Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

AM - 2 miles on the BYU indoor track with push-ups, sit-ups and strength drills as well and then joined Sasha and Jeff for 10 more miles. Overall averae pace was about 7:15 for the 12 miles. Not bad for the ice and snow on the trail. I have been doing some strength drills and hip streches three days a week to see if it helps my hip and stride issues. Today was the fourth time doing these and I am starting to notice that I feel like I am running taller and have better overall knee lift and push-off. I mentioned this to Sasha and he said it did not look like my right leg was dragging behind as much either so he suggested we do the stride length measurement in the snow again as well. So we measured and the stride was much closer. It went from a almost three inch difference to only a 1/2 to one inch stride length difference. So the extra 15-20 minutes three days a week may be paying off. One can at least hope so but only time will tell. The knee is still nagging a bit so I guess I will stick to 60-70 miles this week as well. Looking forward to getting miles up but I want to make sure the knee is pain free first.

Woke up at 4:30am and went to Sasha's as normal but today was an unusual event as I knocked on Sasha's door and waited for 30 minutes and no Sasha. Sasha is usually very reliable and even if he is behind a little he always answers the door. So I decieded to just head home and go to work early and then run in the afternoon when it is a little warmer anyway. Maybe Sasha will join me later today as well.

PM - Ran at the BYU indoor track with Adam and kids. Did 1 mile in 8:11 with Jared and then 3 more with James at sub 7:00 avg. Then one more mile at 6:25. So hit 5 miles in 35:10 and decieded to pick it up a bit. Did the next 5 miles in 29:47 with all miles right at 6:00 pace except one at 5:47. Then ran another mile with Jared and James in 7:46 which is Jared's best mile time. So 10 miles of 11.5 was at  sub 6:30 average. 

AM - Very early and cold morning at 5:00am and 8'F. It didn't seem to bad as at least the wind was not blowing. Very easy and slippery but still well ahead of the 8 minute guy.

AM - Very cold 3'F run at 6:30am. Nothing exciting just another easy run in the frigid weather.

AM - Easy cold 10.1 miles with Sasha.

AM - 2 mile warm-up and then paced Michelle for the Painters 1/2. The knee hurt during the warm-up but not too bad during the race. The good news is that 6:00-6:15 pace felt very easy and smooth. It was fun to push Michelle and see her accomplish a new PR. The course was short as the GPS after downloading gave me 12.92 miles. At the pace she ran this would convert to it being short 1:03. So her time of 1:21:39 plus 1:03 gives her an equivalent time of 1:22:42. Also along the way she hit multiple road PRs. According to my GPS data the splits are listed below but the fastest 5K section during the race was a 19:16 and the fastest 10K section was a 38:43. We hit 10 miles at 1:02:58. I think the 10K and 10 Mile are both road PRs for Michelle. I was being very vocal the last 4 miles as I could tell she was hurting. She hung on pretty well though running about 20:10 for the last 5K. Overall a good weeekend with a good tempo run and pacing a fellow FRB member to a new PR. The big event of the weekend was I forgot my shoes and ended up running in a pair of Steve's old racing flats which were about a 1/2 size to big but they did the job. Thanks to Steve and his wife for the great hospitality and making the trip so much fun. Oh yeah I still won my age group as well. Garmin data follows:

Mile	Split	Elevation GN	Elevation Loss
1	6:21	84	68
2	6:18	115	69
3	6:08	84	139
4	6:18	122	111
5	6:29	153	95
6	5:59	74	113
7	6:15	72	98
8	6:24	127	80
9	6:27	111	83
10	6:15	141	187
11	6:25	121	151
12	6:25	83	78
12.92	5:51	93	88
Totals (12.92)	1:21:39	1380 feet	1359 feet