Rhett

I headed to the gym this morning and got on the TM.  I started out very slow and things felt good.  I spead it up a little but not much and things still felt good.  I wanted to go faster, but Tena's words, "Don't wory about pace.  When you are trying to get rid of tightness you want slow and steady." kept ringing in my mind.  I never went went faster than a 9 minute mile and stopped after 2 with only mild tightness and no pain.  I went home and massaged with the frozen water bottle.  I've found one spot on my heal that is really notted up.  I was talking to a podiatrist friend of mine yestereday and he said all my pain could be due to scar tissue build up from where the tendos tore and I just need to work that out.  Anyways, I am much more optomistic after todays run even though it was short and slow. 

2 miles 19:00

My kids started school today.  My 5 y.o. son Cade was so excited and cute about heading out for his first day of kindergarten.

When I got up this morning my foot felt differnt.  There was no pain, but it almost felt numb in the area where it feels like I have a knott of scar tissue.  I rolled it pretty good last night with a frozen water bottle.  I decided not to run on it a second day in a row and instead did weight training followed by 30 min eliptical.  Workout felt good.  Foot feels tight, but no pain.

MY BEST RUN IN 4 MONTHS

I still didn't run fast and I still didn't run far, but I had no discomfort this morning on my TM run.  Yea!

2 miles  17:53

I really think that grinding that painful spot with the frozed water bottle is helping.  Maybe breaking up scar tissue or something.

Weight training heavy upper body, light lower body.  Followed by 30 minutes on the Arc Trainer.

Foot is a bit tender today, but not bad.  I am excited to see the podiatrist tomorrow and get my new orthodics.

I little farther and a little faster today! 

3 miles 25:44

I felt no pain until sometime around the end of the second mile when I decided to add a little incline to the TM.  After about 30 seconds of that I quickly adjusted it back to zero incline and no more pain for the rest of the run.

I saw the podiatrist this morning.  He thinks I have some knotted up scar tissue in the spot where I have some discomfort.  It is a different spot from where I had my last cortizone shot, so he gave me another right into that little lump on my heal and told me to keep up the frozen bottle massaging.  I got my new orthotics.  I have to wait until Monday to try and run in them since I got the shot.  They felt pretty good just standing and walking in them though.  I'll try wearing them over the weekend and then Monday morning I'll go for another run.  I can't wait!  It will be almost as exciting as Christmas morning.

I did some elliptical work this morning with my new orthotics to try and break them in before I run in them. They felt good. Then I did some core work. My foot is feeling pretty good today. I sure hope I have a good run on Monday.

I actually felt like a real runner today for the first time since Boston.  I really wanted to run outside, but I convinced myself that the TM would be easier on my foot and allow me to regulate my speed better.  I did 4 miles in 33:35.  I had no pain or tightness during the run.  I really wanted to go faster and farther, but I'm trying to be smart.  I think I will just do easy runs, slowly building up my milage for the next month or 2 before I start getting back into speed work and tempo runs. 

I'm not out of the woods yet though.  I did the frozen bottle massage after my run, and that still hurts pretty good, but at least I ran pain free.  Yea!!!

Weight training, heavy lower body, light upper body.  I lifted so hard I got nauseas.  For some reason that happens to me when I lift too hard.  I was thinking about doing some slow TM running after lifting, but I felt too sick so I did 30 mins eliptical.  By the end of the 30 minutes I felt fine.  My foot feels great today as long as I'm not massaging it.  I don't know what to think about that, but I'm grateful to walk and run painfree.

4 more miles a litte faster, no pain or discomfort.

31:53

More weight training.  Heavy upper, light lower body. 

30 minutes eliptical

I can't believe how much better I feel after just a few runs.  I'm feeling like my old self again.  Tomorrow I think I'll do a nice easy 6 miles.  I can't wait.

TM 1% incline.  6 EZ miles  45:39

Felt good although I can tell I haven't run much over the last 4 months.

I did some core work and then got on the Gauntlet. It is a stair machine where there are stairs that go around like a TM. I did it for 20 mins. That was plenty. Then I did 10 mins on the elliptical to cool down.

TM 1% incline, 6 miles EZ  47:00
My calfs were sore from doing the stair climber machine on Saturday, but the run felt pretty easy. 

Weight training, heavy lower body, light upper body.

20 minutes on the gauntlet...almost died, sweated like a pig...I know pigs don't sweat.

