon training. Did I think it wouldn't hurt?
   

Looking forward to tomorrow's race, the Duck and Run 5k in Athens. I hope to see you there!

Frustration

Sorry for the lack of posts the past couple of days. Sunday was a scheduled day off in my training. I took Monday off to adjust my schedule to long run Sunday so I can do the Duck and Run 5k on Saturday. The bad news is that my knee has been killing me since Saturday afternoon. I iced it several times Saturday and Sunday and it's still sore.

I tried my workout this morning, and it was a no-go. My knee just didn't feel right. I did about 3 miles on a treadmill and about 20 minutes on a bike. Workouts like that will NOT get me ready for a marathon. And oh yeah, I'm in Denver, and I was GASPING during those miles. The altitude REALLY makes a difference.

My plan is to go easy this week and race Saturday. Then, I may take next week off completely from running (bike, elliptical, and weights only) and see how it feels. Next week is a recovery week in my training program, so maybe I can take it off without losing too much conditioning.

Week 2, Injury 2

Ugh. So, today was supposed to be 4 miles and 4 x 100 m strides. I did 2 miles (and those felt really good!), and then stopped at the Athens Middle School track to do the strides. On the 3rd set of strides, I felt a sharp pain in my left hamstring. Yuck. I tried to walk it off. I tried to stretch it out. I tried to massage it out. It still hurts. It doesn't hurt when I walk, but I can't even jog. Grrrr. I'm gonna ice, stretch, and massage to see if I can work this out soon. I really don't want to miss another tempo workout this week. And missing this weekend's long run would be TERRIBLE. It's an 11 miler, which would be my longest distance run ever. I am really looking forward to that run.

I know my mistake. I was going too fast on the strides. I was feeling so good this morning, that I overdid it a bit on the strides. I think I'm going to replace my strides with Fartlek intervals mixed in my mileage. I tend to maintain a little more control during Fartlek sessions than when I'm on a track. Something about a 400m or 200m track just tells my body to sprint.

Oh, by the way, I sent in my registration for the Athens Duck & Run 5k. Come on, send in that registration if you haven't already! Sept. 12 is the early registration deadline. Print this form, write a check, and come to Athens and race. Yeah, it's a Saturday which is my long run day, but I'm gonna move my long run around that week to accomodate my hometown's only annual race.

First workout, first injury

Well, I'm not off to a good start. My plan for today was...
15 minute warmup
4 x 1 mile at 6:42 or better (3 minute rest between)
15 minute cool down

During my warmup, I started limping a bit. There was pain on the outside of my right knee. I walked it off, and the pain went away. I ran my first mile in 6:23. No pain at all! Then I ran my second mile in 6:29. Slight pain on the last quarter. Then, I began the third mile. While making a turn on the first quarter, it felt like a gremlin jumped out of the ground and stabbed me on the outside of my right knee! I stopped. I wanted to finish the workout, but limping through it wouldn't have done any good. It probably would have done more harm than good. So, I walked the 1.7 miles home from the track. There was no pain while walking. A quick google suggests that it may be ITBS. It makes sense because I've been running on slanted surfaces (sides of crowned roads).

So, I'm planning on stationary bike and weights for the rest of the week. Hopefully, I'll be ready for Monte Sano on Saturday.