A Runner at Heart.....Riding a Bike

No run today.  I got up at 4:30 like normal but I ended up taking Sue to the hospital instead of running.  She has been really sick since late Saturday and was just not getting better.  She was really dizzy and nauseous and if she moved at all she would get sick.  She had not eaten anything since Saturday dinner.  

It looks like it is an inner ear problem that is giving her severe vertigo.  They gave her 2 bags of IV fluid because she was so dehydrated and some medication to "dampen" the vertigo.  They can't really treat it....it just goes away I guess.  Then I had to rush up to Rexburg for my first of 4 straight days of full day corporate inspections (more like labotomies).  I am exhausted.

I woke up at 2:45am and could not go back to sleep.  Must be the stress of everything going on this week.  I decided to get up and get my daily paperwork completed and do my run early so I can go to work early and get ready for the next inspection.  It was 51 degrees and drizzling lightly when I left at 4:40.  This is probably the earliest I have ever run.  It's been a while since I ran in the dark as well.  I started off in what I thought was a pretty easy, but smooth pace.  I could not see my splits for a couple miles because I forgot to look at my Garmin when I happened to be under a streetlight.  By the time I could see I realized that I was on my way to a pretty good tempo run.....so I went with it.  

I ran 15.22 miles in a very nice pace.  I'm not sure why....but I just love my 15 mile runs.  It was wierd to be finished with my run by 6:30am, but I think I needed this kind of effort today.

Well.....off to work....fun, fun, fun.

It was 48 degrees and nice this morning.  I only had time for a shorter recovery run today, work early again.  I ran 10.28 miles nice and easy.

It was 55 degrees this morning with a couple sprinkles of rain at the start then nothing after that.  I was planning some speed work today so I grabbed a small water bottle and headed up Jerome to the top of Satterfield.  I ran in to Angela at the top and she was running 1/4 mile repeats so I ran 6 of them with her.  3 down and 3 back up a slight incline.  After that I ran over to the other end of Satterfield to do my mile repeats on the downhill section of Satterfield and Pocatello creek.  I left my water bottle at the top.  I ran down 1 mile fast and then ran back up a mile slow.  My fast miles were 5:53, 5:50, 5:45, and 5:44.  I was not real excited about the 1 mile run back up the hill but it was OK.  My fast runs were comfortably hard and I felt good about the pace.  I really need more speedwork like this.  I ran a total of 13.46 miles.

It was 55 degrees and overcast this morning.  I ran 10.22 miles nice and easy after yesterdays repeats.  I am doing a 10K tomorrow as part of a 15-16 mile day then I start my taper for Utah Valley next week.

It was 42 degrees and raining with some wind today.  Not exactly ideal conditions for a 10K.  It was raining pretty hard at 6:30 and I was wondering whether I should run to the race start as I had planned or drive down.  I was talking to Sue about it and she said "Don't be a pansy.....you ran a marathon in a blizzard in Moab".  Well that's all it took.  I ran the 5 miles to the race start and did the first 4 all under 7:00 because I got a late start out the door.  I was pretty soaked when I arrived at the start but luckily I only had about 10 minutes until race time so I did not get too cold.

This 10K has a lot of hills and we were against the wind until almost mile 3.  I kept a pretty good pace and was within 25 seconds of Kory at the turn on Barton Rd when he just took off trying to catch the leaders.  I ran a 6:13 the 3rd mile and he gapped me something fierce.  The last mile and a half is a steady uphill back to the hospital and I finished in a 40:23.  There were over 500 runners between the 5K and 10K today...even with the bad weather.  They had a fantastic turnout.

Kory and I ran together for 2.7 miles on the way home in an easy pace and we talked the whole way.  I finished the day at just over 16 miles and I am now over 2000 for the year.  I did not break 2000 last year until......are you ready for this.....December 16th!!!

Utah Valley marathon in 7 days........

It was 42 degrees...but at least it wasn't raining.  I ran 8.26 miles in an easy pace.  Some of the miles had good splits but I am putting them down as slow miles because the effort was easy.

When I got home from work I received a suprise.......I got a $75 check from the Ogden marathon for my 3rd overall in the Masters division!!!  I still haven't received my check from Salt Lake.......and I'm not holding my breath.

