Finally Friday

Friday is just another day but is the most anticipated day of the week.  It marks the start of the weekend.  For me this Friday is extra special as it marks the start of the Christmas Holidays.  Theoretically I stop work at 5:00 today and resume work in January.   But, my plane does not leave until Monday, and lets face it my computer goes with me and if required I will be working to meet client demands.

It seems that the theme of the week has been start slow, finish fast or progression runs. I did another one today,  I started at 10 minute miles and then seemed to ramp up a bit every 5 minutes and ended up running the last 5 at sub 8 min miles.  I was bagged and breathing hard after my 20 minutes and 2.25 miles.  A good start to the day.

Plod On.

Running without clothes

I saw a tweet with a link to yogaundressed and it got me to thinking about my treadmill runs.  I usually run in my stuffy dungeon and crank out miles wearing a light cotton shirt that is dripping in sweat after 20 minutes.

If I run without the shirt would evaporation make the run cooler?

It really looks a lot worse than it is I am wearing shorts, and yes it was cooler and the cool down after the run was quicker.  I may have to repeat this experiment.

I got off to a slow start this morning with a long slow warm up.  After a few minutes at 10 minute miles I picked up the pace and ran progressions of 5 minutes at 30 second pace differential. Then did a little cool down.   The grand total was 25 minutes of running and a total distance of 2.8 miles.  Not bad for an injured old man.

Plod On.

A convenient run

Sometimes runs have to be less than you want them to be.  It’s not like junk miles where you are just running miles for the sake of a checkmark in the log book or to appease yourself that you are really training. Convenience miles are miles that you have to squeeze into a busy schedule, where you try to make the most of the time available.  Sometimes this means running faster intervals to get the most out of a little window in time’

This morning was a run of convenience. I had an early meeting scheduled and a very limited window to squeeze a run in. I found myself on the treadmill @ 5:40 for a 20 minute window.  If I ran hard for 20 minutes I had just enough time to cool down, shower and do the domestic chores that are a daily requirement.

The run was;

• 2 min warm up @ 10:00 min pace
• 9 min @ 9 min pace
• 8 min @ 8 min pace
• 1 min cool down @ 9 min pace

20 minutes 2.35 miles and I felt great (after the first mile)

Plod on

Monday morning blues

Monday morning is getting me down, we ended up getting several inches of snow overnight and it is crisp and December cool here.  On the up side I bought coffee yesterday so am sitting here enjoying a cup of my favourite hot beverage after a weekend without.

I received a sore back and stiffness in my abs from all the shovelling.  As beautiful as the snow is, the removal of said snow is back breaking work.

After my chiropractors visit on Friday, my calves were hurting like hell from the acupuncture, and my quads were close behind.  He gave a little pull on my foot to loosen the joint and it might have loosened it a bit much as my foot was sore all weekend.

It was with hurting abs, sore foot and leaden legs that I traipsed down to the dungeon to work out this AM.  The decision was not so much what to run today as do I run today. I got on the treadmill and did a slow start and kept it low key for the entire run working my way up to 9 min miles and then holding until my 20 minutes was up.

Not a great workout but a workout nonetheless. 20 minutes 2.15 miles.

Plod on.

Easy Day

I have an intense morning meeting scheduled from 8:00 – 12:00, then a busy afternoon debrief, followed by a chiropractic appointment . 

So at 5:30 AM I find myself staring at the treadmill trying to figure out what kind of day it is. And trying to figure out what kind of workout to do.

I know that I am going to get acupuncture in my calves and they will likely be too sore to run tomorrow.  Do I make up for it today (run long & hard), or do I back off the last two runs that pushed the envelope a little (slow and easy).

What to do? What to do?  Easy out, neither.  Lets go right up the middle, split the difference.

2.2 miles – 20 minutes, simple progressions from 10 min miles to 8:30 min miles.  An Easy (ish) day.

Plod On

That looks like a

good place to run.  I was flipping through a magazine the other day and I saw a picture of a country road in Ireland and my first thought was, Wow I would like to run there.  Not how pretty and green it was or how it would be nice to be there and soak it in, but how much I would like to run there.

I began to think about it and I do this fairly often. when watching movies, or watching TV or reading I come across a vista and think “that would be a cool place to run.  I stole some pictures from other peoples websites to illustrate some of the runs I would like to do.

And I can almost feel my legs on this one.

