Slowly Getting Faster

Yesterday marked 6 weeks since I sprained my ankle. It's still a little swollen and, depending on what I'm doing with it, still a little painful. After consulting with family members in the medical field, I decided to go see another doctor. What I learned was not good news.

Turns out I have a chronically torn AFTL. That means that the AFTL didn't heal itself while the rest of the ligaments where healing over the past month and a half. I'm left with a few options: 1) physical therapy which will take months to complete (completely destroying my hopes of racing much this year); 2) a very painful and expensive shot which has only a 70% chance of actually fixing things; or 3) leave it alone, which will either amount to ignoring the problem and always having a weak ankle, developing a scar ball which will mean that any running will eventually cause injury in other places, or it could just heal itself over time.  I'm going with the physical therapy.  At this point, I hope I can get in good enough shape to run the trail half in Moab in November.  Fingers crossed.  

Good News! I went to PT today for the fist time and was told that I can start slowly running tonight. I was also told that I can participate in the St. George Marathon. I won't get the time I wanted, but at least I wont be sidelined. I start tonight with some walk/run sets to test out the ankle. If it doesn't hurt I can proceed to increase slow miles. The therapist said that he thinks I will be able to pick up the pace and put in more miles within a few weeks time. Fingers crossed. 

PM: 3.18 miles; 12:36 per mile avg.

The PT told me that pain should be my guide.  If it hurts stop. Then he gave me program that was supposed to help get me back into running.  He gave it to me with the caveat that I probably wouldn't need to go quite as slow as it recommended.  The plan called for 40 minutes spaced into run/walk intervals.  4 minutes walking followed by 1 minute running. He told me that I should complete this workout as stated, then if I felt alright I could take it up a notch and do 2 minutes running. But he also started this conversation with that caveat.....

I stuck with the plan for the first 20 minutes. At that point I had run 4 times and had no pain.  The terrain was flat and I was antsy so I upped the running time from 1 minute to 2.  That didn't last long either. In fact, I did that only once.  Then I upped it to 3 minutes running and 2 minutes walking. I felt great, even in the afternoon heat. So nice to be out running again. I never had any pain even at 3 minutes.  We'll see if it is stiff at all in the morning.  If not I plan on doing it again tomorrow, starting at 3 minutes running and seeing where that gets me. 

The therapist told me I had to stay off trails and uneven ground until after October 6th so I wont be doing anything crazy for a while. But if my ankle heals well I plan on running as much steep asphalt as I can between now and October.  Preferably at elevation.  If anyone has any suggestions for where I might do that I would greatly appreciate the input.

Did the PT workout again only with less walking time.  I started with 2 minute walk and 3 minute run and worked my way down to no walk.  Felt good the whole time.  It's pretty hot out there right now, which I think is good because I need the heat training. Although I want to go back out tonight I probably should hold off until tomorrow just to make sure everything is ok.  Doubles coming soon though. 

The next iteration of ankle recovery running. Since the last two days I've been able to increase my time spent running up to 20 minutes I figured I would just try running for 40 minutes today and see what happened. It went well. Pain only once, and I think that was because my form got sloppy. I walked for a minute and started running again and there was no more pain.  

It was slow but at least it was a consistent run, mostly.

Avg. Pace: 9:22, flat 

So it appears that I'm doing pretty good. I went to PT this morning and the therapist told me not to come back. I'm at 80%+ function on the bad leg, and he usually only keeps people until they have reached 80%. He gave me some exercises and sent me on my way. With that in mind I decided to try a 5 mile run. I wanted to get it in while it was still kind of cool outside. I started at 9:50 and it was already 80 degrees. I also decided, for some reason, to try and run a more hilly course. I hadn't had anything to eat all morning so I took a GU shot and set off.