It was 44 degrees and sunny this morning....YAY.  I did a tempo run this morning and kept all the miles under 7:00 except for the one up Satterfield hill.  I ran 10.42 miles in a great pace.

5 days til Utah Valley......

It was 50 degrees and cloudy this morning.  I ran 8.51 miles nice and easy.  The taper continues.

3 days til the marathon...

It was 44 degrees with a light, misty rain this morning.  I ran 5.23 miles nice and easy.  

This is hard to write....

 I am in pain and I am extremely depressed.  I was doing just fine until my heel flared-up between mile 22 and 23.  I was in 11th place overall and averaging a 6:40 pace for the entire marathon at mile 22.  I think I originally tweaked my heel 10 days ago doing some downhill mile repeats.  It hurt a bit the next morning and would hurt a little at the start of each run and then be fine within a mile or so. 

At the start of the marathon I felt it a little and then it went away before the first mile marker so I thought I was fine.  I was holding a good pace and had picked-off 2 runners between mile 21 and 22 when it flared-up.  It brought me to a dead stop and I had to hop on my right foot just to slow down.  I tried to stretch it but nothing worked.  I basically had to find a way to half-hop, half jog to the finish.  If this would have happened earlier I would have taken the DNF.  I was winning my age group by over 10 minutes....I still ended up 2nd.  You will see by my mile splits how slow I came in.  The day started good......now I can't even walk.

Here are my splits:

1.   6:37 (some uphill)

2.   6:18

3.   6:29

4.   6:28

5.   6:45 (some uphill again)

6.   6:23

7.   6:23

8.   6:23

9.   6:31

10.  6:28

11.  6:30

12.  6:41  (some wierd turns this mile)

13.  6:38

Half Split 1:25:44

14.  6:33

15.  6:49  (on the trail now)

16.  6:52

17.  6:51

18.  6:50

19.  7:04

20.  7:12  (fighting a gut-ache from my last gel)

21.  7:01  (feeling better)

22.  7:00  (passed 2 runners...last good mile)

23.  9:05

24.  9:36

25.  10:23

26.  11:29

Basically I can hop/hobble a 10-11 minute mile to finish a marathon.  I was easily on a 2:55-2:56 pace.

What I really need right now is a nice slow recovery run to help clear my head and put this behind me.  It will probably be days until this can happen.  I am not a happy person.

The heel is really painful today after it tightened up more when I slept.  I have to walk really funny in a hopping motion to get around.  I iced it a couple times and I have been rolling a trigger point ball under my foot.  It feels more like plantar fasciitis today and I know how to treat that.

Woke up this morning and my heel still really hurts but the pain is probably down about 20-30% from yesterday.  I am rolling my foot on the trigger point ball as I type this.  I am pretty sure I can work this out this week....hopefully.

I am feeling a little better about things even though winning the Grand Slam is probably toast now.  I was 13 seconds out of first going in to Saturday and I was a little ahead when this happened.  Now I am about 15 minutes behind with only 2 races (Park City and St. George) left to go.  I will just do my best and will still win my age group.

I have decided to cancel the 40-mile Ultra that I was going to do on June 27th and I have yet to register for Deseret News.  I have run Deseret News for 8 straight years and I was hoping that this would be the year I could finally run a "good" one.  I will decide by the 4th of July.  It is not that important a race for me.

I want to thank everyone for their positive comments.......you guys in the blog are the BEST!!!

Oh, by the way.......I WILL be back!!!  (See...I'm feeling better about things :-)

I slept with a special brace on my foot last night to keep my PF issue stretched during the night.  My foot was really sore after work yesterday.  My work shoes don't have enough arch support and I was basically flat-footed all day on hard concrete floors.  

I iced this morning and I now have KT tape on my instep and heel.  It feels alot better with the tape.  I put my running insoles in my work shoes today.  I hope it helps.

Day 4 of no running.......GRRRRR!!!  My foot feels a little better every day.  I iced it early this morning while doing some computer work.  Then I went for a 10.39 mile bike ride.  It felt GREAT to actually get my heart rate up.  The riding did not bother my foot at all in fact it seemed to help due to the increased blood flow.  I told myself that I would not even think of running until I skipped 5 days.  That means 1 more day and then I will evaluate it.  I am walking almost normally now so I am keeping my finger crossed.

