Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Ran to the end of the single track of the River Trail and back from my house. I met Jon at the trail head, so got in about 6 of the miles with him, which made it better. There was about 3 inches of snow on the trail, so the going was slower and harder. I felt kind of tired from yesterday, and was glad to be done with the run.

It has now been 4 weeks since Trials, and I should be adequately recovered enough to do some harder training again in preparation for Houston. 100-110 miles/week is on order for the month of December. Should be interesting, as I've never tried to train this much over the winter. But I'm willing to do whatever it takes to reach the next level, snow or no snow.

(Triax: 306 miles)

Interesting news for 2012 Olympic Trials: the standards just got a lot tougher. Also, no more St. George (or other downhill courses). I've blogged about it HERE, for anyone who cares.

Easy 5 miles with dog and on Planet Walk. Didn't wear watch. Roads and sidewalks were very icy.

(Adrenaline blue: 440 miles)

Big Workout. 15 miles with 8 mile MP tempo and 10x100m strides. Nice day, over 40 degrees and some sun. I did the Millville Hill Loop (now wish I didn't). I warmed up for three miles and then started the tempo.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	5:20	rolling
2	5:24	3/4 downhill, 1/4 uphill
3	6:25	all uphill
4	6:00	1/2 uphill, 1/2 flat
5	5:37	1/4 uphill, 3/4 downhill
6	5:15	all downhill
7	5:16	1/2 downhill, 1/2 flat
8	5:25	rolling, gradual uphill

It went well except for the uphills and also had some stomach issues that caused for to stop for short amounts of time at 2 miles and again at 4 miles. Not good. But the last 4 miles I got into a pretty good rhythm and worked through the stomach issues. I will not do this route again for a tempo for a few weeks. I need to get stronger first. The Millville Hill just killed me. But the workout is in the books at least. Only 9 more Big Workouts until Houston. Every one makes me stronger, right? 6:10/mile average pace for the run.

(Elite: 154 miles)

AM - got up and stumbled/ran to the gym in the dark, and then did treadmill for about 40 minutes at just under 7:00/pace. HR was pegged at around 150, probably because it is very warm in the gym. Stumbled home, and then around the block with the dog. 7 miles total for the morning. Took a righteous nap afterward for 1:15:00, which is a good time for me. Heh heh. As my mileage gets back over 90 and 100, I need to be disciplined enough to take lots of naps. That means good time management.

(1120: 403 miles)

noon - easy 9 miles on the Landfill Loop.

(Triax: 315 miles)

Easy 8 miles this morning, just around town. Slow. I wish the weather would stay like this all winter!

(Adrenaline blue: 448 miles)

Big Workout today.10x1000m @ CV pace, plus 6x200m strides @ 3k pace. 200m rest between intervals (~1 minute). Warmed up for a couple miles, then stopped at home to change into my flats, and continued over to the LHS track (which was gleefully empty, one good thing about December).

Interval	Split
1	3:05
2	3:07
3	3:09
4	3:09
5	3:08
6	3:08
7	3:08
8	3:09
9	3:07
10	3:06

The first four 200's were 34 seconds, the last two were high 33's.

This workout rocked me pretty hard, but I was glad to complete it and get it under my belt. My goal pace was actually 3:03/K, but since I didn't come close on any interval, perhaps my CV pace should be re-assessed. Maybe at sea level I could have done it. On the positive, this is the most 1K intervals I've ever done, and probably the fastest too. It just seemed like a poor workout at first because the bar was set a bit high, but I'm happy with it now. Sure hurt though. My calves started getting sore after the 6th interval, and are still sore now. I think it's just growing pains to getting back into harder workouts and wearing flats again. Also, my form felt sloppy, and I'm still carrying about 3 extra pounds from post-Trials slacking and Thanksgiving/vacation eating. My body will reach its "high-mileage equilibrium" in a couple weeks, and I think that will help.

Cooled down afterward, then stopped back at home, showered, and got in 00:40:00 of napping. Time to get back to work!

(Elite: 160 miles)

AM - 0.5 miles with the dog, then 0.5 miles to the gym, 5.5 on the treadmill, and 0.5 home. A little misty, but not raining at the time. On tv, it looked like the Wasatch Mnts were getting hammered. Calves are still a little sore from yesterday.

