Here Comes the Rain....
Maybe a more appropriate title is... "Here Comes the End". After teetering on the edge since November... its finally over. Appointment has been made to see the podiatrist, the self diagnosis: navicular stress fracture. Probably of the middle one, that doesn't heal. Meh.
Sunday 12/14: 1:14:02, CA to RB feeling slow and rickety. Felt better towards the end, but then felt depressed that so much effort was expended to run so slowly. Bad L ankle... did a lot of physical therapy afterwards, but with mixed results.
Monday 12/15: Off... still bad L ankle... determined that the problem seems to be that once my heel is on the ground, I can't push off the toe to complete one stride... which explains why I can run (as long as a toe-strike) long past when I stop being able to walk normally.
Tuesday 12/16: 1:08:14, Hungtington/Marengo from the apartment. Really slowly... tried to pretend that I wasn't favoring the bad leg... but I was. In addition, I felt really really worn out by the time I turned off of Huntington towards the end, which was really discouraging. It's been a while since a slow 7 or 8 mile run would cause fatigue.
Wednesday 12/17: 1:06:52, Same as yesterday, in the rain. Hedged my bets on getting a late start, and lost. It started raining almost as soon as I started my run.... bleh. I tried to make myself run normally even if it hurt my ankle, but that didn't seem to help the slowness very much. Still a better run overall than yesterday, despite the rain. On the plus side, I now remember that running in the rain isn't as bad as I usually imagine.
Thursday 12/18: Off, now L ankle really, really, really hurts. Ehhhh.... Work is also stressful. Trying to get everything done before the holidays. At least no coworkers have commented on my new brisk shuffle-walk, which is my attempt to have the least amount of contact between my L heel and the ground.
Friday 12/19: Off, shots. Depressed and sad. Felt awful, physically, emotionally etc. My department was the last to leave work... it was really stressful, I forgot a whole bunch of things I needed to do before I left because I was just focusing on making sure my minion got to go home at a reasonable hour.
Saturday 12/20: 48:45, Monterrey Recovery Loop. I've been riding my bike to the trails recently, but today I drove, because I was feeling so depressed and unmotivated that I knew I wouldn't go if I also had to overcome the inertia of leaving warm bed to go biking in the cold. Ankle hurt, breathing hurt, and got horrible cramping and gastrointestinal distress. Arghhhh... I guess this is the universe's way of telling me that running is over for a good long while.
Total Training this Week: 4:17:53
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Week of 12/07/2008 - 12/13/2008
The Stupid
Whether it was the shirking of physical therapy, the sudden week of concrete running, or my suddenly inspired burst of relative speed... maybe we'll never know. On Sunday, all I know was that I was not running... or ... walking. Man. One small step leads to one giant leap backwards.
And here I find myself... staring down the end of the year thinking... once upon a time I thought I'd race the 2008 cross season... then it was the 2009 track season... and now, it's looking like the 2009 cross season. Maybe there comes a point where it becomes so pathetic that it's painful to watch. Someone really needs to come and tape a big DNR on my racing career's chest.
Every time I take 4-6 days off, it gets harder... it gets harder to believe that things ever get better. It gets harder to shove down all the crazy and make good decisions. Towards the end of the week, I wasn't sure if the days off were due to my foot still hurting or just because I was too depressed to get out of bed.
On Saturday I dragged my hopeless and morose self out to the Arroyo to do the shortest of all of my runs, just so that one week would not have passed with zero runs. Honestly, it felt horrible. The last two times I took time off in the past few months, it actually did feel physically regenerative, with not too much loss of fitness, but this time, I think I over-expended my fitness bank account... or maybe it was because it was 3 pm and I had yet to eat or drink anything. Who knows.
45:51 for Monterrey Recovery Loop, which is a lot slower than the effort felt like, and when I got back to my bike, I felt extremely dizzy, followed by slightly nauseous, and then this overpowering feeling that I've never been so thirsty in all of my life. I waited for all of those sensations to pass before biking home. Like I said... it was horrible. The intention was that I didn't want the entire week to pass by without a single run, and that I felt like if I managed to run today, psychologically it would make it more likely that I would run tomorrow... but I think I felt even more demoralized after this run than before, if that is humanly possible.
