Signed Up for the Lake Mary 4th Annual Community 5K Run and Walk

I signed up for Lake Mary 4th Annual Community 5K Run and Walk this Saturday, May 21st.  It benefits the athletics department at Lake Mary High School.  The money is supposed to go to a new artificial turf field and track.

It starts at the school, winds through the nearby neighborhoods and then finishes back on the track.  That should be interesting since it has three quarters of a lap on the track.  It could make for a good finish.

Here's a link for Central Floridians interested in entering this week.  http://www.lakemaryhs.scps.k12.fl.us/5k/

Here's a link to the event on Daily Mile that I created.  http://www.dailymile.com/events/48691-the-lake-mary-4th-annual-community-5k-run-and-walk

As a note, my right leg around the knee is still very painful.  I can't tell if it is inside the knee joint or the top part of my soleus.  Just did some basic research and I learned something that I probably should have already known. I never knew the difference between a sprain and a strain.  Now I do and so do you.

Sprains and Strains

A sprain is an injury to a ligament.  Ligaments connect bone to bone.

A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon.  Tendons connect muscle to bone.

It's time for bed.  I have watched too many ACL and Achilles Tendon Repair surgery videos.  Try these.

Achilles Surgery

ACL Surgery

Part 1

ACL Surgery
Part 2

Yeah, don't worry about it.  You're welcome!

Long Run with a New Pair of Shoes

I just bought a new pair of running shoes yesterday.  I already like my Asics Gel Cumulus 12's.  As named, they made me feel like I was running on clouds.  My warmup was just a hair over 1 mile and immediately I could feel the difference.  I was stiff, but there was no joint pain "like normal."  What a feeling it is to have no pain.

This was a group run and I stayed with my group for 3 miles.  We had 7:47, 15:11, and a low 23 range time for splits.  It was a little faster than I wanted to go, but it was good to push it and be able to stay with my group.  There is normally a water stop at that point and I was getting thirsty after the 2nd mile.  I stopped for 30 seconds and then got back on pace.  I watched the group go around a corner and checked my time when I went around the same corner to gauge how far off pace I was dropping.  After another mile, I was behind by 1 minute and 5 seconds, so if I didn't stop, I would have dropped back only 35 seconds.  Not too bad.

At one point during the run (around 5 miles), the group went straight and I ran off to the right.  I knew there was a water fountain at Cady Way Park.  That was the 6 mile mark and I stopped for water.  Maybe 2 minutes to catch my breath a little.  My core/chest was starting to get hot, so I took my tech shirt off and wore it around my waist.  What a difference that makes for cooling your core area.

About half a mile later, I misjudged a slight incline and pushed my right foot into the ground a little too hard.  This caused some pain in my patellar tendon where it attaches to the quads.  I had to slow down a little and take some short strides for about 200 meters until the pain subsided.

Once that went away, I got a sharp pain in my left hip.  Changing my stride didn't help much with that and I didn't want to start walking.  I had been running on the left side of the road for some time and it was angled which most road are.  I went over to the right side of the road and the pain went away.  I usually don't like running on the right side for obvious safety reasons (can't see cars coming from behind), but also because that usually makes my left ankle hurt.

Overall, the new shoes are fantastic.

I don't remember where I found this recipe, but it tastes decent and you get some of your vegetables and fruit in at the beginning of your day.  It's a green smoothie.

Blend 1 cup of water and 1 cup of kale leaves (get rid of thick stems) until the kale is broken into very small particles and it looks like green sludge. Add 1 cup of raw spinach and continue blending.  Add 1 banana and to make the smoothie cooler, I add frozen mixed fruit.  Usually this is blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.  That's the normal smoothie.  This morning, I added half cup of broccoli after the spinach.  I don't know how much fiber I just took in, but it should undo any damage that happens tonight from eating at the Daily City Food Truck Bazaar.

Speed is Hard the Day After a Long Run

First off, shout out to a running legend.  Grete Waitz passed away today at the age of 57.  I'd say that she has a claim to fame, but she was a world record holder and won a lot of marathons.  She held records ranging from 3000 meters through the marathon.  'Nough said.  You don't know who she was to the running community of the 70's and 80's?  Yahoo has a good write up and Wikipedia has her best times in one place.

I was hoping the workout was going to be fast and short, so it would be over quickly.  My legs are still sore from yesterday's long run and not fully recharged so to speak.  I wanted to get home and watch the Orlando Magic play the Atlanta Hawks in game 2 of their playoff series, too.

I got out of work late, so I only got one extra lap before we started the regular warmup run.  1.25 miles there.  We stretched and ran 4x100 striders as usual.

The workout was not new.  400, 800, 400.  3 sets.  Since it was hot and humid, coach increased the recovery 15 seconds to 1:15 between reps and the rest between sets from 3 minutes to 4 minutes.  Big thanks on that!  OK.  The first 400 was mile pace.  The 800 was 5k pace.  The second 400 was faster than the first. My goals were 1:30, 3:30, 1:25ish.