I guess what defines us is how we view the world.  Maybe my view of the world as a series of great runs is a little simplistic.  But, I am happy with it and enjoy looking at the pictures and imagining striding through them. I should start a list of those places and run them, sort of a bucket list of runs.

Today’s run was almost a repeat of yesterday. I ran each interval a little faster, so by pace as opposed to speed;

• 1 min @ 12:00 min miles
• 1 min @ 10:00 min miles
• 10 min @ 9:00 min miles
• 10 min @ 8:00 min miles
• 1 min @ 9:30 min miles
• 1 min @ 7:30 min miles
• 1 min @ 9:30 min miles

Notice I added in one fast interval in the cool down just for punctuation – we will see if I end up paying for that.

The good news is NO PAIN, not even in the warm up, I felt a tinge now and then but no pain.  This is the first time since I injured my foot on Sept 4 that I have run what I consider pain free.  Awesome run 25 minutes 2.85 miles.

Plod On.

Uninspired post

Today is a rare day.  I have nothing to talk about. 

I did an uninspired run on the treadmill, not really a junk run, but not really one that I am proud of either. Funny, it is the run that I planned to do, and yet once it is done I feel kind of let down.  I guess I did not push hard enough.

The run was

• 1 min 5.5 mph
• 1 min 6 mph
• 10 min 6.5 mph
• 10 min 7 mph

For a grand total of 2.45 uninspired miles in 22 minutes.  I guess my postscript plod on really fits as that was today’s run – a plod.

Plod On.

Tweaks and Twitches

Funny how when working my way back from an injury that a series of compensative issues crop up.  The latest is a pain in the area of the pes anserine bursa below and inside of the knee at the top of the shin.  It seems that when I apply some stress to the injury there has been a change in my stride that stresses other areas.  This is something that will require concentration to ensure that the solution to the problem is less painful than the problem itself.

I had a decent run on the treadmill this morning. My plan was to do an easy recovery run (because of the bursa pain), but I ended up doing a little more than I thought.

• 3 min @ 4 mph
• 3 min @ 5 mph
• 3 min @ 5.5 mph
• 3 min @ 6 mph
• 3 min @ 6.5 mph
• 8:40 @ 7 mph

then a regression cool down to finish at 30 minutes with 2.85 miles under my belt.  A nice run but it may have been a little too much.

Plod On

Running with celebrities

I used to run with friends, I used to run alone, now I run with Celebrities, Singing in my iPhone.

Running with music has always posed a quandary for me.  Coming from a Nordic Skiing background, moving to Cross Country and having completed most of my runs outdoors on trails whenever possible, I feel it is very important to hear what is going on around you.  I listen for traffic, I listen to the sound of my buddy or foe breathing. For me, music provides a distraction and I spend less time thinking about where, when and how I am going to run than I should. 

Having said that you would think I am against running with music.  The truth is I bought my first walkman in the very early 80’s just to have music on workouts.  One of my best running memories is running leg 13 of the Banff Jasper Relay with my buddy ‘Bruce’ pounding out Thunder Road on that walkman and providing the inspiration to conquer the challenging hills.  Music helps to ignore what your body is saying and go a little bit harder and a little faster than you would without it.

These days music is providing the distraction that I need to keep motivated to get on and keep moving on the treadmill, where you do not have to think about the course or listen for Cars. 

Good Run this morning, first time running from start to finish, no walking not even in the warm up.  Sweet! It feels like a milestone.  Did a little progression, (10:00 – 9:00 –8:30 min mile pace) with 5 minutes at each.  Add on a warm up and a cool down and you have 20 minutes of continuous running for 2.15 miles.  Not Bad for a Monday.

Plod On.

Out of whack

Balance was not achieved, the run I did on Friday left me tender enough that there was no run on Saturday so no balance was achieved.  Unless the balance is not in running every day but balancing running with the rest of the stuff we have to do.  If that is the case I was fairly successful.  It begs the question, is there life outside of running. (but that is another blog post).

It was another pretty morning today, so pretty that the world was buried under 8” of heavy wet snow.

It makes for very pretty pictures and a lot of fun stuff for kids to do but does not lend itself to running or driving.

Consequently it was an inside day today.  My foot felt a little better than yesterday and my body was fuelled by a nice breakfast than included eggs, bacon and pancakes. So I hopped on the treadmill and did an easy 30 minutes of 10 minute miles and called it a day.

