Lady of the Lake

This weekend Seebo and I spent some time in Rockland County, which afforded me a bit of diversity in terms of my running route options. When we were last here in early August, he showed me Rockland Lake and the nearly three mile loop that encircles the lake. Since I had run in Central Park the day prior, I opted then just to walk around the lake while he ran.

Given that I've been trying to nurse my leg back to health, I was glad to have the option of doing one, two, or three loops around the lake. Ideally, I wanted to do three. The run started off a little uncomfortable as the "comfort station" I was expecting to be able to use was closed due to a pump malfunction. Signs indicated that station #3 was open - not that I knew where that was. So, the first half of my first loop was spent trying to figure out where the open station was. After two unsuccesful forays to structures that were closed until April, I finally found what I had been looking for.

The second loop went more smoothly and I was able to relax a bit more, enjoy the scenery, which included an ice sculpture as well as several different types of water fowl. My running never quite settled into feeling comfortable for too long. Towards the end of the second loop, I could feel my calf acting up again. The tightness/pain was there even during the first loop, but it was bearable and not too bad until towards the end of the second loop.

I decided that I would do a third loop after retrieving my iPod from the car and stretching out my leg a bit. I knew I probably wasn't going to make it all the way around the loop without stopping to stretch the leg, and I was right. If I really wanted to, I probably could have pushed it, but decided it wasn't worthwhile to do so. I think I stopped two or three times to stretch out my leg and then resumed with walking for a bit and then picked it back up to a run. I stopped my watch when I was walking to try to give me a sense of how long I was actually running. So, I'm not sure of the exact distance I ran, but I imagine I ran around 8.5 to 8.75 miles in all (75 minutes).

As a side note, I seem to have come down with some respiratory thing. It started Friday night and has progressed quite a bit since then. Not sure how this will effect my running. I'm 'supposed' to run tomorrow, but I may push it back to Tuesday depending on how I feel.

Oh ... and one more thing. I'm wondering if my new shoes are causing/contributing to my injury. Yes, of course they're Mizuno Wave Riders, the same brand and model I've worn for several years, but maybe this particular pair is a 'lemon'. Who knows... just a theory... but this calf problem seems to coincide with when I started wearing this particular pair. Hmmm. Maybe my calves don't like the color of the shoes.... very important!

R(eba) & R(est)

Two things that typically not go well together. After my run on Monday I decided that I need to do a better job of listening to my body. My left lower calf gave me so much pain on Monday, I decided not to run on Wednesay. In the interest of full disclosre - the forecast for Wednesday morning of cold, rain, and winds in excess of 22mph also had something to do with me not running.

This morning I headed to the gym to try a little running and if that didn't work out, well, at least I could do the eliptical machine and some weights. I consciously kept it to about a 9 minute pace and for about two miles, it felt okay... not great, but totally managable. Things started to tighten up more and more and the pain started to increase, so I stopped after three miles. I took some extra time to stretch afterwards. Now, a few hours later, it's feeling pretty good - which seems to be an improvement over the last time I ran. So, I'm feeling a little bit hopeful and trying not to let my frustration get the better of me.

I would love to do nine this weekend, but I'll be happy with twice around the lake, which will make for about six.

Patience... something the good doctor needs to learn.

3 miles in 26:45

One more week...

... That's all I'm giving this stupid lower calf injury before I call and make an appointment. Of course, I'm pretty sure that it'll cost me $30 just to hear the good doc tell me to lay off running for a week and see how it feels. Sure, I could do that without spending the dough, but somehow it's an easier sell to myself to stop running when the orders are coming from a physician.

Needless to say, this morning's run was more of the same. Painful and labored. The monotony of the hamster wheel didn't help. It was worst in the beginning of the run, particularly the first quarter miles... and then just really awful for the at least another two and a half miles. It never went away, but either endorphins kicked in or I became more tolerant of it somewhere along the way, though it was always there.

I purposefully kept a slower pace this morning hoping that would help. It didn't. It just made getting in five miles take longer.

5 in 44. Grrrrr. I'm frustrated.

