Holiday Runs & Extensor Tendonitis

Ugly Sweater / Holiday Party

I felt recovered enough to get back to running and will fill you all in on the very festive week I've had. Last Saturday night,  after an easy 2 miles to test out the foot, I went to an Ugly Sweater / Holiday Party. I went dressed as Buddy the Elf and had a great time. Matt Ciociola drove me back to Nick DeSantis' house and the next morning we woke up and went for a run to pick up my car and drive some people back. I was definitely overdressed for that run and felt hungry and very dehydrated.

Jingle Bell Run

Monday night I took part in a Jingle Bell Run in North Wales. This was also a lot of fun; especially the tour of the Prism Brewery. Many other stops at bars were made that night and it was a very fun run. I stayed up that night to watch the lunar eclipse and slept in the next morning.

Tuesday was an easy 3.4 mile loop around Fairess Hills.

Wednesday: A run with many members of Breakneck Track Club from the Haddonfield Running company. I ran a 6.6 mile loop in just under 7:00 mile pace and felt relatively good the entire time. After the run, I went to Skeeters Pub for some wings and refreshments with Nick, Matt, and Garrett Watkinson.

I stayed over Nicks house for Thursday Night's Christmas Eve Eve Party / Festivus celebration. I went for a 4 mile run on a bike path by the house, did my Christmas shopping, and then helped prepare for the celebration. We set up the Festivus poll and then during dinner I let Jason Kilderry and Nick DeSantis know how they've disappointed me in the last year with a can of silly string for each of them. Back at the Halloween Party, around one in the morning they both sprayed me with with silly string. I vowed that I would get them both back at some point when they had least excepted it. I got Jason the moment he finished his meal and Nick when he was almost done cleaning the dishes. Later in the night we had a gift exchange, Christmas music power hour, Four Lokos, and walked to Skeeters to continue the party. The next morning I woke up and my foot was hurting again.

I've been worried that the pain I've been feeling was a metatarsal stress fracture. I went to a physical therapist friend of mine to get a more professional diagnosis. Luckily that does not appear to be the case. Extensor Tendonitis most likely caused by tight calf muscles, hilly running, and possibly running on ice is the diagnosis. I took 2 off days on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I did 45 minutes of biking yesterday and will continue to do alternate exercises until I don't feel the pain anymore. Hopefully that's sooner than later.

The 1st Setback & Alternate Training

First I need to express the sheer joy of the Phillies signing Mr. Clifton Phifer Lee. This was all I was thinking about all during Tuesday's run. It ended up being a short run because about 2 miles in, I felt a sharp localized pain in the top of my left foot. I decided to play it safe and cut the run short.

Over the last decade + of running, I've learned the difference between pain that you can run through and pain that you shouldn't. I've been using the RICE technique to treat it for now. For those of you that don't know, that is Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. There doesn't appear to be any swelling, so I haven't taken any ibuprofen. On Wednesday, I felt the same pain, but mainly when walking up and down stairs. I decided to take the day off.

Typically when I'm in the heart of training, I take an off day once every 3 weeks. I'm nowhere close to the weekly mileage I would like to do, so my body needs a little more time to recover until it gets used to the training. In these early weeks, I'll probably take an off day once a week and gradually increase the days between until I back to the once every 3 week plan.

Today the pain was a lot more dull and I feel like I could have gone out for a run. There was also a nice snow falling and I love snow running. Instead I headed to the gym to do a half hour of aquajogging and 45 minutes of biking. I got a couple strange looks for staying in only the deep end and going in small circles. I didn't pay them much attention because those same people wouldn't understand the point behind competitive running.

Right now my goal is to supplement this aquajogging and biking for my normal run as to not loose as much of the fitness I've developed in the last week and a half. Hopefully I can be back to running by tomorrow or this weekend, but I'm not going to rush the recovery.

Day 9: Getting Stronger Every Day

I have to admit I put my nutrition and running diet on the back burner this weekend. As a result, I put on a couple pounds. It's a small step back, but nothing that I shouldn't be able to overcome this week as I begin to increase the effort on each run. I also must take the time to mention that LOM is the latest addition to the Sea Isle City 2011 Beach House. If you see her, ask her about the spider ring she received on late Saturday night.

Tonight's run was close to my fastest run last week. The major difference; it felt a whole lot easier. My course was a slightly hilly 5.5 mile run around Fairless Hills in 37:17 (6:46 pace). I was stopped by traffic about 2 miles from my house. I don't like it, but it happens. While standing for what felt like 5 minutes, I really started to feel how cold it was outside. Before I went out, the Weather Channel said it was 32°, but the temperature was definitely dropping. In the last 2 miles, I encountered some ice from yesterdays rain. Luckily I was able to keep my footing and run 6:17 for the last mile. The forecast calls for some snow tomorrow and the temperature not getting much warmer than when I finished the run. All in all, it feels good to pick it up and be moving fast again. It's a step in the right direction.

