Ed’s Itch

Yesterday I ran what is supposed to be my long run for the week.  I’m sticking to my training plan and it was only 4 miles… not so long :)  It was a nice run, but I think I made it harder on myself for some reason.  It felt like it took forever to get to the 3 mile point, which I run easily.  However, at about the 3 mile mark I met up with my son and his friend.  I slowed my pace a bit (good excuse) and they brought me in the last mile.  This made the last mile go by more quickly and was a great deal more fun.

For some reason, running in the rain for me is awesome!  It is always kind of like me against Mother Nature… “Bring it on you old wench!”  That pretty much describes today’s run.  I ran wet, ended up having a faster pace than I have as I’ve recouped the knee and felt great when it was all over!

Confidence in my knee is improving greatly.  I’ve been known to be a little over confident at time… can I keep myself in check and stick with the training plan… we will see.

As part of my training plan, I’m supposed to be doing form drills after my Thursday runs.  So, that is exactly what I did today.  Basically, you are supposed to progressively pick up your pace for 30 seconds then rest for a minute.  Only 4 times though.  I uploaded the form drills to garmin connect to review.  I hit a 4:49 mile… boy, I wish I could sustain a pace like that!

The run went well too.  Knee held up just fine and I focused on keeping a faster pace which didn’t seem to be a problem.

OK, so I think my knee issues are past me.  I had what I thought was a great run tonight.  Everything felt right and I felt like I had a good pace.  Not.  After uploading my run data, I found that my average pace was 11:21!  Holy crap, that is really slow.  Before the knee issue I was doing 9:30 easy.

Well, I’m not going to push it since I want to keep the knee healthy for now.  But let it be noted… I am one slow son of a gun.

I’ve been traveling a lot for work the past couple of weeks, but it doesn’t mean I’ve been idle.  According to plan, I’ve been slowly getting the knee back in shape.  I’m running 3 days a week again and the knee is not acting up.  I’m still not pushing the runs really hard, but I’m learning how to listen more to my body.

So, if all goes well, I should be able to run in the Tucson Half Marathon in December!  This is the big reason I’m taking things slow.  I don’t want to finish with an awesome time… just want to finish.

Did another 30 minute easy run this morning.  Still taking in really slow and concentrated on form.

I’m a little late writing this…

On Monday morning I ran.  I just couldn’t wait any longer and told myself at the first sign of pain I would walk home.  I decided to run for 30 minutes at a pretty slow rate.  That is just what I did.  I did the entire run at about 55 or 60 percent of MHR.

So, I did it without any pain!!!  I’m going to run twice this week and next week.  Then 3 days a week at an easy pace for another couple of weeks.  Hopefully I will then be able to get back to business.

About a month ago, I went to my DR to get an “All Clear” for training.  I know… a little late for that isn’t it?  Not really.  Look for my unofficial press release later this week :)  So, when my DR did an EKG she said that my heart rate was very low.  I think it was 42bpm at that point.  She said it probably wasn’t anything to worry about since I was in shape.  BTW, it is pretty cool when your DR says you are in shape

I was a little concerned since I didn’t want to screw my knee.  I’ve been very good about the rest thing.  The DR said I probably wouldn’t be on the treadmill that long since they can get the heart rate up pretty darned quickly.  So, this afternoon I hit the clinic and began my stress test.

First thing they did was an ultrasound on the heart.  First time I saw an ultrasound and didn’t see one of my beautiful kids (and future college payments).  For some reason I was most amazed at the valves.  For some reason, I’ve always pictured the heart as a machine and these more like valves in an engine.  They are just wiggly flesh… nothing more.  I guess all the more reason to take care of this thing.

After that it was off to the treadmill.  I noticed my HR was at 40bpm while waiting to get things rolling.  We started out slowly and engaged in small talk for about 8-10 minutes.  The entire time the treadmill would speed up and the incline would get steeper.  Not a big deal really.  It started to get tougher and when my HR hit about 150bpm I new I was now going to be pushing it.  I ended up topping out around 160bpm and the mere 15 minutes test was over.

Afterwards, the DR came in and explained that I had a very healthy heart and everything looked good.  He pointed out to me that my HR climbed at a great rate and came down properly afterwards as well.

As I was dressing and getting ready to leave, I overheard the DR say “He went the full 15 minutes huh, we don’t see that often.”  OK, I know that most folks that do this are probably older with heart issues, but it still made me feel pretty darned cool.

Now, it is going to be VERY tough to not go out and run 4 miles tonight.  I will be good though… maybe I will start walking again though.

OK, so it has been one week and I want to run.  Especially the last few days now that work has been a real B%!@#. This has me even more motivated to stick to my recovery plan.

I did figure out my sudo plan for recovery last weekend.

Week 1
The first thing is to chill out for a week and really do nothing but stick with my uppper body and core workouts.  That I have done.

Week 2
Begin leg strengthening exercises focusing on the knee.  I’ve picked up many such exercises by roaming the net… most of them from a page on runners world.  The plan is to do these exercises every other day for the foreseeable future.  I also plan on swimming on my running days.  That would be Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat.  BTW, I went for a swim the other night and it almost killed me.  This is cross training!

Week 3 - 4
Gonna start riding the bike more to and from anywhere I can.  Good excuse to go get a new bike too :)  Will continue swimming in place of running.

Week 5
Test run.  I hope to run a 5k and see how things go.  If well, I’m going to use this as my starting point and begin working towards my Half Marathon in December.

So, I’m sitting here looking at my computer and can’t believe I weigh less than 173lbs.  I started out at about 230 pounds and started on the Atkins diet.  A couple of weeks later I joined Weight  Watchers (223lbs) since I realized I had no idea really what to eat, how.  My intent was to learn and become fit… not just lose my weight for a year.  That was about 9 months ago.  When I started I was wearing a size 38 pant which I must say should have been a 40.  You know, the bulging pocket thing was going on.  Today I’m wearing size 32/33 depending on the brand of pants.  Not to shabby.

I’ve also found running as an awesome new hobby.  This is where most of my future goals will focused.  I’ve already run 5k and 4 mile races.  My next race was going to be a 10k, but it seems my knee is not going to cooperate at the moment.  So, after healing that up I will figure out my next race.  Hopefully the Tucson Half Marathon in December.

So all in all, I guess what I’m trying to say is “I FEEL FREAKING AWESOME!!!“