and so it begins (again)

sunday, 10.75 miles . . .

today it begins. the new training program with four weeks of base building. welcome my old friends. ice baths. long runs. marathon pace. three gels. something always sore.

and then there is the big one. no sugar. the rule is if sugar (dextrose, high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, etc.) is in the first three ingredients, then i don't eat it. with the exception of chocolate milk as a recovery drink and syrup with my pancakes at the otis cafe. this rule is held in effect until after the eugene marathon, the first week in may.

the discovery from saturday of massaging out that left inner thigh has truly saved me. i felt strong this morning. my legs free, nimble, relatively pain free. fog was starting to set in but i was about 30 minutes too early. while driving to church, it completely surrounded me. i would have loved to run in that.

i feel like i could have ran more, but time was against me.

i used my ninja hoodie for the first time and lifted it up over my lower jaw. it was amazing. warm, yet breathable, the ears and neck completely covered, with the constant option of either covering the lips and nose or dropping it off the jaw.

also used a watch my wife bought me that has a vibrating alarm so i don't wake up her or the baby for my runs. worked great.

monday, 14.25 miles . . .

a cool, misty, high fog, slight drizzle day. the new watch failed to wake me up this morning. finally opened my eyes on my own an hour late. i probably needed this sleep.

this was a strange phenomenon. the pace felt like a push that was harder than normal. my breathing, my muscles, everything seemed to be staining just a bit more than i like on an easy run. but then at mile 8, something switched. something changed. it was instantly easy and effortless. i was going to only do 13 because of the watch debacle, but i was feeling too good and the weather was too nice. these are the moments that you just have to grab at as a runner. put in more miles when you are feeling great so that you may put in less when you aren't.

there were quite a few runners out. people i had never seen on the streets before. this is a strange season to pick up this sport.

the motivating thought of the day. the only difference between 'i'm doing it' and 'i did it' is time. the idea here is that nothing will stop me. these four weeks of base training is already done in my mind, time just has to catch up with it. i've already qualified for the olympic trials, time just has to catch up with it. so i will be patient and know that i'm already there.

the things we try

left thigh continued to cause pain throughout the morning especially when standing up.

i tried to stretch it out, trying various stances. the traditional splits, a deep lunge, a deep lunge with my left foot raised, a strange contortion involving a slanted lunge, twisted hip, and one arm up in the air. none of these seemed to quite get the spot.

i tried the stick. i threw my leg up on a stool and rolled it out. but i couldn't get high enough on the thigh. next i tried sitting on the ground and driving the handle into the spot. this seemed to help a bit but i still couldn't get deep enough. next i tried laying on my bed sideways, straddling the stick and using my body weight. this got me closer.

and then suddenly through all of these attempts, it came to me. i put one end of the stick on the piano bench and the other on the bed frame. i got on my side and laid down. i set my left thigh on the stick and rolled my body across it.

this was the pain i was looking for. the runner is so tuned into his body, he knows the difference between a good pain and a bad pain. there is a pain that brings healing in the hurt. it is deep, brings tears to the eyes, makes you all hot and sweaty, but in the end you know it is good. so you count to ten, as slow as you can muster and you push through it. like a track workout, like an ice bath, like passing on the homemade apple pie. you push because you know that this will bring you one step close to your goal.

so i lift up my ceramic mug half filled with lukewarm french press coffee that i made over two hours ago and have already microwaved once and toast to the good pain that brings me the confidence for tomorrow.

lessons from my left thigh

6 miles . . .

left inner thigh is really tight. i worked it out quite a bit before and after the run, but still the pain is persisting. when i turn my leg in just the right (or wrong) way it is a sharp, piercing type of sensation. i've got to start focusing on this area before it actually affects my running like last marathon training. it got so bad that the first couple miles was all pain causing a shorter stride. the plan? stretching, rolling, and i need to do some strength exercises. i'm thinking of some plyometrics?

needles to say, this doesn't instill within me great confidence as i enter into these four weeks of base training. i had this concept that i would be going into it strong, rested, recovered, and above all mentally ready to tackle this 20+ week training cycle (which will be the most intense of my short marathon career). instead, i struggled through this meager six mile run like it was a tempo run. and this after a week off and low mileage.

i guess the best i can hope for now is to put this run behind me and start focusing on what i need to focus on.

four weeks.

big miles.

