Pavement is the place for me

A big goose egg to start the year. Not exactly the start I wanted. A drive home from my parents took the entire day right out from under me. Tomorrow has miles waiting for me though.

First run of the new year. Broke out the windpants for this one as the windchill was pretty low. Run went well just around the neighborhood. Seemed longer than I remember after not running here for a few weeks.

AM 5 miles - Got on the treadmill this morning. Wanted to get a double in today to make up for Monday. Treadmill gets the job done. Better than running the same run twice though. My subdivision is essentially blocked in by a main road that is busy, curvy, and has no edges. So I'm pretty much trapped here. So when I say the same run, it would literally be the same run, over and over again. I'm getting used to it though.

 PM 8 miles - Two neighborhood loops. Got up the Huge Hill twice which was somewhat challenging. The HH is a great motivator though because I know how fast I'll feel coming down, and that carries through the rest of the run. Not as cold as yesterday so no headband or windpants today.
 

A nice 2 1/2 loops through the neighborhood today. I wouldn't exactly call them easy miles since I worked in a few accelerations. The run felt great today though. I think it was mostly due to the weather being warmer than it has been.

Went way too fast for a recovery day. I guess I was just feeling good.

Long run at the soccer complex. It's long and boring doing laps a little over a mile, but it's close and there are only a few cars to contend with. It's much better than the neighborhood which is a little longer, but no sidewalks. Felt good to get this one under the belt. Now time to ice the knees.

Recovery Run avoiding the HH. Legs are a little achy today, but nothing too bad. First mile was the worst and by the fourth I was back to normal. My toenails have been pretty messed up since I started running again, not sure if it's the shoes or just miles. Either way I tried out some new shoes tonight and they felt pretty good. A little heavier than I'm used to but have a lot more cushion. Hopefully that will help with the blisters/toenail situation as well as wearing new socks.

 Tomorrow I get to work the concession booth at the ball game. Ah the privileges of coaching are already reaping rewards. : )

Still not recovered from the long run. I didn't really expect to be, but the legs are feeling better. Maybe after another easy day tomorrow they'll be back to normal. Had to get the miles done pretty quickly, but it's nice that the sun is setting later. I can get my 8-10 in without having to worry about being in the dark too long. Normal route in the neighborhood, but only took the HH once. That really got the legs burning right away.

Legs still not recovered, but mostly the left calf was tight and sore. The run was good though and everything feels like it is getting back to normal strength. Had to stop once to pet some local dogs that live in a cul de sac, one of the 9 along my loop around the neighborhood. Yeah it took a while before I got to used to turning around every 800 meters or less. Volunteering went well at the bball game last night and I got to meet a few of my track kids before we have our official track meeting night next week.

Really rainy this morning, but it dried up just in time for my run. Another 8, this time worked in two trips up the HH. A good sign for my level of recovery. Was a very good run, but felt a lot faster than what I was actually going. Left quad was a little tight during the run, and the calf was tight too, but not while running. I massaged it a little before I got out and I think that helped. Last few miles just flew by. An odd day at school with a few students gone made the day kind of boring. I was glad to get out the door when I got home.

Another 8, same deal all this week. Today's run was much more fluid and the miles were paced a lot more evenly than my few previous runs. A beautiful day and slightly cooler so I got some nice fresh air in my lungs today. That reminds me that I see an awful lot of people smoking as I run by. I wonder if they hate me or admire me, it's hard to say really. I do know that if I see a cigarette  butt I go out of my way if necessary to run over it.

3 am, then another 5 about a half hour later. Had some technical problems where the miles weren't showing during the 3. Got it worked out and put in 5 more.

A pretty sad day as far as getting anything done. Took a nap in the afternoon and got up later than I wanted to. But I still had enough time to run before it got dark, so another 6 miles ensued. Much faster pace today than anything in previous weeks. A good sign because effort wise it was the same. I've been working on getting a good push off and I think that is helping me spend the same amount of energy for better time. Hopefully I am right.



 

Tried a new church today. It was smaller than I'm used to, but I met a few people and they were pretty cool. One in particular is in charge of the basketball league. I used to be a bball freak, now I'm more of a running freak, but I like to dabble. So I went ahead and put my name on the list. I also attended an open gym, which was eye opening. I am pretty out of shape for that sport compared to the 10x1 minute sprints I used to do. I guess the only thing that mattered was if I was in better shape than the other team, and I assume I was since I got quite a few steals and layups in. So, 45 minutes full court. I'll be super lenient and call it a fast mile.

6 miles around the hood as soon as I got back. A little slower, but I had a hip jolt yesterday which made the joint a little sore. Hopefully it will be back to normal and won't be a hindrance as I am preparing to schedule in strength.

Core exercises have been lacking. I really need to crack down on those.

I am sooo sore from basketball yesterday. I could hardly get out of bed this morning. I may have to start doing some weight lifting because my back is the worst. All in all I've been sorer?, but the run was only a little more difficult because of it. Colder air has moved back in so no more 50 degree days for a while.

Still pretty sore from basketball Sunday. I'll probably feel a lot better tomorrow, but today the left leg was on strike. I felt like I was running with clamps on my calf and my hamstring. The first few miles were pretty much fighting with myself on whether I should take a day off, but after flying down the huge hill twice I guess the leg gave in to my demands. The rest of the run from 5 miles out wasn't bad at all. It got colder as the sunset, but nothing major, still 33 degrees.

Met with the other track coach for an informational meeting. Kids seemed excited at the prospect of a another young coach (i'm actually a year older than my co-coach). I only hope that the excitement isn't at my expense.

My left leg is still sore and tight. I tried to run on it but it just didn't feel good. I decided to cut the run short a few miles and rest because it wasn't feeling good at all.

