After two days of easy cross training, I went out last night for an easy five miler.  I was really hoping that it would feel OK.  However, there was nothing good coming from the hamstring or any other part of my right leg.   My groin, calf, shins, quads, butt, and hamstring all ached at some point.  By the end, I felt a little better, but not by much. 

I’m taking today off.  I may go for an early morning 5 miler tomorrow.  It will be a test to see if I can really go 31 miles on Saturday.  After that, it will be some serious treatment and rest for it.

My body and mind just can not live in harmony.  When it comes to injuries, my mind is my worse enemy.  I think my mind is less flexible than my body.  Sure, I had some goals for this fall season and I indeed signed up for a few races.  But, when will I learn that I do need a break every now and then. 

To meet my goals, my training was very aggressive.  My interval training was very hard.  When I look in my log book, I see that I exceeded goal time in almost every speed session.  For my long runs, I was building in marathon pace portions.  This paid big dividends for me last year.  But, this time around, I was once again exceeding expectations.  I wasn’t just at marathon pace, I was more at half-marathon pace.  I became a slave to high mileage.  My weekend warrior mentality of a long run followed by a mid-distance run may have been taking a toll on me.  And last, I have not had a break from hard training in 18 months. 

When I hurt my hamstring in early October, I decided to tough it out and run my two goal races in the month.  I thought I had a legitimate shot of PRing in both.  The ten miler was just two painful to push for a PR.  I did improve from last year by 5 minutes and almost hit my initial goal of 72 minutes.  Although my hamstring hurt, I kept to the schedule of speed and long runs.  One week after the 10 miler, I’m out there with my training partner pounding out an 18+ miler run.  The plan was for the middle nine to be at marathon pace.  Well, I pushed it way harder than her marathon pace and went well below my marathon pace.  Yes, I was feeling OK, but, I should never have pushed so hard.  And, the next week, I’m toeing the line a half-marathon.  I ran a PR in this one, but my body never felt great in it. 

After the PR, I really should have taken a break from the training, but no, I stayed right with the plan and was back on the track running 1000m repeats on Tuesday.  I never felt comfortable in the workout, but I kept pushing it to meet and exceed my goal.  Friday, I’m at the bridge running hill repeats.  I did feel good, but….  And then on Saturday, I’m back running long again.  I should have bagged the run early on, but I stayed with it until it really started to hurt.  Well, I’m right back where I started. 

However, I’m a little smarter now.  I’m taking some time off this week.  I will likely not run but maybe one or two times for the week.  And, those runs will be easy.  But, I’m still no genius.  I’ll be heading up to Huntsville to run in a 50K trail run this weekend.  If it starts to hurt, I will bag it after a loop.  God willing, I will take next week very easy.  This means cross training and easy running.  I have met my goals for the year.  So, I will slide in easy for the remainder of the year.  I’m hoping that with minimal training, I’ll toe the line in Houston. 

I must learn from these mistakes if I plan on running until I’m 80.

I’m so tired about the hamstring.  My recovery was going along very well.  In fact Friday, I felt great.  I had a terrific bridge workout and a good doctor’s visit.  Saturday was going to be a long run in downtown.  The started off good.  We ran from the Heights to Memorial Park.  The weather was perfcet.  We were running a fair pace at just under 8:30.  Although my right leg did not feel great, I thought it was doing alright.  When we got to the park we ran on the Ho Chi Min trails.  Very nice in the park.  A very easy pace.  I was feeling very good on the primitive trails.  We got out and were planning on a loop around Memorial Park.  For some reason, the right leg and hamstring started to hurt.  After 13 miles, I called it quits. I hated to do it.  I wound up walking to the Starbucks and Julie was kind enough to come back and get me.

Today on the trails was a little better.  But, the hamstring is really tight.  After 4 miles I started to walk some, but I was able to get back started, and I did run the last two miles pretty well.

I’ll be back to the doctors tomorrow evening.  And, I’ve convinced myself that I will take the next couple of days off from running.  I’ll use the Nordic Track to at least burn some calories.  Furthermore, I’ll be taking the next 2-3 weeks off from speed-work.  These recurring injuries really hurts.

I was up bright and early for a hill workout on the Kemah Bridge.  I ran three loops and managed a pace for the 6 mile workout at 8:20 min/mile.  Very windy day, the wind almost made feel like I wasn’t moving.  My legs felt good the whole way.

I saw the doctor again for my hamstring.  It is getting better.  It’s almost as flexible as the left leg and it does not hurt nearly as much as it did.  It’s just hard with the races and marathon prep.  Looking forward to a nice and cool weekend.

I was back at the track last night.  We had another good turnout of about 14 people.  It was a fantastic night with the temps in the high 60s and low humidity.  The plan called for 5X1000 meters at 10K pace.  For the most part I did OK.  With having just run the half-marathon and getting some more treatment, the first few did not go very well for me.  However, I really nailed the last 2 below my 10K pace.  The leg and hamstring bothered a little early on.  By the end, it felt great. 

 Afterwards, a bunch of us went out to have some BBQ at Red River.  We were still celebrating Kerry’s birthday from last week.  Frankly, I think we’ll go out for any occasion. We had a nice time enjoying some food and shooting the breeze about, what else………running. 

I’m looking forward to a couple of easy days of running and then a long hard one on Saturday.

