September 20 - October 5
Off. I got antsy one day and went out for a short bike ride on the river. That was pretty relaxed until someone driving a Ford Compensation pickup got angry with me and I discovered that on rare occasions my body responds to external stimuli. Caught him and the rest of rush hour on the Franklin Ave bridge where they were struggling to hit 5:20s. I suggested he take his truck over to the track for some 200s, declined his invitation for a more intimate encounter and took off.
Met with the surgeon two days ago. I was all like, "Should I have surgery? I'll give you ten bucks and my tennis shoes." But he told me, "You know, you gotta dance with who you came to the dance with." Which means we're not adding a mesh lining to my abdominal wall. Yet. First I'm taking 12 weeks off from "heavy training" to see if it heals itself. My rehab plan, basically, is to power up and proceed to jam, man.
Shortly after my surgical consultation I had a similar consultation with the last notch on my brown belt. We agreed that during the next few months it would be best for both of us if we took some time off to try and gain some perspective. I've been on a few dates since then, mostly with the second-to-last notch. I ran into the last notch a few times and we even ended up having a dinner together. Needless to say, that was pretty uncomfortable.
All of which makes me extremely glad I didn't decide to enter this weekend's US BMI Championships. Some fatties are scared of Abdi, with good reason. Based on my knowledge of each athlete's torso I predict it comes down to Abdi, HDLN, and an even darker horse. Sorry, Biz.
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23 comments:
stupid fatties.
mhh: blast. i'm not running far enough for leaves to fall all the way to the ground right now. antsy? you bet.
October 5
3 (21:18) Summit.
Easy. Supposed to be before work. If you've been reading the blog, you know how it goes.
October 6
3 (22:20) Summit.
8 am. Humid. Felt fine, but hot.
October 7
26.2 (2:45:20) Twin Cities Marathon.
No warmup, save the oppressing 74 degrees with 88% humidity. Had Schrades to chat with at the line, but didn't see the other fellahs. Decided to stick with the best-case plan and see what happened rather than scale it back.
11:49, 6:00, 5:48, 11:42, 11:51, 11:43, 5:51, 6:04, 6:01, 6:11, 6:08, 6:03, 5:59, 6:08, 6:16, 20:40, 7:33, 14:58, 7:04, 1:22.
Major splits were:
10 miles- 58:56 (goal: 59:00)
13.1- 1:17:30 (goal: 1:17:30)
20- 2:00:12 (goal: 1:58:00)
So around halfway the heat started to be a problem. I took splits, but wasn't worrying too much about staying at the goal pace. For the first half goal pace was just normal, but then I started losing 5-10 seconds a mile. All the missed splits up there are from aid stations where I was more interested in the water than the split. I pretty much slowed down as much as I would the rest of the way during mile 22. At some point after Snelling my calf cramped and forced a 30 second walk, but otherwise I actually felt relatively strong. Somewhere around there Schrades also passed me, which was the only point during the race we were together. It didn't last long, as he was quickly by me. Some math at 20 miles told me 7:30 pace for the last 10k would make me close to a PR, and I ended up 2:10 under my old PR, in worse weather.
Pretty happy with the effort- I think the adjustments to my training this time around helped me be more prepared to run the distance, and I think I ran a smart race. I don't know if I could have run ten minutes faster in cooler weather, but I do know I ran a good race in bad conditions. I would have loved for a faster time, but that was beyond my control.
Week:
48 miles, 1 wkt, 26 LR.
Not much else to say for this week. Time for a mental and physical break. Posting during such time will likely be sporadic.
Oct 6: Short line 30 mins. Felt awful, blamed it on the massage Friday night.
Oct 7: Warmup--short, strides, TC 10, 2 mi cooldown, another 4ish miles of trotting around the marathon course. 1:00:08, 76th overall, 74th male. 11:00 (missed the first mile), 6:00 (Franklin Hill), 5:56, 6:14, quit doing the math. Blamed it on the temps in the mid 70s and ridiculous humidity. Never felt good, legs turned to concrete on the first uphill, rest of the uphills were the same. Flats and downs were more acceptable, but nothing was great. After Snelling was able to get things going slightly better, finished real strong over the last mile but couldn't quite break an hour, but passed a few people in the last half mile.
Oct 8: WF 20 in the pm, untimed. Felt awful. Started putting together a few things. Mom is real sick, Dad is real sick, both of them have been up coughing all over my house. So, when I was coughing Friday night and feeling run down and miserable all weekend, and that contined after the weather broke, and I had trouble breathing while running over the weekend as well as on Monday, perhaps I might also be getting sick. Ballz.
Oct 9: 25 min easy jog, was out of coffee beans so stopped to pick some up. Was plenty of running for the day. More breathing issues. Over the course of the day, more of a fever, more congestion, more fatigue. Early to bed, late to rise.
Oct 10: 10 hours of sleep, 30 min run. Better, but still pretty rough. Not much fever action, still congested, still fatigued, but there might be a chance to avoid getting the full-blown version of this sucker.
