Fear is the Training Killer

From Dune

If you were to have talked to me yesterday, I would have a jittery story of how the bottom of my left calf randomly had cramps/spasms throughout the day. It happened walking to work, in the gym, and to a lesser degree later in the day.  I didn't feel any radiation into the rest of my leg, which I guess is good. The cramps make my walk pause for a moment, pull up, then it goes away. I'm guessing it is a mix of fatigue, hydration, and the strain in my leg.

Now last night if you asked me if I would have a successful run today, I would say, 80% chance of NOPE. My leg scared me. I really don't want to do anything bad to it. Time to the marathon is getting short. I didn't want to skip the run, it is the hardest run until next Tuesday. Mentally I'm thinking, I've already missed enough. I'm already rethinking time goals to be reasonable with any leg issues that might linger. I've had some freakout thoughts that I may not heal up. I ate my emotions all evening. Although, I couldn't even manage to get myself to feel full and disgusted with myself! what gives? I took at few Ibuprofen for good measure and went to bed.

We're at 3:40am now, I get out of bed. I think I isolated the foot force that will cause, or at least help make the cramp/spasm occur.  I didn't have an incident, but I could feel the extra pressure in the area. I'm trying to decide what to do. Drink my coffee. Bio. Foam roll. Stick. I can't conjure up any good reason not to run. A big part of me wanted a reason. Bad stomach..weather.. something to make an excuse for me.  But off we go. I started about 10 minutes later than planned thinking I had to bio it again, but no go with that.

I did my warm up jog before stretching, and tried to get a photo of the moon and stars..Not much success, only got a blurry moon photo:

this is why I haven't shared more photos. 

I passed a group of about 6 running at 4:30, and the lead guy jokingly said: You are out too early! what are you doing? Then a lady said, no no! We see him every Friday!

Glad I'm remembered!

My plan today was warm up, 9 miles marathon pace, cool down. I did 2 warm up miles.  I felt timid. I kept waiting for the OH SHIT moment. Kept waiting for my calf to buckle.  I didn't want to go faster. I was content just trotting along.  But that isn't why I wake up so early. I make an agreement with my fear, go a little faster each mile, and see what happens. Run it smart.

As I speed up, the agreement seems too one sided. My confidence starts to wake up. It speaks up and says, dude, its been 4 miles and you have had no issues. Man the F up, and run. Only thing holding you back is your fear.

Me: Okay, lets go then.

The speed felt great. Going slow gave me too much time to be unstable with my cadence and over think my steps.

I will say that the run was rough energy wise.  I've been trying to up my food intake, maybe I also ate too late and was a tiny big sluggish. Maybe it was the humidity and sweating. My GPS had my half mile splits between 6:45 and 7:15. I should have brought a gel and water with me to help out.

My slowest split was my turn around lap. After that mile, I felt like I might need a bio break, slowed down, and thankfully was near the Belmont restroom, but that was a false alarm.  This happened one more time. At least I didn't freak out over my splits too much to care.

The last few miles I lost my mental focus for little intervals and had to wake back up to get my pace adjusted. The last half mile was the hardest. Another guy jumped on the path going my direction, at like my exact goal pace.  I was ready to hear my GPS beep my mile and be done.  But my ego kicks in and says, oh come on,  you ran hard 90% of the way, and you want to F up the last half? His foot steps got closer, and this played through my mind:
Yes, a 300 movie clip

Was my run perfect? No. Average mile was 7:09 for the marathon pace distance. I know I held back to start and drifted at time. But was I happy with it? Hell yes. I ran through a fear, I didn't feel any pain, and I still was able to recover my times when I drifted away. Lots of good lessons today.

I also saw Mr. and Mrs Fueling Strong.. TWICE! Even got a high five, which I think resulted in a 30 second faster lap. Thank you Kelsey!

Now for making it through my Friday dramatics, here is some comic relief.

Happy Friday!

