2/21-2/27

Sunday 2/21: DOUBLE DIGITS!!! 10 miles
-I decided to schedule todays run in the early evening as I ran 8 miles for two consecutive days (including 4- 5:30 miles in the middle of my 8 miler on friday evening). It payed off as I felt like my achilles was loose and ready to go after a 10 miler. I felt great cardio wise (although some of the nasty uphills on watkins mill road got to me on the way back on the out and back run). I ran 1:08 for 10 +. I averaged 6:40 pace which i am happy with considering its the longest run I have run since December 7th and also it felt great. The achilles got slightly tight around mile 9 but never actually hurt... I just could feel it get a little tight. I showered and put my foot in a bucket of ice water and all is great since!
Monday: 2/22: RAIN RUN! 8.5 miles
-After a good sales pitch by Karl, I decided to trek down from Gaithersburg to Bethesda for a run after school today. Actually, i was very happy to get a call from Karl, as I was not looking forward to running on the high traffic roads around here at that time of the day. We neandered around the surrounding neighborhoods at a relaxed pace. My achilles did not hurt nor was tight one bit today! I expected today to suck after running 10 yesterday. I am still going to continue all the measures possible to keep my achilles loose and healthy... Tomorrow I will run 6 miles. Next week, I am adding in striders into the game as well as a 25 minute tempo next wednesday with some striders after the first workout in ages!
Tuesday: 2/23: Kamakazi Run! 8 miles.
I met Chicken Tender Andy and Sloane for a proposed run on the rock creek trail beginning at Lake Needwood. We were frustrated to find out that the paved trail was still covered with almost a foot of snow! We decided to go through the trail a bit to see if it cleared up ahead but no such luck. We turned around and headed out to the opposite end of the Needwood park road... We turned around and headed up to Avery Rd which is the main road you access the park from. The road was narrow and the traffic was surprisingly high considering it was a narrow backroad. Cars flew by... they honked at us... A guy flipped us off... good times. We turned around after traveling about 20 minutes out on the road. The achilles felt great... I was originally going to hit only 6 today but felt fine so i ran with Andy and Chris the entire run. I will definitely go only 6 tomorrow as I can't get carried away... I ran 38 last week... I am on tuesday (3rd day of my running week and am at 26.5 miles!
"Slow down???....But it feels soooo good to go fast!!!"
Wednesday: 2/24: 6 miles
Ran a boring but effective 3 miles out and 3 miles back. I felt sluggish on the Watkins Mill Hills tonight but that is expected considering i have up'd my mileage. I pushed a bit on the way back on accident... I started thinking about racing... which I have problems with when it comes to training... I had a stressful day today as well... things in my life in the last few months have been obviously different... I am scheduled to move this weekend... so I have been really stressing about that this week with some financial things recently coming into mind through this whole ordeal... So, i guess running a bit hard in the final 2 miles was a way to let out some stress... but i am in no position to be doing that.... I should be more cautious with just coming back to running in the last 4 weeks.
Thursday: 2/25: Tour de Mont. Village. 6 miles
I ran aimlessly through Montgomery Village tonight. I was trying to avoid the hills tonite that i hit the last two days. I got to 18 minutes and had a strong twinge in my left gastroc (right in the meat of it). I got nervous that this was due to my achilles but after stopping to stretch and massage it out, it was much looser and I was able to run on it with minor muscle soreness. I will hit 5 tomorrow and will see how i am feeling on saturday (between 6-8).
Friday: 2/26:
Saturday: 2/27:

