I'm back at it

Well, after a summer of not working out as much as I should have, school is back upon me and I'm going to start running again. This summer should have been an ideal one for me to get into great shape: work wasn't all that time consuming, and except for the last couple weeks of monsoons here, the weather has been great. This is actually the year that I should be doing Ironman Wisconsin, but I failed to get an entry a year ago.

So it's back to the running again. My hope once again is to race the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend in June of 2008, but this year I am getting an earlier start on my training. With a more gradual build of the volume and mileage, I hope to actually make it through to the race this time without any serious injuries. To start things off I am beginning training for a 10k Turkey Trot near Madison that had some surprisingly fast times last year. We'll see how things go!

Well, I'm out

Hey all! Sorry again about the crappy, crappy updates to the blog. Actually, they aren't crappy as there haven't been any.

I've concluded that I'm out for any racing on June 2. I haven't been running much, by which I mean not at all. I haven't run in weeks. Papers and finals put a good smackdown onto most working out, and then the weather got all nice here (unusual in Madison where it is usually far too cold or far too warm), and I've been out on the bike. So no running for me. It has all been for naught.

I originally planed to get re-BodPodded right about now to see how the body comp has changed, but I can tell you just from a simple squeezing of my belly or a glimpse in the mirror that my body composition has changed, and not in a manner that I'm happy with. I guess when you go from running 40-50 miles a week to not doing much, getting stressed out, and then having a goodly number of end-of-semester happy hours that is to be expected.

There may be a few more blog posts, but this site will likely disappear in the near future so as to not serve as an eternal monument to my failure!

Wow, I'm a crappy blogger!

So looking at the blog today, I realized that it has been weeks since I have posted anything. This is mainly due to the fact that there is little to report on, but is also because I have been busy with school. Really busy. In one 36 hour stretch later this week I have a 15 page, a 12 page, a 3 page, and a 2 page paper due, as well as a homework assignment. I should be working on all of those right now, but I'm really having a hard time with the 15 pager, so I'll update you instead!

My leg continues to heal and I actually went for a three mile run this past week. The leg felt fine during the run, unfortunately the lungs did not! My physical therapist thinks that I can run the marathon, but probably not at the pace that I was hoping for. However, I think I am going to take a pass on it. Since the stress fracture I have had a very hard time motivating for any sort of training, and have also been pretty busy. I think that I could do the race, but it would not be pleasant for me, nor would it meet my goals and expectations. With that in mind, I think I'm pulling the plug on it. I may still go down to South Bend that weekend and run either the half-marathon or the 10k, but I am still not sure about that.

That's all for now, back to the paper....

My body is much happier

So since I haven't run in about twelve days, my body is much happier with me - no more random aches and pains, and things just feel generally better! Everything except my belly that is, where my abs have gone back under cover - the body fat is noticeably up since the run mileage fell off. I am increasingly convinced that while running may provide some cardiovascular benefits, it really isn't all that good for you!

PT - It's on!

So on Monday of this week I got in to see a physical therapist with the local sports medicine department. Katy spent some time watching me walk, doing range-of-motion tests and strength tests, and then video taped me on the treadmill. Her conclusion from working with me was that there is nothing wrong with my gait or any physical issues, and that my injury was likely just from over use. Cyclists don't have the greatest bone strength as cycling isn't totally weight bearing, so shifting to a heavy running load just over stressed my left tibia.

The good news is that Katy thinks I will have no problem running the race. She wants me to continue with non-impact aerobic work (I have been out on my fixed-gear bike a lot) and to begin doing some specialized stretches and strengthening routines. This weekend I will begin running a little (very little at first) and will slowly ramp back up. One good thing about my training is that I have already done a couple of decently long runs (18 and 20 miles), so the is confident that I will be able to do the full race. I will get in to see Katy three more times before the race to assess how things are progressing and to make any needed changes in the plan. In the mean time I certainly don't mind being back on the bike a lot!

Sorry...

Hey all. Sorry I haven't been keeping things a bit more up to date here. I've been in a bit of a workout funk with the leg injury and I'm back at school now and seem to be constantly pressed for time.

