Warning: whine fest ahead

I am sitting in a hot bath with the heater on, I've been cold all day. Had a good talk with Dad. He gave Mom a bath today too, which she didn't enjoy all that much. When he was done he put her to bed and told her he loved her. She said, " I love you too, BOTH of you"
So, here's what I've been doing: Going to bed at 7, getting up at 3, yes 0300, being very good about my knee and what happens?
Aches all over, especially knee. Hurts badly. Cold all day. Blood pressure shooting up for no good reason (stent restenosed?). Cold but it isn't cold. Headache, sore throat, all of which I can handle. But my knee is really ticking me off. Why doesn't it just behave?

How to Taper...

Well since everyone else is in taper mode (apparantly that means for the blog as well) I guess I'll bore all y'all with my latest.

I am super excited about the cooler evenings and mornings that we've been privileged to here in Gilbert the past couple of weeks. Although yesterday did hit 106 degrees, by 9pm it was only 84 degrees. That meant I could go running outside at the local high school track! I also knew if was time for another long run at a moderate 10 min. per mile pace. I started out and felt great. Then at mile 2 something I felt normal when a little twinge of pain started in my right knee. I just kept running. Finally at around mile 4-5 the pain went away and I was relieved that "I ran through it". Then it came back again at around 6.5 and lasted until I finished my first ever 8 mile run! I was super excited and on the runners high with sweat dripping from my super toned masterful body as I sat down on the track to stretch and smiling the whole time. I had just ran for 80 minutes without stopping and even ran through some knee pain on top of it!

I then attempted to stand up and about fell over. My knee was screaming at me to not move or even touch it. I pretty much had to crawl back to my truck. I got home and immediately started the ice and ibuprofen. I limped into bed around midnight and couldn't sleep due to the immense pain.

I've iced twice again this morning and got a blessing. Sam thinks I probably tore my meniscus. I'm gonna try to get some sleep and keep it iced and isolated for a couple of days before I re-asses.

I gotta say though, I'm still on a little bit of a high from a new PR distance wise. My time was obviously slow compared to you jack rabbits, but my heart rate never went above 171 (zone 3-4) for my entire run. I'm pretty happy about that. Can't wait to get out and try it again...

St. George

I've made up my mind that St. George is just not going to happen this year. If I've not improved my distance and pace by next year, I'll run just to say I did it. Until then, I've got to believe I can get a whole lot better.

That being said, I'm looking to finalize plans and to make my plans (or lack thereof) known to all the runners and spectators.

I was planning on leaving early Saturday morning and arriving at finish line to greet the runners. I'll have my boys with me, but no Tami. That will be pretty stressful in and of itself.

Mark, I heard you have an extra room? What are the details of that? The last thing I want to do is stress one of the runners out the night prior to race day with four excited boys in a hotel room! What vehicles will be there? I'll have the mini-van with room for two extra people if that can be a use to anyone. When is everyone planning on leaving? My plans for both arrival and departure are fairly open as long as the boys are complying. Stephen are you coming?

course based pacing chart

Just punch in your goal time and waaah laaaaaw! (there's gotta be a lawyer joke in there)

http://www.xmission.com/~abx3/sgm_pace.php?timeSubmit=03%3A45%3A59

Well, someone's gotta write SOMETHIN'

I know tapers are boring. But my taper is kind of not because I have ran so little in the last several weeks due to knee stuff. So I did 14.2 on the treadmill Monday with a 2% incline, yay. Then didn't run Tuesday. Then ran 10.4 on the treadmill with a 0-5% incline (mostly around 2 though I tried to do some level to see how my knee would do). Likely won't run at all today, seeing as how I just ate SPAM (two bites) and eggs and rice and butter, yud. Down home southern cookin here.

K, so...what I really want to talk about is St. George! I couldn't find any cheap place that had availability so I'm staying at some scary place called the Red Mountain Resort and Spa, ahem. Even the name of the place makes me feel like I feel when I walk into Nordstroms, like high tailin' it outta there! Yes, I'm rambling. Haven't taken any Ritalin today either.