The real question is  “What is the mileage equivalent of 1 hour shovelling 8 inches of heavy wet snow?”  It feels like about 10 or so.

Good day 30 minutes, 3 miles (give or take).

Plod On.

Finding Balance

There have been some hard lessons in finding the right balance in the past week.  I have been pushing the envelope, trying to work my foot without reinjuring it.  Trying to get as close as I can to the edge of the cliff without falling off.  There have been a couple of runs where I upped the pace a little to far and paid the price the next day. Tuesday was one of those days.

I am learning that duration is not as big as influence as pace.  I can run at 10 minute miles for a long time and not have any really noticeable impacts.  However, if I try to run a few minutes at 7:30 minute miles the next day I can barely manage 12:50 minute miles (walk).

Today I did an medium work out. I felt like I could push it farther but decided that more balance was prudent.  I did an easy five minute warm up followed by 5 minutes at each of 9:00 min miles, 8:30 minute miles, 8 minute miles, then reversed doing 2.5 minutes at 8:30 & 9:00 to cool down.  All told 20 minutes of running.

Today’s stats, 25 minutes, 2.55 miles.

Plod On

Snow Day then a slow day

Yesterday I woke to a picture perfect sunrise bursting forth across a few inches of fresh snow.  Oh Joy, Oh Bliss. As beautiful as it looked it is a harsh reminder that winter is here and Christmas (OMG) is just around the corner.

It continued to snow throughout the morning finally stopping at noonish. Driving was hell, walking was hell, all in all a lazy day for me.

I was feeling a little more “tenderness” in my foot than I would like do I took a day off.  In light of my lazy snow day, I pumped myself up for a hard workout and I headed for the treadmill at 5:30 AM. I started with a quick warm up, then kicked the speed up.  After a few strides I realized this was not a good plan and adjusted.  I ended up doing a fairly quick walk for 20 minutes and covered about 1.5 miles.  Not the best workout but, it was the  best plan of action given the circumstances.

Plod On.

This is where I wanted to be this morning.

But, this is where I was .

It was a good workout, shortish but I did not want to stress things too much.  My plan was to do some easy intervals with long walk breaks and I almost did that.  Started off with two minutes walking, five minutes at 9 min miles, 2 minutes walking, 2 minutes at 9 min miles, three minutes at 8:20, two minutes at 7:50, one minute at 8:20, one minute at 8:50, one minute at 9:30.  All told 2.15 miles in 20 minutes a solid workout.

Plod On

Not what I planned

Sunday did not go off as planned, not even close.  My plan was to head out to my local running room and do a run walk thing outside with all my running buddies.  Well actually have coffee with them because none of them do the run/walk thing.

I woke up in time, but my foot was a little sore from the Saturday intervals, and the wind was howling so I thought it best to take the day off. No treadmill, no running, just a sitting on the sofa watching football kind of day off.  That did not go as planned either. The winds grew in intensity, there were power outages and the downtown core was shut down.  Debris was flying through the air over all not a nice day.

Within blocks of my house street lights (those long skinny poles) were blown over, and several large spruce trees were downed.

Then to top it all off it got cold and snowy.  This is one of the poles that was literally blown off it’s base.  You can see the damage to the light where it made contact with the road.

A large tree uprooted and a basketball hoop reoriented.

  I don’t know how this tree missed this house.  The wind was blowing in the direction of the house, someone is very lucky.  I can see where the tree was from my place.

So anyway I took the day off and let things in my foot settle out. Then this morning I woke at 5:30, reluctantly got dressed and headed for the treadmill.  My plan was to maybe try a longer interval at a slower pace and see how things worked out.  I warmed up for 2 minutes then did 8 minutes at 10 min miles then 10 minutes at 9 minute miles, then cooled down.

Yee Haw an actual sort of full length very slow run.  First one since September and it felt great.  I could feel a little tenderness when I started but so far no post run pain. The real test will be when I wake up tomorrow.

Great day a real run 22 minutes, 2.2 miles! Woo Hoo.

Plod On

Saturday Surprise

I had a great plan for the day, a nice easy recovery walk on the treadmill topping out at 4.5 mph for about 25 minutes.  I put it off and procrastinated long enough that when it was halftime in the Auburn game it was do or die time , so I pulled on my running shorts and did.

