Back on track, again

I fell off the face of the earth on purpose.  The top of foot pain (TOFP) returned and would not let up.  I was not going to post complaints and whinings and general verbal diarrhea.  I had no idea if I would come out of the woods.  As I stated before, I know tendons and ligaments can take up to a year to heal completely, and with the loading running puts on the feet, I should not be surprised if it takes longer than six months for me to be able to run.

I have been stretching and massaging the foot, the Achilles, and the calves for some time.  I walked unshod as much as possible.  The TOFP did not go away completely, but I have reached diminishing returns in the therapeutic process the last month or more.  It is time to begin again, and see if the lingering TOFP is something I can live with.  I am walking at first, mostly to build up the soles of my feet for barefoot running.  I am cycling for cross-training gains.  I will do this for a couple of weeks before I begin running intervals.

I shall post here again after the first intervals...until the next time, take care and run free.

two-wheel ride

As I had a week off, I decided a bike ride this morning would ease the body back into the routine.  Tomorrow, I will get back to my 200x100 intervals.

This ride was the same distance as the last one, but it did not feel as strenuous.  The thighs burned a little, but overall, it was a light workout.  I will start adding distance on the next ride.

Last week we had sandwiches catered during lunch.  The sandwiches were of good quality, but a week of them and chips and other bad (but tasty) things we consume during such things operations took a toll on me.  I feel the effects of poor nutrition for days after it is consumed.  I gotta get smarter about such things, and that alone will help my running and cycling more than anything else I can do.

I have a busy month ahead, so it will be a challenge to keep up the running.  I have a goal of at least 10 running workouts this month, but they will wind up being in 3 different states if I pull it off.

See ya tomorrow.

real life sometimes interrupts

OK, I did not fall off the face of earth, nor collapse along my running trail, nor did I take a vacation to a place which has no mobile signal whatsoever.  I worked.  I spent last week running some operational tests with new technology at our test site, which is about an hour farther from home than my office.

The commute was longer, the hours were longer, the testing brought its own set of problems and concerns, a.k.a. stresses.  When testing any new technology, there is always some degree of risk that it will not work as expected, for any one of many different reasons.  One must "pad" the time schedule to account for that risk.  Further, when testing multiple technologies, as I was last week, the risks "cascade", ever increasing the likelihood that something will go wrong.  We had four new technologies to evaluate, and wound up losing half of our test time to failures.  We cut back on the scope of the work significantly in order to fit into the remaining time at the test site.  We accomplished about 2/3 of our original objectives.  After a week of 12-16 hour days, 4-5 hours of sleep a night, I am mentally and physically pooped.

Even this morning, I still felt wiped out.  Tomorrow I will run or ride the bike, I do not know which, yet.  I need the cleansing -- both body and mind.

moving on up...

This morning I did my first 4x2 (or, for the mathematically correct, 2x1) intervals, roughly 200 meters by 100 meters.  I have the workout setup on my Garmin 620, and it buzzes me when an interval ends.

I purposely set out to control my pace, which varied between 9-10 mpm.  The right ankle (the recovering one) sent my brain signals that it was feeling some strain in the last 100 meters of the workout.  I have felt no inflammation post-run (now it is roughly one hour after the run).  I will let speed take care of itself for now, as my cadence did increase to 190 bpm -- clearly still a focal point.  There are a couple of minor tweaks I need to make, based on feedback from my bare feet.

I will fold in a bike ride (I hesitate to call it a 'workout' out of respect for those who can do actual bike workouts) tomorrow.  Establishing the habit of working out 5-6 days a weeks is an integral part of my efforts here.  Over time, of course, these workouts will be greatly extended, but I need to be patient.

Early commute today, as I am driving to one of our offices which is about an hour south of my normal office.  See you tomorrow.

laughing at myself...

I got the bicycle ready yesterday afternoon, then took it for a short (3.4 miles) ride.  The ride was on street, concrete paths, and dirt trail.  My thighs burned like a yule log, I has huffing and glad to slow down to cross intersections.  I was sure this was a solid CV workout, just by the way I felt afterwards.  I uploaded the data to Garmin Connect.  My maximum, not average, heart rate was 130 bpm -- only 70% of HRmax!  I felt like I had hit 85-90%!  I just had to laugh at myself.  Perception.  All perception.  Legs were burning, arms feeling unfamiliar stresses, different breathing patterns -- all made me think the workout was more intense than what the numbers would show.  Yet, those very same signs tell me the crossover training is needed, and will be beneficial.

The grandkids are here, and we are going to take them for a picnic lunch in the park.  I hope you have a beautiful Sunday with your family.

a mile run...

I wish I could say something wonderful about this run, so let me think....hmmm...I have it; well, two things, actually: 1) I made the contiguous run without reaching 90% of HRmax, and 2) my cadence averaged 180 spm.

As for the rest, the way back is going to be loooonnngg.  I have renewed motivation for that cross-training of which I wrote yesterday -- I need all the help I can get.   The bicycle gets readied today.  It is also time to pull out the balance board, as I could feel the weakness of the right ankle on this more durative effort.

Regarding cadence, my digital running metronome -- made by Seiko -- like its musical counterpart, can put emphasis on different beats.  I had been running with no emphasis, and therefore I ran with cadences ranging from 180 to 200.  Today, I had it emphasize every other beat, and this made it much easier to time my arm-swing.  My cadence is still not as dead-on consistent as it was (and had been) back in the spring, but that consistency was delivered out of focused effort for months.  It will come back this time, too.

Ready the bicycle, replace the garage light, get a haircut, have lunch outside on our deck, and maybe even dig around for my Bose wireless speaker (somewhere in the 'move from France' stuff), enjoy taking care of the grandkids on Sunday.  

I hope your weekend is joyful.

it's Friday; it's all good

Fridays, gotta love 'em.  The weekend is just hours away.  The work week, with all the good, hard effort to deliver as the job requires (and sometimes, then some more), is winding down to its close.  It's all good.

For me, this weekend involves my one mile run, evaluating the ankle and foot response, and finally pulling my bicycle out of mothballs (figuratively) so I can get it ready to ride.  Cross-training is important, and seldom done, by me, at least.  It is not easy to workout six days a week, no matter what regimes one is using.  I enjoy running; I enjoy resistance training.  I find it difficult to interleave three workouts of each into the week.  It is a mental thing, not a physical thing.

So, why the bicycle?  I want to "cheat the devil".  Riding a bicycle works different muscles than running, while pushing the cardiovascular (CV) system.  It is a great help to running, because it improves blood flow in different parts of the body (as does resistance training), and continues the push on the CV system (resistance training is not aerobic; it is anaerobic).  With improved blood flow in other parts of the body, there is less loading on the CV system during running, and I "cheat the devil" in getting back on track for improving distance and speed in running.  Yes, the benefits are that great from cross-training, and that is why I need to overcome my own mental hurdles in order to fold it into my regime.

Enjoy your weekend with the people you love...