The update on the leg is that it is definitely a stress fracture of the left tibia. I saw my doc on Monday and he confirmed what my trainer thought, but ordered an MRI to ensure that it wasn't anything else like compartment syndrome. I had the MRI on Tuesday, which took forever. Apparently lower legs are not a commonly imaged area and the techs had some problems getting the images they were looking for. Laying on one of those MRI beds for 90 minutes isn't all that comfortable in case you were wondering!

Based on the MRI results my doc thought it would be beneficial to meet with a physical therapist to look at continued training and recovery options. Hopefully we can work out an adequate training plan that still allows me to do the race.

My leg doesn't feel that bad now that I'm not running (actually most of me feels much better without the constant pounding...). There is some dull aching in the leg, especially toward the end of the day, but not bad. I have been hitting the elliptical machines for about an hour a day to keep my aerobic base up, and that doesn't seem to bother the leg. Hopefully I will be able to start adding some running back into the routine pretty soon!

The end is nigh

I knew that something wasn't right with my leg. After waking up on Thursday with my lower left leg in substantial pain, I went to talk to my team's athletic trainer, T. She did some poking around and squeezing and gave her assessment that I most likely have a stress fracture. T is really good and really knows what she is doing, so I have no doubt that she is correct. I have an appointment next week with my primary care physician who will hopefully order an MRI to confirm (most stress fractures don't show up in x-rays).

The fracture is on the inside of my left tibia, about four or five inches below my knee. It doesn't hurt all the time, although it does seem to hurt when I get up in the morning, and it is pretty sore by the end of the day as well.

I'm not real sure what this means for the race yet. Everyone I've talked to has said that I need to get into a pool and start water running, but I don't know that I have enough pool access to make that work. It didn't seem to be bothering me biking to work this morning, so the bike may be OK. I am going to head to the gym shortly here to try out an elliptical to see if that bothers it at all; I figure that is as close as you can come to running without any impact. If I can keep up my aerobic base I will hopefully be able to still do the race. I would hate to have done all this training and not be able to run the event!

Something isn't right

Greetings from beautiful Oak Ridge, Tennessee! I have been down here in the Volunteer State since Friday training with the women's rowing team that I coach during our spring break. The trip so far has been pretty good from a training perspective, but the rest of the trip hasn't been great for me from a school or running perspective.

On the academic side of things, I just haven't gotten enough done. I've done some reading and some writing, but no research on the two big papers that I have to do. Between two extended practices a day and trying to get in some runs, I don't have all that much motivation left to study. Oh well, it is "break," right?

On the running front, I haven't gotten in as much as I should have. I missed a little running with the travel days down here, and I will miss some with the travel back. The bigger problem, however, is that I'm having a goodly bit of pain in both of my legs. The right shin is a bit sore, but I'm not too worried about that. More concerning is the pain that I'm having in my left calf/shin area; the pain here is much more acute. Today will be a day off and I need to have the team trainer take a look at it and see what she thinks. My guess is a strain of some sort, hopefully nothing more severe than that. Odd that this would happen when my mileage has actually dropped off.

The running down here hasn't been great as there isn't much of anywhere to run. There is a small park near our hotel that has some nice paths on it, but you are essentially running in circles all over the park. There is also a nice new bike/run path near the river here, but the 4.5 mile run over there is on busy shoulders with strip malls and redneck good-old-boys passing you too close while leaning on the horn. And the girls on the trip with us who go for runs get it even worse. Ahhh, the South, sometimes I wonder if we should have let them go....

Early tomorrow morning we pack up and head to Indianapolis for a day of training and a day of racing, then it's back home to Madison where I hear it snowed over night. Not cool - it is April, it shouldn't be snowing any more!

This week is a mess!

This week is the last week of school before spring break. Now many of you are probably thinking to yourself "Spring break, man, I wish I got a spring break!" Well I'd be happy to trade you for whatever it is you will be doing next week. I coach for my school's women's rowing program, so we are headed to beautiful Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I'm no fan of Tennessee, but it is warmer than here, so that part isn't so bad. What is bad is that I will be coaching three practices a day, doing the team's video editing work for another couple hours a day, trying to fit runs in, studying for an exam, and writing two lengthy research papers - that isn't a break!

The lead-up to this "break" hasn't been good either as this week has been packed with school work and work work for me. I missed my run yesterday and know that I will miss tomorrow's run, so I've been shifting the workouts around to avoid losing too much mileadge. Hopefully I'll survive the next ten days, and then will get back into a more regular routine, although that seems unlikely given that we will be into our race season and traveling a lot.

