Mon: AM 2.5 miles / PM 8.14 km
Tue: 11.46 km
Wed: 8.15 km
Thu: planned rest day
Fri: AM 3 miles / PM 8.17 km
Sat: 7.29 km
Sun: 16.18 km
Total: 8 runs, 68.24 km, 8.53 km/run
Mon: AM: This is only the second double I have done this year. I did my hip exercises prior to my morning run. I ran on a treadmill at work in my vibrams - do all my treadmill runs @ 1% incline.
PM: Never got in a rhythm - felt like I was reaching down and out with my left leg (pelvic twist?)
Tue: This was supposed to be a moderate-hard aerobic run - 6-7 miles @ 7:00/mile pace. The result was just over 7 miles @ 7:15/mile pace. The last few miles ended up being just hard. I think I was a little to sure of myself prior to the run. I will remember this run next time and stick closer to 7:30 pace for now.
Wed: Easy run. I could tell I was tired because my average heart rate was 147 (high) at 5:16/km pace
Fri: AM: Easy run on treadmill at work at 8:23/mile pace.
PM: Progressive run from 8:30/mile down to 7:45/mile.
Sat: Short easy run.
Sun: First time I have done 10+ miles since November (at least)! My legs were beat up as I did a 6-mile hike in Rocky Mountain National Park (1400 ft elevation gain) the day before. I did not push the run at all as my legs had the "lead" feeling. 5:24/km pace with an average heart rate of 146 (shows I was tired!!!).
Overall, I accomplished my goals for the week. I wanted to hit 40+ miles (ended up with 42.4). This is the second time I reached 40+ volume in a week in 2011. I also wanted to be smart about it and not increase intensity, which I did (I actually backed off the intensity).
I really focused throughout the week on my form. I began the week feeling likemy pelvis was twisted. What I mean when I say this is that I felt like when I was facing forward, I was slightly twisted to the left; my right quad, hip, pectoral and shoulder were all out in front of my left. Add to this that my left knee has the tendency to collapse to the outside, I felt like I was "taller" on my right side. This made me feel like I was "falling" to my left side. I wanted to feel like I was "running tall". I tried to stay uniform in my stride from one side to the next. I focused on: 1) keeping my knee above or just on the outside of my foot through push-off, 2) firing my quads and hips through push-off, 3) keeping my shoulders and hips level, and 4) having my footfall for each stride occur directly below my hips. In doing all these things, I noticed my left achilles tendinitis flared up, but I'm not sure why. I'm keeping tabs on it to make sure it doesn't get worse as right now it gets a little tight on some runs.
This week I am shooting for a 2nd week in a row of 40+ miles. I should be able to accomplish this without any injury risk. I want to continue to focus on the things mentioned above as well as running efficiently - midfoot strike without causing any additional stress on my left achilles.
I tried sleeping in my bed one night and I woke up with a sore, stiff lower back. So, I have been sleeping on my floor at home. I have a therm-a-rest on top of my rug on my hardwood floors. Needless to say, it is "firm" support. Ha ha! I must say though that my back has not felt this good in a year+.
I am starting to consider myself a runner again...
My attempt to return to training and racing because I enjoy it and to see how fast I can run.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Baby Steps
Good morning! This post is written with more hope than I remember having in a long while. A few things seemed to have "gone my way" recently, which is the first time I can remember that happening in God knows how long.
The first thing is the week of May 30-June 5 I was able to run about 42 miles for the week. That is the most I have run in probably over a year. I did not experience any negative physical effects to boot!
Secondly, I had an MRI done on my lower back. The motivation for this was to attempt to identify the source of my ongoing, unilateral lower back pain/tightness/soreness. This would allow me, more specifically my doctor, to determine if running may be the cause of the pain or aggravating the source problem. The results: disc dessication at L3/L4 & L4/L5. That probably doesn't seem like a positive result for many people, but for me it was a relief. This was the diagnosis I received back in August 2008 that lead to the herniation of those discs at that time. The condition has progressed since then, but it is managable. The best news is that, according to my doctor, running is not going to make the condition worse, and in his words: "There are a whole of people running significantly greater volume with backs in much worse condition than mine". I was prescribed an oral dose of steriods to reduce the inflamation alleviate the pressure on the root nerve causing the problem. I feel much improved, although not completely cured.