I think basketball last weekend was a big factor in the calf/ham soreness that I've had. I tried to rub it out last night and that helped the extension during the run today, but I could still feel some stuff that needed rest in there. So just another 6 miles, hams were pretty shot by the end. Went a little faster just to see if the pain would come back after a few miles. It never did, but as before everything felt pretty tight. I'll keep stretching and massaging and cutting miles until the tightness is gone.

A nice controlled run today. Nothing special to note, same old stuff with recovery. Slowly but surely I should be back to normal.

Nice one tonight. Forgot to switch out my sensor to my new shoes since the old ones are retired now. That mean't driving back home from the soccer complex to get it. Wasn't happy about that, but made the best of it. Because of that I ended up running almost to dark, kind of nice to be out of the nieghborhood though. It also improved my time since I wasn't having to turn around 10 times a mile. It's a nice 1.1 mile loop with rolling hills and a larger hill that's a good 150-200 meters long. A little colder today, reminded me of my runs in Ohio during Christmas break. The best part about tonight was everything is working like normal again. Not sore and no tightness that I can remember.

 

basketball today. We didn't win unfortunately. I think we shot about 6% from the field. The worst part was my ankle was acting up, and now it hurts when i push inward. That made the sharp left turns in the neighborhood pretty painful today. I had to run slightly on the heel and slow down a bit. It started to go away by the end of the run, and didn't affect the straightaways so that was good. I feel better than I did last week and made sure to take it easy on the run, so hopefully I won't be sore the rest of the week. Figured an hour of basketball with only 2 min. substitution would count for 2 fast miles.

Moved the long run back a day because of bball. Went out to the soccer complex and did a bunch of figure 8's instead of the normal loop. That made it a lot less repetitive. Pretty decent run other than already being extremely sore and tight from basketball. Hams were killer on the inclines. Also some forefoot pain happened around 17 and through the end. Couldn't jog the cooldown very well and just walked because of it. Hopefully it was just from the pounding and not from the shoes. They only have a few miles on them, so they may not be broken in all the way. Had a slight ankle twist/sprain yesterday, but it seems to already be recovering as there was only a minute amount of pain on a few turns. Hopefully taking it easy the rest of week will work out a lot of the problems.

Treadmill tonight. It was too slick outside to do any running. A co-worker saw her nieghbor, a police officer, trip this morning. He broke his collar bone and messed up his shoulder. I really don't need that happening. Today every school was closed, except of course for ours. We still had in-service. I guess they didn't care too much about teacher welfare eh? At least everyone was safe, but it took me an extra half hour to get to work.

No real pains today, which is kind of a feat in itself. We are already delayed 2 hours tomorrow, so I might get a run in before school, but I'll probably sleep in instead.
 

Normal loop. Ankle much better without no pain, but I was still taking it super easy on the turns. It was almost like I forgot how to turn left because I sort of studder stepped to keep from having to twist it and put pressure on it. I'm sure that will wear off after a few more runs. Looking good for some more intense training later this week.

Soccer complex. Neighborhood just got way too old. No motivation, so I changed scenery. A nice 8 miles felt really good. It was extremely cold with the wind. I had to change the course and run it reverse. One stretch where the wind was the worst is wide open, the other stretch going the same way on the opposite is partially blocked by hill. So by running in reverse I sacrificed a larger hill for breaking the wind. Made the run much better and more bearable. Miles went by soon enough, and I saw many other runners quit way before I did, and they started after me. Looking forward to warmer weather, but getting my money's worth while it's here.

Didn't run today. It was a long day with special olympics at the ice rink. I was in charge of timing the races, so i was out on the ice for most of the day. Hopefully a good rest day will give my legs a nice break.

Back to business. Normal loops with one hill acceleration toward the end. Feeling better from the rest, but there is still some soreness/tightness in the left calf. Hopefully that will go away. I'd feel a lot better about running more miles if it did. Bball again tomorrow. Not really excited about it now, but I will be once I get there and warm up.

Bball went good today. Well sort of. A lot of guys didn't show, I mean like all but me and the leader of the team. So yeah, we had all draft picks. Fortunately one of our draft picks was 6'7" and dominated when he was in. We got out to an early lead, but then he went out and they came back by 16 points before the half. I was doing well with very few turnovers, but shooting wasn't up to par today. I shot a lot, and missed a lot. But I made a few! Toward the end of the game I got to shoot some free throws and made them all, and just happened to expand the lead enough to have secured the victory. Yeah for winning.

 The run wasn't as triumphant. Legs were dead from bball, but I got the miles in. It started off nice and smooth, but by the end I was ready to stop. The legs were just pounding by then. So a good day sort of. Looking forward to being able to run and bball without them affecting each other though.
 

A very nice run in 50 degree weather. Not sure if it was the weather or just feeling good, but the legs were sooooo fresh today. They haven't felt that way for a while. It's very surprising considering I played basketball and ran yesterday. Normally I am sore, but today everything felt fine other than a few hints in the back. Nothing major though which is very nice. There are still some niggles left though. My left ankle is still tender on turns. Sometimes there is a hint of pain on sharper turns especially. The right toe joint has throbbing and searing pain at times, mostly when not running. Other than those two things everything is else seems to be in working order. I am looking forward to another run like todays.

 

Had some thunderstorms tonight. Got some use out of the treadmill. Not exciting by any means but I passed the time by counting steps. Sounds easier than it is. Felt decent. Had some pain in the toe joint afterwards.

Great day for a run. Nice and sunny with a little wind and not too cold. Hill sprints worked into my loop for a total of 11 miles. Repeats of 6 x 400m up the HH at near top speed with normal running back down. Whole thing felt great, started repeats at 7 miles, then ran a few miles after.

Normal loop to keep the legs moving. A little pain in the toe at first, but quit after a mile.