When does 4 miles become 6??

When you try and run 4 days in a row in your third week back to running. It was terrible! I should not have worn my Brooks pure flows either, my legs are not ready for minimalist, especially after three strait days of running. I need to get my schedule in line, having taken Monday and Tuesday off ofter the debacle last Sunday...I figured well I will run Wednesday - Sunday. This was a good plan in theory, practically it has been a bad idea. so the week went as follows

Monday: off
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 3.2miles 29:31 9:13/mile pace
Thursday: 3.2 miles 28:49  9:01/mile pace
Friday: 3 miles on the treadmill, 29:00 not sure of my pace somewhere in the 9's
Saturday: 4 miles 37:46 9:27/mile pace

Sunday will be an off day. and hopefully I can get some massage work done, i need it badly!
So another week of almost 15 miles, not bad for my 3rd week. I am still however frustrated at my speed, i know it will come back and I should be happy to be running again. the competitive voice in my head is sometimes very loud, and it screamed today!  Run Happy!!

Comeback, week two...rolling the dice.

Ok, so my last post was on the 13th, talking about my first week back. So I am a few days off with this one, Second week, down and it was a week of highs and lows. So the weeks started with 4 miles on Tuesday, after my 6 miles on Saturday, i needed the two days of rest (sorry to say). So Tuesdays tilt was in 36:04  at a 9:00/mile pace...not bad, not great, but not bad, I am beginning to go with my green silences more often now, but this run I tried my pure flows, liked them alot, I am still favoring the silences overall. Wednesday off, 3 miles at an 8:50/mile pace, on Thursday. So its getting better. Friday 3.2 miles, 9:11/mile pace, eh, getting a bit worse again. Saturday off and then a planned 6 miles on Sunday, as I was excited to join the I-run group again for heir Sunday LSD. so I planned to run up to the Penang youth park, 2 miles, do the 6 mile loop (as everyone else did 21k) and just stop on Gurney in front of the apartment. it might turn out to be a little more than 6 but not by much.Sunday arrives, I make my way up to youth park, no problems. I did not know many of the people who were joining, but did recognize Sunny who i have met at the gym and in a few of the races and I-run events, so she was by no means a stranger. She is also a very good runner, and although I was hoping to pace with someone, she might not be the best one to pace with. however when they started, the pace seemed very manageable. I was doing ok, cramped a bit but only one stop initially. Then came a steeper section (steep for the Florida boy anyway) and my hamstring just crapped out. I had to stop to get it un-knotted a few times but things started to even out and I felt good. I had forgotten though that I did not eat dinner on Saturday night and had not eaten anything this morning either and as the 5 mile mark approached, the fuel gage went to zero and I was done. Before when I was in better shape I could get away with a missed meal and then a long run, this time, it was not happening, the cramps got worse and worse and my magical "HEED" was not working. So I was done and in shame i hung my head and headed home, managing 6.55 miles at 10:00 a mile, again. I was really hoping for a better result especially as good as the week went, but I rolled the dice against the nutrition boss and he rolled 7's, I got snake eyes and lost big time. I will not make that bet again. Thank you Sunny for pacing me.

On the road again

A new week begins in my quest to get myself back in running form and I am so sore I can barely walk, so I have chosen today as a day off. I would not have taken it as an off day if I was not in pain. So to review last week included two runs in Phuket, Thailand:

07/02: 3.19 Miles      30:28    9:34 /mi
08/02: 3.40 Miles      31:30    9:16 /mi

Both were tough but enjoyable, and I have discovered that I still have a hitch in  my stride, at least until i warm up a bit.
I also did a run here in Penang when we got back from Thailand. It felt good to run the route that I ran when we first got here.That little 3 mile loop, seemed so boring after a while and new running routes were discovered and found. For now, its the best route I have ever run!

