Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

Sasha is still out of town so I decieded to go a little longer on my own today. Also want to keep the miles up this week but be ready to run decent in the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. So I figure I will hit some higher mileage runs early in the week and then back off just a little before Saturday.

Overall the legs are still pretty sore and tired. I guess the hiking on Friday and Saturday were more work on my legs than I thought. I started slow and tried to pick it up as I ran. I ended up running the last 5 miles in 6:35-45 pace. Overall average for the whole run was 6:59 pace. Ok for a Monday morning run on sore legs. My left knee is still bugging me a bit from the adventure race bike crashes. I can really feel it the first mile or so and then it does not bug me as much after that. Hopefully it will go away over the next week or so.

For those interested the local masters family won the masters in both male and female at the Carlsbad 5K this weekend. Dennis ran 14:55 and Michelle ran 17:03! Link to article is below.

8.5 miles easy today. Cut things short today as my legs are truly trashed right now. My knees are hurting and my legs are just plain dead. I am concerned about making it through the week right now let alone being able to race the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. At this point things are not looking so good.

Legs still totally trashed. It really hurts and is very difficult to get moving. It gets slightly better as I go but still not comfortable at all. Most of the pain/issues are in the inside quads leading into both inner knees. Both are sore to the touch and every step hurts. I also have some issues in the hamstrings as well. On top of that my left knee really kills for at least the first mile. For these reasons I only ran 4.3 miles this morning. I could have run 10 but at what cost? I am not sure what is going on as I have not done any killer workouts or anything that I would cosider hard enough to bring this on. I have never really had anything happen like this before so I am in new territory. All I can think is that the adventure race took a bigger toll on my body than I initiall thought and I jumped back into high mileage too quickly and my body shut down. However, the first three days after the race everything was doing ok and jut took a severe dive on the fourth day onward. We will see what tomorrow brings. For now more ice and ibuprofin and pray that I can attempt to race on Saturday.

Easy 8 miles this morning with Sasha. Legs feel a little better but still not good. Left knee really hurts firs couple miles but this is more of a tendon/joint type issue than a muscular issue so it will probably take longer to heal. Muscular wise legs are still fatigued but not as bad as previous couple of days. I will try as suggested and keep the fluid and carb intakes high. I may even jump in an ice bath (although this is pure torture). I'm just hoping to feel half way decent by Saturday so I can run the 1/2 without dying.

Only 4 easy miles this morning. The legs are feeling ok except for my left knee. It kills me for the first couple miles. After that it is bearable but it is starting to concern me. I will be at the 1/2 marathon tomorrow and hopefully be able to race. 

I survived the Striders 1/2 Marathon this morning which was my goal. The knee hurt a little during the warm-up but not as bad as it has been so that was a good sign. It nagged at me on and off during the race but not enough to make me want to stop. However, I felt like I was running in mud the whole way so I am obviously still fatigued. The legs are very tired this evening and the left knee is stiff but other than that I think I should be ok. We will see how it feels come Monday morning. Race splits from Garmin below.

Mile 1	5:44
Mile 2	5:41
Mile 3	5:41
Mile 4	5:43
Mile 5	5:52
Mile 6	5:55
Mile 7	6:02
Mile 8	6:07
Mile 9	6:21
Mile 10	6:13
Mile 11	6:21
Mile 12	6:15
Mile 13	6:14
Last .15	49 Seconds
13.15 Total	1:19:05

Overall I am pleased considering how I have been feeling lately. Miles 9 and 11 were slow but I think these were the more uphill miles. Not as much downhill as I anticipated and the last 5 miles were pretty tough and seemed like they were on a gradual up the whole way.

Good job to all of the FastRunningBlog communiy today for a lot of good performances. Both Steve and Paul came through with some great performances finishing 1st and 3rd overall.

10.4 easy miles at 7:45-50 pace from BYU at 4:30am. Met Sasha as usual about 2 miles into the run on the trail. The quads are a bit sore but bearable. The good news is the knee was only a little stiff this morning and the sharp pains that I was having last week for the first couple miles are gone! It looks like the ice and ibuprofin routine are working. Hopefully this continues this week and it completely heals up. Overall I actually feel better today than I did all last week. However, I will take this week one day at a time and run how the body feels. I want to fully recover and get back to feeling good again so I do not want to push it to hard to fast. As one of the other bloggers sayings goes "patience and perseverance". 

Once again good racing overall by the FastRunningBlog community. The blog had some great results including 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th overall just to name the bloggers that I know in the top group. By Sasha's analysis he feels this course is similiar time wise to the Great Salt Lake 1/2 which he has caluculated to be 2-2:30 slower than a flat sea level 1/2. 

