Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

It's a new month and still no change in the weather. It was 10'F for our run this morning so just out of the single digits but still very cold. It also looks like the inversion is here to stay for at least another week. I was getting used to the cold but this inversion is something else. I am having a hard time shaking the upper chest tighness and it is getting old hacking up stuff all morning. I thought it was just a cold but I am starting to think it is sticking around longer due to the inversion. Once again I knew Sasha would be ready for another tempo day and I was not very excited. It is hard to get motivated to run fast when you are coughing up gunk. I went with Sasha for first 1.75 miles but felt like I was having to work a little harder than on tuesday and I was coughing a bit more. Sasha took off at 1.75 miles and I just tried to maintain to the finish. I maintained a fairly even pace to the end instead of trying to pick it up over the last 1/2 mile like tuesday. Overall time was 14:22 for 2.5 miles with splits of 5:47, 5:42 and 2:52 for the last 1/2 mile. On the way back Sasha did another 2.5 mile tempo while I just maintained an easier pace until the last 1/2 mile which I sped up to 6:00 pace or slightly faster. Overall got 3 good miles of tempo pace in for the day. For now I am pleased with that and the week overall considering how I have been feeling.

Easy 10.2 miles this morning but got a late start (4:54am) due to the fact that I had to shovel 3 inches of snow off of the driveway. That puts me at 36 inches of snow for the year to date at my house. The snow piles are still 5 feet high on the side of my driveway. At least the temperature was a toasty 19'F. Provo River Trail did not get as much snow but the roads and trail are once again snowy and icy the entire route. Ran just under 7:30 pace and felt pretty relaxed. I was noticing that in the past weeks my quads used to be pretty sore and tired by the end of most runs. However, this week my quads have not bothered my but my lower calfs have been sore most of the week. This coincides with me running faster times as well. I am wondering if my running form has changed and thus the faster times and sore calves inspit of the inversion and cold weather. After run played soccer with cadets and did 125 push-ups and 125 sit-ups.

Ran with Sasha at 7:15am. Did our normal route but I only did 2.5 miles of tempo and then just ran relaxed for rest of run instead of the normal 10m tempo. I need to try and let the body recover and hopefully shake this cough. The 2.5 mile tempo was 14:35 with splits of 5:52, 5:50, and 2:53 last 1/2 mile. Felt relaxed but I was still having problems hacking up gunk throughout the run. Overall ran 14.4 miles and averaged just under 7:00 pace for the whole thing. 10 miles in middle was in 65 minutes and change. The inversion was not bad today smog wie but the temperature was 5'F at the start so another pretty cold day. Had 2.5 layers on bottom half and 3 layers up top. Yesterday they said old Puxatoney Phil, the gground hog, did not see his shadow so spring should come early this year. I sure hope he is right.

Easy 10.2 miles at 4:45am with Sasha on the Provo River Trail. Felt a little tired today. Right hamstring was tight along with left calf. Also felt some tiredness in lower back and towards the end of the run the quads were tired. Temperature was 18'F and I actually commented to Sasha that it was nice out. It is sad when I consider 18'F nice. At least it looks like the rest of the week is going to be warmer. One of these days we will actually get to run in shorts and a t-shirt and it will feel great. Also did the push-up and sit-up routine of 125 push-ups and 125 sit-ups. The workout I have been doing is not all 125 straight but in sets. I do 40 push-ups then roll over and do 40 sit-ups (with hands behind head) then sets of 30, 20, and 10. Then top it off with one last set of 25 each. Try not to rest too much between sets just enough time to transition from push-ups to sit-ups. If I had to do them non-stop I can probably hit about 90 push-ups and 95 sit-ups without stopping. The goal is to get over 100. The most I have ever done in two minutes is 100 push-ups and 102 sit-ups.

