Christmas Rap Up

Christmas was good for our family. My in-laws came for a visit, and we had fun. My wife and I don't usually buy a lot of presents for our daughter; however, as my in-laws' only grandchild, she gets spoiled rotten each year. Personally, I did not receive any running-related gifts. I did receive a very generous Target gift card, so I guess it’s not too late to get some running stuff. Instead, however, I’m going to buy a bicycle, a helmet, and whatever else I need so that I can start biking to work. It’s only five miles each way, so biking makes a lot of sense.

My running continues to go well. I’m up to 7.5 miles each day. So far my schedule has been to run three days and then take a day off. I’m going to extend that to six running days and one off day for a few weeks and then eventually extend it to one day off every ten days or so. I did have one shot of knee pain this week. I woke up Tuesday morning around 4:30 with pain in my left knee. I had planned on running Tuesday, but the pain convinced me to take it easy. It worked out well for me because Tuesday was a cold, wet, windy day. Running would not have been fun.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone (or at least anyone who happens to read this).

I'm still running pain free. I missed a run on Friday because I procrastinated and ended up misjudging the time between when family arrived and when we were heading out to dinner, so I didn't have time to run.

On Saturday I bumped my mileage up to 7.5 miles. I'll try to keep it here through next week and then bump it up to 8 or 9 miles the first week in January. I also hope to be able to start running some short marathon pace runs (a mile or so at first) in early January. I'm a bit ahead of where I thought I'd be after a week back running, but my legs feel good, so I'm going to keep moving forward.

Rest Day

On Sunday I ran for the third consecutive day. I have to admit that my knee still feels a bit stodgy, but I'm optimistic because it feels better with each run. After three consecutive days of running, I took a rest day on Monday. I could have run; I felt okay and didn't have any knee pain, but I'm trying to be cautious and not get re-injured. So I figured better safe than sorry. My legs (especially the quads), however, have been pretty sore after my first few runs. I don't know if the rest day was necessary for my knee, but my leg muscles certainly feel better. I'll continue with daily five and six mile runs for the rest of the week. If everything goes well, I'll add a mile or two to my daily runs next week.

Around the house things are going well. Except for a few stocking stuffers, the Christmas shopping is done. I had the easy job. While my wife hit the stores and did the majority of the shopping, I only bought a few things online. I guess we'll just call it teamwork and say that the job is done. Other than the shopping, we're busy cleaning and organizing for my wife's family to visit. Since I took this week off from work, I get the cleaning detail. Not a big deal; I'd rather clean than shop.

Comeback - Day Two

Not really much to say today. I ran just over five miles, in about 44 minutes. I timed my run by looking at the clock when I left and then again when I got home, so by no means is that time accurate.

Anyway, there is still a little soreness in my legs, but it was better today than it was yesterday. I think I'm just rusty and have some soreness because my body just isn't used to running right now. I'll probably run another five tomorrow and Monday and then bump it up to six miles for the rest of the week. Obviously the work is just starting, but I'm catiously optimistic that I'm on my way back.

First Run in a Looooooong Time

I ran a slow, easy 3.5 miles this afternoon. It was my first run since November 20 if memory serves me correctly. For the past two weeks, I've been following doctor's orders and resting my knee and taking ibuprofen three times a day.

My knee felt okay on today's run. There was a little soreness towards the end of the run, but I'm not sure if it's the same pain I had before, or if it was just sore because I hadn't run in such a long time. Anyway, I plan on running five easy miles tomorrow and see how that goes.

Wish me luck.

Plans for 2007

I’ve been thinking about my plan for 2007. My original thought was to run higher mileage (70-80/week) through the first couple months of 2007, including running the Napa Valley Marathon as a training run. Mostly I was going to run Napa because I believe the Coast Guard will pay for it. However, while talking with my wife this morning I realized that Napa is being run the same weekend as my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. What I’m going to do instead is not worry about Napa or finding another race to replace it. I will run the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon as my goal race and my first attempt at going under 3 hours.

