These Last Few Weeks

I had a pretty good stretch of consistently posting weekly logs since I started this blog.  I probably only missed one or two weeks.  Even after I got the stress fracture I kept them up, sad though they might be.  Apathy finally got the best of me and it's been a while since I posted anything so I figured I'd give an update.

After six weeks of no running, I finally began to work some running into my walks (4 minutes of walking / 1 minute of running).  This went well and the next week I upped it to two minutes.  This also went well but then on that Friday after the walk/run I felt that familiar stinging/burning sensation in my leg.  The feeling hung around for a couple hours and bummed me out.  I didn't run for a few days and when I picked it back up it seemed alright.  I took a little extra time to get to up to three minutes of running and I seemed to be back on track.  But for the last couple days I've felt that same stinging sensation on and off.  It's not particularly painful or debilitating but it's there and that worries me.  I've done some reading and it may just been residual sensations as the bone repairs itself.  Or maybe it's not.  It's hard to say.  I've been going back through Jim Johnson's blog for inspiration as he was dealing with something similar last year.  After posting this I'll probably go out for a short trail run to see how it goes.

My planking has sort of shit the bed as I got derailed by a vacation week and then a work-from-home week where I took care of Amanda who's recovering from shoulder surgery.  Last week some weird neck/back pain has cropped up out of nowhere so that's been another annoyance to deal with.  But I'm working towards getting back into the planking regimen as it's good exercise.

In other news I got to watch Ezri run at the Clamdigger 5k.  She had previously run a 5k last year at Ninigret in 40 minutes.  Since then she's being doing the running club twice a week before school so I knew she'd be faster.  But she ran a 30:43 which blew me away!  She finished third in her age group (1-13) which is pretty good considering she's seven!  I was a very proud papa - she ran the race by herself and I only got to cheer from the sidelines.  Sub 10 minute miles!

I also worked the aid station at the Big River 1/2 Marathon.  I was pretty disappointed to miss this race as it's one of my favorites but I was glad to help out.  I really enjoyed seeing everyone come through and I ended having a really good time.  Definitely something I'd like to do again at for future races.

So that's where I'm at.  Hopefully my leg is on the rebound and these sensations I'm feeling are a normal part of the healing process.  I feel like I did my due diligence by taking six weeks off and then ramping it up very slowly so if I have to take another long hiatus I won't be thrilled.  I was hopeful to be back to full strength for the Beaver race and the Blessing.  Time will tell.  These are minor setbacks in the big scheme of things so I'm going to try to focus on the positive and enjoy whatever adventures come my way.

Drink and Be Refreshed

Weekly Log: 4.4.16 - 4.10.16

Monday - 0 miles

8:33 of planks (Elbow - 4:37 / Straight left arm - 1:09 / Straight right arm - 1:20 / Straight arm - 1:27)

Added another 30 seconds to my plank PR.  Whoa!  A good way to start the week.  It was snowing in the AM but clear skies at lunch allowed me to go to lunch yoga.  It began to snow again when I left the studio and it continued the rest of the day making for a shitass commute home.

Tuesday - East Providence, RI - 2.3 miles

8:33 of planks (Elbow - 3:29 / Straight left arm - 1:02 / Straight right arm - 1:20 / Straight arm - 1:17 / Ebow - 1:25)

Oof.  Planks were a lot tougher than yesterday.  Guess that PR wore me out.  There was a good amount of snow up in Providence so I brought the microspikes and went over to the 10 Mile River bikepath at lunch.  The spikes proved to be overkill and the snow just clumped up in 'em.  I pocked them after a mile and did another couple miles of walking on the path and in the woods.

Wednesday - East Providence, RI - 2.8 miles

Went for a cold and windy walk along the East Bay bike path.  Sure doesn't feel like spring!

Thursday - 0 miles

8:33 of planks (Elbow - 3:11 / Straight left arm - 1:05 / Straight right arm - 1:23 / Straight arm - 1:53 / Ebow - 1:01)

Friday - 0 miles

6:00 of planks (Elbow - 2:.31 / Straight left arm - 1:01 / Straight right arm - 1:17 / Straight arm - 1:11 / Elbow - 1:01)

Saturday - Charlestown, RI - 1.9 miles

I took the dog out for a walk in Carter Preserve.  He was a spazz out there at first but he calmed down and we enjoyed the stroll in the woods.

Sunday - 0 miles

Weekly Mileage: 7.5 miles
Year to Date: 162.1 miles

And with this six weeks of no running has come to an end.  The leg feels okay so next week I'll begin to work some running into my walks, though I'll still be mostly walking to begin things.

