Uhg...

So…  The Galveston Causeway Toughest 10k…

 

Yea, I totally overslept.  The week was exhausting and instead of going to sleep early to get ready for the early wake up call I crashed and crashed hard.

My lovely wife tried to wake me up twice.  I reportedly groaned something incomprehensible and put my arm over her.

So…  That’s that.

 

There will be no half marathon in November.

 

I’m going to set my sights on a series of 5ks in the spring and get my times down toward the 30 minute mark and gear up for the bridge series in 2018.

 

Eventually I’ll get the trifecta.

Eventually.

Ugh.

So I overslept.  Bloody hell.

 

Overslept and missed the entire goddamn thing.

 

Oh well…  Time to get on with next year.

You can't always get what you want

Ok, so I’ve been taking it easy the last few days resting and icing.  My last proper run was 10/2, but later that week I spend an evening walking up and down stairs moving someone out of a house and then 2 days later literally ran back and forth around town.  So that kind of counted as a workout.

But per usual, my foot was KILLING me on Sunday a week ago when I woke up, so I went the precautionary route and iced and rested for 3 days until there was no pain at dawn. That got me in to Thursday and the next day was a business trip.  I brought my running gear so that I could get in a few miles at the hotel only to find out I FORGOT MY DAMN SHOES!!! 

 

GAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

I have a 10k in 6 days.  I am woefully underprepared for THAT, but worse I have a half in 5 weeks and may have to skip out on that one again, which pisses me off greatly.  I may show up and slog my way through, taking it easy so that I don’t hurt myself and collecting the hardware.  I don’t know…  I feel like garbage.  This sucks.

 

Anyway…  planning on logging another mile or mile and a half tonight.  Then dosing with ice to make sure I’m safe.  I don’t even know right now…

All better, I think

The tenderness in my left heel is gone.  I skipped maybe 4 miles of runs (Wednesday, Friday, and a 2-3 mile long run over the weekend), obsessively iced, compressed, rested, elevated and basically laid off my foot as much as I could.  Today (and yesterday) I woke up with no pain.

 

Hallelujah.

 

Tonight, if time permits, I’ll go out for a mile.  That’s the plan.  One mile, easy does it, nothing fancy.

 

But if I don’t have time, I won’t worry about it.  I’ll get out there Wednesday.

 

AAAAHHHHHGGGG!!!!

Ok, the good news is this tendonitis is not the same tendonitis as before.  The bad news is that this tendonitis is not the same tendonitis as before.

 

Before it was right at the base of the Achilles tendon where it meets the heel.  This time it’s off to the side, between the Achilles and the knob of the ankle, along the side of the heel.  I mean…  jesus fucking Christ.  Can I just be pain free in this goddamn foot for a change?

 

Anyway, ice every 2 hours.  Ibuprophen as much as I’m allowed.  Epsom salt bath (because, maybe witchcraft works?) every other night.  I even got a compression brace to wear.

 

I skipped the weekend long run (because I’m lazy) so that I could rest and let the tendonitis get right.  I got a 1 mile run in last night and it HURTS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER today.  The mile was a 12:00 mile, though, and I felt really good running it.  I’m looking forward to the Wednesday mile and hopefully next week or the week after I can start extending some of these shorter runs by a little here and there.

 

Ugh...

Yep.  Tendonitis.  Left Achilles tendon.  Bloody hell…

The morning after the rest day

Yesterday was a semi-scheduled rest day.  One of those “I’ll run if I ‘need’ to, if I have too much energy and have to burn it off, but don’t want to and probably shouldn’t” days.  It was an insane day filled with all the stress.  I probably should have whipped off a half mile, at least.

 

But I didn’t.

 

I did ice my Achilles tendon as a preventative measure.

And helped my son with his homework.

And spend a solid 2 GODDAMN HOURS WITH TECH SUPPORT UPDATING MY STUPID FUCKING COMPUTER!!!!!

 

But whatever…   Tonight I’ll whip off between a mile and a mile and a half. Then tomorrow (or Sunday) I’ll blow out a nice, long 3 miler.  That’ll give me between 5 and 6 miles for the week (1.5, .5 – 1.5, 3) which should fall squarely within the “not overdoing it” category.

 

There was some minor tenderness in the tendon this morning and I’m hopeful that it’s not going to become a thing.  Ice, stretching, compression…  easy does it old man.  You’re not 28 any more.

The Trial of Miles BEGINS!!

Last night the first 1.5 miles of my 90 mile quest was logged.

It wasn’t great:  18:11 for an 11:30 pace.

But it wasn’t bad, either.

 

My biggest concern following the Kemah 10k was my left leg in general.  That peg has had a twisted ankle, plantar fasciitis, plantar fasciosis, Achilles tendonitis, patellar tendonitis (though I think this was a misdiagnosis), a torn meniscus, arthroscopic surgery, shin splints, and a strained groin.  And it all started with that twisted ankle way back in the day that derailed my marathon training.

 

Specifically I was worried about Achilles tendonitis, but that has been pretty subdued.