Third, I realized one of the factors leading to ongoing back pain was...my bed. It's too darn soft! I came to this realization on family vacation last week. I was sleeping on the floor and had little to no discomfort in my lower back. I experienced relief, so much so, that some days it did not cross my mind! So, a new, firmer (and most likely cheaper) bed will be replacing the expensive, plush bed I bought only a year ago. The monetary loss is a small price to pay.
Fourth, I threw caution to the wind and ran a 5K this past Saturday while on vacation. I was down in Florida, where my aunt and uncle live, on our annual family vacation. They convinced me to run the race with them. I didn't have much of an expectation for myself; I figured the best I could do was 19:30, and I would have just been happy to break 20 minutes. Somehow, with the limited amount of slow running I've been doing allowed me to run 18:31, for 7th place overall. This was the first race I had done since October 2009. It definitely got me jazzed and motivated to get back to running the 50 miles a week my doctor and I had decided on for the time being.
My stride has improved signifcantly since my gait analysis and regularly performing the perscribed exercises. I feel as though I am continuing to make small improvements to feel comfortable with my stride. I feel as though I am "falling out" on my left side, like I am so much more right side dominate. I think I may have a pelvic twist or tilt, but it is hard to tell. I saw my physical therapist a couple weeks ago and he has me doing some exercises on the pulley machine that he thinks will straighten me out. I am trying to run with a uniform stride on both sides, and that seems to have helped some. Still a lot to figure out on this topic in the future.
With each little baby step, I get closer. I don't really know what I am closer to other than the idea of a "Return to Running". It's a vision, now I just have to figure out what exactly the vision is so I know when I'm there!
The first thing is the week of May 30-June 5 I was able to run about 42 miles for the week. That is the most I have run in probably over a year. I did not experience any negative physical effects to boot!
Secondly, I had an MRI done on my lower back. The motivation for this was to attempt to identify the source of my ongoing, unilateral lower back pain/tightness/soreness. This would allow me, more specifically my doctor, to determine if running may be the cause of the pain or aggravating the source problem. The results: disc dessication at L3/L4 & L4/L5. That probably doesn't seem like a positive result for many people, but for me it was a relief. This was the diagnosis I received back in August 2008 that lead to the herniation of those discs at that time. The condition has progressed since then, but it is managable. The best news is that, according to my doctor, running is not going to make the condition worse, and in his words: "There are a whole of people running significantly greater volume with backs in much worse condition than mine". I was prescribed an oral dose of steriods to reduce the inflamation alleviate the pressure on the root nerve causing the problem. I feel much improved, although not completely cured.
Third, I realized one of the factors leading to ongoing back pain was...my bed. It's too darn soft! I came to this realization on family vacation last week. I was sleeping on the floor and had little to no discomfort in my lower back. I experienced relief, so much so, that some days it did not cross my mind! So, a new, firmer (and most likely cheaper) bed will be replacing the expensive, plush bed I bought only a year ago. The monetary loss is a small price to pay.
Fourth, I threw caution to the wind and ran a 5K this past Saturday while on vacation. I was down in Florida, where my aunt and uncle live, on our annual family vacation. They convinced me to run the race with them. I didn't have much of an expectation for myself; I figured the best I could do was 19:30, and I would have just been happy to break 20 minutes. Somehow, with the limited amount of slow running I've been doing allowed me to run 18:31, for 7th place overall. This was the first race I had done since October 2009. It definitely got me jazzed and motivated to get back to running the 50 miles a week my doctor and I had decided on for the time being.
My stride has improved signifcantly since my gait analysis and regularly performing the perscribed exercises. I feel as though I am continuing to make small improvements to feel comfortable with my stride. I feel as though I am "falling out" on my left side, like I am so much more right side dominate. I think I may have a pelvic twist or tilt, but it is hard to tell. I saw my physical therapist a couple weeks ago and he has me doing some exercises on the pulley machine that he thinks will straighten me out. I am trying to run with a uniform stride on both sides, and that seems to have helped some. Still a lot to figure out on this topic in the future.
With each little baby step, I get closer. I don't really know what I am closer to other than the idea of a "Return to Running". It's a vision, now I just have to figure out what exactly the vision is so I know when I'm there!
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