A Belated Birthday Party

Yes, Owen turned 7 a month ago, but it wasn't until yesterday that we managed to have his party with his friends. We are loser parents, but the excuse is that his birthday falls the day before Halloween and parents are usually overpartied around that time, so we typically wait a couple of weeks for his party. This year it went a couple of extra weeks, but the kids had a great time bowling and our ears are still hurting from all the screaming and yelling...


Later in the evening, after coming down from the sugar high of the birthday cake, of which I had too many pieces, I attempted another set of chin/pull ups. At the beginning I felt really weak and I was really doubting my ability to do anywhere near as many chin ups as last time. However, I surprised myself a bit and did 9-9-9 overhand wide grip and 9-9-9-8 underhand narrow grip, for a total of 62. At this point I think the 100 push up challenge looks much more feasible than the 20 chin up challenge since I seem to be stuck at 9. The lats and shoulders give out, that's true, but more than anything my forearms are weak! I start losing grip at about the 7th or 8th chin up and have to readjust while hanging down, wasting precious energy. I have to start doing some hand and forearm strengthening on the off days I think.

The foot is still hurting a bit, so it's status quo on that front. Today is a day devoted to working on my final paper, and I am hoping to have the first draft finished by this evening so I'd better get to it.

Swimming and Pushing

This morning I made up my "missed" swim from yesterday (on account of another High School meet bouncing me from my usual lunch time sojourn). I was a little late leaving the house, but managed to bike to the pool by about 8:15. I was on deck five minutes later and ready to go. On Friday mornings only half the pool is open for drop-in lane swimming and the "fast" lane had six other people in it. The other half of the pool I can only assume is reserved for the UofT swim team, but today it was totally empty. Navigating the other swimmers was going to be a challenge also since a couple seemed to be pretty quick and the others slower than me. In the end this was not much of an issue since I could only manage 200m at a time before my shoulders screamed for rest, and that allowed me to let the faster folks pass and to find a suitable spot to start again on another 200. I think the chin ups from last night were the reason for my shoulder fatigue, but I was not expecting this at all! I managed 10X200m in 35 minutes and made it to work a bit late, but glad to have gotten the workout in.

When I arrived, my manager dropped by my desk and gave me his extra copy of Run Less, Run Faster, which was very cool. I read this book a few months ago, and now have a copy of my own to follow throughout 2009. As good as that is, it does have me thinking of some goals for the year, the first of which is to try and get my 10k under 42 minutes so that I can dream about achieving a BQ time in the marathon of 3:15. Yeah right! The book does state that that's the equivalent time for the marathon distance, but my body may have something else to say about the whole thing. For the time being I am committed to taking the rest of the year off and waiting two weeks after my foot is completely pain free before starting to run again.

Tonight we watched Monsters Inc. with the boys, and I snuck off to do my push ups and catch the end of the Raptors game on TV. The Raptors are looking OK this year, though they are continuing their historic pattern of win a few lose a few, never stringing more than three or four wins together at a time. Chris Bosh is playing like an MVP, but I'm worried that the extra minutes he seems to be playing just to keep the team around .500 will result in injury as they did every other year he's been asked to play this much.

On the push up front I completed Day 3 of Week 4 of the hundred push up challenge thusly: 29-33-29-29 and maxed out at 50 for a total of 170. I'm definitely feeling stronger with this program, and am quite confident that I'll be able to do 100 in a row by Christmas. The question that comes to mind is will I be able to keep it going afterwards? Not to do more than a hundred, but to maintain that level of strength. It seems easier somehow to work towards a goal rather that aimlessly "working out"...

What a Year!

The other day, when we were driving home from picking up our "new" used car, I started thinking about all the things that we've accomplished in 2008, or will accomplish shortly. It was one of those "taking stock" moments born of being tired of the constant barrage of chores and things "to do" that weigh on you, especially if you have little kids and have to juggle living with parenting, etc. So, even though it is not Thanksgiving in Canada, in the spirit of appreciating all that we have here's my list of stuff I'm thankful for in 2008:

• selling our house, which involved two weeks of hell getting it ready
• buying our current house, which gave us and the kids more space, and a private driveway!
• Owen completing Grade 1 with flying colours
• Owen winning the championships on two different baseball teams, and (more importantly) having a great time, learning sportsmanship, and making friends
• Malcolm improving tremendously in his speech, with the help of Monica and the speech therapist Lisa putting in a tonne of hours
• getting rid of our crappy car and replacing it with another one (we did not want to go through another winter with the doors always freezing on us, and a litany of other problems!)
• finishing my Masters Degree (in two weeks!)
• Monica getting a new job!
• Monica and I getting back into an exercise routine and losing some weight
• running our first ever races!
• Owen taking up running and competing in a couple of races (1 and 2) of his own!
• my Mom getting over some health issues and back on the road to recovery
• my Dad and his partner taking control over their health, losing weight, and looking great!
• and, most important of all, our family staying healthy and happy together. I'm so lucky!

So, that's a short list as I have many other things to be happy about, but looking back on the year we accomplished quite a bit. I look forward to a strong finish to the year, and a terrific 2009!