To get there, I’m going to start running towards the end of this week. Assuming my knee cooperates, I’ll shoot for 25-30 miles the week of December 17. From there I’ll jump to 45-50 miles the next week, and will hopefully enter 2007 with a 60-mile week. Again assuming that I stay healthy, I’ll be in the 80-mile range by mid January and will stay there through February, paying attention to my health and taking at least one cutback week in late January/early February. I’ll take an easy week during the time we travel to Arizona for the anniversary celebration and will start race specific training when I return to the Bay Area.

This schedule will give me time to build a base, ten weeks to add some speed, and a three week taper. I should be able to run 20 miles at least 8 times and build my marathon pace runs up to at least 14 miles, and hopefully to 16 miles, before tapering.

After Rock ‘n Roll and little time to recover, I’ll throw in a few higher mileage weeks and then start working towards a marathon in the fall, preferably nothing before November. I also plan on running a half marathon and a few other shorter races as part of the build up for each marathon, although at this time I’m not sure which other races I’ll run. I'm also going to get a bike and start riding my bike to work and riding a bit longer on the weekend.

Of course all of these plans are extremely tentative and basically rely on my knee not being any worse than the initial diagnosis.

Chondromalacia, a.k.a. Runner’s Knee

Well according to the physician’s assistant that I saw this morning, I have runner’s knee. Of course, I’ve heard of runner’s knee, but never having had it before, I didn’t recognize it. Frankly, I didn’t think it would be as painful as it is. From blogs and forum posts that I’ve read, I just thought it would be a dull pain – more of an annoyance that something that would require so much time off. Of course if I had been more proactive from the beginning, all it would have been was a dull pain.

The plan now is simple. I’m going to follow the PA’s advice. Two weeks of rest and prescription-strength ibuprofen. After that, take ibuprofen before exercise, and hopefully I’ll be fine to run. My biggest challenge now is to control my weight while I’m not running. Of course it’s the holiday season, so it’s not like there will sweet, delicious temptations everywhere I turn.

For what it’s worth, here are my November totals:

100.9 miles, including over 60 miles in one week.
12 running days
0 doubles

I’ve run 2667 miles in 2006. Sadly, I’m not going to reach my goal of 3000 miles for 2006. I was ahead of pace through October, but the choice between chasing a mileage goal and getting healthy, is a no brainer. The goal now is to enter 2007 healthy.

Speaking of 2007, it’s time to start setting goals for next year. I’m looking forward to it – both setting the goals and chasing them.

Non-Running Update

This will be just a quick entry to publicize my laziness and give myself some accountability for my efforts while I’m not running. Actually I’m doing okay. There are basically three areas where I need to concentrate my efforts: continuing my sit up and push up routine, eating right, and getting some type of exercise to somewhat replace running.

With regards to the push ups and sit ups, I’ve basically stopped doing them. I’m not sure why I stopped. I guess it was just the break in my routine. When I started these exercises, I would go for a run, do my push ups and sit ups when I got home, and then shower. When I stopped running the other exercises stopped also. Hopefully all I need to do is establish a new routine. For now the plan will be to do them as soon as I get home from work. That way I won’t get involved in anything else and get distracted.

I have been doing well (not great) with regards to my eating habits. Of course the Thanksgiving holiday was one long foodfest, but that was to be somewhat expected. Other than over the holiday, I’ve cut down on desserts and candy and have been making better food choices. I’ve also been eating smaller portions at breakfast and lunch. However, I now need to cut down on snacks before supper, and I need to eat smaller portions for supper.

I have been getting some exercise. For the last couple of days I’ve walked at least a couple of miles each day. Over the weekend, I’ll bike ride some to change things up a bit. It’s not much when compared to a 10-mile run, but at least it’s some activity. I’m not really worried about losing fitness. I’ve accepted that there will be some loss in this area and that I’ll just have to build it back up whenever I’m running pain free. I’ve noticed that when I’m walking my knee feels great. A couple of times I felt like I should just start running. It’s hard for me to grasp why I can walk, sit, squat, and have a full range of motion without any pain, but I cannot run more than a couple of miles without hurting.

Right now patience and effort in non-running areas of my life remain the key. More to follow after I see the doctor next week.