Thursday I went to the trail and did about 2.8 miles 2/3 walk/run. And I felt good afterwards, no pain at all really, but as the day wore on, I could feel some soreness, but not bad.
Friday morning I aquajogged for an hour in Barton with Shannon and Liliana. Good times, forgot what we talked about though-- baby names? parenting? pot? hmmm....
I almost forgot--- The weekend before last was the AT&T marathon here in Austin. I ran it last year and PR'd by a significant amount, so it's a special race for me. (to be fair, I've only run 2 marathons, both here in Austin, but last year was a new course and new sponsor with more hills than previous years...) I met Shannon at a coffee shop and we biked around the course cheering for people. Brian Sell was running the half, and we got to see him at mile 12 flying at some sub 5:00 pace. He was about 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place. Incredible and inspiring. We eventually settled around mile 24 on the course and yelled for a good hour or so. Mile 24 is tough-- you are almost done, but 2 miles seems like forever. It was fun reading the runners' names on their bibs and giving them personalized cheers. The weather was good for spectators, which means it was too hot for the runners. It wasn't too bad though and I heard lots of good marathon stories afterwards, some of them were PRs, but lots of them were just good runs, and that's what it's all about, really..... Saw Megan, Erine, Amy, Pat, Alex, Kevin, Fletcher, and others....everyone looked happier than you'd expect after running 24 miles.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
On track?
Some dead air on the blog lately mostly because of biz travels-- spent a couple days in Pittsburgh. Dang it was cold there. But I ate well and spent the "downtime" recovering from a treadmill workout where I finished at 5:55 pace just because I was curious..... and impatient after spending so much time at 10:00 pace. The faster pace didn't feel too bad, but I was pretty sore afterwards. (duh) But I still managed to run to a connecting flight on my way home a couple days later, so I don't think my urge to do something stupid was all that bad..... seems like I need to do those things occasionally to keep sane.
Saturday I did another 2/3 walk/run, 9:45 pace, 3% incline for 25 minutes, and felt a little sore afterwards. Monday I spent an hour in Barton with Liliana aquajogging. We talked mostly about running, stayed clear of running group gossip, unfortunately. Tues I did another treadmill run, 2/3 walk/run, etc, for 30 minutes. This put me at 2.5 miles total distance, 1.5 of it running. And I feel good today (Wed), very little soreness, so I might give it another go tonight. For extra incentive I can watch Jon Stewart at the gym (we canceled cable recently, and I need my Daily Show fix. Did you know that it's $2.99 per episode via podcast? what a sham.)
I should also mention that I talked to my doc on Monday and asked him if I was on track with my recovery. He was happy with my wimpy-ass workouts (my words) and said I am indeed still on track for a full recovery. Part of me believes him, but part of me sees a partial recovery where I'm constantly negotiating with the hip.... and then possibly finding another sport. And part of me thinks he's just dishing out positive thoughts even though he has doubts, or simply doesn't know. I certainly don't know-- maybe I should just believe what he says. But it's tough to imagine running 13 miles, which was a typical long run, when it's taken me 8 weeks to work up to a 2.5 mile walk/run. In 2 months I will be 6 months into my recovery, which he reiterated is when the recovery/improvement window starts to close. Wow, I used to think that a 1 month recovery was a big deal. oooof.
Oh, finally, I should mention to my many thousands of blog readers that Christina and I are pregnant again, due in late July. We're thrilled-- and everything is going well. But of course, I'm inclined to freak out about these things, so let the parental anxiety begin, again. We're going to Mexico next week to celebrate "the last days of one kid" and mentally prepare for numero dos. And our hotel has a good gym of course....