I need a sugar-momma to pay for my schooling so that I don't have to do this work thing! Hell, even a sugar-daddy would be acceptable if the benefits were right!

I hate this

Yesterday my friend B expressed his doubts that I really hate running giving the training that I am doing. I tried my best to reassure him that I did, but I'm not sure that he bought it. I wish he had been there for my 20 miler today. It was pure misery.

I don't enjoy any of my runs, even the short ones. At best they are unpleasant. Somewhere around eight miles they transfer to miserable, and over twelve or so they are into the unbearable zone. Every step after mile twelve is misery, and it is hard to keep the feet turning over.

Today's run started a little fast, but that's not why it was so bad. It was primarily bad because the first twelvish miles were into the wind, and slightly up hill. That was a bad way to start off. Then it was compounded by some pretty severe dehydration. It was around 80 today which is well warmer than we are used to up north here, and I was a bit dehydrated when the run started, but I didn't think too bad. I drank 32 ounces of Gatorade Endurance Formula during the run, which wasn't enough. By the end of the run I was about five pounds below my normal weight, while still wearing sweat-soaked shorts and a shirt! Not good. Not good at all.

Every step of every one of these runs has me questioning the wisdom of doing this race, and as of right now the only thing keeping me going is knowing how much shit I will get from all of you, my dear readers, if I don't do it. If I do the race I will likely never run another day again after that!

I hate running.

Aches & pains...

You may have noticed that one of my runs came up a bit short last week and that that I missed a good length run the next day - I'm hurting a bit! I have really tight Achilles tendons, and my left one has been particularly tender the past week or so. I've also been having a bit of unknown pain in my right ankle region, something that I attribute to running off-road some last week. So I thought a bit of rest was in order, especially with today's 20 miler in the works. It is beautiful out and is supposed to be around 70 by the time I hit the road this afternoon, so it is at least a nice day for a run. We'll see how the body actually responds to going that far....

Shorts!

Apparently when I was a shorty my mom put me in a pair of shorts when spring rolled around and I totally freaked out because "my knees were sticking out!" Today when I put shorts on for the run I nearly freaked out again, but this time because the temperature was over 60! I still wound up being overdressed with a long sleeve shirt on, but man was it nice to be in shorts.

Highs are 50 or above for every day in the current 10-day forecast, so I think we are finally getting into spring up here in the tundra. And you know what they say a young man's mind turns to when spring rolls around: papers, projects, running too far, and too much stress, that's what! Wait, I don't think that is the saying. Maybe it doesn't work because I am no longer a young man....

The Shamrock Shuffle

Today was the first 10k I've ever raced: The Shamrock Shuffle in Madison. It was a beautiful morning for it, if a little chilly at 25* at race time. I didn't have a decent run yesterday (8 miles), so I was a bit nervous about the race today, but it went pretty well. I finished in 39:41 according to my watch, which is around a 6:24 average per mile. Not bad for my first running race in over a decade! A few online pace calculators predict around a 3:06 marathon based on that which I would be pretty happy with.

The race itself felt pretty decent. It was a bit hillier course than most of my runs, so that was a bit of a shock to the system. I need to work on my pacing a little bit more - my miles varied from 6:02 (mile 2) to 6:26 (mile 4). My time would have put me in the top fifteen or so last year, but they had a much larger crowd this year so I think I was around 27 with one woman (a good looking one no less) about 50 feet ahead of me for the entire race. They started a 5k on the same course about 10 minutes after us which turned out to be a bit of a bad idea as the 10k runners then had to weave through the slower 5k runners for the last mile into the finish. Not much else to complain about though. I'm definitely pretty happy with the race and feel better about my training for Sunburst!

Chasing Leperchauns!

For my workout this Saturday I will be racing in the Shamrock Shuffle 10k a few blocks from my home. This will be the fist running race I have done in over a decade. My training plan doesn't call for racing any 10k's for a few more weeks, but this one is right here, and I'm supposed to run eight miles that day anyway, so it should be perfect with the warm up and cool down thrown in. I'm really not sure what I can do for the race as I haven't been doing any speed training with that sort of distance, but going under 40' would be nice - I think that is around a 6:30 pace.

