Denouement

Ran 6.25 with Paul this morning along the shoreline.  It was probably in the low 70's and more humid than Utah, but not uncomfortably humid The first mile was on a trail on lava rock.  The trail was clear of lava rock but had "lava sand" on it, which I discovered was quite rough and painful when I fell one mile into it.  I scraped both palms of my hands, my shoulder, hip, knee and ankle on one side.  Dang!  There is still lava sand in the wounds.  So I got up and we kept going.  We ended up running on about every surface there is: loose sand, compact sand, water, rock, lava rock, road, grass.  Our pace was slow, about 10 minute pace.

We went to the other side of the Big Island and did a couple of hikes, about 6 miles of hiking and walking, 4 of them through and around a volcanic crater, which was awesome.  So I am going to count that as 3 miles.  I am so exhausted!  Vacations aren't supposed to be this much work!

Asics  (count it as 25 miles - lava wears down the shoes) 

Ran at around 8am with Paul for 3 (we ran a 4 mile loop, but I ran one mile alone by going a little longer before turning around then catching him, that mile was 7:58).  The three miles with Paul were about 9:30.  Then I was on my own do do another 6 miles, and the sun was getting higher, the shadows smaller, and I had to hit the highway for a longer stretch.  The highway had a nice shoulder, but it had lava rock and desert wasteland on both sides, so it was just a hot, boring type of run.  My six miles were 7:30 ave pace, and I threw in 4 strides (my first since my groin/hip issues, and it felt fine, though it was hot by the time I did them).

While I was running through the resort to my tower I ran behind and then passed a guy, but not before I ran with him for a minute, discussed running and told him about the blog.  I wish I had pass along cards!

My groin issue was painful for about 1/4 mile at about the one mile mark, but it got better.  At about the same time, my right achilles was tight.  I need to calculate my miles on the shoes I brought.  I think it is getting time for new shoes.

Total ave pace 8:10

Asics

On the treadmill.  I set it at 7:30 pace after warming up a bit.  It was dull, but at least I had a personal tv, though I had no sound. 

Yesterday was a lay around and read day.  Dipped into the pool, laid out in half shade/half sun (full sun could burn me pretty bad), snorkled around the resort, met Paul for lunch and then took a nap, watched daytime tv, all the things I don't do at home.  Today we will go to a couple of the best snorkel spots on the island, so it should be more exciting.

I plan on doing a tempo workout tomorrow - 7 miles at 6:25.  Oh, gosh, it just spins my stomach to write it, but I am writing it to make me accountable. 

Asics

I went snorkling yesterday afternoon and messed up my hip pretty bad, I think it was just exhausted with unfamiliar exercise.  It was really sore when I went to bed, so decided to postpone my long run.  I did run some this morning, but I had to increase my pace very slowly, started at 11 min pace and worked to 8 min pace by the end.  My hip felt ok in the morning but this afternoon it is still aching as I walk around. 

Asics

So last night my hip was still bugging a little, but not nearly as bad as it was the night previous.  I think taking a day with lower mileage really helped.  Also I had Paul give me a massage per the good advice of Josse.  Having your spouse try to give you a sports massage can be either a lesson in long suffering and patience or it can be a riot, and it was the latter.  I eventually grabbed him in the hip with my fingertips to show him what he was doing.  It was good fun.  Although I ran less yesterday, I didn't cut out our boogie boarding, which was SOO SOOO fun.  I think it was funner than the snorkling.   We went to Hapuna Beach, the most violent beach on the big island, with an average of just over 1 spinal injury a year, so our odds were still good.  I rode about 9 waves all the way in.  Some were pretty scary, but it was good fun.  I did have a calf freeze up on me while a wave crashed on me, a regular charlie horse type cramp.  Then it happened again less severely, so I took a rest and went out again after I felt stronger.  I did a corkscrew type flip under water during one wipe out, but that was the most dangerous body contortion that happened.  I know that this ocean stuff isn't the best thing to be doing when I am half injured, but I really did have a great time and I don't think my hip suffered much from it.

