Where's the Donuts?

Back after five days off (combo of travel day/got sick/knee still bothering me). Beach Drive with Mike and Henry, really windy morning down there. With the tailwind we ran 6:45s, way too fast, and even into the headwind we were 6:50-7:10s. Turned around at four rather than five because no one felt good or in any rhythm, and my knee was nagging me a bit. Iced at home, but didn't stretch very well because I was rushing off somewhere else. That bit me on Sunday, when I made it 30 seconds into the run and couldn't go. So I stretched deeply and iced more, might have to take it easy for another week. We'll see about Mt. Si next Sunday.

55:17

supernova glide

30 minutes of walking with 200m or so slow jogging on Shore Drive, trying to rest my knee and figure out what's wrong. No sharp pain like Sunday, and walking doesn't both me anymore, so those are positive signs. But I can feel aching even running slowly, so I'm taking it easy. 30 minutes of stretching/core, now I'll get the ice on it. 

After a week of no running, with few encouraging signs other than 10 relatively pain-free minutes of jogging on Friday, I decided to stick with my team for the Mt. Si relay over in Snoqualmie. No idea what to expect, and certainly some worry that I'd get a minute into the first leg and need to drop. But why not, right? (Plus one other team member dropped, so I just couldn't do it.)

I'll get right to the good news: I ran my first leg nearly entirely pain-free, other than a brief lock up in the right knee in the first 400m or so, and just cruised. My legs felt like little sled dogs who had been chained up all night and were just yipping and yelping to get to run again. I was that excited once I started moving without pain. Ran a nice six miles on a wide gravel trail, with a little uphill but mainly even, in 38:20. I was holding back a little because the knee pain was in the back of my head, and because I knew there was another leg to go, but for the first time in weeks felt my legs stretch out and got the adrenaline going. 

Cooled down, got something quick to eat and stretched seriously, still worried the knee problems would resurface. Second leg was a seven-mile stretch continuously uphill. The sun came out at the beginning, a nice little bonus, and I took off on the gravel trail with my legs still in decent shape. A few hundred yards in I saw Dale coming, and slowed down to give him some encouragement (By the way, nice going man! You must have heard me scream "do it!" for the sub-7.) The trail was beautiful once it started moving uphill, looking at trees and the Snoqualmie River, but about 25 minutes in the knee pain returned. It's migrated over nearer the inside part of beneath the kneecap now. If I had been alone I would have stopped out of caution, but that wasn't an option halfway through a relay leg. So I gritted my teeth, slowed down a touch and toughed it out. Kept a decent pace, and the last half-mile I managed to stretch my legs out a bit and finish strong. 48:17 for seven miles, not bad considering, but a little unsettling with the pain returning (and not knowing what continuing on the leg will do later).

Stretched a lot and sat there with ice on it for awhile, and so far so good. Hasn't hurt since I got home. So we'll see tomorrow morning.

As for the rest of the team and race, we had a fun time and enjoyed the day. Weren't trying to win it, but we ended up sixth in our division and probably top-25 or so overall. I'll check that when results go up. Mt. Si is a pretty painless relay, some nice rural scenery and mountains and trees, and a good atmosphere and energy. Not a huge relay, but I heard 153 teams and almost 100 ultra runners doing the 50k or 50-mile. So a good day overall.

supernova glide white -- 13

Mid-morning run in Orlando. The time change threw my body all off, so I didn't get out until 9. (Work meetings didn't start until 2, so I had time.) Went down the row of hotels/conference centers/chain restaurants, went down a block and ran back. Knee felt pretty good, maybe 85 percent if I had to put a number on it. After I ran I was really hungry, but the "supermarket" didn't sell much more than old bananas, cheap wine, Florida trinkets and newspapers. So I bought a banana, newspaper, passed on the cheap wine, and went to the McDonald's next door to get some post-run "nutrition." Muggy outside, which felt pretty good. 

supernova glide -- 18

Pre-dawn run in Orlando, this time my body was acclimated to the time zone and I could wake up. I had invited a guy from my company the night before to join (he mentioned he was an 800 man in college, so I couldn't resist), but he was at the bar at the time and I wasn't certain he'd show. He did, and we headed out in the dark down that concrete hallway of corporate America. At 18 minutes or so we turned around, and he stopped for a bathroom break. I finished up, with a little detour to add some time, then did 5x100 striders on the other side of the hotel. Actually a great road for striders: flat, straight, and zero traffic. Knee was more or less fine, maybe 97 percent. So I might be out of the woods, or it just likes heat. Another muggy morning, but running before the sun comes up helped. Good to get two runs in down there.

The run was followed by 20 hours of meetings/fast food/airport terminals/airplane rides. I'm really, really glad I got out of bed and did it. Annnd, the guy I ran with just might become the new VP at our company, which I had no idea about at the time, so maybe I accidentally made a friend in the right place. 

