faster with age

     30 min. eliptical.

     I did a 15 mile bike ride this afternoon mostly on packed snow.  I felt good on the ride and went at a fairly hard effort. My heart rate stayed in the 150s which is close to tempo effort for me. I've hardley done any running or biking the past 2 weeks. Thats probably why my legs felt so fresh today. It was also a very nice day. The temp. started at 3 deg this morning but by the time I went it was close to 30 and calm with lots of sun.

     It's been just over a week since my last short run so I tried it again today. The ITB pain in my knee started to come on again at just over 2 miles so I quit right away. I did 30 min. on the eliptical.

     Headed out for vacation in San Diego.

    My wife and I arrived in San Diego. We walked a couple of miles on the beach.

     We stayed at a hotel on the beach in San Diego. There was a big storm moving through but all the rain came at night and while we ate breakfast. Once we left the restraunt the sun came out. Temps were in the 60s and it was very nice. We only had one short rain shower all day. My wife and I went for a long walk on the beach and there were so many runners that I couldn't take it any longer and had to try a run. I only got 1.5 miles and I could tell my IT band was going to act up so I quit running and walked back to the room. It's been 3 weeks since Painter's and this has gotten no better. I'm not sure what to do. I guess I'll just keep doing the stretching, strengthening, and rolling and give it more time. I've heard massage can help and I think I may try to find somebody good at sports massage. Ended up walking a lot of miles the rest of the day throughout Balboa park.  

     It rained again a lot of the night but cleared up again and got sunny. We spent some more time on the beach with nice weather. Got in a couple more miles walking. We headed out in the afternoon and made it back to Las Vegas where we spent the night.

     Made the 8 hour drive home from Las Vegas. Drove through a lot of rain, hail, and snow.

     Took another day off from running

     PM 45 minutes eliptical

     I wanted to do a bike ride but in the morning it was 20 deg. with high winds. I don't mind the 20 deg but the wind made it hard to get motivated. Later in the day the wind died down but I couldn't find the time during daylight so I opted for the eliptical again but it broke after a little over 10 minutes so I guess this turned into another rest day.

     Another day of no running. I did a 20 mile mt bike ride. It was 22 deg with a light snow falling and no wind. I was suprise that the gravel roads weren't snow packed after recieving 7 inches of snow monday morning.

     I've gained 9 pounds in the 3 weeks since Painter's while I haven't been running. My eating while on vacation contributed a lot to that. I guess until I can run again I'm going to have to start getting more serious about my cross training again.

     Played basketball last night. We only had one sub so I was in pretty much the whole game. Tried to run the court hard and keep moving to get a good workout. I don't get any problems from the IT band doing this.

     I went 15 miles on the mt. bike late morning. It had warmed to 25 deg with sun and no wind. Nice day. Some of the mud was begining to thaw though with the sun on it even though it was below freezing. It has been a week since my last attempt at a run and I think I'll try a short one tommorow and see what happens.

     It was a whole 1 deg this morning. I went for a run. It's been 1 week since my last run of 1.5 miles and almost 4 weeks since Painter's. Since I seem to be able to play basketball  for an hour without the slightest ITB pain [even 4 days after the injury]. I decided to try the Jeff Galloway walk break thing and see if I could get more than a mile and a half. I ran 3 min. and walked 1 min. After making it 3 miles with zero pain I decided I would quit at 4 miles. I got to about 3.75 and started to get an ever so slight pain starting and as tempting as it was to finish off the run I quit right there and walked the rest of the way before finding out if it would get any worse. It felt good to nearly triple what I could do on my last few attempts. Pace including walking was 9:18.

     PM 45 min. eliptical

     20 mile bike ride in a couple inches of snow. A light snow was still falling and  made for a nice ride.  10 min. eliptical.

     4 miles this morning running 3 min. walking 1 min. IT band felt really good but I thought It felt like it was getting a slight soreness just as I was finishing. It was 2 deg. and made for an excellent ice goatee. 9:16 pace. Actual running pace probably close to 8 min.

     PM 15 mile bike ride. It had warmed to 23 deg.

    Ran this morning in a snow storm with about 6 inches of fresh snow. Just went 3 miles with the walk breaks again. I got zero pain. I may try a short run later today. 

     Went in for a massage today. I had some very tight and sore spots on the outside of my hip. She felt like this was probably causing the problem with the IT band in my knee area. I had suspected this also. She got the muscles realy loosened up and feeling good. I think it should help.

     PM Did another short 3.5 mile run with walk breaks. Made sure to quit before I got any pain.

     Ran 4 miles this morning.  Still taking 1 min. walk breaks every 3 min. I think they help me get a lot farther before the ITB flares up.

     26 mile mt bike ride. 17 deg to start but nice and sunny. on snow most of the way. Made the going a bit slower but nice ride. Temp was up around 30 at the end.

     Ran 3 1/2 miles this morning. Still mixing it up with some walking. IT band felt great all the way which makes it really hard to quit but I want to quit before any pain starts. I've been strength training [mostly hip] at least 3 times a week and stretching daily. I'm planning another short run later. I didn't expect this recovery to go quite this slow but it is improving steadily.

     PM Ran another 3 1/2 miles. It was sunny and 36 deg so I went with the shorts. It was so nice I ended up in a short sleeve shirt after warming up. I ran around 7:10 pace during my running segments while intending to be around 8:00. There's something about shedding all those winter clothes. It almost felt like spring other than the foot and a half of snow that's still on the ground. My knee felt great and I felt like going 10 miles but knew I'd be lucky to get one more before it would start to get sore. Overall pace including walking one minute of every four was 8:20.

     Wanted to do a bike ride but was gone all day until after dark so I did 45 min. on the eliptical.

     Freezing rain this morning but the road had a rough enough surface that it wasn't slick. I ran 4 miles with 0 pain all the way with walk breaks at 9:15 pace.

     PM Eliptical for 45 min.

     It rained hard a lot of the night and this morning. Fortunatly it had almost quit when I started running. I ran 4 miles again with walk breaks at a little faster pace than I have been. I finished with 0 pain again which makes it tempting to try to go farther or cut out the walk breaks but I decided my goal for the week was to end every run before any pain starts. Last week each time I did 4 miles I felt the ITB right at the end. So far this week that hasn't happened. Overall pace was 8:45. I figure I lose over a minute per mile with the walking so my actual running was probably closer to 7:45 pace

     PM   The rain cleared out and it was 40 deg. Got out in shorts and short sleeves for another short run similar to this mornings. I went 3 miles at 8:15 pace. Running pace approx. 7:15.

     It's been warm and rainy the last 2 days but cleared up and got a little colder last night. It was back in the 20s this morning so the mud from all the rain was frozen up which made it good for a mt bike ride this morning. I went for 24 miles at a fairly hard effort.

     Got out for 4 miles. I did the walk breaks again but added a minute to the running segments so I was running 4 min walking 1 min. Running pace was around 7:45. Overall pace 8:37. No pain from ITB. It feels like I could just keep going but I'm sure I would probably not get another mile before it flared up.

     Snowmobiling

     I think every muscle in my upper body is a bit sore today from snowmobiling yesterday. We got after it pretty hard in the powder all day and it's the first time out this year. I didn't get out today for a run until late. I was able to get 5 miles without any ITB pain. I cut the walk breaks to one minute walking for every five running. I was tempted to go for six miles but thought I'd quit while I was still ahead. Overall pace was 8:34.

      I met my goal for the week by ending each run before any pain started.