Four miles over three days. Rock on.

It's kinda hard to justify blogging about runs under 10 mins, so I'm going to sum up my snails pace build-up.

Friday - 8 min

Saturday - 12 min (woah, big jump)

Sunday - 12 min

Felt pretty good all day thurs and friday and MOST of Sat. Towards the evening made a couple of awkward steps that bugged the knee, so was unsure about whether to continue building up today given the aggravation. Decided to give 12 mins a shot mostly to avoid being in a sour mood and to spare the rest of the world from my general unpleasantness when I can't run. It's feeling better for longer while running, and I'm getting flashbacks to when I first started PT when things would hurt after 5 mins, then I could go 10 mins, and I was able to keep increasing distance before I'd feel pain.  My main concern is when things hurt later in the day. It really bothers me to be able to run a couple miles relatively pain free only to have my knee bug me 6 hours later. It's like when you hit your funny bone and you know it's going to really frickin' hurt in about 5 seconds...except it takes 5 hours.

wow this blog is insanely boring. 

Road to recovery...

Location: around the block

Distance: <1mi

Time: 6 mins

So my complete lack of blogging hasn't been cause I've just been so insanely busy that I haven't had time. I just haven't had anything productive to say. I think I may have re-screwed up my knee doing squats the other day because it is sore in a different place and different manner. So it's been a week since I ran and I just couldn't take it today so allowed myself to run to the stop light around the corner from me and back. Kinda felt a little sore in the last 3 mins, but has felt surprisingly okay the rest of the day. However, I've been moving around a lot today and sometimes I feel like it actually feels better on days when I'm not at a desk for 10 hours. 

Think I'll try 8 tomorrow and if things don't get worse will start the gradual build to a decent distance.

cross ur fingers.

PASSED.

Passed the Ca State Bar. 

:)

18 hour countdown

Rocked the gym this morning (i.e. showed up and played with some mildly heavy objects for about 30 mins before realizing I was gonna be late for work) and am now icing. Knee pain present but mild today. Thinking I may have a pain free day in my near future. Keep your fingers crossed. I actually made an appointment with a PT/ART today but I don't get in until Dec. 9th. If I'm still having issues by the ninth please, someone just come out here and put me out of my misery.

Otherwise, my brain has been malfunctioning as of late, which has been awesome. The anticipation of tomorrow has rendered me essentially useless. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tomorrow. It's like the night before christmas, except you're not sure whether the jack in the box that Santa left you contains cash or armed explosives.  

Reality Bites.

So I've finally decided to face the reality that I need to take some time off if I want to be able to run pain free. Managed 3 miles today the last mile of which really didn't feel good. The knee area has been sore all day and I just need to give myself a solid chunk of time and not even think about going for a run till I go at least a day or two without noticing any pain or twinges of any kind in my knee. That could take till the end of the week, or it could take two weeks or longer, I really have no idea. It seems so strange to me that just three weeks ago I was running normal mileage and didn't even consider that I might not be completely better. Now here I am icing my knee and trying not to think about how hard it is to think about the big picture and sacrifice my sanity for the next couple of weeks. 

Ok, enough of the pity parade. I just need to find some distractions to keep my mind off my lack of running. 

Definitely not drinking for the antioxidants

Ever have those days where you just feel anxious the entire day? I had the urge to keep checking my email as if I was going to get something important and jumped every time someone walked into my office and felt nervous leaving work at 7 even tho I had been there 10 hours already and did a decent amount of work. I think it's a culmination of a couple things...First I was woken up by an small earthquake this morning...most people don't even know it happened but I'm a light sleeper.  I also didn't run this morning (tho managed some quality lifting) in my attempts to let my knee recover. I wasted some quality time at work mapping out my mileage and am worried about the balance of taking it slow and being able to run in the two half marathons I am interested in January.

