Spring is almost here!

Whew! It really just occurred to me that I’ve only been running for 6 weeks after a 3 month injury. However, to my amazement, my workouts are indicating that I’m in at least as good of shape as I was at the end of last February. My workout this week consisted of 5 x mile repeats with 0.26 mile recovery. Due to the footing this week, this was an ideal workout because our apartment complex does an excellent job plowing and salting the parking lot. I have a 0.5 mile loop where I measured out a mile consisting of close to 2 laps. I really didn’t know what to expect going into this workout. The weather was around 30, not much wind and good footing. I ran the first repeat in 4:54 and really didn’t feel very good, but I was able to hit 4:56, 4:56, 4:55, 4:56 for the last four repeats. I really thought I struggled through this workout but the repeats seemed to get easier as I went on which is a good sign. For the sake of curiosity, after the workout I checked the variation on the resting time and to my surprise it ranged from 1:54-1:56. While I’m very happy with the workout, my muscles are very imbalanced and my stride feels extraordinarily awkward. Swimming was instrumental in maintaining my aerobic fitness during my injury, but I have decided that I need to give it up for now and replace the swimming with morning runs and core work to help get my weight down, improve running efficiency, and balance my muscle strength. Hobbling around for 3 months really did not help my athleticism, balance, and balance of muscle strength. All and all, I really can’t complain and I’m really just enjoying being outside.

This past week consisted of mostly easy running where I implemented 2 two-a-days and ended up hitting 84 miles. The next weeks should really indicate where my current fitness level is as I’m going to repeat a workout that I ran at this time last year and also hop in my first post injury race (5k). The Twin Cities Marathon was my last race and I missed the time that I was shooting for, but I’m the most motivated that I’ve ever been. The next few weeks of training should be a lot of fun to see where I’m at and get back running with some of the guys on our club team. It’s snowing outside today, but it’s getting to be that time of year where the weather should start warming up a bit. Here’s to enjoying the transition. Hope training is going well for everyone else. Looking forward to seeing people out this spring. It's been too long.

Great to feel like spring: 2nd workout back

            With the weather warming up this past week, running has been great. I’m sure that the temperature will cool back down and there will be more snow to come, but the great footing this week has shown me that my cross training has paid dividends. The last 4 days were a 10.5 miler where I averaged just over 6 minute pace, an easy 5 x mile repeat workout slightly slower than marathon pace, a 10 miler at 5:54 pace, and the week was capped off with an 8 x 800 workout. It was extraordinarily windy out yesterday and I ran the 800s through our parking lot with my roommate Kyle Johnson. Since I haven’t run workouts in quite some time, I actually wanted to lead to get back to pacing and Kyle stuck on me for every repeat. Our rest was consistent and was just under 0.25 miles in 1:41-1:45. I really didn’t know what to expect from this workout, but we hoped to run 2:20-2:25 and that was before we knew that we were going to be running in the wind. I was somewhat surprised by how well we were able to run as we split 2:16, 2:21, 2:20, 2:22, 2:21, 2:20, 2:21, 2:17. I never once even thought of my hip/back pain throughout the workout which is a great sign that my hip is 100% healed. I really didn’t know what to expect from this spring season, but I think running PR’s should be a realistic goal. On a side note, if Kyle can stay healthy this spring, I do think we’ll see some substantial PR’s. My race schedule is beginning to take shape and I will post it in the near future. Happy running!

