Since I'm off to Giants Stadium in less than half an hour to catch Anvil open for AC DC I hit Franklin Field this morning for my workout.
The same workout as Mon and Wed,mile warm up,Mile,mile cool down w/ stretches b4 and after.
When I clocked 1.21. for the opening lap I realized I could be on for a semi decent overall time,question was was my body ready to respond?
2.42. at 800m,a 1.21. split this was the mile I had hoped to run Monday but I'll take it a few days late.
4.03. at the bell,another 1.21 split.....get a load of Mr Consistency here!!!
A final lap of 1.15. to clock a 5.18.38. mile,I'll take it.
For my first week back I feel good,delighted to just be able to run again,relieved to be running pain free and heartened by the reduction in times,5.49,5.33,5.18.
I'd like to get out on the bike tomorrow since my 5pm pt sessions cut into riding Tues and Thur and while I'm heading up I95 to Giants Stadium I'll think about what I want to run next week.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Life,Lemons,Rainbows,Rain
It was back to Franklin Field again today for another mile,mile,mile workout.
Buoyed by the fact I'd gotten through Mondays run w/out any problems I came into today's workout off of a good physical therapy session yesterday,eight mins on the elliptical machine,some stretching,a reflexology massage and ice.
The threat of rain was NEVER going to put me off running today,most people know of my "baptism of rain" way back in 72 so running in the rain seldom deters me,plus I lost 9 weeks of running from May 12th till July 27th I was damned if a little rain would keep me away today.
One advantage of the rain,it cooled things off compared to Monday but just as I finished the 4th lap of my warm up mile the heavens opened....oh well I was here now time to have it despite the hard rain coming down.
An opening lap of 1.17 was a pleasant surprise,obviously the heat Monday and the fact I was cautious about my tendon factored into the 1.25 I opened w/.
A 1.28 lap to clock 2.45 at 800m,not earth shattering by any means but a 10 second improvement on Monday.
4.15 at the bell,a 1.30 lap and while there's clearly a LONG way to go in my recovery I take heart from the closing lap of 1.18 and finishing in 5.33.85.
Granted the running world won't lose any sleep over my 5.33.85. mile,however it's a 16 second improvement on Monday and that's huge for me right now.
Rain or no rain I made sure to stretch afterwards and ice my tendon and post shower{of the warm variety!!!} I iced my tendon again.
I have pt again tomorrow which hopefully will set me up for a return to the track Friday and who knows maybe a faster mile.
Had I've been in Lahti as planned this week I'd have missed out on David Gray tickets going on sale this Saturday,I've been a huge David Gray since his 2000 breakout album ''White Ladder" and missed out on seeing him on his last US tour in 05 to promote his "Life In Slow Motion" cd as I was saving money for my trip to Athens for the Athens marathon so this time around I aim to be in line b4 tickets go on sale Saturday morning.
Buoyed by the fact I'd gotten through Mondays run w/out any problems I came into today's workout off of a good physical therapy session yesterday,eight mins on the elliptical machine,some stretching,a reflexology massage and ice.
The threat of rain was NEVER going to put me off running today,most people know of my "baptism of rain" way back in 72 so running in the rain seldom deters me,plus I lost 9 weeks of running from May 12th till July 27th I was damned if a little rain would keep me away today.
One advantage of the rain,it cooled things off compared to Monday but just as I finished the 4th lap of my warm up mile the heavens opened....oh well I was here now time to have it despite the hard rain coming down.
An opening lap of 1.17 was a pleasant surprise,obviously the heat Monday and the fact I was cautious about my tendon factored into the 1.25 I opened w/.
A 1.28 lap to clock 2.45 at 800m,not earth shattering by any means but a 10 second improvement on Monday.
4.15 at the bell,a 1.30 lap and while there's clearly a LONG way to go in my recovery I take heart from the closing lap of 1.18 and finishing in 5.33.85.
Granted the running world won't lose any sleep over my 5.33.85. mile,however it's a 16 second improvement on Monday and that's huge for me right now.
Rain or no rain I made sure to stretch afterwards and ice my tendon and post shower{of the warm variety!!!} I iced my tendon again.
I have pt again tomorrow which hopefully will set me up for a return to the track Friday and who knows maybe a faster mile.