I ran the entire first set faster than planned.  That's OK, since I didn't go so hard as to get my arms tingling like I have done in the past.  I ran 1:26, 3:13, 1:23.  My legs were killing me.  I'm not talking about feeling sluggish and heavy.  I'm not talking about muscles even feeling tight.  My patellar (knee) tendons were in a lot of pain and my entire lower leg bones hurt.  It wasn't my shins and it wasn't calves.  Bone is the only thing left.  And that screams shin splints to me.

I already knew at this point that I should have done my long run on Sunday to give myself an extra day of rest.  Too late now.  The second set was right on pace and slightly faster throughout.  On the last set, I missed by 2 seconds on the 400 and 800.  I made the last 400 under time, but I had to dig hard the last 100 of it.  I should have commanded this workout.  I skipped the regular cooldown and rode my bike home.

Oh yeah, the Magic beat the Hawks 88-82 and evened the series.  Next game is Friday night.

800 Repeats, Pain in my Knee, and Why so much food?

What kind of things do I need to remember about today?

Pain in my right knee for most of the workout and definitely after the workout.  Talked to Mike since he came from a cycling background.  I told him that the knee pain only started once I got back on my bike regularly.  He said that it is possible that my saddle may be too low.  He said that my knee should only be slightly bent.  Not straight and fully extended, either.  I will have to check on this and make an adjustment if necessary.

Cliche:  Pain is temporary.  Pride is forever.  Gotta remember this when my legs feel heavy, there's a sidesticker making it hard to breath, my head feels like it is going to pop, and my arms are tingling.  I gave up on my last repeat tonight.  I was hurting, but was there more?  There's always more.  Always.  Unless you're on the floor.

Don't let the King be the Winner!  I went to Burger King an hour post workout.  I ordered and devoured

a BK Double Stacker (I love the sauce they use),

small french fries,

small Coke,

and the clincher... a BK Fish sandwich.

Did I really need the fish sandwich, too?  The King made me do it.  I will be stronger next time.  Approximately 1900 calories.  BMI just went up 1pt.  I can feel it.  This is gonna need some extra laps on the next workout.

And the workout...

3 laps around the track on my own (.75 mile)
1 mile loop around the neighborhood
Stretching and then 4 x 100 striders

6 x 800 repeats @ 4-7 seconds faster than 5k goal pace (3:20-3:25)
I ran 3:19, 3:20, 3:19, 3:26 (missed by 1 second), 3:21, 3:44 (refer to 2nd paragraph above ^ beginning with Cliche.)

Did some breathing exercises and slow stretching at home a few hours after the workout.

Quadriceps Tendon Pain

I got up pre-dawn and headed out for a morning run, which is becoming essential.  The morning part that is... since we are regularly seeing temperatures in the 90's during the day in Central Florida.

So I do my usual 2.5 mile loop.  I ran it twice and then wanted to add another half mile up to the convenience store and back.  I started slow to let all the parts get warm and loose.  That worked out great.  I didn't pick up my pace until about 1.5 miles.  I then kept a fairly consistent pace (about 8:20/8:30) until about the end of mile 5.

That's when I started to open my stride to pick up the pace, but as I got into it, I started to overstride on the front side.  All it took was one misstep and pain shot up from the top of my knee (Patella) to a few inches into my quad.  I'm pretty sure is the the Rectus Femoris, but the accompanying quad tendon is where the pain originated.

I immediately stopped.  Walking didn't hurt, so I tried jogging gingerly like at the beginning of my warmups.  No pain there.  As soon as I tried to get back to my workout pace, the pain shot up from the top of my knee again.  Ouch!  Again, I stopped and very slow jogging seemed fine.  I continued down the road to the convenience store at my turtle pace and just treated it as a cooldown.

I will probably take off tomorrow and see if a little rest helps.

Taking Control of the Knee Pain

I had a little twitch in my left knee during one of last week's treadmill runs. It came to a head yesterday morning during my 5 miler. My knee hurt all day yesterday and to a lesser extent today.

I will not let this stop my running. I wanted to run the same 5 miler again today, but I took a different approach. Starting very slowly, I didn't increase my speed for the entire first 2 miles. I probably jogged those around 12 minutes each. I took very short strides, controlled breathing, landing each step on the balls of my feet. No heals whatsoever and no overextending.

Felt good. Retied my shoes at 2 miles and off I went. I tried to keep the same pace the whole way through except for the final 1/4 mile. I gave it everything I had short of sprinting. I don't want to pop my hammies anymore. I think taking extra time and care during my warmup did the trick. I usually never warmup more than 1 mile.

No pain after my run either. I think I am ready for the Run Around the Pines 5k this Saturday morning. I will rest tomorrow and I am aiming for 24:40 on the 5k.

Run Data:
5.1 miles in 48 minutes
59 degrees at the start and 53 degrees by the end of the run