Weather left a lot to be desired today so I decided I would get the long run in on the treadmill at the gym.  Started off at an 11:00 pace and quickly hit a wall about 2.5 miles in.  Not sure if it was the fact that I didn’t eat much earlier in the day or that I just can’t get into it on the treadmill.  Ended up walking a bit and then finished running again.  Went about 4.7 mi in the hour.  Not a great effort.

Definitely need to try to get the long runs in outside and save the treadmill for the shorter midweek runs.

Got in 20 miles for the first week without any issues.

Ran 5 miles at 11:19 pace this morning.  Weather was nice as long as I wasn’t running into the wind.  Iced left shin when I got back and it seems to be ok.  I’m going to have to get creative finding routes around the house to run.

After taking a couple weeks off following the Rock Canyon half, it was time to start laying plans for the next challenge.  I did some digging on the interwebs and perused a few training plans until I found one that I felt I could handle and would get me ready to tackle a marathon.  I’ve got 18 weeks of running and cross training lined out to get me to the start line of the Colorado Marathon on May 3rd, 2009.

This week marks the start.  I got my first run done at the Jack Quinn’s Running Club Tuesday night run and then did 5 miles on the treadmill at the gym on Wednesday morning.  Nothing spectacular for pace at this point but I’m just trying to get the miles in for the first few weeks.  I waffled about which race I was going to run at this morning’s Rescue Run but settled on the short course since I was only on the hook for three miles today.

The shins are already starting to bother me a little but I’m hoping that healthy doses of Vitamin I and ice will keep them from flaring up too much.

My wife gave me a Garmin Forerunner 305 for Christmas so I’ve been having fun geeking out with the results from the few runs I’ve brought it along on.

Tomorrow will be a much needed rest day and then I’ve got a 5 miler on Saturday and an 8 mile long run on Sunday.

Here’s to hoping I can get most of the runs in and life doesn’t get in the way too much.

Ok, so I’ve technically done a half (Pikes Peak Ascent) but that’s never been much of a run for me.  I signed up for the Rock Canyon Half Marathon in Pueblo on December 6th.  Yeah, that’s this Saturday.  My longest run to date has been 10 miles so I hope I’m ready to extend that to 13.1 on Saturday.  I’m going to get one more easy run in at JQRC tomorrow night and then take the rest of the week off.  Weather is shaping up to be absolutely killer for running on Saturday with highs in the mid 50s and not much in the way of wind.

Followed Bucky around Section 16 last Friday and I could tell that I hadn’t been focusing on hills much lately but after the brutal first climb, the downhill was a nice treat.

So sometimes life gets in the way of blog posting, but fortunately, not in the way of actually running.  After the miserable performance at the Ascent (hey, I showed up and started and actually made a 15ish mile roundtrip), I took a little time off from running to relax.  I said just a little.  Within a couple weeks, I was back on the incline and getting in short runs around the neighborhood and Palmer Park.

I toyed with the idea of running the PPRR Pony Express 15 miler but just didn’t feel I was quite ready to run/hike that.  I’ve continued to battle the same shin issues that plagued me last spring on and off but not anywhere near as severe.  I think I’ve finally built up a base over a sustained period of time that the soft tissue on the posterior of my shins has gotten used to the abuse.

In October, the PPRR Fall Series kicked off and I ran the first two of those races.  I missed the next two for weekend trips, but felt pretty good about the way those races went.  Later in the month, Josh talked me into showing up for Jack Quinn’s Running Club on Tuesday nights and I’ve been running down there every week since.

About the same time, the mention of the Rock Canyon Half Marathon in Pueblo came up and I started training for that as well.  With about two more weekends left to train for that, I’ve got a couple of decent long runs planned to hopefully get me ready for the half on Dec 6.

After the first of the year, I’m pretty stoked about running the Rescue Run on New Year’s Day and then the PPRR Winter Series.  With the Incline Club starting up workouts pretty quick too, I’ll probably be joining those crazies for some cold weather Sunday runs as well.

PS - hi bucky.

Haven’t posted much here lately.  Been real busy with life outside of running but I have managed to get some training in for the peak.  Nerves are starting to kick up and I’m ready to run on Saturday.  Looks like the weather could get interesting.  Talking about inches of snow for Friday night and into Saturday.  Hopefully I’ll be able to put a post up here after the weekend detailing smashing of goals and such.

