Back on my Feet

I spent the past two and half week substituting biking for my cardio workouts while my ankle healed. After a couple of days the swelling actually increased and after 3-4 days bruising appeared along the bottom of my food and in my forefoot. Thankfully I could walk and bike without much difficulty, although I tried running a couple of times and immediately discovered it wasn't time. Through all of my past injuries I can pretty well tell the difference between superficial discomfort and pain that might cause further injury or set me back. A couple of days I ago I decided to run on the treadmill to test things out and I was able to go for 3.5 miles without much discomfort at all. Heartened by this, I ran again later that day with my GF for about 3 miles outside. The pavement was not as forgiving as the treadmill, and it probalby wasn't a good idea to jump in so fast with 2 runs on one day, but it wasn't too bad and I'm feeling good today. My legs are uncharacteristically sore today; I can tell I've taken a little time off. I don't mind though: soreness just means your body is getting stronger!

Old Habits Die Hard

The long snow thaw I had anticipated was dispelled by an unexpected week of warm weather. The snow melted in early to mid March which is much earlier than usual; especially surprising considering the large accumulation of snow. I'm quite pleased that everything is clear now, and the weather has been 45-70 lately, which is great for outdoor running. My training progressed slowly through March and the beginning of April as the sore spot on my left foot kept me from doing anything too long or fast. With some more research, I think it might be bursitis and not a bunion. Bursitis is an inflamed bursa (a sac or pad that develops to lessen impact) but by being more conscious of my running form and trying not to favor the outside of my left foot, the discomfort is gone for most part. Just when I was thinking I could start ramp up to a 10 mile+ run I got a rude reminder: my ankles suck, especially in my old running shoes. I went out to play disc golf a couple of days ago with some friends I haven't seen in 4 to 5 years and afterward we played hacky sack as a throwback to our youth. Long story short I came down wrong on my right ankle and now I'm going to be off my feet for a week or two. I heard a popping or snapping sound, but I don't think anything is broken though, because I can still put some weight on it to hobble around. The incident has reinforced what I already know: shoes are magnets for ankle/foot twists. Its like wearing cinder blocks on your feet and if the block comes down on edge, it might roll the wrong way and take your leg with it. That's the last time I'm playing hacky sack, that's for sure.

As discouraging as it is, I think the sprain is not quite as bad as I initially thought it might be, because the swelling and pain is more in my forefoot than the ankle itself. I can move the ankle forward and back without discomfort; side to side and supporting weight is more difficult. I will hit the bike for my running workouts until I get back on it. I've got plenty of time before I need to get serious about training again.

The Long Thaw

Spring is upon us and with it a welcome friend: outdoor running. I've gotten four or five short outdoor runs in so far, and its been a nice change despite the wet socks and cold legs. I get a few weird looks running in shorts and sandals at 38-40 degrees. Its probably the sandals. With snow melt, there is a lot of standing water on the paths and it takes considerable concentration to avoid getting my socks soaked. My feet feel very warm so long as they are dry. I did one run in my Vibrams, but I developed a sore spot just below my little toe on my left foot, which I'm hoping isn't the start of a bunion, since they run in the family. As long as I'm in the sandals everything feels good.

There is a lot of snow an ice around this year, so the thaw will likely take longer than usual, but the forecast is 40's for the next week, so that should help speed things along. I hope to be ready to do a 13 miler by the time the paths are dry.

Quest Accepted

I signed up for the 2010 Twin Cities marathon this afternoon with a feeling of nonchalance. It has become like any other annual event like a birthday or holiday. Even more so for the fact that I can plan on spending around $100 for it. I'm not feeling particularly excited or motivated about it yet, but I expect anticipation will grow once the ice and cold start fading. As for now, I've been continuing with my 3 day a week lifting routine and trying to get in 3 days of running in between. I'm mostly running 3.5-5 miles per go--not nearly enough to be in marathon shape, but enough to keep my weight in check and keep my cardio at an acceptable level. I'll be raring to go once I can get off the treadmill.

My upper body work has been going well as of late. I've been increasing my reps often and am up to around 3 sets of 33 pull ups and dips and 3 sets of 80 push ups. I am pleased that I have been able to increase my upper body strength to this point while maintaining a weight right around 177-180. While upper body muscle mass does not translate well to distance running, I enjoy the workouts and don't feel that it has interfered with running. If anything, I feel that keeping my heart rate up around 120-130 bpm for an extra hour 3 days a week could be a good thing.

The Quest 2.0

Registration for the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon starts on February 2nd this year, which is far earlier than it has been in the past. I'm a little peeved that the date has been moved so early; I would hazard a guess that this was done because registration took a long time to fill up last year and they probably want to allow more time for people to register. I've been planning on registering again for 2010, but I didn't expect to have to do it so early. Usually I have a better idea of my fitness level and am getting back into running more by the time registration opens. Regardless, the quest version 2.0 will be starting within the next coupe of months! My toe has been relatively calm since marathon day, as I've only run in sandals, barefoot, Vibrams and Boots a couple of times. I plan to train in Sandals and Vibrams, possibly moving into barefoot on some shorter runs after my feet toughen up a bit.

