High-Octane

I took a couple of days off after my 20 mile run on Sunday. My left knee was bothering me. Actually both knees were a little sore but the left one was much worse. (Today the right knee is perfect.)

I don't want to say this but it sorta felt like it did when I had the bone spur break off and floating in my knee. There seemed to be a lot of grinding and popping when I bent my knee. In some positions there is no pain at all and walking does not seem to bother it. Over the last two days it seems to be getting better. I'm hoping it's not a bone spur and I can be back to full speed soon and not have much of a setback.

Today I decided to go to the gym and do some cross-training and see how my knee would feel. I first rode the stationary bike for 20 minutes (6.35 miles). I'm out of shape for riding :-(  Then I ran on the elipitical machine for 20 minutes (2.5 miles @ 8:00 pace). I hate that machine! Then, since my knee was feeling good, I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes (2.5 miles @ 8:00 pace). Lastly I lifted weights for 20 minutes (chest, back, sholders). I'm going to be sore from this :-(

During the run my knee didn't really hurt much. There was a slight twinge but it didn't seem to get any worse so I continued to run. After the run the knee felt fine.

Hopefully I will get over this quickly. I'm thinking of doing this same training for a couple more days before I go out on the road and run again.

Gym day again. I'm not really sure how my knee felt since I took three ibuprofen last night. Today I rode the stationary bike for 30 minutes (9.75 miles), elliptical hell (as Lily would describe it. I really hate that machine. I'd like to know who the idot was that invented it! Oh...for 30 minutes 3.6 miles and then ran for 30 minutes (4 miles) on the treadmill.

I could actually fee a tweak in my knee for most of the run but it didn't get any worse so I just kept running. There was no pain at all during the other two activities. I guess I'll do this same workout again tomorrow. I really hope this problem goes away before Sunday, I need to get in another long run.

Nahum 1:3

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Trying another day at the gym in hopes my knee gets better.

9.6 miles on the bike @ 30 min., 4 miles on the elliptical @ 30 min. and 4 miles on the treadmill @ 32 min. (7:30 pace).

I'm still hoping to attempt a long run (20 miles)  this weekend. I may just load up on vitamin I and attempt it.

My knee seems to be getting better but still has some pain. I now believe it's just an overuse injury and not a floating bone spur. The cross-training (combo of spinning, elliptical and treadmill) did not seem to aggrivate it any more and it is actually getting better. I'll probably do the same workout this week although I'd really like to get out and run some intervals and a tempo run in preparation for the Half Marathon on Sunday.

I really wasn't sure what I was going to run today because of my knee. But I did know I wouldn't run 20, as I originally planned, since everyone advised against it. I got up at 5:30 to give myself plenty of time to run some substantial miles anyway. I had predetermined that if my knee started hurting (got any worse) that I would just stop at whatever milage, but as I ran it didn't seem to get worse so I just kept going. During my run miles 7,8,9 seemed really hard. There are some rolling hills in those miles and my legs just seemed to want to quit, they got really heavy and stiff. I pushed through and actually felt much better on miles 11,12,13. I hope this is not any indication how I'll feel at the race on Sunday. I'm hoping to run a 6:45 pace but it seems impossible in my mind right now since that's a full minute faster than today's run.

I was supprised to find out, after I completed this run, that this run is exactly what my training schedule had for next week's long run (15 miles @ 7:46) and I hit it right on the mark. :-)

1/6/2013
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Elevation Gain
1	7:27:00	140	72%	70
2	7:32:00	152	80%	115
3	7:52:00	152	80%	93
4	7:41:00	151	80%	44
5	7:41:00	150	79%	33
6	7:43:00	149	78%	42
7	8:19:00	152	80%	118
8	7:45:00	150	79%	91
9	7:54:00	152	80%	70
10	7:57:00	150	79%	76
11	7:55:00	155	82%	98
12	7:55:00	155	82%	147
13	7:42:00	155	82%	54
14	7:45:00	155	82%	27
15	7:30:00	159	85%	76
Total	116:38:00	152	80%
Pace	7:46:32		1152' Elevation Gain
Where Run - Smallville, Small Loop & Smallville again to make 15 miles.
Weather - 32 Degrees
Target: Long Run - 15 Miles @ 7:41 Note: My knee was just slightly hurting. Afterwards not any worse. This was supposed to be a 20 mile day but I opted for 15 since I have the 3M Half Marathon next Sunday.

Gym day, just trying to let my knee get better.