October 25, 2009 – Koala Houston Half Marathon – Houston

I’m very happy with my race results.  I finished under 1:37, which is an official PR for me.  But, I struggled some early on.  However, I hit the middle miles well and ran OK at the end.  The weather was a little warm with temps in the 60s to low 70s at the end and we had some humidity.  The course sucks.  It’s three loops and there are hills with it.  And, the course gets crowded with passing folks along the way.  The hamstring did not feel very good early on, however, it was feeling OK during the middle and the end.  Hydrating is tough.  I cramped after the race.  The half marathon is tricky, I decided against gels.  I had some Gatorade.  And, I only drank a little water.  As evident by the post race cramping, I could have used more.

No complaints other than the course is too crowded during loops 2 and 3.  I could not run the tangents, and the water stops were tricky to get in an out.  If I ran the tangents, I would have been in the 1:35s.  I took 90 some odd seconds off of my last half marathon, which was a great course with perfect temps.

After race stuff is always fun.  A cool-down mile with friends is a blast.  We then get into discussion about seconds here and there and wallow in complaints about the course and so on.  My club mates and training partners all did pretty well.  Virginia placed second in her age group and Kerry was in the mid 80s.  Julie ran well, although I think she was hoping for something a little better.  After the awards, we headed up tot he Heights to have some breakfast tacos at Chilosos. 

All things considered, I’m giving this race an A+.  Although I wanted to run a little faster, I still managed an official PR.  With the injury, the course, the crowd, and the weather, finishing at 1:37 is really a good time for me.  Although not by giant leaps or bounds, my improvement continues.  I need to manage my aches and pains.  Otherwise, I’m looking forward to finishing 2009 strong and hope to start 2010 with a strong marathon.

It’s been a quiet week.  I missed the Tuesday track ritual.  My son had a band concert.  The played some Beach Boys tunes which was pretty cool.  I’ve been puttin in some 6 to 7 mile runs in the past few days.  One of the runs sort of felt like a tempo run, but without the watch and not checking my heart rate, who know if it was. 

The hamstring is recovering and feels like it is ready to run hard.  I’m looking forward to the Houston Half this Sunday.  The weather is looking good. And, the body is ready.  I hope to have a positive race report.

With a week to go to another target race, I’ve enjoyed two easy days of running.  The weather has been ideal. Yesterday, I was at the trails for a 6:30 morning run.  It was still dark, so Lisa, Dotie and myself took off to the bridge.  When we got back to the trails, it was daylight.  We met up with the brave folks that went out on the trail.  A quick loop on the trails and back.  We ran a total of 11 miles at a fairly easy 8:30 pace.

This morning, Julie and I were up bright and early for a five miler at 5AM.  It was another great morning for running.  We ran on good sidewalks, however, we still only managed a 9 min/mile pace.  I know we were running easy, but I thought we were a little faster.  Regardless, it was an enjoyable run and everything is feeling good.

With some other stuff, I’ll not be at the track on Tuesday night.  I think it might be for the best.  Although my mileage is not coming down, at least I would have had some easier runs for the week before the half-marathon.  The weather forecast is looking good.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I’m not sure what else to say.  Temps were in the 50s, humidity was low.  Anyway, JUlie and I got up early due to other commitments for the day.  The first five miles were relatively slow at just over 9 min/mile.  However, for the middle 9, we simply lit it up.  The plan was for the middle 9 to be at marathon pace.  However, we were much closer to tempo pace.  In the last 4+ miles, the average pace was at 8:20.  I ran the last mile at 7:53.  It felt great.  Overall, the 18.5 miles were at 8:15 pace.  This is again near my previous 30K race pace.  Awesome!

The hamstring felt good the whole way.  Julie looked great.  I have a feeling that White Rock will be a great race for her.  I just hope the weather works out for her.  As for me, I’m looking forward to a very nice half marathon next weekend.  I would love to earn an official PR.

I hope that the hamstring keeps healing.

No complaints about last night’s track workout.  We ran a 3X1 mile with 600m recoveries.  Considering we just finished a 10 mile race, I had my goal set to run the miles at about 10 mile pace.  I had no problem with that and frankly I was right at or just above my 10K pace.  My right leg is still uncomfortable.  However, the last interval was my fastest and I ran a sub 8 min/mile cool down with Kerry.  And, each day the hamstring seems to feel better. 

 I saw the Doc on Monday.  She really worked my hamstring and did some “scraping” on my right ITB at the knee.  It hurt like a son of a gun, but it’s worthwhile.  I’m still icing and stretching, but I’m backing off it a little.  It feels great today.  In fact, it feels better than usual following a track workout.  It will be an easy run or cross training tonight.  I’ll see the doc again on Friday.

 The fall racing schedule is busy.  I think my plans may have been too ambitious.  I think the 50K race in the middle is the real monkey wrench.  To get ready for it, I will like to do an 18-20 mile run this weekend.  However, I really need to be careful with the Houston half coming up in less than 2 weeks.  The Houston half is another target race for me.  And, I would like to be healthy for it.  With my base, I’ll just need to take it “easy” at the track and not run the long runs aggressively. 

 Regarding the track, I’m amazed at the turn-out we are getting.  Last night we had 16 folks show up.  A year ago it was just me.  Then, Julie showed up.  Before long there were 3-5 of us showing up.  Now, we are hogging the track.  It was nice to see a few new faces.  One of the best parts is to see the improvements some of the folks have made.  Some are just now learning how to “pace” themselves.  Others are improving their time by leaps and bounds.  Although my days of improvement are coming very slow (no pun intended), I do enjoy getting out there and running fast and hard.