Back on Dec 24, after a good 5 mile run, I started to experience a bad pain in my foot.  It hadn’t been 100% leading up to then, but I kept running on it, as I was trying to build up from my sciatica in the summer and prepare for a March marathon.  I was diagnosed with a bone bruise, to go with the plantar fasciitis I already knew I had.

I kept my hopes up for a quick recovery, but it was not meant to be.  In fact, I’ve learned the hard way that ankle injuries take time to heal.  Mine was not serious at all, but I am almost five months into it now, and only finally feeling like I can start to really work the run again.

This is the first week I’ve run more than once in the week, and on Wednesday I ran a 5k race in Riverside Park.  It was my first race since December, and only my 2nd since last May.

I’m very happy to be running again, able to do short races, and start to plan ahead for some races again.  I do have to be careful, because my plantar fasciitis is not fully better, and I know from prior experience with that persistent injury that it can take many months to fully recover from.

So, for now, I’ll be content with short runs to start building some strength, and PF willing, will start to build up my distance and runs per week, in the coming months.

Tomorrow is the Red Bank Triathlon, which is hopefully the last in a string of races I had signed up for, but would be unable to run due to injury.  Hopefully I’ll soon be able to solidify some fall and winter race plans, and stay healthy enough to run them!

As you may have noticed, I’m trying to post to my blog more, with a focus on the challenges I’ve been facing with injury and nutrition, with hope that it will keep me on the straight and narrow path to weight loss.

On the one hand, this past week was sad in the sense that the Asheville Marathon is coming up in a week, and I won’t be participating, due to my ankle injury and plantar fasciitis.  I ceremoniously unfollowed their twitter account and deleted my Google alert.  This way I at least won’t be constantly reminded in this last week of what is sure to be a great and fun inaugural event.  On the other hand, I had a pretty good week myself, with a good strength session with my personal trainer, a yoga class at my office, and a pretty good bike/elliptical workout at the gym.  While I have good days and bad days, today my heel is feeling good, which is encouraging.

Additionally, I focused hard on nutrition early in the week, and was rewarded on Thursday morning with a number on the scale that I have not seen since Dec 2009!  I’ve definitely fallen a bit off the wagon since and done a little too much eating this weekend, so I will have some work to do to get back to that point, let alone lose the remaining 5 that is in my goal.  However, I’m really pleased I was able to get to that number, and know I’ll be back there again soon.

I’m concerned about this week because it promises to be really busy at work, with my Mon-Thurs almost wall-to-wall with meetings, and the added stress will make it harder to eat properly.  But the silver lining is that my wife and I will be taking a road trip next weekend, starting Thurs night, just not to Asheville as originally planned.  Instead, we’ll be going to Jacksonville, FL, and looking forward to it!

I’ve been fond of saying the last couple of years that once I turned 40, my body has had a hard time recovering from my injuries.  The last 2 years has literally been one minor injury after another, with my mileage in those years each being the lowest since 2007.  As a result, this year I’ve had a calf pull, sciatica, an ankle problem and plantar fasciitis.  I thought these were a result of my body telling me I was too old to run, but now I am coming to the realization that it is my body telling me I am too heavy.

I came to that interesting conclusion today after reviewing the weight information I’ve quietly kept in my running log since the beginning of 2007.  The injuries I’ve had in the last 2 years is more likely a result of the 10 pounds that I gained around 2010, and probably not from being 2 years past the age of 40.

While I’ve been logging my weight almost daily since the beginning of 2007, only today did I actually try to analyze my weight over that time.  Early in 2007, I had lost about 10 pounds, and also had a resurgence in my running, with an end to a series of injuries that plagued me throughout 2006.  I then had very strong years of running in 2008, 2009 and 2010.  And then in 2010, I gained about 10 pounds, and early in that year started experiencing a slew of minor injuries that kept piling up to where I am now.

As of today, I’m down almost 10 pounds from my peak weight last summer, with plans to lose another 7 pounds or so.  I am now even more hopeful that if I can reach that goal, and smooth over my existing injuries, I’ll be able to start my running program again, and get myself back on my road to marathons again, no matter that I am over age 40!

Yesterday I wrote about my current and latest new beginning.  While I’ve had my fair share of injuries over the years, the series of issues I’ve had over the last 2 years simply won’t go away on their own.  As I’m getting older (now 40+), my body just isn’t responding and healing the way it used to.

My personal trainer has been urging me for months now to lose weight and cut my sugar intake, the argument being that less sugar will mean less inflammation in my body, which will lead to natural healing of injuries, especially the kind of injuries I’m dealing with now.  The problem is that I don’t diet well at all.  I eat way more than my fair share of junk food, and cutting that out of my diet will be very difficult.