The course I took is not nearly as hilly as I was running prior to the injury but I felt dead.  The hills were brutal and even the regular, flatter parts didn't feel easy. I'm hoping its a combination of the heat and the lack of proper nutrition. I could have run this in sub 8's back in May or early June. I think some of it is the lack of running over the past few months as well. I've done 16 miles since Friday, which is 16 more than I've done in more than a month and a half. 

The way I figure it, I've got to get myself to the point that I'm running close to 20 on the weekend by the first week of September.  The plan is to get to 6 tomorrow and run that for the rest of the week.  Then next week go to 7, then 8, then 9, and 10 a day by the first week in September.  That's probably pretty lofty, and I might miss the mark a bit, but at least if I'm close I will feel ready to finish 26 by October 6.  

There was no pain in ankle today. 

First attempt at 6 miles. It went pretty well.  My legs were very tired by the time it was over.  It's crazy how much fitness I seem to have lost in the month and a half I had to take off. My average pace for the run was close to 9:20 per mile, which is really slow.  It also didn't really feel good/natural until the last mile or so. Hopefully I can get my stride back soon. 

There were some hills but I'm not sure what the elevation gain was.  I took the lagoon trail on a meandering loop over to Glover's Lane then down the Legacy trail, up to the pond, down the canyon road and back to the start of the Lagoon trail. Not a ton of vert but a little.  

In keeping with yesterday's performance, this one was slow. A bit faster than yesterday but still pretty slow.  9:14 avg pace today instead of 9:20. Hopefully that is a good sign.  Legs still exhausted by the time I finished. 

This run was a bit more difficult.  I started at the junction of state street and 200 east in Farmington and ran up the canyon to the firebreak road. From there I cut back down and took what has become my typical route through lagoon trail, across the frontage road, up to 200 east and back to where I started. There is some vert on this route, probably close to 400 feet (I haven't synced my watch yet to check).  This is some pretty mild vertical gain compared to what I was doing in May.  I hoped that I would be able to get there without it killing me.  It was not easy but it was not as hard as I expected it to be either. I ran all the way to the road and averaged sub 12 for that mile. Legs still pretty sore after the run, but my ankle is fine. 

I ran into Woody Whitlock on Lagoon Trail. For those that are unfamiliar with this guy, he is an 80 year old marathoner who ran more 20 mile races last year than I have run in my entire life. From the time he turned 70 he has run 22 marathons.  Pretty impressive.  And he is a local guy, lives just down the street from me. Its good to see him out there, it gives me hope. 

I wanted to do 12 yesterday but I went hiking with my daughter instead. Family time is important. So I went today and did 10.  I'm glad I stopped at 10, not quite ready for 12 yet. The good news is that I'm not ready for 12 just because I haven't had that many miles recently, not because the injury was acting up. After 10 I was spent, but not any more than I was when I ran 6 on Tuesday. At mile 7 I felt a little tired but mostly fine. So this week I will take it up to 7 a day and see how that goes. My pace was slower than I would like it to be, but not too bad considering. 

Today's 7 was harder than yesterday's 10. I suppose that's because I wasn't fresh today. It may also have had something to do with starting this run up Farmington Canyon to the gate at the bridge. I chose this route because I wanted to get some hill work in and because I realized yesterday that getting to 7 miles would either mean meandering through the neighborhood or tacking on an extra mile some place.  So that some place was up the canyon. To be honest, the canyon part of the run wasn't that bad, it was mile 5.5-7.6 that was tough.  By then I was tired, my legs were tired, and it was getting hot. I got the 7 for the day though, so mission accomplished. 

I decided to do yesterdays loop in reverse today.  I figured that this would give me two advantages.  First, I would be able to warm up on flat ground rather than running up hill.  Second, I would be able to run up the canyon at mile 6, which is pretty close to what happens in the marathon. Turns out I was faster today than yesterday.  The reason for this, I think, is that the downhill mile and a half out of the canyon is the last section of the run so mentally I'm able to take the breaks off and push myself.  When the canyon downhill is the first part of the run, I feel like I need to keep something in the tank for the remaining 5 miles of the run. 