(Adrenaline blue: 455 miles)

Napped for 01:04:00 after my morning run.

PM - easy 9 miles on the Landfill Loop. Snowing, but not sticking (yet). 7:10/mile pace. Ave HR 141.

(1120: 412 miles)

Long run. Ran the TOU course backward to the Hollow Rd./Blacksmith Fork intersection and back. Did the first 12 miles easy, then 3 miles of tinman tempo, then 3 miles of cooldown with 10x100 strides. Tempo miles were 5:45, 5:48, 5:39. The first mile was largely the stretch along Hwy 165, the second mile included the long uphill through Millville, and the third mile finished off the uphill and started the downhill into Providence. Weather was nice for first half, but then I hit a nasty, cold canyon wind near Blacksmith Fork (I forgot about those), and was very grateful to turn around at halfway to get a tailwind and the slight downhill. By Providence it started snowing pretty good. I felt tired the whole run, and was quite glad to be done. 6:47/mile average pace for the run. 93 miles total for the week, 101 scheduled for next week.

I am reviewing the Nike Sport Kit + Nano thingy, so today I was techno-runner. I wore an iPod and a Garmin, plus had the food pod thingy in my shoe. I wish I could keep the Nano; it's pretty darn cool. It's amazing how many songs you can listen to during a 2-hour run. I got through most of Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream (good running album), U2 Pop, Glen Phillips Mr. Lemons, and part of the Wailin' Jennys Firecracker. Definitely beat running by myself in the cold, wind, and snow.

(Triax: 333 miles)

Easy 7 miles on Planet Walk and USU track (was calibrating Nike Sport Kit). Slippery out today. Didn't wear watch.

(Adrenaline blue: 460 miles)

(Triax: 335 miles)

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Packers win the NFC Norse. Lions do us no favors.

Big Workout. 8 mile MP tempo, with 10x100m strides at the end. 15 miles total. Today I tried a new loop: the Hyde Park Hill Loop. It starts out on my Logan Loop, then I cross Main by Iggy's, then turn left on 800 N, and take that road to Hyde Park. Then a right onto the main road there, up the hill (a mile long), and then back south on 1600 N, at which point the route merges with my North Logan -USU-Boulevard Loop. So perhaps a better name for this new loop would be the "Logan-Hyde Park Hill-North Logan-USU-Boulevard Loop. But I'll stick with "Hyde Park Hill Loop", because it has a really stinkin' big hill in Hyde Park. Or maybe "Loop of Pain". I thought this route might be easier than my Millville Hill Loop, but it was in fact harder.

Warmed up for 4 miles, then started the tempo.

Mile	Split	Terrain
1	5:39	rolling
2	5:44	rolling; more uphill than down
3	6:54	um...BIG uphill.
4	5:18	blissful downhill
5	5:47	rolling; last bit of uphill
6	5:28	net dowhill
7	5:36	flat
8	5:41	mostly down; traffic stops

It was an okay workout, but not my best. The Hyde Park Hill makes Millville Hill look like a loser. I've ran down this hill many times, back when we would do long runs from Ben's house in North Logan, but never up. I'd rather go down. The last half of the tempo felt pretty good. The last mile was going through USU campus, so I had to slow down through the traffic light on 800 N, and then took the steep paved trail down from campus, which slowed things down too, because it was too steep. But another workout is in the bank.

Took a 00:45:00 power nap afterwards.

(Elite: 175 miles)

AM - morning treadmill routine. 7 miles total. I just got my FRB/St. G Running Center Team gear (thanks Steve and Sasha), so I wore one of the shirts over to the gym, and then made sure there were people in the row of treadmill behind me who could see the shirt, and therefore join the blog. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

Napped for 01:10:00 before going to work.

(Adrenaline blue: 467 miles)

PM - 9 mile out-and-back to the River Trail from work. Cold, but tolerable. I did further testing of the Nike+iPod thingy while listening to a "This American Life" podcast. Now that the foot pod is calibrated, it was within 0.01 mile of my Garmin's measurement. Not bad for a $30 gadget. I felt really good during the run, and was fueled by injustices exposed by Ira Glass and cohorts. Averaged 6:44/mile for the run.