At first (over the summer) we made minor adjustments, including cutting soda, adding water intake (up to 130 oz per day), and cutting carbs at breakfast-time.  While I didn’t do those things perfectly, these adjustments were fairly easy to make and became habits I continue even now, months later.  Between July and October, I managed to lose 8-10 pounds.  However, I’ve been stuck at that point since, and I know I need to turn up the effort and really cut the junk to lose the remaining 8-10 pounds that would put me at what my trainer and I agreed would be my running weight.

Now the hard part… getting it done.  I’ve been watching Biggest Loser this season for inspiration.  I’ve never watched it before this year, and have to say I am really enjoying seeing the transformation taking place in the contestants, and also the kids that are also involved in the show.  I’m also hoping that talking about losing weight, especially in forums like this, will help keep me honest.  Finally, I also bought a fitbit and trying to use that to raise awareness of what I’m taking in, and the calories I burn during the day.

The fact is, since I’m not running right now, the best thing I can do in my marathon training is to get myself to my goal weight so that my body will hopefully allow me to start running again!

Today marked a new beginning of sorts.  While it could hardly be considered a ‘real’ run, I was able to mix several 1 minute run intervals in my 30 minute treadmill walk.   I generally ran 1 minute and walked 4 minutes, and repeated that for 30 minutes, covering just over 2 miles.  It was notable because I was finally able to run without feeling any pain in my ankle, which I had injured on Dec 24, almost 2 months ago.

I still have a long way to go in my recovery, as that little bit of work has my ankle sore all afternoon.  It likely needs a couple of days of recovery until I can try again.  I also have had a pretty bad case of plantar faciitis these last few months, and while my heel has been feeling a bit better lately, and didn’t hurt during my 30 minutes on the treadmill today, it has been achy all afternoon.  While not much to write home about, I am hopeful that this marks the start of my return to running, which I miss a lot.

I’ve also finally come to grips, after a couple of ‘biggest loser’ style pep-talks from my trainer, with the understanding that I will not be able to run (or walk, or walk/run) the Asheville Marathon on March 3.  Also depressing is that today marked the 3rd race in the last month I had signed up for in Dec prior to my injury, but was unable to run.  This has been tough to swallow because this is the time of the year I love to run and typically put in my highest mileage.

Mentally, I am definitely getting to a better place, with an understanding that this break in running (along with the other 2 lengthy injury breaks I also had in 2012) is giving me plenty of time to focus on things like strength, flexibility, and nutrition.  The fact is that my last strong marathon came over 2 years ago, when I ran the First Light Marathon on the day I turned 40.  Since then it has literally been all downhill on the injury front.

At this point, I will stop making short term goals, and will return to marathons when my body signals it is ready.  However, my looooong term goal is to get myself back to health slowly and smartly, such that I can run another strong marathon at the Mississippi Blues Marathon, on the day I turn 45, on 1/9/16.

Maybe this time I’ll finally be smart in my recovery and get back to healthy!  Hopefully more to come…

Today is the Chicago Marathon, and it brings back great memories from my running of the race, which was on 10-10-10.

First, was the amazing time I had visiting Chicago with my family for the weekend.  Even though two years have passed, and other family vacations have been taken, I still clearly remember the boat rides on the Chicago River, visiting Sears Tower (or whatever they call it now), finding and enjoying Chinatown, and sampling two of the deep dish pizza spots around town.

Second, in the lead-up to the Chicago Marathon, I blogged for 28 (yes that’s 28) straight days leading to the race – see the last post here, which contains a link to all 28 of the postings.

Third, which I never actually blogged about, was the amazing race expo.  It was far better than any race expo I’ve ever been to, including for New York City Marathon, and that is where I discovered the magazine Marathon & Beyond, and the Yurbud headphones.  I think the reason why I liked it so much better than the NYC Marathon expo is that it was not dominated by large booths from large name brand vendors.  It had many more smaller booths from people with interesting products.

Fourth, and finally, was the the race itself, which I also never completed my blog post about.  It is still in my drafts, and this is as far as I got:

10-10-10.  When I first realized very early in the year that the Chicago Marathon would be on 10-10-10, I immediately decided to run the race.  It fit my plans perfectly because I had decided last year that I would stop running NYC Marathon (I’ve done 7 of them) and focus on other states in the fall.  It seemed like the right special thing to do on a special day.

Despite the obstacles of the day (namely high temperatures and unrelenting sun), the Chicago Marathon lived up to everything I expected from it.  I had a great weekend, really enjoyed visiting the city, and the race was one of the best marathon experiences I’ve ever had.  It was a lot of fun to compare the Chicago experience to New York.

Things I loved about the Chicago Marathon:

1. Orderly start - Placement in the ‘open’ corral was by the honor system.  I found that most people did line up in the right place.  There were not too many slow people to get around in the early miles.  In fact, it was more orderly than NYRR races used to be with no corral system, and even still better than the current NYRR corral system where it seems they never reset your ‘fastest’ time.
2. Downtown start – It was so much fun to run the early miles downtown with so many people watching and cheering from the sidelines.  You just don’t get that in NYC due to the start over the Verrazano Bridge, although that start is amazing in it’s own right.
3. Water stops – each water station was at least 2 blocks long, with plenty of gatorade and plenty of water, and really enthusiastic and helpful volunteers.
4. Bathroom stops – most, if not all of the water stops were well stocked with bathrooms.  I held out until around mile 8 or 9, and did not have to wait at all. 

