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Achilles Injury – Update

I think I will try to run some today.  My achilles is better.  I walked a lot yesterday doing errands and had no problems until the very end of the day when I could feel a little tightness.

Today I am going to play it by ear (or I guess I should say, feel).  I’m going to take it slow and easy and if I feel anything, I’ll stop.  I really want to be in good shape for our 5K in two weeks and don’t want to mess anything up with running, so I’ll see how I feel today.

First, I have to work for a couple hours.  This afternoon it is supposed to rain, so I’ll try to sneak my run in before the rain. It definitely won’t be a long run – I hope to make 7 miles or so.

 

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Achilles injury – Day off #2

No run day yesterday.  I spent the whole day at work and home with my foot elevated and ice on it.  I have ice on even as I write this.  It is feeling better this morning overall.

This is probably a good thing making me take some needed time off, but it is a bit frustrating.

We will be going out today doing errands, so I’ll see how I feel and base my decision to run tomorrow on how I do today.  Either way I won’t be running my long run tomorrow, just a 7 mile easy run.

Thanks to all who have commented or emailed and wished me well.  It means a lot.

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It took 13 months before I got injured running…

Every once in a while I have a day where I don’t feel like running, but I go out anyway and have a great run.

Yesterday was not one of those days.

I was tired and just wanted to skip my run, especially since it was “hill run Thursday”.  I did what I always do, I got home, changed and went out for my run. It began well enough.  I ran relaxed and got  2 miles into my run and my achilles started bothering me.  So I just tried to keep relaxed and the pain subsided, so I kept running.  By now it was hot and I was a bit tired and finally got to the hill that I run.  I rested a bit and then started my reps.

I got to the top of the hill and heard a dog barking.  I hear dogs barking all the time on my runs, so I ignored it.  As I ran, the barking got louder and I had the realization that the dog was behind me.  As I turned to look, I noticed a large doberman right behind me and it didn’t look happy.  My first instinct was to stop running and start walking.  I knew I needed to get past its house, but if I kept running, it might get bothered.  As I walked and kept my eye on the dog, I heard a voice of a woman calling for the dog.  I looked up and there was a woman sitting on a porch.  She called to me that it was her neighbor’s dog and she didn’t know why it was out.  I yelled to her, “Am I safe?”  Her reply was, “I’ve never known it to bite anyone”.

I finally got to the point where the dog went home and I started running again.  I decided to run at the top of the hill through the community a bit to figure out what to do.  You see, this hill was the only way out of the neighborhood and I had to go right back past that dog.  I was a bit concerned.

Finally I decided to make my trek back down the hill.  About a hundred yards before the house with the dog, I started walking.  I quietly walked past the house and never did see the dog.  I started running again and finished my run in the rain.  By the time I finished, I was cold, tired, my achilles was hurting again and I wished I had just stayed home.

Now here I am writing this.  My achilles still hurts, the top of that same foot hurts and my opposite hip hurts.  It has been 13 months of running with no injuries and now I feel totally beat up.  On top of that, we have our 5K in 2 weeks.  It is the last real 5K I want to compete in since I need to start training for the Lehigh Valley Marathon in September, my first marathon and hopefully my Boston qualifier.

So, I am taking at least today off and possibly the whole weekend.  I will see how I do.  I definitely don’t want to be out of running long because I was stupid and kept running on a hurt foot.

Oh well…  As I mentioned in the post yesterday, I learn by experience.  Sometimes that is a positive thing and sometimes it isn’t.

The joys of running.

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How to run well? Keep it simple.

I am the type of person who has to learn by experience.  Life teaches many lessons and in my life, I have learned by doing the wrong thing sometimes,  the right thing sometimes, and then applying the right thing to my daily routine.  The same is true when it comes to running.  Over the past 13 months, I have learned many “what to dos” and many “what not to dos” by experiencing them each day on the road.  Of course, I also learn by reading articles and talking with others like TJ about their experiences and what works for them.  I think running ultimately, like most things in life, cannot come down to a cookie cutter mentality.  This is why I am not good with training plans that lay out what workout to do each day, how many miles to run each day, etc.