(Triax: 344 miles)

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Alright, all this talk about pink shorts for the racing team got me all worked up. So I decided that we needed a simulation to see how it would look in action.

AM - easy 6 miles in the dark. Very cold this morning. 7:40/mile average pace. The highlight of this run was wearing brand spankin' new Adrenalines with brand spankin' new Powerstep inserts. And not just any Powersteps, but the Powerstep Pinnacles. It's the orthotic used by kings and other nobility. Oh yeah, I'm living large!

(Adrenaline: 6 miles)

PM - easy 8 miles on Landfill Loop. A bit warmer out now, and I had a good run. Listened to a This American Life podcast about summer camp, which was entertaining. 6:39/mile average pace.

(Axiom: 8 miles)

Big Workout. 6x1-mile on the road @ LT pace, 1/4 mile recovery between intervals. I did the workout on the Young Ward-ICON Loop, which is as close to flat as we get around here. It started snowing before my run, and the roads were pretty wet. Cold and snowy is not my ideal running environment, but does it matter? I guess not. Warmed up for two miles and then started the intervals.

Interval	Split
1	5:07
2	5:13
3	5:10
4	5:14
5	5:10
6	5:14

Considering the weather and road conditions, I'm pretty happy with this workout. I hit a slight headwind on intervals 3 and 4, but then had nice conditions for 5 and 6, except on the 6th interval, my route turned onto a gravel road that was snow-covered and slick...and gravel. I think that last interval was worth a 5:10, but the effort was there, which is was matters.

My calves, especially the left one, got really sore after the 4th interval, probably due to wearing flats for a long period of time. The same thing happened last week, so hopefully my body will start adjusting. Maybe I should wear flats twice per week for more exposure. My cooldown was kind of pathetic, since I was so sore. But another quality day is in the books.

Big zero for today. Around 7PM last night I was just sitting there, feeling perfectly fine, and then within an hour I was sick with the beginnings of a cold. Today I have a sore throat, congestion, and general lethargy. I have definitely felt worse, just a garden-variety cold, but I put myself in self-quarantine and stayed home today. In a small office like ours, there no need to risk getting everyone else sick, especially when I can remote-desktop to anywhere on our network and get work done if the need arises (I had to do this for a couple hours today). It's been a good day of rest, and also got a lot of work done on the FRB running resumes.

I thought about going for a run earlier on, but then emailed Coach Tinman, who told me just to rest until I am healthy again. Loss of fitness at the muscle level and of blood volume doesn't start for several days, he says. Therefore, I am better off just resting and getting healthy faster, and not risking prolonging the illness. On that note, it's so good to have a coach in my corner now so that I don't have to make these decisions myself. Before, I would probably be out running right now, out of obsessive-compulsive guilt, and doing my body more harm than good. But now I have someone I can trust just telling me what to do, and it takes a lot of weight off my shoulders so that I can focus on the actual running, and on other things.

So no 100-mile week for me this week, but it's just a number, right?

No run again, still sick. I feel about the same as yesterday, but I imagine things will turn around by tomorrow. I got 12 hours of sleep last night, and will probably catch a nap or two today.

Still get today, but starting to feel better. I decided to take one more day off, and will resume normal activity tomorrow.

Since I have all sorts of free time, being bored and all, I finally got around to posting some of my more recent thoughts and arguments regarding the new Trials standards on my blog.

Feeling a bit better today, but still have congestion and am developing a slight cough. Toward the end of today at work I was feeling a bit worn down too, but couldn't go home because a client was in town from Colorado to work with me. Will probably take some more time off work tomorrow.

Coach Tinman gave me an adjusted schedule for this week to slowly get back into running. 4 miles today, just did the out-and-back on the Planet Walk. 7:15/mile pace.

(Triax: 348 miles)

Easy run on the canal trail. Still coughing; congestion is getting better. I am taking part of the day off work, and will be working from my home office the rest of the time, so hopefully that will give me extra rest. Time for a nap.