How your office should ideally behave...just the tip of the.. HR reports.


Happy Friday Everyone!

Run Down Rest Day

We'll start the post with yesterday evening. I went to my physical therapy appointment and got the normal - oh it hurts so good - treatment, followed by strength exercises.  I was happy that they paired me with an assistant that was also a big Bulls fan. See Red!

I got home and my kiddo stuck to me luck glue. I ended up eating my dinner with her sitting on my lap. She proceeded to stuff my face with pretzels for my post dinner snack. I normally don't mention go into these details, but this one is funny.  During her bath last night, she noticed a couple specks of dirt or whatever came off her feet in the tub. She proceeded to yell at them to GET OUT of the tub repeatedly, screeched, and pulled my hand to the tub to take it out and yelled MESSY! BYE BYE DIRT! This happened about 3 more times. The same girl that likes to sit in the dirt at the playground and throw earth around.

As today is my rest day, I decided to just relax last night as well, skip chores, and try to watch an episode of Orange is the New Black.  Apparently the moment I stop moving and relax, my body shut down.  I kept slouching farther down the couch and dozing off.  I'll be rewatching part of that episode I guess!

I'm not sure if I was more tired than normal with the hot running, weeks of short sleep, or just what happens when I stop moving.

Positive I'm taking from this, I know I'm giving this everything I got and leaving nothing on the table.
Possible down side, I am playing with fire with my limited down time.  Day by day.

Today, I'm still pretty tired. Dress shoes aren't the best support when trying to rehab off a strain/cramp.

I had a few flashes of my calf cramp walking to work, but it hasn't appeared since.  Pretty sure I just need this rest day hard.

Now for Thursday Randomness.

How most of us probably describe our perfect day:

I taped this photo on a co-workers jug of protein powder ( I always call it muscle milk)

How short are your shorts men?

Reddit IAMA with Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant from Reno 911! Includes video response links!


Now Bethany @ Accidental Intentions picked me to answer some questions, so here we go:

1. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were little? I wanted to be in the NBA!

2. What’s your writing utensil of choice? currently, whatever my kid leaves out for me.. a crayon

3. If you need to ask someone a question and that person is not within earshot (i.e.: talking isn’t an option), are you most likely to text them, call them, instant message them (either through gchat or otherwise), or e-mail them? text or email

4. What was your preferred study location in college? (Or now, if you’re currently in school) home!

5. What’s your stupid human trick? (i.e.: ear wiggling, tongue rolling, etc.) i can touch my nose with my tongue and wiggle this little muscle in my lip

6. How many e-mail accounts do you have active right now? 2

7. What did you have for lunch yesterday? PB&J and a Sub

8. What’s your favorite type of weather? Fall!

9. Have you ever met anyone famous? And if so, who? I most recently met Fabio!

10. What’s your ideal mode of transportation? Running... minus the sweat

I was a supposed to include a pic and link people... I'll do that once I think of some WRCE approved questions.

Happy Friday Eve!

Almost a DNS

The wildly hot weather in Chicago yesterday called for a visit to get frozen custard at you know where. Here are a couple photos to be jealous of.

I went to bed with my calves giving out. I don't think I had more than 10 steps left. I was beat.

Get up at 3:40, let's get this party started. After yesterday's great run, I was hoping for a repeat leg confidence for a fun run with Erin and Corey.

I step out of bed and had a cramp in my left calf.  Doesn't feel like the current strain I'm rehabbing.  I pause and think.. your move leg, are we running today or not...

I proceed to get ready, drink coffee, and bio break. I use the stick and foam roller to see if I get any reaction... Nope feel fine. Mentally I'm nervous, physically I can't reproduce the cramp. I just feel that inner oddness in my calf. At least it is a recovery run. I had to decide by 4 if I was running to let Erin know my final start time or if at all.  Lets do it.  At least my mind wasn't on my gut.