This afternoon I was once again bumped from my lunchtime swim by a High School swim meet, so instead I went riding my bike. I headed straight uphill for a bit, the route taking my North on University Avenue, Avenue Road up to St. Clair. There is one section there that goes up pretty steep for a decent distance, and it certainly got my heart rate up so I feel like I didn't waste my time. On the way back to the office I stopped by my physio's office, said hi to Karen, and picked up a copy of a receipt that I'd misplaced and still hadn't submitted for reimbursement.

Tonight, I did another round of chin ups, and although difficult I am making progress. I managed 9-8-7 overhand wide grip, and then 9-8-7-6 underhand narrow grip for a total of 54 "ups".

Tomorrow morning I am planning to make up the swim since they have the long course pool open from 7am until 9am and Monica has graciously agreed to deal with getting the kids to school.

Waiting, Wonky Ankle and All...

Or perhaps the title of my blog should be changed to "Waiting, Wonky Plantar Fascia and All"? Like other running bloggers I am faced with the prospect of maintaining a running blog while unable to run. Even though I am early in the process, already I find the task tedious... Where is my creative side? Maybe THAT's what's stuck in the bottom of my foot causing all this pain!?!

Then again, maybe not...

Since I am not running, I am now contemplating other ways to stay in decent cardiovascular shape. I already swim twice a week, and may add one more into the mix. I bike to and from work every day, but that amounts to between 15 and 20k and I can't really call it a workout since I never really get my heart rate up even when I try to go hard. (I have a Frankenbike that is modified to one gear and I cruise pretty easily with it, but when I push harder I just spin out.) I am also thinking that maybe picking up a stationary bike somewhere and sticking it in my house might be a good idea since I would be able to get on that thing every evening for a bit and burn some calories.

But those are all ideas at the moment, and likely will have to wait until I am finished school. For today I managed another round of push ups and some ab stuff. The push ups went better than on Monday as I did 25-29-25-25 and then maxed out at 54 for a total of 158. Then I did the exceedingly boring crunches in sets of 50, all three of them for 150. I actually did more push ups than crunches! How pathetic is that? I also started back on some hip flexor and glute exercises since I have let these slip for a long time and figure it can't hurt to do them again.

Swimming and Chinning

Official Day 2 of my self-imposed period of convalescence and, as I sit with my foot in a bucket of ice water, I am left wondering just how this non-running period will affect my weight. Specifically, I will have to pay a little more attention to eating better given that the running thing has allowed me to eat more pizza in recent weeks than I've eaten in a long long time.

This afternoon I managed a lunch time swim. I felt pretty weak and tired for some reason. I usually can do 2000m straight without stopping, but today I had to rest for a few seconds after 500m, then I stopped after another 500m and decided to mix it up a bit and started doing 100's on 1:30. I managed 8 of these before missing the interval time and finished the swim off with an easy 200 for a total of 2000m.

Tonight I managed another set of chin ups and the lethargy was still present. My sets were 8-7-6 wide grip overhand, 8-6-5-6 narrow grip underhand for a total of 46. The last set was more than the second last because I was once more distracted and lost concentration. I really must learn to block everything out when doing these...

At the Crossroads

I've come to a point where a decision must be made, and it pains me to no end to have to do this. As much as I would like to run the Boxing Day 10 Miler in Hamilton, I think that training for this race (keeping in mind that I would only run it to complete the distance and not all out) may impair my ability to train properly for the entire year of 2009. This realization comes from the fact that my foot, even though it's been OK to run on, is simply not improving.

Now, I could run through this pain, and have done so for over a month now (with that two week break after my race), but I think that a 10 miler has the potential to put me out of commission for a long time if I am not careful. My tolerance for pain is pretty good, but this works against me. Also, the guilt I feel at not training has the effect of forcing me to push through, all the while believing that things are bound to improve.

Well, they haven't. So my options, as I see them, are thus: stop running right now until I am totally healed, even if it means taking the rest of 2008 off (and here's hoping that's ALL I'd have to do!), or train until Boxing Day, run the ten miler, and then take all of January off.

I am leaning towards option #1 because:

a. I am hurting now.
b. I have to finish my Masters Degree in the next two weeks, and have to focus on my last paper. c. I have access to the gym for the rest of the year and can at least do some cardio on the stationary bikes or something.
d. I will need as much injury free time as possible to prepare for the Around the Bay 30k at the end of March.

Anyway, this is more difficult for me than I thought it would be, and I must admit that I am totally bummed out right now. Even though the weather's been totally crappy today I was still planning on a 5K this evening while biking home from work. It was then that I really started to think about the potential consequences should I continue down the path toward the 10 miler and beyond, and so I did not go running this evening. In the end the desire to be pain free, after almost two months of suffering from this plantar fasciitis, won out.

But hey, at least I can do push ups and chin ups! Tonight I managed 21-25-21-21 and then maxed out at 45 for a total of 133. I am a bit surprised that my max was lower than what I managed on Friday of last week (46) given that I had the weekend off from push ups.