Tinicum Frozen

Unexpectedly found myself at Tinicum this morning. I had made other plans for my running for today, but decided this made more sense and, besides, it's been a while. I did the original figure eight loop which is a hair shorter than the revised Seebecka figure eight loop. It gave me about nine, which was what I was looking for. The last few weekends, I've contented myself with the eight and a half of the drives. I haven't been feeling all that great so I didn't want to do much more than what I have been doing on my long runs.

The pain I have in my left calf was present throughout my run. It was particularly sore at the end of the run and especially within the hour following my run. Going down stairs was interesting. Now, several hours later, it is better... still there, but better. I've been trying to stretch it out after my runs, but I'm not sure that is helping. I've tried googling my symptoms to try to figure out what is going on, but nothing seems to fit. I was thinking that it was muscular... and I still think it is... but I'm wondering if there's something else going on.

The right leg old stress fracture thingy is still there too - as it has been for a number of years now. Recently I've had two, independent "Steves" feel the interior part of my tibia and both have noticed a lump - and this lump is very tender to the touch. My working hypothesis is that this lump is scar tissue that has built up around this old fracture that has never really healed and that probably never will totally heal (unless I give up running). Funny thing is, it doesn't really hurt when I run... just when there is pressure applied to that 'lump'. The tenderness has abated in the past when I have taken a good bit of time off from running. Yeah... I should probably get all of these things checked out, but I just got finished dealing with the hip thing (which seems fine now - knock on wood) and I really don't feel like scheduling the appointments, paying the co-pays, and being told not to run. So I'll continue to do what I've been doing... which is run and keep a log of my aches and pains.

Anyway, back to the run. I made a conscious effort during this run to try to enjoy myself, to not worry tremendously about pace, and just try to get in the miles while feeling good (leg pain, not included). As I was running the 'interesting part' of the lower loop, I came across the partially decimated carcass of a fawn. It's eyes were cloudy, it's gut had been gnawed upon by the opportunistic whatevers of Tinicum. It was a sad sight. I wondered if she had somehow been separated from her mother and starved or if there were some other cause of her death. Either way, it was sad and I said a little prayer as I skirted around her body.

The rest of the run was less noteworthy. I did scare and get scared by a large deer - we both ran. And, of course, there was plenty of water fowl. A few humans were spotted as well - all of us traveling as solitary creatures.

9 miles in 77 minutes.

For the Record

I didn't start this blog to use it as a place to kvetch and complain, so I'm not going to do that other than to say that my run today sucked. I was going to make this a very spartan entry, but Seebo encouraged me to be a bit more detailed in my chronicle if for no other reason than to have a record of it for future reference.

So I ran on the treadmill today - it was difficult. It took a lot for me to make it to five miles. At four, I was done, but I kept pushing and made it to five. This is discouraging.

I had some what I perceived to be tightness in my lower calves (soleus perhaps) on Saturday after my long run, particularly in my left calf. This feeling remains a bit - again, mainly in my left calf. Also notable is my 'old stress fracture' on my right leg (inside about 2/3rds of the way down the tibia); gentle rubbing on this area produces pain.

So there, I documented it.

5 miles in 42:31

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This weekend, I was happy to have my friend Brian in town for a little visit. He moved to Oklahoma (yes, on purpose) at the beginning of the summer and I have not seen him since then. Of course, having friends in town sometimes makes it difficult to find time to squeeze in a long run. I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to happen, but I know that I wanted it to happen, and that is for me at least 90% of the battle.

Brian's friend picked him up for the second leg of his Pennsylvania visit around 6pm last evening. By that time, it was dark and really, really windy outside... so, it was off to the gym for me. I had wisely stopped eating the Christmas cookies we had made earlier in the day, so I was feeling sugar-primed, but not overloaded for my run. Still, a long run on a treddy is not so much fun. I was left with my iPod and varying the speed and inclination on the treadmill to entertain myself.

The run felt pretty good and, like earlier in the week, all systems seemed to be working well together to allow me to run a bit faster than usual. My hip pain was there a little in the beginning, but not bad.

8.5 miles in 69:54