I don't bother with my GPS today and just go at what I feel safe with. Slow first mile. Stretch. Already sweating a lot, but it is cooling off and getting foggy.

I meet up with Erin and give her a heads up that I'm half expecting to get a flat and have to walk home.  We do a more gentle pace than normal thankfully. The easy pace combined with talking the entire run helped keep my mind off my fear and let me enjoy the run.

We pick up Corey and have a delightful run. The breeze from the north felt great, and it was fun watching the sky go from clear and full of stars to full on mist/fog. I think I forgot to pause my timer a couple times, but does it really matter if you are having a good time and not for a fast time?

Got home, plenty of time for stretching. Leg holding together. Physical Therapy this evening and rest day from running tomorrow. Good timing!

What was your hot weather comfort food/drink?

Do you mentally make mountains out of mole hills?

And your inspirational photo for the day - replace "Landing a plan" with running your goal race:

And funny running read: What's your running confession? 

Tale of two legs

Monday and Tuesday post here.

Monday, stayed home from work to tend to so things.
6 mile recovery run, and it was very much that. I got to start a little later, which also meant I got to see the sunrise again.

My first two miles were about 9 minute miles, then then warmed up a bit. I kept my focus on my posture, and as I did, my pace improved. I ended up with ~8:15 average. My legs were pretty tired all day. I have been diligent with my stretching, which I hope is helping.

We stopped at Ann Sather's for lunch and of course we had to get some sticky buns:

They crayons were mine obviously

By day's end, my calves were ready to give up.  I was a bit worried about the status of my legs, I hoped I had a magical sleep that gave me new strength and spirit.

3:50am

Name the movie

I had trouble getting out of bed this morning. It was one of those mornings where your brain breaks through your motivation and loudly says, why do this.  You are so tired.  Go back to bed. Your legs were so sore yesterday. Skip the run. This isn't worth it.  Just stop this all. Take a break.  Who cares if you do the marathon? Relax...

Not today my friend.  I had my Captain America moment.

Dramatic? Yes. Fitting, hell yea

I eventually got up and had my coffee with sugar.  I kept having the feeling that trouble would approach me if I started my run too quick today.  I paced around the house, trying to see if something more was brewing inside.  I was right. It took me almost an hour from waking up to get out the door. I started at 4:40am, late start!

I adjusted what I could for my run to get home in time to stretch and not be late for work.  I shortened my warm up to the 1.5 mile minimum and same for my cool down.  I still stretched at the Foster for about 5 minutes.

Hanson Plan called from 4 1.5 mile intervals at 10 seconds below marathon pace and with roughly half mile recovery jogs in between. GPS was good most of the time, although for one of my miles, the first half said I was doing a 7:15, the second half a 6:45, effort stayed the same.  Double checking my times on Endomondo, I hit all my splits pretty well.

My legs felt really good today. I was very surprised as the last few days they were sore. Not hurt, just felt like buckets of nope. I had no fear with my left leg today which was great, I hope that continues.

Granted, it is taking a bit more out of me to do these run paces than a month ago, but I'll still take it!

And with that, it is time to work aka eat all day.

Stay strong my friends!

Quick Weekend Review

I'm writing this in borrowed time, hoping my tot stays asleep for a long nap, so I'll try to make it quick (TWSS).

Saturday Morning: 8 mile run, easy pace. The first couple miles I was closer to 9 minute miles, and my legs felt tired. Still not trusting my left leg fully. After a few miles, I warmed up enough and my end average pace was about 8:15.  I also saw Mrs Fueling Strong and got my usually super friendly hello!

I went to Lickity Split in the afternoon and got a frozen vanilla custard, mixed with a cookie dough cupcake, and a shot of espresso. YUM. ALL THE ENERGY!  I really want another one today...Foursquare says I have been there... 62 times so far. I missed a couple check ins, and it doesn't count the times my wife has gone to pick stuff up. I'm pretty sure I've gotten them through some tough times. 

