An Uphill Battle

Training has been a bit of a struggle over the past few weeks coming off my toe injury. The toe has been nagging me during runs, severely limiting how fast I feel that I can push without making it worse. I've been icing periodically and after runs, which has helped some; it comes and goes. I went for a 13.1 miler a few weeks ago that was OK. I ran on a treadmill yesterday for 7 miles and it felt easier on the joints, so I may stay inside for a while to help rehab. The treadmill is like watching paint dry, (well, more like watching cash cab) but at least its not too hot; it was in the 90s most days last week which made things a bit nasty. I always set it to a 1% incline to make up for the ease of having no terrain to deal with.

In in other news, the kickball team is 6-0 with one game left. I'll be glad when its over so I don't have to worry about running in cleats.

Getting Back in the Game

My toe injury is continuing to improve as I am getting back into running. My first couple attempts were cut short by ankle and toe pain--I think I need to do calf and ankle exercises daily to help maintain stability. I could tell those muscles atrophied a bit, since they are not used much while biking. I went for a couple seven mile runs over the last four days though, the first in 1h 58 seconds and the second in 58min 28 seconds. My toe and ankles were feeling significantly improved during the second run, so I feel like I'm getting back on track with my training. I really want to get back to the point where i can start pushing for better times without fear that my joints will fall apart. I think I will try to do a longer run 10-13.1 this weekend at a steady pace and see how things go.

The kickball team got another win last Tuesday against another undefeated team. Woot... Hopefully we will have similar results tomorrow.

So far so good

Its been about a week since I aggravated my turf toe injury playing kickball, and so far it seems to be healing, albiet slower than I would like. It was somewhat uncomfortable a couple of times when I found my strides trying to revert back to normal, instead of awkwardly walking on the sides and heels of my feet, but overall it is improving and I feel like I can almost walk normally again. Against my better judgment, I decided to play kickball again yesterday, making a pact with myself that I would not run fast to get on base, or to catch any balls. Luckily both my kicks were pop flies that were caught in the outfield, so I didn't have to run, and I played pitcher on defense, so I didn't have to move around too much. (Except to run for a couple bunts...) My team won again, 7-2, and afterward my toe felt fine, which was infinitely better than the hours of pain last week.

I've continued to bike over the last week, going for a couple of 7 mile rides, one 10 miler and one 13 miler. (Maybe others, I kind of lost track) While biking isn't exactly a substitute for running, since I don't get my heart rate up as high, my legs feel like they are working even harder than when I run. This may be due to the fact that I get extremely irritated whenever someone passes me, and try to overtake them despite having a hybrid bike instead of a fast road bike. At one point I ended up chasing several pro-looking bikers several miles until they turned off the lakes. Luckily they didn't have rearview mirrors to watch me bearing down on them the whole time. In other news, my weight fell below 180 yesterday, which I attribute to biking and playing kickball in record 97 degree heat. I think I need to do a better job hydrating. Who says it doesn't get that hot in Minnesota?

Many Steps Forward, One Toe Back

Well, after my last post I decided to go on my run as planned and my ankle didn't bother me too much. On the contrary I ran my best time around Harriet yet--20:54 for 2.75 miles--and felt OK overall. The next day however, the bottom of my foot behind my big toe was sore and hurt a bit when I pushed off the with the toe, a telltale sign of turf toe. I had experienced issues with turf toe in the past, usually during ultimate frisbee intramurals in college, but It was always something that bothered me slightly for a few days and pretty much went away on its own. Since I had a kickball game scheduled, I decided to put on some cleates and jog around a little bit to see how bad it really felt: not too bad. With the shoes on I hardly noticed, so I figured I could go play kickball and it would gradually get better on its own. Bad idea. At kickball I ended up running the bases at top speed twice, (two home runs... woo hooo) and afterward my toe hurt for the remainder of the night. I guess its a bit worse than it was back in college... So just when I started to up my game in running I have to stay off my feet. I'm hoping I didn't aggrevate it too much so I'll be back up in a week or so instead of 3-4 weeks. In rebellion against the injury I went for a marathon bike ride yesterday (about 26.4 miles overall). Hurray for not needing your toes to bike. Who knows, if I do enough biking and swimming for cross training while I'm not running, I might just be ready for a triathalon.

Push it to the Limit

I went for a seven miler this weekend around Lake Harriet and Calhoun and came in at a personal best 55:18, which is around 8:10 miles. The funny thing is, afterward I knew I could have gone faster. I feel like a big part of running is knowing how hard you can push yourself early without gassing at the end. I have a tendency to leave too much in reserve.

I started reading a book about running called "Once a Runner." It is a fairly old and well known running novel, which has been interesting so far, though it seems more geared toward elite runners. (The main character runs a 4 min mile)

On a side note, I tweaked my old recurring left ankle sprain yesterday while playing disc golf. I iced it right away and I don't think it will bother me too much, but I'm debating whether I should give it a rest or go for my run today.

Level Up

I ran another half marathon last weekend and came in at 1:57:44, my fastest time yet. Now all I have to do is do that twice in a row... Easier said than done. I need to get myself to the point where I can mindlessly churn off miles at a 9 min pace or so. I find myself running 8min 30sec miles for the first 6-7 and then slowing down to 9-30's or worse. Still, it was a big improvement. Just to know I've done half at the speed I'd need to go 4 hours is a huge lift after running a 2 hour 8 min half just two weeks ago.

It's Official--The Quest is On

It's been a while since I've posted, but luckily I have no readership to disappoint. =)

I signed up for the 2009 Twin Cities marathon last week, so I'm officially in the running to attempt my four our marathon. During the past few months I've run regularly, but haven't been training as hard I probably should have to get in shape for the race. Last weekend after signing up for the race, I decided to run a half (13.1 miles) and I came in at around 2 hours 8 minutes with drinking time and stops due to traffic. A bit slow, but not terrible considering I hadn't run more than 10 miles since the 2008 marathon. After the first half I went into sustainability mode--a good idea for surviving a long run, but not one that will produce good times. I've come to the realization that training hard enough so that my sustainability mode produces a four hour marathon is my best bet. There's going to be a lull at some point, both physically and mentally--the trick is to make it so the lull is still decently fast, and to work past it as quickly as possible. I know I can grind out the last few miles at a faster pace, but getting through miles 10-23 while sustaining a good pace will be the key.