Cool Runnings!

Ran 1.5 miles with Sam and Sparky at a slow pace, then another 0.5 with Joseph.  After Lybi did her walking, I went out for another 5 miles, felt very good.  Didn't check the Garmin to see how fast I was going, although my speed constantly increased throughout the run.  I ended the run at a pretty good clip.  Total time for the 5 miler was 35:46, average pace of 7:09/mile.  Sasha and I talked last Friday about the need to go easy the first day after a break, but right now I am having a hard time with that - my legs feel so fresh and spunky that it is hard to hold back, even when I start nice and steady.  I had started my run last night at about 7:45 pace, and just slowly increased the pace.  Maybe if I had looked at the Garmin I could have held back.  Oh well - next time.

Easy 1 mile with Samuel (his leg was hurting him), then another 1/2 mile with Joseph.  Then another 2 miles on my own - average pace of 7:23/mile.  I will get in a few more miles after Lybi gets back from her walk.

Ran another 3.5 miles later in the evening - I felt "in the zone" on this run - I started out close to 7:30 pace for the first 1/2 mile, but just found my legs wanting to really lay down the hammer, so I decided to go with it today.  I don't have my splits but my average pace for the 3.5 mile run was 6:36/mile.  Felt awesome during and after the run.  No soreness, no problems.  I feel like my fitness has been improved right now, given how well I was able to crank this run out.  There is no doubt in my mind that if I were to run another 5K, I would be in the low- to mid-18:00 range, and sub-18:00 is not out of the question.  I think I am going to enter a 5K in the next week or two to see what I can do.  Planning on 7 miles/day for the rest of this week, with a 13 miler on Saturday to put me at 48 miles for the week.

Ran 1.5 miles with Samuel and Sparky - he actually did pretty well - something less than 18:00 by my recollection, which would be under 12:00/mile.  Then ran approx. 0.5 miles with Joseph, although probably a little more.

Got my new cell phone and spent over an hour playing with it and configuring it (it is a Smartphone), then thanks to a timely reminder from my wife, managed to make it out the door for another 4 miles before it was time to go to bed.  29:06 for the 4 miles (sans Garmin), average pace of something like 7:14/mile.

Ran 1.5 easy miles with Samuel, then ran another 0.5 with Joseph, and another 0.25 with Adam.  Went to Webelos Scouts - we are making bulletin boards this week as we are working on their craftsman activity badge - then had Roundtable.  Got home around 9:00 pm, went out for another 5 miles.  Changed the Garmin to autolap every 0.5 miles for a change.  This run ended up being a progressive run as well.  Started out around 7:50 pace, then slowly increased my pace as the run continued.  The final mile was at 6:40 pace.  Total time for the run was 36:07, average pace of 7:13/mile.  I have noticed that I tend to run faster whenever I wear my Tangents - maybe because they are lighter, and maybe because they feel better on my feet.  Even with how light they are, I can tell a difference between them and my Adrenalines, which sadly are probably close to the end of their life.

1.5 easy miles with Sparky at about 8:15 pace, then another 5 miles on my own.  The 5 miles were at 7:36 pace.  My legs felt kind of dead today, not sure if it was because of the shoes or just because of the increased miles.  I am feeling more and more that the shoes need to be retired.

I am so frustrated today!  I had plans to do a 13 mile long run today, was feeling really good, but starting at about mile 4, my knee started acting up (the outside of my knee, right around my IT Band).  I stopped to stretch it out and continued.  I had to stop again after another mile and stretch again, then again at the turnaround point (mile 6.5).  I stretched again at mile 8, and was not feeling very confident of my ability to continue.  I decided to push the next mile, which finished on a corner where there was a gas station.  I made the decision to stop there, because it was really hurting me and felt like my knee might lock up (kind of felt like something was catching).  I called Lybi and had her pick me up.  Darn my knee!  Cardiovascularly, I felt excellent.  The first 8 miles felt easy to me.  They were at 7:31 pace.  Everything else felt good, my form, my legs did not feel dead, just this problem with my knee.  My hip was also getting very tight, so I am fairly sure that the origin of the problem is up there (piriformis, IT Band, gluteus minimus, something like that).  I am going to do some good stretching, and if it feels better this evening, I will do a few more miles with the boys.  Otherwise I am shutting it down until next week.  Hopefully it will feel better on Monday.  I am probably going to go see the chiropractor as well.