Alarm did not go off this morning and I slept in. Did not have time to run in the morning so I had to wait until I got home from work this evening. I was planning on doing at least 10 miles and maybe even throwing in some fsater stuff but once I got going the wind was killer and I felt like crud so I just decieded to turn around and go home. I think my body is still trying to tell me something and I am trying hard to listen to it right now. I struggle with the decision to cut things so short as I think I am just being weak and should push through it. It is probably the right thing to do but I just wish I was feeling decent again so I could get on with the training I know I need to be doing. :-(

11 easy miles with Sasha for about 8 miles. I actually felt half way decent this morning. Not great but a lot better than I have been feeling. Sasha was tired from his hard workout and he actually was having to slow me down which is probably a good thing because even though I feel better I should probably not push it the rest of this week and give the body a true chance to truly recover. A much better sign as I was starting to get a little concerned with what was happening.

I slept in again today. At first I kind of felt guilty but then I figured that I must need the rest as it is not typical of me to sleep in, usually my internal alarm wakes me up before the alarm goes off. I was going to run after work but I just didn't feel like it when I got home. Again, a little guilt tried to convince me to run anyway but overall I felt I needed the break both physically and mentally.

Met Sasha and ran an easy 7.25 miles just talking about training and different workouts that have worked in the past etc... We did a couple of strides and then a 400 at the end. The 400 was 1:19 and felt very comfortable. Overall an easy run. I am very glad I took yesterday off as my legs felt a ton better and mentally I feel like I am ready to start getting more serious about my running. Up until now I ahve been running with no plan. Just kind of putting in the miles and doing whatever each day. No plan in advance or any long term training plan other than just putting in miles. I think it is time to sit down and lay out a real training plan. I need to sit down and plan out a 4-6 month day by day training plan in writing. When I have done this in the past it has really helped me focus on my training and really improve. Of course it adjusts and changes as things progress but at least it gives me focus and direction in my training. I think I will lay this plan out to start following Ogden with the goal being Top of Utah or St. George (if I can get a race entry!).

Busy last 24 hours but a decent race result. Not super fast but ok for the course. This week was a very low mileage week but I needed it. Next week I will try and get things going again. Friday night I had a military formal ball that I was at and did not get to bed until after 11:00pm. I then woke up this morning at 4:30am and jumped in the car for the 3 hour drive to Cedar City for the SUU Army ROTC 5K that the cadets put on each year as a fund raiser. Thwy did a great job and there was about 200 individuals registered this year. They had a ton of prize give aways and almost everyone walked away with something. I won a free pizza and a free desert. They even gave away a microwave a TV and a three day vacation. Not bad for a local 5K race. Now for the race report.

It was a hilly course and at 5,900 feet elevation with a little bit of wind as well so I knew the times would not be fast. The course is a two lap course around the SUU campus and starts with a gradual uphill for the first 1K that has a shorter (100m) steeper section right before the 1K. It then turns on a gradual down for about 800m. It is then fairly flat for 600-700m and turns back up for another decent climb (200m) bcak to the start area. Repeat and finish half way up the last hill on a 100m gradual hill. My GPS measured the course at 3.12 miles so pretty accurate. I do not know any local runners in Cedar City so had no clue as to how fast things would be. At the start I could tell they were one or two that looked like the running type but hard to tell. I decieded to go ahead and push the first 1K up the hill just to see if anyone was serious. I took it out and two guys seemed to jump in behind me. By the time we reached the steeper section of the hill right before 1K I noticed I was pulling away from them. I just cruised the down hill and tried to relax. At the end of the first lap I had a good 200-300m lead and was in time trial / tempo mode. I tried to hold steady up the hill again and keep things going well to the end. My goal going in was to break 18 minutes and I accomplished that running fairly steady. Mile splits were 5:30 (1k up and 600m down), 5:50 (600m flat and 1K up), 5:44 (mix of up and down). Loaded in course analyzer and it says it is 7 seconds per mile slower than a flat course. Overall I guess I am pleased. Not as fast as I would like but ok. I think with someone pushing I could have run 20 seconds faster or so.

Time to get back to some real training now that I am done slacking off this week!

Only three miles in the morning. Not much else to say other than this was not my plan.