Had I've been in Lahti as planned this week I'd have missed out on David Gray tickets going on sale this Saturday,I've been a huge David Gray since his 2000 breakout album ''White Ladder" and missed out on seeing him on his last US tour in 05 to promote his "Life In Slow Motion" cd as I was saving money for my trip to Athens for the Athens marathon so this time around I aim to be in line b4 tickets go on sale Saturday morning.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Not So Pale,Always A Paddy,Still Proud
''Say a prayer for my mother,say a prayer for my father,say a prayer for my brother,but most of all please say a prayer for me"
"If You All Get To Heaven" Terence Trent D'Arby
Today was the day of reckoning for me,after a six week lay off I returned to the track in the hope that my achilles tendon woes were behind me and that I could begin the long haul back to where I was pre injury.
Spending the day at the Keystone Games yesterday proved to be some what of a double edged sword for me,it was good to be back in that environment again after too long away,however watching my marque events were bitter sweet,the 1,500m had me sorely tempted to register on the day and jump in to see what I could do while in the 800m I had to sit in the stands as my 2 year old club record was shaved down by 2 seconds,all praises due to Nick for his 1.57 time but it served as my Pearl Harbor day,the day the sleeping giant was awoken.
However it needed to be reinforced in my mind that it was "small steps"and long b4 I can get back to hammering those killer 6x600m repeats I had to get through todays run pain free,I elected for an easy workout,mile warm up,mile and mile cool down,my first plan was for a 5,000m time trial but the mile,mile, mile seemed a better way to go for now,I can get more creative down the road.
Conditions were were suitably sweltering when I arrived at my beloved Franklin Field by 4.30pm,it's funny in the past three years I've shown up at Franklin Field for countless repeat workouts not to mention four Penn Relays but never have I felt such an overwhelming sense of urgency as I did today,get through this w/out any pain and discomfort and begin to map out a return to training albeit at a comfortable pace,suffer another set back and go back to the drawing board,there was a lot riding on this.
After a good stretch and warm up I took my first tentative steps on a track since June 16th,an easy mile to warm up,sure I was huffing and puffing a little it'll take time to get used to being back at this,I only have to cast my mind back some 18 months after another 6 week lay off w/ my stress fracture to remember how ugly it was trying to get back into conditioning mode,then I had a whole season ahead of me,at least now w/ the 09 outdoor track season over there's not as great a sense of need for it to happen right away....remember I said that in a few weeks time when I'm bitching to high heaven at how slow it's taking to get back what I lost!!!
I had hoped to run 1.20 per lap on my actual mile,perhaps a tad over ambitious,I could've just ran and not timed it...................yeah right that was going to happen!!!,for the record I went:1.25,1.30,1.30,1.24. for a 5.49.06,far from earth shattering but as somebody once said and I quote"at some point in time Davey Crockett had to shoot his first bear"....not that I'm advocating the shooting of bears you understand!!!!
Another mile to cool down b4 more stretching and icing,b4 icing again after I returned home,and post blog more stretching,so far so good the achilles feels ok and hopefully when I wake up in the morning it'll still feel ok,I've been saying for the past week I couldn't look beyond today and that first run,w/ that taken care of let's see what the morning brings,I have the first of two physical therapy sessions this week tomorrow,maybe a bike ride post pt and hopefully a return to Franklin Field Wednesday and a crack at lowering that 5.49.06 mile,don't call it a comeback,not just yet anyway.....
"If You All Get To Heaven" Terence Trent D'Arby
Today was the day of reckoning for me,after a six week lay off I returned to the track in the hope that my achilles tendon woes were behind me and that I could begin the long haul back to where I was pre injury.
Spending the day at the Keystone Games yesterday proved to be some what of a double edged sword for me,it was good to be back in that environment again after too long away,however watching my marque events were bitter sweet,the 1,500m had me sorely tempted to register on the day and jump in to see what I could do while in the 800m I had to sit in the stands as my 2 year old club record was shaved down by 2 seconds,all praises due to Nick for his 1.57 time but it served as my Pearl Harbor day,the day the sleeping giant was awoken.
However it needed to be reinforced in my mind that it was "small steps"and long b4 I can get back to hammering those killer 6x600m repeats I had to get through todays run pain free,I elected for an easy workout,mile warm up,mile and mile cool down,my first plan was for a 5,000m time trial but the mile,mile, mile seemed a better way to go for now,I can get more creative down the road.
Conditions were were suitably sweltering when I arrived at my beloved Franklin Field by 4.30pm,it's funny in the past three years I've shown up at Franklin Field for countless repeat workouts not to mention four Penn Relays but never have I felt such an overwhelming sense of urgency as I did today,get through this w/out any pain and discomfort and begin to map out a return to training albeit at a comfortable pace,suffer another set back and go back to the drawing board,there was a lot riding on this.