Ran 2.25 miles total with the boys and Sparky, sans the Garmin.  Leg felt okay, started to get a little tight at the very end after we were done.  Found some really great stretches for my gluteal muscles and Tensor Fascia Latae/IT Band, some of which I was already doing.  Did some stretches, then after dinner and putting the boys down, went out for some more easy miles.  I was originally planning on 3 more miles, but at the 2 mile mark, my knee started to tighten up, so I just finished up the last 1/4 mile back home and called it a day.  Total of 4.5 miles for the day.  Knee got pretty tight at the end and kind of felt like it was catching a bit, did the stretches and will get some good time with the stick - I can tell I have some tight muscles in my pelvis and going all the way down the outside of my upper leg.

Ran 2.5 total miles, knee started hurting again, made the decision that I am going to shut it down for the rest of the week and work on stretching out my pelvis.  Nothing I am doing right now in terms of running is helping my leg to heal, so I think rest is the best option.  I am still very hopeful for Striders.

No running for me today - taking the rest of the week off in an effort to rehab my knee.  I will focus on stretching and core exercises the rest of the week.  Hopefully back to running next week if all goes well.  The knee got a bit tight at work and I felt it catching a bit when I had to bend my knees while standing up.  I may need to get up and walk around more at work than I am doing now.

After having taken the rest of last week off, I was hopefull that I would be able to get back to running today.  Started out nice and easy.  However, by the 1.5 mile mark, my knee was doing exactly the same thing.  I was so frustrated.  I tried to run through it a little, but that didn't help, and it just started getting worse.  Was able to take a bit of a shortcut home and finish with 3.5 instead of 4 miles.  Right now, I am convinced that my problem has to do with my pelvis being out of whack, and my gluteals and piriformis, as well as other abductors, compensating, which is throwing my entire leg off.  Gonna go see Dr. Rick either today or tomorrow, whenever he is available.  No running until I get adjusted, and we will have to see after that.

1.5 Very easy miles with the boys - first .9 with Joey and Adam in the double jogging stroller and Sam running.  Knee felt OK today.  Last .6 with both Sam and Joey running, and Adam in the jogging stroller.  I could start to feel my hip getting tight towards the end of the run, and my knee started to feel a teeny bit tight at the very end, but nothing like it was the other day.  I will probably go see Dr. Rick again on Thursday and keep with very slow miles all week.  I am also going to start putting some heat on the hip to see if I can loosen up the muscles some.

Ran 0.5 with Joseph, with Adam in the jogging stroller, then Joseph got in the stroller and I ran another 2 miles.  Nice easy pace.  Then another 0.25 with Adam.  That will do it for today.

Ran the first .9 miles barefoot on a challenge from Lybi.  Knee felt fine, but I could tell that my poor little feet have been babied.  Without realizing it (I wasn't looking at my watch), I actually found myself going about 7:40 pace, and my toes ended up getting a little bruised on the bottom.  Overall, not a bad experience, but I prefer a bit more padding.  Then put my shoes on and took Sparky for a run.  Towards the end, my knee started to tighten up a little bit to the point where I could feel it - it didn't hurt, but I could definitely tell it was tight.  Got back inside, and did a bit of active stretching on a gut feeling (holding on to the back of a chair, and swinging my leg from side to side.  I could feel it most in my hamstrings, which I suspect are kinda tight).  This actually made the tightness go away.  Then I did my core exercises and some stretches for my abductors and IT band.

