Patience and moderation

These are my key words at the moment. Christmas day I went for a run before the big dinner and had to stop and walk two miles from home my knee was that sore. Was very unhappy and had to put my best festive face on over lunch!. Didn't run yesterday and knee felt fine today so i headed out for 5 miles during my lunch hour and my knee was fine! A very dull pain came on about 2 miles in but nothing like it has been lately. I think in spite of all my best efforts to prevent my knee from healing, behind the scenes it is actually getting better. As long as I can keep running slowly and well within myself I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also presuming that doing something is better than doing nothing at all (increased blood flow to the area, etc.). Thoughts?

Other than that Christmas was great. My 5am prediction turned out to have been a tad optimistic as Emily only made it to 4.30. We had told her to come to our room and wake us before going downstairs but of course she forgot that and just went straight downstairs. So I had to run downstairs and make sure she didn't see too many of the presents as Sophie wasn't going to wake up for a few hours yet. When I told her she needed to go back to sleep, she replied very rationally "Why? Santa has already come!" I couldn't argue with that logic so we sat and watched tv together until Sophie stirred and they were able to open their pressies together.

I did well myself and managed to get not one running related present (although the new quote to the right came from a print of Everest Lisa got me!). (We are both heavily into the Everest thing at the moment having watched 'Beyond the Limits" on Discovery Channel for the past few weeks).

So patience and moderation it is then.....

Merry Christmas

It always amazes me the contrast in weather across this vast country. So there's Hubitron heading out in his full winter running suit, while I'm hitting the Mcalpine Creek trails shirtless. It's Christmas Eve for f*cks sake!!

My slowing it down a notch lasted all of ten minutes today. Wanted to run 75 minutes so did an out and back route. Covered 5.75 miles for the first 37.5 minutes and got back home 36 minutes later so the second half of the run was 6.15 pace. I need my training partners back before I hurt myself again! Felt strong today, could definitely feel the knee but as i write this i have no doubt i'll be fine tomorrow. I always enjoy heading out for a run on xmas day. Makes me feel all self righteous thinking only the hard core will be training today. And don't worry, I'll head out when youngest one is napping so I won't disrupt our 'family day'

So eventually we are all set for tomorrow. Put the finishing screws to the presents half an hour ago and did the obligatory last minute trip to Walgreens to buy a year's supply of batteries just now. I'm sure we'll be up at 5 but I guess I always got my parents up at that time when I was a kid so what goes around comes around!

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

Long time no post

Haven't posted for a while. Have been pretty stressed at work and not doing much running so it's been hard to get motivated to update the blog.

Anyhow, so I warmed up last Tuesday before my track session and could tell immediately that my knee wasn't going to cooperate so ran a very easy six miles and decided to take the rest of the week off. Obviously last Saturday's workout was too much too soon on my knee. There is obviously some left over crap in there that still needs to sort itself out so i won't be doing any workouts until I run pain free for a while. Yesterday I was back at it. Ran 7.4 miles but was too frisky as usual and the 6.15 pace left me feeling a little sore. However, today was much better. Slowed down to 6.40 pace for 9 miles and feel MUCH better. I'll slow it down a notch again tomorrow.

Other than that just been gearing up for christmas. In laws arrived today and it's nice to have a houseful. Emily is SO excited about Tuesday. Reminds me of when i was a kid, it's great!

Hope everyone has a great christmas!

Fantasy football

Very happy today. Man U beat the Scousers at Anfield with a hugely important 1-0 victory. Meanwhile Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 in another very important game. Both games were exciting, nail biing and tension ridden- hard to explain to an American that that can be the case when the result in both matches was 1-0!!

Then proud father watched Emily perform in her Christmas ballet recital.

After lunch at the Big Ben Pub it was time to sit down to the oddly shaped football code and my fantasy team went off yet again to qualify for next week's Championship game. A Brit may win our fantasy football league for the second year running....

On the running front I managed 9.3 at 6.30 pace but the knee was moaning at me again today so I'll take tomorrow off and hit the track again Tuesday night. Means I won't get the miles in I planned this week, but better safe than sorry.

And so yet another weekend goes by in a blink of an eye!......

Happy knee

Knee was fine today! Did a 10k tempo at the local track in 34.39 (17.26/17.13). Felt pretty good for my first workout in a while. It was great to be back on the track!

Winter may be on it's way here too. In the 40s today, I even had to run in a long sleeve top! Bit of xmas shopping this afternoon and then out to our party tonight.

