Elite Jogging For Dummies

I ran with Josh this morning, via the TiTP loop that takes us down to 20th East. It was good to be out moving the legs. 

I left the house at 5:45 and ran up to the U and met up with the Black Sheep. We ran John Straley's painful flowerpot hill workout. I know that something that includes the word "flowerpot" can't be that bad, but trust me, it is. Basically, it involves running as hard as possible up the middle of campus multiple times. It made me think of a possible first name and middle name for a baby girl,  "Anna Robic."  I ran home with Josh post-workout, easy.

Ok, December 3rd, still running in shorts. I wore gloves and a headband too, but they were probably not even that necessary.   I ran the U/Avenues/Ensign loop. Abdominal pain has returned--feels like some kind of tear that I keep aggravating. 

I cut the run short this morning because of continued pain in my abdomen. It doesn't seem to be getting much better, probably needs some real rest.

Rest day to give the abdomen a break.

This morning was the second annual Holladay Holiday Ten Miler, hosted by my buddy Sam. It's a ten mile tour of the depths of Holladay--styled as a "race" but it's mostly in name only.  Sam had marked the course well, which is good because it's not easy to follow if you don't know the area.  The person that gets the most lost receives a boomerang as the reward. 

We had a group of at least 25-30 which made for quite a pack from the start. It was a lot of "slap and tickle" to use Josh's phrase for the first few miles.  After a while, the group started to make sub groups.  Cody Draper was in town from Logan and he joined Josh and I up front.  I don't have the splits handy but I bet we were averaging 6:20 for the last half of the race. So it was a nice little "workout" but more importantly a lot of fun.  At the bottom of Sam's street, I suggested that we do the final "kick" to the finish backward, which meant Josh, Cody and me were backpedaling at top speed. I don't know who crossed the finish line first, I was laughing too hard.

 The race was great but my abdomen hurt most of the second half of the race and I didn't run much of a cooldown after the race for that reason. i think i'm going to take at least three days off and see if that makes a difference. I'll try to swim and see if that does any good. 

No running, trying to give the abdomen a rest. Instead, I swam 500m at Steiner. I can assure you of one thing ... I am not a strong swimmer.

Abdomen pain + early meeting = another day off. 

I thought I would get out the door this morning and test the ab pain. For the first few miles, the big problem was feeling like I weighed 225 pounds and sluggishly moving up 4th Ave. That's what "rest" gets you.  I mostly felt ok, no sharp pains (certainly nothing like Saturday), but I decided to keep it short and test it again tomorrow. There is some discomfort on both sides of the abdomen and I wonder if there is something other than a muscle tear going on. The time to get checked out is probably approaching. 

Yep, still cranking out the big miles. In other words, no improvement on the abdominal pain issue. I think it's some kind of muscle tear (hopefully) and not a hernia. It really is difficult to run past 5 miles without real pain.  The first few miles aren't bad.

Another day, another 5.5 miles of abdominally impaired mileage.  I could blame the gift basket of holiday treats I devoured yesterday, but that would be unfair and not entirely accurate. I'll try to get in 8-10 tomorrow and see how it goes. 

Running with the group, a loop course starting and ending at Cocoa Cafe where they sell hot chocolate with the consistency of pudding. 

Avenues loop.

Avenues loop in the snow.

I ran through the U and then up the hill to 18th Ave and ran a loop around the meadow in the snow. It was 16 degrees, clear, and invigorating. 

Josh and I drove to Holladay for the mansion tour. The snow on the canal route slowed things down, but not too bad. We were running with Aimee and Johanna and they pushed the pace, as usual.

 Thanks to everyone that has commented and expressed concern about my little ab injury.  The bottom line is I have no idea what it is. And because I can run 6-8 miles on it without being in brutal pain, I haven't seen a doctor to get treated.  I realize that this not a smart strategy. But one can hope that these things will disappear on their own, right?  If I were training hard for something, I wouldn't waste any time getting into the doc.

 Work has been extremely busy and I have had very little blog time, so I apologize to all of my blogger friends that I haven't done a good job of checking in.  Hopefully I will find a bit more time in the next few weeks. Once I get healthy, I think my enthusiasm will return too. My motivation is in hibernation mode.

Enjoyable run up on the Shoreline trail and over into This is the Place.  I saw a camel, of all things, in one of the corrals. Did the pioneers have camels? I was unaware.

No run, Merry Christmas.

I ran up in the meadow through a foot of fresh powder at sunset listening to Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited."

I hooked up with the group and ran a short out and back loop.  The ab problem persists and doesn't improve much, though it hasn't gotten worse either. At about 8 miles, I'm done, but I'm ok before that.  It's frustrating because I know that the thing that helps most is "no running" and that is just not something I've been able to manage very well.

These were cross training miles. I went skate skiing up at Mountain Dell, my first time this year. Wow, what a workout! It's as if any fitness I have from running simply does not translate. Surprisingly, I managed to ski fairly well (for me), though I still don't have the "glide" down. I'm more of a clomper than a glider.  The real upside is no ab pain while skiing.  I should do it more. 

Easy run via the U/Avenues loop.  Felt good until mile 6 and then ... well, you know. 

I drove over to Steiner to meet up with the Black Sheep but on this cold morning it was just Stan and me. Too icy for much of a workout, so we just ran a loop around the U and TiTP.

This morning I met up with Connor Kamm, who is on break from Williams College, and we ran a northernly loop from the Zoo trailhead parking lot.  Connor's a good kid--I got to hear about his six month study abroad in Argentina. Easy pace, which is good because Connor could have put the hurt on me if he wanted to.