My Wordpress blog has apparently caught the same virus I have. Something to do with the MySQL database. It worked one day, didn't work the next. I touched nothing. Beh. Hopefully tech support will sort it out. If it's down forever, I don't feel like rebuilding it again. 

(Adrenaline blue: 473 miles)

I had a dental appointment, but my wife had the car, so I ran 2.5 miles to the dentist, then 2.5 miles back home, and then another 4 miles on the Planet Walk. Average pace was 7:21/mile. I'm feeling quite a bit better than yesterday, but still have some coughing and hacking. Congestion is quite a bit better.

(Elite: 184 miles)

AM - ran to gym and did treadmill. 6.5 miles total. Health is much improved, but still coughing and hacking stuff up occasionally. If my energy level is still high this afternoon, I'll do another easy run.

(Adrenaline blue: 480 miles)

PM - got the urge to run again while walking home from work in the dark and snow. Called up Jon and met him at the Planet Walk; we ran the Planet Walk and then a loop on the golf course. Pretty good snow run. Distance is unknown, but I'm estimating it at 6 miles.

(Triax: 354 miles)

AM - 6.5 miles, Treadmill routine. Roads are very snowy.

(Elite: 190 miles)

PM - easy 6.5 miles; Planet Walk and misc. running around town. Colder today, but not too bad. 7:11/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline blue: 486 miles)

AM - easy 8 miles, on Providence Hill Loop. Listened to another This American Life podcast, about roadtrips. Very cold, and my beard completely froze over, which is appropriate for the first full day of winter. 7:12/mile average pace.

(Triax: 362 miles)

PM - easy 5.5 miles. Planet Walk, plus some distance with the dog. Didn't wear watch, but did break in my new Saucony Tangents.

(Tangent: 5 miles)
 

Good news, I got my personal blog working again. Had to take an old MySQL backup and configure it to work with the new server. I lost a couple comments, but other than that it's all there. I also finally lost the horrible big toenail on my right foot, after over a year of trying, so that's even better news. Fresh starts all around.

To make myself feel better about the Packer loss, I posted some more inspiring quotes on my blog, this time all are by Vince Lombardi. Click here if you care. 

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AM - Easy 5 miles on a fresh new layer of snow. Didn't wear watch.

(Adrenaline blue: 491 miles)

PM - having seen enough of the Packers humiliating themselves (and their fans) in front of the Bears, I bailed on the game drove up to Green Canyon and did some XC skiing. Lots of people up there; nice to see the ski community out and about. For fun, I took my Garmin to see how fast I was skiing. First two uphill miles were 15:04 and 15:53. Then I turned around and went downhill. I'm not very good down hills on skinny skis and leather boots, but I managed to do some snow plowing and not bite it at all, which is important when there's a lot of other people out there. 8:01 and 8:11 on the downhill miles. 47:06 for the whole 4-mile trek. Green Canyon was really beautiful, with huge amounts of snow hanging from the trees. I may try the golf course by the Planet Walk later this week if we get some more snow.

Workout today, of medium proportions, since I'm just returning from sickness. I did a hill fartlek on the Hyde Park Hill Loop. The idea was to hit 5K pace on shorter hills (<800m), LT pace on medium hills (800m-1600m) and MP on hills longer than a mile. Well, most hills out here are longer than a mile, so I was MP for most of the surges, but I got the other paces in a one point or another as well. 6 hills total. I just ran by feel and didn't pay attention to pace, since it's pretty meaningless to me going uphill anyway. Kind of a fun run, and weather was nice. My quads and hip flexors are sore from XC skiing yesterday, but I managed to cope.

(Elite: 203 miles)

Merry Christmas! I ran a little bit with the dog, and then Logan came by and we ran around Providence. We got about 8" of snow last night, so roads were not in good shape, and it was absolutely FREEZING. The bank by the Providence Stadium 8 said that is was 3 degrees. That digital sign always runs a bit on the low side, so it was probably more like 10 degrees out. Either way, my hands hurt by the end, and I had the full Frostillicus beard going. 7:45/mile average pace.