10-5/11
Finished up an easy week of 62 miles in 6 days while traveling. My body started to feel really good by the end and I started cruising the last couple of miles of each run, which is something that I hadn't done in a long time. All in all a productive week I think.
10-12
12.5--6xmile with 2:00 rest.
Miles went 5:00, 5:00, 4:59, 4:59, 5:09 (uphill), 5:07 (uphill and into the wind). I was really pleased with this workout, especially given the windy, cold conditions. Kicks off what looks to be the toughest period of this block of training. Should be fun.
Oct 11: 33 mins, swung by the bakery, got some doughnuts for breakfast. Still having trouble breathing once I start running. Whatever.
Oct 12: WF 20 untimed. Evening. Got the sleep this morning, had decent energy during the day, trotted a little tonight to see where things are at. Definitely some wheezing as the run went on, but nothing awful. Gonna try a bif further tomorrow, maybe pull out the ol' inhaler that's for, you know, when exercise makes it hard to breathe. Ballz.
Oct 13: MTPO 1:13:11
Hit the inhaler before starting, then again at the WF. Felt awful to start, and then slowly got better. It turns out my right chest area got wicked sore from the scraping and painting of late, and that really hurt while running. Because of the slightly awkward location, it makes it feel as though my heart has a cramp or something, but it's totally just chest muscle. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Spent the remainder of the day putting further strain on that same area. Uff-dah.
Oct. 14: One mile walk to Whole Foods, purchase of multivitamins for general health purposes, one mile walk back. Swimming later. With any luck, the same lifeguard will be there who yesterday asked me if I had passed the deep water test.
Walking is encouragingly painless. This portends, I expect, an overzealous jump back into running which will probably leave me sidelined for another several months.
48mi for me spread out over the last two weeks. Avoided the woods in favor of planting some trees on this past weekend's deer opener. a fine 1:30 min run on Friday. Fall is fantastic.
Congrats to Chaple and Schroeder on some excellent running in crappy conditions at TCM. Chris, your body, between recent descriptions of congestion, and previous treatises on hip tightness, must be a sight to behold. I truly hope that your "pen" is hyperbolic to certain degree. Best.
Oct 14: Fly-By 10 1:04:05. Despite running in the evening after another long day of the usual weekend joys, felt, like, pretty good. The lungs are clear and the body feels pretty good.
Oct 15: 7 mi warmup over to U track, 2 x mile @ relaxed, 3 mi cooldown. Had some ups and downs on the warmup. Water fountain at Franklin is no longer in operation. Felt better by the time I got to the track, so continued with the "workout" as planned. Went 5:49, 5:41 with 60 secs rest. Looking for a sense of what to expect in a few weeks. Pace was all over the place, from 82-90, but the encouraging sign was that it was possible to tell the difference between them. No worries Brooksie. Operations here are continuing under the "no permanent damage" principle.
Oct 16: LSCC 1:01:01. Same loop as usual, had tryouts for the first year's today. Generally speaking it was pretty good--John Mathews and all--I think they might end up making the cut.
Oct 17: Mark Twain 15 1:30:33. Felt real good. Got going at 6:30ish miles and gradually worked down over the course of the run. I don't have any markers or anything, but I would feel confident in saying that each mile was at least a little faster than the one before it. Had initially wanted to go more like 20, but there was only 1 fountain on the loop still in operation and given the proximity of the marathon I figured it would be better to finish 15 strong rather than tempt excessive dehydration and the related issues that that condition brings with it. Feel like I could go out and do it again right now, which is good. Bedar.
don't say things like "proximity of the marathon"
Biz.
Less is more.
Smart move.
Dude, Hools, different marathon, it's cool. We don't talk about it. When in doubt, do as the Fonz does.
October 16
8.5 (1:02:33) LSCC
Good times. First run since twin cities, but not too sore. In fact, not sore at all. Groin still an issue, though. Not painful, but noticeably uncomfortable.
October 17
6 (41:02) River.
Nice run, legs a bit sore from the week+ off.
Octoober 18
8.5 (59:52) River.
Starting to be concerned. Still feeling the groin stiffness, and today around 40 minutes my whole right hip area tightened up. Frustrating. Spent much of the morning reading about "athletic pubalgia" and such things.
October 19
1 (7:10) Not the River.
No real reason to turn around this morning, except for common sense. I could feel the groin again, but the tightness in the lower ab/ hip area was gone. Encouraging, but then again, I thought, better to take care of whatever this is. So I'll be back on the time-off train, though now with a core strength, rehab type of focus.
Oct 18: Easy run over to golf course, 10 x downhill, run back, 48 mins. Felt good during the run, wore the Asics for the first time in a few weeks. Also turned the legs over significantly faster than I have in many many months. Unfortunately, after the run, the back tightened up. It could be the speed, but I'm gonna quit wearing those shoes.