6:44 pace.

exceptionally unexceptional

13 miles . . .

a run without anything exceptional happening. which in and of itself is exceptional because it has been one week and one day since the s.n.s. surgery. so to have nothing truly tragic or monumental happen on a 13 mile run where i hit an average of 6:42 is wondrous. it's funny how those little doubts began to hit you in times of rest but it feels like i didn't lose any of my fitness. not to say that this was an easy run. rather it was a constant see saw between ease and minor discomfort. much of the way it felt a week ago.

some of my minor aches which were gone yesterday started creeping back in slowly throughout this run. particularly my left inner thigh and the bottom of my right foot. but only slightly.

i started late enough to miss all of the morning rain and actually near the end the sun broke through the thin layer of grey.

on the very last mile, i saw someone i went to college with and see at the coffee shop from time to time because he started dating one of the barristas. this is the third time i've seen him running in the past week. he use to be a soccer player but now has moved to the only true sport left.

one more day left and then the base building begins for the eugene marathon.

one hundred percent

9 miles . . .

today i am back and better than ever. i feel my strength, speed, and endurance completely back but with even something more. it's like these six days rest was a pushing of a reset button on all of my minor aches and tightness that never quite escalates to an injury so you just run through it. you stretch, roll, ice as much as you can but still they slowly persist. on this run, they were all gone. i ran completely pain free and hit my 6:44 pace early on and never went over it.

a slight misty mixed rain slowly descended unending upon me throughout the entire run, like running through a thick wet fog. grey skies overtook the sun just before i started. i caught a slim glimpse of it standing on my deck judging the temperature. its edges were softened by the cloud covered sky. it was incredible. i was hoping it would stick around for a bit during my run. no such luck.

already my wife has made these amazing cinnamon roll type creations of moist dough, sugar, and butter. my goal is to eat no sweets for the day.

let's see what happens.

working out the bugs

4.4 miles . . .

woke up a little tender but not swollen in 'the area.' took some ibuprofen, slid into my tights, and hit the streets. today was that beautiful day that i dream of. crisp, foggy, blue sky. mmmmm.

the first mile felt really awkward and rusty. but i wasn't worried about my pace. hung around 7:10's or so. and i just ran. freedom. peace. all of those worries from a few days ago about losing my love for my mistress vanished on this run.

and then something strange . . .

every block or so, my pace kept creeping faster and faster without my really trying. things loosened up. i fell into my old pace from two weeks ago and hung there easily. 6:49. and then it began to creep lower. in the final half mile, i was at 6:46 a mere 2 seconds from my pace before the surgery.

so i pushed a little. and right before the 4.4 my watch read 6:44. excellent.

zero to sixty in 1.1

2.2 miles . . .

what a way to come back into running after all these sedentary days. i'm sure this goes against all conventional wisdom, but i just couldn't help myself. i got an email inviting me to the nike campus to test out the 2010 lunar racers that they are in the process of developing. i was a little unsure if i would be able to do it, since i started getting a little swollen from the surgery on one side. but i started taking ibuprofen, icing with frozen sweet peas, and wearing boxers. so by today, i was pretty much back to normal.

there were four of us at the test. there were two different pairs that we had to try, looking for similarities and differences. it was a .33 mile lap that we would run three times in each pair. the first would be at a typical training pace. the second at tempo. the third at 5k race pace. something about when the word race hits my ears. it became a race. not a test. not a first day back. a race. between me and three other guys on the nike campus.

fortunately, nothing ended up hurting and i think it ended up loosening things more than anything else. the first pair i tried on were 10x better than the current model of lunar racers. they had a better fit, especially in the uppers and at the achilles tendon, where i typically get a little blister in the old model. they handled great around the many turns this loop had. and they were super fast and responsive.

then i laced up the second pair. noticed an instant difference. softer and more flexible sole instead of the rigidity typical in the racer. reminded me more of the lunar trainer. if the first shoe was a 9, this was a 10. this shoe was amazing. hopefully i'll be able to do a longer term trial with these because that 1.1 mile loop was just too short.

i also got a ten dollar gift certificate, a pair of lunar trainers, and another trip to the nike employee store.

all in all, a great day back to running.