(Triax: 369 miles)

PM - Stacy and I went out in the afternoon and XC skied the Logan River Golf Course. Finally, a good use for golf courses. Snow coverage was good, and it was actually kind of run, skiing up and down the hummocky terrain. Skied the front 9 and crossed the bridge over the Planet Walk and tackled the back 9. Probably a couple miles total.

AM - easy 8.5 miles. Roads are still very snowy, and traction is difficult. I ran around town for a while, then did the Planet Walk, which hasn't been plowed yet, but has been packed down a little. 8:19/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline: 14 miles)

PM - I was sick of being cold every run and was craving a good sweat, so for the PM run I went to the gym and hit the treadmill. 7.5 total, with the run to and from the gym.

(Adrenaline blue: 499 miles)

Bad day today. I had been experiencing some irritation since Tuesday in the vicinity of the ischium, but it was tolerable, not impacting my stride, and not getting any worse. Today it got worse, much worse.

I ran from work to the gym, warmed up a mile on the treadmill, and then started my 8x1000m workout. I chose the treadmill over the roads after a lot of internal debate. The basic reason was that the roads are so slick and snow-covered that trying to run a threshold-paced workout on it would have been futile, or even dangerous. I don't like the treadmill for hard workouts, but the mill is flat (uncrowned), snow-free, plus I rationalized I needed to get used to heat for the Houston race.

I cranked the puppy up to 12 mph for the interval portions, and ran that pace for 3:07...roughly a 1000m. Recovery intervals were just over a minute. Incline was set at 1% to help negate the lack of wind resistance. The first 4 intervals went pretty well. The 5th one had a little bit more pain, but nothing to worry about. But after the 6th one, I knew something was really wrong. I got off the treadmill, walked around a little bit, and got a drink of water. I then jumped back on the treadmill and tried to jog slowly. Not happening. I went from being able to hold 5-minute pace pretty easily to not even being able to jog at 9-minute pace, all within a few minutes.

I finished up the last two intervals on the elliptical, just tried to work hard for 3-minute durations. After that I changed and went back outside, tried to start jogging back to work. Still not going to happen. So I ended up walking the mile back to work (fortunately Logan is a small town, and I both work and live centrally).

For the rest of the afternoon, it just went from bad to worse. The pain had spread up my sartorius muscle (which attaches to the ischium, I'm told). It felt a little like the groin strain I had last year, but also a lot different. I was afraid I had a pelvic stress fracture, or something like that. It hurt to stand on my right leg when unsupported. It also hurt to raise my right knee while sitting or standing. An activity like putting on pants hurts a lot. Walking the half mile home from work also hurt a lot. My lifestyle relies on me being healthy and mobile, so something like this trickles down to my "commute" home as well.

I wanted to get this thing diagnosed, or at least a referral, just for peace of mind. I'm a bit obsessive that way. Plus, if I couldn't run Houston, I wanted to let the USATF people know asap, so they could give my spot and my funding to someone else. After dinner Stacy and I went to the IHC Instacare, which is open until 9PM. I don't really like my family doctor, so this is as good as any place for me. Waited half and hour (which what I have to wait when I make an appt for my family doctor), and then got to see the doctor.

I totally lucked out here. It turned out the doctor had a background in sports medicine, and she was pretty good. She thought that since the pain varied by what position I put my leg in, and since it came on quickly, it was probably not a stress fracture, and didn't recommend x-rays or anything fancy like that. She thought that it was more likely that the muscles in the area are messed up (my wording) and spasming (her wording), which was causing pain, inflammation, and weakness. Treatment: prescription-sized doses of OTC NSAIDS (which I have plenty at home), heat, and ice. I asked about deep massage, and she thought that could help as well, so I'll probably schedule an appointment soon with my LMT. Apparently inflammation is the big problem here, so the key will be to kill it. It probably wouldn't hurt to see my DC next week either.

If I can get rid of the pain enough to where I do a few short runs/day, I think I can maintain fitness and still run Houston. Elliptical can help too, but I need the pain to subside a little even for that.

My only theories on how this could have happened:

• Responding poorly to activities I do not frequently do
• XC skiing - went for the first time in two years on Sunday, then again on Tuesday. Perhaps something got pinched or torqued from the motions that my body is very much not used to. Pretty good timing correlation for this theory.
  
