The ankle burn

So on Monday I ran only 3 miles around my neighborhood. Mile 1 was OK, and at the end of the mile I stopped and stretched my legs while holding on to a stop sign. I was barely feeling the burn in my ankle. Then on mile 2 is began to burn more so again I stopped at the end the mile to stretch it. Finally on mile 3 I could feel it with each step. So far it's not getting better - it's always there. The only thing that's increasing is my weight. When I get depressed I eat and when I stop running I get depressed. That isn't a good combination.

Today I exercised on my stationary bike to keep pressure off my ankle, then did some weights. Tomorrow is my "new" beginners class and they're doing a time trial. So I sent a note to the coach saying I won't attend. I gotta keep it easy for about two weeks, and then see what's what.

No long run

To aid in my recovery I did not do a long run today. Ugh! I miss doing it.

Second massage and a decision

Well I had my second message today and it was just as intense as the last one. Boy can she make me squirm. She worked my left calf and foot very well. She wants me to continue my stretching and return in two weeks. As part of our discussion the therapist suggested I greatly reduce my mileage over the next two weeks. This means that I've got to drop my goal of qualifying for Boston at Chicago, and switch classes from the qualifying group to another less intense class such as the Wednesday evening beginners group. I've been coming to that opinion too, but had been putting off the decision. Well now is the time to decide. So I've sent a note to my current coach, Mac Allen, telling him my decision. Then I contacted Carolyn asking her if I can get into the new class. Also I'll only run 3-4 miles a few times a week which means no long runs on Saturday morning for a few weeks. Ugh! This is very depressing, but I have to get better.

Zilker workout

Tuesday night's class at Zilker park was more of the same, but I tried not to stress my ankle, yet afterwards I really felt it, and iced it at home which helped. I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I should drop back to an easier class. This is really starting to get to me. One more massage on Thursday and then I have to make a decision.

Week 7, June 19 - June 25

Date: Monday, June 19, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 miles
Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2006; Workout: Meet at RunTex Riverside @ 6:30 p.m.; 2 sets of 10 x 50 m downhill at Zilker soccer fields. 7 miles total
Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi or cross train (XT) 1 hr; XT=bicycle, weights, water running, elliptical training, swimming, etc.
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi
Date: Friday, June 23, 2006; Workout: off
Date: Saturday, June 24, 2006; Workout: Group run at the RunTex Riverside store at 6am: 14 miles "East Side Loop" at an easy pace. Afterwards: seminar in the annex on "Shoes and Custom Foot orthodics for a Successful Marathon" by Bill Stone, RunTex shoe expert and board certified Pedorthist. Attandance incentive: Forward Motion Pedorthics will raffle off one free biomechanical examination, gait analysis, shoe fitting and one pair of custom foot insoles worth $300
Date: Sunday, June 25, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi w/ 4 - 5 strides (strides are 50-100 mtr accelerations at 5k-10k pace effort with 50-100 mtr slow jog in between)
WEEKLY TOTAL = 44 MILES

Trail race volunteer

I helped at a water station on Sunday morning for "The Belt" trail race. I didn't run today.

Progressive pace long run

This Saturday's long run was to be progressive pace. That means that each mile is to be 15 seconds faster that the previous. It is to culminate in an all out mile preceeded by two miles at 10K pace. My 10K pace should be about 7:45 per mile based upon my MGP of 8:35 and the McMillan calculator. For me this is quite fast. This means that I would run my first mile at 9:30 per mile. Last night with my sore ankle I thought that maybe I should just do the mileage, and not try to achieve this performance level. I sent a note to my coach asking him his opinion. However I never got a response. When I was driving at 5:30 AM it started to rain and thunder. While standing waiting with the other runners in the rain I decided to start by myself regardless of the weather. Soaking wet with fogged glasses I continued on up Shoal Creek on my own never even considering my performance. I was just trying to get it done. It was too dark and rainy to even see the mileage cones. Finally it started to clear up about mile 4. After the turnaround at mile 5 I met up with my coach who told me that he had gotten my e-mail and he wanted me to take it easy. I assured him that was indeed what I was doing. This time as I ran back down on Shoal Creek I finally saw the mileage cones. Then at mile eight the sky darkened, and the rain started to pour again. I ended in a downpour in 1:42 or about 10:12 per mile. That definitely wasn't my fastest, but at least I did the miles and I did them easy. On the way home I iced my ankle.

