January 27th through February 2nd-Real Conversations

Endurance athletes are known to develop relationships with pain.  Whether you are in oxygen debt at mile 3 of a 5 mile race or if you are trying finish up a marathon on a balky achilles, runners are famous for accepting pain and trying to deal with it.  My current relationship with pain involves my right hip and upper quad area.  It's been acting up since November.  Week after week, I remind myself to do strength workouts, stretch, train in moderation and things will work themselves out.  Since the summer I have been cautious with my training by limiting my long runs, taking rest days, and trying not to strain in workouts.  Currently, I feel a steady amount of tightness and pain.  While the whole ordeal could be best described as nagging, it would be fair to say that my gait feels a bit off and my body does not feel normal when I'm running fast.

Fast forward to this morning and I had a "real conversation" with myself about the Ryan Park 10k that would be taking place in a few hours.  Rather than having a poor race or making the injury worse, I listened to my body and opted not to run today.  While I certainly missed out  on some fun, I hoping my decision benefits me later in the season.  In the upcoming weeks, I'm going to incorporate some running  with various strength and stretching routines.   My plan will be very deliberate and I will continue to have those "real conversations" with myself.

Sunday, January 27th 
The Spartacus Workout-45 minutes
A series of leg exercises, push-ups, shoulder work, and core exercises.  By no means was it sprinting up a hill, but I did find this one challenging

Monday, January 28th
a.m. 445 Club- 6 miles on the treadmill, 39:45
p.m. Early Dismissal=pure joy!  Made it home by 3 pm today and capitalized on the opportunity by running on the Weekapaug Sand Trail with Kelsey in the snow. 3+ miles

Tuesday, January 29th
Meetings prevented my planned yoga session.  Instead of doing yoga, I woke up early again and did stretching and strength work for 40 minutes.

Wednesday, January 30th
Warmup
3X1 mile repeats with 4 minute complete rest
Splits: 5:19, 5:24, 5:28
Warmdown

As a test of my current running fitness, I opted to shoot for some mile repeats today.  Knowing I had a perfect mile loop around my neighborhood, I didn't have to measure out a course and thought it would be a great place for a workout because it gave me the opportunity to bail out at any time!  After warming up with Lulu, I dug into the workout.  On the first loop, I felt strong but also knew I was working quite hard and the little hills were killing me.  After completing the first repeat, I was already giving some thought to calling it a day and warming down.  I quickly gave myself a pep talk and switched directions for repeat number 2.  Crossed the line for this one in 5:24 and the hills on this one were not any easier.  During my next rest, I was once again thinking about bailing and told myself I had to go for a third one even if it meant me running a horrible time.  I tried to cheat on this one by running downhill into Weekapaug.  Unfortunately, the wind shot at me on this repeat and right before I finished I had a small incline to climb.  Since I was already feeling tight, I slowly jogged home.


Thursday, January 31st
445 run again..4 miles on the treadmill followed up with some stretching.

Friday, February 1st
Woody Hill/Wahaneeta run with the Gazelle.  We toured a variety of single and double track trails in this really cool spot.  We hit some dead ends along the way, but still had a blast out there!  One of my goals is to try to get in here for a run once a week until I really learn the area.  9 miles...in my book anyway!

Saturday, February 2nd
4 miles easy with Kelsey and Lulu on beach roads.  It was a cold one.

Weekly Totals:
Run miles: 31
Lulu's Miles: 5
Core/Weights: 65 minutes
Yoga/Stretching: 20 minutes

Synopsis:
Highs-Monday Snow/Beach Run, mile repeat workout (just that I did it), & Woody Hill run.
Lows-mileage, mile repeat workout, & not enough stretching.

YTD Miles: 170
Lulu's miles:  32

January 20th through January 26th

Sunday, January 20th
Impromptu Tempo due to a Gazelle Sighting
I woke up this morning and felt like I had a head cold coming on.  I wasn't quick to get out of bed or out on the roads.  Around mid-morning I ventured out for a run with no particular distance or pace in mind.  With mild temperatures and a swirling wind, it certainly was a nice morning for a run.  I decided I would take to the hills today rather than go down to the beach.  As I was approaching my first mile on Shore Road, I had a Gazelle sighting.  I thought to myself, "That swift animal probably already covered some serious miles this morning."  I instantly got pumped up and started pushing the pace of my own run.  I worked by way through the hills of Moonlight and Urso Drive before pushing it home.  Knowing my hip was bothering me and that I wouldn't be going after any long distance, I focused on running some quality miles.  Here is what I came out with:
Mile 1: 6:25
Mile 2: 6:14
Mile 3: 6:20
Mile 4: 5:54
Mile 5: 5:57
            30:52

Once I hit the 5 mile mark, I took a short walk home to meet with up with Lulu for a mile warmdown.  Overall, I was happy with my run effort especially considering the hills, wind, and that darn hip of mine.  Completed 20 minutes of stretching once I arrived home.