Oh yea and bar results are coming out this friday. At this point there have been soooo many people that have said "oh don't worry, you will definitely pass," that if I DON'T...well that's just gonna be no fun for anyone.  So I think I may be feeling like this for the next couple of days, which is going to make for an incredibly long week.  Right now I'm trying a combination of John Mayer and red wine to calm my nerves a bit. I think I'm gonna need more wine.

Oh right, this is a running blog.

I didn't run today. 

2 fer

Location: Del Mar Cliffs

Distance: 3ish

Time: 24min

The above applies to BOTH saturday and sunday. It's like a bonus blog. Two for the price of one. Weather in SD is ridiculously warm right now, but thanks to my internal clock I am up by 6:30 and out the door by 7 so I had two beautiful crisp sunny mornings with clear skies and cool air. Its been awhile since I've run on the cliffs due to racing and biking, and I forgot how much I love that run. I've been pacing those cliffs for over a decade now and I just don't see that run ever getting old.  Added bonus for today: ran into Coach, which always brightens my day.

Knee report: It's a little sore but not in the usual place, and it's been mildly sore throughout the day but I think its getting better, so I'm sticking with 3 miles until I'm pain free. Some of the pain may be from a combo of heels and dancing last night (after explaining this to coach: "So you HAD to wear heels?" Me: "Yes, the entire outfit was dependent upon the heels." So apparently my priorities can be a little out of whack on occasion :-P )

I am really looking forward to when my entries don't contain mostly analysis of my knee. I swear I'll find more interesting things to say.

Finally, some mileage

Location: Up to Torrey Pines and back

Distance: I'd like to say three, but probably closer to 2.5

Time: 24min

Knee was okay...walking around today after running hasn't been worse than yesterday, so I guess that's good. Will give it another go at 3 mi tomorrow down at the beach (yay!) but probably shouldn't take it up to 4 until the pain is completely gone. 

Feeling extremely annoyed that I can't run a normal distance right now :-/

..but not today.

I seemed to have blocked out of my mind the fact that biking for some reason aggravates my knee issue just as much as running...hence my last three days of biking was not recovery so much as screwing up my knee.  I hate being stupid. 

Skipped out on biking this morning due to aforementioned stupidity and was thus in a shitty mood for the first two hours at work. But to be at least slightly productive with this blog --> Pain is not the normal shooting pain when I take pressure off of my left leg but rather just feels like a dull ache. It's not the kind of pain that makes me panic and worry I've really screwed up but rather feels like it might fade away. I don't like that it's kinda constant, but I'd rather that then the sharp pain. So today off. Tomorrow to the gym and will assess how I feel after I lift some heavy-ish objects.  Probably should be smart and do at least one more day off. Probably won't be smart and will give 3 miles a shot.

Look. I can run.

At some point there will be running in this log...

Location: Stationary Bike

Distance: 20.0 I have to assume that odometer means km, not mi.

Time: 45 min

Managed 45 mins on the bike and did lifting and finally got in my physical therapy stuff, but knee has been bothering me off and on all day. Not sure whether to attribute it to the biking (most likely, cause i kinda thought it was bothering me towards the end of biking) or the leg presses (wishful thinking...I'd rather cut out strength work than biking). Now I'm not sure whether to take a day off completely tomorrow, or bike and see if there's a change, or go for a real bike ride despite the crooked handlebars (note to self: call bike shop tomorrow). I'm slightly worried about getting halfway out on the ride then deciding my knee hurts but having to bike home.

I'll see how things feel in the morning...

Recovery mode...

Location: Stationary Bike

Distance: 0 mi (tho in imaginary bike land the odometer said something around 13.5 mi)

Time: 30mins

I am attempting to be good and not run for a couple days in order to avoid the cycle of running then not being able to run so taking 3 off days, then running, the off days, etc.

Hit the gym and decided to try the stationary bikes that you clip in to. Biggest bonus - much harder to fall off the stationary bike than the road bike.  Biggest negative - Soooo boring in comparison to a real bike.  I can only listen to so much crappy music on my ipod. Today my schedule saved me from too much tedious biking as I only had about 30 mins to squeeze in a workout.