Saturday evening my wife went out to a girls night out with the other mothers in her play group, and the dads all congregated at a house and let the kids run a muck while we stood around hoping we wouldn't have to call the wives.  The host had some monster bratwurst from a local butcher which were amaaaaazing. I am so going there for my Wurst Running Club Ever fuel. I also managed to only mention running/marathon training ONCE! like 5 minutes before I left. That is some sort of record isn't it? I like seeing the dynamics of married couples (at least with kids), where one of the two will be much more.. dynamic and loud than the other. In this case, all the dads were pretty chill, but I think I'm the rowdy one in the Stop Running Dad house.

(Kid waking up, HURRY!)

Today I woke up late (5:30am) and started my routine. Bread with peanut butter, 2.5 cups of coffee, and 2 hours of up time before going out for my 16 mile run.  As I mentioned last weekend, the Hanson Marathon Plan calls for me to go at 7:43 minute miles. I was determined to do that speed.

Looking at the temperatures for today and the lack of clouds, I felt the Sun/heat would make it easier for me to slow down and do that pace.

I get out ~ 7:45am, and my left calf was tight. My stretches after 10 minutes helped a bit, but I never really felt a groove for some time.  I was glad I didn't have to go Speedy Gonzalez on my run and the slower pace was a gift today.

My run took me to the Navy Pier area and back to my street. Roughly around mile 7 my left leg finally cooperated and I didn't feel like I was compensating for it anymore.  I had some issues "feeling" what a 7:40 minute mile felt like naturally. I had my GPS give me a reading every half mile to make sure I had time to correct my pace. My end average pace - 7:42. How about dem apples?

I took my clif shot gel - Citrus with caffeine - every 30 minutes, and it all went splendidly.  The area between Fullerton and Navy Pier always lacks shade at the first half of the day, and the Sun did a fine job of stealing lots of energy.

I had mapped out my route on gmap pedometer before leaving so I would hit 16 miles exactly, and not worry if the GPS lost me or gave me an odd distance.  My splits were pretty random, due to a mix of GPS signal and trying to even out my paces after going in a heat lul.


Post run, I feel pretty good. Maybe a shade darker (skin runner). My left leg feels as normal as it does any day. I did all my recommended stretching.

And I saw two of my coworkers also training for marathons, a few morning runners out later as well that I recognized, but I didn't see any running bloggers :( what gives.

Sorry for the lack of photos, but I'll offer you this as the Runger takes over me:

Have a good day all!

Whose Time Is It Anyways?

Last night was a successful sausage party/fundraiser for Anne.  I only have one photo from last night, but if I find any more ( do you have one? let me know)  that I or my family appeared in, i'll update my blog.

Nickname: Lil Smokey.  She loved the flowers

Edit: Pete has photos of the night here

A few I'm stealing:

Fun time for sure! I finally got to meet more bloggers whose comment section I defile on a frequent basis. My toddler behaved pretty well, but sorry to everyone that she gave ice cubes to!

The second most asked question last night to me, after - who the heck invited you? Was - so how is your stomach going to be tomorrow after this late night sausage.  I found it pretty funny that a big take away from my blog is how my GI system is each day! Glad you all care so much.  Also, props to Pete at the Lakefront Trail for picking up my trombone joke the other day! If I had an internet prize for you, I'd give it. Did anyone else notice it?

This marks a big week for me, aside from running my normal schedule again, I went out TWICE in one week, drank TWO beers, and got home at 9pm both times. Holy cow, my assisted living community director will not be happy with my shenanigans.


Moving onto today. Hanson Plan called for 8 miles at marathon pace. I planned to do about 2 miles warm up, 8 miles at pace, then about a 1.5 cool down.

I woke up at 3:50 (late I know..). And to everyone that asked how my stomach would be, it took me about 10 minutes longer to leave and drank a little extra coffee, but I had no issues with it running at all.

I added a good amount of brown sugar to my coffee to get a few extra quick calories to get my started.  Out the door at 4:30.

