Mentor Run (Post Turkey Gorge)

There are always good and bad associated with running. More often than not, the bad is overshawdowed by the high of completing something wonderful and you never dwell on the struggles. Today I remembered the bad even after succesfully completing a goal.

We headed out to Heather Farms for a mentor led run. Today's goal was 10 miles. Mission accomplished, but it was very tough. I want to blame it on post-Thanksgiving laziness. I want to blame it on the 40 degree temperature. I want to blame it on my minor cold, but I was just not feeling it today. I never struggled so hard during the first 2 miles of a run as I did today. There must have been 5 or 6 times where I kept telling myself to turn around and go home. I was conjuring every possible excuse to let people know I needed to go home. I finally fell behind and waited for Bryan to keep up with his pace, so I wouldn't wimp out. Bryan also self-admitted he was struggling, but we finished off the last 8 miles. We both didn't have a great running day, but gutted it out and finished strong for the last mile. We ended up being the sweepers for the day, but everyone cheered and ran us in at the finishi line.

10 miles completed, but it wasn't pretty. I now know I can complete something even when i'm not on my "A" game.

Miles completed today: 10 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 157 miles

Back @ the Buddy Run!

It's been exactly 3 weeks since I was at the last buddy run. Unfortunately aggrevations kept me away. Lake Merritt is still dark, but we now meet at the columns. It's weird how easy it is to bump into Rocky. Not 20 seconds from heading towards the columns, I hear "Phil!" and there was my pacer. We went around the lake once, but Rocky was able to keep me at 10 minute miles. I was winded the last mile, which is why I let Rocky do all the talking. Gracias man. We bumped into Chris near the end.

Now I get a breather from running and get to stuff myself silly Thursday, but I can't relax too much. There is still a 8-10 mile mentor run on Saturday. I'm ready.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Miles completed today: 3 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 147 miles

Was it a Dream?

Good morning y'all. Just woke up from a power nap. I needed it considering I woke up at 5:00 am to ensure I make today's 6:50 am morning run. I went to see Dr. Klein on Friday and she was a great help. She massaged my feet to make sure the "knots" were out and re-aligned all my joints. Dr. Klein observed that while Superfeet stablized my feet pretty well, it was too hard on my feet. She recommended something softer like PowerStep. I went to Transports and for 30 minutes tried on several inserts. I ultimately decided on Montrail because PowerStep felt pretty close to Superfeet. Dr. Klein gave me the okay to run 14-16 miles on Saturday.

This morning's run had us going from the Berkeley Marina to Richmond. Many teammates were doing 16-20 miles because their events were nearing. I was shooting for 14 miles because my goal for 14 miles two weeks ago was hampered with calf tightness. I started out with Bryan for the first 4-5 miles until my right foot had the tingly sensation that I hadn't felt since the beginning of the season. Yup, I was almost positive it was Plantar Fascitis acting up again. My new inserts were too soft and not supportive enough. Jeanette said I should lift my toes up with feet down and it seemed to do the trick. After doing that twice within mile 5-6, my right foot felt good again. I think I overstretched my foot during the hill at mile 3-4. While I was trying to make the aggrevations go away, Bryan and Jeanette were full steam ahead and I was running solo for the remaining 9 miles.

That worked out well because by running solo, I was able to run at my own pace. I didn't care too much about time, but I just wanted to make sure I got all the miles in. I turned around at mile 7. It was easy to convince myself that I had all the time in the world to complete this. I was in a groove, but I admit the last 2 miles were tough. I pretty much ran out of gas and it was getting so warm. I did 14 miles strong! Taping my left foot allowed me to run because it hurts like a mother now since I took off the tape. My 14 mile time today (2 hr 53 min) was pretty equivalent to my 13.1 mile finish at Nike Half . I'm happy. I'm certainly in a daze since waking up from the nap, but i'm pretty sure today's run wasn't a dream because my legs are absolutely sore. That's a feeling i've been missing the past 2 weeks. =)

Miles completed today: 14 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 144 miles

Blah

I'm like blah right now. I haven't been writing because nothing has been going on. Still nursing my foot. The good news is it feels way better, but I have an appointment with Dr. Klein tomorrow to just check everything out. It's been 2 weeks not running and i'm having trouble coping. I guess that means I am addicted to running. I hope to be out there Saturday. I would love to do 14-16 miles, but i'm not sure how the body will react after not running in a while and the lingering effects of recent aggrevations. Will see.

Just got an e-mail from TNT about an info meeting for the spring season mentor application process. Am I mentor material? I'll have to go check it out and see. I am very interested in the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll though.

All I Need Is.....Time

Up until this past Thursday I was not able to plant my left foot somewhat comfortably on the ground. I haven't run since last Saturday's coaches run and I definitely wanted to put some miles in. I woke up early as I always do with Saturday runs and made my way to Lafayette. My left foot felt better than the previous day, but it was not 100%. Today's run reassured that I should not be running. At the warm up jog, I knew in my mind I was not going go far. In fact, it was pretty obvious during stretches that I could not stand on my left leg. Yet, I made the mistake of starting the run. Just short of one mile, the pain was too much and I had to tell Lillian and Rudy that I had to stop. If I didn't, there would have been no telling how seriously I would have messed up my foot. I was gonna let ego rule over good judgment, but I don't wanna say I was a genius in choosing the obvious because I made the biggest mistake in actually showing up this morning. I should have stayed home and rested, but the honest truth is I felt the despair that I was falling behind in training. I walked back to the parking lot and proceeded home.