I'm taking at least one more day of biking tomorrow, and then I really need to get my real bike fixed so I can go on more scenic rides. Not that I don't love staring in the mirror and analyzing the random ass pools of sweat that appear on my shirt.

I swear I know how to ride a bike.

Bike Ride

Distance: 16 mi - ish

Time: 90 min - ish

Location: 56 Bike Path

Today's bike ride was fraught with difficulties, which is ironic because as I started out I decided I was finally comfortable on my bike and ready to try a different route then my typical out and back.

First I realized that as I've improved my fitness I can go longer and farther, but the bike path ends and so I decided to venture out a little further on the roads (insert dramatic scary music here, as I live in fear of being run over due to my beginner skills in biking). Unfortunately this had me riding down the steepest hill I've ever seen (and what goes down must go up...at least on an out and back ride) and to top it off my brake got stuck which just didn't bode well for the uphill climb.

After I got that all figured out and made my way back it started to rain. Now I've never been a huge fan of running in the rain but that is nothing in comparison to biking in the rain. The storm clouds came and the temperature dropped, meanwhile i'm cruising along and it felt like every ice cold drop slammed into me.  Finally add in the rushing wind factor, as biking is generally faster than running (except when I"m biking up steep hills...that's a toss up).

I was almost home and waiting for the green at a very busy stoplight when I heard a strange noise to my left. As I looked over I felt my center of balance shift and...yep, I fell. I hate falling! Not because of any pain but because a) it usually scratches up my bike and b) It's really frigg'n embarrassing. This time it totally bent the brake/shifter on my handlebar so now I need to take it in, which is actually ok timing because it needs a tune-up anyways.

So I managed to survive but didn't exactly get the nice recovery bike ride I was looking for. For now I'm heading to Pipes (breakfast in Encinitas) and then to the Moving Shoes (running store) as a reward for making it through the morning.

Morley Field - Dirt Dog XC Championships

Distance: 6 mi total (4 mi race, walked cool down)

Time: Slow :-/ not sure race time at this point

Location: Morley Field, Balboa Park

I've been looking for a better medium to record my training (using the term lightly) when Jilane alerted me to the increase in "glory days" runners recording their recent adventures in running through blogs. 

So I've had this old thing sitting around unattended to for about six months now...might as well make use of it. Can't say I promise to always stay on topic as running itself often causes my mind to wander but here goes...

Today was the BIG championship race in the San Diego Dirt Dog XC series. I've been really happy with all of my races so far, so when this race just felt like CRAP I was bummed. I think part of the problem was the heat. I've been running at 6AM every morning and contrary to popular opinion it is quite chilly at that hour, even in San Diego. So that took a toll. Also was the fact that my mileage for this week was 10 miles. Total. My knee flared up after my record breaking 40 mi week last week so I paid the price with 4 days of no running. I tried to tell myself that not running this week wouldn't matter, but my body just didn't take the shock well.

So I survived. I was probably about 20 seconds back from where I should have been but I still managed 9th place in the series.  

Now that the series is over I can do whatever I want with running. I forgot how hard it is to be so structured with training (workouts in relation to high and low days and races and such). Now I can do more biking and be more careful about my knee.

Next race: Dana Point Turkey Trot 5k?

Thoughts on Meerkats

I went to the Zoo today for the first time in as long as I can remember. I don't think I've been within the last ten years.  I've decided Meerkats are pretty much awesome.  If it weren't for laws and health standards and silly notions like that, I would probably have to look into getting one.  He could keep a lookout while I slept, then during the day kick back and chill out.  His duties would pretty much entail...

1) Lookout

2) Chill out

3) Massive cuteness

And that's all I have to say on Meerkats for now. 

a few weeks ago i found myself in the airport, bouncing from leg to leg in line for security, frantically checking my watch. Finally I make it to the front and take my laptop out, shoes off, belt off, jacket off, pockets empty and then had to put it all back. I took another frantic look at my watch.  Crap. No way. Not gonna make it.  I take my bag swing it firmly over my shoulder, take a deep breath...and I run.