After a good stretch and warm up I took my first tentative steps on a track since June 16th,an easy mile to warm up,sure I was huffing and puffing a little it'll take time to get used to being back at this,I only have to cast my mind back some 18 months after another 6 week lay off w/ my stress fracture to remember how ugly it was trying to get back into conditioning mode,then I had a whole season ahead of me,at least now w/ the 09 outdoor track season over there's not as great a sense of need for it to happen right away....remember I said that in a few weeks time when I'm bitching to high heaven at how slow it's taking to get back what I lost!!!
I had hoped to run 1.20 per lap on my actual mile,perhaps a tad over ambitious,I could've just ran and not timed it...................yeah right that was going to happen!!!,for the record I went:1.25,1.30,1.30,1.24. for a 5.49.06,far from earth shattering but as somebody once said and I quote"at some point in time Davey Crockett had to shoot his first bear"....not that I'm advocating the shooting of bears you understand!!!!
Another mile to cool down b4 more stretching and icing,b4 icing again after I returned home,and post blog more stretching,so far so good the achilles feels ok and hopefully when I wake up in the morning it'll still feel ok,I've been saying for the past week I couldn't look beyond today and that first run,w/ that taken care of let's see what the morning brings,I have the first of two physical therapy sessions this week tomorrow,maybe a bike ride post pt and hopefully a return to Franklin Field Wednesday and a crack at lowering that 5.49.06 mile,don't call it a comeback,not just yet anyway.....
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wishing I Was There.
By rights I should be writing my latest blog entry from a hotel in Lahti Finland as I was due to fly out yesterday,instead I'm here in W.Philly wondering what might've been,my less than sunny disposition this week can be squarely attributed to this,granted at best I'm as cuddly as a porcupine so the last few days have seen the return of the savage Celtic black hearted pagan I'm sorry to say.
I was pleasantly surprised to see some of my recent blog entries on Ken Stone's Masterstrack Blog yesterday,since my injury I haven't read much of any running related matters,I never looked at the results of Nationals,stopped reading Ken's blog,and only recently began to read my own clubs message board again,I thank Ken for not just reading my blog but for the fact he's always been very kind to me in his blog,hopefully I can give him something running related to report b4 too long.
Despite the heat this afternoon I rode my bike around the Art Museum Loop,last Sunday my three loops in considerably cooler conditions went 36,34,31 for a combined 1.41 and on Tuesday I went 31.24,30.13,I was feeling the heat and my legs were feeling rubbery so imagine my considerable surprise to clock 32.40 for the opening 8.4 loop,proof positive that in cycling as in running I can't judge pace to save my life!!.
63.10 after two loops,30.50 for the second 8.4 now what was left?an almost identical 30.58 to finish in 1.34.08. some seven minutes faster than last Sunday.
Well I need to get my gear ready for the morning,despite not being able to run I'm joining up w/ my club as they head to York for the Keystone Games I figure the day b4 I attempt to run again maybe some good karma will come my way being around those guys,till then I'm gonna check out the latest BBC America supernatural/sci fi show "Being Human" I'm still reeling from my 5 nites of "Torchwood Children Of Earth" and the first of David Tennant's farewell ''Doctor Who" specials airs tomorrow evening,maybe life isn't so bad afterall?
I was pleasantly surprised to see some of my recent blog entries on Ken Stone's Masterstrack Blog yesterday,since my injury I haven't read much of any running related matters,I never looked at the results of Nationals,stopped reading Ken's blog,and only recently began to read my own clubs message board again,I thank Ken for not just reading my blog but for the fact he's always been very kind to me in his blog,hopefully I can give him something running related to report b4 too long.
Despite the heat this afternoon I rode my bike around the Art Museum Loop,last Sunday my three loops in considerably cooler conditions went 36,34,31 for a combined 1.41 and on Tuesday I went 31.24,30.13,I was feeling the heat and my legs were feeling rubbery so imagine my considerable surprise to clock 32.40 for the opening 8.4 loop,proof positive that in cycling as in running I can't judge pace to save my life!!.
63.10 after two loops,30.50 for the second 8.4 now what was left?an almost identical 30.58 to finish in 1.34.08. some seven minutes faster than last Sunday.
Well I need to get my gear ready for the morning,despite not being able to run I'm joining up w/ my club as they head to York for the Keystone Games I figure the day b4 I attempt to run again maybe some good karma will come my way being around those guys,till then I'm gonna check out the latest BBC America supernatural/sci fi show "Being Human" I'm still reeling from my 5 nites of "Torchwood Children Of Earth" and the first of David Tennant's farewell ''Doctor Who" specials airs tomorrow evening,maybe life isn't so bad afterall?
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
One Step Closer
Another visit to Physical Therapy today and hopefully another step closer to returning to the track.
