September 23rd through September 29th

Sunday, September 23rd
a.m. 3 miles...
Warmup
4X400 with 30 seconds rest. at Hell Field.  Goal of hitting my splits between 76 and 80 seconds and just getting a feel for some faster running
(79, 76, 74, 71).  It was fun to run faster and despite the regular tightness, I felt good.
Warmdown-Saw the Gazelle scouting out the OCY Tri Course!

p.m. 4++ miles in Grills Preserve w/Kelsey.  I've been wanting to introduce her to this area for awhile.  Not sure she enjoyed bushwhacking!! Note to self--save those kinds of trails for runs with the guys!

Monday, September 24th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. 6 mile run down to windy Atlantic Ave, looped back around on the beach, and covered a few miles in Weekapaug.  The views of BI were unbelievable.  Lots of dudes fishing.  Sore calves.


Tuesday, September 25th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. 6- Just under 6 miles on local roads around 6:30 pace.  Decided to try to chase down a fellow runner who was way up ahead of me on Weekapaug Road.  My goal was to catch him by the time we hit the lights at the Shore Road intersection.  My game of Pac Man ended with a close call, but I didn't catch him in time.  Like my Dad says, "Almost only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades."

Wednesday, September 26th
7 mile early morning run with Jeff from my house, through local neighborhoods, Fenway Beach, and back around.  It was kind of neat to find a street or two in Westerly that the Gazelle was not familiar with.  Normally, he is the one introducing me to new streets and places.  Solid pace, solid effort, and an enjoyable start to the day.

Thursday, September 27th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. quick 3 miler w/Lulu.  Impressed how fast Lu can run when she wants to.

Friday, September 28th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. 0 miles..40 minutes of core work, pushups, and stretching.

Saturday, September 29th
Friends of the Poor 5 miler at Colt State Park, 29:02, 2nd
Long story short: woke up with sinus pain, fun course, never really felt like I was racing today.  Kelsey PR'd and won the women's overall.

Weekly Totals:
Running miles: 35
Stretching/Lifting/Core: 1:40

September 16th through September 22nd

Sunday, September 16th
a.m. 5 miles from my house through the roads of Misquamicut to pick up Dave's race number for the Surftown Half.  This was a fun run because I'd be covering part of the race course.  While on Atlantic, I came across one of the surf board mile markers and decided to run relatively hard to the next mile marker.  I ended up running a 6:15 pretty comfortably.   Watched the Trail Gods play the role of Road Warriors today in the race.  Congrats to WTAC runners: Justin, Jeff, Mike B. Mike C., and Dave on some very solid racing.

p.m. 3 mile loop on area roads. 6:30 pace.

Monday, September 17th
a.m, 15 minute stretch
p.m. 5 miles on local roads with a hop on Fenway Beach in the middle.
Quads were especially sore today. 6:45/mile pace.

Tuesday, September 18th
a.m. 10 minute stretch
p.m. 40 minutes of push-ups, pull-ups, bent over rows, curls, abs, and stretching.
I was due to take the day off and have been feeling kind of bummed out that I haven't been able to train normally.  My quads constantly feel extremely tight and I've been having difficulty getting comfortable on the roads.  Injuries are frustrating and heal at their own pace. Errrrr...

Wednesday, September 19th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. 6 miler untimed down through Weekapaug, Fenway Beach, and area roads.  My body felt better than Tuesday, but my quads still didn't seem too happy with me.

Thursday, September 20th
a.m. 15 minute stretch
p.m. 4 miles with Lulu down to the beach.  Once we hit the beach, the dog was ready to fly.  We hammered it home from there.  Sore, but a bit better than yesterday.

Friday, September 21st
7 miles dark and early with Jeff.  Avondale, Browning Road, Ocean View Highway, and Misquamicut area.  Wicked neat running through Misquamicut this early!

Saturday, September 22nd
a.m. 3 miles with Lulu through Weekapauug..cruising at 6:30 pace.  Like Thursday, the dog hammered the last mile.  Fun.

p.m. 3 mile neighborhood loop..decent effort.

Weekly Totals:
Running Miles: 36
Stretching/Core/Lifting: 1 hour, 40 minutes

September 9th through September 15th

Sunday, September 9th
60 minutes of biking through Misquamicut, Avondale, and the Shore Road area.  After about 50 minutes of riding, I stopped by my parents house for a quick visit and coffee.  The final portion of my ride was simply a trip home.  Although I don't see it happening anytime soon, I'd love to use my car less and bike more as a means of transportation.  I was hoping for more physical activity (stretching, core work), but household chores and commitments prevented it.