I need simple.

For the first 10 months of running, all I did was run miles.  I honestly didn’t know what workouts to do or what would be best for me.  I needed simple.  So I went out and ran 2 miles a day for 5 days and 3 on Sunday.  I remember the first 6 mile long run I had.  I was so tired that I accidentally went to the wrong house after I was done thinking I was at TJ’s home.

During this time I would alternate between working on distance while running at a slower pace and working on speed while trying to keep up my distance.  I didn’t have anything in particular that would guide me on when to do either one, just a feeling that I needed to change up between the two.

One day, about a month before our first half marathon, TJ came to me and we talking about his workouts he was doing.  They consisted of “tempo runs” and “hill runs”.  Hmmm.  Interesting.  So he finally convinced me to try these different workouts.  They really helped and that experience is still helping me today.  I went from running 13 miles in my neighborhood at a 9:00 pace to my half marathon under an 8:00 pace all within a month.

So here I am, still running the miles, still increasing the pace, still doing the workouts, still learning by experience.

Yesterday I worked hard at running relaxed.  I am convinced that running relaxed is a key to running long, fast and without injury.  I relax everything that I can, even my lower legs to some extent.  Yesterday was a good run and only got difficult near the end when I was tired (I’d been up since 1:00am) and forgot about relaxing.

This morning I became a bit overwhelmed thinking of running a marathon at an 8:00 pace.  It was the same feeling I had when TJ told me I should try for running our half marathon at an 8:20 pace.  I wrote that day in my blog, “I think I am in over my head”.  I wasn’t.  As I said earlier, I ran it just under 8:00 and the last mile was at 7:47.

Why am I writing all this.  Just to solidify my thoughts and theories about how to run my marathon in September.  I know that if I can run with good form and run relaxed, I can easily make my goal.

Only time will tell.

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Records, goals and a great running app

I’m excited!  I had a record month for running in April.  My last record was 151 miles.  April 2013 – 176 miles!  Wow am I sore!

Really though, I am excited to know that I can run that many miles in a month.  That isn’t much for a lot of runners, but for me, it is amazing, especially since I have only been running only 13 months.

Yesterday I had a goal to reach.  My goal was to run 6 half mile intervals at a 7 minute pace.  I have not done well with half mile repeats.  They are hard and for some reason every day in the past month that I run them (usually Tuesday) it has been the hottest day of the week.  Yesterday was no different, however it was cooler than last week.

So I decide that in order to reach my goal, I would have to increase my recovery time between my intervals and slow down, even to a walk if needed to recover.  I really want my body to get used to running that fast.  It worked.

I ran my intervals and jogged slowly and walked in between.  I was able to get all 6 completed and averaged 7:00 overall.  My total time for the full 7 mile run was just under 9 minutes, but that didn’t matter to me.  With our 5K approaching in 18 days, I really wanted to get my speed down a bit and intervals are a great way to do that.

Just a word of advice.  If you run with an iPhone and don’t use iSmoothRun, you need to get it.  It really is the best running app available.  Not only does it keep up with your runs, shoes, miles, weather, etc., but it is invaluable doing interval runs!  It tracks each interval and recovery between intervals.  It even tells you audibly if you need to speed up, slow down or stay steady during the interval.  No more looking at the phone or just hoping to get the right time.  When you are done with each interval, it gives a recap of your time so you know how you did.  Finally it doesn’t have a connected website, but lets you export to about 15 different sites (like Nike+ and Runkeeper) and to Twitter and Facebook.  I wholly recommend it.

So that was my day.  I am sore today and my hip isn’t doing the best.  I will do an easy run this afternoon in the rain.  I am glad to get my speed workout behind me and move on with the week.  I’m looking forward to our 5K.  It should be a lot of fun and I have a lot of people from my work going to run it with TJ, RS and myself.