I was the stereotypical movie character late for her flight.  I sped by business people with their rolly bags, whizzed by parents dragging their screaming children.  I ran down the never ending terminal.  Seriously I think I found the longest trek from Security to one's gate.  I was only about half way there when something horrible happened.  I had to walk and catch my breath.  As I wheezed and repositioned my bag I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.  I hadn't had to stop and walk for ANYTHING since Junior High, and then it was only cause it wasn't cool to run all 8 laps.  I was walking now and this was about survival...or at least catching my plane to San Francisco.  And so, from my hunched over position, I straightened up and resumed the run.  As I pulled into the gate, my face red and flushed, wheezing like an old woman, I practically collapsed as I was the last to hand over my ticket for the flight.  As I stumbled down the gateway, barely able to catch my breath, only one though dominated my mind. 

Never has the need to be healed and running more apparent.  Next time the flight could be international.

Macs are cool

So, my old PC sadly exploded (ish...i mildly exaggerate) forcing me to invest in a new laptop.  I am now the proud owner of a MAC. I have crossed to the other side. 

I think one of the best things about having a mac is the hip factor. Sure it's a good computer, small size, easy to use, has great programs and all that jazz.  But, really, the best part is that I am now a cool kid. That's right. All the cool kids are using macs. It's like smoking without the whole lung cancer side effect.

For instance. upon announcement of my new purchase, I received a plethora of messages from people congratulating me on entering the realm of macs.  I got more messages than on my birthday.  I also experience great joy when I see mac commercials. Honestly, I used to feel like kinda a loser when i'd see the mac commercials.  The Mac guy is hip and cute, and the PC guy was a dweeb and old.   With one purchase at the apple store, i have shed my dweebiness.  NOW I'm one of the cool kids. I'm a mac guy. I instantly feel more attractive.

So while having a new Mac is great for its functuality, the best part has to be the enhancement of my social status.  I often feel like waving it around sporadically on the streets so people know how cool I am.  In fact, I have decided to stop associating with PC users.  My mac has shown me the light, and i can no longer waste my time with people that look like the old guy on the Mac commercials. 

So buy a mac.  It'll make you cool.

Out running...

I was working through something that was bothering me the other day, running through various scenarios in my head.  As I debated potential solutions, i found myself getting frustrated again.  I saw myself arguing with people in imagined situations.  As no solutions formulated, and tensions increased, i saw myself grab my running shoes, pull my hair back, and head outside.  As I ran through golden gate park there was only one thing on my mind. The sound of my breath, the slight ache of my muscles, and the warm drip of sweat down my temple.  All that mattered was how my body felt.  My mind was clear, I was strong, and i felt so pure.  I stopped running, a cool glean of sweat covering my body, and caught my breath. Previous problems seemed further away, and while no less important, at least somehow manageable.

I opened my eyes and glanced around the living room of my San Francisco apartment.  The runs I've been on lately have been few and far between.  In fact, the last one was over a month ago.  And there are sometimes when I think I am dealing well with not being able to run.  Then there are times when everything seems to go to hell and I have absolutely no outlet.  Nothing else has very had the same effect on me.  Not writing or talking or some sort of meditation.  Right now I'm missing an important part of who I am.  My focus is on getting better, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to get better.  I just miss it so much.

Rainy Ramblings

It's been raining almost consistently for about 10 days now. There are only a few situations in which I like rain, like being in a warm apartment and listening to jazz and the rain on the window, or a run in the rain on a warm day. Other than that, i find it to be bothersome. A beautiful sunny day can make otherwise unextraordinary events seem wonderful. A dark rainy day makes everything a little more dreary.

So I'm blogging again. I've decided that I miss rambling on the internet. I actually enjoy writing about the little trivial happenings in my day more than the long action packed entries from my travels. That unfortunately could at times feel like a chore. This will be a little more on my own terms.

That is all I have to say at this point. See you around.