Ran 2 miles in the afternoon, knee got hurty again.  I am going to have to scratch on the Provo City 1/2 - with the condition my knee is in, I am having a hard time even running 3 miles, let alone 13.  I think it is time for me to look up a good sports physical therapist so that I can get some work done on my knee and abductors.  Obviously chiro alone is not doing the trick, even though he also does heat and electric stimulation therapy.  I am very bummed right now :(

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys in my pool shoes . . . slow and steady.  No knee pain.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys, nice and slow, then took Sparky out for a leisurely 2 miles.  Knee started to tighten up at about 1.5 miles, never got real painful, but enough that I knew it was there.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys again.  Adam finally seems to be over his bronchitis, but I still did not take him out.  Took Sparky with us instead.  Did not time the run, just focused on enjoying the time with my boys.  After dinner, ran another 2.5 miles, shod.  Knee started to tighten up at about 2 miles, I could feel it the rest of the way in, but it wasn't super sore.  I am going to attack my leg with the stick again (I did that last night) and see if I can manage to work out the tightness.

Ran 2 miles with the boys and Sparky, 0.5 with Joey and then 1.5 with Sam. Then after dinner, ran 2 miles at a nice easy pace. Abductors started to get tight about 1.5 miles in, and my knee started to get a little tight at 1.75 miles, but not as bad as yesterday, which was not as bad as the day before. When I got back, Lybi totally found the trigger point for my tight abductor - seems to totally be the gluteus minimus - very deep, right up against the bone. She hit the pressure point, and I bent my leg up to try and loosen it up. Wowsers, did that hurt, but in a good way. I am hopeful that it will continue to improve.

On a side note, the boys and I got to watch the space shuttle land live on nasatv.com - Samuel thought it was very cool. 

Ran 4 miles - 1.5 with Sam and then another 2.5 with Joey and Adam in the jogging stroller. Felt pretty good - kept the pace nice and easy. My knee only started to tighten up a bit the lasr 1/2 mile, but not too bad.

Went with the boys to a ward activity at 1:00 - "Ward's Strongest Saint".  I didn't realize until we got there that it was outside.  Lots of fun activities, most around the theme of the "World's Strongest Man" competition.  Got a pretty good workout, am sure to be sore tomorrow.  I also got myself sunburned.  As soon as we got back, Lybi and I headed off to REI to see if we could get her to try on some of the Vibram Five Fingers, but unfortunately they did not stock them, although they had them online.  And the only store in the area that does have them is not open on Saturdays.  After dinner, we played some games with the boys, then after we got them to bed, I got the chance to go out for a little run.  No big expectations, just going on feel.  I was pretty tired anyways from the long day.  Ended up doing 3 miles total, knee started to tighten up around mile 2.5.  Not a very high-mileage week, but I'll take it.

Ran 1.5 miles with Samuel and Joseph (first .9 with Samuel, pushing Joseph and Adam in the jogging stroller, last .6 with both Samuel and Joseph, pushing only Adam).  Then did another 2.5 miles alone, nice easy pace.  It still feels weird to be running slower, but perhaps I am getting some benefit from it here and allowing my body to heal up a bit.  I did not experience any pain in my knee today while running, although I could feel my hip tightening up.  I went back and looked at the diagrams of the trigger points and referred pain from www.painclinic.com, and am trying to figure out what is ailing me for sure.  I know that I have pain at the outside of my knee and in my butt, but when Lybi tries to get the trigger point, it seems like it is right around the origin of the hamstrings (on the ischium, just above the ischial tuberosity).  Weird.  I still haven't seen a PT, and our neighbor from across the street is actually one.  I just have to find out what our out of network benefits are.  Probably ought to do that . . .

On a side note, we have decided to head up to Utah for the weekend, and Lybi will be taking my place in the Provo City 1/2 marathon.  Go Lybi!  I will be her faithful cheerleader this time.  We are also hoping to have Josse do some scrapping on my leg to see if it will help.