To run is human, to rest is feeling bovine

Hello All!

I'm still twiddling my thumbs over here, waiting to get the okay to run again. I got cleared to do light impact exercise, like the bike. I hopped on an exercise bike, and quickly got bored due to the lack of intensity I could offer the machine due to my cranky knee. Although I pressed on with the "effort" just to get some sort of calorie burn. Director's Commentary: I couldn't even get my heart rate up and my body sweating! At least I don't look gross and sweaty right?

One more complaint about my sprained MCL and I'll move on! Getting my leg muscles working and walking around for 10-15 minutes helps the blood flow, reduces swelling, and eventually, I don't have to put much thought into having a normal gait. Great right? Well, working a desk job, or sitting for more than 10-15 minutes does the reverse of walking. Freezes up my knee and makes walking an uncomfortable chore. So if you see me walking weird:

The treatment for my sprained MCL (and my ankles) at physical therapy has easily been my most painful physical therapy bout to date! My therapist, Rachel (same one I had last year), has been using the Graston Technique on both my legs, my right knee, and my ankles.  I'm sure many of you have experienced the glory yourself of the metal tools of torture breaking all that holy scar tissue in your legs. The pain is fun enough, but when they redo areas that were nicely bruised the last session, holy crap. I'm pretty sure I was having an out of body pain experience!

And when my therapist asks if I'm okay, knowing it'll help me in the long run I say:

Still no estimated return time to running. Could be next week, could be in a few weeks! The first week or two running will have hard caps on time running as well (I'm sure I'll complain about that too!).

Okay, I'm getting off my waaambulance. How about some links?

I have linked this a few times before, but come check out my subreddit! http://www.reddit.com/r/RunnersInChicago/
The community is over 600 people strong now and I brought on board a few active members to help get more events going on, like track night!

Ever want to see the public running clubs in Chicago (proper) mapped out? Well I did, so I made the map! I only used groups that have normal runs, open to the public, and some static meeting point.:
Map here!  Let me know if I missed any groups!

I found this running video funny:


I really enjoyed this interview with Steve Jones, "I Never Wore A Watch": Running Lessons From A Record-Breaking Everyman". Gave me some inspiration in this dull rehab times.

That's enough text for today! Kudo's if you know the source of some of the gifs!

I hope you have a great long weekend!

Quick Recap of 3 Runs

Okay... so to continue from my last post (Doom and Gloom)..

I'll say upfront, I don't use my blog to write coherent thoughts and sensibility after I think through my feelings.  I want to log my raw reactions to not forget it was all candy and sausage when the training season is over.

Okay, now lets get the run recaps over.

Saturday: Easy paced 10 miles on plan. I got out around 5:15am.  My calves just felt like trash. Every step sucked. Sadly, this was an upgrade from yesterday.  I stopped to stretch at mile 1.2 and it seemed to help a tiny bit. I couldn't get my pace under 9 minutes for the first 3 miles. I was begging my legs just to give me the tip and let me move a little smoother. I just couldn't do it, I wanted to just say F it and toss this garbage of a run away.

Not even the garbage man wanted to deal with my trash

But I kept telling myself, just try to easy into this, at least heal up..there is no pace goal for these runs..

Fine, one mile at a time. I eventually warmed up a little by mile 5 and was at least going a decent easy pace rather than a much slower pace. Run done.

Home note: Most of the weekend has been spent preparing to move, so no fun stories to share.. We did make it to Target and got our daughter the normal Halloween candy bucket, this is her CHEESE face:

She also still has a cold, which makes her sound like a raspy old smoker and had been waking up multiple times over the nights, making all of us a bit tired. She is improving though!

Much to the suggestions of Xaarlin, I've been using the tennis ball a lot to help with some trouble spots that stretching and the stick don't seem to help. I think it is helping or just a very big coincidence. 

Sunday: Another easy paced 10 mile run. This run with a bit smoother, I also had a lot more time to warm up at home before my run which may have something to do with it.  I focused a lot on this run with trying to not lean into my right hip, kick back enough and try to keep my strides straight rather than crossing over each

other.

Monday: Recovery pace 8 mile run. I overslept a bit this morning, almost to my second alarm. Doing this basically killed 15 minutes and removed time I like to have for a better warm up, cool down, and any bio emergency. I made sure my stomach would be okay and shuffled out the door. I started my first few miles pretty slow, and kept reminding myself to take it really easy today.  My calves were somewhere between sore and tired, and took a good 4 miles to warm up. No biggie.

I took a couple photos as there was a tiny bit of light as I finished my run:

Now comes the big question for me. 