Days 7 & 8: Singalong & Sunday Run

Day 7: Princeton and a Singalong

It was pretty nice out. I went for the another easy run through Princeton. I stopped by the indoor track when I was done to see the Rider team open up their indoor season. Most of the distance team did not run, but were there to watch the races. I briefly saw Coach Hamer, but didn't have a chance to talk. I'll give him a call sometime this week to see about possibly meeting up to go for a run. After the Princeton meet I headed down to Marmora, NJ. My Sea Isle roommate and Breakneck teammate Jimmy Dugan and his family were hosting the 26th Annual Dugan Family Singalong.

Basically it was about 100+ people in Jimmy's backyard around a bon fire sing Christmas carols, with the addition of a couple kegs and awesome food. Many people complemented me by telling me how well I clean up. It's amazing what wearing a nice sweater will do. To be fair, most of them are only used to me wearing a tshirt (sometimes) and shorts all summer. I took the opportunity to enjoy the festivities and a few pulled pork and meatball sandwiches. After playing Apples to Apples for an hour or two and listening to the Space Jam soundtrack through youtube videos, the party headed back outside for marshmellow roasting.

Around 1 AM the group of people I drove down with want to leave. It was a good time and I wish I could have stayed longer. Just a side note. Apparently there are only 2 songs on the radio in South Jersey between 1 and 2 AM and those songs are "Firework" by Katy Perry and "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine.

Day 8: The Sunday Run

Upon returning to the house around 2 AM I stayed up and watched some TV and eventually fell asleep on a reclining chair. This morning I ran with Matt Ciociola and Nick DeSantis. They were feeling the previous evenings festivities more than I was, which was good to even out how much more in shape they are than me. We did an easy out and back run in the rain. 30 minutes total and probably a little more than 4 miles. It's so much easier running with people.

Here's to a new week of training

Day 6: Shakeout Snow

Today was just another day in the books. I ran a nice easy 3.25 mile shakeout run at a hair under 7:10 pace. It was warmer than yesterday, but there were some snow flurries. Nothing really eventful or earth shattering happened. Just some miles for the log.

I've already surpassed my weekly goal mileage in 6 days. I may take to opportunity to take tomorrow off, but since the weather looks like it will be nicer than any time this week, I may go out for a short jaunt. Next week I am shooting for 32 miles. I'm starting to feel some aches; a new pair of running shoes may be in order.

Normally I'd head to the gym on easy days, but I think I got my share of lifting done already today. I helped my brother move boxes filled with his new cabinets out of my sisters room and up a flight of stairs. It was enough of a workout to cause me to break a sweat.

Day 5: The Mental Hurdle

Some beard growth helps for added warmth

Today was the toughest day so far to get out the door. I thought about running early this morning, but was discouraged when I saw that the temperature with wind chill was 16 degrees. I ended up procrastinating and due to the short days, I missed the chance to run in daylight all together. I contemplated taking the day off as I'm well above pace to reach my weekly goal mileage. Around 7:30 PM I decided that I would go out for a run. I wasn't feeling to sore from the weeks runs or the gym last night so I decided to go out and play it by ear.

Since it was 25 degrees, but very little wind, I dressed in double layers and a pair of running pants. This run I put on a watch. Once again, I dressed perfectly for the weather and didn't overheat at all. The facial hair I've been growing for the last 2 weeks really helped out as well.After taking the first mile in 7:27, I loosened up pretty well and didn't look at the watch again until I was done. I started out the same way as my first run of the journey, looping around my old high school. I decided to go out towards Levittown to keep the run interesting. I ran through several different sections of the city before venturing back to Fairless Hills. The names of the sections alone should be enough to describe the terrain I commonly run on. My run started in Fairless Hills, continued into Magnolia Hill, cut through Birch Valley to get to Thornridge, crossed over into Vermillion Hills and finished up back in Fairless Hills.

Cutting through all these neighborhoods, I usually experience a couple stoppages due to traffic. Luckily tonight, I caught every light and my run was uninterrupted. By the time I made it into Vermillion Hills, I was moving at a pretty good pace. I pushed through the final hill and made it back to my house in 40:37. I mapped out the distance online and it was exactly 6 miles. The result of the run that I thought about not doing, my longest and fastest run of the week. I averaged 6:38 for the last 5 miles of the run and felt great throughout the entire process. Like my college coach Bob Hamer used to write on every summer workout plan, "The hardest step is the first."

