Body On Ice
My body is welcoming me to the consequences of high mileage one pain at a time. My first visitor arrived from the calf region bringing tightness with him. As the tightness subsided, I found it "slid" up onto the side of my calf (near the bone) and represents more of a bruise then anything. Symptom is soreness. Ok, visitor #2 declares than any motion other than perfect running form will be painful in the groin muscles. So, no turning, jumping, twisting, side stepping, etc. On Monday I found my left foot hurt from the "pounding" which I attributed to the used up sneakers. Pain was centered in the bottom of the foot with slight pain reaching up to the left side. Changed into new shoes for this morning's 15 miler and the right heel started sending out signals of sharp pain intermittently. Unfortunately, I was 8 miles from the house when this occurred. Should an arm fall off tomorrow, I won't be surprised.
Frozen peas today. Yesterday it was cauliflower but I got hungry. Canceled my lunch supplemental 6 miler for an ice regimen. I was expecting to be besieged with aches and pains and indeed I am. My concern is two-fold: 1) lasting injury and 2) reduction in mileage. I need to avoid #1 while minimizing #2. I have experienced all of these "injuries" before and I have found nothing satisfies like rest and ice. Today I have iced both feet and I am hoping tomorrow's 12 miler won't be painful. If it is, I'll have to start taking whole days off instead of reducing the supplemental. We shall see.
Speaking of tomorrow's 12 miler: it is supposed to be "hilly" but I haven't had a chance to measure out a particular course where there are hills about 7 miles outside of town (what we refer to as "up country" or "off island"). Therefore, I will do the same course as my 10 miler but add in the required 2 miles. The course is hilly of a sorts - just short hills. The thought of driving 15 to 20 minutes to get to the start of tomorrow's run doesn't appeal to me tonight. I think this is mainly due to the sore feet. Once I am feeling fresh again I will consider going out of town.
I took last Saturday off to rest my calf muscle that got very sore from last Friday morning's workout with Eric. Sunday, I met up with Marc for our final farewell run. We ran 15 at the Moosehorn in 2:18:28. Calf was ok and we ran nice and easy. End of an era I guess. I can't remember how Marc & I started running together but it was shortly after he moved to the area to build the Downeast Heritage Center. We started running after work together - that is when I could lure him away from a soccer game. I think he played for the Tobacco Titans or the Buzzin' Beer Broncos - I can't remember which. Anyway, I offered a healthier alternative to aging overweight has-beens rushing about booting balls at each other. Eventually, we started running THE LONG RUN each Sunday morning. We ran through heat, wind, snow, rain, sleet, cold, and a herd of deer all the while keeping up a chat that lasted the 3 hours. When I think back, I remember some great times as well as the funny. Here are a few snaps:
1. The run through the blizzard. One day it snowed so hard during our lunch time run we were pushing snow with our knees running down the middle of the street. At one point I fell and disappeared. When I got back to the bank, we had closed due to the weather.
2. The Nova Scotia Marathon. At mile 10 we simultaneously burst out of adjacent port-o-potties like greyhounds at the bell. There was a small crowd cheering wildly for us. This particular circumstance has yet to repeat itself.
3. The continous headwind in the cold rain/snow. 20 miles of cold wet wind in Marc's face doesn't make him happy. My continual optimistic "we'll be out of this in a second" didn't help either.
Mile after mile we stored up long runs for the chance to qualify for Boston. He convinced me that "cotton kills" and introduced me to Gu. I, on the other hand, convinced him that driving the 30 minutes to my house at 5am on a lazy Sunday morning was just the ticket to starting your day right: 20 before 9 was the motto. When we first started running 20 on a regular weekly basis we had to take the rest of the day to recover - it wiped us out. Then we slowly became adapted to the workout and no longer needed to sleep on the couch all day. However, running 20 became a social sport and if one couldn't go, odds were the other would find an excuse to not to run as well. So gone are the days when I pen in the log book "20 with Marc - nice run, good chat". Now it's 20 lonesome unless I can convince Eric he's just aching to run marathons. He assures me weekly he has the fortitude to resist the temptation. How can this be?
So with the Final Run with Marc over, the week ended with 96 miles in the logbook. The new week began on Monday with 10.4 in 1:13:00 (7:18 avg pace), 6 supplemental with Eric in 53:10 and 6 supplemental at lunch in 48:47. Today saw 15.2 in 2:05:52 (8:17 avg pace).
Gotta catch some sleep. Good running to all.