Right now it's small steps,I got a bunch of new stretches today to help my Achilles tendon hopefully get stronger,along w/ an ultrasound, 5 mins on an elliptical trainer and some ice afterwards,the acid test is going to be how well my tendon reacts to my first run,it's very much a wait and see game at the moment but I feel I'm heading in the right direction at least.
W/ any luck tomorrow should see another jaunt around the drives on my bike and another day closer to the moment of truth.
Right now it's small steps,I got a bunch of new stretches today to help my Achilles tendon hopefully get stronger,along w/ an ultrasound, 5 mins on an elliptical trainer and some ice afterwards,the acid test is going to be how well my tendon reacts to my first run,it's very much a wait and see game at the moment but I feel I'm heading in the right direction at least.
W/ any luck tomorrow should see another jaunt around the drives on my bike and another day closer to the moment of truth.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Off W/ The Boot,Off W/ The Gloves,On W/ The Horns,On W/ The Show.
I didn't think today's ride would happen,the rain looked to scupper any plans I had for hitting the loop after work however upon arrival home the rain had quit so I looked to keep my Tue,Thur,Sat rotation alive.
Today was my first day w/out "Frankenstein's Boot" after three weeks,I have to say the tendon feels much better but that doesn't mean I can leap back in to running just yet,I have PT tomorrow,I'll continue to stretch everyday and hope that come next Monday I can return to the track just to gauge where I'm at,my concern is after two weeks of no running following Shock Wave I ran once and boom,we were back to square one,it's all well and good not having ran for almost six weeks and wearing the boot for three but if my tendon bothers me post run Monday then I fear we're back to where we started,I guess we'll cross,burn,jump,paint that bridge when Monday gets here.
As for my bike ride,inspired by Sundays splits I went into this evening hoping for reasonable times,I clocked 31.24 for the opening loop,I knew I'd have to go some now on the second loop to beat that and much to my surprize I clocked a 30.13 second loop for a combined time of 61.37.
I'm off to stretch my Achilles,catch part two of "Torchwood Children Of Earth" and chow down,slowly but surely life as I knew it b4 the injury is starting to return to normal.
Today was my first day w/out "Frankenstein's Boot" after three weeks,I have to say the tendon feels much better but that doesn't mean I can leap back in to running just yet,I have PT tomorrow,I'll continue to stretch everyday and hope that come next Monday I can return to the track just to gauge where I'm at,my concern is after two weeks of no running following Shock Wave I ran once and boom,we were back to square one,it's all well and good not having ran for almost six weeks and wearing the boot for three but if my tendon bothers me post run Monday then I fear we're back to where we started,I guess we'll cross,burn,jump,paint that bridge when Monday gets here.
As for my bike ride,inspired by Sundays splits I went into this evening hoping for reasonable times,I clocked 31.24 for the opening loop,I knew I'd have to go some now on the second loop to beat that and much to my surprize I clocked a 30.13 second loop for a combined time of 61.37.
I'm off to stretch my Achilles,catch part two of "Torchwood Children Of Earth" and chow down,slowly but surely life as I knew it b4 the injury is starting to return to normal.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Then There Were Three
It was always in my mind to do three loops today but following Nicolas Roche's second place finish in yesterdays stage of the Tour De France I felt even more compelled to throw in an extra 8.4 loop,for all I know Nicolas is a distant relative given my mother's maiden name is Roche.
It was warm and sunny when I reached W.River Drive via Mantua by way of Powelton Ave, at 1pm,I figured 3 times the 8.4 mile loop at 40 mins per loop was a decent expectation so when I clocked 36 mins for the opening loop I was pleased as it meant I'd ridden w/in myself.
34 mins for loop two,1.10,now could I crank it up?the answer was a resounding yes as I crushed the final loop in 31 mins for an overall time of 1.41.
I was pleased that in only my third ride I was able to crank out an extra 8.4 ,mile loop w/out too much fuss,that said when I return on Tuesday it'll be back to the traditional two loops but I'd like to try and lowers today's splits next Sunday.
It was warm and sunny when I reached W.River Drive via Mantua by way of Powelton Ave, at 1pm,I figured 3 times the 8.4 mile loop at 40 mins per loop was a decent expectation so when I clocked 36 mins for the opening loop I was pleased as it meant I'd ridden w/in myself.
34 mins for loop two,1.10,now could I crank it up?the answer was a resounding yes as I crushed the final loop in 31 mins for an overall time of 1.41.
I was pleased that in only my third ride I was able to crank out an extra 8.4 ,mile loop w/out too much fuss,that said when I return on Tuesday it'll be back to the traditional two loops but I'd like to try and lowers today's splits next Sunday.
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