Bike Trainer

I borrowed a fluid trainer from my boss just to give the whole "stationary bike" thing a try. It is a new workout for me but I liked it. I do believe that it is a wonderful supplement to a runners weekly workout. I did a 10 minute warm up then proceeded to do one minute intervals for 35 minutes then a 15 minute warm down. My heartrate was getting up pretty good and my quads and glutes got a pretty good burn during the intervals. As far as cross training goes, a pretty good day. The achilles are still a bit sore.
Totals: 1:00:00

Weeks Review

No running except the race. I did three days of biking and hope to do more this week.
Totals: 3 hours of biking and 6 miles of running.
Totals for year: 1484.5 miles

Achilles are Sreaming!

As I mentioned yesterday, I was not ready to run/race on my achilles yet and now I know how long this injury is going to take....A long Time! This sucks, but I must deal with it.
I headed out for a bike ride with my buddy Joe, and we did a nice loop with lots of hills. The feeling isn't the same from a run, but at least I can feel quite tired after biking for an hour or so.
Totals: 1:10:00 ???miles of biking

Brimson Sisu

I decided it was time to add a new race to my running logs. The Brimson Sisu was on tabs for this morning and I decided to make the drive. This little race out in the woods has been happening for 25 years! The awards are awesome, organic vegtables and home crafts. My achilles has been ok with walking and also feels good when I do the exercises but I wanted to know how it would hold up during a race. A group of four guys and two women ran the first 1/2 mile together until the first hill separated the women from the group. The four guys kept an easy pace and I decided to "test the waters" on the next longer uphill and heading into the woods on 4 wheeler trails which was also an uphill for 200-400 meters. Once getting out of the woods I didn't hear any breaths of footsteps so I just concentrated on good form and not tweaking my foot too bad. The last mile my achilles were very sore and I was thinking that I had made a serious mistake racing on injured feet. All ended well and I got some nice shwag for winning.
Totals: 2 mile wu. ~4.4 mile race 27:26

Biking is OK

I did a solo bike tonight out on some rural roads. All I can say so far is biking is "alright" and will NEVER be as good as running in my book. I did underestimate the workout I did tonight and almost took a bite going down our stairs because of beat up quads. I guess it is doing something. Today's bike is worth something, I just don't know what yet.
Totals: 1:10:00 ???miles

Bike Time

I took my old mountain bike, 1995 Trek 7000, to the local bike shop and had a tune up. Also, they put a couple of road slicks on and removed the knobby tires. What a difference! I did a nice loop with Lucas in tow and we (I) managed to get a good workout in. Lucas has fun at times but not near as much as I wished he would portray. I mean, is a "let's go faster daddy" too much to ask for? Oh, well he is only 2 1/2 y.o.
I decided not to run until saturday of this week. That will mean I only ran two or three times in the last two weeks. I am hoping this will help the Achilles. It does feel a ton better.
Totals: 42:20 biking ????miles

Weeks Review

Not much to say of this week other than three runs of easy running. Rehab is going Slow.
Totals: week: 13.5 miles
year: 1478.5 miles

I'm Not a Tennis Pro

So I decided to run two days in a row, Wed. and Thur., then I get this great idea to play tennis! I got all excited because I looked at the most recent issue if Tennis Magazine and thought it would be great to go hit the balls for a couple of hours. I managed to get my bud Kooks off the couch and join me. He too is nursing a long time injury in the Achilles area. After we got a new can of Penn tennis balls we proceeded to hit for over an hour. The next morning I couldn't walk down the stairs! Friday would end up being a day off of running. This morning I wasn't going to run because of some remaining stiffness all over but I changed my mind and did a nice trail loop from the house. I ran slow and watched my step, making sure I didn't twist my ankle or anything like it. The trails are in awesome shape right now, dry and clean. I'm glad I ran because it turned out to be a decent run.
Totals: 32:20 4.5 miles

Same Ol' Thing

I wanted to test the achilles by running two days in a row. Not too good, not too bad. It remains sore throughout the run but nothing too bad. The thing is, I want this gone, so I must keep at the rehab and get biking! I did the loop to St. Scholastica and Skyline home. Not sure what I ran this loop in last time but we used to call it a 5 miler. I wasn't running that fast so, 4.5 will have to do.
Totals: 29:45 ~4.5 miles