Normal tuesday run from Sasha's house at 4:45am. It was about 21'F today so on the warm side. Instead of doing the normal 2.5 mile tempo in the middle of run decieded to do 2x1 mile with 1/2 mile running rest in middle. Felt a little tired still and the cough is still hanging around a bit. The first mile was 5:22 followed by 3:59 1/2 mile rest then did a 5:26 for the second mile. During second mile I felt like I did not have much more speed but it also felt like I could hold the same pace for another mile. The speed is not really there yet but that is ok as we have not done any speed work at all. On the way back Sasha wanted to do the 2.5 mile tempo. I wanted to make sure I did not push too hard so started out with just an easy gradual pick up. First mile was a very relaxed 6:41 followed by the second mile in 6:13 and the last 1/2 mile in 3:06. The last 1.5 at 6:13 pace felt relaxed and under control. Legs were a little tired but the pace was comfortable. Plan on riding the mountain bike later today for 10-15 miles. For those running this saturday's Striders 5K the profile link is below. Looks like a pretty tough course climbing from 4700ft to 5000ft in the first 1.5 miles. It also looks like a chance of rain/snow Saturday morning.

 Ended up riding 16 miles on the mountain bike tonight. Good second workout for the day!
 

Very easy 10 mile run at 4:45am from BYU alog Provo River Trail meeting Sasha along the way as usual. Just under 7:30 pace the whole time. Ran very easy today as the legs were pretty tired from yesterdays workout and the 16 mile mountain bike ride last night. Was a balmy 20'F again so thigns are getting better. Hopefully the warming trend will continue and the inversion will not get as bad as it was. My cold and cough are still hanging around but not as bad. Trying not to push too hard this week overall as I want to let the body rest a bit and hopefully get over the cough altogether. Once it clears it will be time to increase the miles and effort once again.

Well, I thought the congestion and cough were going away  but this morning I woke up very congested. Worse than I have been. Ran the 10 mile run with Sasha easy, just under 7:30 pace overall with 6x100m strides during run. Body and legs felt very sluggish and tired this morning. Most of the run the legs were asleep and I felt awkward running. However, at about mile 9 I started to feel a little bouncy. Suddenly the body woke up and the legs and back felt springy. I'm not sure why but we ran the last 1/4 mile in 1:32 and it felt very easy, I had to hold myslef back from going any faster. Strange morning for me. Overall this week has not been a good week for me compared to last week. I have had a few aches and pains that have popped up the last couple days. Hopefully they all go away soon. The biggest plus was the weather, 39'F. For the first time in 54 days it was above freezing for our run in the morning. Looking back it has only been above freezing for our morning run 7 of the last 91 days!

Cut the run short this morning. Normal time of 4:45am but yesterday my right foot/tendons were really bothering me all afternoon. Not sure what I did but they are sore and irritated. I could feel it every step. Not enough to not run but thought it would be good to only run 6 easy miles. Will have to ice it some tonight as it is still bothering me today. We will see how things go tomorrow at the hilly 5K. I'm not expecting any great results but I need to get back in a race to remember what it is like to race. I have not run a race in over 2 years!

Not a great day for me but since it was my first race in over two years I am happy to just be back out there again. Going into the race I was not feeling great and definetly not expecting much. With the nagging ankle and foot problems along with the cough I was not too excited. This course has to be one of the toughest 5K courses I have ever run if not the toughest. Kind of lost it mentally during the 2nd mile. I felt like I checked out mentally and just backed way off. Around 2 miles I was passed by a couple runners and that somewhat woke me up again. Mile splits were 5:53, 6:24, and 5:31 according to GPS. The first two mile markers agreed almost exactly with the GPS. However for some reason the third mile on GPS and the 3m cone were off by 8 seconds. From 3m cone to finish was measured at .1 so it was accurate but overall distance came out as 3.14 miles. I guess I must not have run the tangents very good during the last mile or the GPS was off by .04 during mile three. 12 miles total for the day after running with kids when I got home from the race.

It was nice to meet a lot of the fastrunningblog community in person and it seems as quite a few had good races today. Congrats!