I started out with the plan but when I hit the 5 minute mark things were feeling Ok so I bumped up the pace to a slow run (9 min miles) then 2 minutes later 8:30 min miles, then 2 minutes later 7:55 min miles. then back to a walk for 4 minutes and then I repeated the progression and threw in an extra minute at 7:30 min pace.  Holy crap fastest bestest pace since I injured my foot.  Then I progressed back down for a cool down.

Once the sweat had really started We took the dog to the park for a walk and my further cool down.

The view of downtown was crazy beautiful, and you can see that even though it was a nice day the locals are dressed for winter.

It turned out to be a great day for me, 25 minutes 2.45 miles on the treadmill, followed by 12 minutes .65 miles outside.  Hitting the mall with the kids right after the shower was not the best idea.

We will have to see what tomorrow brings!

Plod On

Pain Management

When I ran cross country in university there were two levels of pain, the stuff you could run through and the stuff where you were lying on the ground screaming and grabbing a body part.  Now thirty years later, and in my 50s there are many more layers to the pain story.  I guess this latest injury is teaching me that I need to listen and back off when things start to feel not right.

I thought my foot was doing really well until last night when my daughter cut in front of me and I inadvertently stepped on her heel.  Just suddenly bending the foot in that fashion sent a jolt of pain up my spinal column. I realized that it is doing better but is still an issue.

What I need is a control panel like the one on my treadmill so I can dial it back and put a limit on what I do.

Now for today’s workout.  I decided to do a workout without a real plan in mind today.  Partly because I was concerned about the foot twist yesterday and partly because I wanted to stress it a little more than yesterday.  What I liked best about it is that I managed to squeeze in 2 jogging intervals, 5 minutes at 10 min miles, 4 min @ 9 + 2 min @ 8:20 min miles. Even though I was tempted to do more I listened to my foot and backed off.  There was a little pulling but overall a good story.  45 minutes, 3.6 miles a good day

Plod On

Recovery Day from a walk?

I know that it is a hard concept to grasp, why on earth would someone need a recovery day from a WALK on the treadmill.  I have taken recovery days after a speed workout where my legs felt like jello, or after a hard hill workout.  But after a walk with a five minute slow jog, uh uh. This morning I could feel some tenderness in the area around my foot injury and decided that it was best to play it safe.  I limited the pace to 4.5 mph and just tried walking it out.

The foot is a little tender post walk but no more than usual and I do not think any damage was done.  The plan calls for gradually increasing the stress on the foot gradually so some tenderness is expected. I am just being careful not to exacerbate the injury. 

All in all I ended up doing almost 2.2 miles in the 30 minutes so it was no walk in the park (pun intended).

Plod On

Treadmills are not interesting

This morning I tried to make the treadmill walk more interesting by randomly playing my full play list on the iPhone.  This is a great way to rediscover favourite songs that I don’t usually listen too.  The down side is that sometimes the songs are not upbeat enough to supercharge your workout. This worked out Ok as I am trying to work my foot without stressing it too much so slower is not a bad thing.

This mornings workout was kind of cool, I took the walk up to 5 mph (12min mile) for 5 minutes, then introduced a slow jog at 5.5 mph (11 min mile) for another 5 minutes. Everything felt fine, even now an hour or so after the walk my foot is not reacting,

Good morning 25 minutes, 2 miles.

Plod On

A normal workout …

I forgot how it felt to have a normal workout. A workout where it did not hurt much, where there is not a goal, where you are not counting strides. A workout where you are not constantly checking your Garmin for pace. In essence a workout where you just are.  This mornings workout was that kind. I need to do more of them.

There was a little pulling on the top of my foot but other than that it was clean.  I did a slow warm-up and then set the treadmill to 4.5 mph and rocked out to tunes (not my running playlist) for the next 26 minutes then did a little cool down.  The only interruption to this state was when sportscenter showed Crosby’s return to the game and I removed one head phone to listen in. 

In total did 30 minutes and 2.2 miles and feel pretty good about it.

Plod On.

Another day another

twenty five minutes walking on the treadmill.  It was cold and dark outside at 5:30 AM so I was inside in the dungeon walking through a torturous 1.85 miles at a 1.5% grade. In fact it was so exciting this morning that there are no pictures.

After the workout yesterday there was a pinching feeling on either on the inside lower right quad , or lower hamstring (same place).  Also, I woke up this morning with tenderness when I flexed the foot, both on the outside of the foot halfway up and in the injured spot. Needless to say I dialled it back a bit, took a little longer warm up and then limited the pace to 4.5 mph.  There was a little discomfort during the workout, and a little more intense afterward.  The quad is sensitive to pokes but overall is OK.