8km Run, and a "new" car

This morning it took me a while to get out of bed, mostly because I was not rushed to get running and partly because it was -9 when I woke up. I guess that's somewhere in the teens Fahrenheit, and I certainly had never run in that kind of temperature. I figured it wouldn't be that bad, though, since I've skied and biked in much worse. Anyway, I finally got outside at about 8am and started in on my planned 8k. The foot doesn't hurt at all while I am running, but certainly has been achy in between, and this keeps me from pushing too hard since I know it would mean more pain. I basically just ran on feel, and discovered that I layered too much since the last few kilometres I was overheating a little. The inside of my old jacket was wet around the ends of the sleeves, and for a guy that doesn't sweat at the best of times this came as a real surprise. It will take me a bit of experimenting to find what works as far as attire in winter goes...

The run itself was fine. I completed the 8k in 42:45 for an average pace of 5:20/km. My fastest split was 5:12 (the last kilometre) and the slowest was 5:30, so I kept the pace pretty even. Given that it was really cold and my legs felt very tight at first I am a bit surprised that I managed the first K in 5:29, but I guess it was just my body trying to warm up.

The foot is hurting a bit now, but I attribute that more to the fact that we pretty much spent the entire day in the car than anything else. After my run, and breakfast, we cleaned out the old car and drove up to Bolton to pick up the 2001 Honda Civic. Paying for it took a bit of time since we had to call our bank and get authorization to make a debit payment above the daily limit, and that process was a bit of a pain. By the time it was all completed an hour at least had passed.

A bit of an aside: The new car seems to be running great! The dealership put a new set of all-season Michelin tires on it and they improved the already good ride that we experienced on our test drive. When we picked up the car we were presented with a copy of the safety inspection certificate, and emission test, a newly cleaned car ready and waiting, and the salesman went out and transferred our plates without even us noticing! My opinion of Pickard Lane Leasing couldn't be better at this point - a real pleasant surprise every step of the way.

Then we drove to Barrie, about an hour away, and had lunch with the Boys at an OK Chinese buffet restaurant. On our way there we stopped in Alliston, coincidentally where all Canadian Civics are assembled, and bought some floor mats at the Canadian Tire since the car didn't come with any.

Lunch completed, we drove to Hardwood Hills, a cross country skiing venue, and enrolled the boys in a season of lessons! Monica and I got a stack of passes for ourselves and we'll be going every Saturday morning for the entire winter as long as things work out. Should make for some great cross-training, not to mention a lot of fun!

This evening I did another chin up routine and now I must off to ice the foot. The chin ups went 9-7-6 wide grip overhand, and 7-7-6-5 narrow grip underhand for a total of 47. The first set of reps underhand was a low number, but I got distracted by my 4 year-old and couldn't maintain concentration. It's amazing how that can affect your ability to do this exercise!

Garmin don't lie.


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Getting Bumped

The makeup lunchtime swim did not happen because of a high school swim meet that was going on. I didn't even think of checking the schedule online, so live and learn. I got bumped by a bunch of high schoolers!

We watched The Polar Express with the boys tonight, and enjoyed it very much. We've had this movie out before, but for one reason or another I'd never watched it. Both of my guys really liked it, but the younger one especially since he didn't remember watching it a couple of years ago when he was only two. Now that he's four he really understood the movie and was riveted throughout the whole thing even though it ended way past his bedtime.

The only exercise I managed today was push ups as part of that whole getting to 100 by Christmas thing. The sets went 22-30-20-20 and then I maxed out at 46 to end the first week of the plan. Tomorrow morning I'll be heading out for an easy 8k, and then we're off to pick up the "new" car. I received a call from the dealer today to update us on the results of the safety inspection, and was pleased to hear that the tires did not pass so they put a new set of Michelin's on for us. I must admit that even though it was obvious as anything that the tires were pretty much devoid of tread I was expecting the mechanic doing the inspection to pass them. Perhaps I have become too cynical or something, but used car dealers have a bad reputation and this experience seems to be the exception to the rule. They also changed the wiper blades, did an oil-lube-filter job on it, and although they couldn't fix the cable that runs from the lever by the driver's seat to the trunk lid in time, the part has been ordered and once it arrives they will install it for us. So far I have nothing but positive things to say about Pickard Lane Leasing of Bolton, Ontario. I just hope the car proves to be a good one.

Unintentional day off, sort of

This morning I woke up to learn that the roads were really slippery since the plows and salt trucks are not yet working, and so decided (partly at the urging of my sweet wife, who is concerned for my safety for some reason) to not bike to work. This is all well and good, except it meant that I would not be able to go for my usual lunchtime swim since the walk is too far and the whole process would take too long. Tomorrow I will make it up, but the pool will be short course (25m long, for those not in the know) rather than my preferred long course (50m). Lots of flip turns I guess...

This evening I am awaiting a person who answered my classified add for a set of four old steel rims and tires to come by and (hopefully) buy them. We've had these things for years from a car previous even to this one that we just traded in, and it's about time I got rid of them. I'd rather they go to someone who will use them rather than give them for nothing to the dealer.

While waiting I did my chin up routine. In case I didn't make it explicit, the goal I've set out for myself is to complete 100 consecutive pushups and 20 consecutive chin ups by Christmas. Tonight's set was 8-6-5 overhand wide grip, and 8-6-5 underhand narrow grip, for a total of 38 chin/pull ups. I'm suprised I was able to do more than I managed on Tuesday, and figure it's mostly improvement in technique. But hey, that's important too!