Oct 19: MTPO 1:04:33. Got rollin' pretty well through the first 6-7 miles, then hit a wicked headwind that encouraged my quads to remember that they had worked pretty hard on Wednesday. Eased off for a while, then for the last 2 miles got it back down around 6 min pace. Generally felt pretty good.
Oct 20: 58 mins on the dirt roads around Will Steger's joint outside of Ely. Medium paced, not too slow, not too fast. Back finally better--had been in rough shape since Thursday's run. Tried to make it sore again with a day of wielding a chainsaw and dragging trees outta the woods and into big piles. Very booyah.
Oct 21: 3 mi warmup, 12 x 1 min @ approx 10k pace, 3 mi cooldown. Again, felt good. Kept the pace steady throughout until the last one I turned the legs loose for the last 20 secs.
Oct 22: 11 min warmup, 8 hills, 18 min cooldown. Used the waterfountain hill, but went up the grass. For the first steep section, did some springing, then bounded the remainder of the thing, jogged down, did it again. It took about a minute each direction. Pretty hard workout, despite the low overall volume. Wasn't interested in making it harder so I stopped. Rule of thumb for the next two weeks is to do nothing that I can't recover from by the time the next day rolls around. Bedar.
Oct 23: AM Run of Indeterminable Length 47:29. Was just going to do loop around the golf course, but must have been daydreaming as I found myself heading out onto MTPO. Would have been nice to just roll with it but then I would have been late for class, which would be blow. I wouldn't be writing this right now, 'cause I wouldn't be here yet. Anywho, came back down Grand and across 22nd. Felt the hills from yesterday. Not too tuckered out but not a ton of pop in the step, so the easy run was a good idea.
Oct 23: PM LSCC 58 mins. Lake St Loop. Was a very pleasant jaunt despite the ferocious winds. A historic day in the annals of LSCC as women outnumbered men on the run. Also of important note, Jill McKiernan outlasted John Mathews for the title of "Most Initially Consistent Former MIAC 1L." Competition for that honor has never been so fierce.
Oct 24: Right-Of-Way 8 53:38. Felt just a tad bit sluggish, legs were not that fatigued but also not super fresh. Yesterday was pretty easy but I think the double run helps take the edge off just a bit. I've also been nearly late to class all week, leading to faster-than-I-prefer biking. Anyway, did 6 x 1 min pickups at something approximating marathon effort. Backed off for a minute between each pickup. Felt good. Mostly need to really get some sleep over the next bunch of days here. Bedar.
Oct 25: Main Douzaine 1:23:01. Ran pretty slow for about 7 miles, then about 3 miles at marathonish effort, then the next two miles were pretty slow again. Felt a bit sluggish but on the faster portion things felt much better. So that was nice. Startin' to get a bit excited about things!
Oct 26: Skyline 9 57:07. Felt good, nice easy run but not stupid slow either. Definitely need to pick up some new shoes this afternoon though. Gorgeous morning. Big, bright, full moon, lit up skyline, and then while slipping across the fields or NE Park the glow from the rising sun--the kinda day that really makes me wish I was in the mountains. But, nice nonetheless. Big day for the fellahs tomorrow, should be some fireworks over at Komo there. Bedar.
Running has been going well. Am finishing up third week up at 90 miles. This week I was in Front Royal, VA for some meetings and got to run through Shenandoah NP which was pretty cool. Last night ran 12.5 in the rain, ran the last 6 in 34:40, which was unplanned but felt good.
3 weeks out from the half marathon and think that I am rounding into shape.
October 26
1 (7:10) Street.
Ran a mile. No pain, but some definite stiffness. Encouraging, believe it or not.
Oct 27: Couple miles, then running/cheering for the Carleton women, then a couple laps of Como Lake, then running/cheering for the fellahs. Hour+. Felt alright, some was slow, some was a little uptempo, nothing hard though. Women had a pretty booyah day for not having a super booyah day. Came up 2 points short of the Tommies, but at least they beat the Oles black and blue! The fellahs had a booyah day as well. With the smartest-run race of the day, the fellahs were movin' up and closin' hard on the Johnnies. Couple weeks and a different field are gonna make that a much closer race. All around, a fantastic day for spectating.
Oct 28: MTPO 1:07:52. Done in the evening because I'm an idiot. Had a fantastic plan wherein there would be some camping at Afton, a medium-long run on the trails, a quick breakfast in the town of Afton, then on with the day. Instead I forgot my running shoes in St. Paul. Just plain dumb. This sorta set the stage for the rest of the day. Frustrating.
Oct 29: 20 min warmup, 3 x mile on U of M track, 20 min cooldown. 5:40--setting the marathon speed limit, 5:20--stretching out a little and feeling good, 5:34--striding out on the straights, floating the curves, easiest of the three. Overall, I feel great. After this morning I feel like I can pretty much relax for the rest of the week. Got the legs to that mid-season strong sorta feeling where I wanted 'em. Sunday is gonna be interesting.
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