ANYWAY, it appears it is 8 miles from the place where we board the buses Saturday morning. And who is going at what time anyway? And will Clint's girlfriend really want to get up at 0400??? Is she going to be able to put up with me? I'm pretty high strung before and after a marathon...so far. And is the expo really 2.8 miles from there...I was thinking it was a little closer to the bus boarding spot. AND, I haven't gotten a rental car yet. There is a shuttle from Las Vegas to St. George but then I would have to get from the place to the buses....

AND, last but not least, I had a very hard time after Boston traveling the next day. I am open to staying another day if the motel, er, SPA thinger, has any spaces.

AND, none of my family will come with me. If I have heart or other problems, I hope I won't be all alone in the wilderness...

End of worries. Time to get on with my day. Share yours!

E

Mr. Speedy

No running yesterday in Florida, last stages of recovery from Saturday's pretty tough experience. The program for today was a little bit of speed work. I ran 6 miles, including one warm-up mile, as fast as I thought I could get away with. I thought I could make 10 minutes per mile and that turned out to be not too hard. I can see the importance of running fast, just to get the feel. As I accelerated off my warm-up lap I thought there was no way I could go more than a mile. Then my legs got used to it and I kept going faster every lap, although I purposely pushed the last one. My splits were like this:

12:13 (throw it out), 9:51, 9:36, 9:36, 9:23, 8:59, total time 59:37, then jog it in for about a quarter.

I ate some breakfast and feel pretty good so far. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, but don't want to wear myself out this week. I'm supposed to be in taper mode, but it is still 3 weeks out so I don't have to back off too much yet. I just want to make sure there are no injuries, which have affected my preparation for each of my previous 2 marathons.

First outside run!

Well, I couldn't stomach going to the gym again and running on the treadmill again. After so many runs on a treadmill I start to question whether or not I can do it in the real world.

So, off I went to the Higley High track. I left the house @ 9:45pm and the temperature was 90 degrees. I took Tami and the twins with their bikes. I ran for 4 miles in about 40 minutes and Sammy rode his bike for 3 of those miles side by side with me. He is a very good pacer. Joey did 2 miles off and on. He kept getting distracted.

Hopefully I can talk Thomas into start running again. He hasn't ran since Lopez Island 5K.

Last Big Week

Well, I figured out this is my last big week before St. George. This coming week I have to travel to Miami on Monday to speak at a conference and then we have the family thing in Eagar this coming weekend. So that leaves four training days in the middle of the week. I'll probably do speed work, which I need badly. OK, now back to this week.

I ran four times during the week at low heart rate, 90 minutes each, average pace 14:33, 13:53, 13:09 and 12:56, running MTuThF. I kept improving all week long so I was encouraged by that. I thought I might be able to run 20 this morning at 12:00 pace, shooting for an 11:00 pace at St. George. It wasn't to be. I ran 15 and some change at a 12:03 pace. I intended to go further, but first my legs started to go wooden, then my hand shook when I took a salt tablet. I don't know if that is serious or not, but it worried me enough that I quit. Plus it was raining and I was soaked to the bone. Not that it cooled off much when it rained.

The goal at St. George is definitely 5:00 at this point. Byron, Marleen's brother, gave me a spreadsheet calculator where you plug in your goal time and it tells you all the splits based on the difficulty of the terrain and the point in the race. Happy to forward it to anybody who wants it.

I've been watching the updates on the Wasatch 100, which started yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. somewhere above Ogden and finishes up somewhere south of Provo. The winner had a time of about 18-1/2 hours, second place (a local Utah guy) an hour behind that, third place two hours behind second. The guy I follow, an ultra runner named Davey Crockett (his real name), is in 40th place and pretty much on his goal time of 28-1/2 hours. He should be finishing in an hour or two. I have no idea what it takes to run a race like that, but Mr. Crockett runs 7 or 8 of them a year. He lives in Saratoga Springs, which is on the other side of Utah Lake past Lehi. I can't seem to even run a marathon and these guys run four of them in a row, over mountain trails at high altitude all night long. They are a different breed. About 400 runners started the race and at least 250 have already dropped out. The top woman runner came in at about 23-1/2 hours, good enough for 10th place. The second woman was 12 minutes behind her, which at that distance is considered a dead heat.