It was raining a ton this morning so a bike ride was out of the question.  I decided to walk on my treadmill to try and loosen my foot up a bit.  I was doing OK so I tried to see if I could run.  NO GOOD AT ALL.  I could run for about 1/4 mile until I could no longer stand the pain so I went back to walking.  I walked 2 miles........that doesn't count for anything.

Went for another 10 mile bike ride this morning.  It was pretty windy so not as nice as I would have liked.  I had my daughter do a pretty aggressive massage on my foot last night.  It hurt like crazy when she hit certain spots but I can feel some improvement this morning.

I am probably going to try to do a long bike ride tomorrow...my body is craving a harder workout.  I don't want to get fat either.

I had my daughter give my foot another massage tonight.  It did not hurt as bad as yesterday.  I hope that's a good sign.  I iced it good after she was done.

It was 56 degrees and a bit muggy this morning.  I decided to give my foot a try this morning.  I ran 3.13 miles slow, not because I wanted to but the pain would definitely increase with the speed.  The pain was probably a 6 or 7 but if I went fast it was more like an 8 or 9.  I stayed on the soft shoulder of the road as much as possible and that helped as well.  It feels better when I am going up a slight incline and hurts more on a decline.  I need to find a long, gradual uphill to run on.

I am icing it right now and we shall see what happens.  It does not hurt any more than it did before my run so I am hopeful.

It was cool and windy this morning.  I rode my bike 10.58 miles and tried to work hard and get my heart rate up.  

I got another hard foot massage tonight and then I iced more.  I am sure getting tired of icing all the time.  I need this thing to just go away.

It was 45 degrees with a cool breeze this morning.  I was able to run 5.35 miles nice and slow.  The pain level was much better than Saturday, more like a 3 or 4 and it was more of a dull ache rather than the acute pain it was Saturday.  I am icing it again and will get another massage/torture tonight.

It was 39 degrees this morning....a bit cool for June.  I ran 5.24 miles nice and easy focusing on my footfall to ensure I do not get secondary injuries by running abnormally.  The pain level was the same as yesterday although my foot was a bit sore during the day yesterday.  I got another massage last night and iced.....same old same old.

It was 48 degrees...an absolutely beautiful morning.  I ran 5.27 miles nice and slow again.  The pain level was probably around a 3 and seems to decrease a bit every day.  If it feels OK tomorrow maybe I can go a couple more miles.

I have some "new" pain on the side of my foot.  It is on the outside, opposite of my arch/heel pain.  I figure it is probably a compensation issue so I did not run today.  I will evaluate it tomorrow morning.

It was 56 degrees this morning, very nice and sunny.  I ran 6.58 miles and things went pretty well.  The pain level started out around a 3 and gradually got better from there.  I actually felt like my form was good and I even ran faster each mile as things warmed up more without really meaning to.  

Hopefully this is a good sign.

Today's feeling......CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM....:)

Tonight we went to the wildflower festival at Pebble Creek ski area.  We ended up riding the chairlift to the top and hiking all the way back down on the switchbacks, stopping to enjoy the scenery along the way.  My foot ached pretty good during and after.  Probably not a good idea to do a steep downhill hike with my foot issues....I will probably pay tomorrow.

It was 58 degrees and sunny this morning.  I ran 8.53 miles nice and easy.  It took about 2 miles for my foot to loosen-up after that hike down the mountain Saturday evening.  After I ran uphill for a mile and a half I was feeling really good and was able to run a faster mile and it did not hurt any more than the normal.  Pain level today...about a 2 after I was warmed-up.

I put this on the wrong day, this was my Monday run.

It was 60 degrees with some wind this morning.  I stretched really good and decided I would try to go 10 miles today if my foot felt up to it.  I kept myself within 2-3 miles from my house...just in case.  I ran 13.26 miles and my foot did fine.  Towards the end of the run it was actually fatigue that bothered me more than my foot.  That's what happens when you do almost no running for over 2 weeks.  The pain level was a 2 at most and sometimes I did not even notice it.  The run was pretty boring since I kept running back and forth on the top of Satterfield from miles 5-12, but I finished just fine.  I need to get used to running in warmer weather now.

I put this on the wrong day...this was my Tuesday run