Recovering From Microfracture Surgery

Ok, I have finally decided to start blogging again. After moving to Kansas and deploying to Iraq I kind of fell off the blog wagon. I also did not feel up to blogging until I was committed to really putting in the miles again. After a 70 mile week last week I guess I am ready to start blogging again. 

Just an easy recovery run. First 70 mile week in probably 2+ years last week. Plan is to try and maintain 70 mile weeks until Army Ten Miler race on 21 October.

Hilly course with 5 miles at average of 6:30 pace. Did not feel very good today, legs tired and heavy from mileage increase.

Easy 11 miles all between 7-8 min mile pace. Legs tired and heavy still.

Easy run again but with some hills. All between 7-8 minute mile pace. Legs still heavy and tired.

Ran total of 11 miles today with a 3 mile tempo in middle. Mile splits were 5:56; 5:58; 6:00. Considering how tired I have felt lately I am happy with the effort. 

11 miles in average pace of 7:05. First 7 fairly easy, then picked up last three running 6:42, 6:24 and 6:14 last three. Legs felt tired and heavy when we picked up the pace. Two 70+ mile weeks in a row.

Easy

Total of 11 miles today at average pace of 7:25. So after two weeks of 70+ miles my legs are still dead tired. Body not adjusting to the miles as fast as I would like. Oh well all I can do is keep putting in the miles and hope the body comes around. With only 10 weeks until 10 mile race I don't have much options. 

Total of 11 miles today. Had great weather for once. It was rainy and in mid 60s, wow. What a relief from the 100+ degree days. Ran 4x1600 repeats with 2:30 rest. I was worried going in about how the workout would go with how my legs have been feeling from the mileage but was pleasantly surprised with results. Had splits of 5:39; 5:32; 5:33; 5:32. Ran first one conservative with first 800 in 2:55 and last 800 2:44. Was pleased that I maintained even splits the rest of the workout. Overall good day.

Easy 11 miles total. Easy is relative as it was hilly. Legs started feeling tired last couple of miles when we approached 7 min pace.

Total of 9 easy miles. Legs still have that high miles tired sluggish feeling. Oh the feeling of progress!

11.5 miles total today with a very hilly course doing fartlek type run. After first mile started 1min hard/1min easy/2min hard/2min easy/3/3/4/4/5/5/4/4/3/3/2/2/1/1 workout. All of the fast stuff was between 5:30-45 pace. Averaged sub 7:00 pace for the run. Legs were very tired at the end but a good tough workout.

Ran 9 easy this morning. First 4.5 miles with 13 year old son Jared. After the 9 miles watched son James run first XC race of year. He ran well running 16:26 for 5k on a slightly hilly course. He set a PR and was almost a minute faster than the start of last season. He looked good and said he was not really pushing too hard today either. Looks like he is well on track to go sub 16:00 this year in XC. Overall their team is looking strong with about 4 guys under 17:00. Now they just need a fifth to dip under 17:00 and they will have a shot at a state title.

Will run three or four more tonight with James and end up with about a 73 mile week.

Easy run day with tired but not exhausted legs. Finished the week out with 73+ miles. Three weeks in a row over 70 miles. 9 weeks until goal race.

Logged 10 miles on the legs today at average pace of 7:35. Not much else exciting other working about 12 hours a day.

Tough workout today. This is a workout that I dread before hand but is definitely worthwhile. Total of 12 miles today with 7 miles at sub 6 paces.

After warm-up ran the following on track.

3200m - 11:54 {6:00|5:54} 5min rest

3 x 1600m - 5:41|5:41|5:40 3min rest between

3200 - 11:36 {5:48|5:48}

Overall pleased with results of this workout. Used to do this much faster but I am getting there step by step.

12 easy miles on tired legs, not much else to say.

Easy 8 at 7:35 avg pace. Another tough workout scheduled tomorrow.

Big thunderstorm changed workout plans this morning. Ended up doing 7 miles on treadmill at 7:30 pace. Will get some more miles later and then do harder workout tomorrow instead of today. Added 2 more miles with 8 and 13 year old sons.

13 mile run today with about 8 miles at 7:00 or under pace. Overall averaged 7:10 for 13 miles in the rain. Today was interesting as first couple miles the legs felt bad but then from 3 to 7 miles they felt ok. From mile 7 or 8 until 13 the legs were fried. Maintained 7 min pace or just under but it was hard work with heavy tired legs.

Easy 10 miles today at just under 8 min avg. Here's hoping I am feeling better than I have the last few days.

Easy 10 miles today pace wise but with some decent hills. Ran all miles between 7:15-7:45 pace. Feels like I amy be coming down with a cold or something. Going to try and do the EmergenC thing and hope for the best. Definetely not going to stop running.

So today was 5x1600 workout with 2:30 rest. I was feeling like I was coming down with something last night and woke up with a very sore throat so I was not expecting things to go very well. Even though I felt flat and my throat felt swollen things went better than expected. 

First 800 of first 1600 was a 2:51 and felt terrible. However, instead of giving in I tried to pick it up and was able to hit a 5:34 with a second 800 of 2:43. Things continued to go decent hitting 5:30/5:31/5:34/5:32 for the next four repeats. Overall average of 5:32 which I was surprised and pleased with. Two weeks ago we only did 4x1600 and I averaged 5:36 and I was not feeling sick then. So sometimes we end up getting pleasant surprises.

Overall pleased with how things are progressing. Starting to believe a 57 minute 10 mile race on October 21st is within reach?

Eight miles between 7-7:30 pace. Was planning more but am getting hit with a double whammy right now. Have come down with a nasty head cold and at same time my left knee has been bugging me. Doesn't hurt so much when running but front part of leg just below knee cap is very stiff and sore especially when I first get up after sitting for awhile. Did some icing and am going to bed early hoping for a better day tomorrow. I refuse to give in at this point.

Easy 10 miles at 7:20 to 7:40 pace. Knee still hurts but ice helped a little. Still did not feel it much during run. Seems to stiffen up throughout day/night. Possible tendonitis?

Survived another day with a cold and knee pain. Actually today was not too bad knee wise. The cold progressed to the yellow mucus spitting phase. We did a 5 mile tempo on slightly rolling terrain dirt trail. Splits were 6:00, 6:03, 6:03, 6:03, 5:50 for a 29:59 5 mile. Overall first mile felt pretty good, miles two and three were just ok, but mile 4 and 5 were tough. It was pretty warm and humid today as well with temps around 75 and humidity in the 93% range. So mixed feelings about the workout. I would have liked to feel a little better than I did at that pace but with the head cold and knee issues this week I guess I should be happy with results. At least I am still running and keeping the miles above 70!