Every day is a new day

Plantar faciitis really acting up.  Crosstrained as a result.

45 minutes elliptical

15minutes each - bike, stairstepper and walk on treadmill 15% slope

Total of 90 minutes and 1350 machine calories.  I think that is easily worth 6 easy miles. 

It's Sunday so long run it is.  Weather was much better this week with light rain and temp in the upper 40's with light winds.  Todays run was advertised by my running friend a "an easy 2 hour trail run with 6 or 7 people running today."  That would be easier than last weeks 18.1 mile run.

I should have known better, as the roads that lead to the start of the trail system we were running contain the longest hills in town.  We got on to the new portion of cross trail and started up another large hill. The hilly trail was in good shape and early in the run the hills were at most an annoyance.  When we reached the existing old trail, mud and water were the order of the day.  We have received almost 20" of rain this October and the trails showed it.  Wet, muddy feet and good agility were required for this portion of the run.  Reached 7 miles in 1:05 and reversed course to get back home.  The only difference is that those annoying hills on the way out were now killer hills on the way back.  Managed to get back in 1:02 which was amazing considering the struggle to climb each and every hill. In the end this was one of the hardest workout of the year. Only my main partner and I ran the whole way and both decided it was a great and really tiring run.  Glad I did it and really glad its over.

Actually cross trained today.  Just shy of 50 minutes on the treadmill at 4.2 MPH and 15% grade and then 20 minutes on the elliptical.  Legs were shot today so all I wanted to do was loosen them up and make sure I burned over 1000 machine calories, ( I don't really believe machine #'s on this).  Achieved both goals and legs feel much better as I write this a couple of hours after leaving the gym. 

Knee and foot really, really sore today.  Was only going to run 3 miles and then cross train.  Of course as I warmed up the pain disappeared and I ended up doing 6.6 miles in an hour.  Felt pretty good at this point.  Moved to the elliptical and did 20 more minutes that I will call 1 extra mile. 

Traveled up to Juneau last night. for three days of meetings.  I don'tlike running in our capital city, at least downtown as traffic is pretty heavy and all the sidewalks are concrete.  Ran by our Gov. house but she is not back home yet. Actually is almost never here in Juneau.  Ran all the roads I could stand and ended up with 7.5 miles in 65 minutes.  I always seem to be more tired running when traveling.  Now bring on the long, long meetings!

Just a quick six miles around the hotel at lunch break.

Meetings are finally over.  Did the run I did the first day here after we adjurned at noon.  Really nice day abet a little cold here in Juneau. 

Back home again.  My knee is really bothering me, I do not have any idea what the cause is.  Maybe running only in the city the past week with a lot of concrete sidewalks played a part.  So today I only ran 4 miles easy then did 35 minutes on the elliptical that I'll call 2.5 more. Knee really hurt after that.  I probably will only crosstrain for a few days and then see if it is better or if I have real knee issues.

Knee is still quite sore.  I thought an easy treadmill session might be OK.  Just did 6.5 miles in 60 minutes.  Knee troublesome but not terrible. Will see in the A.M.

Weight pre workout- 196

Weight post -  192

Knee felt OK today so I ran a short 3.5 miles and then cross trained for another hour that I'll call 3 miles.  Knee did alright today.  No real pain just uncomfortable at times. I will try to be careful through the race in Seattle then take a break to see if it will heal.

P.M.  Had some free time before going back to work tonight so I went  back to the gym.   Knee felt good so I ran another easy 3.5 miles followed by 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15  on the bike.  Say 4.5 for the session.  Knee seems Ok, will see in the morning.  Total for the day about 2.5 hours of machine time.  I don't think I could stand much more!

Weight pre- 194

Weight post 188

Well didn't feel too bad today.  Knee fair to ok after a long workout yesterday.  Decided to do a short run and see.  Did a treadmill run at 9:12 pace and 2% grade for 5.5 miles.  Then did 20 minutes on the elliptical I'll count as 1 more mile.  Felt tired as much as anything, the 2% grade seemed more like 4% today.