Whether it was the shirking of physical therapy, the sudden week of concrete running, or my suddenly inspired burst of relative speed... maybe we'll never know. On Sunday, all I know was that I was not running... or ... walking. Man. One small step leads to one giant leap backwards.
And here I find myself... staring down the end of the year thinking... once upon a time I thought I'd race the 2008 cross season... then it was the 2009 track season... and now, it's looking like the 2009 cross season. Maybe there comes a point where it becomes so pathetic that it's painful to watch. Someone really needs to come and tape a big DNR on my racing career's chest.
Every time I take 4-6 days off, it gets harder... it gets harder to believe that things ever get better. It gets harder to shove down all the crazy and make good decisions. Towards the end of the week, I wasn't sure if the days off were due to my foot still hurting or just because I was too depressed to get out of bed.
On Saturday I dragged my hopeless and morose self out to the Arroyo to do the shortest of all of my runs, just so that one week would not have passed with zero runs. Honestly, it felt horrible. The last two times I took time off in the past few months, it actually did feel physically regenerative, with not too much loss of fitness, but this time, I think I over-expended my fitness bank account... or maybe it was because it was 3 pm and I had yet to eat or drink anything. Who knows.
45:51 for Monterrey Recovery Loop, which is a lot slower than the effort felt like, and when I got back to my bike, I felt extremely dizzy, followed by slightly nauseous, and then this overpowering feeling that I've never been so thirsty in all of my life. I waited for all of those sensations to pass before biking home. Like I said... it was horrible. The intention was that I didn't want the entire week to pass by without a single run, and that I felt like if I managed to run today, psychologically it would make it more likely that I would run tomorrow... but I think I felt even more demoralized after this run than before, if that is humanly possible.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Week of 11/30/2008 - 12/06/2008
The Perma-Jogger
Last week on our last day in Boston, Peter mentioned that my stride was short and I don't pick up my feet. Like I was perpetually running up a mountain or something. I guess one could say that... but then it hit me... actually there is NOT anything wrong with my stride. What's wrong with me is that I've become.... Perma-Jogger. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time that I've actually run, save for a tempo here and there.
Slow, safe, low impact running is basically a nice, shuffle-jog. On a good day, I'll shuffle a little faster, on a bad day, a little slower... but the basic idea is the same. Shuffle-shuffle, shuffle-shuffle. No wonder it seemed impossible to GO much faster. One actually doesn't if one doesn't pick up one's feet! Arghh.... what an effing disaster.
Sunday 11/30: 44:49, Monterrey recovery loop. Felt kind of tired from yesterday, but biked down to the Arroyo and just kind of focused on picking up my feet. An lo and behold, I ran faster than I ever have on this route.
Monday 12/01: 1:09:49, California to RB. Still feeling kind of worn out. Honestly don't remember all that much else about this run. I think it was pleasantly cool this morning.
Tuesday 12/02: Off, shots. Probably not such a bad thing. I think my legs are still trying to adjust to real running.
Wednesday 12/03: Off, unintended. If I had to point to something as a bad omen of things to come, it would probably be this day. I really don't know what happened, other than that 6 am came and went, and I did NOT get out of bed. It was NOT an off day. I had a run already picked out. It was just not good.
Thursday 12/04: 1:28:44, Patrician from the apt (11 miles). Woke up super motivated to stamp out the memory of yesterday and did the run that I was supposed to do. This run was as fantastic as it was unwise for my health. This was one of the first runs that I did as a distance runner, and still one of my favorites today. The hills aren't really very daunting anymore, and the scenery isn't a surprise, but it's still wonderful. I guess it's also a lot of concrete, but I felt like my feet did okay with all the pavement in Boston, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Mostly I was really excited to run free--as in, with little concern for keeping a low HR or overloading mileage. I mapped it when I got home, and realized that it was very nearly 8 minute miles, which is not fast by any means, but given the topology, it's definitely respectable... and it means if I pick up my feet and run, I'm NOT completely useless!