My first massage

I called Lisa S., the massage therapist, on Wednesday and she had an opening on Thursday at 11 AM. So I took off from work for a 30 minute appointment. She worked mostly on my ankle and lower leg muscles. She knew how to make me squirm. It wasn't exactly painful, but I really felt it. During her massage she found some internal scar tissue on the muscle above my left ankle. This might have caused tension and therefore the burning sensation. Afterward my muscles felt as if I had really worked them out. Wow! Lisa said that the first message is always the hardest. She told me that I have to do the following for the next week. (1) Stretch my calves 3-5 times daily. (2) Ice my ankle when in pain after a long run by keeping the ice pack on for 1 minute after it numbs. (3) Stretch my hamstrings while laying on my back with a tie or strap in the evenings. She finally suggested that I skip doing trails for a few weeks. We set up another 30 minute appointment for next week at the same time. I'll keep you posted in this saga...

MGP speed work

This week we warmed-up 2 miles, then ran 3 miles at MGP, and then cooled down with 2 miles back. I was to run at 8:35/M pace. All this was done on the Town Lake trail. Stretching beforehand and the warm-up helped alleviate the burning sensation in my ankle. However, when I got done running the 3 miles I was exhausted - the temperature was in the very high 90s Fahrenheit - ahhh, the Austin Summer is upon us. On the way back I stopped and walked the last mile with Jennifer L. She gave me the name of a Massage Therapist, Lisa S., who works out of her home in NW Austin (not downtown) which is nearby to me.

Mile	Split	Total	Expected Split	Expected Total
0.5	4:01.18	04:01.18	4:17.50	04:17.50
1.0	4:19.22	08:20.40	4:17.50	08:35.00
1.5	4:23.59	12:43.99	4:17.50	12:52.50
2.0	4:12.19	16:56.18	4:17.50	17:10.00
2.5	4:17.32	21:13.50	4:17.50	21:27.50
3.0	4:08.75	25:22.25	4:17.50	25:45.00

Week 6, June 12 - June 18

From Rogue Running
Date: Monday, June 12, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 miles
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2006; Workout: Meet at RunTex Riverside @ 6:30 p.m.; Trail fartlek @ 2 mile jog, 3 mile marathon pace, 2 mile jog. 7 miles total
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi or cross train (XT) 1 hr; XT=bicycle, weights, water running, elliptical training, swimming, etc.
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi
Date: Friday, June 16, 2006; Workout: off
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2006; Workout: Group run at 6am: 10 miles progressive pace run, route: "Big Fire"
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi w/ 4 - 5 strides (strides are 50-100 mtr accelerations at 5k-10k pace effort with 50-100 mtr slow jog in between)
WEEKLY TOTAL = 39 MILES

To a massage therapist and/or doctor

After explaining to my coach that my ankle still burns/hurts (actually it began last January), he suggested I go to a massage therapist and/or doctor. This'll be a first... I'll keep you informed as to what takes place.

Trail running 2

I did trail running again, and I have found that I quite like it. My only problem is that it stressed my sore ankle.

Scenic long run

I ran the 12 mile "Scenic" long run today at 6 AM as part of my class. I completed it in 1:45:41 or about 8:48/M which is too fast. Actually I'm really surprised having thought that I was actually running somewhere in the 9 1/2 minutes per mile from trying to calculate it in my head before doing it with a calculator just now. These long runs are supposed to be a slow and easy. Oops. Most of my difficulty is that I started out with a fast crowd of George, Bob, Jennifer, and somewhat Kelly (Dan was not here this week) and that might not have been the best choice. So with all the water stops and still a 8:48/M pace I basically was running very near my marathon goal pace.