15 minute cool down on eliptical

I felt like I worked pretty hard this morning.  I've got that total body burn thing going still a few hours later.

Another 6 on the TM at 1% incline. I did the first 5 easy. HR stayed in the 150s then did the last one at 7 min pace. HR went into the low 170s by the end, but I still felt strong and relaxed.

Total run 6 miles 45:58

Felt good today. Still no foot pain. I really would love to ramp up the milage, but I'm going to try and keep it to just 3 runs a week at least for a few more weeks. Keep reminding me to do that. It is so tempting to run too much.

Weight training.    Heavy Upper body, light lower body.

20 minutes on the never ending rotating stairs.  I'm getting better at it, up to level 16 on the speed interval setting.  Then a 5 minute cool down on the eliptical.  Had to hurry and hit the showers so I wouldn't be late to work.

I had to write the final draft of my talk for tomorrow so I had to take my run outside today.  I haven't run outside for months.  I always write the final draft of my talks while running outside.  It is amazing how much more readily the thoughts flow during a nice good long run.  It took two drafts, but I finally got it right where I want it and am happy with the talk.  My run on the other had was not quite as easy.  I'd forgotten what it was like to run up those steep hills.  Before Boston, I was scampering up those hills like a deer.  Now I'm more like the litte train that barely could.

8 miles 1:07:43

Here is the "I'm an idiot" part of the report.  I was only going 8 miles so I figured I didn't need to take my fuel belt even though it was 91 degrees when I left and 96 when I got home.  That was a big mistake.  I did take a page out of Fly's book and stop at a park and wet my shirt around mile 5.  I did learn what my sweat rate with just over an hour of running in those conditions is since I didn't drink anything and I weighed myself right before the run.  I lost 7 lbs during the run.  So I guess it is like 112 onces per hour.  That's a lot.  I don't think I can drink that much.

And the "Interesting Fact" part of my report.  If you have the Garmin 405 and you let it sit for a few months without charging it, you loose all the memory, settings, history, etc.  and have to reprogram it before your run.  I spent about 10 -15 minutes getting it ready for my run this morning.  Next time I take an extended leave from running I'll charge my Garmin every few weeks.

It was only 74 degrees when I awoke this morning, so I had to do another outside run.  I decided to do the same 8 mile run I did on Fri.  While running I realized this would be a good way to test RW's heat and pace theory.  I tried to run at the same effort level I did Friday, which I would say was at the hard end of Easy.  I ended up averaging 22 secs per mile faster when the temp was 20 degrees cooler.  There were other factors as well though.  I took water with me today and I ate before I ran today.  Friday I had no water, almost died, and I ran without eating before hand.  So while I was a bit faster in the cooler temp. (but not nearly as fast as RW's predictions) there were also other factors that helped me be faster.

8 hilly miles  1:04:55

weight training.  Heavy lower body, light upper body

25 minutes of speed intervals on the gauntlet. 

10 min cool down eliptical

I decided that my foot was finally well enough to play some hoops, so I went up to the church and played with the guys for 2 1/2 hours last night. It was mostly good, but at one point, I made a cut and pop, I think I rupture a little more of my PF tendon. It hurt real bad for a few seconds and then the pain eased to a 2/10 for the rest of the night. I was really worried that I would not be able to walk this morning. I went home and ice massaged the foot real well. When I woke up this morning, to my suprise my foot felt almost perfect, just a very slight twinge that doesn't even register on the pain scale. I decide I better take today off running though just to be safe.

I got outside and ran again this morning. I started off really easy testing my foot out. It felt pretty good to my delight. There was just a slight discomfort there, but nothing much. I gradually picked up the pace. I pushed it hardest on mile 5 (7:04). That mile took more out of me than it should have. Then I eased in with a final mile of 7:28.

Total Run 6 miles 47:11 AP 7:52

Weight training:  Heavy upper body, Light lower body

20 minutes of never ending stair climbing on speed interval setting

No time for cool down.  Had to get to hit the showers and get to work.

I planned on 10 but slept in so only had time for 6. Good thing since I was really slow and my legs felt terrible.

I spent the day with Cade, my 5 y.o. son, in Phoenix at a water park. He sure had a lot more energy by the end of the day than I did.

Another tough day. My legs still felt heavy and it was in the 90's already when I took off this morning. I decided to keep it to 6 miles. It's a good thing, because at the end of the last mile, my foot really tightened up. I am rolling it with the frozen bottle as I post this, but I don't like how it feels.

Total: 6 very slow miles