Weight (pre exercise)  192

Weight ( post exercise)  186.5

Knee still a little extra tender.  Stayed with an easy treadmill run and will leave a tempo run for a day or two.  No real issues during the run.  7.1 miles in 62 minutes.  Knee sore in a different spot, ie. anterior rather than medial.  Felt slow and sluggish today with this easy run feeling almost hard.  For now I will assume it is due to calorie control and extra crosstraining.

Weight pre workout- 191

Weight post workout- 186.25

Knee felt ok today.  Decided a little longer run was warrented. Blowing 40 with gusts to 60 again today so I did the run on the treadmill.  Nine pretty boring miles in 80 minutes about 8:54 average.  Knee was bothersome at times but never really hurt and was fine after  proper warm up.

Weight before- 191

Weight after - 185.5

Actually just a preplanned crosstraining day.  Elliptical for 60 minutes then treamill walk at 15% grade then 20 minutes on the bike,  Finished up with two loops of the main weight machines. Two hours in the gym total.  Will say equal to five miles just to keep track of weekly effort.
Weight B- 192

Weight A - 187

Machine calories burned  1380.

Lost my entry twice I will retype later.

Just 65 minutes of cross training on the elliptical today.  Knee and foot hurt quite a bit today.  I am going to do as much as I can for the next 10 days to get ready for Seattle but after that I think a long layoff is required.  Knee is most likely a medial meniscus issue given the symtoms and I can only hope a good rest will allow healing.

Still avioding running because of knee issues.  Did a fairly hard 65 minutes on the elliptical, 9 miles at a setting of 13.  Had to tough out the last 10 minutes as I was fairly beat.  Day off tomorrow and hopefully a tempo run on Thursday.

Decided I better run today or I might forget how.  Knee is bothersome but not real painful. Twinges occasionally but no real pain.  Decided a progression run at modfied (slow) tempo pace would be wise. Ran miles as follows:

1 - 9:00

2 -8:40

3 -8:20

4 -8:05

5- 7:55

6 -7:50

7 - 7:35

7.5 - 7:19

Felt pretty good throughout.  Guess I can still remember how.  Seattle half in 9 days.  I have revised my goal time upward to reflect the bad knee.  Oh well at least I can still run.

Knee unhappy.  Keep it down to 3.5 easy miles.  I will only run a couple of times before Seattle.

Two hours and fifteen minutes total using treadmill, elliptical and bike, (1 hour, 1 hour and 15 minutes).  I think this would easily equate to 9 miles total. Burned 1575 machine calories which usually equates to 11-12 miles on the treadmill.

Two mile warm up then a short tempo as follows:

1 - 9:00

2 - 9:00

3 - 8:00

4 - 7:40

5 - 7.40

6  - 7:40

7 - 7:30

Then 20 minutes on the elliptical for a cool down.

Knee not great but did not interfere with my run.  Felt tired and slow today.

rest day.

Hard 45 minutes on the elliptical.  Knee hurts too much to run.  Seems like I need two days between runs or I have trouble.  Will take a two week break after this weekends race to see if it improves.

Knee hurts.  Did 30 minutes elliptical, then ran 2.5 miles and finished with 20  minutes walking at 15% grade.  72 total minutes of exercise will say 5 miles total.  Will not run in tomorrows race.  Three days off to try and finish Seattle half on Sunday.

Details later. Half (6.55 miles) in 52 minutes, second half in 65 minutes.  It was not the knee which actually gaveme no trouble but a seized calf muscle that actually stopped mein my tracks. I actually had to walk almost a mile before I could jog the final 5 miles.

I was very concerned with my knee and was afraid to push too hard in case it would fail completely.  I knew I could jog the race so that was my only real goal.  At the start I felt ok so ran normally and decided to run until the knee complained.

Splits at the start of the race were:

7:55

7:44

801

802

8:30  stop for fluids

8:15

Half way 52:05

8:55

Now my calf seized and I needed to walk

10:36

9:10

9:13

9:36

These miles were run with walk breaks

9:55

10:05

and I did not get the last bit.  I am just glad I made it through to the end.  Good first half made me feel it was worth running.  The leg pain that I still have three days later show me I ran with a compensating gait to protect my knee.  The result was the calf pull and quad strain, to a level I have never had before.