Cool Runnings!

AM - I feel so stupid - I haven't been very diligent recently about stretching, and today it came back and bit me in the butt.  Started off with the first mile in 8:00, then decided I wanted to do some MP effort, second mile in 6:55.  Third mile in 6:35.  I could tell it was a little too fast.  Fourth mile started off good, but at about the .33 mark, my right calf cramped up.  It didn't pop, so I don't think I strained it, but it sure didn't feel all that good.  Stopped and stretched it out, then finished out the fourth mile at a very easy pace.  Walked the last mile home and am icing my leg as I write this entry.

I am kind of upset, given all the preparations I have made so far for this being my best SGM ever.  Luckily for me, I still have 3 months left - plenty of time - and for the next few weeks, I am going to keep it easy, and shouldn't have to worry too much about losing any aerobic fitness.  Depending on how my leg feels, I may or may not run the rest of this week - if I do, it will be at a very easy pace.  And yes, I have learned my lesson and will make sure to stretch after I run.  I am not like Sasha - I need to stretch to avoid injury.  Thus why I feel stupid . . . well, sometimes we need to have lessons we have already learned reinforced. 

AM - after taking a few days off to let my calf heal, I ran with two of my brothers-in-law today, Kriston and Mike.  We ran somewhere around 8:30 pace, not sure because I didn't have the garmin with me.  Total time was 48:00, felt good in spite of the altitude.  This will end up being a big rest week for me, with only 20-30 miles.  Next week I hope to be able to ramp things back up.

Well, the good old calf cramp struck again.  Got up this morning with the intention of doing 7 miles in the morning, 5 outside and another couple on the treadmill after Lybi went out for her run.  However, after only 1 mile, my calf started tightening up again, and I had to stop and stretch it out.  The next two miles were quite a bit slower, especially the third.  I decided I had had enough and stopped.  It was fairly sore even when walking the last 1/2 mile home.  Stretched out some more.  I think part of the problem may be that my grid tangents have seen their last days - I have probably put somewhere around 500 miles in them.  Until I get my email from road runner sports with my free pair of shoes (I will get another pair of progrid guides), I am going to only wear my guides.  I am also going to have to take it very easy this week until my calf heals up.  Nice slow runs, no faster than 8:30/mile.  Lybi has also promised to scrape my leg tonight.

AM - 3 miles with Sparky at a nice easy pace - avg 8:38/mile.  My calf felt much better this morning.  I am going to just take it easy the rest of this week, and all next week on vacation will just be running easy.  Once I get back, I am hopeful I will be able to ramp things back up again. I will probably try to get in a couple more miles this evening on the treadmill.

PM - ran 4 miles on the treadmill in the evening before going to bed.  I wanted to get in a run, because there was a pretty good chance I wouldn't be able to run very much the next day.  Average pace 8:30/mile.

PM - After an entire day of flying out to Ft. Lauderdale for our family vacation, I ran 3.25 easy miles with my twin brother.  He doesn't run much any more, mostly plays basketball, and his knees are kind of bad.  Ran at average pace of about 9:10/mile.  Very humid.

AM - ran 7 miles in the muggy Florida weather - 6 easy miles, last mile was 6:50.  Felt good to get out and run.

AM - 6 easy miles, again in Florida.

Played golf later on in the morning, was pretty worn out from my run.

AM - 6 miles this morning - after two weeks of slacking off, I am now back on track!  On vacation, I found it exceedingly difficult to get out early for a run - usually the activities from the day left me fairly wiped out at the end of the day, and when I would wake up in the morning, I wouldn't want to run.  When I got up this morning, it was to muggy weather that we seem to have brought back with us from Florida - boo!  First 3 miles were nice and easy, around 8:10/mile.  Just before the 3 mile turnaround, I passed a man running in the opposite direction.  When I turned around, he wasn't too far in front of me, so I started off at a little bit of a quicker pace.  When I caught up to him, he picked up the pace.  "Well, I can do that", I thought, so I kept right up with him, although I was on the sidewalk and he was on the bike lane on the road.  After about 1/4 mile at this pace, I picked up the pace ever so slightly and started to pull ahead of him, and got back onto the road in front of him.  At the end of my 4th mile, I slowed back down to 8-plus minute pace and checked my split, to find out that I had just busted out a 6:45 mile.  Oops . . . I really hadn't intended on doing that.  Run felt okay, despite the (perceived) humidity, legs felt pretty good, but my calves felt a little tight.  I will get Lybi to do some scraping and massage tonight to make sure I don't hurt myself again.  I am still hoping to be able to do the ADT 1/2 marathon on Labor Day in Colorado Springs as a good tuneup for St. George.