Week of 2/14-2/20

Sunday 2/14: 0 miles
I was unable to get a run in after a debacle that had to do with two girls, a parking garage and a Red Fox... As a result of not having a car all day and the lack of open road/sidewalks around my place, I was confined to just doing some core work...
Monday 2/15: 8 miles
I ran 8 miles around Germantown. I felt great getting up early to get the run in (with the day off school). I was pleased that my achilles did not get aggrevated running that early in the morning.
Tuesday 2/16: 8 miles
Due to a lovely 2 hour delay at school... I ventured down to North Bethesda and ran with Dusen for a rolling 8 mile run. We kept a decent clip over the windy hills in Kensington... I think its hilarous the names of the towns in the MD/D.C area... They are names that are town names also in philly but the type of towns are complete opposites... some examples: Kensington (Nice here... Dangerous in Philly) and Olney (very nice here... question is carjack or homocide).
Wednesday 2/17: 6 miles
Ran later in the evening in Germantown. Felt fantastic. I wanted to push but did no such thing.
Thursday: 2/18: 0 miles
I was very upset I did not get my run in today. I had a long day at work and met a friend for dinner as well and did not have good time management after the long day of work prior to evening plans. It is probably a good thing considering coming back but this can't and will not happen when I get over 50-60 miles again.
Friday: 2/19: 8 miles
I jumped in a workout with Chicken Tender loving Andy Sovonick. He was doing a 4 x 6 minute interval workout at Tempo heart rate level. I shadowed C.T and the only thing on my mind was BBQ or Sweet n' Sour??? Still pondering on this dilemma... Anyway, back to the run... Andy looked really strong... as he was talking through the whole thing. This kid has talent and I think he is going to really surprise himself in the spring/summer season to come! As far as my run, it felt great! we hit circa 5:30 pace for the 1.1 mile intervals... I had a warm up of 1.5 miles and with the 2 minute run b/w sets as well as adding on after the run... I came out with a solid 8 miles... Achilles is great!
Saturday: 2/20: 8 miles
I ran the Germantown 8 mile loop today. Besides the tight running along Clopper Rd with the lack of shoulder, the run went great! I wore my GPS for the first time in ages today. I ran a really nice 6:22/mile average for the 8 miles. I felt great running today. tomorrow will be my first double digit run since December 7th!

WEEK TOTAL: 38miles in 5 runs

6 miles on friday and 8 miles at the Haiti run today

This is the first week since my comeback where I ran everyday but 1 day off (on monday). Here is the totals:

Sunday: 8 miles

Monday:OFF

Tuesday: 3 miles

Wednesday: 6 miles

Thursday: 7 miles (sub 6 for middle portion)

Friday: 6 miles + 20 minutes of med/hard aqua running.

Saturday: 8 miles

Week 1 back total = 38 miles

Friday: 6 miles

I ran once again around germantown park (on the 1.2 mile loop and decided to venture down into the boyds woods on a very narrow backroad. I only saw 2 angry countrymen who love to go 80+ on those roads in their Ford trucks Yelling YEEE HAAA... Besides those two encounters it was peaceful on the backroads. I took it easy after yesterdays test to see how the achilles held up running at a higher intensity. Besides some soreness in the first 10 minutes, all subsided and the run was pleasant. I finished off in the pool with some med/hard spirts aqua jogging.

Saturday: 8miles

I was planning on running w/ Andy the chicken tender lover. since andy needed to make a late start, and the fact that I forgot I have some papers that need to be done today for a grad class I am currently working on, I opted for the Haiti run (which was 6 miles) and added on two to make it an even 8. I felt good... it was nice to run with people... The run was kind of crazy through the narrow streets and absent sidewalks through chevy chase... but we got through it and it was nice running in a big pack of people for a change.

7.2miles in 43:45

I was confined to the 1.2 mile loop around Germantown park today. The plows cleared the motor-vehicle loop around the complex (obviously the trails-paved and dirt were under some 3+ feet of snow). I ran my first loop at a leisure effort (7:30 pace). My second and third laps I picked it up to test where my achilles was when continuing a tempo type pace effort for 2 plus miles. it didn't even phase it! if people saw me while i was running 6 laps around this loop... they would have A: asked what the hell are you doing... B: why the hell are you smiling while doing this... I obviously knew I couldn't be stupid a put the hammer down... though I thought about a paced 1.2 mile loop on the 5th lap... I held it to the 5:50-6min pace that I was hitting. I finished and knew that when I didn't feel that usual creaking/soreness in my achilles anymore after the more vigorous than normal effort I put in today... i am now ready to go. I am still keeping a very low mileage build up. but I am definitely going to open up in 5 weeks at VA beach in the 8k. Will i run fast... Probably not... Will I go out there and compete. You bet I will!

