Coming Back....Soon???

OK....so it's been a really long time since I've been on here. Long story short- I got hurt (badly). but not the ankle from the last post. That injury cleared up after a week or two. I got hurt 2 weeks before the half-marathon in a soccer game. I completely rupture my planteris muscle (smaller muscle in the calk), partially tore the gastroc (big muscle in the calk), and strained my achilles. So, the half-mary never happened. I was pissed to say the least.

So, I've been in PT ever since trying to get better. I was cleared last Friday to resume running (but no more then a mile) and to play soccer (I'm a goalie so limited running involved). I've made it through two indoor games unscathed so far. I'm still very tight and tender in certain spots, but it has held up so far. If all goeas as planned, I will have my last PT session next week and then will be discharged back to no restrictions.

So, I will then be looking at the schedule and figuring out what I want to do next. News to come....

Rest Time

So, after my run this weekend, something was not right with my ankle/foot. At first I didn't notice it. However, as Saturday afternoon became Saturday evening, my ankle started throbbing. It was strange. It felt like I had sprained or twisted my ankle. Yet I don't remember doing anything like that on my run. I started icing it and wrapping it in hopes of getting it to feel better, as I had a soccer tournament on Sunday.

I woke up Sunday morning, and the ankle still hurt just as bad. Determined not to let my friend, andrew, down, I decided to suck it up, wrap it, take some tylenol, and play through the pain. I iced a few times in the morning, and then drove up to Pennsylvania to play some indoor soccer.

At the tournament, I was pretty worried about the ankle. I had taken about 6 extra-strengthtylenols, yet the pain was still as strong. Luckily, at the tournament, they had a Certified Athletic Trainer there to help with injuries, etc. I spoke with him before our first game. I showed him where the pain was and told him about my 6 mile run. He asked me if I was wearing new shoes (no). then he asked if I had changed surfaces....BINGO. After a month of doing nothing but running on asphalt, I did my 6 mile run on hard pack, dirt, and rocks on the local trail. I didn't even think about this....I'm an idiot. The guy taped my ankle, explained to me what was going on with this one tendon in my ankle, and told me to rest it. So, of course I played in the tournament all day. and played pretty well too. Once the juices started flowing, I didn't feel the pain as much. It didn't reall impact my mobility. It did however impact my kicking- as every ball strike felt like someone was jabbing an ice pick into my ankle. Finsihed up the day, and headed home.

So, I have decided to give myself a 2-3 day break. This week was on the lighter side running-wise as the schedule called for a 5k this weekend. So the rest could do me some good. I'm also going to take a day or two off of P90x, since I don't want to put any strain on the ankle so it heals. Hopefully this will do the trick and I will be "bringing it" soon again....

6 Mile Run and updates....

Wow! My week got crazy in a hurry. And no rest for the weary as the rest of the month is looking to be one for the record books. Between work and family, I've been a busy boy. But, it doesn't mean I haven't been working out- just not updating the blog.....Im a slacker....

Anyway, this week I did the best I could in terms of workouts/running. I was REALLY sore after the run and plyo combo. I took the next day off. Then I did a hard 2 mile run combined with the P90X workout for Back and Biceps. Then I missed a day due to another work thing. Which brings us to today.

The running schedule called for a 6 mile run today. I debated long and hard about it. On the one hand, I'm playing in a soccer tournament on sunday all day and was worried about being sore/fatigued. On the other hand, it was our first really beautiful day in months (sunny and 52 degrees), I could run on the trail for the first time in a month, and I was worried about falling too far behind in my half marathon training. So, I decided I would try and run it, but take it at a really easy pace.

Hit the trail, and I am not sure what happened. Part of it is that the beginning of the trail is all downhill. And I guess part of it was just me being a meathead and/or being pumped about the great weather (I got to wear shorts!), but I took off at a pretty fast pace. How fast? Well, I ran the first two miles in about 16:30- which is rediculous for me right now. But then reality hit- hard.

I had never been out on a lot of this trail before. When I started running it was when I was first starting my program. So I was only running 1 or 2 miles. This trail is 3.3 miles from end to end. So, I used to run out a mile, turn around and run back. And while there were some hills on this part, I had no idea how big the hills were later in the trail. As I was running today, I started to notice some signs for "steep hills ahead". They weren't kidding. These hills were almost a 30 degree incline or more in spots. Unbelievable! I literally hung on for dear life the rest of my run. I finsihed the 6 miles in 1:01:29. Still just over10 minute miles. I guess I should be happy, but I'm actually pissed. If I hadn't hit it so hard at the beginning, I may have had more in the tank later for the hills and probably would have made it in under 10 min/mile. Oh wel- live and learn.

I'm heading to Pennsylvania for an indoor soccer tournament with my buddy tomorrow. We'll have at least 3 games, and more if we make the playoffs. Can't wait to see how sore I am tomorrow. I've been icing my knee and other areas of soreness. Hopefully, I'll be fine, but we'll see.

4 Mile Run & Plyo

Hi guys and girls! Sorry I've been unable to post for the last few days. I'm hitting a busy period for work. Anyway, I'm still on track with the workouts- no slacking off for me!

Sunday I rested for the most part. I had an indoor soccer game that night, so I got a bit of a sweat on. But we blew the other team out, so I didn't have to do too much.