It seems that it is all coming together.

Plod On

Time for new shoes

I hate having to get new shoes. As a runner there is always a feeling of uncertainty as I try to pick and break-in a new pair of shoes and figure out if they will work for my narrow feet. 

I usually have three pairs of shoes on the go, my favourite go to outside shoe, an alternate outside shoe (soon to be the fav) and a treadmill shoe.  The poor treadmill shoe is usually a shoe that I did not feel that comfortable in outside or one picked specifically for the task.

I think it might be time to retire my treadmill shoes. I wrote about them when I bought them as an outside shoe here. 

I found them to be too noisy when I ran and felt like my feet were slapping the ground.  The only reason that I bought them is that my usual shoe (asics cumulous) did not feel right on my foot in the store.  I put a lot of miles on them outside and then moved them to the treadmill where I logged several hundred miles on them and they were great.  They now look like this.

You can see that the tread on the ball of the foot is gone and the black next layer is showing through.  Where the toes bend the fabric is starting to tear.

Usually the tearing is more pronounced on the outside shoe (see above).  I wonder if this is a stride difference from the tread mill. More tread wear less upper wear?

So with great trepidation I must start to search for a new pair of shoes.

Today’s walk was great, I planned on doing 25 minutes but ended up going longer, and when ‘hey soul sister’ by train came on I upped the walking pace to a just about run (over 5 mph / 12 min mile). It all felt good but I am fairly tender after the workout. It is ice and Ibuprofen time.  Good workout 2.2 miles 30 minutes first time I have done any consecutive days in 3 months.  I hope it keeps up.

Plod On.

Because it was like this …

outside this morning.  Look at those outdoor temps a little cooler than I would like for this time of year.  Good thing I am a Canadian cause if we had this for Thanksgiving I would be distraught.

Anyway I was saying because it was like that this morning I was like downstairs on this.

Actually I have been advised to do my workout on this gizmo for the next little while as it is a lower impact activity. So regardless that is was freezing effin cold outside this still would have been my morning workout view.

So details, I guess first of all I did not realize how much I missed the good feeling after a run (very fast walk in my case).  I hate to say it but Swimming and Biking just don’t give me that feeling.

I upped the ante for today, kind of a double whammy, 1) I am starting to do a daily 25 or so on the mill, and 2) I kind of cheated and upped the pace so for a couple of short intervals I did a very slow jog like action.

Everything felt really good, had a pain in my right shin (go figure?) and a little tenderness in my left foot (expected).  Post work out I am feeling the tender spot on my foot when I flex it a certain way so it is back to wearing shoes all day for this cowboy. Overall I’d give this work out a 7.  2,5 miles, 30 minutes.

Plod On.

I finally have a plan back

I saw my chiropractor today and we agreed on a plan for the next few weeks. Just to be clear Dr. Nardella is really more of a sports medicine guy than a crack your back kind of guy. First of all no more x-rays for a while, good news as I have been spending a lot of time with the radiology guys.

The x-rays told me a bunch of cool stuff, like I have bone spurs on both heels, my hammer toe is rather pronounced and my left leg is .65 cm shorter than my right leg.

What they did not tell me is what is causing the pain in my foot. The theory is still ligament damage or stress fracture. The leaning is more to ligament damage now based on my treadmill experience.

The bad news is it is gonna be a slow go for the next few weeks while easing my foot back into the stresses of running.

The plan is that next week we (I) will continue the brisk walks on the treadmill and will eliminate the day off. So 25 minutes everyday next week, and increase stretching effort (should not be hard to increase as I don't do any).

If everything goes well week 2 will see the introduction of some run walks into the routine. 5 minutes at a SLOW jog (like that will fly) followed by 1 minute of walking.

If the foot can handle it then in week 3 I will increase the pace and time of the run intervals.

Then we will reevaluate and come up with a new plan just in time for Christmas.

Plod On.

The long road back

I guess it is time to get back at the blogging thing. I sort of got out of the habit when I had to slow down on the running after slicing the end off my thumb in a Kitchen (that’s right KITCHEN) accident.  The combination of pain killers and antibiotics played havoc with my system for a few weeks and effectively killed my project 365 thing.

In July we had a great vacation in the Okanogan area and I started back running everyday. I did some great runs along the lakes and rivers out there while maintaining a decent weekly mileage. 