On another note, my wonderful espresso machine arrived back from some warranty work today after a ten week absence. I am very excited to get her fired up again and restore a proper caffeine balance to my life!

Things are getting better... kind of

Every time I have a long run in the training plan it is a new record for the farthest I have ever run. This week it was 18 miles, and it was clear to me why I hadn't run this far before: it is not fun! Getting through the run was probably the hardest thing I've ever done physically, although it wasn't all bad. Unlike my two previous long runs, there was no intense pain anywhere, just a dull ache through the knees, hips, and hip flexors, which is to be expected I suppose. And unlike my previous long runs, the streets and sidewalks were mostly free of snow and ice, so my time was significantly better than the time before. Running in the warmer weather was also really nice, although it made me want to be on my bike instead of running.

My opinion of my FuelBelt changed with this last run, and I now strongly dislike it. As with nearly all of my clothing, I fall right between sizes small and medium; I have a medium FuelBelt which fit really well with the slightly bulker winter clothes, but moves around way too much with the thinner clothes now. I'm thinking I may have to get a small and sell the medium unit, because it was annoying as all get out to have the belt constantly bouncing and moving around for 18 miles.

Overall the training is going ok, although I feel like it could be a bit better. I'm holding off on any real goal setting until a month or so before the race so that I have a better sense of how my training is progressing and ensuring that I am still injury free. I have a few goals in mind though....

Oh happy day!

Today is shaping up to be just a fantastic day. First of all, it is bright and sunny and warm (45!) outside! The run felt great, no gloves or anything. The only downside is because of the massive melt off going on, a lot of the sidewalks are flooded, and I ran through some slush that was deeper than my shoes. I wasn't too happy about that, but I'll take it over the cold that we've had!

Second, I think I'm finally almost over this sickness that has been plaguing me! I am still a bit congested, and the ears still feel a bit full, but all in all I'm feeling a good bit better.

I can't wait for things to get even warmer over the next few days and to melt off the last of this snow - spring is in the air!

Little things...

I got in to see the doc the other day, and naturally he couldn't find anything wrong with me. Rather than do a CT scan on my sinuses to see what the hell is going on in there, he prescribed another round of antibiotics (Z-Pac) and a nasal spray to try to clear things out. It better work!

I was back in for my next round of allergy shots after my systemic reaction last week, and they set me waaaaay back in the dosing. Rather than the three injections I got at 0.25cc each last time, I got only one this time, and only at 0.10cc. Next week we will step back up to two of the allergens, then hopefully back to all three. It is going to take me forever to get through these things, but if they result in any reduction in my allergies and overall stuffiness, they will be worth it.

Warm weather is on the way! Although the low tonight will be in the single digits, the Weather Channel is promising temps in the 40s by the weekend and maybe a trip into the 50s next week. I can't wait, although all this snow melting off will make things pretty sloppy for a while.

Still sick....

I've been sick for about six weeks here, and I'm pretty tired of it. It is nothing major, just this congestion in my head and sinuses that won't go away. Every morning I wake up with my head and ears feeling all full, and I'm still coughing quite a bit from congestion irritating my throat. I've already done a ten day course of antibiotics which appeared to do nothing, but I'm going to head back in to the doctor this week and see if we can come up with something. I'm sick of being sick....

Go See Brett!

I stumbled across Brett Dennen purely by accident at show on New Year's Eve at the San Diego House of Blues, but man am I glad I saw him! I was fortunate enough to catch him again a couple of nights ago in a very small venue here in Madison - the show was amazing. Adding to the coolness was that I bumped into Brett and his band before the show in a restaurant and got to talk to him a bit. Check his webpage and if he's coming anywhere near you, go see him!

Allergies suck

I've got allergies. Pretty bad allergies compared to much of the population, although nothing compared to some members of my family. I am constantly a bit congested and stuffed up: I would estimate that I can breathe through both of my nostrils at the same time for maybe one hour total every year. Fortunately, I'm not generally too sneezy or runny, although numerous people can tell stories of me laying on the couch with tissue stuffed up my nose to make the occasional hay-fever outbreak stop.

