Weekly Log: 6.27.13 - 7.3.16

Yeah, yeah, I've fallen off the blog wagon.  It's not due to continuing injury - my recovery from the stress fracture is going well and I've been running consistently for a few weeks.  Rather I've just lost any motivation to blog (I still have a draft of a fun backpacking trip from May that I've yet to complete.)  Anyway, here's an update:

Like I said, the running is going fairly well.  After several weeks of running with lingering stinging/discomfort from the stress fracture, things suddenly clicked and I was running pain free.  Since then I've been slowly adding a few miles a week and my longest runs are approaching double digits.  I've even started to do some speedwork on the Seekonk track.

I ended up frigging up my wrist from all the planking I was doing - just another case of not listing to my body when I was doing sidearm planks.  The wrist pain kept getting worse until even pushing myself up out of a chair induced sharp pain.  Doc has me on an anti-inflammatory and wearing a real deal wrist brace.  The brace defiantly helps and I think the wrist is slowly improving.

My planking shit the bed for a while, partly due to the wrist thing but mostly because I lost interest (lazy).  I'm back at it now and the last few weeks I've had a good morning routine of either planks or my old friend the P90X Ab Ripper.

So there you go.  I feel like I'm progressing nicely and I hope to be in decent shape for the Run with the Beavers race in a few weeks.

Monday - Charlestown, RI - 5.5 miles

Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)

I'm working from home on Mondays for a while which makes my life much more pleasant.  Took the opportunity to head over to Carter Preserve at lunch.  It was a steamer out there - over 80 degrees.  The caterpillar infestation this year has been the worst in years and Carter Preserve has been demolished - no shade to speak of in the woods.  The shrubs were bigger than usual as a result.  The heat wore me out by the end but it was a satisfying trial run.

Tuesday - 0 miles

5 minutes of planking

Wednesday - Seekonk, MA - 6 miles

Trying to keep it Workout Wednesday so I went over to the Seekonk High School track for some 800s.  Chris Fox ran by as I was warming up.  Good to see him one last time as he's moving to Seattle in a week.  It was another very hot day in the sun so I didn't push too hard but I went from 3:06 on the first to 3:00 flat on the fifth.  Could have pushed them a bit more but I'm just getting back to the speedwork and plus it was miserably hot/humid out there.

Thursday - East Providence, RI - 3.1 miles

Ab Ripper X (15 minutes)

Work has been miserable lately and didn't want to leave the office for long.  Plus my bad leg was achy - not from the stress fracture but the other side.  This didn't worry me much and once I got out there it wasn't an issue.  Ran along the river which is such a dump.  If they cleaned it up it'd be a cool little area.  Instead it's just garbage city.

Friday - Charlestown, RI - 7.5 miles

7 minutes of planking (including new forearm PR - 5:01!)

I was working from home again so I decided on a loop through Browning Woods and DuVal.  Felt pretty good and once I left Browning and hit the dirt roads I was moving pretty well.  The sand pits are undergoing a change - they're building houses and a country club (golf course?!?) back in these woods and the dunes have been cleaned up.  There was even a fire hydrant in the middle of it now.  I'm not thrilled about all this new development but on the other hand people just dumped all their shit back there so I can't say it's a downgrade.

I kept the pace up all the way to the DuVal trail and once I hit the path I put in a solid effort to try to best my PR on the Strava segment there.  I came up short by about 15 seconds but I'll take it.  Then I took the roads back to my car.  A funny sidenote after the fact - Jonny and I nearly ran into each other.  A good motivating run to start the long weekend.

Saturday - Charlestown, RI - 4 miles

Wanted to get a short one in.  Went over to Wood River Junction and did a few easy miles on the North/South trail.  Mostly farmland and piney soft trails.  Hot one out there.

Sunday - Charlestown, RI - 10 miles

For my longish effort I went over to Burlingame early morning.  It was crisp and mid-50s.  No bugs!  I ran from the lot on King's Factory up Sammy C's and then took the trails to North Burlingame.  Did a hilly loop and then ventured down to the water at North Camp.  I stopped short of the beach when I saw a tent.  Then it was Vin Gormley back to the car.  I did a little backtracking to make it ten miles and the last mile was tough.  I was tired and beginning to bonk.  Still a good run overall and with no leg pain I'm happy.