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Running, thankfulness and tomorrow

Yesterday was a day off from running, my second in 3 days.  I thought of taking Saturdays off, but it was too much having to run for 5 days straight after my long run.  So, I took Monday off and will just run a shorter run on Saturday to get the mileage up as I prepare for my marathon in September.

I want to thank my Lovely Wife and my kids for being so supportive of my running.  It is really starting to take up a lot of time.  I am going to have a record month and tomorrow I’ll update my blog with my miles for the month, but just to give an idea, since the first of April, I’ve run over 24 hours.  That is a lot of time that I am out running and not home hanging with the family.  I know that they want to support me and do it happily, but I just want to thank them for being so patient as I pursue my goal.

It is amazing how much of running is mental.  Everyone who runs knows that is true and those who don’t run… well they should run and find out what it is like.  Today is a workout day and right now I just don’t “feel” like doing it.  Of course it is early and I don’t run until this afternoon, but I know by now I can’t go on my feelings.  I have a goal and that is what pushes me forward.  As I reach higher and higher mileage and more and more time on the road running, it almost becomes robotic. I do it because that is what I do.

I love running and am thankful that I can run.  But sometimes I have to make myself get out there even when I just want to go home and watch a show and relax.  Every time I finish a run though, I look at my iPhone and am excited I made that run count.  That motivates me and gets me looking forward to my next run tomorrow.  As long as there are tomorrows, I’ll be running whether I want to or not 🙂

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Several “firsts” thanks to running

100th post!  Wow, time files when you write a blog!!!

Yesterday was a day of firsts.  It is funny when you lose a lot of weight, you tend to look closer at “firsts”.  My Lovely Wife and I have noticed several firsts, outside of our clothes getting smaller with our waistline.  For instance, actually seeing our collar bone.  Or I noticed I could sit with shorts on and put my knees together and actually see between my legs to the floor.

Well, yesterday I had a couple of firsts.  One, though not weight related, was a neat experience.  I was running my long run (13 grueling miles in the rain) and I heard something coming up behind me.  I looked back and a big black lab was running after me.  Needless to say, I was a bit shocked at first.  But it ran up beside me and just ran with me for a while.  In fact if you saw us running together you would have though it was my dog.  It made my run a bit more fun.  Then I heard someone behind me calling out.  I looked and there was a guy with a leash running after us.  Okay, that made a bit more sense.  So I stopped my run (another first) and the dog stopped also.  The guy caught up and put the leash on the dog and off they went.  So, for a while at least I had someone to run with.

My next “first” was diet related.  No, not the ice cream bonanza we had to celebrate RS’s birthday (nice that I could eat and not worry too much about my weight after running 13 miles).  As I ran, it began to rain.  Not surprising since it was supposed to rain and storm all day.  At one point, it rained so hard that it was hard to keep running.  Finally the rain slowed and stopped for a while and I was left soaked in my 2x teeshirt.  I still wear those double extra large teeshirts to run in for some reason, even though they are huge on me now.  By the time I got to 7 miles, I made a decision.  As I passed by my house, I was going to take off my now heavy, rain soaked shirt.  Knowing it would rain again and that if I went inside to get another shirt, I would have probably stopped my grueling run, I just took off my shirt, threw it in the yard and kept running.

You have to know me to appreciate what I did here.  I ran the last 6 miles shirtless.  I haven’t been outside without a shirt since probably high school.  Frankly, I have been overweight most of my marriage and not one to want to be seen outside without a shirt.  So it was a momentous occasion for me.  I didn’t feel very comfortable and I could still stand to lose 20 lbs, but it was doable and I felt like I lost 20 lbs after taking off that rain soaked shirt.

Needless to say it was a different day in many aspects, including me not posting a blog post.  I think it might have been the first day since I started that I didn’t write anything.  To be honest, I didn’t sleep well and wen’t shopping early in the morning with my Lovely Wife and started my run late, so my schedule was off from the beginning.

All in all it was a great day.  As I mentioned, the run was rather miserable.  As I hit 3 miles, I felt like I had already run 13.  But in my head were all those motivational posters I see on blogs and Twitter.