Frozen peas today. Yesterday it was cauliflower but I got hungry. Canceled my lunch supplemental 6 miler for an ice regimen. I was expecting to be besieged with aches and pains and indeed I am. My concern is two-fold: 1) lasting injury and 2) reduction in mileage. I need to avoid #1 while minimizing #2. I have experienced all of these "injuries" before and I have found nothing satisfies like rest and ice. Today I have iced both feet and I am hoping tomorrow's 12 miler won't be painful. If it is, I'll have to start taking whole days off instead of reducing the supplemental. We shall see.
Speaking of tomorrow's 12 miler: it is supposed to be "hilly" but I haven't had a chance to measure out a particular course where there are hills about 7 miles outside of town (what we refer to as "up country" or "off island"). Therefore, I will do the same course as my 10 miler but add in the required 2 miles. The course is hilly of a sorts - just short hills. The thought of driving 15 to 20 minutes to get to the start of tomorrow's run doesn't appeal to me tonight. I think this is mainly due to the sore feet. Once I am feeling fresh again I will consider going out of town.
I took last Saturday off to rest my calf muscle that got very sore from last Friday morning's workout with Eric. Sunday, I met up with Marc for our final farewell run. We ran 15 at the Moosehorn in 2:18:28. Calf was ok and we ran nice and easy. End of an era I guess. I can't remember how Marc & I started running together but it was shortly after he moved to the area to build the Downeast Heritage Center. We started running after work together - that is when I could lure him away from a soccer game. I think he played for the Tobacco Titans or the Buzzin' Beer Broncos - I can't remember which. Anyway, I offered a healthier alternative to aging overweight has-beens rushing about booting balls at each other. Eventually, we started running THE LONG RUN each Sunday morning. We ran through heat, wind, snow, rain, sleet, cold, and a herd of deer all the while keeping up a chat that lasted the 3 hours. When I think back, I remember some great times as well as the funny. Here are a few snaps:
1. The run through the blizzard. One day it snowed so hard during our lunch time run we were pushing snow with our knees running down the middle of the street. At one point I fell and disappeared. When I got back to the bank, we had closed due to the weather.
2. The Nova Scotia Marathon. At mile 10 we simultaneously burst out of adjacent port-o-potties like greyhounds at the bell. There was a small crowd cheering wildly for us. This particular circumstance has yet to repeat itself.
3. The continous headwind in the cold rain/snow. 20 miles of cold wet wind in Marc's face doesn't make him happy. My continual optimistic "we'll be out of this in a second" didn't help either.
Mile after mile we stored up long runs for the chance to qualify for Boston. He convinced me that "cotton kills" and introduced me to Gu. I, on the other hand, convinced him that driving the 30 minutes to my house at 5am on a lazy Sunday morning was just the ticket to starting your day right: 20 before 9 was the motto. When we first started running 20 on a regular weekly basis we had to take the rest of the day to recover - it wiped us out. Then we slowly became adapted to the workout and no longer needed to sleep on the couch all day. However, running 20 became a social sport and if one couldn't go, odds were the other would find an excuse to not to run as well. So gone are the days when I pen in the log book "20 with Marc - nice run, good chat". Now it's 20 lonesome unless I can convince Eric he's just aching to run marathons. He assures me weekly he has the fortitude to resist the temptation. How can this be?
So with the Final Run with Marc over, the week ended with 96 miles in the logbook. The new week began on Monday with 10.4 in 1:13:00 (7:18 avg pace), 6 supplemental with Eric in 53:10 and 6 supplemental at lunch in 48:47. Today saw 15.2 in 2:05:52 (8:17 avg pace).
Gotta catch some sleep. Good running to all.
posted by Andrew at 8:51 PM
2 Comments:
A nice recap of our running partnership. You have certainly been a great running partner, mentor, and coach. You are a pretty good banker too...
"Eric, last time I ran a marathon, there was this cutie who was beside me for xxx miles." and/or "When you start to train longer, you improve over all distances. You can start to be a big dog in the running community if you start coming with me on some of the longer runs." and finally, the "You know, you aren't a real runner unless you've run a marathon." and if he's done one, then it's qualified for Boston. But you need to plant the seed and tend it with a remark now and then. Also, if you can get him to be at the finish of a marathon and see people cry, etc. it may move him about the specialness of it. (Get him to volunteer for finish line duty at one...giving medals is esp. nice, some finishers want to give a hug.)
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