I need to work on cadence a bit on the flat land though.  While its alright if I just finish the marathon in under 4 at this point, I would also like to give myself a shot at beating my PR of 3:38. 

I'm not very fond of Park City. Partially because the people all seem a bit pretentious, but mostly because they don't have any place to poop on the city trails. When I found myself there today at 4:30 for a run i tried to focus on the fact that it was 85 degrees instead of the fact that I was going to inevitably have to poop in plain view of the public eye. 5 miles into the run my focus was very much on the public eye problem. Long story short, don't stop to admire the Olympic statue about a half mile south of the hotel park city until there has been time for biodegradation to run its course.

7 miles @ 10:09 per mile. I think that's an ok pace considering the time it took to find a public monument to deficate by and the fact that it's a couple thousand feet higher than Farmington.

Same course as 2 days ago but 12 seconds a mile faster today. While that is a good sign, the best part is that a good portion of this run didn't feel labored. I'm not sure if it's a result of everything coming together, the altitude run yesterday, the change of shoes today, or a combination of everything but I'm glad it happened. There are a few parts of this course that are decent uphills and that kept me above 9 minute miles today but my first 3 miles were all sub 9, which hasn't happened since my injury, and my last mile out of the canyon even hit a sub 7 for a little bit. 

I forgot why I love Altra Instincts so much but switching back to them today reminded me.  despite the fact that they are heavier than the Kinavara's I have been wearing, my stride feels so much more natural in these shoes. I feel like I'm lighter, even though I am actually a bit heavier. I think I'll make these my regular shoe again for a while and see if I can keep the love affair going.

9:14 avg pace 

14 slowly to finish off the week. I say slowly but it was actually a decent pace in relation to my speed of late. 9:50 average, with some steep canyon climbing in the middle that really slowed me down. I can say with authority that I am not ready for 26 at this point.  The first 9-10 miles felt great but the last 4 were more of a forced effort.  I think if I had brought some GU along it would have been better though.  I was pretty hungry at mile 8 but didn't have anything to eat. Luckily, my 1 20oz water bottle kept me in fluid for the whole 14. 

I'm pretty happy with that elevation profile as well.  It's much harder to get hill running in when you can't go off road and it's good to see an elevation gain over 2,000 feet. All in all, I would say this has been a productive running week.  

This was not a good morning.  To start with, I spent an hour in the bathroom pre-run, which is a long time even for me. When I was finally able to leave I still felt like crap.  I decided I needed to get my miles in anyway so out the door I went.  It took me 5 miles to find my stride and feel good about my run.  The first 5 miles were a mixture of slow jogging due to leg muscle pain from Saturday's effort and stopping to stretch to try and avoid injury.  The last 4 miles felt really good and if I had more time I may have kept going.  Fortunately I didn't because now I'm very tired and barely able to function.  I think I'm coming down with something.  I should probably go home and sleep it off. 

I feel much better today.  All day yesterday I was convinced that I was getting sick.  Then last night, I went with my wife's family to McDonald's and ended up eating about 2,000 calories worth of food and drink.  Suddenly I felt much better.  I knew I hadn't been getting enough calories over the past few days but I didn't realize that it was that bad. I have been so focused on trying to fuel the machine with healthy food that I neglected to fuel the machine completely. According to my heart rate monitor I burned over 2,000 calories on Saturday and I replaced only 2/3 of that throughout the day.  I've just got to resort to eating crap to get my calories I guess.  Unless someone can tell me how to eat enough healthy food to get there? 

I did the same 9 mile route today that I did yesterday. It's pretty flat so after a mile, recognizing that I was feeling alright, I decided to run a 4 mile tempo starting at mile 3.  The goal was to keep my pace under 8:30.  Not a monumental task, but considering my times of late have been closer to 9:30 than 8:30 I thought it was a good place to start. I managed to keep my splits between 8:20 and 8:30, with most of them in the 8:25 range. 

