On the road again...

It's been a while since I posted. But then it's been a while since I've had a good run.....

Once I recovered from the injuries it has been a long road back to good runs. I'm still not entirely there but it is getting better. It takes a while to get use to running with the heart rate level I seem to maintain. It is getting easier though. I'm finally starting to enjoy it again.

So tomorrow I'll be back on the road and hopefully enjoying it. :)

Recovery

It's been a while since I posted. But, what can I say, recovery sucks! I'm finally running without pain in my leg. My cardio, however, is crap. I can't run more than a mile without stopping to walk and it is killing me.

I swear that recovering the cardio capability is worse than recovering from the injury.

Every time I go out for a run I hope that it is one that I will enjoy. So far they all have been hard. High heart rate and a lot of walking as a result.

I want to keep challenging myself with races. But I don't know whether I should just forget about half marathons and stick to shorter distances..... I guess time will tell.

The Carlsbad Half is in January. That's something to shoot for.

Recovery.....

Recovery really sucks.......

I've been for walks.

I've been for rides on my bike.

I even managed to improve my time.

But in my dreams......

I'm running!

And it doesn't even hurt.

I want to run again.

Race Day

The day dawned cloudy and cool. Yup. Perfect race weather.

I woke up around 5:15am and realized if I were racing I'd already be on my way. It was still dark as pitch out at that hour. I comforted myself with the fact that I could go back to sleep and rolled over.

At 7am, start time, I woke up. That was when I realized how perfect the weather was for running a race. I went back to sleep.

8am rolled around and I dragged myself out of bed, thinking I'd be heading for the halfway mark, and limped into the bathroom. Yup, today was not my day to race. It would have been a good one though and I think I would have had a good personal time.

Here's to the next one.

So now I'm out........

I spent the week going back and forth to the chiropractor's to try and get over my injury in time for the race. I had numerous adjustments and spent quite a while with the electro therapy. My leg was actually feeling pretty good. I was hopeful.

Today I went out for a trial run. I figured I'd do a mile and see how I felt. As soon as I started running the pain started. My gait was some sort of weird hobble thing. I did manage to do the mile but it was a walk/hobble as opposed to a run.

So now it is time to rehabilitate and regroup. I wonder whether I'm just not cut out for the distance and should aim for shorter. Or whether I do have another half in me somewhere. I guess time will tell.

One thing is for certain, I won't be giving up running.

Down But NOT Out!

I went to a chiropractor today who does sports medicine. My injury is IT Band related. He did some adjustments and some electro-massage therapy. I've got some exercises to do too. I'm to go back the next 2 days and if I'm pain free on Friday/Saturday, I'll be running on Sunday.

I have to say the electro-massage was rather wild. Talk about a funky feeling thing. But it seems to have had some effect because I'm not near as sore.

I'm actually hopeful that I may be able to run the race. If I do I will take it easy and walk if and when I need to.

So the fingers are crossed!

Palm Springs

A nice getaway..........

Hmmmmm.....

Well I did my last long run before the race a week ago yesterday. It about did me in. The run went fine. I did 12.5 miles. A great time and pace. Only problem was I think I crippled myself. My adductor muscle siezed up after and walking became downright difficult.

When I got home I'd soaked in a cold bath for about 20 mins. I continued to ice my leg off and on for the next few days. As well I kept it elevated and wrapped. It's been a week of rest from exercise. I've kept up with walking and stretching but I do still have some pain.

At this point it is up in the air whether I will run the 1/2 marathon next week or not. I don't want to make my injury worse. But I have trained hard for this. I will try a couple short runs this week and see where it leaves me.

I so wanted to do this race without injury.....

RESIGNATION

I am hereby officially tendering
my resignation as an adult. I have
decided I would like to accept the
responsibilities of an 8 year-old
again.
I want to go to McDonald's and think
that it's a four star restaurant.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud
puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.
I want to think M&Ms
are better
than
money because you can eat them.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and
run a lemonade stand with my friends on
a hot summer's day.
I want to return to a time when life was
simple; When all you knew were colors,
multiplication tables, and nursery
rhymes, but that didn't bother you,
because you didn't know what you
didn't know and you didn't care.
All you knew was to be happy
because you
were blissfully unaware of all the things that
should make you worried or upset.
I want to think the world is fair.
That everyone is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is
possible. I want to be oblivious
to the complexities of life and be
overly excited by the little things again.
I want to live simple again. I
don't want my day to consist of
computer crashes, mountains of paperwork,
depressing news, how to survive more days
in the month than there is money in the
bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness,
and loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of
smiles, hugs, a kind word,
truth,
justice, peace, dreams, the imagination,
mankind, and making angels
in the snow.
So . . . here's my checkbook
and my car-keys, my credit card bills
and my 401K statements. I am officially
resigning from adulthood.
And if you want to discuss this
further, you'll have to catch me
first, cause........
......"Tag! You're it."