Monday, January 21st-MLK Day
a.m. As my cold set in, I ditched the possibility of going for a long run this morning with the WTAC Crew.  Instead, I opted to get a little more sleep and then attempt making some kind of a run effort later in the day.  I figured if I went out on my own and didn't feel good, I could bail out at any point.  I opted to go for a 6 miler in the Woody Hill/Wahaneeta Preserve area.  Upon arrival, I decided that it would be best not to park where the newly minted "No Parking Sign" existed and parked right near the softball fields instead.  Upon entrance into the preserve, I did get to see the sign and laughed to myself about it's ridiculous location.  From there, I explored the various trails of the preserve and randomly weezed at different points.  With my cold and hip tightness, I was happy to call it a day after 45 minutes.  I felt like an old man out there!  As I write this, I'm not sure if it would be better to curl in a ball and go to sleep or try to bang out a few more miles with Lu...hmm.

-20 minutes of post run stretching.

p.m. 3 miles on the dreadmill.

Tuesday, January 22nd
0..the cold is rocking on.

After work I still felt the need to do something physical so I came up with a much needed core/strength routine in the form of circuits. Here is a quick overview:

Set 1: 4X25 pushups/4X25 body weight squats
Set 2: 4X8 pull-ups, 4X10 single leg squats
Set 3: 4X10 overhead shoulder press, 4X15 bent over row
Set 4: 4X10 Ab Wheel/other ab circuit
Finished by trying out the Myrtl routine (thanks Rogue Islanders, I stole this idea from you!)

Wednesday, January 23rd
6 miles on the dreadmill.  This cold is really kicking my tail.  I'm on the DayQuil/NyQuil cocktail..it's awesome.

Thursday, January 24th
6 miles on local roads down through Weekapaug.  With my cocktail doing it's job, I felt the need to get in a run today.  The big question was do I jump on the dreadmill to stay warm or should I take the party outside?  After catching wind of Gazelle's 4 at 4:44 antics, I started to question my manhood and decided to bundle up and go outside.  Today's run was bitter cold and rather slow, but I am happy I made it outside.  The biggest treat from today's run was the beautiful view of Block Island.  Tight as usual.

Friday, January 25th
6+ miles of snowy trails in the Woody Hill Management Area with Jeff.   Lots of fun running the various single and double track trails and even happier to have the Gazelle to lead the charge.  We cruised through Wahaneeta and crossed over the marsh area, which happens to be my favorite spot in the whole place. Jeff had me on the ropes over the last mile as we cruised in right before darkness set in.  Awesome run.

Still battling tightness in my upper right hip and quad.

"I pity the foo' who tries to beat me on the trails!"

The best spot of all

I made it

Saturday, January 26th
4 miles with Kelsey on Blackstone Boulevard in Providence.  Simply called "The Boulevard" by locals, this is a gravel trail that active people like to walk, jog, and run on in the east side of Providence.  The path was packed lightly with snow.  Afterwards, we grabbed some coffees and hung out in town for a bit.  Unfortunately, my hip and quad were really aggravated throughout the run.  It even bothered me while sitting on the ride home.

Weekly Totals:
Miles: 37
Lulu's Miles: 1
Stretch/Core/Strength: 80 minutes

Synposis:
Highs: Impromptu tempo run, strength workout, and very dun run in Woody Hill on Friday.
Lows: cold, on-going hip/quad tightness/soreness, general fatigue (and I'm not sure why), Lu doesn't like running in extreme cold.

YTD Miles
139
Lulu: 27

January 13th through January 19th

Sunday, January 13th
17 mile long run in Big River Management Area in West Greenwich with Galoob, Gazelle, Muddy, Rhody Seth, & Sandals.  All in all, the run last for two hours and eighteen minutes and was quite grueling (at least for me!).  I was highly impressed with the wide variety of trails and size of the area.  During various parts of the run, we cruised.  Trail fatigue set in for me at around 90 minutes but the group helped me get through.  My synopsis of Big River is that it is a very unique, cool spot.  I hope to run in there again sometime soon.  On the ride home I cuddled with the Angel of Suffering.  Good stuff.

Monday, January 14th
4 mile slog with Lulu in the dark on local roads.  Tight and sore.

Tuesday, January 15th
P90x Yoga: 60 minutes

Wednesday, January 16th
a.m. 20 minutes of core work (pushups, abs, stretching)
p.m. 7
2.5 mile warmup at a pretty good clip.  I arrived to Hell Field as darkness set in.  My goal for the day was to bang out as many tempo 400s as I could before it became completely black.  Despite some slips on snowy grass, I completed 6X400m before calling it a day.  This workout was the first time I wore my space watch and I was interested to find out the real distance of this field...it turned out to be exactly a 1/4 mile...sweetness.  All repeats were completed between 76 and 78 seconds.  2+ mile warmdown.  Very sore upper right quad.

Thursday, January 17th
5 mile recovery run with Lulu.  Tight, slow, and demoralizing.