Massage Therapy: Taking my lumps and getting them out

How about those Buckeyes! Wisconsin sports are having an “ok” month. I’m finally starting to feel like a runner again. I had my first workout this week, my long runs are progressing, and I also ran my first run that I would categorize as “brisk to semi-hard” effort. Needless to say, it’s been an interesting week of running which is highlighted by the “brisk” run. On this particular day, I really just wanted to open up my stride a bit. The roads aren’t completely clear, so I tried not to worry about the consistency of the mile splits. On a 9.5 mile run, I ran the 2^nd mile in 5:44 and thought that this run was going to be flawless. Well, needless to say it wasn’t. At about 2.7 miles, I was cruising and slowed down to take a corner. Unfortunately, not enough and I bit it. As every runner knows, this happened in slow motion and all I could think is “get the knees, hands, and arms out…protect the hip”. Needless to say, that hurt. I hobbled for about a quarter mile and then got back to it. Somewhere in the middle of the run I had a 5:40 mile and the run was gaining some momentum. As I turned to head home down Okemos road, I was feeling a little tired, but had a great sense of accomplishment. The run had gone pretty well, and then I got hit by a car. Now I realize that a lot of drivers do not stop before the cross walk (which I do not condone), but I guess I take it for granted that they’re actually going to stop. Now I didn’t get the best look, but from my point of view, it wasn’t completely the driver’s fault. To the driver’s defense, he was driving his wife and kid somewhere while talking on his cell phone and taking a drink. I completely understand how he didn’t see me in my Brooks night life jacket in broad daylight or that big red stop sign. I jumped up, got hit, slammed my hand on the hood (not intentionally), and actually landed on my feet without falling. It still hurt, but not too badly. All and all, I ran a slower first mile, fell, got hit by a car, and actually managed to recover from it all and have my first post injury sub-6 minute mile run. My hip survived and I hope I can keep building momentum.

            All and all, I am being fairly aggressive with my post injury build up which is definitely causing some unwanted knee, shin, and muscle pain. I hate to say it, but I actually have missed this pain. In my 2 year injury free stint, one thing that I really began doing is massage therapy. It all started with a half marathon in Columbus. I had been running for the summer and like always, began to develop an injury. This time it was terrible knee pain. I thought I was pretty fit and I thought my injury was going to cut my season short so I decided to hope for a PR and run the half marathon anyway. I was experiencing pain in my hamstring and really thought that was the root of my problem. The day before the race, there was free massage therapy so I decided to go ahead and see if they could help me. I warned the massage therapist that I was having knee pain and to be gentle with my hamstrings. She complied, but rubbed out knots in my calves. I had been experiencing no pain in my calves so I was in utter amazement that she was barely pressing on them and I really couldn’t tolerate the pain. I let her keep going and I could hardly walk the next morning. Needless to say, I ran absolutely terribly at this race, but it really was a changing point in my running career. I went back home and decided that I to rub out my calve muscles. About a week later, the knee pain was gone and I didn’t miss a beat training. I couldn’t believe it. I ended up dropping my half marathon time that season by 3.5 minutes. It’s amazing what consistency in training can do. I am certainly no expert in massage therapy, but it’s pretty easy to imagine that if you have a large knot in your muscle, your muscle is much shorter than it should be which can lead to a lot of extra strain on your tendons leading to joint pain. By getting the knots out, your muscle goes back to the proper length and your joint pain can subside. Aside from resolving injuries, it stimulates blood flow to damaged muscle tissue which allows for faster recover from harder runs. Massage therapy really has helped me stay healthy. Like any profession, there are good massage therapists and not so good massage therapists. In my opinion, a good massage therapist understands the mechanics of the body, isn’t afraid to get into the muscles, and focuses on the individual athlete rather than having preconceived thoughts. Susan Henderson is an excellent massage therapist and has helped me get through a lot of injuries. I really can’t thank her enough.

Getting Back

            Go Pack Go! I had to throw that out there. It’s great to have back to back quarterbacks with super bowl rings! However, I do have one confession to make. I didn’t watch every game this year and I am a bit of poser. Back in week 12 of the regular season, I missed the first quarter of the Packers/Falcons game because I was getting a workout in at the pool and only caught the last 3 quarters. While I guess I didn’t see the entire season this year, it’s great to see Woodson and Driver with rings and the trophy back in Green Bay.

            Running is coming around. I ran my first workout of the year at tempo pace and discovered that it’s going to take awhile to get the lungs acclimated to the winter weather since I’m used to my hard efforts being in a 70 degree humid atmosphere (i.e. a pool). My legs felt pretty good during the workout, but I can’t say the same for my lungs and stomach. I guess that should be expected since my last hard effort on the roads was over 4 months ago. I am very surprised with how easy running is coming back, but I guess the time that I’ve put in the pool and on the bike are paying off. I do thank everyone that has helped keep me sane over this time period. Now I'm reducing my cross training a bit and trying to get my body to recommit to running. I ended up hitting 51 miles last week with 5 hours and 10 minutes of cross training which brings me to my last point. Have you ever watched “How I met your mother”? If you haven’t, you don’t know what you’re missing. I actually don’t mind sitting on a stationary bike while watching a season.