Perhaps I Should Back Off a Bit...

Since my last post I've been running more than a person with my history of injury probably should given that I'm very much still in the recovery phase after an extended hiatus. I'm feeling it a bit today and I think the reason is as follows:

• Monday: Ran 30 minutes on the treadmill in Pittsburgh, pushed the pace up to 7.5mph for some reason...
• Tuesday: Ran for 50 minutes while my son's baseball team was warming up for a game (A nice tour of the neighbourhood with a quick stop at my Dad's to say hello.)
• Wednesday: Ran for 28.5 minutes with Owen, including three times up Pottery Road.
• Thursday: Ran for exactly 1 hour (my first!) to High Park from Owen's baseball practice, all the way through to the south end and back up the hills. Tough run, but definitely fun discovering a new park for running.
• Friday: No running because Owen had an out-of-town tournament that meant I had no time, which was probably a good thing.
• Saturday: After returning home from the tournament ran for a little over 46 minutes on both streets and trails trying some new trail running shoes I'd purchased in the States. Pretty good, but the top of my right foot arch hurts so not perfect.
• Sunday: Longest run to date through my old running routes in the ravines of Taylor Creek Park and the Don Valley. 1hour 5 minutes of running non-stop!!!

 And so here we are today and I am a bit sore. One off day and 4hr39m total of running (which isn't that much, but if you've been off since Summer 2011 it sure as hell FEELS like a lot!) I'm feeling it in the front of the left knee and have to watch out that I am not creating more problems for myself, not to mention that right foot arch thing that's a bit strange. I figure it was the lacing and will play with that the next time I hit the trails.

We'll see if I am successful trying to back off this week. Less than four weeks until that trail race I entered!

Clueless in Pittsburgh



Our view during the second game

 This past weekend we packed the family in the car for a road trip. Yay! I love road trips and this was a particularly fun one, for the most part, as we were off to Pittsburgh to see some baseball at what is the consensus best park in the Majors. What I didn't clue into as I was trying to book a hotel room for our stay was that this was also Pittsburgh's Marathon Weekend!!! No wonder everything near downtown was either sold out or way out of our price range.

Anyway, we drove up on Saturday, got lost as a result of yours truly screwing up the google directions, but made it to the game on time and it was amazing! The Pirates won 3-2 over the Reds and then we were treated to the best fireworks display ever. I can't believe how good it was, and it was only a "fireworks night" thing. They do this on a regular basis?! If you are a baseball fan and love a great fan experience you absolutely have to get to PNC Park. The place is so great, the views of the City had me mesmerized, and the whole experience was positive from beginning to end. We loved it so much we bought tickets to the Sunday afternoon game as well, though the Reds prevailed 5-0 and the Pirates did not put up much of a fight in that one.

The Boys are now Pirates Fans

Anyway, it was a great trip. The only thing missing was running to check out the City. The reason for that is that the streets in Pittsburgh as so freaking confusing to drive around that I was definitely afraid of getting lost. It's also very hilly, but that was more of a positive for me than a deterrent. Unfortunately, all I got to do was run for 30 minutes on the treadmill at the hotel on Monday morning before we left. At least I did that...



Off to a Shaky Start

It's funny. Even though I've now been back on the roads, and some trails, running for a month I still feel like I'm still making my way back to something resembling training. It's been very tentative at best, but I'm thankful for every step at this point. How long will it be before I'm able to go for what I'd call a "real" training run? What I mean by that is a run where I'm not 100% concentrated on the aches and pains in my body, specifically my abdomen and groin, wondering all the while if it's a "good" pain or a "whoa, stop right now or you'll be sidelined again" type of pain.

And then other crap happens to intervene. This week has me suffering from the effects of a cold that I seem to have caught over the weekend. It hit me Monday evening and forced me to abandon any exercise on Tuesday. I did manage a run on Monday night at least, and then I went out again last night for a jog over to the hill up Pottery Road. I ran down and up three times before running home for a total of 30m20s of continuous running.

In my mind thirty minutes is now a bare minimum. If I am to prepare for that trail race, which based on my research of past years' results looks like a 12.2km distance, I have to get myself up to well over an hour of running in short order. It will be a fine balance between "listening to my body" and stretching out the time of my run I suspect. Without a set training plan I don't know how I'll go about it, but I'm afraid to put together a training plan because I know I will hit a day that says I should run X amount and I'll ignore my body, just go do it, and end up hurt. Based on past experience, if it's written down I cannot NOT do it. But if I don't write up some plan will I be ready to go through 12.2km of trails safely?

Stay tuned...

(I've got less than 6 weeks to get ready.)

April 2012 Month in Review

Wow! I actually have a "review" to post! Amazing, though tempered with the fact that I'm still very much in the recovery phase from my injury and am super tentative while out on the streets or trails.

And I do realize that my stats for the month of April are nothing to write home about, but since I am not "writing home" given that I'm typing this blog thing I figured what's the harm in taking a look at my "accomplishments"?

According to Garmin Connect, where I keep all my workout stuff, I ran 16 times in April for a total of 6hr34m43s. The average run time ended up at a less than stellar 24m40s and my longest run was just 41m50s. But I'll take it!

I also worked out at the gym 18 times, and that added up to 10hr34m50s of actual "working out" time. I've been taking as little rest as possible between sets these past two months and doing more of an interval/superset type routine so most of my workouts tend to be in the 35 minute range, but I do get my heart rate up and I get a great workout, that's for sure. Perhaps that's the reason why I don't feel like I've lost all that much cardiovascular fitness? At least not as much as I thought I would given that I've been off of running since last June...

Here's hoping May keeps me running quite a bit and that my "stats" reflect slightly longer average run time and definitely longer longest run time. After all, I'm supposed to be preparing for that trail race on June 9th. Yikes!