Day IV: A New Hope

I woke up this morning and my legs were pretty sore as I expected. I did a pretty easy 3 mile run at about 7:30 pace and by the end of it the soreness was gone. I just need to say Winter is definitely here. It was 28 degrees when I started, but luckily I was wearing the ideal amount of clothing. I didn't overheat and I wasn't freezing either. I finished the run and did some quality stretching. I then headed out to LA Fitness to ride the stationary bike for a while and do some lifting and core.

Adding in the Extras:

While planning my training, I've made sure to add in a couple supplemental and alternate exercises a week. Through the years I've learned first hand that these exercises are great for injury prevention and right now they'll give me the added advantage of a little extra weight loss. I rode the bike for a half hour and according to the workout summary, I covered exactly 11 miles. I'm no cyclist, but I do know it felt like I was exerting myself and I was covered in sweat when I was done. All in all, it was a nice warmup for the leg workout I had planned. I did 3 sets of walkover lunges across the gym while holding 25 lbs dumbbells in each hand. I then went to the squat machine and did 3 sets of 12 squats at 200 lbs. I like the machine a lot better than the free weights because I can't comfortably hold more than 150 lbs on my shoulders. I moved onto the leg press where I did 3 sets of 10 presses at 200 lbs. I finished up with 3 set of 10 on the leg extensions, hamstring curls and calf raises. My trip to the gym ended with 2 sets of core. I only held the planks and other timed exercises for 30 seconds. As my training progresses, that will be increasing and I'll throw in a couple additional exercises.

On my ride home, I avoided every fast food place imaginable (Chick-Fil-A, BK, McDonalds, Tacobell, and Wendy's), but I did stop at Wawa. I got a chocolate milk (a great post workout drink), a half gallon of iced tea and a bag of Tostitos to snack on later. I'm trying my best to improve my eating habits and cutting back on the fast food is my first target. Tomorrow I will probably run between 4 and 5 miles and the pace will be dictated my how sore my legs are.

Day 3: Thank You Muscle Memory

Today I decided to change up the location of the run. It was also a chance to meet up with some running buddies for a nice night run. I stopped by the North Wales Running Company and went for there Tuesday group run. This run is also the meeting place for the Ambler Area Running Clubs Tuesday run, so there was a pretty good turnout.

The run started out at a nice easy pace and we gradually picked it up. A little before the 2 mile mark Brett, who is still recovering from a sub 3 marathon performance at the Philly marathon, started to drop back. The front group was reduced Derek, Paul, and myself. We continued to push on at a conversation pace. Derek was also starting to build back up, but despite only running about 2 days a week is still in 17:30 5k shape. We luckily made it to the intersection to start the 2nd loop of the run and there was no traffic. There was also a slight downhill so the pace picked up slightly. At the bottom to the hill, my lack of fitness made a not so unexpected returned. I cut back from the conversation and just concentrated of not falling off the pack. I started taking advantage of every tangent I could find. I also quickly filed in the back of the pack when we needed to go single file due to car traffic. After the last part of the run I can legitimately consider an uphill I was just hanging on by a thread.

Luckily we were about less than a mile back from the store and I knew I could at least hold our current pace for the remainder of the run. Unfortunately the pace was starting pick up as the other two could sense the end of the run. The conversations stopped and some real running was beginning. I was able to hang on and I actually felt better than I have in the last couple days. At one point I was actually starting to slightly push the pace. I realized that I had stopped really concentrating on staying with them and pretty much put the run on autopilot. The countless track workouts, 200 repeats, and striders throughout the years were really paying dividends. We ended the slightly longer than 5 mile run in what all of estimate was slightly under 7 minute mile pace. None of us were wearing watches.

After the run it was Two Slice Tuesday, meaning there was pizza and beer in the store. To the shock of many reading this, I did not partake in any pizza or beer. I did stick around for some conversation. Scott and Brett were talking and thought up an awesome idea for an awesome festive running event that I cannot go into more detail as of yet. Don't worry, I will provide a full recap of this event once it has been completed. I'm already starting to feel some soreness, so I'll take it easy tomorrow.

Day 2: Against the Wind

I woke up today and felt better than I did yesterday. I decided to put on the watch and go for a run in some daylight. As soon as my feet touched the asphalt I realized that the conditions for this run were going to a lot different. It was 36 degree out like it was last night, but today there were steady winds of 20mph and gusts that felt like they were at least 35mph. This put the wind chill somewhere in the mid 20's. For the first 2 miles, I ran into a head wind and due to my exercise induced asthma, I was quite literally sucking wind. In addition to this, there were some light snow flurries. At the 2 mile mark I decided to actually look at my watch to gauge how the run was going. 13:31 at 2 into a head wind and with some rolling hills. I was reliving a common mistake that I've been making for the decade + that I've been running. I was going out too hard for an easy run.