Friday 12/05: 1:03:09, Monterrey to the RB and back. I probably should have taken it easy after my first real run in a very very long time... but I was so excited, I elongated my recovery loop. In hindsight this was the beginning of the end. The top of my L foot and ankle was already giving me trouble at this point, but I was just so elated to have run a good solid run, that I just wanted to do more, I just wanted to run so, so badly. The part of me that felt that way about running had been kept closely muzzled over the past year or so, but yesterday's run had unleashed it again. Little did I know, I would pay for this... yes, yes I would.
Saturday 12/06: 46:21, 2 x Washington Park Loops in Denver. L foot hurt so badly, I probably should have not run on this day. But, what's 5 miles here and there...? I thought. So I embarked, and I actually felt okay despite the altitude, but about 15 minutes in, I felt this acute pain in my L ankle... so terrible that I thought I would have to stop and walk home... but eventually I ran it off, and stupid completed the rest of the run, albeit extremely slowly and cautiously.
Training this week: 5:12:52, of real, bonafide running.
Last week on our last day in Boston, Peter mentioned that my stride was short and I don't pick up my feet. Like I was perpetually running up a mountain or something. I guess one could say that... but then it hit me... actually there is NOT anything wrong with my stride. What's wrong with me is that I've become.... Perma-Jogger. Come to think of it, I can't remember the last time that I've actually run, save for a tempo here and there.
Slow, safe, low impact running is basically a nice, shuffle-jog. On a good day, I'll shuffle a little faster, on a bad day, a little slower... but the basic idea is the same. Shuffle-shuffle, shuffle-shuffle. No wonder it seemed impossible to GO much faster. One actually doesn't if one doesn't pick up one's feet! Arghh.... what an effing disaster.
Sunday 11/30: 44:49, Monterrey recovery loop. Felt kind of tired from yesterday, but biked down to the Arroyo and just kind of focused on picking up my feet. An lo and behold, I ran faster than I ever have on this route.
Monday 12/01: 1:09:49, California to RB. Still feeling kind of worn out. Honestly don't remember all that much else about this run. I think it was pleasantly cool this morning.
Tuesday 12/02: Off, shots. Probably not such a bad thing. I think my legs are still trying to adjust to real running.
Wednesday 12/03: Off, unintended. If I had to point to something as a bad omen of things to come, it would probably be this day. I really don't know what happened, other than that 6 am came and went, and I did NOT get out of bed. It was NOT an off day. I had a run already picked out. It was just not good.
Thursday 12/04: 1:28:44, Patrician from the apt (11 miles). Woke up super motivated to stamp out the memory of yesterday and did the run that I was supposed to do. This run was as fantastic as it was unwise for my health. This was one of the first runs that I did as a distance runner, and still one of my favorites today. The hills aren't really very daunting anymore, and the scenery isn't a surprise, but it's still wonderful. I guess it's also a lot of concrete, but I felt like my feet did okay with all the pavement in Boston, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Mostly I was really excited to run free--as in, with little concern for keeping a low HR or overloading mileage. I mapped it when I got home, and realized that it was very nearly 8 minute miles, which is not fast by any means, but given the topology, it's definitely respectable... and it means if I pick up my feet and run, I'm NOT completely useless!
Friday 12/05: 1:03:09, Monterrey to the RB and back. I probably should have taken it easy after my first real run in a very very long time... but I was so excited, I elongated my recovery loop. In hindsight this was the beginning of the end. The top of my L foot and ankle was already giving me trouble at this point, but I was just so elated to have run a good solid run, that I just wanted to do more, I just wanted to run so, so badly. The part of me that felt that way about running had been kept closely muzzled over the past year or so, but yesterday's run had unleashed it again. Little did I know, I would pay for this... yes, yes I would.
Saturday 12/06: 46:21, 2 x Washington Park Loops in Denver. L foot hurt so badly, I probably should have not run on this day. But, what's 5 miles here and there...? I thought. So I embarked, and I actually felt okay despite the altitude, but about 15 minutes in, I felt this acute pain in my L ankle... so terrible that I thought I would have to stop and walk home... but eventually I ran it off, and stupid completed the rest of the run, albeit extremely slowly and cautiously.
Training this week: 5:12:52, of real, bonafide running.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)