AM - 3.5 easy miles on my own, average pace of about 8:10/mile, then another easy 3 miles with Sparky at average pace of 8:30/mile. Lybi tortured my calves last night (at my request), and they were still feeling kind of sore this morning. I will see how they feel tomorrow.

Well, in case anyone has been wondering why my entries have been so spotty, last week we were on vacation, and this week I got sick on Wednesday and Thursday and didn't run.  I felt better today and decided it was time to get started again.  I also got my free pair of Grid Tangent 3's from Road Runner Sports this week, so I was anxious to try them out.  I think that my Grid Tangent 2's have pretty much worn themselves out - probably between 350 and 400 miles on them.  So I set out for a nice easy 4-5 mile run.  I felt really good, even though it was still 100 degrees out.  But then disaster struck - after only .6 miles, my right calf gave a mighty twinge (not a pop, mind you!), and my calf started to tighten up.  I was so angry, I was running easy, just trying to get back in the groove, and my body was not cooperating with me at all!  Well, I walked a bit, stretched out my calves, then jogged back home.  Total of 1 whole stinking mile.  Looks like it is crosstraining time . . . I am going to pick up a bike headlamp from wal-mart today so that I can go out and ride my bike and still maintain some fitness while I rehab my calf.  I am hoping I will still be able to do the ADT 1/2 marathon as a good indicator of fitness for St. George.

No running, but I biked a total of about 16 miles

1.  I dropped my car off to get a slow leak repaired and have the valve stems replaced free of charge, biked back home, then biked back to the shop and drove home - this covered about 9 miles total.

2.  Got out again later in the evening, rode for 7 miles.  Hit max speed of 21.1 mph on my big, heavy mountain bike (that was in top gear).

AM - no running all this week to rehab my calf.  Lybi has also graciously volunteered to torture me nightly with scraping and massage . . .

Got out on the bike again and rode 14 miles this morning, average speed of approx. 16 mph, max speed of 18.8 mph.  I can relate to Ted - my butt is extremely sore just from two days on the bike.  I have also noticed something interesting - my hamstrings and glutes are really getting a workout from the bike, which is something I just do not feel when I get out and run at an easy pace.  Only when I run at high intensity do I feel any kind of burn in my hamstrings.  I am going to take this as a good sign that I am working muscles that don't normally get used enough during my normal exercise routine.  If this is the case, I may actually permanently incorporate some bike riding into my routine to get my hammies some extra workout time that they need.

PM - 5 easy miles on the treadmill.  I was hoping to ride my bike again this morning, but got to bed too late to get up early enough to ride.  Lybi was out tonight, so I put the boys to bed and hopped on the treadmill.  Calf felt fine during the run, but as Lybi scraped and massaged it again, we could both tell I had a huge old knot in my calf.  She spent about 45 minutes working it out.  Bike riding tomorrow, probably the next day as well, maybe a little more running later this week.  At least the riding is maintaining my fitness.

PM - 3 total easy miles on the bike riding to and from the church for Webelos Scouts.  Later in the evening, 5.5 miles on the treadmill.  Calf felt much better, thanks to Lybi's patented torture techniques.  Actually, when she scraped and massaged my calf this evening, it was much looser, with only one small (but hard to work out) knot in my upper calf.  After about 30 minutes of scraping and rubbing, she managed to get that worked out.  Depending on how I feel tomorrow morning, I will either bike or run.  Looks like I may be back on track, though!

AM - so much for not running this week. I woke up and my calf felt pretty good and I decided I didn't want to bike, plus I wanted to take Sparky for a run, so off I went. 4 miles on my own at average pace of 7:50/mile, each mile was progressively faster, with the last mile being in 7:10. It all felt good, easy. Even the last mile did not feel hard at all. Then I came back and got Sparky and took him for 2 easy miles at 8:30 pace. More torture planned for tonight - Lybi is a saint for doing this for me.