1/8/2013
Mile	Time
9.2	30 Min.	Stationary Bike
4	30 Min.	Eliptical
4.25	30 Min.	Treadmill
			Total Miles	8.25
SMAC Gym
Indoor
Target: 30 min. each exercise. Knee still has pain.

Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.

Ran in the evening.

.75 Slow, 1 Mile @ 6:50, .75 Slow, 1 Mile @6:29,  .75 Slow = 4.25 Miles Total

Knee was ok.

Gym.

7.5 miles @ 7:30 pace, 2.5 miles on elliptical.

Knee hurt a lot after the run.

My knee was really bothering me yesterday evening but this morning it feels a lot better.

Yesterday it hurt just to touch it and hurt even worse when I bent it back. The pain is a streching and grinding on the top and front of my kneecap. I'm sure it's just an overuse thing. It came on when I got the bright idea to "catch up" on my milage a couple of weeks ago (I had gotten behind because of my travel and busy schedule).

I would probably drop out of the race on Sunday if I weren't already entered. I'm still going to go into the race to try and beat last year's time.

I don't think I'm going to run any more this week unless I do a mile or so tomorrow just to get a feel for race pace.

Thanks for all your encourgment and advice!

4.2 Easy/Slow Miles

Sometimes you just feel human!

Ha ha…I’m having a hard time writing this Race Report. I can’t decide if I’m happy or disappointed about the results. A month ago I really thought I would be able to run around a 6:45 pace. My training was going well and I was feeling really strong but then my knee started giving me trouble. When that happened I had to scale back on my training and my confidence started to fade.

Even so, I went into this race with the intention of running a PR and started out on a pace to set myself up for that. (More details on that later in the report.)

The morning of the race was cold and windy but luckily dry. It was about 35 degrees with wind gust between 15-20 miles per hour. With my Reynolds Syndrome I am always afraid of getting too cold but I quickly realized I overdressed. I wore all of my heavy Underarmor, heavy beanie another shirt and shorts and two pair of gloves. I was sweating after only a couple of miles and halfway through the race I felt like I was completely soaked with sweat.

Here’s how the race played out:

Mile 1: I started out the race near the 1:30 pace group. As the gun went off I kept pace with the crowd feeling pretty good. The entire crowd seemed to move in unison with very little jockeying for position. As I ran along in this first mile I was trying to just relax and breathe. I was feeling good in this mile and somewhat confident I could keep up a good pace. The first mile came in exactly where I wanted at 6:51.

Mile 2: Was even a little better at 6:45. I didn’t mean to run that fast on the second mile but I was happy to see the time.

Mile 3: Came in at a smooth 6:46 and I was feeling good.

Mile 4 & 5: I slowed slightly on these miles to 6:52 and 6:53 but felt like I was right where I wanted to be at this point in the race.

Mile 6: I dropped to a 7:03 but I wasn’t alarmed since I had stopped and gotten a good drink of Gatorade (this probably took 10 seconds). My plan was to stop and walk a couple of times in the race to make sure I refueled properly. (This seems to work best for me instead of trying to run and drink at the same time.)

Mile 7: I was back on pace at 6:53 and now feeling like I might really be able to pull off a PR.

Mile 8: For some reason I started to fade in the second half of this mile. I remember feeling very disappointed when I saw my Garmin flash 7:11 at the end of the mile.

Mile 9: Going into mile 9 I started to get a little concerned as suddenly I was feeling very tired and fatigued. I decided to slow to a walk, eat a Gu and drink some Gatorade in hopes this would revive me and give me a boost to finish the race. After doing this I just couldn’t seem to get my legs moving and the mile came in at 7:25. Oh no, I’m in trouble!

Mile 10: I tried to push but just didn’t seem to be gaining any time. The mile came in at 7:06 L

Mile 11: This is the mile when my heart really dropped. The pesky 1:30 pacers came running past me chanting something like “longer than 1:30 is way too slow”. Ahhhh I’m beginning to hate pacers! I think I gave up on this mile and my 7:24 time reflected that. I’ve never had so many runners pass me as did in this mile.

Mile 12 & 13: I just cruised along feeling sorry for myself and watching more runners pass me by. Ran a 7:09 and a 7:08

Last .1: At this point I got sick and tired of being passed so I kicked in another gear and pushed to the end. I passed about 7-8 runners before I crossed the finish line. Time for the .01 (Garmin read .15) was 0:56.

Official Time: 1:32:23

Age Group: 18^th / 215

Overall: 261 / 5025       

Little Details:

My knee didn’t really bother me at all during the race. I took several Ibuprofen the night before and then again before the race. After the race and gradually throughout the day my knee began to hurt more and more. Today it is finally getting better. I believe by tomorrow it will feel good enough to run but this is the cycle I’ve been going through for a while. I am starting to worry that I may fall too far behind in my training for the Ft Worth Marathon in six weeks.