I continued running until September 4 when I was on a long run with the group from the running room.  About 2 km into the run I stepped on a large rock right under the arch of my foot.  I remember uttering a few expletives and then continuing the run.  I was running down a slight incline with 0.5 km of my 19 km run in when something snapped and I had to stop. I hobbled back to the car and knew things were not right.  It turns out I either damaged a ligament in between the small bones of the feet or have a stress fracture.  It does not really matter cause the treatment is the same NO running.

Since then I have been cycling and swimming and couch potato-ing while my system recovers.  None of those activities are particularly satisfying. 

This week I got the green light to start light treadmill workouts to test the injury without doing more damage.  So every second day I have been doing 25 minutes on the treadmill at a fast walk (4.5 mph 13.5 min miles) and so far so good. I can feel it a little at the start of the workout but no serious symptoms.  Fingers crossed - I will be able to start light running next week.

Finally I will have something to report on this medium again.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 172

Wednesday June 22, 2011.

Run 167.

It was back to the running room for a Wed. nite group run.

It was after I finished the run that I figured out it was a milestone day.  Not quite half a year of running, and I passed the 600 Mile mark for the year.  Wooo hooo Party on.

As a group we decided to head down to discovery woods and do 8 – 10 K.  This would give us about 3- 4 k of woods running.

The run was great, the pace was really good for the bulk of the run and then backed off towards the end as one runner dropped and I went back to pick her up. It was probably due to the heat, this was the hottest day I have been out running this year.

My legs were a little tight at the start of the run but other than momentary twinges worked well for the rest of the day.

6.3 Miles for 601 miles in 2011.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 171

Tuesday June 21, 2011

Run 166.

I woke up early and hit the treadmill. Today’s goal was to run three miles in under 24 minutes. I started the treadmill at 8 min miles and headed out.

Funny thing was that when I reached 8 minutes I was just under a mile so I cranked it up a little bit, about 15 seconds / mile.  Then at 16 minutes I was a little ahead of the pace so I cranked it up again to about a 7:30 pace.  When I finished the 3.05 miles I was at 24 minutes.  I met the goal but though I was running faster than that.  Something is funny with the treadmill

Plod on.

Project 365 – Day 170

Monday June 20, 2011

Run 165

Hey, Hey, Hey. Day 170. I put off running as long as I could and ended up going down to the treadmill after tucking the youngest into bed. I had planned to do a more serious work out but still not press to hard.

I ended up doing a quick warm up then set the treadmill to 8:00 min miles. I held that for a while and then slowly started to ramp it up by 15 sec / mile.  I think I finished at 7:00 min miles.

Overall it was a good run and everything felt good. I did a 20 minute workout and ran close to 2.6 miles. Not a bad pace, 24 more miles like that and I will have a decent marathon time.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 169

Sunday June 19, 2011.

Run 164.

K – I dug myself into a deeper hole and am now 5 runs off pace for the year.  Going to have to run some short doubles to make it up. I found that the interaction of pain and pain killers and antibiotics zapped me for a few days. I probably could have run but seriously was feeling really bad for the week.

Sunday, fathers day, a day to desert the family and get a run in.  I headed to the running room to do a group run.  People were doing different things and I wanted to get a good run in but not push the pace, and run in a scenic place.  So back to Griffith Woods.

When you find something you like stick with it. The run was pretty good we saw some wildlife.  See if you can spot it.

We moved off the pavement to the gravel and encountered the same river redirection that I ran into a couple of weeks ago, It was not so bad this time so we pressed on.

When I got to the corner that headed back to the river the trail ahead was pretty much flooded so the turn was welcome.

The picture does not do justice to the impassability of the trail. It was a little frightening at this point as I was committing to fording the river at the wash out and it was not looking great. As it turned out the crossing was no problem and we headed home.

A great run although a little slow. 8 Miles in 1:29.

Plod On

Project 365 – Day 164

Tuesday June 14, 2011.

Run 163.

This was the run that just about did not happen. On Monday night I was making a salad and whilst cutting lettuce I managed to lop off a large slice of skin from the end of my thumb. There was excitement when I lost consciousness (sounds better than fainted) a couple of times and EMTs and Firemen showed up at the house. Bottom line I got a cute little toque for my thumb.

I was in a little pain all day and did not run as I was concerned about how much more pain I would be in when my heartbeat picked up and the blood flowed faster. 