I'm actually glad I headed home early because after I got home, I got a call from my grandma that my grandpa's 90 year-old knee was in excrutiating pain and needed to be taken to the doctors. He's had knee pains for the past year and occasionally needs to be shot up there to ease the pain. He often gets knee pains which keeps him up at night and there's really not much more than can be done for someone so elderly. My sister and I stayed with him most of the day. I will never again complain of knee or leg trouble because what i'm going through now is nothing compared to what my grandpa and the honorees are going through. I won't be running again until I feel 100% ready. I don't know how long that will be, but if I need to build up mileage from scratch again, so be it.

Miles completed today: 0 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 130 miles

Doctor Visit

Unfortunately Dr. Klein is out until next Tuesday. My left foot has not improved since Saturday, so I checked in with a podiatrist at Kaiser. He didn't tell me anything new that I already knew. Time is gonna heal my ginormous (and very red) blister and eventually will enable me to walk regularly so I don't have to rely on other aching parts of my foot that i'm not use to using. At this point, Thursday's track workout is out of the question. My target is to be back for Saturday's mentor run. I'm so impatient. URGGHH!

Ice and Elevation

So my calves feel "normal" today. What is not feeling good is the outer side of my left foot. My assumptions of it overcompensating the for the lower inner blister during yesterday's run was correct. The muscles there were not use to the stress and now i'm paying for it. I can't plant with my left foot without feeling pain. The only area of the left foot I can walk with (w/o feeling pain) is my heel. I'm probably more mobile with crutches at this point. So today, I pretty much stayed off my feet. Just icing and elevating my left foot while listening to music all day.

By now, i've learned pain/aggrevations and injuries are unavoidable. I'd be naive to believe I can get through this training progress with no problems. The most important thing is to rest and be patient. Of course, don't let ego overrule good judgment. Right now, the buddy run on Tuesday does not look promising. I'll decide tomorrow if I can make it. Either way, i'll let the buddies know.

Pissed Off

That's how I felt after my 14 miler this morning.

The run began at the shoreline of San Leandro's Marina Park and we were to head out 7 miles to the San Mateo Bridge and back. The first 7 miles felt great. I kept pace with Tabitha and did about 11-12 minute miles. I shattered my 10K PR. There was nothing but positive thoughts in my mind and I was thinking I could do this. When we turned around, I felt a side cramp creeping. It came, but Tabitha suggested I control it by deeply breathing to slow down the heart rate. Wouldn't you know, it worked! I felt great and it reinforced that this is so doable. Unfortunately, by the 8th-9th mile, my left calf was tightening. Deja-vu. This was Nike all over again. Side cramps and calf tightening. I was in such a great rhythm that I didn't want to stop. I slowed my pace down to ease the aggrevation. Soon after, the right calf tightened as well and I knew the rest of the way was not gonna be easy. It wasn't.

By the 10th mile, both calves yanked me back. I did the walk/run method for the next 2 miles and tried to stretch it out. I drank Gatorade. Nothing seemed to satisfy the annoyance. By the 12th mile, it was walking all the way. I tried to start again, but it was over. Any sudden running movement would aggrevate the calves. I'm pissed because I know I could have done the whole 14 miles. I hate coming short of my goal. At least I got time on my feet, but that didn't help. The trail portion of the run included a shit load of rocks, which left me with an unbelievable painful blister. If you want to take a look at what i'm talking about, click (CAUTION: it's pretty fugly) here.

My calves are throbbing even after my ice bath and my left ankle feels awkward now. I think it slightly rolled over when it overcompensated for the inner blister on the left foot. I gotta strenghten my lower body otherwise it will probably be like this everytime I run more than 8 miles. Every setback is a learning opportunity. So, i'll take that as a positive from today. Still pissed off, but can't wait to do better. Must heal first.

Miles completed today: 14 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 130 miles

Dark Buddy Run

So I got to Lake Meritt around 6:15 pm. With work keeping my till 6 pm, there was no way I could make the new time change of 6:00 pm. It was absolutely dark when I got there. I pulled in the parking lot and I saw a man standing in the dark. He looked kinda creepy, but I had to go and see if any buddies where still there. Do I dare move closer to the creepy man? Sure, why not? I then recognized the TNT sweatshirt and the creepy looking man was none other than Mentor Ken. He was nice enough to wait to see if anybody else came. As soon as I got there, he headed out. I was thinking to myself WTF?, leaving so soon?? but I think he said he was conserving himself for the big run this weekend. He told me Rocky was already out there and just left about 5 minutes ago. I did a quick stretch and headed in the opposite direction.

I was no more than 5 minutes into my run and I bumped into Rocky coming from the other direction. Damn...how fast was he going? Must have been something like 5 minute miles. Rocky turned around and kept me at a great pace. Thanks for keeping company at my snail pace! I finished 31 minutes and 50 seconds for a little over 3.2 miles. That's around a 10 minute mile. Pretty good time for myself who is a 12-13 minute miler. My best time yet at Lake Meritt, plus we traveled on the "outer rim" of the lake. YEAH! No feet troubles. It's the first time I felt great after running Lake Merritt. Now only if it wasn't so damn dark!

Miles completed today: 3 miles
Total Miles since Kick-off: 116 miles