Now I just have to find some reason to motivate myself to do more sit ups! I find them exceedingly boring, no matter what variation I've tried. If anyone has any good tricks for ab workouts that are not necessarily easy, since that would defeat the purpose, but at least easy on the brain I'd love to hear about them.

A Snowy 5K

This morning Monica and I drove out to Bolton, a town about 45 minutes northwest of Toronto, to check out a used car that we spotted online. Long story short, we liked it and bought it. It's a 2001 Honda Civic with only 59,000 kilometres on it! It's going through a safety inspection and emission test over the next couple of days, and if all goes well we'll be picking it up on Saturday. Yay! Sorry, no pics of the new wheels since they pulled the ad off the Internet, but if I feel inspired I'll take a pic once we bring it home.

In my post from this past Monday I wondered if running in -2 Celsius temperatures (and the dark I might add!) counted as a winter run. Laurel from Lily on the Road commented that in fact this did NOT count, but I wonder what she would say about my 5K this evening? Once again the temperature was somewhere in the -2 Celsius range, but this time it was snowing! Yes, by the time I got home all the sidewalks and roads were covered in snow, and it was still coming down. I got dressed, strapped on the Garmin, and headed out as fast as I could given that the snow was not slowing down and I didn't want to run on anything deeper if I could avoid it. The footing was slippery, but I stuck to the sidewalks even though the accumulation there was thicker since the roads were much more slippery, especially where cars had packed the snow down and turned it into ice underneath the freshly fallen snow. The stuff was coming down pretty good and it was getting in my eyes the entire run, but I had a great time! No accidents, lots of strange looks from many people that I passed along the way, got cut off by a couple of cars and one bus (dumb ass! you totally saw me, and did it anyway!), and made it home unscathed.

I was a bit surprised by my pacing upon uploading the data since I didn't look at the Garmin during the run, preferring to watch the road and my footing instead. I completed the 5k in 25:32 for an average pace of 5:06/km (or roughly 8:12/mile). This was a bit faster than intended, but it felt good so I'm not going to worry about it. I iced the foot down while eating dinner, and will do the whole ice water/hot water routine later after my push up routine. I think the plan calls for sets of 20-25-20-22-MAX, so we'll see what happens.

Garmin don't lie.


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Update: I had the push up numbers a little wrong as I was going on memory, so tonight the sets went 20-25-15-15 and then I maxed out at 40. Tomorrow, chin ups, pull ups, or something resembling the two as much as I can manage...

A Mostly Uneventful Day

Not much to report other than:

1. I got my flu shot today, and my shoulder feels like someone punched it a little bit.

2. I got in the pool at lunchtime again for another 2000m, this time in about 29 minutes.

I should mention that last night Monica and I started our own little 100 push up challenge. I did 14-18-14-14-35. The goal is to loosely follow the 100 push up challenge of Internet fame and to achieve 100 by Christmas.

Added to this I have started doing lots of pull ups since I put the chin up bar in the door to our bedroom (is there a difference between a "pull up" and a "chin up"?) Pretty much every time I enter or leave the room I do 5, though this is not likely to continue. However, I did a set tonight that consisted of 7-5-4 wide grip overhand, and 6-5-5 close grip underhand. Later I will get some ab work done, and do another easy and short set of lunges. The last time I did this (sometime last week) I only did 10 lunges on each leg and I definitely felt it the next day. Pathetic, I know! But that is why I have made a commitment to improving my leg strength over the winter.

Right now I have to keep moving my foot from ice water to hot water, so g'night! Tomorrow? Another 5k, perhaps even in the morning...

A Rare Morning Run

First, I must admit to some Garmin inadequacies, though I don't think user error was responsible for all my data magically (tragically) disappearing from Training Center. (I managed to get it all back by exporting each workout from Motionbased as a .hst file, saving it onto my computer, and then importing it back into the Training Center software to rebuild the history.) What a pain, but at least it's back. I've just been tipped that the software stores the data in some proprietary format as one file somewhere in the dark depths of Windows, so I will have to look for that and back it up once in while...

This morning I dragged myself out of bed and went out for an easy 5k in below freezing temperatures. Does this count as my first official winter run? Who knows, but it wasn't that bad and the run felt pretty easy save for the first kilometre, which I took at barely a jogging pace in order to get the blood moving. Here's where the Garmin dumbness comes in: I forgot to reset the watch from Monica's run the day before and the thing thought I was just adding distance to her 15k run! For a moment I thought the watch was frozen from the cold and wasn't moving, but then realized the "time" wasn't stuck at 2:02 (minutes and seconds), but rather was displaying the hours and minutes that elapsed from the beginning of Mon's run. No secret here, she's likely getting her own 305 from Santa...

As mentioned above, the beginning of the 5k was really slow and my first K took 6:24 to complete. After that I settled into a nice pace right around the 5:30/km mark and finished in 28:34 for an average pace of 5:42/km (roughly 9:10/mile).

The only issue with this run was that I didn't have time to ice afterwards, and my foot felt a bit tighter than normal all day. Nothing to worry about, but I might have to leave even earlier to work that into the plan if I am to do more of these dark morning runs.

Garmin don't lie.