 

The diagnostics aren’t completely clear—there’s a little bit of soreness on the front of the ankle/low shin/top of the foot.  The interwebs say that’s extensor tendonitis and can be treated easily enough with stretching, strengthening, ice, and compression.  So I’m doing that.  Easy peasy.

So I feel good.  And that’s what’s important right now.

 

I haven’t done this stuff in years.  Last time I tried to run any significant distance was 2014, and that was mostly a “fall out of bed and do a 10k” type of idiocy.  Frankly the tendonitis was an excellent excuse to back out of the half marathon. I’d have liked a less painful excuse, but it is what it is. The last time I put in REAL miles for REAL training was probably 2012 when I ran my last for-real half marathon. I think that was the Houston Aramco course.  I can’t remember just now.

 

Anyway, that’s where it’s at.  1.5 miles in to a 90 mile journey that ends in a 13 mile run and a .1 mile dash to the finish line.

 

I’m itching with excitement.

Post run diagnostics

48 Hour Post Run Diagnostic:  optimistic

No major aches or pains, and certainly no “bad” pain.  That’s a good thing!

There is a minor issue on the left foot (again), the extensor tendon is a little bit tender.  That’s the one on TOP of the foot that lifts the toes when you’re stretching out your calf.  There’s a little bit of tendonitis there, and maybe a touch on the heel.  But a little bit of ice and a nice wrap at night should take care of that. It’s not a sharp pain, it’s more like an ache.  Like …  like a bruise. Or the way a muscle feels after a REALLY bad cramp.  I should be good to go in a day or so and then I’ll be right back out there. Over the next month I’m going to focus on short runs of about a mile and punctuate them with 2 or 3 mile long runs on the weekends. This should count as “not overdoing it” while still putting in enough miles to qualify as “taking it seriously”.  Eh, whatever.  I’ll do fine for the next 10k in Galveston.  The one I’m really worried about is the La Porte Half marathon.

 

Time target for Galveston:  1:14:00

That will put me at 2:45 total for the first 2 runs and leave me with 2:22 to run the half marathon.  I should be able to pull that off.  Maybe.

 

Oh yea, about that.

 

In 2014 I attempted the Texas Bridge Series (Kemah 10k, Galveston 10k, La Port Half Marathon) which crosses 3 iconic bridges in the Houston area—the Kemah causeway bridge which is roughly 1 mile long, the Galveston causeway bridge which is roughly 2 miles long, and the Fred G Hartman bridge, roughly 3 miles long.  After the Kemah run I had a bit of acute Achilles tendonitis that took about a week to get right before I could comfortably walk.  Then after Galveston that pain was just as sharp and took 2 weeks before I could walk.  So, after that I backed out of the La Porte run.  Well, my brother ran all 3.  In 2015 I decided to have a hurt knee and didn’t run any significant distance.  Finally in 2016 I got my knee cut on and going in to 2017 I’m FINALLY feeling right enough to attempt to do dumb things (like running over 3 bridges) again.  When considering this series my brother said “bet you a dollar you can’t beat my cumulative time”.  That time was 5:07.  I can totally beat that.  Probably. And besides, I’m not motivated by his stupid taunting and childish challenge to beat his time.  I’m a fucking grown up.

 

Anyway, I totally took the bet (and the bait) and signed up for the entire series having run a cumulative total of 7.5 miles prior to the Kemah 10k over the course of 2 years.

So, there.  Take that.

Time to step back in to the mix

It has been over 4 years since posting in this forum.  In that time I’ve attempted to run the Bridge Series (Kemah and Galveston in 2014, backed out of La Porte), suffered achilles tendonitis (that prevented me from running La Porte), rehabbed that at the end of 2014, started running again in the middle of 2015, pulled up lame with a gimpy knee, tried to rest and rehab that, went to a doctor for a cortizone shot, tore the meniscus in March 2016, got surgery to fix THAT in September 2016, and started back on the bike in March 2017 and now have stepped back into running over summer 2017.

 

Holy crap, what a journey.

 

So that’s basically from December 2012 to Winter 2016 of some kind of pain somewhere in my left leg that limited my level of activity.

 

I’m a physical wreck.

 

I logged 7.5 miles in Strava since the beginning of August and just completed the Toughest 10k – Kemah in a respectable 1:31 (considering the relative wrecked-ness of my body).

 

I’m enjoying reading my old posts.  Enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.  But now it’s time to start a new chapter.  It’s time to start running again.

 

I’m one race into the Bridge Series for 2017.  The greatest challenge is going to be that half marathon, and it’s 60 days away. I’m 24 hours past that first 10k and the diagnostics look promising. No “bad” pain. A few troublesome aches in the left ankle.  The mantra is “take it easy, take it easy, don’t over do it.”  I’m sticking with that.

I’ll give a recap for the 10k soon.  But the next thing on the agenda is an ice bath for the feet and one more day of rest, then a series of 1 mile runs over the next several days. Moving in to the last week of September and the first couple of weeks in October I’ll supplement the 1 mile runs with 3 mile weekend long runs leading in to the Galveston 10k.  After that, preparations for the La Porte by the Bay half marathon.

 

I’m back, baby!!!

I am strong!

I am mighty!

NO POWER IN THE VERSE CAN STOP ME!!!