September, 2011 Monthly Archive

Compromise?

Distance: 8.98km Time: 01:00 Pace: 7’12” kCal: 844 Heart: 137/158 RPE: 5 Type: Just wanted to run

Today was the day.
The knee specialist saw my MRI, shook his head, look me in the eye and said the words that all runners fear.

You got a tear. Actually, you’ve probably got 3 tears in the meniscus and your ACL is pretty thin.

Wow. Not good.

 

“But I feel great!”, I told him. “Really?”, he asked.
Up on the bed I went and time to start playing with the knees.
“Ow! Okay. That hurt… uhm… a little”. Well, you just can’t cheat the doctor, I guess.
He is the specialist after all!

So the bad news is that the tears will not heal on their own.
The good news is that, since I don’t really have any pain, I have to just watch what I’m doing and run properly (good old Chi Running!).

As for a marathon? He strongly discourages it. But… if it’s something I want to do… well…
Just be careful and do not run 5 times a week.

So a compromise.
I’ll run 1/2 the marathon and walk the other 1/2 (since I didn’t have any trouble in my long runs). He’ll do a follow-up with me 2 weeks after the marathon and send me to a physio/sports med clinic so that they can help me in any way I need.

It sounds like a plan. These next few weeks are not crazy runs, anyway. Tonight I’ll do a little 5k run locally just because it’s nice out. Hmmm… does it count toward’s one of my ‘4’ runs this week?

Tomorrow’s another day and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

How long is a marathon?

Distance: 5.55km Time: 0:40 Pace: 7’14” kCal: 605 Heart: 147/159 RPE: 7 Type: 5k tempo

How long is a marathon?
Okay,  so I’m a little confused.

But, this last week has been pretty good. I did my long run in the weee hours of Sunday morning and after 3 hours, I still felt good. Physically exhausted, but no swelling around the knees or pain around the ankles.

To this day I still don’t see how I could have injured myself after just 30 minutes of running, when on Sunday I had no troubles for 3 hours.

 

The only problem I had was thinking that 13.1 miles was 23km. I couldn’t understand why I was 10 minutes over my goal at 23km (and I push the last 3km as to not have such a slow time)? That bummed me out for the rest of my run. But of course my wife pointed out AFTER I got home that 23km is NOT a ½ marathon. Oops…

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The shoes go back and I feel free

Distance: 7.52km Time: 0:53 Pace: 7’09” kCal: 778 Heart: 144/160 RPE: 6 Type: (454-13) 4 miler

Yesterday was great, but the shoes go back

Yes, that’s me in the green… Now!
And yes, this is a continuation of Darn Nike and Squeaky shoes.

But more importantly, I have to confess that last week was a challenge for me. Everything was going great until I got sick on August 22. It took me over three weeks to recover and last week when I went out for my runs, it was like I was at mile marker 0. My runs were tough and one day out for a 10k, I was running so slow that it seemed like I was walking.

But I know now that it was mostly psychological. My RPE was high, my motivation low, and heart rate right where is should be.

So after some great twitter pep talks from a fellow enthusiast and inspirational quotes like getting off our butts, I got out in the rain and did 7k (before the Nano died).

I ditched my new squeaky New Balance running shoes, put on my spare Nike shoes and listened to my tunes (I’ve been running without tunes for months).

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My shoes squeak!

Distance: 8.12km Time: 1:09 Pace: 8’28” kCal: 756 Heart: 130/160 RPE: 5-7 Type: 1hr Speed Training

Are your shoes supposed to squeak?

For the first 10 miles or so when I was working them in, everything was fine. Now they squeak when I come down on the heal.
Sure, I land on the ball of my foot, but when I’m walking, there is a loud squeak-squish-squeak sound.

After 30 miles, it’s still there!

So I’m in a dilemma. Should I return then? Should I get another pair? Will the squeak disappear after a few more miles? I’d hate to switch over to another pair so close to the marathon, but the truth is that I’m just not enjoying my runs in these shoes.

OMG – another thing to worry about! Yeesh…

Darn That Nike Chip Holder!

Distance: 13.05km Time: 1:39 Pace: 7’36” kCal: 1,332 Heart: 138/154 RPE: 6 Type: 10k Calibration

Darn that Nike!

After doing 12-14km, my Nano said I did 0k and 0kCal, again. At least I was wearing the GPS to calibrate the Nano.

But, so much for calibrating with the new shoes!
I thought it was the new sensor or the little sack that I have the chip in, but after some experimentation, I realizes that the chip was upside down after I put it on the shoe. Drats!

 

At least I got my run in and my wife was with me to prove it.
Hmmm… may be I should upload her data to my account before she does – heh-heh

Got my running shoes – New Balance 2160

Distance: 5.66km Time: 0:40 Pace: 7’10” kCal: 590 Heart: N/A RPE: 5 Type: recovery 5k

Yahoo! I finally got my shoes today.
After running 5k this morning in the hot sun, I decided that it was time to make my feet happy!

After putting over 600 miles on my Nike Zoom Structure Triax+ 13s it was time to say goodbye. It’s like seeing an old friend off at the airport, switching to a new pillow, or loosing that favorite worn-out-full-off holes sweater or jeans that’s been through so much with you.

My Nikes knew me well. They took me from a non-runner to running 20 miles a week. They’ve been through a lot and have traveled from coast to coast. Adios Amigos!
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Wow – Sick for 10 Days…

Distance: 5.79km Time: 0:54 Pace: 9’24” kCal: 470 Heart: N/A RPE: 3 Type: recovery


Wow!
It’s been almost 10 days since I caught a cold!

Sick in bed and even lost my voice…
My wife loved that one!

I was hoping to do 10 miles on my birthday (Aug 30), but as the day came and I was still under the weather, I switched it to 5 miles. Then switched it to 5km.

But the truth is that I was still sick in bed when my special day came and went. Happy 50th Blaine – DRATS!
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