Here's the running route, combined with Monica's 15k as a result of my Garmin SNAFU:


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Sun"Day" Off

Last night I was feeling pretty good from my 7k run, but I was super tight in the muscle(s) on the right/front side of my right leg. I think it's the one that pulls the foot up into dorsiflexion and also acts to absorb shock when you land. I've never experienced shin splints so I don't really know what they feel like, but I must admit that I was somewhat worried that this may be what I was experiencing. I massaged it, I stretched every muscle I could from the hips down, and even got creative with trying to get that particular area to feel a good stretch. I then popped a couple of ibuprofen before bed and hoped for the best in the morning. Luckily today the muscle feels almost back to normal, so maybe I dodged a bullet. The body adapts to everything without me noticing it and I think that's cool, but I sure wish it would just hurry up and adapt to letting me run pain free for a while!

Also yesterday I found my chin up bar that's been packed up in the garage since our move back in May and installed it. I also blew up our yoga ball and am starting to get prepared for home workouts when my gym membership expires in January and I no longer have access to weights in the same way. The gym that I go to is called Frog's Gym, and it totally sucks. The people running it don't care about it at all, the place is always dirty, running out of paper towels and spray for cleaning off machines, and the treadmills are always breaking down and not getting fixed. Last year my wife and I prepaid one year's worth as a way of making a commitment to exercise, but I think the running has us inspired enough to continue without the gym in the picture. In short, they haven't earned my repeat business. I figure that between push ups, sit ups, chin ups, lunges and stuff I will have enough resistance exercises to keep me fit in the upper body and support my running.

Tomorrow calls for another easy 5k, and I am considering getting it done in the morning before work. We'll see if I can drag my ass out of bed in time!

Oh I forgot! I picked up the Tom Jordan book Pre on Friday and finished it that night. Over the weekend I read it again, and it's obvious that I enjoyed it. Although I still can't put my finger on just why Prefontaine continues to garner attention, and he certainly has mine, but I think at least a little of the fascination is a result of his dying at such a young age. No doubt he was a terrific athlete, and his approach to racing, charismatic personality, and dogged fight against the corrupt AAU are part of the complete picture as well. The biggest impression I was left with after reading the book is that Pre was such an energetic person, always doing multiple things as fast as possible, trying somehow to fit more into the day than anyone else - it's almost as if he subconsiously knew that his time on the planet was limited and he had to get as much done as possible before it was too late. Anyway, if you haven't read the book check it out. Though it is mostly an account of his races from high school until his death, included are numerous personal accounts by people who came into contact with Pre that help to paint a picture of the person and not only the runner.

Back Outside Running, Losing Data!

I finally stopped neglecting the Garmin and got outside for a run today! My foot is slowly (too slowly for my liking, mind you) getting better, and I am now convinced that the footwear was to blame. While out and about looking for cars last Tuesday we stopped by an Outlet Mall and I picked up another pair of running shoes, making me feel a little like I am getting too obsessed with running shoes. The deal was too good to pass up! Even though they were a couple models old, the Mizuno Wave Nirvana 2's felt so good that I had to get them. On top of that, they had then in 12.5 so I figured it was meant to be. You can't really go too far wrong at $69.00 either...

Anyway, these were final sale and, while I am still considering keeping or returning the Wave Inspire 4's that I bought a week ago, the other new shoes allowed me to head outside in the rain for an easy 7k. It's been raining here since last night pretty much non-stop, and I was sort of waiting for the rain to stop since I didn't really feel too hot about the treadmill yet again. By mid afternoon I just decided to run in the rain, and it was great - the run felt really easy, the foot was fine, and I got pretty wet but was not cold. I managed the 7k in 38:56, for an average pace of 5:33/km. I wasn't paying attention to the Garmin while running and was shocked with the final time and pace since I felt like I was running in the 6:00/km or slower range. The average heart rate for the run was 154bpm, and that too surprised me since I wasn't breathing hard or anything. Looking at the data I was under 80% of max HR for most of the run, so that means I was in the right zone.

The other thing that happened, which I only just realized, is that the Garmin Training Center software seems to have completely lost all of my training data! It's all gone, and without the screenshot I took of today's run when I uploaded this afternoon I wouldn't know the above details. Has anyone else have this happen to them? Were you able to get the data back? HELP! A total bummer for an otherwise good day of running...

I never managed to discuss my racing schedule for 2009 yesterday, but there is tonnes of time to get to that. Just too busy to really note my thoughts on the matter in blog format. I will get to it at some point, and also discuss the training plan for the year to coincide with the schedule for advice, etc...

Garmin don't lie.


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Without Limits (Except when it comes to facial hair)

Last night I watched the movie Without Limits. I picked it up on Tuesday while grocery shopping for $5! How could I lose, right? Naturally, I couldn't and the movie did not disappoint. I enjoyed it very much, though I would not call it cinematic genius or anything. I could have done without the whole college crush angle, but the race scenes were great and Billy Crudup is Pre reincarnate - the resemblance is eerie! My main impressions were that Steve Prefontaine was a tremendous runner (duh!), Donald Sutherland is great and still Canadian (duh?), Monica Potter shares a first name with my wife (duh?), and I can't grow a mustache so will never be able to play Steve Prefontaine in another movie about his life (d'oh!). Yes, that's the only reason why I couldn't play Pre. What? Lack of speed? No muscle tone? CGI people, C.G. friggin' I.!