Monday, I started week 5 of P90X. I had the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps workout to do. I forgot what a killer workout that is! It hits you hard and often. It seems like the longest video ever- but you finish and you feel great. I pushed it hard and got some great burns in my muscles. finished up with the Ab Ripper. After a week off for the recovery week, it was nice to hit my abs again. they needed the shock- and boy was it ever a shock. I felt like I was going to puke during the Fifer Scissors. Then I headed to another indoor soccer game. I was much busier and got a great workout during the game.

Today, the schedule for running called for a 4 mile run. I basically swapped the cross training and 4 mile run days on the schedule (yesterday and today). So I had my run to get in this afternoon. We have another wintery storm moving in right now. I had to try and get my run in before it got too messy. The beginning of the storm is supposed to be just rain, and that's what I dealt with on my run. It was all I could do to run in the rain. I was NOT motivated. But I sucked it up and got out there. I again decided to hide my timer so I could just grit my teeth and bang out the run. Much to my surprise- another personal best. I did the 4 miles in 39:26. That's my first sub-10:00 mile pace run since I started. And it was strange. After I finished, I didn't even feel like I had run that fast. I really felt I could go out and do more. It's awesome.

Finished up my day with the Plyo workout for P90X. Boy did that kick my ass. I did the modified, low-impact versions of everything, and I skipped the bonus stuff at the end. I'm going to be hurting tomorrow! Oh well, you gotta bring it!

5 Mile Run

Hello all! Feeling good right now. Just got done watching some college lacrosse after my 5 mile run. Yep, today' schedule called for a 5 mile run. Having done this same distance last weekend, I was interested to see how I would do. Last week was a struggle. I got through it (in better time then I thought I would). But it was tough and I had trouble running with my water belt, etc.

Today was much better. To begin with, I wore the hydration belt differently. I had the bottle on my hip (like a holstered gun) instead of in the small of my back. It was much easier to take out while running. I also refused to look at my Garmin again until I knew I had to be close to the mileage I wanted. This let me just get lost in my music and have my mind wander a bit. It was much better. My first glance at the Garmin came at 4.16 miles. NICE!

My time was much better then before- which again was surprising. For some reason, my left foot hurt for the first mile or two. So I thought I was running slower. Add to that we still have those strong wind gusts, and I felt for sure I wouldn't run fast...but I was wrong. Time was 51:12 for my 5 miles. Not as fast as I ultimately want to run, but a far cry from the 14-15 minute miles when I was starting!

I also wore sunglasses while running today. It was mostly cloudy, though the sun did peek out from time to time. but what I found was it was really helpful in keeping my eyes from watering when the cold wind blew in my face. It was a big help actually- mostly from a morale issue!

Anyway, schedule is a stretch and strengthen day tomorrow. But for P90X it's an off day. I will probably do X Stretch to loosen up a bit. Plus I have an indoor soccer game tomorrow night, so I'll get a little sweat on there too.

3.5 Mile Run

Well, the snow didn't come...yet. It looks like we got somewhat lucky. The storm veered off the ciast and missed us. But they say it is wrapping back around and will end up hitting us tonight and tomorrow, dumping 3-6" on us by end of day tomorrow. Not that bad considering what we got recently, and what we could have gotten today. But the high, hurricane-force winds are still a real threat. And boy were they gusting already today!

So, I got home from work today and decided to try and get my run in with the little daylight I had left. The schedule called for 3.5 miles today. I hit the roads and knew right away it was going to be a tough run. the wind was blowing hard. It made running difficult at times as it was like a wall you had to run through. It sucked. It was also very cold, cutting through you like a knife and making my eyes water. Miserable!

Due to that my mindset changed right away. I said to myself, "I'm going to go slow. Just get through the run and don't worry about your time/pace.". So I decided not to look at my time on the watch. i covered it with my sleeve and didn't look at it- I just ran. When I started getting close to the distance (roughly) I thought I needed, I snuck a peek at the bottom of my Garmin to verify mileage- not looking at time. When I finally finished, I figured my time was going to be pretty bad- rough weatherand all. to my surprise, it was the fastest time for me at 3.5 miles yet. I did it in almost 36 minutes flat. When I did 3.5 miles before, the best I did was just over 37. I was amazed because my pace didn't seem near as fast as that one, yet my time was better- and that was with running into the wind a lot (espeically on a lot of the uphills-sucked!). So, I guess I'm getting a little faster. I still don't really care about my times right now, but it's always fun to see the little incremental improvements along the way!

2 Mile Run

Hello all. sorry for the absence from the blog. My schedule has been a bit crazy the last few days. I am working on soem big projects for work. As such, time has been limited to do much.

In fact, I missed any/all workouts yesterday. I literally was busy from roughly 6am until midnight working on different things. So, tonight I went for the 2 mile run I missed yesterday. It was all I had time to squeeze in. Since this is also a recovery week for P90X, I don't feel bad about only one workout today. My body is a little beat up right now anyway. Hopefully I can get back on track shortly.

We are also bracing for another winter storm here in Baltimore. They are saying this storm will look liek a hurricane on radar and will bring hurricane strength wind gusts along with a decent amount of snow. We won't get hit with the 2 foot snow we had the last two times (each). But they are saying 8-14". Trust me- no fun. Especially when we still have at least 6" on the ground left over from the double blizzards from 2 weeks ago. Thsi sucks. I'm especially worried about losing power wit the high winds. It's really cold and I have 2 small children at home. I don't want to have to wrap them in a bunch of blankets to keep them from becomng popcicles! Also, I am concerned about the impact more snow will have on my ability to run.....so pray that we get the lighter side of the totals!!!