Anyway – Enjoy your week and keep running (whether you feel like it or not).

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When should I take my running day off?

Yesterday was a good day.  I ran 7 miles and about half way through came across TJ and we ran the last half together.  I was trying to run a bit slower run as I have had a long week since my last off day was last Saturday and I’ve been running ever since.

I am still struggling with how to work my off day.  The way I see it, I have 3 options.

  1. Take Saturday off:  This would help with keeping me fresh for my long run Sunday morning and since I am increasing my mileage on Sundays I think this is important.
  2. Take Monday off:  After a long run, it really helps to have that day after off for recovery.  This week I ran Monday after a 15 mile run on Sunday and, though it didn’t go badly, I was tired all week and I wonder if I just never fully recovered from that long of a run (my longest to date).
  3. Take Saturday and Monday off:  This was my Big Brother’s suggestion on the phone yesterday afternoon.  He mentioned this in context of my long runs getting longer and said it might help overall.

I must say, I think choice #3 will eventually be the way to go.  I hate losing a day of running, especially as I am trying to increase my mileage, but since taking Saturday and Monday off both have positive effects, I think it might be a good idea.

What am I doing next week?  I am taking today off as I said earlier, and I will probably take Monday off.  I think next Saturday I will try a short easy run just to keep things moving.  As we hit the summer heat, I will probably enjoy the Saturday early run when it is somewhat cooler.

I don’t usually solicit advice directly in this blog, however if anyone has any thoughts about how to prepare for a marathon and or about when to take off days, I’d appreciate the input.  

Remember that I am a 50 year old man wanting to run my first marathon in September at 3:30 (8:00 pace).  At least that is my goal so I can qualify for Boston – as if you didn’t know that by now.

🙂

 

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Running, obsession, and a midlife crisis

I’ve been feeling a bit lethargic about running lately.  I’m not sure why.  Don’t get me wrong, I still run 6 days a week and still do my workouts.  I think the warmer weather has made it harder to get outside and get going.  But it isn’t about wanting to run, it is about running.  If I only ran when I felt like it, I would probably run a couple days a week and eventually just stop.  To be honest, I get up at 3:30am, get to work by 5:30, leave work about 2:00pm, get home by 2:30, get running around 3:00, finish running about 4:00, cool down and take a shower by 4:30 and then I get a chance to rest.  It makes for a long day.

Someone asked me recently if I was obsessed with running.  I guess I am to some extent.  I really am not an obsessive person, but I think having a goal that I desperately want to meet has made me more obsessive.  Also, as I have written before, if I weren’t obsessive, I wouldn’t run.  I have to push myself and I like that I can do that.  I have only really pushed myself a couple times in my life.  Running has brought out an area of my life that I never knew I had, discipline.  So I run each day and thank God that I live in a country that gives me the freedom to do so.

Yesterday was Hill Run Thursday.  I decided to try and break my record for running up this huge quarter mile hill.  I have only done it 4 times in a row in the past, so I thought I would try to get to 5.  I put on my new Saucony Fastwitch shoes (which I love by the way) and did a 2 mile warmup.  Then the hill…  I ran up and down over and over.  In the end I actually ran 6 repeats of this hill – a new personal record.  I wasn’t trying to break any speed records, but I broke my record and my goal for running this hill.

As I was running home I thought to myself, having goals and meeting or exceeding them makes running (and life in general) much more fun.  It is when I have no goals or deadlines or challenges that my life becomes boring and plain.  Running gives me new goals almost weekly and I love it.  I love the challenge and the trill of running up a huge hill 6 times in a row (I never thought I’d say that).  I love running farther and faster.  I can’t wait for my marathon in September to see how far I have come.  Boston or not, I think I have come a long way since March 2012 when I started (my Nike Plus app tells me so anyway).

