Bethlehem First Night 5k

My son and I ran in the New Years Eve 5k. I have not viewed the official times but when I entered the chute the clock showed 26:55. I felt good completing the run without any pain from my hamstring injury. Afterwards Ramon from Coordinated Health Care gave me a good stretch for my legs and showed me some stretches to do after running.

Rest from running

I am taking a week from running and doing some walks, I did a one hour walk on each of the last three days. Last Friday when I ran my 5-k I felt the hamstring a little (I was pushing the hills) so I thought I would take a break for one week. I am also doing Tai Chi each day and stretching.

Today I started a six week program of 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups over at "hundredpushups.com ". I plan on starting a 13 week program for the half marathon on April 25, 2010 and I am designing a 30-45 minute cross training workout to use on non-run days. I am going to incorporate push-ups, sit-ups, Tai Chi and yoga.

After receiving my Gym Boss interval timer in the mail today I went to the website for a quick review of the instructions. Once I had the timer set for the two intervals; a four minute run followed by a one minute walk I headed out the door for a 5k run. I had the timer set on high for the beeper and I also set it to vibrate. As I reached the end of my first four minute run interval, even though I was running on frozen snow I could hear the beep loud and clear over my crunching footsteps, I was disappointed however that I could not feel the vibration. Since I intend to use the alternate run/walk method for the half marathon next April I do not know if the beep will be loud enough for me to hear over the other runner’s footsteps as my hearing is not what it used to be ( I cannot hear my Timex Iron Man watch during a solo run). I will try this timer on New Years Eve at the Bethlehem PA first Night 5k as a trial “run” to see if the beep can be heard over the noise of the race. I ran a little slower today than my average time for the 5k however it may be due to running on the crunchy, slippery snow and not because of the run/walk procedure. I will give an up-date on my times once I have more timed runs using the Gym Boss. Overall for $20.00, I will give the Gym Boss a good grade; it has a strong clip and large numbers that are easy to see, along with a loud beep. The weak vibration is something I have read about from other users so maybe the manufacturer will correct this shortfall. As I was returning home I though of another use for the timer, once done with my run I am going to set it to beep at one minute intervals while I am stretching so I don’t have to count to sixty as I am completing my workout!

17 degrees F wind chill today.

I did not want to run too far today so I walked down to the Rose Garden and ran the 1.3 mile exercise course, chilly!

Snow

We had snow yesterday so my running route in the Lehigh Parkway was coated in white! 32 degrees, nice and crisp for a run!

I'm attempting the half marathon.

I ran the Jack Pressman 5k in the Lehigh Parkway on Saturday with no problem from my recent hamstring injury. Actually I think I needed a good run to work out the scar tissue because it feels better than before the race. So with that out of the way I signed up for the 2010 St. Luke's Lehigh Valley Marathon on April 25, 2010. My plan is to start a program of running with alternate walking breaks as promoted by Jeff Galloway, this seems like a good approach for me as I am injury prone if I run too many miles but I have always been a good,fast, long distance walker. I am also working on an alternate yoga routine for no run days. So join me in my attempt to knock off the half marathon and hopefully add a base for the full marathon at a later date.

Hamstring injury

What happened- I was ramping up my mileage (too much too soon) for a few 5k races in the early winter during September and strained my left hamstring. I was running a 5k every Friday, Saturday and Sunday plus another one on Wednesday. One day there were people in front of me on the path and would not move so I had to jump off to get around them and when I cut back onto the path I felt a sting in my left hamstring. I stopped running and walked for a few steps then continued to run ignoring the pain. I continued on another mile and a half completing my 5k. As usual I stretched and could feel something was amiss but wrote it off and thought it would go away. The next morning I was really stiff when I woke up but after a few minutes of walking the pain went away and I only felt discomfort when I would intentionally stretch the hamstring. Four days after the injury I was running again with no pain, I decided to take it easy and only ran 1.3 miles. Two days after that I ran again but experienced pain at the end of my 5k around mile 3 so I stretched a bit, felt good and completed the run. I waited four days until running again and this time felt pain at .75 miles. Now I was a little concerned so I waited another three or four days before running again but this time I felt pain at .5 miles. Now I knew I was in trouble. I started using ice and ibuprofen five times a day and only walked around as much as I had to. Once I could walk pain free I decided to hold off on the running and walk starting with a mile and working up to four miles. During this time I was researching what other runners have done to recover and I decided to wait a full two weeks before running again and when I did resume running I only ran one minute then walked one minute. I did this “set” five times then stretched. I also stopped stretching before running. I slowly worked my way up to my current set of running eight minutes walking one minute-three times. Tomorrow I am going to run nine minutes-walk one minute for the entire 5k and see how it goes as I intend to run on November 28 in the “I run for Jack” 5k in honor of Allentown Central Catholic cross country couch Jack Pressman who tragically passed away earlier this year. Jack was my sons cross country, track and wrestling couch and was a great guy. One other thing I would like to mention about my hamstring rehab was the foam roller exercise. I read about using a foam roller to massage your muscles so I ran up to Dick’s and picked one up for about 25 dollars and I have been using it before and after runs. I can say that it does feel good when I use it and I am at the point where I feel good about my recovery to the point where I am optimistic I can complete my 5k next week-wish me luck!