• Running in the snow and ice. Probably a little less likely, but people do get injured more when running on slick surfaces. It throws the stride off, which can lead to all sorts of things. I first really noticed some irritation on Tuesday afternoon, and I had done my first run on snowy roads in a while on Tuesday morning.
  
• Treadmill. Kind of the opposite of the snow/ice thing. Footing is good, but it does affect the stride and biomechanics. Injuries are known to happen from treadmill running. However, I've been doing treadmill running for a couple months now without any hint of discomfort, so I'm not too sold on this idea.

Not much progress since yesterday. Still hurts to walk. Still hurts to dress myself (don't worry, I gritted through the pain and am wearing pants). At this pain level, I don't believe even cross training to be an option.

I'm sticking with the short course of ibuprofen (800mg, 3x day) and applying both heat and ice. I have a massage session scheduled for tomorrow morning. Hopefully my LMT can work her usual magic. She almost single-handedly cured my plantar fasciitis, and also increased the rate of healing on my groin strain last year, so I have reason to be optimistic.

Since I can't register any miles today, at least I can enter sleep time!

Yesterday afternoon and evening, my groin got progressively better. I did a few heat/ice cycles at home, and that seemed to help quite a bit, and the meds were probably kicking in too. Wasn't really limping much by bedtime.

This morning, I heated the area in bed for about 20 minutes, then got up. It didn't feel as good as it did yesterday evening, but better than it did yesterday morning, making me think that it really is totally muscle-related and how it feels is a function of how warmed up it is. I managed to walk the dog and do errands without too much problem. At 11:30 I had my 2-hr full-body massage. As usual, it was really good. My LMT couldn't quite pinpoint the exact problem, but in any case it got the circulation going and when I got off the table (hard to do after 2 hours), it felt a fair bit better. And the rest of me feels wonderful. I'll continue with the ibuprofen, heat, and ice over the course of the day. We'll see how the progress goes. It's pretty simple: when the pain goes away I can run again; if it's still around I won't run. 

Groin only a little better today. Outlook is doubtful for New Years Run tomorrow. But I am pre-registered, so you better believe I'll still show up and wear the t-shirt with pride! And I can take on the support role and cheer Stacy on in her first 5K. And I can still consume lots of food. Like I said to Stacy the other day, there's too many other good things going on in my life to get down about running. I think I'm healthy enough for elliptical, so can at least stay fit on that until I work through this muscle strain. Nothing like elliptical two-a-days (whatever it takes).

One good thing that happened today is the Packers getting back on track and making roadkill out of the Lions.

AM - Stacy dropped me off at the gym, and I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. It felt okay; a bit of tightness but not much pain. I will see how my body reacts, and if I'm feeling good I'll do another session during the noon hour. The walk home felt fine, probably because the muscle was warmed up.

noon -  my body seemed to be agreeing with the morning workout, so I went back to the gym during the noon hour and did another 30 minutes on the elliptical. Everything felt a little bit looser the second time around (to be expected). This time, I did 15 minutes easy, and then the last 15 minutes at the elliptical version of "marathon pace."

After the gym, I went to see my chiropractor. As Josse suggested, my sacrum was very much torqued and twisted. The DC thought that was causing a bit of tendinitis in a hamstring muscle where it attaches at the ischium. Being a chiro, he thought the whole problem was 100% mechanical in nature. If that is correct, then the solution should be purely mechanical as well, and a good adjustment should fix everything. I'll know more tomorrow, but my body moved like butter during the adjustment, and immediately afterward everything felt much better, especially at that muscle insertion point. I'm walking pretty good right now. I jogged across my office a little bit later in street shoes, and didn't feel any pain, also good. Obviously, the muscles themselves still have some residual inflammation and tightness, but perhaps the root of the problem has been fixed? I guess I'll have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow morning. It can be kind of deceiving, since I tend to feel better over the course of a day anyway from my muscles getting warm. So I may be having trouble filtering the effects of the adjustment from my normal daily pattern.

In any case, today has been good on all counts. Running might be an option tomorrow. I'll see the chiro again Wednesday.