Wheeler Farm Loops

Looking good from my virtual vantage point, Jake. Hope things continue this way.

Nice workout. hopefully a good sign.

That's great news and I like that the AP was 5:13 - that's quicker than your usual 5:20/5:21 pace. Given that you're feeling under the weather that's a great run.

Very happy to see this Jake. Great run, and great restraint at pulling it in a bit when you realized you started so fast. It would have been tempting to grind and push faster but you were very smart.

It wouldn't have been aerobic much longer if I dropped the pace from 5:08. I was happy to ease off the pedal for the rest of the run :-)

That's tempo, huh? You live in a different world :)

Looks to me like you haven't skipped a beat. The world is back in order.

That's a great sign, Jake!

Nice run Jake! Glad to hear your body is cooperating... sounds like a couple easy days were needed. Tomorrow will definitely tell!!

Yep, your legs were definitely itching to go. Nice to see those speedy miles again, great run.

Nice! Glad to see you coming back with only a little downtime. Wasn't that a great meet?

Cautiously optimistic.. Good place to be. Great tempo today!

Great workout Jake. Nicely done! And you approached it very wisely. You haven't lost a bit of fitness. In fact, this really may have been a blessing in disguise. It may sharpen you up. It appears you've won the battle with the quad. Nice job! (I know it's a bit premature to say that, but I'll be surprised if it bothers you again).

Bonnie - a great meet indeed! I was very impressed w/ Mary Cain. She isn't just breaking records, she's taking them to a whole new level.

I think the quad is on the upswing, but the root cause is my achilles, which is not nearly 100% yet... So that's what I have to be very careful with.

I think you are spot on Jake: your achilles likely caused the quad strain because of compensating. I've had achilles tendinitis many times, and I diligently stretch and strengthen my calves every week because of my history of that. When I started running from scratch recently, I developed achilles tendonities that last over a year, but now it is gone, and I'm convinced it finally resolved with stretching and strengthening (and because my tendons/ligaments finally got used to running again).

You are probably already doing rehab for your achilles, but here is what works for me. I stretch my achilles after every run. There are many ways to do this, but I feel the best way is (with running shoes on) to stand with your forefeet on the edge of a stair (both feet at the same time) and stretch your calves with your body weight. Hold for one minute, and bend your knees occasionally, which will stretch more distally. I would work up to doing 10 x 1 min stretching repeats twice per day until it is resolved. Then, just do it for maintenance as a preventative measure (but you don't need to do that many stretching repetitions when you are only doing it in preventative fashion).

Also, every other day, I would do single leg calf raises with the forefoot on a stair (3 sets of 20-30). I still do this as a preventative measure.

Icing and anti-inflammatories may help also.

I'm guessing you are already doing all this, Jake. Just wanted to share with you what works for me, and what I've seen work for countless others.

Good stuff Matt. That's a very similar regimen to what I've been doing. I'm doing the stretching several times a day, and I started doing the raises while in the pool, and I'm going to start doing them "dry" as well.

I definitely caused the quad strain from compensating. I never said anything (mainly b/c I actually only told Andrea about this a few days ago)... but I almost didn't start the 1/2 marathon 2 weeks ago. 30 minutes before the race, my achilles tightened up bad. I was able to work it out but actually contemplated not running the race for about 15 minutes. Then it didn't bother me during the race, but surely I was compensating somehow, and while I'm not exactly sure of the mechanical chain, I'm guessing that's how I compromised the quad. So now I'm really, really focused on NOT compensating at all. During the tempo workout I was just thinking "balance, symmetry, balance" the whole 42 minutes. I'm sick of those words now, but they're important!

Very nice, especially considering you are a bit under the weather. I'm glad your quad is rebounding.

Excellent approach Jake. And well thought out etiology -- I'm certain you are correct. You are doing all the right stuff. Make sure you're massaging that calf regularly as well (I'm sure you already are). Just continue to be careful, and you are in for a serious PR in Phoenix.