South Carter and Mt Hight - March 20, 2016

This was the second hike of a weekend trip to the White Mountains.  The first hike was a fun trip to the Hancocks with my friend Rob.  This one would be a solo affair.  I had originally considered attempting Mt Isolation however upon reflecting it seemed like too much.  It would have been 14 miles round trip and I had a five hour drive home afterwards.  Plus there was word of a snow storm hitting RI at some point in the evening so I didn't want to linger too long in NH.    After pouring over the map the night before at my hostel, I opted for a shorter hike.  I decided to head up the 19 Mile Brook trail and summit South Carter.  Based on how long it would take, I could also head over to Mt. Hight as well before coming back down.

I got an early start and was on the trail by 7 AM.  At first it was mostly dirt and I barebooted.  There were plenty of icy patches but most were easily avoided.  At 3/4 mile I decided to put on the microspikes for a tricky ledge section but I left 'em on - should've removed them as there was plenty of dirt over the next mile.  By the time I turned onto the Carter Dome Trail at mile 2 it was mostly ice/snow and the spikes stayed on.  There was a tricky water crossing on this trail and one tough ice dam to climb over but otherwise the trail was easy going.

Nice bridge set up to cross the 19 Mile Brook

Frozen beauty on the water

Mt Hight featured the only real steep/snow of the day

The trail leads up to Zeta Pass and after a short break I made the quick trip to South Carter.  There are no views on South Carter.  It's totally forested but it's another 4k checked off.  I arrived back at Zeta Pass with plenty of time left so it was an easy decision to head up to Mt. Hight.  The trail up to Hight was much less traveled and the snow was much deeper.  The trail itself was steep and between the grade and the snow it was slow going.  It was only about a 1/3 mile of this climb and then the trail opened up to the bare summit of Mt. Hight.

Northern presidentials in the background

Enough snow on the summit to still feel like winter

Mount Washington

Hard to tell but the brook was a great mix of churning water and ice

Incredible 360 views on Hight and I hung out a while and ate lunch.  Then it was a quick trip back down to Zeta Pass.  The last four miles were an easy grade and I finally saw other people for the first time.  I probably passed about 30 people heading up on the way down.  Towards the bottom I encountered some folks a good mile into the trail who were clearly not expecting so much ice.  Sorry folks, still too early!  This was a fun hike and I covered the ten miles in just over five hours which I was happy with.  The drive home wasn't too bad and the snow never really showed up that evening.

This was NH 4k #33 for me.

Weekly Log: 3.2.8.16 - 4.3.16

I'm feeling pretty good about where I am fitness wise.  My stress fracture is healing nicely and while I'm not going crazy with the exercise I am keeping busy enough to not feel like a lump.  A couple more weeks of not running and then I'll be able to pick it up again, however sporadically.

Monday - 0 miles

8:07 of planks (Elbow - 4:04 / Straight left arm - 1:05 / Straight right arm - 1:23 / Straight arm - 1:35)

BOOM!  New plank PR of 4:04!  It's such a mental thing.  We've bumped up to 8 minutes of straight planking this week and I have a feeling it's gonna be tough.  At lunchtime, a good Yoga session to start the week off right.

Tuesday - East Providence, RI - 2.6 miles

8:07 of planks (Elbow - 3:05 / Straight left arm - 1:02 / Straight right arm - 1:29 / Straight arm - 1:52)

Ooh, it's tough to get to 8 minutes of planking in just my four standard moves.  I was hurting by the end of the straight arm but I got it done.  At lunchtime it was very windy and surprisingly chilly outside.  The walk did me good though.

Wednesday - East Providence, RI - 2.7 miles

190 push-ups (standard/military/wide) 30/30/40/35/25/30

Feeling crappy this morning with a sore throat so I abandoned the planking and went with push-ups at the office.  Felt pretty good even though it's been a while.  Then I went out to the East Bay bike path for a nice walk.

Thursday - Seekonk, MA - 2.2 miles

8:05 of planks (Elbow - 3:21 / Straight left arm - 1:22 / Straight right arm - 1:34 / Straight arm - 1:48)

More planking torture.  I had to stretch the time on the side arms to give myself a chance at doing it in four moves.  It's going to be rough when the time keeps going up.  At lunch I went for a crazy windy hike in Caratunk.  It was a beautiful day but the wind was definitely intense at times.  Plenty of downed trees on the trails.

Friday - 0 miles

8:03 of planks (Elbow - 2:50 / Straight left arm - 1:23 / Straight right arm - 1:29 / Straight arm - 1:39)

Finished off the work week with another round of lunch yoga.

Saturday - 0 miles

Sunday - Exeter, RI - 7 miles

Crazy weather with fat snow flakes in the morning followed by sun followed by more snow and then more sun.  I went for a long two hour hike in Arcadia in midday.  There was enough snow to be lovely but it was colder than I anticipated.  Luckily I brought some cold weather gear which made the hike enjoyable.

Weekly Mileage: 14.7 miles
Year to Date: 154.6 miles