I wasn't sure how I would feel leg wise today, as yesterday my leg felt a little tight and tender from the extra moving activity Wednesday evening. I popped a couple advil at bed as well just to help.

I ended up feeling really good.  I did an easy jog for 10 minutes, stopped to do the stretches my physical therapist recommend, and went on my way. I tried to take a photo of Orion, but my phone camera isn't nice enough to do that.  Now the issue I had with the run today was trying to figure out what my pace was.

I didn't feel like my effort changed that much during the 8 miles, but my GPS had me going anywhere between 6:50 and 7:15 per mile. I had my pace given to me every half mile and they were between 6:35 and 7:20.  I know I wasn't randomly hustling that hard.

I tried to not get greedy and be at a comfortable pace, but when my GPS suddenly had me going 10 seconds off, I would get confused as to my effort level.  I know I'm still a bit off from where I was a few weeks ago, but this was just a bit funky.  The only one I could explain was the mile 6-7 when there was a bit more of a headwind.

Overall though, I was happy with my effort. 99% of the run felt good on my leg, I only had 1 second where I felt a quick tingle in my hammie, but otherwise all good. I spent about 10 minutes stretching when I got home.  I also saw Chris @ Chris is running.... well she saw me! It was still fairly dark, but she hollered and then I was able to say hello when I did my return trip.

Happy Friday everyone!

And with all the important events going on in the world, this is the top story for today apparently:

Ben Affleck is the next Batman

Rest Day Ramblings

There is no common thread in what I'm posting today, so just enjoy the randomness.

I completed the normal 6 days in a row of running post doctor approval to run and haven't killed my hamstring.  Although last night I spent a lot of time lifting and bending to get stuff from our current unit to a storage unit.  This caused a light flare up in my hammie, but nothing bad. Good thing today is a rest day.

Nike has a new ad out.. I didn't want to like it, but it is decent! Check it:


 Tonight I'll be going a Charity Fun Run and Sausage Fest, hosted by Anne.

SAUSAGE PARTY!

We (my wife) found a great dessert to make for the event, Chocolate Lasagna:

If it doesn't make it there, it just means I ate it all.

For all my weekend warriors, I imagine your work days must look like this:

Happy Birthday to the Mag Mile Runner and Wurst Running Club Ever founding Member!

Vivid close-up view of material streaming away from a newborn star :

Sorry if you thought it would be a picture from the company Vivid.. perverts

You still frowning? This is the last thing I got for you:

Do you even stretch bro?

Yesterday I went to my physical therapy (PT) evaluation and got reminded of how much they can make you hurt so good.  After lots of stretching, mobility checks, stability checks, and jamming their fingers into my leg, the therapist found the strain from my rear to the bottom of my calf.  Some Active Release Technique (ART) was administered and cause me to squirm like a fish out of water or laugh in discomfort, but it was so good.

I was given some instructions on stretching after about 15 minutes of my warm up in my run and a few stretches to do through out the day. I'm honestly happy to be doing therapy this time around as this means I am getting ART during the highest mileage weeks of the training cycle and can voice any ache concerns  to the physical therapist. I'll be going 2x a week for a few weeks.

This morning was a schedule fun run at an easy pace. Bare minimum is like 7 or so miles. Woke up at 3:40am and was out the door at 4:15. I wasn't super sure of how my stomach would be, but waiting around wouldn't help.  I jogged to Foster and stretched for a few minutes at the benches.  I saw one guy taking a walk and had on a cool glove with a mini built in flashlight. We said hello and went on our ways.

I then met up with Erin and got to meet Corey, and we did a few miles together back down to Corey's end point.  Erin and I then continued to run around the path, making sure to stop for water frequently with the warmer weather, until we parted ways closer to my end of the path.

I have to say, I always feel very humbled running with such experience athletes. They have so much more experience and training than me, and I'm happy when they share little nuggets of wisdom with me.