10 miles total in the afternoon in 65 minutes. It was about 75 degrees and a little windy but I headed to the track to do some 400s. Ran 6x400 with a 200 jog rest. I was not sure what I could do for these but just wanted to see what kind of pace I could hold. The wind was a bit stiff on the back stretch but I still managed decent splits. I was thinking probably 75 seconds for each would be good. Splits were 70, 73, 73, 72, 71, 71. They were tough but not all out. After the last one I jogged a 400 and then did 2 miles at marathon pace effort in 5:58, 5:55. I have been having a hard time getting motivated to run lately. Kind of mentally fatigued I guess.
 

Easy provo River 10 with Sasha back at our normal 4:45am time. Felt ok. Ran easy 7:45 pace average.

Easy 9.26 miles with Sasha in AM. I feel like crud today. I did not sleep well last night as my head was pounding all night, my throat is killing me and my sinuses are backed up pretty good. Just sitting here my joints are aching all over. Right now it seems I just keep getting hit with one thing after another. Not a good month for me so far.

Easy Provo River day with Sasha averag pace 7:18. I bit on the tired side as I am still a bit sick and I drove to Cedar City yesterday afternoon and drove back last night as well getting home about midnight.

14 mile run today average pace  of 6:42 overall. Ran relaxed the whole way. I had my wife drop me off and I ran 14 miles in one direction. First 7 miles was easy and moving along a 7:00-7:05 pace. At this point I wanted to gradually pick it up to waht felt like marathon pace for six miles with the goal of each mile getting faster. I was able to do so rather comfortably even though I was running into a stiff head wind the whole 14 miles. Mile splits from 8-13 miles were: 6:45, 6:30, 6:20, 6:14, 6:05, 5:50. Cooled down last mile in 6:55. Overall felt decent today and in control the whole way. Never felt like I was really pushing even with the stiff headwind at times. Hopefully this is a sign that things are better and maybe I can have a good week of training this week.

Congrats to everyone that ran in Salt Lake today. Sasha and Steve were both in top five in the 1/2 and full, way to go!

Easy run with Sasha in AM. Average for 10 miles was 7:07. We picked it up last mile and dropped the last 1/2 at about 2:53. Legs felt ok today some mild fatigue in the quads but not bad. It feels like my center of gravity has shifted forward the last couple of runs which I think is a good thing. I feel like I am getting better leg extension as well. Hope it continues.

On another note James (my 12 year old son) wanted to run 8x400 today on the track. He did this on his own and recorded the splits. When I came home he had them written down to show me. He had about 2 minutes rest between them.  His splits were:

78, 81, 85, 90, 91, 89, 92, 80

A little inconsistent but not bad since he has never done a workout like this. The 78 and 80 are actually his two fastest 400m times that I can think of for him.

Was in Los Angeles at sea level. Ran on track since I was in an area I was not sure about the safety of running out on the streets. 9 miles was between 6-6:30 pace with each mile getting faster.

Not much else to say other than did not get the miles in (only 4 miles) as life seems to have gotten in the way the last couple days.

Easy morning run with Sasha on Provo River trail. We were about 7:30 average for 10 miles.

I was not too excited about today's race going into it. I have not been getting in themiles or consistency the last 4 weeks that I wanted to and was not expecting to do much for this race. I wanted to run it as I needed to get in a good quality long run before Ogden. I figured that anything under 2 hours would be good. I wanted to make sue I kept things at what felt like a long saturday tempo pace for at least the first 10 miles. I did this and felt pretty decent through about 8-9 miles and then had to start working after that. I was on my own from six miles until just before the finish. From mile 15-18 I waas really hurting and actually hoping someone would catch me so I could have someone to run with. Nate Pollard caught me with just under a mile to go and seemed to tuck in behind. He hung there all the way to the end. I tried to pick it up with about 400 to go but Nate just stuck on my heels and went by me with a sure with about 50 meters remaining. Overall I am happy with what turned out to be a decent day and a good MP training run. 

I have to mention that I was very impressed to see those that ran the Salt Lake Marathon last week come out and do so well today. Steve did an amazing job running 1:45 for 2nd overall!

My splits are below:

1	6:08
2	6:12
3	6:06
4	6:19
5	6:11
6	6:15
7	6:10
8	6:26
9	6:24
10	6:09
11	6:11
12	6:08
13	6:18
14	6:17
15	6:27
16	6:22
17	6:28
18	6:26
18.74	4:20
Total	1:57:25

Again great job by all today! 

Easy 10 mile Provo River Run with Sasha average pace of 7:21. Overall legs feel ok after the 30K. Some soreness in my right achilles and ankle but not much other soreness. Sasha wanted to do a 1/2 mile pick-up so towards end we ran a 1/2 in 2:44. A little tired but overall I am pleased.