Although my race time goal is to run a marathon in 4 hours or less, my greater goal this cycle is to stay healthy so that I don't miss training time. This will mean ramping up mileage slowly and making sure to stop if my footwear or anything else starts feeling uncomfortable.

Fun in the Snow

Its been a little over a month since my last post--time files during the holidays. My fitness routine has progressed well although my cardio and running training has been lagging a bit. I've been focusing on gaining some upper body strength and endurance and chiseling down the old six pack.(okay, okay, four pack) Its pretty amazing to see what the body is capable of when you give it what its built for. My body is designed to be strong, and it gains strength easily and quickly. When I was starting off about a month or so ago, I could barely do 15 pull ups for one set, 12 dips or so and then fewer on each of my next 2 sets. Today I did 3 sets of 25 pull ups, 25 dips and 45 inclined push ups among other things. My upper body feels great, with a good balance of strength and endurance. By using body weight exercises, I don't feel too bulked up. I can definitely see a visual difference, but my weight is still around 177, so I must have dropped some fat while gaining a little muscle.

I haven't completely slacked on the cardio side of things--I've mostly been getting in a few three mile runs on the tread mill and I did another stair run which wasn't close to as bad as the first one. Yesterday I finally decided to do an outdoor run, since temperatures have risen from about 5 degrees to 25. (yay?) Twenty five degrees is plenty warm for outdoor running, but I was trying something new and perhaps foolish: running in my Vibram Five Finger shoes. I had taken them out when it was about 10 degrees just to go to a restaurant, and they felt insanely cold. Not because of the air temperature, but because the cold of the ground--the concrete, snow, slush and ice--really come through the thin rubber sole. After that I knew I couldn't try using them unless it warmed up considerably. At 25 degrees I was confident that at least my feet wouldn't fall off after a 3 mile run. It wouldn't be much different than sticking my feet in an icebath at the worst. The first 10 to 15 minutes of the run were fairly uncomfortable. The snow and frigid ground left the bottom of my feet, and especially my toes, feeling very cold. By about half way, I started to feel more comfortable. The cold sensation faded, and my feet just felt normal. I was a little worried that this shift was due to my feet going completely numb, but when I got back and took off my shoes, my feet where not especially cold (confirmed by forcing my gf to touch them)--only my pinky toes seemed affected by it. They looked pretty red, but no worse than after icing. My conclusion: after the body warms up and the friction builds heat, it is possible to run in the Vibrams (using toe socks) in weather at about 25 degrees, but I wouldn't want to run any further than 3 miles. 25 seems pretty close to the limit; for anything colder I will go have to go with a full shoe or boot of some kind. I have some boots with fairly flat bottoms that might work.

On Dec 31 I will be leaving for Houston again to visit family. I look forward to running around the Rice campus, and even better, my GF (now fiancee!) is coming along and we will be going on a 7 day cruise that departs from Galveston along with a friend that is in grad school at Rice. I very much look forward to testing out my Vibrams on beaches, snorkling, coral, rocks, and pretty much anything else I can put my feet on. They have a rock climbing wall on the ship, so I'm hoping to use my upper body training to pull me up it a few times. The ship stops at Grand Cayman which has a famous beach called Seven Mile Beach; apparently the length of the beach is open to the public. I am hoping to run the length of the beach in my Vibrams. I'm not sure if this will happen since others in the party will likely want to do other things and the logistics might be difficult, but running it seems like it would be a memorable experience. Why pay $100 to pet some dolphins when I can see the entire beach and get a workout for free?

Running up the Empire State Building

November has been unseasonably warm thus far which has been great as it has allowed me to continue going outdoors for workouts. I've gone out for a few more runs, and yesterday It was a little windier so I decided to do a stair run. I hadn't really ran stairs--a lot of stairs--since high school wrestling. I don't know what possessed me to do it, apart from the fact that I wanted to get a workout similar to running, but I didn't want to use a treadmill or run in the wind. I found a 26 step staircase near a little hill I usually take down to the lake which juts right down next to a bridge and a hill, making it quite secluded from the wind. I just started running up and down, not knowing how long it would be before I got tired. I ended up going 100 laps on the stairs in about 36 minutes for a total of 5200 stairs if you count up and down. I was pretty surprised by how long I was able to go without getting tired. My cardio was fine for the stairs, but my calves really took a beating. I wore my Vibram FF shoes, which meant I was essentially running on the balls of my feet the hole time. Since Vibrams tend to be harder on the calves even during normal running, I think I was more prepared for the stairs, and stairs might be a good way to strengthen the feet to run longer normal runs using Vibrams or bare feet. Today my calves are extremely sore, an experience I haven't had in quite a while; even the day after the marathon they weren't nearly this bad.

I later found out online that they do an annual event running up the Empire State building which has around 1500 stairs. While it definitely helped switching off between going up and then down the steps, running up the ES building doesn't sound too bad now!