Running is therapy

Last week I was having heel pain. Because PF is nothing you should mess with, I promptly took 3 days off with no running. Yesterday however I was scheduled to run the Spirit of Gettysburg 5K. I figured I would shoot for a ~27:xx time and just have fun.

Well, I am not usually one to have fun. I tried to keep it cool for the first mile and had some success, turning in an 8:14. I was shooting for 8:40, so I chalked that up to first mile exuberance. Then, well…I took off. I clocked in at 7:47 for the second mile and then a 7:54 for the last, and ~55 seconds for the final .13 (according to my garmin). Giving me an unofficial time of 24:52.

It was fun, but stupid. I should have stuck to my plan. My heal was pretty sore after that.

Since then I have been using ice, advil and lots of stretching and it actually feels pretty good now.

I think I am injured, but I think it will be ok. Going to reduce pace and mileage this week, and lots of RAID (Running, Advil, Ice and Drinking).

My week is already getting crazy with things I need to accomplish and running goals that need to be met.

I am going to take a bit of a step back though. I have been overdoing it, albeit on purpose somewhat, in an effort to build a strong base. However one of the cornerstones of that is affirming that fitness is not derived from hard workouts, it is derived from the rest after hard workouts. To that end, I am going to cut the week to 4 days. This will help with some time crunch I am feeling as well as allowing me to heal a bit more.

I ran 5 miles VERY SLOW tonight. And while it felt fine, I am not feeling recovered. I still have a lot of muscle soreness, and there is a pain in my heel that is coming and going. Before that turns into a month long lay off, I am going to do the prudent thing, and step back.

Current plan is to take off tomorrow. 5 easy on Thursday, Friday off, then some easy miles plus a “temposish” pace for the Spirit of Gettysburg race on Saturday.

I know some people think it’s silly to not race a race hard, but I really just go for the t-shirts anyway, so whatever.

I just ground my quads to hamburger on a 10 miler.

Between the heat, skipping my off day and running primarily on pavement today, my legs are pretty sore. On the upside I finally tried a gel while running. I took it at 7 miles into the 10. I am not sure it did anything, but that wasn’t really why I tried it. I mostly tried to make sure I wouldn’t…have to use the restroom…right after downing it. And while that part worked out in my favor, and the taste wasn’t as bad as I made out in my head, it was still gross. 7 miles of hot sweaty running, the last thing I want is a pouch of hot vanilla frosting sliding across my tongue. Not to mention I had only brought Gatorade along for the run, so washing it down with more sickening sweetness sucked.

I had to go way slow, I was feeling pretty ugly and beat up by the end.

Oh well, tomorrow is an off day. Then the plan takes it a little easier than I have been, and I plan to follow it. Only 16 more miles in the rest of the week.

Motionbased link

Some stats:
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:53:02
Pace: 11:17
Avg HR: 155 bpm
Calories Burned: 1414

An extra run got tossed on the training this week. Because of the holiday yesterday I decided that I would run an additional 5 at Pine Grove Furnace. Then my regularly scheduled 5 miler today brings me to another 30 mile week.

I have a little soreness in the quads and above my patellas, nothing earth shattering though.

Todays run was a slow one here in Carlisle.

1 mile splits: 10:24, 10:39, 10:56, 10:28, 10:07

Some stats:
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 52:35
Pace: 10:30 minutes/mile
Avg heart rate: 141
Calories burned: 730

All kinds of mile stones around here. 30 mile week, 100 mile month, and now 1 year smoke free. On July 2nd, 2007 at 10:18 pm, I put out my last cigarette and went to bed. I haven’t smoked since.

I wish I had some sage advice to give you all on how I managed to do this. But I don’t. It was tough, it got a little easier all the time, and now it’s bearable. The initial days and weeks last year were hard, and emotionally draining. I don’t recommend it, unless of course you are a smoker, then I for sure recommend it.