Angry knee

My knee was angry with me today. Wednesday was 5 on the trails nice and easy (7.10 pace) and yesterday I gave my knee it's first tough test since coming back. I ran to work, which is 12 miles of hopping on and off sidewalks, charging across intersections hoping noone jumps a red light, etc. And it's dark. Generally unpleasant but gets me to work early and gets me some good miles in. Despite fearing the worst for my knee before heading out, it stood up perfectly and i made it in pain free in 76 minutes which was 6.20 pace. I was very happy.

Later went to lunch with my team and it was one of those Japanese places where they cook everything in front of you. Had a great lunch but legroom was at a premium because of the hot plate in the middle of the table, so my knee ached big time despite getting up several times to stretch it out.

So when I did my 6.8 on the trails this morning (6.50 pace) the knee was sorer than it has been for a while, especially to start off with. It feels better now as I sit but we'll see what tomorrow brings. i was planning on a tempo run but may need to put back any intensity for another few days. We'll see. I got 50 miles in for the week though which was the goal.

Looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow is our company holiday party and we have family in town who can baby sit so I'm actually going to be able to go with Lisa. Will be our first 'date' in months! Plus the plan is to leave the car at the hotel and run to collect it on Sunday so we can have a few drinks too. Whatever next?!

Then Sunday it's Man U Liverpool and Chelsea Arsenal as the top 4 play each other and my fantasy team lines up in the semi finals of our league. My team the Seahawks are actually in town but I was not allowed to go as Emily has her ballet recital. The Panthers are so dreadful anyway at the moment that I probably wouldn't have gone anyway!

Mercury rising

80 degrees here today apparently! In December?? That is ridiculous. This time last year I ran the Charlotte marathon and it was over 60 degrees cooler. The marathon was run in better conditions this year!Fantastic sub 3 hour run by one of my one and only regular readers, Stan. It was won in 2:41 or somewhere around there.

Work is crazy at the moment and my training buddies all seem to be taking some down time so I'm getting up even earlier than usual to get the runs in. Today I left the house at 4.45! Ran 9.35 in 58 minutes on the roads. Was really rolling at about 6 minute pace by the end. Once I start getting back into the workouts the pace of these runs will have to be reined in, but while I'm just getting some miles in I'll run by 'feel'. Some days it will be 6 min pace, some 7 plus. Knee was better again that it was last time out. Can still feel it towards the end of my runs though. Back on the trails again tomorrow just to get back to the softer surface again.

It all starts here

Not much to report, just can't believe Monday has rolled around again so quickly! Yesterday I designated as the start of my new training block. Ran 7 @ 6.20 pace from Emily's ballet class back home. Didn't mean to run that pace but felt pretty good so just went with it. Today was 10 on the trails at 6:40 pace. Knee was a little sore for the second half of the run so I'm going to take my planned day off for the week tomorrow and not run again till Tuesday evening.

Aiming for 50 miles this week, all easy pace. If all goes to plan I'll do my first workout of sorts next Saturday- a 6 mile tempo run. Today on my run I checked out the track at a local private school and all looks good- no locked gates or anything like that and literally a mile jog from my front door. The plan will be to start doing 2 track workouts per week soon along with the tempo run. All other days easy, cycles of 50,60-65,60-65,50, etc. Not going to get too far ahead of myself though!

Confession

OK I have a confession to make. Despite all my whining in my last post I never went to see the doc in the end and have actually managed about 30 miles this week. Feeling all down on myself Saturday, I popped a couple of Aleve and woke up feeling good on Sunday. So I headed out of the door to test the waters and I actually ran 4 pain free miles. Adding a mile each day and running very cautiously I now actually feel ready to step up the training again soon. Touching lots of wood as I post this.......

Pie eater

Going to see the physio on Monday. No sign of this getting any better and i need to see someone so i can feel I've got some sort of rehabilitation program in place. At the moment I'm just doing nothing, hoping I will wake up one morning and it will be better. I've not even thought about cross training as I'm not sure what I can or can't do on it so i need to do something about this

To make me even happier, I got on the scales today and I'm the heaviest I have been in years. Thing is I eat a lot of food and since being injured my body has still seemed to have demanded the same amount of food as before. I'm figuring I'm burning1,000 calories less a day now so every three days I'll gain a pound- that's how it works isn't it? I will start cutting back soon I'm sure

On a happier note, we had a great family day today. We picked out and put up our christmas tree and the joy on Emily and Sophie's faces when we turned the lights on
made me forget about my stupid knee!