Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

So I went to the doctor because after not running for a month my left hip was still in severe pain when I tried to run and I could barely walk after limping my way through a 5 mile run last week. He sent me for an MRI and the results are not good. They called and told me that I have a stress fracture, a torn ligament, and a cyst on my hip. So a triple whammy! Now I am off to see an orthopedic hip specialist next week to see what exactly is going on. The stress fracture and the tear are one thing it is the cyst I am more concerned about. Well I guess I am going to have to hang up the running shoes for awhile :-(.

7 miles mostly easy but did run last 2 milesat about 6:00 pace.

Easy with some hills.

Hello all! Long time no blog. I thought I would go ahead and give ablog update to all my old fastrunningblog pals. After recovering from my hip stress fracture and movig to Fort Riley, Kansas I was able to start to run on a regular basis again. I am back up to 60 miles a week for the last three weeks and feel like things are going well and most importantly I am enjoying it. However, I will lose my running freedom in about three weeks as I head to the far away desert for a year and whereI am going I will have no choice but to run on a treadmill. Good news is I am running in the Army Ten Miler in Washington DC on the 24th of OCT and am looking forward to a blast of a race before I deploy. I think I am in decent shape and am looking to break 60 minutes ifall goes well.Below is my workout from today. Interested in hearing what some of you think this indicates as far as 10 mile race potential.

1.5 mile warm-up

2 mile tempo on track in 11:02 (5:36/5:26 splits) running relaxed trying to gradually pick-up pace each lap

4 min rest

3x1 mile repeats with 2 min rest in 5:24 / 5:26 / 5:24 again goal was to relax and accelerate as I went

4 min rest

2 mile tempo in 10:52 (5:26/5:26 splits) try to run smooth and maintain even pace through finish

1.5 mile cool-down

Well, not sure if I will post everyday but hope to hear from some of the old gang. I have been checking up on some of your race posts occasionally and have been impressed and motivated by many of you. Especially MichelleL; way to go! I miss Utah and all of you out there that is for sure.

Out for an easy run at 6:00am in 41'F weather. Fall has definentely arrived in Kansas. Felt good to just run easy and relaxed. Legs actually felt prety good after yesterdays track work. Averagedabout 7:45 pace, slower at first then just under 7:30 by the end. 10 mile race in 10 days.

8 miles at 7:00 average pace this morning with 14 x 90 seconds fast with 60 seconds easy between. Fast was all between 5:30-6:00 pace and recovery was about 7:30 pace. Overall felt ok with legs still a little tired from Wednesday's workout. 

12 miles today with 8 miles sub 7:00 pace.

8 easy miles this morning at around 7:30 pace. Leave for DC on friday.

Easy 6 miles today, starting a mild taper for Army Ten Miler this weekend.

Last bit of fast work before the race this weekend. Did a 2.5 mile warm-up followed by the follwoing on the track.

1 mile = 5:20

3 min rest

800 = 2:36

2 min rest

800 = 2:37

2 min rest

800 = 2:36

2 min rest

800 = 2:35

Easy 2.5 mile cool-down. Overall I am pretty happy with this workout. I felt pretty relaxed and comfortable throughout and did not feel like I was every going faster than 5-10k effort pace. It was a bit faster than I thought I would run but effort wise was not too hard. Now just a few easy days until this weekends race.

Easy 7 miles this morning. Nothing else exciting to blog today. Fly to DC tomorrow at 4:00am.

Army Ten Miler Race Report

Made my goal of breaking 60 minutes. However, I think it should have been a little faster if the body would have cooperated a little better.