More Information:

Below is a chart showing my six half marathon races. One thing I noticed is that my overall HR was lower in this race than any of the others. As I look back at the details of the race I see that my HR actually started dropping after mile 5. So what does this mean? Maybe I just wasn’t putting out enough effort? In all my other races my HR continued to climb throughout my race to the end. Also, this was the first half marathon that I did not run a negative split on the second half of the race.

  Here is my full spreadsheet with splits and HR:

Final Thoughts:

Lastly, as I look at all my half marathon times (including this one), I realize that I should be able to run below 3:20:00 in a full marathon with ease and probably closer to a 3:10:00 with the right training and execution. I should be and am grateful God has given me the health and ability to run and accomplish these goals!

Psalm 150:1-6

   Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship,
    praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power,
    praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet,
    praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance,
    praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum,
    praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
    Hallelujah!

After three days off my knee was feeling pretty good so I went to the gym and rode the elliptical for 9 miles at a fairly easy pace. We'll see how it feels later in the day.

Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

I may have found a good mix to compensate for my knee issue.

2 miles Elliptical, 2 miles Run, 2 miles Elliptical, 2 miles Run, 2 miles Elliptical ... ran out of time.

Two miles is about where I can feel my knee start to complain, then it goes away with the elliptical work. I know this is not anywhere what I need to be doing but at least it's progress.

I may try to run 3-4 on the road tomorrow.

The weather was great this morning at 35 degrees, slightly foggy and no wind. I wanted to run more than 5 miles but I'm afraid my knee might not like it.

7:36  -  162 hr

7:55  -  154 hr

7:22  -  152 hr

7:47  -  155 hr

7:06  -  160 hr

Avg: 7:34  -  156 hr

 It's funny how my HR goes high on the first mile sometimes and then drops. I guess I'm just excited about running.I'm hoping to run 10-12 miles tomorrow. 

Today was a odd run. My knee was a sore so I ran easy for 8 miles and then all of a sudden it quit hurting all together....so then I ran fast! No pain whatsoever during the fast miles and even after for a couple of hours then the cycle started to repeat. Now my knee is sore again. I don't know much about how to determine exactly what the pain is but I believe it's a floating bone spur. When it get in the right position I can't feel it at all and then when it floats in the wrong spot it hurts. When I quit running, hours after, it starts to get sore from the grinding it did while i ran. It feels alot like the last time I had a floating bone spur. That's my self diagnosis... :-)

Mile

1  -  8:36

2  -  8:51

3  -  8:31

4  -  9:26

5  -  8:31

6  -  8:48

7  -  8:34

8  -  8:46

9  -  7:18

10  -  7:08

11  -  6:55

12  -  7:03

Avg Pace:  8:13

No HR information as the monitor wasn't working but I know I was pushing it he last 4 miles! I could not have kept up the pace much longer.

I have no idea where I am in my training and condition right now. I really need to run a 20 miler to figure that out but I'm not sure what that will do to my knee. 

So yesterday I started getting some swelling on my kneecap. This hasn't happened before but it could be several things. One is I haven't taken any Ibuprofen for a while or it could be increased irritation but there is no additional pain. The pain is only when I bend my knee, not when I strike the ground with my foot.

I decided to go ahead and workout/run today so I went to the gym and did alternating elliptical and run (2/2/2/2/2/1.5/1.5). Was planning on 12 althogher but I ran out of time. No rest between and the runs were 7:30/1% incline.

Proverbs 12:26
The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.

For the first time in 3-4 weeks my knee didn't start hurting more as the day went on yesterday! Yeah, I'm thinking it's really on tne mends. I was taking today off and running a little longer tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good run. I'ts been almost four weeks since my knee first started hurting so if it is a bone spur I should be on the downhill side of it. I'm hoping to really test it on my next couple of runs and see how it holds up.

1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I would call this run successful although I wish it were faster. I decided to go ahead and run my 20 miler and test out the knee and endurance today rather than wait until the weekend or early next week. I'm going to a roping competition this weekend so I probably won't be able to run then anyway. My knee felt really good yesterday and before I started running. During the run it had a little pain so for the first 10 miles I just ran at a slow pace and made sure it didn't get any worse. Miraculously at mile 10 the pain went completly away. This is what happend on a couple of my other runs lately. At that point I started increasing the speed and at mile 14 I decided to try and complete the run at my "real" desired marathon pace. As you can see the paces are all over the place as the loop I run is somwhat hilly and there are a few times I slowed to a walk for a few seconds to get a good drink.