Been awhile since I posted one of these, but hopefully am back in the habit:

Running – 23.5 miles over 9 runs.  While the monthly total is quite low for me, and reflective of most of my year to date, I’m very happy that my training is on the upswing.  While my runs have all been 3 miles or less during the month, those runs have mostly been half mile intervals done at my race pace, or between 8 and 8:30 per mile.  I’m also poised to start increasing the miles, as I start training for my next marathon in early March.  I’m at 382.4 miles for the year, which is not bad considering five of the months combined were 72.1 miles.

Races – 0 – really itching to race again, but will be playing things smarter this time around and only race when I am ready and when it fits my training.  No particular races planned in October.

Biking – 0 miles over 0 rides.  Thinking about bringing my bike down to my house in NJ for the winter and buying a trainer, so that I can ride it over the winter in my basement.

Swims – 0 – no plans to pick up swimming again any time soon

Gym workouts – 2 sessions with my personal trainer

Softball – 2 losses.  Finally playing again after a long layoff due to my calf injury and then my sciatica.  3 games left in the fall season.

Injuries – Only thing is that my right foot is a bit wonky, but manageable for now

Sicknesses – None

Weight – With some changes to my food approach and intake, I’ve lost about 7 pounds in the last few months and 2% body fat.  Wonder whether I can keep losing or not.

Yesterday I ran outside, for the first time since late June.  It was awesome!  And awful!  At the same time.

The awesome part was that I was, like I said, running outside for the first time since late June, and also because I was able to maintain 8:30 pace for 3 miles.  The increase in speed is definitely due to Running Less and Running Faster, with my recent treadmill miles run at 8 and 8:27 pace.

The awful part was that I was only able to keep my pace for 3 miles.  My quads really started burning, due to not being accustomed to running outside I guess, and possibly also because I had done a session with my trainer the day before where we did some good leg work.

In any case, you have to start somewhere, and I’m sure my outside run next week will be 4 miles and the following week 5 miles, which is where I need to be as I move into the next phase of my training for the Asheville Marathon, just over 5 months from now!

I’ve been continuing to step up my treadmill training.  I’m still focusing on running less and running faster, with the running faster meaning training at interval pace for half mile intervals on the treadmill.  The treadmill is helping to ensure I keep pace accurately, and the softer surface is helpful as I start to build up.

Initially I was running four intervals at 8:27 pace, but after a couple of weeks, I was given the green light to step it up a bit, and then transitioned to six intervals, with the first two at 8:27 pace, the middle two at 8:00 pace, and the final two at 8:27 pace.  While difficult the first time, it has gotten easier each time.  I’m 2+ weeks at this point, and tomorrow will talk to my trainer about stepping it up again.  Looking forward to hopefully getting back outside on the road soon.  I’ve also been delaying taking TRX classes, and hope to start that up in the next week as well.

The only issues I’ve had have been with my right foot.  I’ve felt what I thought was achilles pain, but I seem to have found a knot in my upper calf, which seems to manifest itself in achilles type pain when I flex my foot.  Attention to that spot on my calf seems to have helped.  Additionally, the turf toe I’ve had off-and-on with my right big toe seems to be back.  Not quite sure what to do here, but the prospect of seeing my foot doctor for therapy again is not appealing.  I’m wondering if I should tape the toe and see if that helps.

Anyway, not terribly concerned about either, and still on track, I hope, to run the Asheville Marathon on March 3.

It feels good to be back running again, though I’d be much happier if I was running out in the parks and on the roads.  For now, I’m focusing on interval workouts on the treadmill, with the idea being that the treadmill can precisely dictate the pace.

For the first two weeks, I ran four half mile intervals at 8:27 pace, but in my last two workouts I started to step up the effort.  I’m now up to six repeats, with the middle two at 8:00 pace!  The overall workout is fatiguing to me and after the seemingly light effort of only 3 miles, albeit at a good hard pace, caused me to take a long nap in the afternoon and to be super hungry in the evening!  I’m fine with that though – as I build up my training again, I’m sure I’ll get used to the effort.  I still find the treadmill to be a boring workout, especially since I’ve been doing it without music, but since the repeats are limited to 4-4:15 at a time, I have been able to get through the repeats one at a time, and in that way, get through the whole workout.

The only injury issue I seem to have at the moment is a sore right heel.  It’s not in the spot where I’ve felt plantar fasciitis in the past, and it doesn’t yet bother me when I run, so for the moment will keep my eye on it, and try self massage to see if I can keep it loose.  My achilles has seemed tender on that side too, so I wonder if it is an achilles issue.  Hopefully it stays at bay.