I still have two more hard runs left this week on my training plan. Tomorrow is a strength run and Friday is the last pace run. I know logically I should say, the benefits from those last two runs might be what, a few more seconds? But to me, it isn't as much about the finish time, as the journey to get there, to prove to myself that I can do the training.

I"m probably still going to attempt to do the runs, even if needs to be at a realistic pace, rather than the extra fast goal pace I did all season, but I certainly won't push it until it hurts..much. If nothing more, I'll at least do the miles.

I'm also waaaaaaaay behind on reading everyone's blogs (and even responding to comments on mine) so hold tight! (Actually don't, I'll probably fall behind more as I move tomorrow hopefully)

Also - Are there talks of a blogger dinner meet up for the Chicago Marathon over the next 10 days?

Wurst Runner Ever! (Video Gait Analysis Results) and some runs

I got my Video Gait Analysis (VGA) results on a CD Friday, and I figure I'd share the findings with everyone. Maybe you'll see some of the same errors? Solution: Increase cadence by 5% to not give myself time to make the errors and some exercises to improve my form (and hip exercises).

Knowing what I'm doing wrong makes me much more aware of it now when I run, although I don't want to change up too much before the Chicago Marathon. Form and speed will by the goal of the winter.

Now for the weekend runs:

Saturday I did an easy pace 8 miles with my kiddo in the jogging stroller.  No photos. I haven't been too happy with the return of the tightness/knot in my left calf again. Mentally frustrating after having a nice week. The physical therapist worked on the spot pretty hard too, so I shouldn't be surprised. The lady that did my run gait analysis also gave me more exercises and stretches to do. Who has time for all this?!!

Sunday: My legs were pretty tight again, so I spent a good 20+ minutes total doing dynamic warm ups, they seemed to have helped. 16 mile long run with Pete (The Lakefront Trail) was on tap.   My longest run with anyone and it was a lot of fun. He shared a plethora of run experience with me and was a lot of support for me. Then add his powerful speed, he kept me from falling back. We were trying to settle into the 7:40-7:45 per mile time frame, which would be a finish around 2:04 I think. We stopped at Navy Pier for a couple photos. Here is what we got:

Suns out, pistols out

I take serious pictures

Total moving time: 1:59:14 (7:27 mile average), total time with break, 2:02ish.  Hopefully the faster pace isn't going to hurt us. It felt nice and we were trying to compensate for the wind coming back, and compensate we did!

Also on a side note, Lickity Split is serving coffee flavored frozen custard, MY FAVORITE! 

These streets will make you feel band new

Second time writing this. First one got lost in draft...

I hesitated writing this post in the thought that I'll jinx myself. Since my run on Friday morning, I have felt... normal.. Like pre injury normal.. at least when I am not running. I walked around after my run Friday with that feeling I so dearly missed.. Feeling like I wanted to run again, not crawl into bed feeling like crumpled tin, hoping my body would repair itself in time for my next run.

I did my 90 minute physical therapy session, and then did my video gait analysis.

My review: I was already fatigued from my morning run and therapy.   They had me warm up then do some marathon paced miles. I was impressed by their stance on this.  They didn't want to push shoes, inserts, or doctors.  They wanted to see the problems and work with you instead. Good feeling to know they had no sales agenda.  The gait analysis therapist and my physical therapist talked about the inserts I bought and said that is basically to get me through the marathon if I find that I'm still getting strains without them. We'll see what happens!

Preliminary Findings: My legs, my right more than my left swings around and causes me to run with one foot in front of the other, causing the knee tapping and that fraying of the inside of my sneakers I find. Initial suggestions, increase my steps per minute by 5%, from 180 to 189 during my marathon pace, this should help me not have time to do that swing and fix up my pace.  I follow up next Friday to get the full analysis.

Saturday: 10 miles at easy pace per Hanson Marathon Method. I get out around 5am. And for the first run since July... I had no mountain of rough pain or strains to break through to run. I'm going to pause and let that feeling hang there...

I was normal, at least to start. A big mental relief.

I still had some periods of tightness and aches through my run, but that happens in all my easy paced runs.  I saw Mrs Fueling Strong as she started her CARA run and we exchanged our normal cheery hello!

Here are some photos from the run:

And for those of you who are here for a photo of my kid, here she is rocking her new fall jacket:

Only down side to the run, I focused too heavily on trying to watch my feet and how my legs were moving and flared up something in my upper glute. Some foam rolling has since helped.


Sunday: Cut back weekend, so just another 10 miles at easy pace. It was raining today and I started pain free again, which was great! My pace was felt fresh, and I just ran at whatever felt good for that mile, and ended with a sprint for the last few blocks which felt great. No blogger sightings today.

Will I be pain free again tomorrow?

Tomorrow is also Pint Night at +Fleet Feet Sports - Chicago , who is going and if so, at which location?

