I ran my 20k yesterday afternoon and today, no pain in the hips or knees = a good thing. Of course my back is still sore from a non-running incident on Saturday. I was filling the car with gas from a 20l gas can that I keep in the shed. Its generator gas that has to be used so i thought i would use it before it went stale. Well as i was repositioning the gas can so it would empty faster into the car, i felt something "tweak" in the lower right side of my back. I knew right away and though "oh f**k, what have i done?" Fifteen minutes later i'm on the couch with a heat pack on my back, feeling like crap because i didn't think I'd be able to run on Sunday.
So I get up on Sunday morning and the pain is still there but i notice that its only bad if i twist it at all. So i decide that i'm going to attempt the run and just stay close to home just in case I fall apart. The weather was great (partly sunny +4C) and I quickly realize that i should be able to complete it as long as i don't twist. At the 13.7km mark, i made a pit stop at the house for a glass of water and a clif shot to give me a little boost for the final 6.3km. I finished the 20k in 2:14 which was a slower pace than the 19k I ran two weeks ago. I was aiming for a 6:40 pace and I actually ran a 6:43 pace. almost spot on. my planned marathon pace at this time is 6:00/km. My total distance for the week was 45km.
I just checked back to last year at this time and I didn't even start my training (my long run exactly a year ago was 9k at a 7:01 pace) until the first week in February so I'm well ahead of the game for the 2012 Bluenose Marathon.
Tomorrow I have a 9k easy run planned but since Stacey will be running with me, we'll likely cover 10k at a slightly faster pace.
Yesterday was one of the few times I have actually taken a mp3 player with me on a long run. while i would never consider it for an actual race, it did seem to help the time go by. My music of choice yesterday was "Pornografitti" by Extreme, Matchbox 20's Greatest Hits and 2 songs from the Red Hot Chili Peppers newest disc.
Onward and Upward
Monday, January 30, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
long time, no update
Ok now its Jan 26th and quite a bit has happened since my last post. Back in August and September i continued with my training in preparation for the Valley Harvest Marathon. At the time, I felt that i was doing all the right things. Looking back now, I was woefully unprepared for my next marathon. I was running all of my long runs very early on Sunday mornings, to avoid the heat. Big mistake #1. I was ignoring an annoying pain in my right knee. Big mistake #2. I was also overconfident from already finishing a marathon in May, Big Mistake #3. These would come back to haunt me.
So I signed up for the Valley Harvest Marathon about a week before the thanksgiving weekend that it was to be run. I was hoping for cool weather and had trained assuming that that's what i was going to run in. WRONG! Instead of being a perfect temp of around 10-12C, the thermostat hit 26C that day.
Everything started off fine at 9am, the temperature already at 17C. 5k down, everything still fine. 10k, still cruising, 15k getting hotter and somewhat uncomfortable. by 19k i was switching sides of the road to find shade wherever i could. all the while, my right knee is talking to me, a little louder with each passing km. by the time i made it to the halfway point, just before Kingsport, my knee was screaming for me to stop. I took 2 vitamin I's but no joy. My run had turned into some kind of freakish hobble. by the time i reached 24k, i was walking. This was going to be a long day.
I had texted Stacey, giving her status reports every couple of km but at 24k, all i could say was "i hurt, knee shot, walking" she continued to send texts to cheer me on but to no use. i could run for maybe 100 metres then walk for 5 or 10 minutes. I was so frustrated, pissed off and in so much pain that I was crying at around the 30k point. that was my wall. onward i hobbled/walked.
My most humiliating point was at a checkpoint around 32k or so. I remember arriving at a water station, there was an RCMP car sort of following me, probably making sure i was OK. One of the volunteers asks the constable "how many more are there after this one?" THIS ONE??? wtf am I? a cow? The constable replied with "there's 2 or 3 more after him." I felt like saying, "I'm right here you arseholes, could you have at least waited until i limped past before asking?" but i couldn't muster up the energy to say anything. Stacey started walking to meet me, which she did at around 38k and with her support, I managed to finish in a time of 5:22. I was humbled. After the Bluenose I had full intentions of finishing this one faster with less training.
A quick trip to a medical clinic confirmed that I had IT Band syndrome or "runners knee". It took over a month of no running at all before I could start again. In November, I hired a running coach to better prepare me for 2012. I also made several trips to physio in November and December to work on the strength and flexibility in my right leg (mostly hip). As of today, my training is going great, i'm feeling better than ever and well on my way to running the Bluenose again. I have a 20k run this Sunday, which puts me way ahead of my 2011 schedule. I am by no means looking past the Bluenose but I must run the Valley Harvest again just for revenge. For now, I'll keep trying to update this with my runs and health updates. Tonight I just finished a training run that was a 3k warmup (ran with Stacey), 6km at marathon pace (i went a little faster, just to push it a bit) and a 1k cooldown. felt great, pain free!!
So I signed up for the Valley Harvest Marathon about a week before the thanksgiving weekend that it was to be run. I was hoping for cool weather and had trained assuming that that's what i was going to run in. WRONG! Instead of being a perfect temp of around 10-12C, the thermostat hit 26C that day.
Everything started off fine at 9am, the temperature already at 17C. 5k down, everything still fine. 10k, still cruising, 15k getting hotter and somewhat uncomfortable. by 19k i was switching sides of the road to find shade wherever i could. all the while, my right knee is talking to me, a little louder with each passing km. by the time i made it to the halfway point, just before Kingsport, my knee was screaming for me to stop. I took 2 vitamin I's but no joy. My run had turned into some kind of freakish hobble. by the time i reached 24k, i was walking. This was going to be a long day.
I had texted Stacey, giving her status reports every couple of km but at 24k, all i could say was "i hurt, knee shot, walking" she continued to send texts to cheer me on but to no use. i could run for maybe 100 metres then walk for 5 or 10 minutes. I was so frustrated, pissed off and in so much pain that I was crying at around the 30k point. that was my wall. onward i hobbled/walked.
My most humiliating point was at a checkpoint around 32k or so. I remember arriving at a water station, there was an RCMP car sort of following me, probably making sure i was OK. One of the volunteers asks the constable "how many more are there after this one?" THIS ONE??? wtf am I? a cow? The constable replied with "there's 2 or 3 more after him." I felt like saying, "I'm right here you arseholes, could you have at least waited until i limped past before asking?" but i couldn't muster up the energy to say anything. Stacey started walking to meet me, which she did at around 38k and with her support, I managed to finish in a time of 5:22. I was humbled. After the Bluenose I had full intentions of finishing this one faster with less training.
A quick trip to a medical clinic confirmed that I had IT Band syndrome or "runners knee". It took over a month of no running at all before I could start again. In November, I hired a running coach to better prepare me for 2012. I also made several trips to physio in November and December to work on the strength and flexibility in my right leg (mostly hip). As of today, my training is going great, i'm feeling better than ever and well on my way to running the Bluenose again. I have a 20k run this Sunday, which puts me way ahead of my 2011 schedule. I am by no means looking past the Bluenose but I must run the Valley Harvest again just for revenge. For now, I'll keep trying to update this with my runs and health updates. Tonight I just finished a training run that was a 3k warmup (ran with Stacey), 6km at marathon pace (i went a little faster, just to push it a bit) and a 1k cooldown. felt great, pain free!!
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