I didn't use my GPS today, and guessed I did about 12 miles, checked on Gmap Pedometer, and I did 11.8.  I got home a little bit later than planned, so I jumped straight into a cold shower, did a few PT stretches, and ran out to catch my bus, the Stick came with me today to work.

I tried to take a photo during a water break, but my camera phone does not do well with the street lights.

I am also making an effort to bring a bigger lunch as I am always hungry throughout the afternoon, so I brought an extra sandwich with me today.

Tomorrow is my scheduled rest day.

Take care and happy pre Friday Eve!

WRCE Pint Night Monday and Tuesday Strength Run

Monday evening Fleet Feet was hosting their monthly Pint Night Run, which has become the agenda planning run for the Wurst Running Club Ever.  My running plan had an easy 8 mile run scheduled, so I tried to do 5 miles to Fleet Feet then do 3 miles with the WRCE. I messed up my planning somewhere and ended up doing a bit over 9. At least I didn't go too fast (TWSS).

The conversation contents of the evening are for attendees only (why didn't you join us?). But here are a few photos taken by the famous Pete (few more pending release):

I failed to back my thing up, sorry

Edit: Thanks for the photo Pete:

I had to get my WRCE approved rear shot

That is a beer, and Erin given jazz hands in the back

I was starving by the time we got to the bar, as I usually eat dinner between 5-6pm, and it was now 8pm.  I knew that this later dinner was going to cause an issue for this morning's run, so I will at least enjoy it.  I had a cider beer with fish and chips.

I get to bed around 10:15am, and saw I was barely going to get 5 hours of sleep tonight with my alarm set for 3:40am. Oh well!

Beep beep! time to get up. Wasn't sure how much my legs had in them after finishing my last run only 9 hours ago. At least I am not as groggy as I thought I would be. I got to drinking my coffee, did my business, and was out at about 4:15am.  I met up with Erin (not the above captioned Erin) and we did some of our warm up miles together.

I had a strength run planned for today. 2 mile warm up, 6 x 1 mile intervals at 10 seconds slower than marathon pace, .25 mile jogs between, and then a 1.5 mile cool down.

I did them pretty well, but as I kinda of expected, around mile 5 I started feeling a bio alarm turning on. As I looped back, I felt the alarm go off fully in the middle of an interval and slowed down and paused my GPS as I walked to the bathroom on Belmont.  Knowing that bathroom is open has been a real mental live saver.  Oddly enough, there was a guy using it at 5:15am, what are the chances? I thought about using the ladies bathroom, but that would be mean.  There were some portapotties outside left from the Air and Water show, but who wants to use that? I waited about 2 minutes and the restroom was free.

Much better now.

Start GPS again and get back on my run. I felt rather cool now after about a 5 minute break and the sweat giving me a chill.  After the next mile I felt fine again.

You can see in my red splits 3 and 4 where my bio alerts started to set in. #5 was getting back into the swing of things, but was closer to what it should be, and 6 was nice.

In the last mile jogging home, I felt this sudden wave of prickling all over my body. I freaked thinking something was going on with me, but then I realized.. gnats.

I've complained about gnats before, but holy ****.  This was a new level.  A FOG of gnats from my feet to my head.  Everyone was trying to wave them out of their face, coughing, and had faces of horror. This lasted for about 2 blocks and it was HORRIBLE.

Last note - I won't be getting you any more sunrise photos as the sunrise is coming up well after 6am and I finish my runs before then. Sad right? I tried to take a photo of the full moon, but my phone photos were getting washed out by the street lights.  I'll see what I can do tomorrow about it.

Have a great day everyone!

Physical Therapy for me today, excited to get some massages on my leg!

Download Almost Complete

I went out today for the schedule 10 mile run at long run pace per Hanson Marathon Method, which should be about 7:40 minute miles.  If you have followed along, I have yet do that, I always go too fast.  I thought today would be a good day to try to do that pace... but I didn't.