10/02: 3.22 Miles     29:57   9:22 /mi

So I look at these and think, "I am only a minuet or so off of my normal pacing...but then i look back on my distances, and I had not been running a 3mile training run in about two years. So I thought "I need to do a longer run, just to see where I am at." So I got on the horn, found a friend who was going to do a long run Sunday (Thank you Thuan). and he agreed to join me, or rather me join him. The plan was 10k, I had some concerns about the plan...We began the run and I felt ok, got through about a mile and a half and my left hamstring began to cramp badly so i had to stop and stretch it out quick. Back to the run, i think this time i made it through about another two  miles before i had to stop again. We made our loop and headed back, the route back was worse, i think I had to stop 3 times, and once I had to go to the ground to get the cramp to release. following that one, i walked it out a bit. This left one mile till the finish so off we went and no further stops this time. I can tell you, despite the turtles pacing,the multiple stops, and the cramping, i was elated!! I had not run in almost 9 months, and had not done anything longer than 3 miles when I did. For me this was an accomplishment. I did what I intended to do start and finish.

12/02: 6.38 Miles     1:06:02   10:22 /mi

Now to be honest, i am embarrassed at the 10:22 per mile pacing and the overall hour to do a 10K. I have to let that go however and focus again on the fact that I ran the distance and that was the intention, to complete the distance....still tough to take knowing that a normal 10K run when i was in shape would have been done in 50 min at about an 8:30 /mi pace...so I am 2 min off in pacing and 10 min or so off of my usual finish time. It been 13 days though since I was cleared to run, so i guess I should be happy. I am, i mean I am back running, and like a friend from Brooks said, "a slow run is better than sitting on the couch thinking about running. " I just feel like a kid in the middle of summer thinking about Christmas..."I want it to come NOW!" So I start a new week and with a ton to do today, I will take today as a rest/gym day. I am thinking of a weekly schedule that will be, Monday off, Tuesday run, Wednesday run, Thursday off, Friday run, Saturday run, and Sunday as my long day, which for now will be no longer than 6 miles. So there it is on 17 & 18 July, 2011, this was me:

On 8 February 2012, this was me:

a bit fatter than I would have hoped, and out of shape, but the process has begun to rebuild the 2 and a half dollar man...and he is running Happy!

Running adventure begins again! In Phuket, Thailand.

So it really began again where it all started, in Penang, however I have not been able to get on the road in Penang as of yet, some treadmill runs have been all thus far. We did head off to Phuket, Thailand on Sunday 05/02, I thought about taking this opportunity to run on the beach, although a bit more difficult than your average road training, the sand would make the wear and tear less. I hit the sand and did about a mile, the incline on the beach made it tough...so I figured I would see what was around to get some time on the road. I talked to the security guard in front of the hotel, and he suggested a route around this small pond just across from the hotel. It seemed little used by anyone but local motorcycle traffic, and it covered about 2 miles, perfect!! The start was pretty rough, and I am finding that i favor my left leg a bit to much, if I increase my speed, i even out better, but I cant handle it stamina wise (yet!). Now 5K (3.2 miles) in 30 minuets would have pissed me off before the accident...now I could not be happier. so the combination of a mile or so on the beach and another 2.3 on the road gave me my first non-treadmill run since the accident in July 2011. It was great!
The next day I figured if I felt good physically, I would try it again and see what happened. So i woke up and felt good. i decided to hit the same route, the soreness kicked in for the first mile or so and then decreased. I really felt bad on this run, not physically,let me explain. As I was approaching the end of my run I caught up to another runner, now the morning before i saw no one out, so it was un expected. We had also seen many Russian tourists, who, no offense, are not often socially friendly (that has been our experience) with strangers. so i just passed her...well she said something as i passed so i slowed up and asked her to repeat it, she asked which hotel I was in, I told her, then she asked where I was from, i told her, she asked about the route around the pond up ahead, i told her about the route, and at that time i was done...i felt bad not asking her some of the same questions, i did tell her to "have a good run"...feel like my running conversation etiquette needs some work. Ok so this run was faster 9:16 pace compared to 9:34, and a bit longer 3.4 miles compared to 3.2 miles. I figured I would be sore, I was, so I decided to get a massage before we flew back to penang this afternoon. That was awesome, i needed the deep work done and it was just the ticket. however sitting in a cramped twin prop aeroplane seat for an hour after that, not the ticket! I am sitting here now, sore as hell, but happy, very happy. Loyal reader I appreciate you hanging in there...Run Happy!!