I looked at my RLRF training book and found that a 20 mile 8:11 pace training run is very close to what you would run six weeks out if you were aiming for a 3:20 marathon. So, I guess I'm happy with that when I consider all the circumstances.

Darn HR monitor quit woring again, I would really like to know that information on this run!

1/24/2013
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	8:16:00	139	72%
2	8:34:00	145	76%
3	8:26:00	147	77%
4	8:25:00	145	76%
5	9:01:00	146	76%
6	8:28:00	145	76%
7	8:50:00	HR Monitor Not Working		Refill Bottles
8	8:14:00
9	8:32:00
10	7:56:00
11	8:03:00
12	8:46:00
13	7:59:00
14	8:22:00			Refill Bottles
15	7:40:00
16	7:46:00
17	7:21:00
18	7:43:00
19	8:13:00
20	7:11:00
Total	163:46:00		Total Elevation Gain	1750
Pace	8:11:18
Where Run - Small Loop Clockwise 3X
Weather - 61 degrees, Foggy, 75% humidity
Target: Long Run - 20 Miles @ 7:56 Notes: First long run since my knee started giving me problems 3 weeks ago so I took it very easy for the first half of the run. Heart Monitor started acting up after 6 miles.

Probably posted this verse before, but it's a good one:

Romans 5:3-4

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Went to the gym today for a rocover workout after my 20 miler yesterday. I actually felt pretty good and my knee is no worse than before the long run. I ran the ellipitical and treadmill 2/1/2/1 with the tm @ 7:30 pace. I might get to run the weekend but it will be short if I do.

Not really a very good run but I finished. I was hoping to run below 7:30 but that sure wasn't happening. It was hot, humid and windy and I labored to even keep this pace.

1/28/2013
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	7:35:00	HR Monitor Not Working
2	7:33:00
3	7:32:00
4	7:35:00
5	8:08:00
6	7:30:00
7	7:54:00
8	7:37:00
9	7:55:00
10	7:44:00
11	7:57:00
12	8:35:00
13	7:46:00
14	7:37:00
Total	108:58:00	0	0%
Pace	7:47:00
Where Run - Small Loop Clockwise 2X
Weather - 70 degrees, 80% Humidity, 19 mph Wind
Target: Long Run - 14 Miles @ 7:30 Note: This run was much harder than it should have been.

8.5 miles on the TM in the hot gym today. I was planning on running on the elliptical but  two out of three were broken and someone beat me to the one that worked.

1/29/2013
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	7:30:00	133	68%
2	7:30:00	141	73%
3	8:30:00	135	69%
4	8:30:00	137	70%
5	9:00:00	136	70%
6	9:00:00	138	71%
7	8:30:00	137	70%
8	8:30:00	145	76%
0.5	3:45:00	155	82%
Total	70:45:00	148	76%
Pace	8:19:25
Where Run - TM at Gym
Weather - 70 degrees, 80% Humidity, Doors open
Target: I don't know.

I think my Cowtown marathon is going to suck! I'm not very conficent right now.

Psalm 25:16-17
“Turn to me and have mercy on me, because I am lonely and hurting.
My troubles have grown larger; free me from my problems.”

Cross-training today - 9 miles Elliptical.

I'm going to try and jump back into my actual training schedule tomorrw with a 7 mile tempo run and a 20 miler on Saturday. I am calling my knee "good" now since almost all of the pain has gone away. Just like the last bone spur it took 5 weeks to heal and although very painful for a while went away quickly.

Revelation 21:4

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Okay, I jumped back into my training schedule today. This run is a set up for a 20 miler on Saturday. I seemed to be feeling pretty good and was able to run a little faster than what was on the schedule and without too much stress. We'll see how the Saturday run goes. My knee problem has almost completly gone away.

It was cold today at 29 degrees!

1/31/2013
Mile	Time
1	Warm-Up @ 9:00 Pace
1	7:30:00
2	7:28:00
3	7:28:00
4	7:25:00
5	7:16:00
6	7:05:00
7	6:47:00
1	Cool-Down @ 9:00 Pace
Total	50:59:00			Elevation Gain 600'
Pace	7:17:00
Small Loop + Smallville
30Âş - 30% Humidity - Light Breeze - 6:00 AM
Target: Tempo Run - 1 Mile Easy, 7 Miles @ 7:26. Note: The first 2-3 miles I didn't think I would do very well on this run but the further I went the more confident I got. My heart monitor is not working so I don't have that data :-( Felt good after the run.