Tomorrow I think I'll give the speed some rest but try and put some more hills into the workout.  See if I can get my climbing legs back a bit.  I'm registered for the Moab trail half marathon in November and I'm thinking maybe I'll start running Centerville peak up to the skyline road a couple of times a week after St. George is over. So, to get ready for that I'll start climbing asphalt here. we'll see how it goes.  

9 with 2 of that up the canyon.  Legs not feeling it today so the whole thing was slow.  Almost 20 minutes slower than yesterday's 9 miles. 

Not very fast today.  I thought I might try and squeeze in another tempo but my legs were not feeling it.  I think the distance is getting to them.  I'm not used to running 9 miles, let alone running 9 miles 4 days in a row.  I think I will stick with this distance next week rather than try and bump my daily miles to 10.  If I can get comfortable with the 9, and can get some more tempos and speed work in, then I will bump to 10 the following week. Maybe. 

Trying to finish the week strong.  I need to figure out how to fit 6 days of running into a week.  I would have broke 60 miles this week had I managed that. Still, I set out this morning with a goal of 16 miles.  But after about 9 I thought it would be a shame not to just push for that extra 2 and get double my daily mileage. I managed 13.1 in 2 hours and 18 in 2:48 so I think I can get 26 in close to 3:30 with a few more weeks of training. It will help that the last 8 or so miles will all be downhill at close to 2500 feet elevation.  I just need to get my legs used to the distance first. I think next week I'll keep to the 9 a day and try to fit 6 days in.  

The first half felt great, second half was more of a mental effort, last 3 more of a physical effort.  

Today was supposed to be an easy 9, just to warm the legs back up.  It started really slowly, but after about 2 miles I was feeling pretty good.  I decided that I should do a bit of a tempo, just see how far I could push a sub 8:30 mile. After keeping my pace below 8:25 for 5 miles I decided I should cool down for the last 2.  Hopefully I feel as good tomorrow when I go for the hills. 

I changed shoes today in an effort to keep my feet fresh. I'm not sure it helped. I used to like these Kinavara's quite a bit but since my injury nothing is as comfortable as my instincts.  Right our the gate today my legs were sore.  It started with a slight soreness that progressed into more soreness as the run went on.  By mile 5 my legs had finally warmed up.  This is something I have experienced in the past with these shoes but I have never had this trouble with the Instincts. I think having a bit of a heel on these shoes makes the canyon decent a bit easier though as I don't have to focus so much on keeping my form perfect. 

Today's run was tedious.  It started slow because my legs were sore and tired.  It never got fast.  It took until mile 5 to finally work all the stiffness out but even at that point I didn't really have it in me to move very fast. As a result, I tried to make this a recovery run.  We'll see how well that worked out tomorrow. 

I noticed a few ankle issues on a couple of turns. I need to baby it a little still.  I hope this is gone by mid October.  

I didn't get out of bed this morning and I had a job interview before lunch so I had to "sneak" my run in between the job interview and going to my current job. As a result, my run was in Salt Lake, so I went up City Creek again. I haven't been up there in a long time. I managed to finish with an average pace of 9:14, which isn't great but is pretty good considering I was at an average pace of 10 when I turned around. Miles 7, 8, & 9 were sub 8 pace, which is obviously partially due to the fact that they were downhill.  Still, there were some even sections that I pushed the pace on trying to keep it below 8. Felt pretty good and I'm glad I got it in. 

I didn't want to do a long run today because I'm planning on going for 20 tomorrow. I did want to get something in though, so I can start teaching my body to run 6 days a week.  The problem with this plan is that if I'm only going a few miles I feel like I should run quickly.  As a result, I did these 4 miles in a average 7:41 pace with my slowest mile being 7:59 and my fastest being 7:23. I hope that doesn't kill my legs for tomorrow.