UPDATE: Crockett came in at #42, third in his age division (50+), in 28:33, 3 minutes over his target. Big day for him. First place runner shattered the old record by 1:05, second place runner (the local guy, Karl Meltzer) also broke the record by 23 minutes. The second place runner has already won three major 100s this year. The guy who won Western States, the world series of 100 mile runs, came in at 22:18, almost 4 hours behind the winner. That is how good this field was, probably the best field of any 100 this year.

I am encouraged

So...I've been pretty freaked out about my knee, doing two a days, very slowly, on the treadmill, and still being in pain. Yes, I've also been icing and taking all the supplements. But it was time to go outside today for one last long run. (Yeah, I taper early, old age).

The two-a-days seemed to have acted a little like a taper. I was also having major heart/virus problems so they were really hard but not hard on the muscles...bottom line they served as a taper in a way and my long run today felt easier than it ever has. My heart rate is down to 51, even when my blood pressure is really high....I'm going off my meds though because usually it's too low...maybe it's all great news. I'm hoping. And I'm feeling better, at least today. I recommend more glutamine and resveratrol, if anyone is interested. :)

So first I ran four slowlly with a friend, and my knee was killing me. So I concocted up a brace with my CRX running tights, then a strap and a too big Futuro stretchy thing over that, all on my left knee. (My right knee hurts too but isn't scary). It worked pretty well! So I did the four, then applied the brace, filled the fuel bottles, went to the bathroom, then did 12.5 more, stopped and walked a bit, got bored, then ran most of the way back to the vehicle, for an overall total of about 21.

The nice thing was the end miles weren't hard and way too slow like usual. To make up for no tempo or speed work lately I tried to go faster uphill and actually hit an 8 min/mile uphill pace a couple of times. However, I slowed way down over all, doing the 21, with walks, in about 3:25. Just favoring the knee. It was a little bit of glycogen training in there too as I didn't drink or eat the first hour and a half, then I just drank a little Gatorade after I hit 16 (total).

Mostly I just feel great because I didn't die and feel the need to do the death jog on the last miles....AND, although I experienced great pain when the brace slipped, I think I can get it right and maybe even partially healed again before StG...meaning,...I think I can run StG, YAY. Probably not fast, but I hope to at least requalify for Boston, which means under four hours.

Down Butterfield

Elaine says I need more downhill and so Friday I went to Butterfield Canyon with Dale and warmed up starting one mile from the pass going uphill then all the way down for a total of 7.5 miles. It was 87 at the bottom and so the last mile or two, I got a little dehydrated without a camel back. I guess I averaged about an 8 minute mile but I carefully concentrated on each stride to prevent any injuries. It is about a 2500 feet drop and some places required short choppy steps.

I will do a long run on labor day but the downhill still got some muscles sore.

California Dreaming, Texas Reality

I ran a couple of times in California this week, low heart rate, felt great in the cool dry air. Then back in Texas running short and fast yesterday, about 9:30 miles for 4 or 5. So today the goal was to hit 12:00 for 20 miles. Given my fast run (for me) on Friday it was a bit of a gamble, not to mention a big step-up from last week, but nothing ventured, right?

I pretty much made the goal for 17.5, then I ran out of gas. The temperature was a little warmer this week and the pace was quite a bit fasterthan last week's pace of about 12:40. Just ran out of gas 3 miles from the house. A long walk in the heat.

My splits were: 12:30 (throw out the first one), 12:24 (that one too), 12:05, 12:02, 11:55, 11:58, 12:18, 11:59, 12:10, 11:55, 13:16 (bio break), 11:48, 12:05, 11:56, 12:06, 11:54, 12:27, average pace for 17 miles: 12:12, the first two miles and the one with the bio break really killed it.

Plus my knee started to hurt a little after I ran. I think the walking hurts it more than running, it was never a factor while I was running. But it shold be OK.

I'm hoping to do 12:00 for 20 miles next week. Only a couple of more Saturdays until the St. George taper begins.

I ran a mile today

In 6:21 on the treadmill. :) I'm pretty happy. Or was it 6:31?? Can't remember now, but I do know I felt my butt hurt real bad. Havn't had that feeling since college. (no comments from the peanut gallery either.)

Delete?

Did someone delete any comments? Jill says hers disappeared...I didn't do it...and don't think I saw any comments recently. Anyone want to confess?
Thanks
E