Goal was to really focus on not going out too fast and be somewhere close to 5:50-6:00 for the first mile and then see how things felt. This race has 30,000 runners so I knew it would be tough to control pace as hundreds of runners were flying by. I ran at what felt way easy and relaxed and was happy when I went through the first mile in 5:55. Perfect start and everything felt easy. Now time to start to graduallypushthe accelerator. Started passing people and still feeling very good and relaxed. I was a little surprised when mile two split was a 5:43. It felt easy enough but I told myself to back off just a little the next mile. Still feeling pretty good withlegs feeling good and pace feeling relaxed when I go through mile three in 5:50. Happy with how I feel I deciede to go ahead and push the accelerator a little again. Again, a little surprised but pleased when I hit mile four in 5:40. Feeling pretty good and pumped at this point. However, things went downhill very quickly. Shortly past the four mile mark I got a side stitch under my right rib cage. This was a very sharp pain that hurt with every deep breath. The legs felt great so I just told myself to relax and try to work through it hoping it would go away. When I backed off a little the pain was still there but not as sharp. Mile five was 5:58 with leg still feeling great but if I tried to pick up the pace the pain was pretty severe. I just kept trying to hold on to 6 minute pace and hope that it would eventually go away as my legs still felt good. Mile six was a 5:55 but still the bad side stitch hanging around. Just pushing through the side stitch as best as I can taking shallow breaths since deep breaths are more painful and hit mile seven in 5:57. I am happy I am maintaining sub 6 pace but the stitch is not getting any better in fact it is worsening. Really upset because legs still feel great. Mile eight is gradual uphill and hit it in 6:09, my worst split of the race. Try to really push through the pain as best as I can and hit 6:01 for mile nine. Working hard to continue to push through side stitch as best as I can and manage another 6:01 for mile ten.

So overall happy that I was able to tough it out and make my sub 60 goal with a 59:09 but dissapointed that the side stitch ruined what may have been a sub 58. Below are splits and stats.

1 = 5:55

2 = 5:43

3 = 5:50

4 = 5:40

5 = 5:58

6 = 5:55

7 = 5:57

8 = 6:09 :-(

9 = 6:01 :-(

10 = 6:01 :-(

Finished 155th out of 30,000 entered runners

Finished 7th out of 2016 in 40-44 age group

Our team finished 21st out of 652 teams and 10th out of 40 in our category (teams conissted of adding top four runners times together)

Well, can't complain with the progress!

Easy 3 in DC before flight back to Kansas.

Easy 3 miles, still tired after flight back to Kansas last night.

Easy 3 miles again. Recovery week this week.

Ran 2 miles in 10:50 on track in 30mph winds. Still do not feel fully recovered from 10 miler.

Easy hilly 9.

Six easy miles with 15 year old son James today. James is getting pretty fast as I can no longer beat him in 5k and under for sure. He is a 16:30 5k runner now and can run a sub 4:40 1600m.

Another easy 6 miles with son James. Trying to really enjoy the final days of running outdoors and in the USA. Down to single digit days left in the US and not forced to run on a treadmill.

Easy 7 with James again today. Taking advantage of as many days to run with James before I leave.

easy 5 miles

easy 3 miles

Went down to Arkansas to visit my mother and grandma. My grandfather passed away and it was my last weekend before I head over to Iraq so it as a good trip and good family time. There happened to be a 5K race in town while we were there so we jumped in. At the start there was one college kid bit other than that it looked like my son James and I would fair pretty well. Sure enough the college kid bolted out at about 5:00 pace. I settled in ata more reasonable pace and was actually in 6th palce for the first 1/2 mile. However by the 1/2mile mark I passed 3 high school age kids and at that point it was just my son James and the college kid in front of me. I went through the 1st mile in 5:21 with my son James about 5 seconds up on me at this point. I tried to close a little on James during mile two but I think he stayed 5-6 seconds in front of me still. Mile 2 was 5:40. At this point James was starting pull away and I was hoping to hang on and run udner 17:30 at least. Third mile was a bit of a struggle mentally but I still hit a 5:44. Finished with an even effort at 17:27. Overall a decent run and a good last weekend in the USA.

Easy 6 miles with James. Just a couple of more days until running freedom is traded for the treadmill in a far awy country.

Easy 6 with James again enjoying the good weather and last few runs before I go.

Another easy enjoyable 6 with James.