One Long Week

Work has been crazy lately. It requires much time than I care to spare.

Here is what I did for the week.

Monday: Ran 5k: 27:39 real easy
Monday PM: Bike 10k 26 minutes.
Tuesday: Bike AM/PM 20k, 53 minutes
Wednesday: Run 4.3k, 22 minutes
Thursday: Pool Running 30 minutes
Friday: Off

When I run, there is no pains or strains in the shins. On Wednesday after the run, I massaged the shins. This is a deep massage. There is some tightness and soreness along the bone when pressure is applied. I think that this is to be expected. I don't think that this is something that should keep me from running. However, my therapist suggested I wait until Monday to run. Either way, not running yesterday, will not really cause any harm or good. I just worked late.

I continue to do my usual strength exercises as noted in previous posts. The one good thing I think I got out of this week is the pool running. It was not as boring as I thought it would be. The pool had these float belts that can be strapped around the waist, at least that is were I think it was suppose to stay, it rose up to my chest. I stood in the pool and then tried simulating the running motions. At first I was trying to move the legs fast, but I felt that this was not working the areas that need it. With pool running, you can choose the position of your body relative to your head. Lean a little more forward, lean a little back or pull your legs up higher at the rear. When doing this you can choose to work other parts that you may not work as much while running on the ground. I think that my gluts are somewhat weak, and if I concentrate on using those muscles to move my legs they may get stronger and reduce the amount of effort needed by the hamstring. One thing is for sure, pool running does feel like it will help more than biking.

Today and tomorrow will be elliptical days with some running on Monday. I am going to try it without the tape.

3 more weeks until the rebuild, really begins. I look forward to running outside more.

Keeping Positive

Yesterday, I was thinking that I would never be able to run without the shins flaring up. Then, this morning I finally updated my exercise log. It is a spreadsheet were I keep track of my time, distance, pace, type of workout and comments. I also keep track of events that I wanted to enter this year. Most of those have been deleted. I have not updated this for about a month. I was surprised to see how much I have actually run. It shows that I have only been off my feet without running for 10 days straight. I must say that this isn't really that bad, even though I have not been running over 5.5k. I have been running a small amount for the past 4 weeks, as you can see from the graph below. It is suppose to take 8 to 10 weeks for the damaged tissues to heal. I think that it would be good idea for me to give it some more time. It appears that running 3 times a week at no more than 5k at one time is not causing any problems. This morning there was no tenderness along the shin bone while massaging it.

The following graph shows my time in minutes and distance in kilometers per week for this year.



The plan for this week:
Elliptical, 70 minutes
5k run, 25
Bike, 50
5k run, 25
Pool Running, 45
5k run, 25
Elliptical, 50

Yes, I am going to try running in a pool. Yesterday, I read that you can turn pool running into more than just going for a certain amount time. I will try and simulate a "Tempo" run next week. This week I will just try a steady rung and see how it goes.

Friday I ran 5k in about 26 minutes.
Yesterday, I made the elliptical training a little fun. I warmed up for 20 minutes and then went fast for 1.5 minutes, then slow for 1.5 minutes repeated 6 times. I guess you could call it an "elliptical fartleck".

Bike More to beat the Gas Prices

I drove to work yesterday with half of my bike hanging out of the trunk of my car. I followed the same route that I would normally take with my bike. It took me about 35 minutes. On my bike it normally takes about 26 or 27 minutes. I rode the bike back to the house last night and I really enjoy it with this nice weather.

This morning I ran about 4.5km at 5:18/km pace with the shins tapped up. It was nice and relaxed, but I can tell that my conditioning is coming down, it's not as easy to run 5k. There was no pain in the shins during or after. The right one is a little tighter than I expect, but OK.

I also rode my bike into work this morning and will ride the bike back to the house this evening.

The shins were a little sore at Physio though... Take another 2 days off of running and see how they feel. Just gotta keep it easy and do the strengthening exercises. I might look into doing some pool running.

Fun with Kids

When someone has an injury, they should probably take extra precautions to handle it with care. I did 2 things this weekend that may not have been so good for my shins. I first was asked to "race" by my niece in the back yard. I did a small, very small warm up. I ran around the back yard, hoping that she would follow. Then my nephew got into the "race". He is about 11 years old. I thought that I would control my speed enough to just kind of nudge him on, but oh no I had to give myself a burst of speed, because it was fun. That was on Saturday, and I think that I started to feel a little bit of inflammation then.
Yesterday, I ran another 5.4km, in about 25 minutes. I tapped up and did not feel any inflammation after that. However, later in the day I got on the trampelene with my boys and they wanted me to jump as high as I can. I was definitely using my ankles in a springing like motion, thinking this will be a good strengthening exercise. The shins are definitely inflamed from this. This is so frustrating!