Most of the time these days, I don’t want to smoke. I don’t even think about it. Periodically though the urge does strike me. However it’s not as strong as it used to be. I also have this total fascination with running, making smoking impossible.

Looking back over all the posts I wrote early on, makes me not want to go back there for any reason. I am happy that I quit, and proud that I made it a year.

I would be remiss if I didn’t at least give some credit to my online friend Maggie. I don’t know her in real life, but she happened by my blog when I started talking about quitting and chantix. She was a few weeks ahead of me, and it was awesome to read where she was at all times because I knew I was right behind her. Very inspirational. Thank you Maggie.

And thanks to John who lit a fire under my ass and got me running again. And Eric for making me stick to running in those early days when it’s so easy to drift away.

Thanks to all my friends who posted congratulations to me on the blog, and thanks to all my friends that hung out with me and put up with me early on (though, putting up with me is an ongoing struggle only a few manage and really has little to do with smoking).

Thanks, all of you.

My plan is 25 miles this week. Last night I went over to the Greenbelt with Hathaway for a speedy 5 miler. It was a lot of fun, but I ran way too fast. I was a little sore tonight for my 3 miler.

I also ran late tonight. I had dinner with a friend and so I didn’t even get to the barracks until 8ish. I went _very_ slow. It was nice. An easy 4 for tomorrow. Should be nice.

Sunday starts training for real. Can’t wait!

As of the end of my 8 mile run today, I am at 100 miles for the month.

I am running strong and I feel good. After the last few weeks I am a little beat up, but it’s nothing an easy week won’t cure. I plan to back down to 25 miles for this final week before I start my marathon training.

Eric, Bill, John and I met at Brillhart station on the York Heritage Trail this morning at 9:15 am. We ran the past Hanover junction a little and then back to round out the 8 miles.

I do enjoy running long alone from time to time, but I think overall it’s much nicer to run with friends. Also, shout out to Jaime, John’s wife, for meeting us at Hanover Junction with cold drinks to take us back to Brillhart Station to our cars.

1 mile splits: 10:54, 10:13, 11:12, 11:02, 10:52, 10:44, 10:28, 10:06

Motionbased Link

Some stats:
Distance: 8.07 miles
Time: 1:25:26
Pace: 10:35 minutes per mile
Avg HR: 134 bpm
Calories Burned: 1156

This morning I got up at 3:30 am to meet up with Bill and Jon so I could do bike support for the Mid-Alantic Summer Marathon. It was a ton of fun. It was cool to hangout and tag along for the run.

After that was over we headed to Panera for some lunch. As Jon was taking me back to my car, he asked me how fast I was planning to do my 4 in. Man did I feel like a couch potato when I was finishing my 30 mile week with a guy finishing a 30 mile day. Eep!

But, my goals are my own, and a 30 mile week is pretty sweet!

1 Mile Splits: 9:12, 9:00, 9:05, 8:31

Motionbased Link

Some stats:
Distance: 4 Miles
Time: 35:50
Pace: 8:58/Mile
Average HR: 157 bpm
Calories Burned: 566


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I think it’s safe to say I will more than likely complete my 30 miles this week.

I was going to hit WildWood for 2 3 mile loops tonight, however my car inspection had a different idea. It’s still in the shop, and my wallet is 1500 lighter.

Bill, being the good sport that he is agreed to come to Carlisle to run with me since I couldn’t go anywhere. He dropped out after 4 miles since he’s running a marathon in two days and I kicked out an additional 2 by myself. Now I only need 4 miles in the next two days to hit 30.

My quads are sore, and my calves are a little tight, so tomorrow off, and then after going to watch and pitch in at the marathon on Saturday, I am going to hit a REALLY easy 4.

I ran harder than I intended tonight: 9:51, 9:24, 9:33, 9:32, 9:53, 9:35

Motionbased Link

Some stats:
Distance: 6.02 Miles
Time: 57:50 (pace: 9:38/mile)
Average heart rate: 161 bpm
Calories burned: 855