The muscles on the right side of my left ankle again had a burning sensation, but I just kept running. There was a time midway that I didn't feel it at all which was great. At the beginning I know that I'm favoring it. When the run was over and as I was doing my foot exercises back at the building I could really feel it. One of my friends noticed that I was limping slightly and told me. I think I need to get it checked out. Ugh! However, right now just sitting still it's fine. I did find out that if I spread my legs apart about 2 feet and then shift my weight back and forth from foot to foot I can make it burn more easily. So it seems that lateral pushing off of the left foot is key.

My heart rate was high at times because of the numerous hills, but at the beginning and especially at the end I tried to slow down without much success. I'm just a guy who pushes himself and I've got to learn to relax more. My mantra should be "long SLOW distance". However, I've never really considered myself someone with a type-A personality.

Exhausted

Tuesday's class was tough. When I was done I was exhausted.

Half Lap (200M)	Pace	Expected Time	Time	Cum. Time
1	10K	00:56.00	00:55.77	00:55.77
2	10K	00:56.00	00:57.38	01:53.15
3	10K	00:56.00	00:56.87	02:50.02
4	10K	00:56.00	00:56.71	03:46.73
5	10K	00:56.00	00:56.42	04:43.15
6	MGP	01:04.00	01:05.09	05:48.24
7	MGP	01:04.00	01:03.15	06:51.39
8	MGP	01:04.00	01:03.22	07:54.51
9	MGP	01:04.00	01:02.88	08:57.49
10	MGP	01:04.00	01:03.26	10:00.75
11	10K	00:56.00	00:59.74	11:00.49
12	10K	00:56.00	00:59.00	11:59.49
13	10K	00:56.00	01:01.78	13:01.27
14	10K	00:56.00	01:01.25	14:02.52
15	10K	00:56.00	00:58.86	15:01.38
16	MGP	01:04.00	01:06.23	16:07.61
17	MGP	01:04.00	01:03.25	17:10.86
18	MGP	01:04.00	01:02.78	18:13.64
19	MGP	01:04.00	01:00.29	19:13.93
20	MGP	01:04.00	01:11.81	20:25.74

Update: It was also very hot. Somewhere around 95 degrees. Sheesh!

Week 5, June 5 - June 11

From Rogue Running
Date: Monday, June 05, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 miles
Date: Tuesday, June 06, 2006; Workout: Meet at RunTex Riverside @ 6:30 p.m.; warmup jog 1 mile to Texas School for the Deaf track. Stretching and 200 m stride; 2 x 1000/1000m at 10k pace/ marathon pace. 1 mile jog back to store. 5 miles total.
Date: Wednesday, June 07, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi or cross train (XT) 1 hr; XT=bicycle, weights, water running, elliptical training, swimming, etc.
Date: Thursday, June 08, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi
Date: Friday, June 09, 2006; Workout: off
Date: Saturday, June 10, 2006; Workout: Group run at RunTex Riverside annex at 6am: 12 miles, route: Scenic
Date: Sunday, June 11, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi w/ 4 - 5 strides (strides are 50-100 mtr accelerations at 5k-10k pace effort with 50-100 mtr slow jog in between)
WEEKLY TOTAL = 38 MILES

Vacation recovery week

I was on vacation last week and did not follow the prescribed running. I ran on Tuesday for 5 miles (50 minutes), and on Friday for 4 miles (maybe 40 minutes). I missed Monday (was driving), Wednesday and Thursday (was lazy). That's it. I was not very good in getting up each morning and running as I had planned. Finally I was driving home on Saturday so I missed the long run. So I did my long run (10 miles on Town Lake trail) today (Sunday).

Here is my long run heart rate. I stopped after a few miles when my iPod died (ugh and double ugh). And then I stopped at 5 miles and 8 miles for water. My ankles are still a bit sore and a weeks worth of vacation (that is, minimal running) made me feel sluggish and out-of-it.