On The Right Track

So I took a few extra days off because of a "test" I give my achilles from time to time. If I feel discomfort when I do a light bound in my basement I know I am not ready to run everyday yet. I haven't had discomfort in a couple of days so this morning was the real test of running. I did my same 4.5 miles loop out to the cemetery and back. There is some soreness remaining in the heel/achilles but no true pain to speak of. I am hoping by the end of this month I will be ready to run full steam and up the volume slowly. At any rate, a good morning.
Totals: 28:14 4.5 miles

Weeks Review

I made some solid progress from a rehab point of view this week. Maybe this upcoming week things will continue to progress. No running today...maybe a little biking tonight.
Totals: week: 7.5 miles
year: 1465 miles

Day On, Day Off

The alternating days of running may just work for this rehab period. As frustrating as it may be, running a little every other day is better than no running. My run this morning went pretty well. I had a little "soreness", not the localized pain I have been having, during the run but I can tell things are getting better. I just need to allow the healing/rehab process to unfold and not get to carried away. (patience is not my strong point)
Totals: 28:46 4+ miles

Not Too Bad, Not Too Good

Taking five days off and lot's of rehab exercises and treatments I thought maybe, just maybe I would be all fixed. Not so lucky. My achilles does feel much better but I did have some significant pain when I went to the PT apt after my run and she grasped the achilles with her thumb and finger to find out where and if I still had tenderness. I had no idea it was still this tender, my run went quite well compared to past runs. Oh well, I think I am on the correct path.
Totals: 24:00 3.5 miles

Time off is Good

As much as I didn't want to do it, the rest has helped a ton! I wake up and don't have much discomfort at all, even walking down the stairs. I have been doing my exercises everyday and have added a complete set of ball core-work to the routine. Tomorrow morning will be my first day back "jogging" since Friday. I think I will take it easy and run 4 or 5 miles slow and then wait until Saturday and try it again. This weekend we are planning on shopping for bikes and seeing what kind of mess I'm getting myself into.
Totals: no running since Friday.

Weeks Review

More trouble with the achilles...need time off from running.
weeks totals: 24 miles
years totals: 1457 miles

Time For a Break

The run this morning had wonderful weather again, but the achilles is progressively getting worse. It is common to get a little additional soreness when one starts a rehab program but I don't want to push it. Today's run was the Piggly Wiggly loop and for most of the loop I had discomfort in my achilles. So, I thought I would take the weekend off and try to run easy on Monday. The PT I am seeing said that this sounds like a good idea and believes that it shouldn't take too long to start feeling better. Let's hope so. On the positive side of things, there may be a purchase necessary for Kari and I. We may join the ranks of cycling....only if a good deal hits. Ha!
Totals: 45:20 6.5 miles

As They Say in Weather Business, "cooler by the lake"

This morning was absolutely wonderful. 60 degrees and a little breeze. This made it perfect to try to get a little more mileage than the last couple of days. I did one of my old out and back on west Skyline runs. No troubles, except for the obvious. (achilles) I had a PT apt. yesterday and she mentioned I may have been doing too much of the strengthening exercises. I progressed too fast and was doing 3 sets of 50 one leg calf raises on my affected foot. I did all of this in one week. Stupid! This week I backed off and will to my exercises two legged and hope I will progress forward from here on out. Maybe a possibility of running a 15k on Sunday? We'll see. I want to get a gauge where my predicted LT pace right now would be and that race might serve me well.
Totals: 53:12 8 miles

Pick-Ups (should be fun)

Getting out of bed has been very challenging lately. I got out of bed a little late and my run paid for it. If you are going to run short, you might as well run hard. After a 10 minute warm up, I did five "pick-ups" just to start to get the legs to feel quicker miles again. I did 2 min., 2 min., 1 min., 1min., 2 min. with 1/2 time rest. Running at 10k pace is hard! I havn't done that for some time and need to get back into it soon. Overall a pretty good run.
Totals: 28:16 4.5 miles