Monday, September 10th
a.m. 15 minutes of stretching

p.m. 5 miles..(6:45 pace).  Played the cat & mouse game running again today.  Run hard, catch Kelsey, jog with her for a bit, and then run hard again.   To give my body a "break" and keep the tempo of the run up, I randomly dropped down and did push-ups during the run.  While the push-ups slowed my overall pace, they did give my hips a break.

The right side of my body/hip remains tight and sore.  My body continues not to function properly and certain areas get overworked.  If I could just be balanced and even, I'd be right back into the swing of things.  While the workout was good today, I feel generally frustrated with the soreness and tightness.

Tuesday, September 11th
a.m. 15 minutes of stretching
p.m. 6 miles in Champlain Preserve in a perceived effort of 7:15/mile.  I'm starting to get tired of the usual Weekapaug roads and have been generally bored out there as of late.  On this cool, crisp fall day, I really wanted it to feel like cross country.  Interestingly enough, I had less pain on my right side today.  Could it have been from all of the different movements a runner needs to make on the trail? I'd like to think so.  Fun day.

Wednesday, September 12th
a.m. 15 minutes stretching
p.m.. 3+ miles.  With another short window to run, I ran a little under 4 miles with Kelsey and Lulu.  Very sore on both sides.

Thursday, September 13th
a.m. 10 minute stretch
p.m. 3 miles with Lulu at a solid clip.  Less soreness today.  Quick stretch afterwards.

Friday, September 14th
a.m. 7 miler from Jeff's house down into town, up the hospital hill, and back around.  We finished this bad boy prior to 5:40 am.  I even had the chance to cover a road or two that I had never been on before.  The general tightness was there, but not as bad as Wednesday.

p.m. 1 miler around the block with Lulu prior to some mowing. Tight

Saturday, September 15th
4 mile run from Weekapaug Breachway on the beach to the state beach and back around on the roads.

Random Thoughts from this one:
It was high tide and my feet dug deep into the sand every time I landed.  I noticed lots of people fishing.  As I approached the state beach, I noticed a huge Roller Coaster.  From a distance, it looked like Jersey Shore.  I wonder if "The Situation" was in the area.  Hammered it home once I jumped on the road.

Spent the rest of the day spreading loom with the hopes of having a nicer front lawn.


Weekly Totals:
Running: 29 miles
Core/Stretching/Weights: 55 minutes
Biking: 60 minutes

9/2 through 9/8

Sunday, September 2nd
a.m. 4.5 miles with Jeff from his house, down throughout Misquamicut for a short hop on the beach, and back up through quiet beach roads.  It felt good to get back out there with Jeff-it made me feel like I'm getting back into the game! 15 minutes of stretching when I returned home.

p.m. 2+ on Misquamicut State Beach.  Okay, so this wasn't part of my rehab plan!  After arriving at the beach with Kelsey, I decided sitting in the chair wasn't exactly my idea of fun.  Based upon my morning run, I knew I felt okay enough to go for a little jaunt.  As anyone who is familiar with Misquamicut State Beach can imagine, the scenery on this run was quite entertaining.  I think I had a legit old man Elvis sighting a long the way..

Monday, September 3rd
a.m. 40 minutes of pushups, core, & stretching while watching the dismal New England Sports report on TV.

p.m. 5 mile run down through Shore Road with a Misquamicut Beach finish.  Took a quick plunge in the ocean followed by a quick beach snooze.   The run itself felt pretty good, I was moving comfortably throughout.  The onset of tightness came around 20 minutes.  Things are definitely improving, but this run knocked out my illusions of running Surftown...even if I wasn't going at race pace.  One another positive note, I measured this one out and was throwing down 6:36 a mile with no problems.

Tuesday, September 4th
a.m.-15 minutes of stretching.
p.m.-4.5 miles down to the beach and through Weekapaug.  As I was crossing through the right-away by the Weekapaug Inn, I thought to myself, "It's gotta be almost 100% humidity out here."  Not even twenty seconds later, it started to pour.  I hoofed it home and had fun in the process.  I was quite tight when I finished and run sub 7 minute pace throughout.  Knowing I'll have no chance to run tomorrow, I was really happy to get a fourth consecutive day of running in.  I haven't run four consecutive days since the earlier part of July.

Wednesday, September 5th
Very busy day-20 minutes of push-ups, pull-ups, and light stretching.

