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26 Sep 2011

Compromise?

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 1 Comment

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.

21 Sep 2011

How long is a marathon?

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Blaine's Weekly Review | 2 Comments

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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17 Sep 2011

The shoes go back and I feel free

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | Comments Off on 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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13 Sep 2011

My shoes squeak!

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 1 Comment

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…

11 Sep 2011

Darn That Nike Chip Holder!

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 1 Comment

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

04 Sep 2011

Got my running shoes – New Balance 2160

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Product Reviews | 3 Comments

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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02 Sep 2011

Wow – Sick for 10 Days…

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Blaine's Weekly Review | 2 Comments

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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21 Aug 2011

What to do when you’re bored

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 5 Comments

Distance: 0.09km Time: 0:01 Pace: 6’31” kCal: 7 Heart: 117/123 RPE: 5 Type: 343-10

Yesterday I went out for my long run. It’s been a while since I considered my weekend run a long run with everything that’s been going on. But things worked out in the sense that, my friend said she couldn’t make it and my wife decided that a warm comfortable bed is better than hitting the pavement at 5am amongst heavy crashing waves, blowing sand, and surfer dudes down by the beach.

So off I went all excited and determined to just do a nice slow-n-easy pace to get my time in. For once I decided that the miles were not important but, rather, the amount of time I put in. My goal was 90 minutes or more. That way, I’d pass into the ‘I’m bored’ part of my running and work on my cognitive perceptions, iron will, lotus of focus, and all those other things that you read about for marathon training.

Translation:
Get out there and do it. Don’t complain, don’t whine, just have a good time!

So off I went and did my first 30 – 40 minutes like any other training run.
Then the boredom started to settle in…
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17 Aug 2011

Don’t you just hate it when…

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Various Posts | Comments Off on Don’t you just hate it when…

Distance: 6.00km Time: 0:49 Pace: 8’17 kCal: 579 Heart: 133/157 RPE: 4 Type: 343-10

Wow. What a beautiful morning. I woke up a little after 5am and the fog was so thick it reminded me of a perfect Halloween. Or in this case, a perfect morning for a run!

The temperature was in the low 60s and the sprinkling of moisture was perfect so I couldn’t tell if it was the weather or me sweating!

So off I went. A mile and a bit to the reservoir and then a nice run two times around the lake.

 

I could only see 50 feet in front of me and that was great ‘cuz I didn’t have to think about how far I had to go. Just keep going and enjoying.

My breathing was good and I felt that I could run for hours. Then all of a sudden it hit me.
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16 Aug 2011

I booked my Hotel for Portland

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Blaine's Weekly Review | Comments Off on I booked my Hotel for Portland

Distance: 12.43km Time: 1:11 Pace: 6’42 kCal: 1044 Heart: 143/165 RPE: 5 Type: 10k


I’m so excited.

It’s only a few months until the Portland Marathon and I finally called up and booked my hotel.
The flight’s already booked and after going to the Portland Marathon web site, I’m getting even more motivated because there are a lot things going on that weekend.

 

I’ll be staying at the hotel that has the Health Expo (and get Hilton Honor Points!). Plus, the starting line is only a few blocks away.

I must admit that I’ve been getting ‘cold feet’ about things since my knee has been causing problems. But after reading about the course and how friendly it is for first-timers like me, the worries have all gone away. As a matter of fact, I was so excited that my run on the weekend ended up being a lot of fun – and… no post knee problems at all (i.e., swelling, popping, etc). This week I’m back on track and looking forward to all my training runs. And I’m really looking forward to my long run next weekend!

And as for Portland, I have a friend that’s now living there that I haven’t seen in almost 10 years. I’m hoping we’ll meet up after the race. It’ll be a great reward after doing 26.1 miles!

Only a few months to go and it’s going to be fun!

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