Now for your Sunday motivational picture:

I hope everyone had a great weekend and thank you for your feedback on how to race the marathon.  I have to fiddle around with the comfort level on the sliding scale of  enjoyment speed vs training speed, as it is my first marathon.. but I don't know what I'll do in the future for races.  I haven't found myself addicted to them yet. I love running, but I'm not sure I like races yet..

Edit: Also! BIG NEWS EVERYONE! Yesterday I went to Lickity Split for my 70th time Since October 2011 while checking in with the Belly Card! I'm kind of a big deal.

Weekend in Review

Weekend review time!

Saturday - 8 miles @ easy pace. Gentle run. Not too many kinks to work out. General fatigue and tightness from the previous day's hard run. Got out around 5:15am. Still trying to figure out if my ankle is rolling and if so at what speeds.  I fiddled with my foot planting and found the strikes that cause it in my right calfish area.

I saw Mrs. Fueling Strong start her long run and we exchanged a side five! I also got to finally meet Bethany @ Accidental Intentions on my way home.

After my run, I rounded up the household and we went to Ikea for the day to buy some new furniture for our place when we move. Upon trying to collect the couch, there was a second couch that was stuck to it and made the task a bit of a scare. I felt like this trying to hold it up:

My stomach was a bit of a blah in the evening, so my dinner was rather small.  My energy levels for my long run would face the consequences.

Sunday Plan - 16 miles @ 7:43ish pace. End Result: 16 miles @ 7:40 pace.

My first 10 miles were a little fast as I tried to ease into the pace. The slightly faster speed resulted in better posture and foot planting.  The small dinner and humidity at this point started to bear down on me.

My splits started going on pace or maybe a little slower.  I didn't mind as this would help my overall time get closer to the target time rather than finish too fast (TWSS).

I also got to run for a minute with Pete who took another graceful photo:

 

I got back home with drenched sneakers and have been slowly refueling since.  I'm hoping to make it out to Runner's Edge this evening to get a recheck on my sneaker needs.

Have a great evening!

Hustle Hard

Weekend post.

Saturday.. 10 easy miles on plan. Cutback weekend.

I didn't wake up with my first alarm. Got out a few late... I forgot to account for stretching time and a bathroom break...run getting shortened.

I start at 5:25am. A gnat immediately flies in my eye. Great start.. Take a few steps and oh god... My left calf....

The spot the physical therapist dug into like there was gold in there multiple times was screaming. I could barely break out of my jog.  I felt a lot better running Friday than I did post therapy beat up. I sure hope this is worth it.

Begin mental breakdown.

I just want to feel stronger again. I keep telling myself my leg would warm up. That is was from therapy.. don't freak out. 

Get to my stretching point. Edge of a thunderstorm rolls by.. sprinkles and lightening... Maybe I'll go home and try this later.. just a few more miles. Gotta hustle. Closed mouths don't get fed on this training boulevard.

The refrain from this song keeps repeating in my head, and gets me through a few rough spots in my runs.

 

I slowly can push off that leg again. My pace normalizes, but now I'm getting bathroom alerts.
Pit stop!

2 miles left and these two fast runners run by mile. I already had to cut a mile out of my rub, and I'm still cutting it close.  After they get ahead by about 15-20 feet, I hold their pace. This will get me home quickly.

Then my legs turn on. The outside world goes silent. My brain tells my body to flood the adrenaline and this tune goes on:


(Note: I really want to go to a Daft Punk concert)

My mind can't negotiate this. They get closer to me. Are they slowing down? I fly off. I shouldn't. I don't need to. It is rude. But I already have.

You know when you have a blind rage to go fast?

A ridiculously fast mile later I come back to my senses, look back and nobody is there. I wonder if they were real. It was a little glimmer back to how I felt just a month ago pretty constantly.

I get home thinking the kid is still asleep. I check the monitor, she is sitting up and says, daddy!

I walk in sweating with my yoga mat and water. She gets up and hops around me as I stretch.

At night (see 4pm) we go to Taste of Peru and enjoy a super tasty dinner. I highly recommend this place!

Sunday run. Another 10 easy pace miles. I decide to not set an alarm... I needed sleep.

Get out around 8:15am.

New ache to deal with today. More the area of the subjective complaints of shin splints. I'm getting real sick of this. One part feels better. The next lines up. Maybe those muscles were compensating for the previously sore ones. They better all get this crap out of their system soon, ain't nobody got time for that.

No rush at least for pace, just do it. Hustle for those miles. I tell myself, if I made it through yesterday, I can do today.

Within the 10 minutes I take to get to my stretching area I'm already sweating a ridiculous amount. My pace is a lot better than yesterday at least. I'll take what I can get.