After my last post, the shin pain returned a couple days later and I was forced to back down to longer walking intervals and less running.  Shortly thereafter, it was time to go get married.  It was almost three weeks without running when Josh and I headed up Barr Trail to No Name Creek on Saturday.  We were heading up Ruxton a few minutes after 6am but still found nowhere to park.  The Incline must still be gaining in popularity.  We decided to just head back to Memorial Park and start there knowing we could park there.

Made it to No Name in 1:31 from the park.  Not great but that doesn’t put me too far off pace to get under 5 hours for the full ascent.  Made it back down to the cog in around 30 minutes and we ended up walking to rest of the way to the park.  My legs, hips, back, shoulders, and even abs were totally trashed yesterday.  Feel a little better today but glad that I was able to make it up that far at a decent pace.  We caught a break with the cool weather on Saturday but I don’t think we will be as lucky as we get into July.  I’m gonna try to get at least 4 more trips up on the bottom half and then spend one day on the summit before tapering.  I think I can gain more on the bottom half than I can on the top.

Gonna try again this weekend to go to Bob’s Rd or the 7.5 to go sign.   Hope I can get enough quality time in on the mountain to improve over last year.

Still working through Pfitzinger rehab and going to PT twice a week but I’m starting to get some decent time on my feet and it feels damn good.  I did 2 min walk/8 min run x3 last week and just got back from 10 run/2 walk/10 run/2 walk/10 run a bit ago.  Looks like I got in just before the t-storms rolling in.  No leg pain to speak of and I generally felt pretty excited to be out running the whole time.  Hope to get a half hour nonstop in next weekend.

It’s been about 10 days since the doc said I don’t have a stress fracture.  I finally got a run in on Sunday.  10 minute walk, 5 minute run, 5 walk, 5 run.  I walked to and from the little dirt track around the drainage field a few blocks from the house before starting the prescribed walk/run interval.  I ended up with some ankle pain in the left leg but I wrote that off as a side effect of wearing the boot for a week and a half and having all the little muscles in my ankle, foot, and lower leg immobilized for such a long time.  The pain lingered for a couple days but hasn’t come back since.

I went to my first physical therapy session on Tuesday.  A lot of notes taken about things she saw and a couple of stretches recommended to strengthen totally unrelated areas.  She thinks the left leg got sore after compensating for weaknesses in my right leg.  Sounds plausible.

I spent about 45 minutes on the elliptical on Tuesday evening before going to study for finals.   Upped the intensity a little bit to get the HR up some more.  I went in for another PT session yesterday afternoon.  Got a nice massage on the calf and left leg.  She then taped my leg.  When she told me she was going to tape the leg to offer some support where the calf muscle attaches to the tibia, I imagined the lower leg being wrapped tightly.  However, she took a long strip of sports tape, ran it from just below my knee all the way down towards my shin right on top of the tibia.  Towards the ankle, she cut the strip in half and then wrapped it around under my foot.  The only thing I can feel is how bad it’s going rip out leg hairs when I go to pull it off.

Went for another run last night.  5 walk, 5 run for 30 minutes.  Didn’t have any issues with the leg. Things feel pretty good today, too.  Planning on getting some quality time on the elliptical or the bike this afternoon and then another run on Sunday.  Looking at the rest of the plan, I should be running for an hour by the end of June.  After that I’ll spend a few weekends going to Barr Trail and back and then a couple weeks of training on the summit.

Got in to see the sports medicine doc yesterday and after a quick eval and discussion of my symptoms, he told me I likely didn’t have a stress fracture.  He took a couple x-rays stating that a stress fracture that has been around as long as I’ve had pain in the shin would show up on film by now.  They came back negative.  He prescribed some physical therapy for shin splints and recommended I be custom fit for some orthotics to correct the poor alignment issues as a result of my severely flat feet.  I’m going to start running again tomorrow evening using the Pfitzinger rehab plan for stress fractures (just in case) and take it real slow getting back up to speed.  Hopefully the combination of PT strengthening the muscles/tendons on the medial tibia, added support from the orthotics, and a slow and sustained ramp-up of miles will keep me injury free and I can get back to Pikes Peak training soon.