Friday, January 18th
445 Club with the Gazelle..A classic 7 miler on local roads from my house.
Based off of weather reports, I was expecting an absolutely bitter morning.  I was pleasantly surprised when I went outside to the balmy temperature of around 28 degrees.  As Jeff and I got going, I made sure to whine to him about my balky hip and the tightness I've been dealing with.  Our attention quickly diverged to the black ice that filled the roads around us.  For the remainder of the run we were forced to pay attention to road conditions as we cruised around.  Despite some slipping, neither of us took any diggers during the run.  Quite possibly the neatest part of the run came when we approached Weekapaug Beach and noticed what looked to be some fishing boats not too far off the coast.  "Who fishes at 5:15 in the morning in the middle of January anyway?" I thought to myself.  I wonder if those fisherman noticed the headlight and flashing light on the coast.    "Crazy runners.  Who would want to go for a run this early on a mid-winter morning anyway?"

A very fun run.  The hip didn't even bother me too much today.

Saturday, January 19th
4 miles with Kelsey and Lu.
I made a stop at HELL Field for a mini workout that went like this:
4X400 with 30 seconds rest after each rep.
71, 72, 73, 71

I kept switching directions to work the different angles of the wind gusts.  I was happy to close out with the 71 since the rests did not give me much time to recover.

Weekly Totals:
Mileage: 44
Lulu's Miles: 12
P90x: yoga (60 minutes)
Core Work: 20 minutes

YTD: 102
Lulu: 26

Synopsis:
Pros: Big River Long Run, mini-workouts, 445 Club Run, and most miles ran in awhile.
Cons: On-going hip tightness, poor trail fitness, and time it took to recovery from long run

January 6th through January 12th

Sunday, January 6th
Resolution 5k Beach and Trail Race, 19:03 4th
Overall results
Cool race, tough day.  After waking up with a sinus headache that just wouldn't let up, Kelsey and I headed off to our first race of 2013.  Going into the race, my main goal was to take down those pesky Tuesday Night Turtles.  Before the race, I warmed up for about a mile and then chatted it up with my WTAC teammates.  Once the race got underway, the WTAC Guys were all out front.  As we approached the first mile, I passed through in about 5:48 and was battling it out with two TNT guys and Muddy.  Once we hit the road portion before Black Point, the top three guys put some distance on me and I could hear a runner in close pursuit of me.  Knowing today was not my day, I was hoping that that runner was Jonny or Jeff (or both).  Sure enough, it was Jonny.  In the middle of the Black Point trails, which were a bit tricky to maneuver with the ice and snow, Jonny made a move on me.  I told myself to try my best to just stay near him with the hope that no more turtles would pass me.  Chasing Jonny, I could hear another runner or two right on my back.  "Please be Jeff," I told myself.  I never looked back and kept running.  Once back on the beach, I knew I would fare a bit better and was able to catch up with Jonny and hold off whoever was in pursuit.  I ended up crossing the finish line just ahead of Jonny.  Right after Jonny, two other runners crossed the line and one of them turned out to be a turtle.  Shortly after them, Jeff crossed the line in 8th place.  The turtles ended up taking positions 1, 3, and 6 while the good guys took positions 2, 4, 5.  Unfortunately, we ended up losing the team battle.   I was disappointed in my performance but happy with how my teammates ran.

Kelsey ended up comfortably winning the women's race in a time of 21:35.  I was especially pleased with her performance considering the conditions and the time she ran.  Prior to this fall, she was running 21s on the roads.  She is now running in the 19s for a 5k  on the road and doing quite well in just about any competition.

Finished up with a 3 mile warmdown with teammates.  I didn't feel my best today or race well, but this race serves as motivation for me.
(7)

 

                                        Turtles...we are coming to get you!

Monday, January 7th
6+ miles on area roads in the dark on local roads.  Ended up running at 6:24 per mile.  I was definitely feeling better today and intended on just going for a recovery run, but things changed once I got going.

Tuesday, January 8th
Yoga..90 minutes

Wednesday, January 9th
7+ Workout Day
Warmed up by going for a 3.5 mile warmup with Lulu on local roads.  After dropping Lulu off at the house, I proceeded to doing 8X250m hills with jog down rest. Solid workout, decided not to track splits and just focus on effort.  Felt beat at the end.

Thursday, January 10th
5+ with Kelsey and Lulu on local roads.  Very tight right upper quad.  Tried to dull the pain with some icy hot post run.

Friday, January 11th
445 Club.  7 miler with the Gazelle from his house through Chin Hill, No Bottom Pond neighborhoods, and down to Misquamicut.  We were definitely cruising on this run and ended up dropping a 6:12 somewhere in there without even realizing it.  The only thing that kept us honest was running close to a mile on the beach.  As we crossed through the state beach parking, it almost felt like I didn't know where I was with all of the damage and dirt piles from Hurricane Sandy.  Sweet run and great way to start my Friday.

Saturday, January 12th
4+ miler with Lulu on local roads down to Fenway Beach and by the new Weekapaug Inn.  It was quite humid for a January afternoon.

"I have goals too!"

Weekly Totals:
Miles: 36
Lulu's miles: 13
Yoga: 90 minutes

YTD miles: 58    
Lulu: 14