As I no longer feel like a rusty trombone, I felt like I might have somewhat better legs today.

I woke up at 5, had a cup of coffee and gave myself about 90 minutes to shake off the morning cobwebs.

Aside from getting my legs nice and limber again, I am regaining what paces should feel like. All I can say is, all this from just a few days off? I obviously have mental issues working against me.

I went out and felt my left leg start to feel a tad tight, I was thinking - wow, I really can't hit any pace.. this isn't good.  I didn't turn my GPS on, so I was just going by my stopwatch.  At the .9 mile marker (.5 on the trail) I looked and I was at 6:10 for time.  Well no wonder, I was busting speed when I should just be warming up.  I spent the next few miles just trying to fall back into place with my normal running, which didn't happen until about mile 5. I was still doing 7 minute miles until then.  I slowed down enough that my end average time 7:24 minute miles. Closer to prescribed pace, but slower than what I usually do. (Prior 14 mile run was done at 7:15s).

So my self reported progress is such:

Leg Strength: 95%
Wind: 95%
Form: 90% (knees are tapping once in awhile which hasn't happened in over a year, and my right leg is still compensating a bit)
Speed: 90% (trying to make sure I don't stretch my hammie post runs, which leaves me a little tight)

I'm happy with the progress considering how I felt in my first couple runs back.

I need to force myself to slow down these long runs though, apparently my ego is too big to let me do that alone.

Tomorrow is an easy 8 miles.  I'll be doing a portion of it at Pint night at Fleet Feet. Will I see you there?

And some Sunday Photos:

 

I also tried something new at Lickity Split today, I got a vanilla frozen custard, mixed with a red velvet cupcake, and got a shot of espresso in it!  It added a good UMPH!

I hope ya'll had a good Sunday! 

Short Saturday Run

This morning comprised of another easy run, this time 8 miles. I'm trying to get back into my training plan, and this is a pretty ideal time for it as the next two runs are - 10 miles at a not too bad pace, then an 8 mile easy run Monday. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have my legs in normal shape for a strength run.

I'm still knocking off the rust from my legs and feeling more glimpses of my normal legs.  Being my normal dramatic self, it feels like coming back from a good beat down and recharging:

Not much to say about the run, went okay, legs had some moments, I did a better job of running it slow. I saw Mrs. Fueling Strong on the way back and got a hearty hello! And here are the mandatory photos:

The sunrise is also way too late right now, before it was cool to catch the sunrise, now I'll start finishing my runs before it comes up during the week! WTH!

Non running note: Found a new place to move to come the end of September!

And I apologize if this was your expectation for today's blog:

 I'll try to have some funnies for tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Feliz Friday!

No run yesterday, as I didn't want to end up running 7 days in a row once I jumped back in schedule (Don't worry, I wasn't a sloth, I still went to the gym to work on my monster upper body strength).  I was hoping someone would ask what I was doing in the 4 month day injury break I took just so I could use this .gif

My wife surprised me and picked up a Bulls outfit for my daughter yesterday! (Repost if you saw this posted on another feed yesterday) Hard time getting her to stand still for the photo.

This morning was easy run #2. Decided to do 6 and give myself enough time to do them at 9 minute miles. I wasn't sure what type of legs to expect after having mac truck type mobility on Wednesday.

Woke up at 4:30, out at 4:50. Gut wasn't a big concern as I wasn't going to a speed or distance that would get me to the danger zone.

A fair amount of runners were out which was nice. After a couple blocks I felt a good deal stronger than the last run, my lungs felt pretty normal too. Checked my watch at two miles and I was going waaay to fast, so I slowed down and kept my focus on recovering and not my time.