So in the end I don’t think I am obsessive about running.  I think that by the time I turned 49, I looked at myself and didn’t like what I saw.  I was obese, lazy, on a CPAP to breath at night.  I had a type of a midlife crisis.  I didn’t buy a fast car or try to “find myself”.  I just went for a run and never stopped.

Now that I am 50, I like who I am.  So if that is obsessive, then I guess I am obsessive.

But I think happy might be a better word.

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Why I write a running blog

Blogging is a great outlet.  It is like talking to everyone and at the same time, to no one.  It is a way to get everything out that you think during the day whether good or bad so that it doesn’t just sit inside you and build up.  I say that to say, I really enjoy blogging.  I don’t blog to get followers – though I have over 50 – thank you for following.  I don’t blog to get comments – though I like the comments, suggestions and interactions.  In fact most people who read my blog, I didn’t know before I started writing.  I blog, as one blogger once said, because when I talk about running, most people’s eyes glaze over.  Forgive me, but I blog for myself and I hope my experiences and ups and downs will help others who want to run, get in shape, have outlandish goals, what ever the situation may be.  I also blog hoping that what I have gone through in loosing weight and running will help inspire others to do the same.  I honestly don’t know if I have inspired anyone at all (other than my big brother), but even that doesn’t matter.  No matter what happens,  I’ll keep blogging… for me.

I don’t honestly know why I wrote that.  It wasn’t in response to anyone or any comments I have received.  It just came out.

I don’t have much to write about running today.  I don’t think my “experiment” of taking Saturday off (the day before my long run) rather than Monday worked very well.  It helped my long run a lot, but to keep running each day after running 15 miles on Sunday – let’s just say, isn’t easy.  I think I will go back to Monday off and Saturday being a short easy day.

That’s all for today.  Short and sweet.  Thank you to everyone who reads this blog.  It really means a lot to me.  I hope it helps you in some way.

Tom

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5K and marathon training – Doing both at the same time

To begin with, a word of thanks to my big brother for the post yesterday.  I was really blessed with what he said (and I think he is a great writer :))  It means a lot that my journey affects others in some way.  The path I am going on isn’t easy.  It is hard work and requires a lot of sacrifice from my family, so when I read what big brother wrote yesterday, it really encourage me.  THANKS!

Now, on to a dilemma of sorts.  I guess it isn’t a dilemma, but a choice that has made some of my training more difficult.

I really want (as you all know by now) to qualify for the Boston Marathon in September.  I read more and more articles saying that huge number of people are hoping to run it because of what happened there this year.  Totally understandable.  For me, I set my goal months before the race. I have a long way to go to get to the point of qualifying by September.

I also love running 5Ks with TJ and RS.  We ran five 5Ks our first year of running and had a blast.  The first one we ran was the Spring Scramble about a month after we started running and so we wanted to run the same race this year.

Here is the issue.  I am trying to train for the 5K, with the knowledge I only have 5 months to prepare for the Lehigh Valley Marathon (link).  I chose this marathon because it occurs just before Boston registration and 25% of those who run it qualify for Boston.

I don’t know if my training is at cross purposes or not.  I really want to run the 5K in 20 minutes if possible, but I also really want to begin increasing my mileage so that I have a chance in September.

Yesterday was a half mile repeat day of training.  TJ says these repeats are great for getting speed up for the 5K.  It was rough.  I don’t know why, but I tend to do better running 3 miles straight than running 1/2 mile and a minute rest and then repeating the process.  I did okay, but not near my goal of under 7:00 per mile for 6 repeats.  In fact I only made 2.5 repeats and had to stop and just run some recovery miles.  On top of that, I got a rock in my sole of my shoe that was in so deep I could feel it on my foot and had to stop to dig it out.  Crazy.  I only made 6 miles total even though I was trying for 7.  Some days you just need to cut your losses and go home.

Today is another day.  Just a regular run.  I am really going to try to slow it down.  I think I have been pushing the speed a bit much lately.

So to sum up, Boston Marathon /  Spring Scramble.  I would have never thought I would be pushing for these goals just a few months ago.

I love running!