Saturday I did another 2/3 walk/run, 9:45 pace, 3% incline for 25 minutes, and felt a little sore afterwards. Monday I spent an hour in Barton with Liliana aquajogging. We talked mostly about running, stayed clear of running group gossip, unfortunately. Tues I did another treadmill run, 2/3 walk/run, etc, for 30 minutes. This put me at 2.5 miles total distance, 1.5 of it running. And I feel good today (Wed), very little soreness, so I might give it another go tonight. For extra incentive I can watch Jon Stewart at the gym (we canceled cable recently, and I need my Daily Show fix. Did you know that it's $2.99 per episode via podcast? what a sham.)
I should also mention that I talked to my doc on Monday and asked him if I was on track with my recovery. He was happy with my wimpy-ass workouts (my words) and said I am indeed still on track for a full recovery. Part of me believes him, but part of me sees a partial recovery where I'm constantly negotiating with the hip.... and then possibly finding another sport. And part of me thinks he's just dishing out positive thoughts even though he has doubts, or simply doesn't know. I certainly don't know-- maybe I should just believe what he says. But it's tough to imagine running 13 miles, which was a typical long run, when it's taken me 8 weeks to work up to a 2.5 mile walk/run. In 2 months I will be 6 months into my recovery, which he reiterated is when the recovery/improvement window starts to close. Wow, I used to think that a 1 month recovery was a big deal. oooof.
Oh, finally, I should mention to my many thousands of blog readers that Christina and I are pregnant again, due in late July. We're thrilled-- and everything is going well. But of course, I'm inclined to freak out about these things, so let the parental anxiety begin, again. We're going to Mexico next week to celebrate "the last days of one kid" and mentally prepare for numero dos. And our hotel has a good gym of course....
Friday, February 8, 2008
An unfascinating account
Did another treadmill workout, 4/1 walk/run, 7% incline, 30 minutes, except at the end, I made things a little more interesting and finished at 8 minute pace, just to see what it felt like, and it felt good, actually, no biggee. So Monday I think I'm ready to graduate to a 3/2 walk run. The thought occurred to me in the shower that there is no cheating the treadmill-- when you dial in 8 minute pace, you run at 8:00 pace, etc, etc. So what would happen if over the course of weeks, months even, you slowly cranked up the difficulty until you got to say, a 30 minute workout at 6:00 pace-- would it work? I've never been able to run that fast for that long, but I've never been very good at base building either. What usually happens, I think, is I get impatient and throw a wrench into my training by attempting something that's beyond me. Just a thought....I'd probably go nuts spending that much time on the treadmill. Listen to me-- I can't even run for 5 minutes, yet I'm talking as if.....
On Monday I did the 3/2 workout for 30 minutes. I eased up on the incline though, changed it to 5% because I felt like I was working too hard. I felt soreness afterwards, and it was greater than last week, but it wasn't bad-- muscle soreness? The workout added up to 2.2 miles, 1.2 of it was running.
Tuesday I visited my PT. He congratulated me for making it to 12 weeks. "No holds barred now" he said, which made me chuckle because I know it's not quite true-- the hip is improving, which is good, but it's far from no holds barred.
Wed I did another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes or another 1.2 miles of running. This time I felt pretty sore afterwards-- it could have been the squats and lunges that I did before, or it could be the running. Soreness in the groin, like before the surgery-- pain when abducting the right leg. I've felt it off and on since surgery. The pain is mostly gone when sitting though, which is an improvement.
Friday I did yet another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes, and I focused on keeping my right foot from landing on the centerline, which it usually does....one theory being that this isn't helping my hip any, and based on how it felt after the workout, there may be something to that theory, i.e. the hip felt much better than Wed. But it took lots of concentration to keep my feet apart. Did my foot cross over because of a weak glute medius? Wow, what a fascinating question! Something I'll have to ask my PT about....
And that concludes a fairly unfascinating account of the week.
On Monday I did the 3/2 workout for 30 minutes. I eased up on the incline though, changed it to 5% because I felt like I was working too hard. I felt soreness afterwards, and it was greater than last week, but it wasn't bad-- muscle soreness? The workout added up to 2.2 miles, 1.2 of it was running.
