Misty morning run

I went out at 05:55 this morning for 5 miles, what a beautiful sunrise and a great way to start the day.

Cross training during the heatwave.

It seams like we have been getting a lot of heat waves this summer which has me running even less than during a normal summer. I prefer to run in the cooler/colder months and usually ride my bike and walk more during the summer months. A few weeks after I ran a 13.1 marathon I was feeling good on a 4 mile run, my heart rate was on the low side of zone 3, I was cruising along at a 9 minute pace so I thought why not crank it up a bit. I gradually increased my pace until I was just below a 7 minute mile and all of a sudden my abdomen felt like someone stabbed me with ice pick (not that I know what that feels like). Anyway, you know what I mean. I immediately stopped and walked which made the pain go away. Good, it was just a side sticker I told myself, always being in denial about injuries, and proceeded to start running again. Well to make a long story short, it did not go away. So I walked/jogged to the end of my scheduled run (no wimping out) and went straight to Dr. Internet and diagnosed my pain as either an abdominal strain or a sports hernia. Next day, it hurt while I stretched in bed-not a good sign, but I soldiered on, went to work and went for a walk after returning home in the evening. I could not feel or see a bulge so I thought I would wait until my annual physical in a few weeks and see what a real doctor said. Real doctor; "I can't feel anything, stop running, and let's wait and see what happens in the next few weeks". That was mid June, over the last month I could see progress, a little less pain when I ran (no, I did not stop running), stretched, etc. It also felt more like a recovering strain (I have lots of experience healing from muscle strains), and I even refrained from a few of the local races I had my eye on. Last Saturday I ran over 5 miles and all I could feel was a little discomfort but no pain so I think I missed the bullet this time and will be OK. I did learn something or was reminded that walking and bicycling are great ways to keep in shape and since they increase your circulation they help you heal faster.

My mileage totals so far for 2011;
Running 334
Walking 203
Bike 231

for a total of 768 miles.

Next post I am gong to write about my exercise program I am designing to help me stay in shape and minimize injuries.

Walking,running and bicycling.

I just finished a one hour, twenty-two minute walk. This brings me to thirteen days in a row that I ran, walked or rode my bike at least one hour every day. I am doing this to stay in shape during the hot, humid weather and lose a little weight so I am ready to step up the running when at the end of the summer. Also I would like to run a 13.1 or 26.2 marathon in the fall.

500 miles for the year.

Last night I went for a 2.5 mile walk which puts me over the 500 mile total for running,walking and bicycling as follows:

Running 280
Walking 121
Bicycle 101

The above totals are a little light, I am finding out, since I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 last week. Some of the trails I run/walk/bike I estimated on the low side.

I am the caretaker for my elderly mother. Last night I had to admit her to the hospital and did not get home until late and almost missed my planned walk. However JoAnne said she would go for a walk with me and saved the day! When I woke up today I had a little pain in my back which may have been from trying to pick up my mom last night. I did my Tai Chi, including the warm up and afterwards I did a quick Yoga for runner's routine; back feel fine! Although Tai Chi took me 7 months of 2 to 3 sessions a week at class it was worth it. As a fellow Tai Chi practitioner once told me "it is a good thing to own, once you learn it you have a valuable skill for life"!

96º real feel temperature!

Ran a little over 3 miles tonight. Getting hot, it was 90º but the real feel was 96º. I have decided it is too hot to run the club race tomorrow in this heat. I am trying to run 3x's/week and walk 3x's/week during this hot weather. Also on my runs I am keeping my heart beat in the 65 to 75% of maximum heartbeat range.

Runner's knee

Since the 13.1 on May 1st I have been running 6 miles on the weekend (long and slow) and 3 or 4 miles during the week- long and slow with some short, fast intervals. On the 6 mile runs I have been getting a pain in the knee, short runs were OK. Today I started getting the pain on my 6 mile run so I tried running faster and it went away? I think when I use the Chi Running method (which is a faster pace for me), I have a different stride and that must be why the pain in my knee goes away. Any who, I am going to try running faster next week on my short runs and see what happens.

2011 St. Luke’s Lehigh Valley Half Marathon

Last Sunday I ran the half marathon with my daughter Jessica (her first half). We ran it in 2 hrs. 25 minutes which was 14 minutes faster than I did last year. More importantly I did not incur any injuries this year! We started out with a plan to complete our run in 2 hours and 30 minutes. As I need a good 10 to 15 minute warm up before running I contrived this elaborate strategy where we would walk the first mile then start running 30 seconds, walk a minute and continue increasing the run interval gradually, slowly increasing our speed and my heart rate to the ultimate cruising tempo until we were overrun by the 2:30 pace group and hang on to them until the end. Ah, the well laid plans of mice and men….we had to run from the start or be trampled to death, so for the first 5 or 6 miles we ran from the gun and my heart rate went way above the red line 85% of maximum I had set on my watch… so at that point I still felt great and we were even ahead of the 2:20 pace group so I set the interval timer to 1 minute run/30 second walk. We kept this run/walk interval to the end, were passed by the 2:20 pace group around mile 10 and were able to keep them in sight until the finish. We were never overtaken by the 2:30 pace group. So we were happy with our injury free run which was a PB for me and a first for Jessica.

Running longer than 10 miles is a new experience for me. Although I have been running since age 12, have been an avid bicyclist and have enjoyed walking, hiking and backpacking all my life I only recently have been participating in longer distance running. At first I approached the longer distances the same way I handled the shorter distances; run as fast as you can, gasping for breath, sprint for the finish. This worked for about 3 months and then turned into a laundry list of injuries and a constant cycle of train hard, injury, heal and repeat. After a few years of this I realized I was not having much fun so with the power of the Internet I researched what I was doing wrong and came up with a plan, which leads me to the next chapter. Tune in next week as I document what has been working for me, an aging athlete in quest of running longer distances and running for the rest of my life.