Given all of this, I was happy to find that my insurance would cover allergy treatments and about a year ago I headed off to see the doctor. The allergist administered a skin-prick test where they prick your arms with about 36 different allergens so see what you are allergic to. Given my reactions, the doctor stated that I "am one of their most allergic patients," and this is a big clinic! So from there the shots began. Every five days I head to the clinic and get three shots in the upper arms for all the tree and grass pollens, dust mites, cats, and some other things that I reacted to on the skin-prick test. I then have to hang out for 30 minutes to make sure there is no major reaction before I am allowed to leave. The shots are full of whatever you are allergic to and with each session the concentration is slowly increased so that your body builds a tolerance to the allergins. Shots are administed every five to ten days - if you go longer than ten days, you have to repeat the dose from the last session. This continues for about a year, then you move to monthly shots for another two years or so. A pain, but if it helps at all, it will be worth it.

About six weeks ago I went in, got my shots, then headed home. An hour after I got home, things weren't going so well though and I was getting very wheezy, coughing a lot, my lips were swelling, and I was having problems breathing. I headed back to the clinic where they loaded me up with epinephrine (synthetic adrenalin), albuterol, and prednisone and monitored me for a couple of hours. The drugs took care of the reaction pretty quickly, but left me jittery as all get out for a while, and then crashing hard later. The doctor could not give any reason for my reaction, other than that "they sometimes just happen" and that maybe my immune system was down. As it turned out, I came down with a nasty cold a day or two later, so my immune system was likely overworked already and the allergens pushed it over the edge. Scary.

The big problem with having a reaction to the shots is that they set you back in the sequence: the doctors reduce your allergen concentrations and then start to rebuild. So after getting over my cold, I was eager to get back into the series, and keep building. All was going well, and I was up to more than double the concentration that caused the first reaction when today I had another reaction. Not cool. I was at work and could feel it coming on, so popped a couple of benedryl and had a coworker take me back to the clinic. I still haven't used my Epipen to self-administer epinephrine, but I came close today. Once again they loaded me up with epinephrine, monitored me, then sent me home when I was doing OK. Like last time, they did not have any explanation for why I had the reaction, although the RN treating me strongly suggested that I go to a seven or eight day shot cycle (rather than five) to allow my body to generate more antibodies between shots. If I can go every seven days with no reactions, I will actually get through the cycle faster than going every five days and having occasional set backs like these. Plus I won't have the scary sensation of my breathing slowly shutting down.

Needless to say, today's run didn't happen. Allergies suck.

My Sweet 16!

Today was the long run day, conveniently coming just after the massive snowfall that we had over the weekend. The run was 16 long miles, and I managed a 7:31 average, which is well short of where I'd like to be, but as you'll read below, not too bad. Some thoughts:

Road Conditions
The road conditions were horrible! We got about 18" of snow over the weekend, which then packed down to about a foot of slush when it briefly rained yesterday. It has also been lightly snowing for the past 36 hours. While streets and sidewalks have largely been "cleared," most are still covered in slush and many have this thick layer of icy, slushy, slippery mess on them. The run involved much more lateral movement than usual trying to stay upright, and I think that's why my knees and hips are a bit more sore than I would expect. I would guess that the conditions easily added 10 - 15 seconds to every mile.

The slush had another "benefit": very wet feet. By mile 5 my shoes were completely soaked - they might has well have been dipped in Lake Mendota. This caused some issues with blistering, although not as bad as I feared, but also slowed me down a lot with the extra weight! Now I know you are thinking "Is he kidding? That can't be much weight...." Well, I weighed my shoes, and they more than doubled in weight with each one picking up a pound. Given that I took about 10,000 steps during the run, that's a lot more weight for my already sore hip flexors to be swinging forward on every step! A bit more time lost....

Leg Pains
My left calf just doesn't like long runs: two weeks ago it was hurting pretty good during my 14 miler, and today it and my left hamstring began hurting around mile 9. I considered stopping and busing it home, but pushed through instead. We'll see if that was a good idea or not in the next day or two I suppose. I have abnormally tight calves and Achilles tendons, so they are always a bit sore, but this was serious pain and in a different place than last time. I stretched it out when I got home and will again before bed and hopefully all will be well!

Nutrition
I did a better job today with the nutrition! I made it through both bottles of the Gatorade Endurance, and one and a half of water. Still, that's only about 90 calories, and I'm expecting a deficit of around 900 during the race, so I need to keep working on getting more calories in. Not bad though.

I thought of all sorts of other things to write about during the run, but they all escape me now, so I guess that will be all for tonight!