All it takes is all you've got

8 miles in 7:23 pace

Did some strides mid-run.  Achilles felt okay (at least not as tight as last Monday).  

I really really enjoyed watching General Conference (Church-wide broadcast for all members of the LDS faith) this past weekend.  I heard lots of great reminders and experienced couple of big ah-ha moments.  The most impressionable one being during a discussion I had with Aaron after he got home from the Priesthood Session Saturday night and told me about President Monson's talk on keeping the Sabbath day holy and the blessings of doing so.  I think I've become a little lazy about my Sabbath day observance over the past number of months but when I heard what our Prophet had to say regarding this doctrine it was a good wake up call.  Aaron and I had some very cool, meaningful discussion and made a resolution to do better at keeping the Sabbath day holy (in a myriad of ways) from now on.  Then our decisions and resolutions were confirmed by President Eyring's Sunday Morning talk about Faith and the promise that the Lord will provide a way.  I'm SO grateful for these inspired men and the guidance I receive from them.  Looking forward to the November issue of the Ensign magazine so I can read and re-read these great talks and others.

Met my team at East Boulder Community Park

20 min. warm up, stretching, strides

4X45 seconds w/ 75 sec. jog between each (5:25ish pace)

3X3 minutes w/ 90 sec. jog between each (5:45ish pace)

4X75 seconds w/ 60 sec. jog between each (5:20ish pace)

5 minutes steady in 5:39 pace

10 min. cool down

Felt pretty weak this morning.  I got slammed with a sinus infection yesterday and experienced a long, miserable night of sleep last night.  This morning's run loosened up all my congestion and I kept having to "clear my passages" which was obviously disgusting.  My effort was there, but my body just wasn't feeling great this morning.

5 miles in 7:37 pace

I'm taking it really easy today.  The sinus infection still in full force and my achilles tendons and left hip are both pretty tight too.  Its a good thing I still have 10 days to work out these kinks before the marathon.  

I finally went in to see Dr. Tim Lowney this morning after weeks of urging from Coach De Reuck.  Dr. Tim does a type of deep acupuncture where he puts the needle all the way into your muscle and then twists to create a small tear in the muscle which initiates a healing response and in effect, releases the tension.  Kind of like trigger point massage with needles.  He did it on both of my calves and my left hip.  It feels strange, like a dull achey muscle spasm as he's doing the work and now I my calves feel as soar as they would if I had just done a long track workout in spikes.  He also did some e-stim treatment which could be adding to my calf fatigue as well.  Hopefully my poor achilles tendons can hold out for 10 more days and come through for me in the marathon and then I promise to give them a nice break afterwards.  

I am considering getting shoulder repair surgery as soon as I start my break from running after Baltimore too.  I have appointments to see two different orthopedic docs and get opinions about what ligament repair surgery entails and if it is a good option for me.  Nine years ago when I first dislocated my shoulder I had two Dr's opinions about ligament repair surgery (basically stapling the stretched out ligament together to make it shorter and tighter) but decided not to get the surgery and instead try to keep my shoulder strong and avoid activities that dislocate it.  But now that (despite my efforts to keep my shoulder strong) the list of activities that have caused dislocation has become quite lengthy, I'm reconsidering the surgery.  Just off the top of my head I've dislocated my shoulder during all of the following activities: Falling while skiing (first time), rock climbing, swimming, throwing a baseball, tripping while hiking, tripping over my kids, sleeping with my arms above my head, kayaking, and last, but not least, lifting a cup to my mouth.  The last one startles me the most and is really the reason I'm considering surgery.  I am not at all a fan of surgery or any sort of invasive intervention though so there is a good chance I will decide not to get the surgery again.  But I feel like I ought to at least know my options and MAYBE if there is a type of arthroscopic repair that is not too invasive with relatively quick recovery time, MAYBE I'll get it done.  We'll see.

9 miles in 7:40 pace

My sinuses are still congested but the run helped relieve that a bit.  The right achilles is still complaining a lot too.  I went in for a massage after the kids were in bed.  She mostly focussed on my back where there was some extreme tightness. 

6 miles in 7:49 pace

Achilles.

Went in to Dr. Tim (deep acupuncture guy who is actually a chiropractor) again and he did some e-stim, laser therapy (don't really know what that is), ankle adjustments, and super deep tissue massage on my calf (ouch).  He also examined my feet and fit me for some "good feet" inserts for my shoes (basically a lightweight, generic orthotic).  The idea is to stabilize my heel as much as possible so as to get me through the next week with minimal achilles aggravation so I can be pain free on the marathon starting line.  I'll also be doing some pool running, ice massage every day, and taking ib profen three times a day for the next week.  We're pretty much pulling out all the stops considering the fact that I can't really lose anything from doing those things, but I could lose strength/health in my achilles if I don't do all those things.

Took the kids to Abe's soccer game this morning while Aaron did some mountain running.  We both arrived home around 10:40 a.m. and I rode my bike for 20 minutes to the swimming pool while he ate breakfast and drove the kids to the pool to meet me there.  For my workout I put on a flotation belt, tied an old, cut bicycle tube (aka resistance band) to the back of my belt (the other end to the wall) to keep me in place, and jumped in for some "aqua jogging" or "pool running" or "running under water" or "flailing my arms and legs like someone who never learned to swim" or whatever you call that weird cross training activity we crazy runners sometimes do.

30 minutes easy, 10, 4, 4 minutes at sustained effort with 2 minutes easy between each, then 18 minutes easy for a total of 70 minutes of aqua-rific fun.  And I have to admit it was actually quite fun.  Had I not gotten a hold of Aaron's waterproof iPod case it may have been dreadfully long and mind numbing but with the music I actually found myself smiling from time to time (and singing aloud even though the lifeguard may have questioned my sanity).

Achilles feels great!  Of course the only activity that ever causes it to hurt is actual running...so I guess I'll really know how it feels next week when I go for another run.

(I'm putting my daily effort at 7.5 miles just to make my weekly mileage look nice and purdy).