(I do realize that facial hair is easily done with makeup, but that would cheapen the whole thing don't you think?)

Anyway, after that movie I am even more motivated to run, and visit Oregon again cuz the view from Bill Bowerman's fictional home was awesome! However, I am sticking to the new plan and did not run today. Instead, I made my way through the rain on my bike to the swimming pool for another lunchtime swim. The process can be summed up with "wet-dry-wet-dry-wet-dry". I sound like a broken record here, but once more the thing lasted 2000m in 30 minutes, and I am NOT getting any faster... Maybe if I could grow a mustache like Mark Spitz then I might be able to play him in a movie, and gain some speed? Hmmm... Damn lack of facial hair has been holding me down all this time and I am just waking up to these shackles! But at least I save on expensive razorblades. Is it just me, or are these things made of oil or something because the price of a set of blades has gotten ridiculous! I say they're the reason the economy is tanking like the Exxon Valdes, not sub-prime mortgages. Unless, of course, you have to borrow money to buy disposable razor blades...

This afternoon I was supposed to get another treatment at the chiropractor's, but they had my office phone number noted incorrectly and so I never got the message that he was sick. Two issues with this thing: 1. for some reason, to them my "4" looks like a "5" on the form I filled out (and apparently it's my fault!), and 2. they can't refund the charge onto my credit card for the prepayment I made for the session! Say what? Your swipey machine thing is somehow missing the minus sign or something? There is nothing that sours me more on a business than poor customer service. Good impressions last until the next visit, bad impressions last forever and some people just don't get that.

Anyway, tomorrow is another off day, and perhaps I will try to elaborate on my developing racing plans for 2009. If you haven't noticed, the list on the right side of this page is growing and I am getting more and more excited about the prospect of running lots of races next year. The question remains, how much is too much?

Another 5k on the Treadmill

Today my wife and I enjoyed a day of freedom on account of it being Remembrance Day. Although only government employees like us get the day off, I think a lot of places were closed until noon to let people honour the memories of those who serve, served, and especially those who lost their lives in battle. In case some are not aware, Remembrance Day is celebrated on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month every year and has its origins in World War I. Naturally, we paused for a moment of silence at 11am.

Other than that, we spent the day driving our crappy car around the GTA to various dealerships as we are scouting out a replacement for our current automobile, which is dying a painful and noisy death in its 12th year of existence. We didn't buy anything, nor did we expect to on our first day, but we got our feet wet in the whole negotiating and dealing with car salesmen realm. I cannot express how much I loathe the entire experience...

Once we returned home I headed off to the gym for another slow and short run on the treadmill, and then some weights. I once again ran for 30 minutes at 6.2mph, which translates to 5k at 6:00/km pace. I think my body is still working out the kinks that have been left over from the 10k race a couple of weeks ago, but it felt pretty good all things considered. As much as I hate the treadmill, I am happy to be running again. Also, I am committed to listening to all of your kind comments on taking it easy and plan on running slow and short, adding a little bit of mileage each week as I go. I really hope that the foot continues to improve the way that it has been, but if I have a setback then I will take more time off. I committed to that 30k race at the end of March, but not the 10 miler on Boxing Day so I guess I really don't have to run that one if it comes down to a decision between staying healthy or racing...

I really hope I don't have to make that decision!

My short weight workout was quick and light:

• Dumbell Bench Press 12-12-12 45lbs
• Lat Pulldowns 12-12-12 115lbs
• Rope Triceps Extensions 12-12 40lbs
• Dumbell Flys 12-12 20lbs
• Dumbell Biceps Curls 10-10 20lbs

Making a Commitment

Although I am not really ready to start heavy training, and am hesitant about starting back into some easy running, I have made a commitment to a race and distance that just a few weeks ago I would have though was unthinkable. No, I am not planning on any marathon or anything, but I have registered for the Around the Bay race in Hamilton in late March, 2009. 30k here I come!!! I'm going right past the half-marathon distance for some unknown reason! This may be nuts, but I am not willing to miss this opportunity by waiting until the last minute only to be disappointed because this race has an entrance limit. This is the oldest distance race in North Americe and also very popular, so I decided to pull the trigger now. In the same spirit, I almost registered for the Boxing Day 10 miler, also in Hamilton, but because that is a lot sooner I thought I'd better see how the foot feels over the next two weeks and then make that decision. I am still fully committed to running in this race also, but for some reason I don't have the same sense of urgency to register right now.

Tonight I am not running on the treadmill, or doing anything else. I have some schoolwork that I need to finish and submit, and then I will do the whole ice bath thing on the foot. My treatment this morning was positive in that the doctor said I can start running nice and easy since that won't do any more damage to the foot, but also painful as hell when he worked on some muscle stiffiness I've had in my upper hip / lower back area. It was one of those experiences where I couldn't help laughing because the pain was so crazy! Someday this body of mine will adapt.

It HAS to!

And lastly, my lovely wife forced me to hobble up the stairs to check on the boys and here is what I found: my 4 year-old fancies himself to be some sort of Aquaboy! Do we take the goggles off and risk waking him up, or leave them on and risk him having massive circles around his eyes all day tomorrow?