Finally, after everyone went to bed I decided to do a very controlled run on the treadmill and work my way up to a maximum of 10 min miles.  It just about worked. I started out at a walk and then picked up to 10 min miles, then 9 min miles, then 8:30 then 8:00 then stopped. There was no pain from the thumb during the run.

The run was great but the stopping not so good. The thumb started to throb during the cool off and continued until I had fully recovered and the Tylenol  3 had kicked in.

I finished it, and “that is all I have to say about that”. 2.2 miles in 20 minutes.

Plod On

Project 365 – Day 163

Monday June 13, 2011

Run 162.

After yesterdays 10 miler I had to talk myself into the run this morning.  It would have been very easy to just lay in bed and think about an afternoon run instead of actually doing my morning run. My legs were pretty tired so I thought an easy recovery run on the treadmill might be in order.

So I kitted up, the nice thing about the treadmill is that I only wear shorts, socks and shoes, and headed downstairs.  I started the run at an easy pace 9:00 min miles and then progressed to 8:30, then 8:00 and finally 7:30. It turns out that  the run was not as easy as I intended.

I felt pretty good through out the run, I was aware of some pain in my right shin. But for the most part my hamstring was pretty solid.

Good run, just over 3 miles in 25 minutes.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 162

Sunday June 12, 2011.

Run 161.

This was the Sunday group run from the Running Room Store – Westhills.  It was a small group today for a 16 K run along the reservoir. Started out being just Ed and myself, then about 1.5 K into the run Joe caught us.

This is a favourite run, a fairly easy 10 miler that is flat or downhill on the way out and uphill usually with a headwind on the way back.  After about 5 K the run follows the reservoir path system and it is very scenic. This is the third or fourth time I have run this route this year. I ran it on April 3  and April 10 and it looked very different.

The views of the Weaselhead  (the wetlands at the start of the reservoir) seem to change every time I run this.  Today the water levels were high.

As we ran the path it became apparent that there was something going on in the park today.  There were more pedestrians than usual and we saw strange things like hot air balloons and heard music.

And when we rounded the corner and turned north we found the finish line.

Unfortunately it was the start / finish line for the Betty’s run for ALS and we still had 6 km of hard uphills to run. As we turned onto 37th street to start the hard uphill the pace picked up and we ran the long hill quite hard.  It felt very good.

I felt some twinges in the legs after the run yesterday, there was a definite tenderness at the origin point of the hamstring. It was pretty good for the bulk of the run.  I felt my glute after crashing the long uphill. And post run I could feel some tension in both hamstrings.  A little foam roller seemed to help work that out.

All in all a really fun run with great guys.  10.2 Miles in 1:28. Not a bad run.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 161

Saturday June 11, 2011.

Run 160.

It was a dark day indeed. A rare day for this part of the world. A day when the skies opened up and the rain poured down all day long. Then in the evening it started to clear up and the sun came out and there was a window of opportunity for an outdoor run. So at 8:30 at night with the family nested in front of the TV I put on my running kit and headed for the great outdoors.

I chose to run a small trail section on the three mile run and see how the footing was after all the rain. Amazingly there was very little standing water but I ended up getting soaked as I ran the section thru the trees.

As you can see the path is really narrow and the branches were sagging under the water load on the leaves.  The rest of the run was not that remarkable except as I was running across the park I ran very close to a couple of bunnies and then a mating pair of ducks that are way too tame.

I ran close enough to take a picture or two with my old canon sd 700 is. 

My legs were fine, I could feel the tightness of yesterdays run all day so elected to go easier (never works).  Still did not feel any pain during the warm up but I did feel some tightness and tenderness on the upper outside of the left glute throughout the run.

All in all a run.  3 miles in 25 minutes.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 160

Friday June 10, 2011.

Run 159.

I did not run in the morning as I had an appointment with Dr. Nardella for my hamstring. It was an interesting visit as I brought my notes from the blog about how my leg was feeling and reviewed them and came up with a couple of issues; 1) I am getting an x-ray to determine if my legs are the same length, 2) the firing order in my left leg is wrong. The Glute is firing in the wrong sequence putting more strain on my Hamstring.  Interesting eh?

So I left the run till after dinner and of course as the beautiful day faded and darkness started to set in as I headed out. I did not have a route in mind when I left but decided to run the 4.8 mile dog park run.