Started at 4:45am as usual from BYU and met Sahsa on the Provo River Trail. I was pleasently surprised that my legs are not very sore at all from the 5K. I thought they would be pretty sore due to the steep downhill sections. The only soreness is a little bit in my shins and calves but not very noticable at all. My quads are fine and my ankle and foot problem were barely noticable as well. The cough is much better and I was much less congested this morning as well. Ran the normal 10.04 mile out and back and then did two more miles on the BYU indoor track. Two miles on the indoor track were 6:47 and 6:17 and felt very relaxed for both. The 2nd mile surprised me because I did not feel like I really picked it up very much. It was about 30'F this morning with some fairly icy patches on he roads and trail. It sure was nice to run in just shorts and a shirt on the indoor track after having pants and layers outside. I think the extra clothes really slow you done more than one thinks. Overall averaged about 7:10 pace for the 12 miles. Hopefully things will begin to look up this week after having a down week last week physically. Also did the normal Mon, Wed, Fri push-up and sit-up routine of 125 each. This workout is getting easier and easier so I can tell that my core strength is increasing nicely.

Ran from Sasha's house at 4:45am. Congestion still hanging around but gettting much better. For some reason my lower back was feeling out of whack and running felt awkward. We did normal 10 mile course and also did the 2.5 mile tempo. I did not feel good for the entire tempo, again just felt awkward, not very smooth. Ended up running 14:08 for the 2.5 miles which is my fastest time so far this year but was surprised I did the way I was feeling. Mile splits were 5:36, 5:45, and 2:47 for the last 1/2 mile. On the way back I gradually picked it up for the 2.5 mile section again and ran splits of 6:33, 6:22, and 3:00 for last 1/2 mile. Not a very good day as far as how I felt but at least I did get 2.5 miles of qaulity in. Plan on riding mountain bike later today.

 Went mountain biking for about an hour. Probably only covered about 8 miles but it was on some very hilly and rough terrain. Actually had to get off bike and carry bike on shoulder in several areas on the trails due to steepness and rocks. The quads got a very good workout this evening!
 

Easy normal 10 mile Wednesday morning 4:45am run. Quads were a little tired from hard run and mountain bike yesterday but not too bad. Ran between 7:20-40 the majority of the run. Did normal 125 push-ups and sit-ups workout as well. The cold and cough is getting much better but still not completely gone yet. This thing just wants to linger. Maybe by the end of the week it will finally disappear.

Not a good day running for me. Legs felt very flat and awkward today. It could have something to do with not getting much sleep last night as my youngest was up every two hours throwing-up. I also have been having lower back problems this week that could be effecting my running. I should probably see a chiropractor as I tend to have these problems about one week every month ever since I returned from Iraq. Sasha and I ran at 5:30, our sleep in day. We did ten miles total with majority very slow. We planned on doing 5x1000 but ended up doing 2x1200 in 4:04 and 4:11. After the second one we determined it was best not to do any more. My legs just did not feel right today and I was working way to hard for a 4:11 1200. After that we just ran easy and then did 4x100 on the way back. The 100s were fairly fast for in the dark on the trail. We did them all between 14.7 and 16 seconds if I recall correctly. Overall a very flat down day for me.

Easy running today but upper quads were a little sore from the 4x100 sprints. This tells me that I have not used my fast twitch muscle fibers and they are sore from the effort yesterday. I probably need to incorporate more 4-6x100 type efforts into my routine. Ran at the normal time (4:45am) and route (Provo River) with Sasha for 10 miles and then did 125 push-ups, 125 sit-ups and ran two more miles on the BYU indoor track. Outside I was running about 7:20-30 pace easy and when I ran inside with what seemed to be the same effort I was running 6:30-45 pace. It seems to make a pretty big difference running in shorts with the lights versus in the dark with tights on. I have noticed this in the past as well when I would run in the early morning versus the late afternoon. In the morning I would have to work to run sub 7:00 pace but in the afternoon I would run an easy run and 6:45 would be very relaxed. For me it seems that the difference from morning run to afternoon run was at least 20 seconds per mile with waht I percieved as the same effort. It would be interesting to see what the heart rate says at the same pace in the early morning versus a late afternoon run. I have an appointment with the chiropractor on Monday so we will see what he ahs to say about my back. This has been a rough week for me running wise so hopefully things will feel better next week.