Tuesday I visited my PT. He congratulated me for making it to 12 weeks. "No holds barred now" he said, which made me chuckle because I know it's not quite true-- the hip is improving, which is good, but it's far from no holds barred.
Wed I did another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes or another 1.2 miles of running. This time I felt pretty sore afterwards-- it could have been the squats and lunges that I did before, or it could be the running. Soreness in the groin, like before the surgery-- pain when abducting the right leg. I've felt it off and on since surgery. The pain is mostly gone when sitting though, which is an improvement.
Friday I did yet another 3/2 walk/run for 30 minutes, and I focused on keeping my right foot from landing on the centerline, which it usually does....one theory being that this isn't helping my hip any, and based on how it felt after the workout, there may be something to that theory, i.e. the hip felt much better than Wed. But it took lots of concentration to keep my feet apart. Did my foot cross over because of a weak glute medius? Wow, what a fascinating question! Something I'll have to ask my PT about....
And that concludes a fairly unfascinating account of the week.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Teeny tiny base
Last Friday I went to the gym and did 30 minutes on the treadmill, 4 minutes walking/1 minutes running at 11 minute pace. It felt better than before...and 11 minute pace felt like 11 minute pace, so I left the gym happy, and less sore than the previous treadmill workout.
Sunday I biked down to Barton and aquajogged for 1:15 with Shannon and we talked about family, among other topics, namely parents, and how they can be a pain in the ass. This time, unlike the previous Sunday, the hip felt fine.
Monday I jogged again on the treadmill. I gave 10 minute pace a try and it felt fine, so I hung out there for the rest of the workout. 25 minutes, 4/1 walk/run, 7% incline.
Tues I got up early and aquajogged in Barton again. Christine was there and we chatted about various and sundry topics and did a few short "speed" intervals. She left after about 40 minutes and I did a few laps solo. I clocked a 7:40 200m lap which I can compare to my notes and be satisfied that I'm in decent aquajogging shape. (I spent lots of time aquajogging about 18 months ago because of a stress fracture.) The temp was oddly summer-like, and my hip was a little sore afterwards-- I'm going with muscle soreness-- my hip flexor and psoas are weak.
Today I did another walk/run on the treadmill-- I was feeling a little sore going into it, but it went fine, no real issues. So.... that's 3 times on the treadmill this week without significant soreness. I'm going to claim that I have a base, a teeny tiny base (boy, they really don't get much smaller) from which to build my running. From here:
Sunday I biked down to Barton and aquajogged for 1:15 with Shannon and we talked about family, among other topics, namely parents, and how they can be a pain in the ass. This time, unlike the previous Sunday, the hip felt fine.
Monday I jogged again on the treadmill. I gave 10 minute pace a try and it felt fine, so I hung out there for the rest of the workout. 25 minutes, 4/1 walk/run, 7% incline.
Tues I got up early and aquajogged in Barton again. Christine was there and we chatted about various and sundry topics and did a few short "speed" intervals. She left after about 40 minutes and I did a few laps solo. I clocked a 7:40 200m lap which I can compare to my notes and be satisfied that I'm in decent aquajogging shape. (I spent lots of time aquajogging about 18 months ago because of a stress fracture.) The temp was oddly summer-like, and my hip was a little sore afterwards-- I'm going with muscle soreness-- my hip flexor and psoas are weak.
Today I did another walk/run on the treadmill-- I was feeling a little sore going into it, but it went fine, no real issues. So.... that's 3 times on the treadmill this week without significant soreness. I'm going to claim that I have a base, a teeny tiny base (boy, they really don't get much smaller) from which to build my running. From here:
3/2 walk/run, 3x/wk
2.5/2.5
2/3
1/4
20 min treadmill, incline, no walking, 3x/wk
25 min treadmill
30 min treadmill
20 min roads
25 min roads
30 min roads
....
Once I get up to 30 minutes on the roads 3x/wk, I want to work up to 5x per week easy running of various sorts, circuit, grass, trail, hills, before I add speed. How long will this take? One day at a time.....
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