Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 4.4 miles horsepark loop, then walked for a bit w/ Andrea. PT before and after. Since Andrea knows more about back/hamstring issues than anyone with a degree in medicine, I've hired her as my rehab coach... since she doesn't have any responsibilities as taper patrol for a while. The plan for next couple weeks is lots of stretching / massage / e-stim / etc. Jogging is allowed on a minimal scale (no doubles, keep the runs ~30 minutes this week), and we'll do a bit of cross training* too. 

The absolute earliest I would run another marathon is March, and that is sooooo far away. There really isn't much point in trying to "maintain" right now... its OK to get a bit out of shape at this point. I've already been thinking a lot about how I'm going to approach the next training cycle... in fact I'm excited to get going already! Just gotta wait until Thanksgiving or so. Hopefully by that point I'll be able to run faster paces with no fear of re-tweaking the hamstring. I think if I stick to the plan, that won't be a problem. The last thing I want to do is be pressing through any structural discomfort... there's no fun in that for me.

* = Sorry Rachelle, that doesn't mean crossfit :-) Or yoga, Kevin. Although its very tempting to follow Allie's new training plan for a couple months. With 2+ feet of snow in the forecast this week, maybe we'll be skiing soon!

AM - 5 miles in the research park area. Been over a month since I drove up here... instinctively I drove my running route, which is definitely not the fastest way at 5:30am.

Yesterday we spent about 2 hours at Teena's house. I'm sure Andrea will write a lot more, but Teena did a great workup and spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is going on with that poor girl. I was incredibly impressed by Teena, she is going to be an amazing PT. Well, she already is in my opinion. I came away feeling very optimistic and that this is the beginning of the end of Andrea's injury cycle. So for the next couple weeks I'll continue to run in the mornings, and then spend the evenings doing whatever it takes to help get Andrea back up running strong. It will be good for me as well to mix things up a bit and work on some of my own weaknesses.

We already moved our coffee table out of the living room and turned the entire space into a PT area. All this ancillary stuff is exhausting - its so much easier just to go out for an easy 10 miler!

PM - 30 minutes of pool running and then an equal amount of time hot-tubbing. Tonight was all about range of motion and getting loose. 

AM - 4 miles.

PM - 35 minutes of pool running + loosening up in the hot tub. After 2 straight nights at the gym (probably the first time inside a gym since college?), I remember why I prefer exercising outside. Not a fan of being inside the box... but the pool is definitely beneficial for the time being and outdoor pools don't sound too appealing right now. Its amazing how many people just sit around and do nothing!

AM - 7.5 miles, horsepark loops.

PM - 40 minutes of pool running. 

The USATF LDR banquet is next Friday (Nov 2nd). If you're planning on going, it would be really helpful if you RSVP'd this week. Here's the information / flyer. I should have a tentative 2013 schedule to announce at the banquet... just waiting on confirmation from a few races. A lot of this year's races will be returning (although a few are dropping) and we have some GREAT new additions to the circuit. Also, we'll be raffling off free entries to some of next year's races.

AM - 7 miles. Snowy, slippery run around campus.

AM - 7.5 miles. We got down to Springdale last night, so this morning I ran from our hotel to the park and then did an out & back along the Parus Trail. Just a stunning run.

And the rest of the day was even better... hiked Angel's Landing (which Andrea had never done before) and then spent some more time exploring around. Fun day.

AM - 7.5 miles, almost the same run as yesterday along the Virgin River. Lots of deer were out munching on grass right next to the trail... they definitely were not afraid of people.

Most of our hiking today was exploring Hidden Canyon - a very cool area! We were going to go up the narrows, but we agreed that we would have been way too cold to fully enjoy it. Next summer we'll do the whole thing from the top down.