I keep thinking one of these days I will wake up and not have any congestion. Today wasn't that day. The cold that never ends is still with me. Either that or I just keep getting one cold after another. Quads were still a little sore today. Met at Sasha's house at 7:00am and did a 2 mile warm-up. Then did our normal 10 mile tempo run on our 2.5 mile section of the Provo River Trail. I decieded to be more conservative from the start today and try and run a more even pace the whole 10 miles. Ran 61:10 for the 10 miles with all miles between 6:00-6:12 pace. 2.5 mile splits were 15:10, 15:15, 15:25, 15:20. The quads were very fatigued and heavy the whole run but other than that I was able to hold a pretty steady pace. We then ran 4 more miles to make it 16 for the day. Average for the whole 16 was 6:35 pace. 70 miles for the week on six days of running plus a good mountain bike workout. Considering how me legs felt this week not a bad week.

Ran at 7:00am with Sasha in the snow. The snow was not too bad but the wind made it miserable down by the lake. It was almost blizzard conditions along the lake front. Ran easy the majority of run except for a mile where we were trying to catch another runner that had passed us earlier. Averaged under 7:30 pace but ran most miles close to 7:00 pace as we started at 9:00 pace for the first 1.5 miles running with a neighbor of Sasha's. Legs felt flat today but no soreness to speak of.  

Went to see chiropractor today but will not get the results from x-rays and test until tomorrow. We will see what he has to say tomorrow.

I took my son James who is 12 to the BYU indoor track to run this evening. He wanted to do a mile time trial. We did 3.1 miles total. We did a 1 mile warm-up in 8:00 minutes and then did his mile time trial. James was motivated to run fast because some of the BYU runners were there including Josh Rohatinsky. He ran his best mile time by 24 seconds. He ran a 6:29 mile so his daily 3-4 mile runs are starting to pay off for him. He was pretty excited. The track is 5 laps to the mile and his splits were 1:18, 1:18, 1:19, 1:20, 1:14. 

Easy Provo River run at 4:45am with Sasha. Legs are still a bit tired and heavy feeling so decieded to just keep it easy today. Maybe run something faster tomorrow but will wait and see how I feel. 10 miles in just under 7:30 pace overall. 

Rode 12 miles on mountain bike in the hills. Worked hard on the hills and felt the burn in the quads. Good workout for the quads overall. Did 60 push-ups and sit-ups.

13.4 miles total this morning. Did 10.4 with Sasha along Provo River as usual but we did 1 mile in 5:44 and then 4x400 in 1:23, 1:21, 1:20, 1:18 with a 400 jog rest between. The rest of the run was easy. Then did the normal 125 push-ups and sit-ups at the BYU indoor track followed by 3 miles on the track with last mile in 6:35. Averaged just under 7:20 for the total 13.4 miles. Legs were tired today but not as bad as I thought they would be after last nights mountain bike ride. Just over 36 miles of running and 12 miles of mountain biking in the first three days this week. I plan on running the Striders 10K this weekend but I want to keep my mileage up. I can't afford to drop mileage for these races when my real goal is to get the miles up this year and lose the last 10lbs that still needs to come off. This years races are not as important to me as the return to high mileage and my previous weight. I figure I need a good solid year of higher mileage to get back to the level of fitness I was at two years ago.

Easy 10 mile run with Sasha on normal daily route. One of these days I will convince Sasha to run a different route. Legs felt pretty tired today. 

Easy 7.1 miles in the snow this morning. The snow could make the conditions for the 10K in Ogden tomorrow interesting. I crashed my bike on tuesday while avoiding being hit by a car. At the time I did not think much of it but I noticed yestreday that my left shoulder, left knee and left foot were a bit sore and bruised. I was wondering why they hurt and then it dawned on me that is the side that I hit the ground on when I crashed. Better hitting the ground and getting a few bruises than getting hit by the car that made a left turn without looking. Only did 50 push-ups and sit-ups this morning followed by 30 minutes of shoveling the heavy wet snow out of the driveway. See all those going to the Striders 10K mountain race tomorrow morning.