45:00

supernova glide -- 24

I took two rest days knowing this long one was planned. Didn't want to ramp the miles back up too quickly, especially with the knee pain, while subsiding, still kind of an unknown. The talk this week with Mike was that we had to stick to a 7:30 pace, we even came up with a bet to try and give us a goal.

Didn't happen. Already somewhat warm (50) when we started (Henry joined also) just before dawn at Annapolis, and we were hitting 6:58s the first few miles. We fit one 7:11 or something in, but didn't get a 7:30 until mile 8, which is the hill at Manchester. We all kvetched, but didn't really do anything about it. So the rhythm took over and, although my quads were just hammered for some reason, we stuck with a pace right about 7:00/mile and ran pretty hard as the rain started for the return route (mixed in at least three 6:35s, so this might as well have been a tempo).

Other than the quads I felt good, had two mini Clifs and two salt tablets, which helped. Mostly I'm glad I haven't lost much fitness during those three weeks of low mileage, and that'll give me some confidence with Bloomsday coming quickly. The knee tickled a little here and there, but never materialized into much. So I'll say I'm back.

2:10:31

supernova glide -- 42

Easy run on the 11th-Shore Drive loop, then 6x100 striders up on Cascade Trail. 40:20 

supernova glide -- 47

Late run today because of a really late night at work Tuesday. And after a somewhat frustrating Wednesday at the office as well, I needed to blow it out. So I went to the Illahee Forest Preserve and just wandered the trails around and around, getting lost and finding myself again a few times. Pretty brisk pace the whole run, which felt really nice and smooth through the woods, then I tacked another quick mile on to finish up on the dirt access road. Cleared my head and stretched my legs, so it was a good one. 49:00

brooks cascadia 

Morning run to Lions Park, checked out the construction, then back through the Stevenson Canyon trails, which have turned out to be a great addition for that route. Nice quiet forest preserve, and some hills. Then back on Lebo at Callahan and down to Shore Drive, then home the usual way using the hill climb. Medium pace, felt good. Cloudy and grey outside, cool. 60:00

supernova glide -- 55

Early wake-up today with 20 planned on Beach Drive w/Henry and Mike. Kind of chilly and windy at Annapolis, but not rain. (At least not until we were 8 minutes in and it started. Didn't last long, luckily.) 

We started alright, hitting decent splits and trying to keep the pace even and moderate, but crept faster as we warmed up and the sun rose. 7:30, 7:15, 7:06, 7:01, 6:55. Whoops, sub-7. We chastised each other, whined, and kept going resolved to do better. 7:13, 7:04, 7:05, 7:55 (the hill in Manchester, 25 seconds slower than a week ago), 7:11, 7:01 (those two are short, we're convinced).

That's the turnaround spot, at Yukon Harbor. I needed a bathroom and wasn't feeling good anyway at that point. Just couldn't get a rhythm. One mini-Clif down, and an S-cap. No muscle pain or cramping or lack of energy, but some joint aches were bothering me. Mostly in the hip flexors. Still pretty chilly, and the wind would hit us every now and again. Started back being pulled up the hill by Mike, 7:35, then a 7:01 into Manchester (needed that pit stop, it's the best running bathroom I've ever found, doors automatically unlock at dawn instead of waiting for some lazy parks and rec guy to get there).

Hurting at this point, with 7 or so to go. Another S-cap. Grit the teeth time, and the guys felt the same. A few more around 7-7:05 back to Beach Drive, where the head wind was waiting. Hit 7:25s for the last few miles, battling the wind and our aching legs. Really good to push into the finish, that'll toughen me up. Not the prettiest Saturday long run, but it's done, and without any serious pain. 2:26:03

supernova glide -- 75

Over in Seattle for the morning. Took off from Bryce and Bonnie's, Burke-Gilman Trail to Fremont, then back and up Stone Way to Green Lake. That was about 7 miles, pretty good pace to start then I eased off. Felt really good in light of yesterday's beating. 

At Green Lake there was a new 5k. My cousin's son was going to run the 1k kids' dash and I was going to run with him. But he's 2, and made it maybe 100 yards (though maybe he was tired from our "warm up" over to the playground. He was definitely more interested in that run). And we kind of had to coax him through that. Got the biggest cheers though. Rather than run back to Bryce and Bonnie's I ate two donuts (the 5k was sponsored by a donut store) and hitched a ride with little Axel's parents. 50:00

supernova glide -- 82

A few busy days at work, including a late shift, threw my running schedule off. But the plan was to back off a touch this week anyway before Sunday's Bloomsday race, so maybe that's alright. Got back out this morning, cool morning but the sun came up. Warren-Manette Bridge loop, plus a detour through the Olympic College campus to see a new building that opened yesterday. Then 6x100 strides on Shore Drive, and back the hillclimb trail home. 45:20

supernova glide -- 88

Just a shorty around the neighborhood to wake me up and loosen up the legs before work. Two days until Bloomsday, driving to Spokane tomorrow after the crew races at Montlake Cut. Feeling pretty good, should be a fun race. 21:30

supernova glide -- 91