Run fast

2.06 miles of RUNNING on the treadmill (3% incline and 7:30 pace). First run since March 29th so I get to count the .06. At least it's a start. Also did 30 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes of arm biking and lots of PT.  After 3 ineffective cortisone shots I finally got an MRI last week. It didn't show any tears, which was good, but it did reaffirm that I have/had a bad case of ITBS. The bone at the insertion point was irritated and there was still fluid under the band which was causing the creaking and friction when I bent my knee. I wanted to stick a pin in my knee to release the fluid but Matt didn't think that was a great idea. I have to give a special thanks to Matt for reading the results on a weekend and for overcoming multiple technical issues.   

So after about eight weeks of doing weights, some biking, swimming and the arm bike, lots of rowing, and PT almost everyday I am finally seeing some progress.  I think I will start trying to run every other day and slowly inch up the miles.

My plan to run every other day didn't last very long.  It was too nice outside.  I started at the gym and did one loop around Sugarhouse Park. I almost went far enough to justify using my Garmin which has been in hibernation for over two months. After that I did 1 more mile on the TM for a total of 4.25.  The knee got a little creaky towards the end but nothing worse than if I had tried to bike for 30 minutes.  After running I did the arm bike for 20 minutes or 2,050 revolutions and then PT.  I have no idea how 2,050 revolutions translates to miles but I am counting it as 2 because it's miserable.

You know you haven't run in a while when you run four miles and the next day your legs feel like you ran the downhill dash.

PT and arm cycle. 

I had to take two days off from running because my calves and ankles were super sore from my epic 4 miler on Sunday.

1 hour of a cross-fit type workout with a personal trainer then 2 miles of running.  The workout kicked my butt but I think doing it consistently will do me some good.

10 miles! 2 laps around SHP then meandered through the neighborhood to prevent getting too far from home. I actually got to use my garmin for the first time in 2.5 months and it appears to still be working.  The knee felt somewhere between good and terrible; I consider that good. Averaged 6:33 for the run.

I didn't ice afterwards because, "stress is  a good thing, it forces the body to adapt, repair itself, and come back stronger."  Interesting article claiming that we might be inhibiting our long-term adaptation by preventing or calming inflammation.  The last paragraph is a good one, "Of course, even during heavy training there are times when your body needs help—like after going harder than you’ve ever gone before, when the benefits of an ice bath might outweigh the lost adaptation. Ultimately, the trick is to learn how many recovery aids you really need. That goes double for weekend warriors, who are often more obsessed with recouping than elite athletes are. “Is there too much recovery for an Olympic rower training three times a day?” asks Stellingwerff. “I don’t think so.” But for recreational athletes, recovery (and the fear of overtraining) has been “shoved down their throats,” he says. “If you’re running three times a week, you don’t need to worry about recovery so much. You might be sore and tired, but sore and tired isn’t overtraining.” In fact, the new research suggests, it’s the whole point."

I wore the Mirage III's that have been sitting on my shelf for three months for the first time.  They are a big improvement over the Mirage I's as they are a bit more cushioned, have a tighter fit and the uppers are more comfortable. 

Road my bike over Little Mountain to Little Dell Reservoir and back. It was nice to see more than the gym machines on a warm Sunday.

Ran around SHP and back to the gym for PT and rowing. I was proud of myself for not doing two laps of the park.

4.75 miles around Millcreek after a PT class.  For the class we basically did a core workout for an hour.  It was fun in an odd way.  

I really like the Nike Free 5.0s that I am wear testing.

nice bike ride up Millcreek Canyon and then out on Wasatch Blvd.  Weather couldn't have been better and my knee felt pretty good, much improved over last Sunday's ride.

Ran through Millcreek and Holladay with Josh and Nate.  Knee is coming along slowly but surely!

Ran around sugar house at the U.  Great to get outside before work for a change.  The knee is getting better by the day, or maybe every other day.  Threw in one sub six mile for fun.

9 miles in the Free's is about as much as my ankles can handle for now.

Ran to PT class and then back home.  Class included planks, lunges with weights, bench stepovers, multiple types of crunches, pushups, static squat and stair reps.  It was tough.

Ran to PT class and back.  Today we did 6 minutes of planks with pushups mixed in, single leg lunges with dumbbells, dumbbell press, dips, ankle squats, and 10x3 reps up and down the stairs.

Ran the 5k solo then the 800 leg of the DMR.  I had no idea how I would feel running around a track and running faster than I have run in three months. The 5k turned out a better than I expected and I think I even managed to even split the miles which is very unlike me in a 5k.  I had never raced an 800 so in hindsight I think I went out a bit too conservatively.  Finished in around 2:25 but I felt like I could have gone faster....sorry guys.  Our DMR team of Rob (1200), Kevin (400 in speed suit), Fritz (800) and Jake (1600) finished behind some lads from BYU and UVU.

Below are pictures of the women's DMR winnners (Kim, Amiee, Devra, Abby), Men's winners from BYU and UVU, Coed winners (John, Josh, Lindsay, Walter) and the Men's first runner ups.

The real winners were Allie and James who did all the work to put this together and they even brought super pops for post race nourishment.  Thanks Allie and James!

I wasn't planning to run today but when I woke up I didn't feel like biking either so I headed to the gym to either run on the TM or bike on the machine.  When I got to the gym that sounded like a dumb idea too so I started running towards sugarhouse park.  Felt a slight tweak in my knee after a 1/4 mile and headed back.  Figured the TM would be a safer bet, which it was, and ended up running 10.5 miles at about a 7 min pace.  Everything held up ok.