Thursday, September 6th
a.m.-15 minute of stretching
p.m.-5 miles down to Fenway Beach and through Weekapaug.  Sort of ran with Kelsey by adding in a series of different loops & add-ons while staying in proximity of her throughout the run.  It was like a game of cat & mouse!  Very humid and the waves out there were not as impressive as predicted.  Fun run, but sore of right side and felt like I was running harder than I actually was (6:40 pace).  Finished with 15 minutes of stretching.


Gazelle Sightings: 1
However, it's not as easy to recognize that cat when he is cruising in a car.


Friday, September 7th
7 miles...my new long run (well, at least since the beginning of July).
Met with up the multi-talented Gazelle nice and early to bang out a 7 miler down through Misquamicut, back through Weekapaug on the beach, and back home.  It was fun get this one in before my work even started.  (7:12 pace-but we definitely had to slow up while running on the beach).  I'd like to make these runs a Friday morning ritual!

Tightness on the right side, but forward progress.


Saturday, September 8th
a.m. 4+ miles very early again. (6:40 pace).  I didn't feel like I was pushing, but my right quad was screaming at me most of the run.  It's quite interesting how the body works or doesn't work.  Decent waves out there,

p.m.-Covered the last 5 miles of the Run Around the Block with Kelsey.  I think I was definitely able to help her out and I'm guessing we were running around 8 minute/mile pace.  Fun event, but I would have rather been racing out there.   My right quad continues to be upset with me. Did some monster body surfing before catching the ferry home.  

Weekly Totals
Running miles: 37 (highest mileage week since early July)
Lifting/Core/Stretching: 2 hours, 10 minutes (seriously!?!)
Biking: 0

I actually felt like a runner again this week.   While I continue to improve, my body is still off and I  can't lose sight of that.  Moving forward,  I want to carefully rebuild my running program while incorporating active recovery and core work.

Moving Forward-8/26-9/1

As runners, we are constantly chasing after goals.  Whether it be running your first marathon, trying to knock down a 10k PR, or running a specific number of miles in one week, we are all really just trying to move forward.  My current goal is simply: get healthy.  I'm happy to report that I've made some progress towards my goal this past week.  I haven't had any amazing runs, I barely ran consecutive days, and I didn't even run over 3 miles, but I am experiencing less soreness.

In an effort to motivate myself, I'm going to start logging my work back into my blog this week.  I'm going to throw it out there now, it's probably going to be some pretty boring stuff.  Here goes...

Sunday, August 26th

a.m.-pushups, core work, and light stretching

p.m.-A Homeowners Brick Workout...mowed the front lawn followed by a 3 mile run down to the Weekapaug Overlook and back.  This was the first run in a long time that I didn't have weird soreness throughout my legs.  My body is still compensating for my hip flexors, but I felt more like myself today.  Quick, light stretch afterwards.  Fingers crossed.

Monday, August 27th
a.m.-After a light stretch, ran a very easy 3 miles with Kelsey before work.  Felt tight and slightly sore after and didn't have time to stretch,
p.m.-pushups, curls, bent over rows, sit-ups.
I'm toying with the idea of running a third day in a row tomorrow.  I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Tuesday, August 28th
a.m.-15 minutes of stretching
p.m.-With the sun shining and warm temps, I really wanted to go for a run but decided to play things safe and jumped on the mountain bike.  I rode for 45 minutes through Watch Hill and Misquamicut and it was quite enjoyable.  It was somewhat of a surprise to see Misquamicut relatively vacant.

Wednesday, August 29th 
First day of school!
Roger Schonning 5k-17:58, 3rd

This race wasn't really planned, but I've always wanted to run this one and tonight I had the chance.    After waking up quite early this morning, I immediately felt trashed with a sinus headache and stomach pain (Hello, Allergy Season!).  I really didn't think too much about it, proceeded on with my work day, and came home just in time to get ready for the race.  As we arrived at the race, I saw the WTAC Crew all around.  The uniforms alone pumped me up!  Prior to the race, I was thinking about my game plan.  Do I go out really hard?  Do I run kind of easy early on and try to close out the race really strong?  I lined up with Muddy and Jeff and the gun went off!  I carefully shot off the line and settled in behind Muddy.  Deep down I knew I didn't have the fitness or feel to really push him.  Mentally, I told myself stay close and see what happens.  We cruised through the mile at around 5:15.  Wow!  Part of me was really happy about the split and another part of me was worried about tightening up and slowing way down.  Needless to say, I started to hurt around 1.5 miles.  Muddy had a solid lead on me and I was starting to worry about getting caught by a vicious road predator, The Gazelle (aka. Jeff).  Sure enough around two miles, I could hear a runner closing on me and it was Jeff.  Physically, I knew I couldn't respond to any move he made and knew I was in trouble.  As Jeff passed by me, we did a quick dab and he was off to the races.  While I never like getting beat, it was nice to see two of my teammates up ahead of me.  I closed out the race and was happy to finish below 18 minutes.  Nice to see Muddy win and Jeff PR (I think).  Kelsey also PRd in 20:44 and Dave cruised to a 22:30.