This run is a steady run, I try to make sure the pace doesn't require much effort.  I refrained from chasing anyone that had a faster run on their schedule and kept on my humble way.

Highlights - I saw Pete @ The Lakefront Trail, a coworker, and a later confirmed sighting of Hillary @ Tongue in Chic.

 The ache/tightness in sides of my calves (yes both this time) eased up about 6 miles in, and I was glad to be at least exercising. I had about two instances of tightness in my original strain area, although I know it is all related.

Glad it is a cutback weekend. Not glad that I am not getting a more consistent string of feel good runs.  I'm not falling off any physical times, but mentally, it is getting tougher to believe that I'll be able to keep this up and rehab. But I believe enough that I can.

And I still believe that the rehab people will be able to get me in my fighting shape by race time (even though I currently am only scheduled for 2 more weeks..).

Enough of the boo hoo talk.

And a big holler to Annabelle @ Fluency's Folley for getting first place among women at the No Frills Marathon today!

This was obviously how she reacted upon crossing the finish line:

Aight, Thanks for hanging around for my ramblings!

Have a great Labor Day tomorrow!

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!

Weekend Ramblings and Runs

Fast weekend recap!
Saturday: 10 miles. Easy pace, ~8:15s average. Ran part of it with Erin and her friend. I saw Mrs. Fueling Strong as I headed back. Couple photos from early on in the run:

I spent the rest of the day prepping for my tot's birthday party in the afternoon. My left hamstring was a bit tight in the afternoon, but after some stretching, it feels normal again. If you care to see some photos from the party, see here. The theme of the party - PLAY IN ALL THE SAND.

One small example:

This morning - Another 10 miles. The Hanson Plan has a long run every other weekend. Today's pace was supposed to be easy. (see 8+), but I ended up doing it around 7:30. My legs were pretty tired today, a bit abnormal for Sunday for me. I saw Fluency's Folly on my way down, who later apologized for not giving a side five. Apology accepted.

I think adding the hill work on Wednesday finally pushed me to the point where the plan caught up to my current ability and will be pushing harder from here on out.  I'll keep an eye on any aches to make sure I'm not overdoing it.

That's all I got! A bit tired today. Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Weekend Recap

A rare busy weekend for us here! Saturday morning I did 9 miles at an easy pace. Relaxing run, not much to add to it. Here is a photo of the start of the path:

After getting home and getting the family started, I took my tot to the park. She insisted on bring out our pride flag and her turtle:

I then went to meet up with some fellow bloggers as they were up in my neck of the woods at Hollywood Beach doing a paddle boarding lesson.

You got Anne @ Anne Really Blogs, Erin @ Loop Looks,+Maggie Wolff, Xaarlin at Pain is nothing, and +Emily Seto.

Couple extra photos:

 

I spend the time doing the beach thing with my wife and tot.

Afterwards we meet up again at Moody's!

I may or may not have said that's what she said as the photo was taken and blinked. woops!

And director's commentary: There are some Whovians in this photo, can you guess who?

In the evening we had a BBQ with some other parents in the hood out at Hollywood beach area again:

Fast forward to this morning: My normal  Sunday half mara distance. I wanted to take it easy to save my legs for next Sunday's Rock and Roll Half. I started around 7:40am, and the Sun was already beating my energy down, so there was no going hard anyways. One aggravating thing from the run, right at the start of the path, this guy who I judged to be going a bit faster than me, was about 30 feet behind me and coming around the loop at Ardmore. I assumed he was just going to pass me and I could just relax. BUT NOPE.

This guy stayed like 5 feet behind me for the next SIX MILES. I tried to slow down a little, one for the heat, and two to hope he'd pass me. NOPE! WTF Dude. I was a rangry runner and dripping sweat like no tomorrow.  Every time I turned to check for bikes, there he was, ugh.  He went a different way at North Avenue area, and I realized... he wanted to run in my draft... The wind was out of the south and was enough to suck energy out of you. Here is my thoughts on him...

EDIT: I FORGOT! I saw Mayor Rahm running this morning! Did anyone else?

My end time was ~ 1:35. Not bad considering the heat and my plan for the day. I also tried out a honey stinger gel thing, and I liked it a lot better than a Gu. I have a few more things I'll try this week before settling. But I do miss the gatorade on my run.

I poured at least two bottles of water on my, maybe three total by the end of my run. I was soaked head to toe with sweat and water. My sneakers sounded like wet sponges.  Muscle wise, I feel fine, but the heat and sweating are taking a little longer to recover from.

Might go out to George's Ice Cream later in Andersonville, and have laundry to do. Doing Pint night tomorrow with some bloggers! First time I'll run with more than two people on purpose in ages.

How was your weekend?