Day 2 in the books

The next mile began with a long stretch of down hill and level terrain. I decided I needed to slow it down because I knew I pay for it later in the run. All throughout this next mile I felt a strong cross wind that was coming close to pushing me off the sidewalk. I then turned into a small wooded area by Lake Caroline. Good trails are few and far between by my house, but I knew there was a stretch of about a half mile where I'd be protected from the wind and it would put me out exactly one mile from my house. It's been a while since I've run back there and the woods had the tell tale signs that they'd been taken over by underage drinkers. I saw at least 3 empty 30's of Natty Light and one Natty Ice. Then I came upon the remnants of a bon fire filled with about 50 empty beer cans. I continued on the trail and came out to an opening by the lake. I was not alone when I got there. In the field were about 250 Canadian Geese that had decided to occupy the path up to the road. I then had a flashback to a run I had in college...

It was a cold winter morning and I getting ready for an indoor track workout at Lawrenceville Prep. I went outside to warm up with the rest of the Rider mid distance runners on the high school golf course. We were at the turnaround point when we looked out to the next field over. The harvested corn field was literally covered with geese. My conservative estimate is 750-1000 of them. We all immediately get the same idea... We are going to run into the field flapping our arms and scare them. When we ran out there, they immediately took off. It sounded like a helicopter hovering above us. It was amazing and something I will always remember whenever I see a field of geese.

Back to the run... I ran through this significantly smaller flock waving my arms in the same manner and they all took off and my path the the road was clear. I got to the road with a smile on my face reminiscing on the previously mentioned story. I got to the road, exactly one mile from my house, and looked at my watch and it read 24:32. For the first time all run, I had the wind to my back. I continued with the same effort as the rest of the run, but subconsciously I was probably picking it up slightly due to knowing I was in the last mile of the run. There was a slight uphill for the rest of the run, but that didn't bother me. I've run this stretch of road countless times. I get to my house and stop my watch. 30:54 for 4.5 miles. 6:52 per mile with a 6:22 last mile. I felt pretty strong after I got into the swing of things. The true test will be when I wake up tomorrow. I think I may feel some soreness, but that's to be expected in these beginning stages of the journey.

Day 1: Goal Setting and First Run

Hello all,

This is the first of hopefully many posts of my road to redemption. My personal goal is to return to the competitive running world and to break my PR's in the 5k and longer races. I honestly could care less if anyone reads this; I just need something to hold me accountable and to keep me motivated.

Last Saturday, I entered my yearly XC race (with Breakneck TC President and 3rd place finisher Nick DeSantis) which inevitably becomes a disaster. This year was a disaster of epic proportions. To make a long story short, it was a cold, windy day on a tough course, and at the time I was out of shape and had a viral infection that made it's appearance known half a mile into the race. My time is too embarrassing to post, but I will say it was 4 minutes slower than the first 5k I've ever run.

While being bed-ridden and recovering this week, I had a lot of time to think. Then as I was almost feeling better, the movie Endurance was on Showtime. For those of you that don't know the movie, I highly recommend it. It is the story of Haile Gebrselassie, the greatest distance runner ever. It details his life from being an Ethiopian farm worker as a child to the greatest distance runner in the world. Needless to say, it was the perfect movie to watch at the perfect time. I DVRed it so that I can continue to watch it whenever I need some extra inspiration. Onto the first run...

Moments before the first steps of the Journey

Day One: Solo night run

Earlier tonight I embarked on the long road back. My goal for this week is run 25 miles. It's pretty obtainable, but also needed so that I do not try to do too much too soon as I have in the past. I set out this evening to run about 3 miles at an easy pace. I didn't wear a watch because the time did not matter, it was just getting out the door. It was about 36 degrees and windy. I started out at an easy pace. The first mile was fairly easy as it was down hill. I did a loop around my old High School and then to a neighborhood in the next town over. About 2.5 miles in, I began to feel my lack of fitness. Around this time, a middle aged lady was taking out her trash and noticed me running down the street and yelled out to me "What are you running for?" Typically I don't respond when people yell out to me while I'm running, but tonight was different. With out think I yelled out "Myself!" and then began the mile long journey uphill back to my house.

I was really starting to struggle at this point and was mentally hoping for a red light at the top of the hill to get at least a short rest. All throughout the uphill climb my attitude changed from wanting the red light or hoping for green to continue my run uninterrupted. Naturally and quite fitting for the purpose of this long journey, when I got to the intersection, the light was yellow. I sprinted through the intersection and picked up the pace until I got home. The run ended up being about 3.75 miles and it felt like I ran about 7:20 pace per mile. I know it's going to be a hard journey; hopefully you join me on it.