I was better disciplined the rest of the run. Legs were still creaky and I need to put more confidence in the leg and my ability. I still have the mental block that I lost like 50% of my endurance in 4 days...  lol

Tomorrow will be easy run 3, hopefully a slower pace, and 8 miles. Then I can see if I can get back in stride for Sunday at 10 miles at 7:40 pace. Thankfully this is a cutback weekend in my plan, so I don't have to worry about getting in the long run. I need to start respecting the long run pace, as I always do it about 30-45 seconds per mile too fast.

I wish I had a PT appointment before my strength run on Tuesday, but at least I have two before next weekend.  I'll try using the foam roller until then to work on the knot.

Now for a couple things more...interesting than my limping around and tears. Children and prudes please leave this post now.

Do you like Breaking Bad and Aaron Paul? Did you see his AMA on reddit the other day?  He loved doing it so much, that he made a youtube response giving out The Bitchies award to the best parts of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEK5_S740E4

Second link, it was a top forum post on reddit.com/r/running. First off let me say - I DO NOT WANT TO SEE YOU RESPOND TO THIS QUESTION HERE - can we say AWKWARD.

LINK: This is a little weird, but does anyone else..

Now that you are suddenly either feeling a lot more comfortable that you aren't alone with your "issue" or randomly uncomfortable....

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

The show goes on all night, till the morning we dream so long

I saw the witch doctor yesterday and this is what he said...

You can run!

What the rest of you are saying after a week of my dramatics:

or

Yesterday was the best my leg felt all week. Just like when you are sick and wake up feeling better the day of the doctor visit, your body likes to make you look like a fool.

Thankfullly(?) the doctor found the knots in my hamstring and calf and ordered a few PT sessions to work it out (they start next week).

Also, while in the waiting room there was a lady waiting and had on an sandals. I glanced for the black toe of honor... Nope. Mutant!

First few runs back are easy runs of 5 or so miles. Then back on the Hanson plan. This would put me on return for Sunday (10 easy) or Monday (8 easy/Pint night). Additional rules, don't stretch your hamstring out after your runs until they give the okay. Something I was doing vigorously last week thinking it would help! I can use the foam roller and the stick though, and stretch my calves.

As soon as I got home from the doctor yesterday, I tweeted about it obviously, and got a cheerful reply right away!
 

I then changed into my running cloths, put the kid in the jogging stroller, and we went out for an easy five miles.

I didn't want to stop to take a better photo, deal with it!

I think injuries should be measured in dog years (my bad math and some random ratios I used in Wolfram Alpha told me 4 human days is about 28 dog days, can someone give me a better result please?) both mentally and physically. I was a basket case over 4 days. Heck, I start freaking out if my run even starts late.

I started my stopwatch and we kick it. Physically, my legs and lungs felt like I took way more than 4 days off. Made me appreciate the ability I developed over the last couple years and reminded myself it will come back by the weekend. (It better)

There is a light confidence issue, but I'll work through that with a couple more runs.

And for making it this far, don't be this runner (stolen from reddit)


Happy Friday Eve!

How much do you Om Nom Nom when on a break?

Question for those of you still hanging around here while I'm on a running hiatus:

How much do you modify your calorie intake when you are on a (hopefully) short running break?

I'm trying to cut down my calorie intake until I can start running again, but I haven't done a good enough job (see visit to Lickity Split last night for frozen custard and a cupcake). My appetite has only dwindled a tiny bit, and I don't know what line to follow for eating.

If I knew this was going to be for an extended period of time, I would work harder on redoing my diet to keep from ballooning. I also know that I don't always do a good job of eating all my calories, so this won't kill me.

I guess I'll find out the time frame this afternoon when I see the sports doctor! *Crossing fingers*

Subjective Injury Status: I'm feeling a bit more towards the "I could" run, but not sure enough of the "I should" run. My legs are generally stiff from resting. I backed off from stretching as I still think I pull my hamstring more doing stretches last week.  I am itching bad to try out a small jog, but would hate if that set me back more after this break (longest running break I've taken in over a year).  Still some random tightness in parts of my thigh that isn't normal, so we'll see!

Happy Pre Friday Eve!