5k Test Drive

I'm not really 100% as far as being pain free in the foot or anything, but I think I am on the way to recovery enough to start back slowly into running. The added motivation of my new pair of shoes also had me itching to run, and so I hit the gym and it's treadmill today. I had to test drive the new sneakers, after all. And since I can return them as long as I try them out indoors, the treadmill was my only option.

I walked for ten minutes to loosen up and then started off at 6.2mph on my planned 30 minute run. This equated to a 5k at 6:00/km pace, also known as nice and slow. It was certainly not a cardio workout or anything, but at least it was something two weeks to the day after my first race. The foot felt fine for the first twenty minutes or so and then started to tighten up a bit. The shoes felt great, and I did not feel like they were forcing me to pronate the same way that the New Balance 1062s did, which I still think was the cause on my foot pain in the arch. In short, I think the Mizuno Wave Inspiration 4s made a great first impression, and I will hit the treadmill again this week to continue to test them out during the return/exchange period.

Afterwards I spent about a half hour dipping my foot in ice water for a minute, then hot water for a minute, etc... I think this helps, though at the beginning it certainly was not what I consider fun. I can't imagine sitting in an ice bath!

One last thought: does anyone else feel like they are neglecting their Garmins when using a treadmill? I sure do! Nothing to plug into the laptop, no metrics, no graphs... Feels like I've only half-ran or something.

New Shoes, a bit of a Suprise

This morning we were on a mission to get haircuts for the boys, and as is typical of our family this little adventure took a bit longer than expected. By the time the boys were trimmed and we were ready to take on the rest of the day, it was lunchtime! The little guys were great, and I can't say they were solely responsible for the entire morning being devoted to accomplishing one thing. They are also looking very cute, but I realize I'm less than objective here...

The second thing I wanted to accomplish was to check out some running shoes, and hopefully buy a new pair. After their haircuts, the four of us went into the Running Room in the Beaches. It was not busy at all, and the store was smaller than I expected. I knew right away that the chances of me walking out of there with a new pair of runners was slim to none. Nevertheless, I tried on a couple of pairs of shoes, though they both were size twelve and obviously too small. It was worth stopping by, I suppose, but the young girl working there did not seem to have much experience or confidence in here abilities to recommend shoes. Too bad...

After lunch we piled in the car and headed off to Markham to visit Running Free. This store was much bigger with a great selection of shoes, as expected. I was helped by another young lady, but in this case she definitely seemed to know what she was talking about and was a great help. I tried on seven or eight different pairs of shoes, did some running on the treadmill in the store, and took a good long time trying on a variety of shoes: Asics, Saucony, New Balance, Mizuno, Brooks were the brands I tried, and a couple of different models in a few of them. In the end it came down to a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 4's and Saucony ProGrid Ride's. Miraculously, the Mizunos were available in size 12.5, and although the Saucony's were 13 they fit really well. The Brooks Adrenaline's were a close third, but they felt like there was not enough cushioning in them for the long haul. The Saucony's had probably the best cushioning, and I would have taken them had the Mizuno's not felt so good. In reading up on shoe selection, I continuously came across advice that said you should look for shoes that make you feel like you aren't even wearing anything, and these hit the mark. On top of that, they felt awesome when I was running on the treadmill, and they are super light. I will test them out on the treadmill at the gym before deciding whether or not they are keepers since I can still return them as long as they are not used outdoors, but I can't see why these won't work. They have the right balance of cushioning and stability, with a little bit of arch support and I am hopeful they will be THE ones. It's funny, I never would have considered Mizuno in the past, but going into this ready to try anything and not wanting to limit my options I think I ended up with a potentially great shoe.

As far as the foot is concerned I am still feeling pain, but I think things are slowly getting better. I think the key for me to getting back to running is to take it easy and keep my pace really slow for the foreseeable future. I hope to begin this week, starting with a test of the new shoes on the treadmill, what will become my winter of base building. I also want to get into some leg strengthening, but I think I will hold off on that for another couple of weeks while the foot continues to heal.

Movie Night with the Boys

We watched Kung-Fu Panda tonight, this being the not too uncommon "movie night" for the boys, and it was a lot of fun. I don't know how much of the movie either one of them actually got, but there were plenty of parts that they absolutely found hilarious. Lots of physical humour, as much as that is possible in cartoon form. I also found it quite funny. On a more serious note, the one line I think I will always remember from this movie is, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, and today a gift. That is why they call it a present." Hmmm...

On the running front I have no news. The foot is sore, but mostly from the plantar fascia that the good doctor rubbed the hell out of yesterday. I am looking forward to finding some new shoes since the more I think about it the more I am convinced that my current pair is not helping matters, but rather exacerbating the problem. Also, thank you all for your kind comments that reinforce the idea that the right footwear helps to prevent injuries. There are some articles out there about the myth that expensive running shoes are better than cheap ones, but these "studies" are debunked by some sound arguments. In the end, a cheap shoe may work for you, and if so then great. It's kind of like a good cheap wine to a wine drinker - if you like it then the lower price just makes it that much better, but has nothing to do with the taste.

G'night!