Some Long Runs.......

Well I did the 11 mile run over a week ago and it went fairly well. I had to walk some of it though because my legs were just not doin' it. By the time I got home they were screaming at me so for the first time ever I filled the tub with cold, cold water and sat in it. That really helps! It also really helps the cool down.

The run was down Florida, up Zoo Place, through Balboa Park and back and then home down Georgia. It was a nice route with some ups and downs. Zoo Place being the most up of the ups.

Last Friday I went out and did an 8 mile route around Balboa Park. The route was pretty and had some ups and downs as well. The heat killed me though. It's just been so darn hot lately that it makes training difficult. I don't know how people do it in the south. And the humidity..... This is Southern California, it's not supposed to be humid.

Oh well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a cloudy cool day come race day. Only one more long run to go and it will be time to taper off. I'm working on intervals this week. Or trying to.

Tomorrow is 11 miles........

Today is really hot and strangely humid.....

I think I'll be up before the sun...

Random Thoughts......

Running is a road to self awareness and self reliance.

You can push yourself to extremes

and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations

or

coast quietly down a solitary path

watching the Earth spin at your feet.

But, when you are through, exhilarated and exhausted,

at least for the moment

everything seems right in the world.

-Author Unknown

Of Insoles and Joint Pain

I'd ordered a pair of insoles for my shoes last week. I thought that might help with the pain I'd been experiencing in the joint in the ball of my foot. It had started to cause ankle problems because I apparently was compensating for it.
So anyways, I learned that you really need expert help for getting the right ones. The ones I purchased nullified all the stabiltiy provided by my shoes. I ended up with sore feet and achey knees from a 3 mile run. Ugh!
I took them back to the store and was guided to the correct type. I'll be starting to break them in tomorrow. The guy tells me that it will take care of the joint issue and any and all pain. I should be aligned from head to toe. Cool!

10 Miles and Zoo Place

My plans were to wake up early on Friday and head out for my long run before the marine layer burned off so I wouldn't have the sun beating down on me. Now normally, Harley (the cat), starts her meowing around 6am. It's like having a cat alarm. Of course Friday she overslept, as did I.
Now all week the marine layer had been hanging out until at least 10am but Friday at 7am it was gone. I stumbled out for a cup of coffee and checked the temps on line. It was still only in the 60's so I suited up and hit the road.
I followed the beginning of the Floriday Canyon route. However on the return up the canyon I ran up Zoo Place to the top of the canyon and Balboa Park. It is a long steep hill. I did pretty good with it. When I got to the top though my legs were tired and trying to run on the grass in the park (the road is too busy) was a bit of a go so I took a little walk break.
Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the battery status on my mp3 player and it conked out before the 3 mile mark. It was a quiet run. Well actually there was a lot of birdsong.
The rest of the run went well although I did develop a rather major water craving in the last couple miles. Luckily I was near a cafe so I dodged in there a downed a couple of cups of water. Feeling refreshed I was able to finish out the run. I even had a decent pace for the whole thing.
When I got home I told Alex that I'd run up Zoo Place and he was suitably impressed. He'd been avoiding it with his bike. Of course the next day he rode it. :)

Florida Canyon

It was over a week ago I ran Florida Canyon and I've kept meaning to post the run but technical difficulties have gotten in the way. So here's the rundown on a great run. :)

The course was a out and back straight down Florida Street. The out part had mostly down hills when there were hills at all. When I got to the official 'canyon' part which is situated below Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo it was a beautiful stretch. There were fields on both sides and the hillsides which featured trails. I stuck to the road in the interest of stability.

Almost as soon as I hit that part of the run I discovered nature! I startled a bunny and he ran just in front of me for a few feet before he darted into the underbrush. I could hear lots of little bunnies taking off as I passed by. The canyon was filled with birdsong as well. Unfortunately I did see a few dead things too...... a rat, a bunny and a bird.

On the return leg of the run I even saw a lizard sunning himself in the bike lane.

The 'back' part of the run began as a gentle incline. There were a couple steeper hills as I neared University Ave. Due to the heat of the day (80's) my cardio was not as good as it could have been and I did end up walking some of it. It was a 7.25 mile trip and my pace wasn't half bad considering the walking.

The main thing for me was that it was a 'fun' run. I think sometimes we need more of those instead of the constant pushing of the limits.

That said, Friday will be my 10 miler.......