Weekly Mileage: 36.1 miles
Year to Date: 409.9 miles

A good week of running!  I'm feeling strong and the leg stings sometimes but never when I'm running.  So far so good.

Weekly Log: 5.16.16 - 5.22.16

Well here we are.  A week of actual running is upon us.  We shall see how it goes!  I also have a White Mountain adventure to look forward to this weekend.  I'll be backpacking with friends back to the Bonds.

Monday - 0 miles

I wanted to get in a yoga session so today was the day.  Good start to the week.

Tuesday - Seekonk, MA - 4 miles

It was good to get back into the swing of things.  I did a loop around the Turner Reservior.  Mostly trails with a short road section but I did a couple loops on the Seekonk HS Track as well.  Right near the end I ran into Chris Fox and he ran with me back to the car.  I guess he's moving to Seattle in a month or two so I'll miss seeing him at local trail races.  A good first run back.

Wednesday - East Providence, RI - 4.2 miles

I ran along the East Bay bike path on a glorious day.  Lots of people were using the path and half of 'em couldn't be bothered to walk in the right direction.  Stay to the left people!  It's not that hard to comprehend.  The leg began to sting after about a mile and the aggravation continued through the run and afterwards.  I'm going to consider this part of the healing process and try not to get too worried about it.

Thursday - 0 miles

Leg is still a little aggravated this morning so no point in pushing it.

Friday - White Mountains, NH - 12.8 miles

Saturday - White Mountains, NH - 9.6 miles

Fun adventures up in the Pemi Wilderness.  Write-up forthcoming.

Sunday - 0 miles

Weekly Mileage: 30.6 miles
Year to Date: 282.1 miles

Weekly Log: 5.9.16 - 5.15.16

Monday - 0 miles

We had a lunch gathering for a departing colleague so no yoga or running today.  I did about 8:30 of planks in the morning but it was tough work.

Tuesday - East Providence, RI - 4.4 miles

I upped my efforts this week to 80% so that's 1 minute of walking and then 4 minutes of running.  Leg felt fine throughout but I felt out of shape.  That's normal I suppose.  Beautiful day along the bike path.  Finally feels like spring!

Wednesday - Seekonk, MA - 4 miles

Spring shming.  Now it feels like summer!  I went over to Wheeler School in Seekonk and ran up to the Caratunk Preserve.  I had to bushwack through some briers to get there but it was worth it.  Between the heat, hills and lack of running I was worn out by the end.  Still 80% running so every fifth minute was a walking rest.  Which I didn't mind at all.

Thursday - Providence, RI - 3.3 miles

Another hot day and I felt gross and fat.  Running was tough today.  Felt very out of shape.  I intentionally kept this one short though I did make an effort on a short hill segment that I recently lost.  I'm pretty sure the guy was aided but a very generous GPS route so it's unlikely I'll ever be able to take it back but thems the breaks.  Overall a tiring run but no pain afterwards and that's the important thing.

Friday - 0 miles

No running today.  I wanted to take it easy and do lunch yoga instead.  Ended up being a great session so I'm really glad I went.

Saturday - 0 miles

I didn't get a run in but I DID get actual yardwork done.  Mowing the yard took a while and I even managed to rake/weed the vegetable garden.  I don't do actual work often and it showed - I fell asleep on the couch at 8 PM.

Sunday - Charlestown, RI - 5.6 miles

The dog needed a walk and I wanted to run longer in the woods so we compromised and I took him to Carter Preserve.  This was still 80% running.  We did a big loop hitting up the new brush fields and the train tracks as well as the usual woodland trails.  Poor beast was dragging ass by the end.  I nearly killed the dog but it was a good run otherwise.

Weekly Mileage: 17.2 miles
Year to Date: 151.5 miles

Not a lot of miles but the leg felt good and that's the important thing.  Next week I believe I will chance an actual run!

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