Back in the Gym

After my regular lunchtime swim, where I managed another 2000m in 30 minutes (doesn't seem like I'm getting any faster yet...) I went to see the doc for another treatment. While there I brought up the whole shoe issue, and my suspicions that the current NB 1062's I've been wearing might be the cause of my foot problems. After a bit of a discussion, and a close look at the shoes I was wearing (not my running shoes since I neglected to bring them with me) it seems I might be looking for runners that offer good cushioning and some stability to support my arches. I guess that's what I will be looking for, starting this Saturday when I visit a great running store in Markham called Running Free. Apparently they really know their stuff, and I will spend as much time and try on as many shoes as possible to come up with something that will hopefully work out in the long term.

Tonight I managed to get back in the gym for some light weights. I feel pretty weak, having missed a few weeks, and I'm sure the candy I've been consuming during and post Halloween is not helping matters either. I took it real easy...

• Crunches 50-40-30-20-10
• Bench Press 12-12 115lbs
• Seated Rows 12-12 100lbs
• Lateral Flys 15-15 15lbs
• Lat Pulldowns 12-12 115lbs
• Dumbell Biceps Curls 12-12 25lbs
• Triceps Extensions 15-15 50lbs

What a Night!

An historic election in the US, and I am very pleased with the result. Being Canadian, and unable to vote, I was still pulling for Obama to win, and I was hoping he would do so handily so that there would be no questions over his legitimacy. It'll be great to see what his leadership can bring over the next four years, and, if worthy, four more after that. Canada could sure use an intelligent and charismatic leader as we haven't had one in a long long time...

Other than that I find myself wondering what to write about these days. I am in r'n'r mode, waiting for things to heal up, and am unable to report any running activity on what is a running blog. That being said, I am thinking that perhaps my foot issue can be attributed to footwear and am wondering if perhaps my New Balance shoes, nice as they are, may be doing more harm than good. More conscious than ever of my running "style", if you can call it that, I notice that these shoes force my foot to pronate more than the Asics I was wearing before. This can be attributed to the super shock absorbing material that is on the outer edge of the sole of the shoe, which does not compress very much. I guess it is normal to go through different models of shoes before finding the right one, or is it? I am considering ordering the current version of my Asics shoes and seeing if they make a difference. I say ordering, of course, because I am in the minority with my 12.5 size feet and must "special order" with a "down payment" anything that is not in stock. I have to find a store that carries all the major brands in 12.5 so I can actually try them on rather than working blind.

No activity today, but I am back into doing the ice water - warm water routine for the foot, which is good. In fact, I have to go do that now!

Swimming 2k, and the Lumbar Blues

Another lunchtime swim today - 2000m in 30 minutes. I think all the lying around in bed on the weekend, or the 30 minutes on the stationary bike last night, did something to my lower back cuz it hurts today. It's like I picked up one of my kids early in the morning or something, except I don't have that excuse. I'm not worried about it, as much as it really does hurt, because I suspect it was the stationary bike thing - I didn't spend much time setting up the bike properly...

The other thing that I really don't want to admit may be the cause of the pain is that we got a new mattress this weekend, and it's super nice. My wife loves it, and I like it too, but if that's the reason my back is seizing up then things are going to be a little strained on the home front. I'll be like, "Either that mattress goes, or I go!" And she'll be like, "Can I help you pack?"

Perhaps a good soiling will bring her onside???

I was planning on going to the gym for some weights tonight, but will have to see how my back feels when that time comes around. Maybe I'll go and just do a lot of stretching, some ab stuff (I've been totally neglecting core strength for the past three weeks, and that might be another reason for the lumbar blues) and maybe some lying down resistance crap. We'll see.

Then again, a couple of Robaxacets may be the thing to do for tonight, then just settle in and watch the election stuff, complete with mucho controversies to keep the advertisers happy no doubt.

Doctor Knows Best. ... maybe.

The foot still hurts, and it looks like another week of no running for me based on my assessment with the doctor this morning. Although I realize that the pain is squarely localized in the foot, I don't think you'd disagree with me if I call it a real pain in the ass...

Not wanting to go completely to veg, I got on the stationary bike at the gym and managed 30 minutes at a decent effort level. In fact, I even had beads of sweat on one of my forearms! Yes, just one, and I have no idea why only on one arm, but it was a bit strange. Also, I tend not to sweat much at all at the best of times, so it was also a bit weird on that account.

Now, I am watching the SNL Presidential Bash, and it is very funny, in a disturbing kind of way. Tina Fay's portrayal of Sarah Palin is priceless.

Sick in bed

Yes, I've been off the blog for a few days, having caught a nasty cold. I managed a half-day at work on Friday, tied up some loose ends, cancelled some afternoon meetings, then spent the rest of the afternoon in bed. Saturday, ditto. Now it is Sunday afternoon and I've been in bed all day yet again, though I seem to finally be coming out of it. Whatever this bug was, it was strong, that's for sure.

At least the foot got some more rest, not that I planned on running this weekend anyway, wanting to give it at least a full week after the race to recover. I have another treatment with the doctor tomorrow morning, and I am sort of planning to go for a 5k or so jog tomorrow evening if the foot feels up to it. At the moment I think it should be OK.

Given the fact that I've gotten nothing accomplished in the last couple of days, that's all I have for now.