Braving the Snow... I have some old raddy track spikes to sport...

Another successful snow run!

in 46 minutes of running: total of 3 cars and 2 plows sighted... It needs to be like this more often... minus the four feet of snow

Yes!!! I did where ski goggles...

Pre Run "Yay snow!" Post run: "Do I still have a nose?"

1 "What the hell are you running in this for" comment... His window got stuck in the down position... I giggled and pranced away !

2 Dirty looks

3 wipe outs

= Glad to be back running again :)

3 miles on Tuesday

I ran 3 miles on tuesday... it was real shady running on the narrow streets of mont village ave (what i was confined to due to lack of sidewalks)... after 1.5 out and a close call with a ride on.... I turned around and surrendered.

8 is Gr8!!!

I ended up running 8 yesterday as my first run of the first week in some time that I am logging mileage. My goal this week is to get 38 miles in this week (with 1 day off of no running). I should be able to handle this. 6 days this week will also contain 40 minutes of aqua running.
The Snowy 8 miler:
I ran with Mike and like usual we talked about what we always talk about. Running and Life. It definitely makes the miles go fast when you are engaged in a good conversation. Occassionally we would get quiet as we had to run through a snow drift... hold our breath down a short steep hill that had black ice (actually I would say the F word 3 times... heck, it kept me on my feet!). As we were completing the 5.3 loop on the tyler side... I realized that upon completion of the 5.3 (or South Loop), I would still have to run 2 miles back to the car... I was feeling great... the conversations we were having side tracked me... I wasn't going to finish a day with 7.3 miles... so I added on a bit at the end to secure an 8 miler. Was it fast NO. but boy did it feel good! I need to accept the fact that my achilles is going to hurt... But its not a sharp pain anymore... more dull and never gets worse until I am done running. I still cannot run early in the morning... As I need time to get up and get my achilles loosened up by means of stretch and massage.
Song of the Day: P.O.D "Alive"

Snowaphobia???

So... December 5th marks the day where I injured my achilles... This occurred thanks to a very tough Fartlek workout in 4 inches of snow on my germantown park XC loop. After my final 1 min on effort where I was running circa 4:40 pace in the snow, I felt a pull in my lower left leg that left me stumbling in the final 10 seconds of the kicking interval... (what timing). From there... it was downhill. The timing in general couldn't be worse as I tried to run after 2 days off and the pain continued to be an 8 out of 10. The following saturday was the first official race on my winter/spring schedule (US club champs). I wasn't in great shape but felt that I could surprise myself against fierce competition in Lexington, KY over the hill and dale. the night before I came down with the flu... at first I thought it was just a respiratory injection with some sourness in stomach... I had to make a last minute decline on the trip... As hard as that was... I was feeling worse than I have in years when it came to being sick.. It ended up being a good decision as the virus turned into a stomach virus and driving 9 hours in a van and having to hit the can every 20 minutes probably would not have been welcomed.
So... now it is 11:06 on Sunday February 7th. This will be my first week of logging mileage since the injury in early december. I feel cardio fit! the pool workouts have done well. my legs feel weird running... my achilles twinges still but not with pain but weakness. I ran my 6 miles on fri evening directly before the storm when i got into PA to visit my parents. I opted out of a heavy snow run yesterday and focused my energy on shoveling my parents down hill driveway... which I actually felt I got a nice workout in... I timed myself to see how fast I could do it... the driveway is 75 meters long and I completed 22 inches of snow removal over that area in 52 minutes... I obviously wasn't a maniac with it in that I was not going to hurt my back or anything but... i didn't take any breaks...
Today is a different day... I am going out for a 6 miler... on the snow covered streets.... I am nervous because the last snow run I participated in ended in this major setback at a time in my life I did not need another one... (yes i know, things could be worse....I still have my overall health)... but still. I need to take it easy... I am running with my buddy mike who is training like an animal right now for Boston. He is running 23 today... I am meeting him at the halfway point for a 10k of company... we are running in Tyler park which is hilly but usually plowed well on the main roads. Details of this short but... fearful run to come.... achilles don't let me down again!