Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

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.