This race was fun and a step in the right direction (I didn't experience any hip pain, just tightness). Very well organized and I plan on being back at the starting line next year!

Thursday, August 30th
a.m.-quick 15 minute stretch before work.
p.m.-3.5 mile run from home to overlook, by the Weekapaug Inn (which is coming along quite nicely), and back around.  I was feeling especially tight today but felt good enough to get out there and wanted to run two days in a row,  As usual of late, I felt as smooth as sand paper.  Stretched for a bit after finishing up.   Plans for tomorrow are YTD.


Smooth as sand paper!!!

Friday, August 31st
a.m.-15 minutes of stretching
p.m.-45 minute bike ride from home, through Shore Road, crossed through Misquamicut Club, shot through Atlantic Ave, and then back home.  The cool thing about being on a bike is that you get to see a lot more in a short period of time.  After arriving home, did some light stretching/

Saturday, September 1st
a.m.-Approximately 4 mile run from home to the beach and back up.  Tight.  15 minutes of pushups and stretching when I arrived home.

Weekly Totals
Running Miles:17
Bike Time: 90 minutes
Stretching/Core Work/Weights: 95 minutes

Thoughts on the Training Process..Start thinking about your body

Having been a student of the sport of running for more than half of my life, I have either read or heard it all when it comes to training plans.  Here are some common ones I've heard through the years: The only way your going to have a break through is if you run high mileage (College & Literature), do speed workouts daily (high school), run on your toes (high school), cross-train more and train less (Runner's World), and so many more.

I've been sitting on the injury heap for about five weeks at this point.  Prior to my latest injury, I was working towards running times at various distances that I felt were respectable for my ability level.  I was also having a ton of fun (workouts, long runs, racing, camaraderie with teammates and fellow runners).  My training was basic and allowed to be race whenever I wanted.  When general soreness came about, I took notice and usually took rationale action.  All in all, things were going well.

Unfortunately for me, something was missing from my training plan.  Based upon my body and past issues, I should have known.  I'm a tight dude!  If I don't have some kind of on-going stretching regimen in my program, then I'm going to pay for it (probably on the left side of my body).  Maybe I should be going to a weekly yoga class or maybe I should take some time away from my running every week and work on improving my strength and flexibility.  Could my race performances improve?  Maybe.  Would I be less likely to get injured? Definitely.

I'm chomping at the bit to be out there training and racing, but my body isn't ready.  Moving forward, I plan on training smarter.  It isn't about completing a specific workout or hitting a certain number of miles in a week.  It's about creating a program that works!

It's easy for us runners to get caught up in training plans that are going to lead towards certain results.  Reality says that some training plan or magazine article is not going to speak to your individual training needs.  An Olympic Track Runner is different than you.  Think about it...the majority of us work full time jobs, have families and homes to take care, we don't have the world's best doctor's and physical therapist at our leisure for treatment and advice, and our world's certainly don't revolve around our next training run (even though we wish they did). Maybe you're a high mileage guy.  Maybe strength work should be a priority.  Maybe you are tight as a board like me.  Maybe you are a genetic freak who can handle whatever comes your way. The bottom line is that you need to constantly assess how you feel and determine your body needs.  By doing all the right things, let's minimize injury and stay in the game.

Happy Running

Update from the DL

Since my last blog entry,  I have made slow and steady progress with my injury.  I have strained tendons in my upper leg and the doctor believes there may have been some small tears as well.  The upside of the injury is that it will heal without any major medical treatment.  The frustrating part of it all is time.  If I could will my leg back to health, I would have been back out there two weeks ago.  Unfortunately, injuries don't work like that.  You have to be patient and wait...and wait.

The other upside to this whole thing is that I have been able to stay active.  Through strength work, stretching, house projects, and hiking, I'd like to believe that I have not completely lost my cardiovascular fitness.  With some tightness, I have even been able to join Kelsey for some light running the past couple of mornings.  Even though I'm unsure when I'll be able to resume my regular training, progress is being made and I am putting one foot in front of the other.

Highlight of down time: camping in Lafayette State Park right smack in the middle of Franconia Notch.  I was able do some pretty sweet exploring, hiking, and swimming in Lonesome Lake.  It was my first time really camping and I had a blast.