So I didn't to my tempo yesterday because of my pain the night before.  I wanted to do it this morning, but knew I had to get my hip's permission.  So I warmed up slowly as I have been doing.   Mile 1 was 9:36, some pain, not worse than prior days while warming up.  Mile 2 8:46, not feeling like I can go faster because I am still warming my hip up, still some pain through 1.5 miles, but slowly feeling normal.  Mile 3 8:03, feeling ok, then take a potty break in the lava rock surrounding the highway.  The lava rock is extremely uneven and will cut you up really easily.  The highway I am running on is a 55 mph road, so people are going even faster when they can.  There are lots of cars on it and there is plenty of wind this morning.  I Start the tempo at almost 3.5, plan to turn around after 2 then keep going.  I am hoping to hit 6:25's, which is goal 1/2 marathon pace, but I am not quite feeling strong at the start.

Mile 1 - 6:47, this first mile is so hard, hard to get in a rhythm, feeling unnaturally difficult for the pace, I am wondering if I should be doing this workout at all, I am adjusting my expectations for the workout, thinking I will just have to make it a marathon pace tempo and just try to negative split

Mile 2 - 6:36, this mile is slightly downhill, feeling stronger but it is still taking all my effort to slip below 6:40 pace, I am thinking to just try to keep in the 6:30's at this point

3 - 6:34, turnaround and slight uphill, was maintaining a faster pace for a while but had to crest a hill and thus didn't negative split too well

4 - 6:12 baby!  I start toying with a faster pace in this mile and it takes a while to realize I can actually maintain it.  It didn't feel that much harder than the first three miles, in fact I would say the effort was pretty similar

5 - 6:13 baby!

6 - 6:08

7 - 6:03, this last mile was tough, I was tired and had to negative split the last half mile to get under 6:10

7 mile tempo - ave pace 6:22 BABY!,  I can't believe I hit my goal with such a slow start.  I guess this means I am a true marathoner if it takes me 6 miles or so to warm up.  Part of that is my injury, I think, but it is still interesting.  If I take off the first 3/4 mile and calculate my 10K in this work out it comes out to a 39:30 according to my calculation, so that is a PR effort for sure.

I finished up with one last jog by the ocean through the resort.  The waves are crashing bigger today and it is so beautiful and the oceanic sounds are musical.

I went to a buffet breakfast and ate good and bad, including and exotic donut with macadamia nuts and chocolate sauce.  Sorry Sasha.

Asics.

After three crummy airline hours of sleep on a red eye flight from Hawaii to Oakland, I had 4.5 hour layover in Oakland.  I lay on the hard ground with industrial carpet in the airport, with constant blaring of important security announcements and boarding calls for about an hour, then put my running clothes on and hit the road for an easy run.  I was pretty delirious from the lack of sleep.  My trouble area was definitely troubling me from .5 miles to 2 miles, then it loosened up.  This is becoming the annoying norm.  I hit a bike trail, but it was only a 1.5 mile stretch so I did it a couple of times and called it good.

Asics.

Ran with Jamie and the Sojourners, though the Sojourners were a quite small group today.  I warmed up alone for a mile so that I didn't have to do my 10:30 first mile in a group.  The warm up was a little better than the last couple of days.  We started at the mouth of the Provo Canyon and went toward the temple.  Jamie and I separated at around 6 miles for me, and I was on my own after that.  I felt pretty good until about mile 9 then I started to suck wind pretty badly.  Can I be unadjusted to altitude after being at sea level for just a week?  I felt like a weakling.  About the same time it got harder for me to breathe it started to snow annoying little snow flakes, and my heavy winter clothes felt claustrophobic and I was sliding on the river trail in places and I thought, geez, I think I prefer Hawaii. . .

Oh well, I will adjust back to reality. 

Ave pace 8:50 

Mizuno