Breaking 9.5

9.5 miles was a difficult mile marker for me. I made my first attempt at it just over a week ago. It was brutal. The sun was shining down on me, the temp was warm and somehow or other I kept running into the recycle trucks and garbage trucks. There's nothing quite like following the garbage truck on a warm day. Peee ewww...

My legs were feeling very tired from the get go and my heart rate was way up there. I was unable to maintain my pace and had to walk off and on. It was a struggle and it left me discouraged, tired and sore.

I was determined to do the run again before moving on to 10 miles. So this Friday I headed back out to retrace my route. I'd rearranged my workout schedule so that I was doing lower body weights earlier in the week this time. This way my legs were rested when I headed out.

Thankfully the day dawned cloudy and stayed that way. That also kept the temperature at a cooler level. Miraculously I even managed to avoid the garbage and recycle trucks. My heart rate was decent and my legs kept going. I ran for the whole distance and felt pretty darn good.

Of course maybe my brand new iriver clix mp3 player helped too. *g* Gotta love new technology.

Race for Literacy 8k

Sunday was my first ever 8k race. It was the Union Tribune Race for Literacy which started in Balboa Park and ended downtown by Pantoja Park. For those that are metric challenged the 8k is just under 5 miles.

Now I've done 5 mile runs on a regular basis so I knew the distance would not be a problem for me. I was still nervous about race day though and did not sleep so great the night before. Alex and I were up 'bright' and early Sunday morning to head off to the race. Since it was a short race the start time was 8am which was a relief for Alex. He's not so keen on those 7am starts.

I lined up at the start shortly before 8am and waited for the race to start. For the timing of the race they were using the ever so scientific method of pulling a coded tag off of the bibs at the end of the race. Seeing as they timed it all from the gun start and not from when each runner went over the start line the accuracy was pretty much nil. I had my trusty heart rate monitor on so I was able to record my own time.

The race went well for me. There's something about the crowd that makes me run a little faster so my heart rate was definately up there. The neatest part of the race was running on the 163. It was very scenic and pretty. The only bad part of the race was the stingy hydration stops. There were only 2 on the whole course. It was not enough for me. By mile 3.5 I was about ready to steal or beg water from somebody. I made it to the next watering hole at the 4 mile mark and doubled up. That was enough to get me through to the end.

I crossed the finish line in 51:28. My pace was 10:21 which is a personal best for me at that distance.

Once again, thanks Honey for taking me there and bringing me home!!

What a Difference a Week Makes

I started off the week with a really painful 4 mile slog. I'd planned to run 6 miles but when I woke up I just wasn't up for it. I amended my goal to 5 miles. When I actually hit the road and started running I realized the 5 miles wasn't happening.

I don't know whether I was still a bit worn out from Friday's 8 miler or what exactly the cause was. I just know that it was a slog not a joyous carefree run.

On Wednesday I was feeling better. I stuck with a 4.3 mile route and felt pretty good throughout. My heart rate was reasonable. It gave me good hopes for Sunday's 8k race.

Today I went out and ran a 3 miler and recorded my fastest time ever. I did it in 30:55! My pace was 10:18! I was very pleased. And to make it even better my heart rate was great throughout. I had an average hr of 159. So I'm psyched for Sunday. It should be a good run. Tomorrow I will be resting in anticipation.

8 Mile.....

Today was my 8 mile run. I mapped it out last night and blindly put my faith in Google maps that the streets would actually exist, unlike on my 7 mile run. Thankfully they were all right where they were supposed to be.

It was a perfect morning for a long run. The temperature was a cool 58 and the skies were overcast. While it might not be the most beautiful weather it is ideal conditions for a long run. No sun beating down on you making you hotter. A nice cool breeze to keep you cooler.

I ran around some streets that I haven't seen before and that definately makes the miles go quicker. Or at least seem too. There are new houses to look at and gardens to admire. I saw some nice ones. There were also some friendly people who actually smiled and said hi!

I had a good pace today. My legs were a little tired in the beginning but then they resigned themselves to a long run and got with the program. My average heart rate was a reasonable 164 so that aspect felt good. I even had some extra energy at the end to do a sprint to the 'finish line'.

All in all, if I keep up a reasonable training pace I think I am poised to do a better time and finish the 1/2 marathon uninjured. That is mainly what I'm hoping for.

Here We Go Again

Apparently I've recovered from last October fully enough to take the plunge and sign up for another 1/2 marathon. This time I figured I'd sign up for a little 8k race beforehand just to get me into race mode. That race will be May 7th and is a local run for literacy. The distance shouldn't be a problem for me as I've already been running that distance on a regular basis. It will be a good experience I think.

The half marathon is August 2oth and is also local. I figure 4 months of training should be plenty to be able to do the race without crippling myself. So I'm back out on the road again adding up the mileage. It feels good.