A tough course and a cold day made for a challenging day. I felt very flat during my warm-up an the quads were tired just trying to do strides. I was hoping that they would feel better as the race progressed but they did not. The legs felt very heavy and dead even on the downhill sections. I never truly felt winded but felt like I had hit the wall in a marathon pretty much the whole way. Overall this was a tough day for me. That's ok though because it is good to just be able to get out to the races and at least get to know everyone a little better. I have not really set any goals this year time wise so I keep having to remind myself to not be disappointed in the results right now. My first goal is to get the mileage back up to at least 100 miles a week before the end of the year. My second goal is to run a sub 2:45 marathon this year. I figure if I accomplish the first goal the second will happen as a result. I am up to 70 miles a week the last two weeks on single runs so things are headed in the right direction. Next week I will shoot for 75 miles and then take a drop down a little the following week. I have found that three weeks of building or maintaining higher mileage followed by a week about 10-20% lower works well for me and lets me recover enough to build again for three weeks. I hope to be up to 85 miles a week by the first week of May and maintain that through most of the summer before increasing the mileage again after TOU Marathon. If all goes well I will be at 100 mile weeks during the month of December. Well there you have it my year long progression plan. Hopefully it all works out so next year I can start going after some PRs at the age of 39.

Congratulations to all for finishing today and especially to all of those that actually had a decent race. I am not sure how tough the 10 miler will be in a couple of weeks but I hear it is another tough one. It sure would be nice to run one of those fast downhill courses that Utah is famous for because so far the only two races I have run in Utah have been two of the toughest courses I have ever run. Here's hopeing that tough race courses equals faster racing in the future!

Conducted an Army Physical Fitness Test with the BYU cadets at 5:30am. This consists of doing as many push-ups as you can in 2 minutes followed by as many sit-ups as you can in 2 minutes and then a 2 mile run. During push-ups your arms must come to about 90 degrees (basically even with the shoulder blades) when going down and the elbows must fully extend when going up. You cannot rest by touching your knees to the ground during the 2 minutes, you can stop but must stay in the push-up position only. During sit-ups you cannot stop in the down position, you can stop in the up position but cannot use your elbows or hands to hold yourself up in any way. On sit-ups you must come all the way up until the shoulders are past the lower spin, basically until your elbows are at the edge of your knees. You must also keep your fingers interlocked behind your head at all times. Someone holds your feet during the sit-ups. After sit-ups you get about a 10 minute rest to stretch out and warm-up before running the 2 mile run. You are then scored by your age. A maximum score is 300 points but there is an extended scale that will score beyond 300 but only if you get 100 points in each event first.

I did 83 push-ups, 101 sit-ups and ran the 2 miles in 11:01 on the BYU indoor track. When you enter that score in the APFT claculator it comes out to a 360 which is one of my higher scores over my 15 year career. It is also one of the top 7 scores out of about 200 cadets in the program. I like to give the cadets a hard time about being beat by an old man. If you want to do your own test and see how you would score you can get your score from the following on-line calculator.

APFT Calculator

Before the 2 mile I ran a mile easy warm-up and then ran even 5:30 splits during the 2 mile run. I actually felt ok except for my shins were pretty tight from the sit-ups. I felt like I could at least maintain that pace for a 5K which would give me a shot at sub 17:00 on a flat course or the track. Afterwards I went for a 10 mile run with Sasha. Ended up with 13.2 miles with an average pace of 6:59. Felt much better than I did on saturday.

Easy 10 mile run with Sasha this morning. Legs are a little tired from yesterday. Did 8x100 strides towards the end of the run. May run or bike more later today depending on the weather. 

Nothing exciting today just the usual 4:45am run. I ran 14.04 miles total at an average of 7:05. Legs were dead today. The quads and IT were fatigued and the legs just did not want to go faster than 7:00 pace. ran 10 outside and last 4 on the indoor track at BYU. Sasha wanted to do a tempo but I was not up for it so he took off for a 5 mile tempo on his own. Only did 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups as I am still a bit sore from the APFT on Monday.