Well before I got 500 meters into the run I figured out that the darkness was due to clouds when a light rain started. It was pretty cool as I got the fresh rain on pavement earthy smell for a while and the rain was not falling hard enough to soak me.  It made for some great views as I was running across the top of the dog park as there were some great contrasts in light across the valley from the clouds. And when the sun did start to dip below the horizon there were some great shadows.

When I turned back towards the city I got a different view of downtown. Usually I do this run in the morning and get the silhouette of the towers, today they were illuminated by this awesome soft pinkish sunset light.

   Then as I turned away from the sunset the run was pointed thru the center of the rainbow. It was inspiring running into it and I paused and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately none of them could come close to capturing the beauty of the reality.

Back on the city streets I ran down Windermere Road thru the tunnel of apple trees with some pinkish clouds framing the picture.

The blooms are starting to fall and there was a snow like covering on the lawns and gutters. The last bit of the run was into the orange skies of the sunset before finished back at home.

My legs were fresh off the acupuncture session, there was no warm up pain but I did feel a little tenderness through out the run. Overall the leg was good.  There is some post run soreness in the left glute area.

This was an awesome run, an inspiring run that will be remembered for a long time. Truely one of the great monents.  4.8 miles – 40 minutes of running time.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 159

Thursday June 9, 2011.

Run 158.

Wow am just one run down on the year now. It has taken a while but I am finally catching up.  However, there is a cost. I woke up this morning with very dead legs and a tightness in my right hamstring (wrong one).  I was thinking that a controlled run on the treadmill was probably a good idea after the two hard runs yesterday.  My daughter being ill and my wife having to run to work to grab the computer sealed that deal.

I sort of had a plan to run for 2.5 miles at 9 minute miles. I stuck with the 2.5 miles part and started out with 10 minutes of nine minute miles then cranked it up to 8:30 miles for the next 8 or 9 and finished up with the last few minutes at sub 8:00. 

My legs felt surprisingly good. I had the same pain in the hamstring at the insertion point while warming up and then it was clear sailing for the run. Post run I am feeling a tightness in the middle part of my  right hamstring and in my left lower back just above the glute.

Good run, great hockey highlights – 21:50 – 2.5 miles.

Plod On

Project 365 –Day 158 (pt 2)

Wednesday June 8, 2011.

Run 157.

Double up day! I was not sure I would make it to the running room for my second run given the pace on this mornings run. But the legs felt OK so I headed to the store for my Wednesday group run.

The plan was to do around 4 to 5 miles at a 10 minute pace. A nice easy recovery run. We picked a route that was about 4.6 miles long with some fairly hard hills and headed out.

Things did not go according to plan, well they did for the first half we were a little fast maybe running 9:30 pace. Then on the way back things picked up a bit and the path runs across the base of battalion park which is a slight down hill and the pace picks up naturally, then the cruise into the store was very fast.  I think we were running a better than 6:00 pace for the last kilometre and it felt awesome.

My legs felt great there was a little tenderness from the morning run. After a slow warm up they were ready for the strain. I felt the push on the hard up hills, but nothing on the strides especially at fast pace at the end of the run.  I did feel a little tightness after the run and will work it out with the foam roller.

It ended up being just under 4.6 miles in just under 39 minutes of running time. a great way to end the day.

Plod On.

Project 365 – Day 158

Wednesday June 8, 2011.

Run 156.

Wow big day. I figured out that I can turn on mobile web pages. Now I can view this on my iPhone, and you can too.  It’s celebration time even though all it took was pressing a radio button on the settings page. Still it is progress.

I woke up just before the alarm at 5:30 this morning and was out the door pounding the pavement at 5:45. I decided to run a 3 mile loop all on pavement this morning.  This is a route I have run several times but have been running on a trail along the ridge since the snow melted.

My Garmin says the run is just under 3 miles and mapmyrun.com says it is just over 3 miles so I say it s the average of three. I carried my camera for the run but did not really see anything that was worth stopping to take a picture of.

I had the same issues with my leg, kind of a sharp pain for the first few strides then it settled down as I warmed up and then I only felt it when I really exerted myself.  However , yesterday I noticed it pulling a couple of times in the day after the run. We will see if it holds up.  Had the same back issues this AM, tight when I woke up on the left side but once I had stretched a bit it was fine.

Great run, a slow start but I ended up running the 3 miles in just under 24 minutes.

Plod On.