Not A good Start

It looks like the 2 months of reducing my mileage and finding that my shins were still getting sore, and going for 2 to 3 weeks of physio therapy and the shins are healed. I ran on Wednesday, 5.1 k in about 26 minutes. This felt great. The shins were tapped up to prevent any re-occurring injury. Later on through the day my hamstring go sore and was still sore Yesterday. It was sore when walking in my worn out shoes (at the heel) that I wear for work. If I walked in my bare feet and it felt about 10 times better. What the $%^&!
It could be the change in my stride. I reduced my stride length and increased the rate (from 170 to 180/minute). I would have thought that a longer stride length would have increased the risk of hurting the hamstring, but it appears to be the speed for me. I am hoping that it is just not used to it. Work has still been keeping me very busy!
As far as my diet is concerned, I never even read one more page out of the book. However, I did buy some milk, more vegetables and trail mix. It is difficult to find seeds that sell without shells that you have to spit out.
I think I should list my Physio treatment exercises:

• 4 foot movements using theraband for resistance (down and in with a curl, down and out, up in/out)
• butt raises with the legs strapped so that the knees goes over the feet (work the gluts)
• balance with one leg on the trampelene and move the foot from the rear around the outside to front and then back through to the starting position and repeat
  
• another glut exercise while lying on your side, raise the leg behind you and kind of up from the floor, keeping your hip forward, trying to use ur glut and not the hamstring
• calf raises with a twist, stand on a step and quickly move up and then slowly (10sec) move down until the heel is below the step
• working the abductors, stand in front of a step, move your leg straight back, then pull the leg forward and turn your leg at the inner thigh and tap the edge of the step. You can bend your knee before the tap.
• wall squat, using a big ball against the wall and a small ball between the knees, start standing straight up, then roll down into the squatting position, hold for 10 seconds and then straighten
  

I try to do 2 sets of 10 to 15 for all exercises. Then massage and ice. There has not been any pain along the shin bones when pressure is applied for about 2 weeks.

Happy Easter.

Training since last entry has been pretty crappy: 20 minutes on eliptical on Monday and 20 minutes of running on Wednesday.

Nutrition - Daily intake ?

My legs feel great even after 1 1/2 hours on the eliptical trainer with the shins taped up. I really miss just going out in any weather and just running.
I am reading the Performance Nutrition by Matt Fitzgerald. What's interesting is that it starts off with many parts being similar to what Lydiard is describing in his book. This ranges from Vitamins and there effects on the body to how base nutrients do not exist in foods that are produced for high profit. I wonder if my dietary intake has been supplied with too much grains and carbs and not enough fruits and vegetables. I'll have to start a daily log of what I am eating and analyze it. My normal routine is:

breakfast; yogurt with bran cereal, orange juice, toast with honey, coffee and a banana,
Snack: Apple, bagel and/or nuts, or pretzels
Lunch; leftovers from the night before with a fresh salad (lettuce tomato, carrot, onion, green pepper, croutons, dried cranberries)
Snack; what ever I can find at work, more of the same as the other snack and sometimes I sneak in another coffee or a hot chocolate, or a tea with honey,
Dinner: Ranges from stir fry to spaghetti with sauce and sometimes meat, during the weekend my wife does the cooking and she prepares a large variety of foods. (She is a great cook to)
Another piece of toast or 2 with honey when I get to where I sleep

Let's tally this up:
Meats: 1 or 2,
vegetables: aprox. 4
Fruit: 2 or 3
beans, nuts, seeds: 1 or 4 depending on meals and how many handful of nuts I take
Dairy: 1 or 2
Whole Grains: 4 to 8 depending on the meals.

Doesn't seem too far off. I can see that I should increase the dairy intake by having a couple of glasses of milk. (Ken has already told me this a few times) Add a vegetable or 2 and a couple more fruits and maybe get some seeds. It actually sounds delicious.

Tomorrow I plan to do about 20 minutes on the eliptical without the shins taped up.

Doctor, Massage, Physio, Very busy

Monday was a busy day. I took the day off work to get some things done at home, like clean my car, which was neglected for the past 2 years. I also had a doctor's appointment. This was interesting. My Doctor was a runner that also got injured and stopped because of it. He gave me his insight. One of the things he said was that many of the people that continue to run into there later stages of life can do so because they do not get injured. He said their bio-mechanics are naturally perfect for this. He also told me that there are other sports that can be done. Then he remembered how nice the sport of running can be. I can tell he loves it and really wishes he could run. The question I ask myself now is; do I want to be very competitive or run for the long term? For some reason I can't ever picture myself not running when I'm in my old age.

I also had another session of massage therapy on Monday. The calves were still tight, but after the massage they feel much better.

Tuesday I go to work fairly late and had to go to physio therapy as well. I forgot to mention that I have also been getting ultrasound treatments as well. I also was given a couple more exercises to try. One of them was balancing on one foot on a trampelene and rotating the other one from the back around the outside stretching somewhat in front of you and then back. Try it 10 times while keeping your knee over your 2nd toe. Fun.

Wednesday was a 13 hour day at work, with the regular routine of exercises in the morning, massage and ice at night and in the morning.

Thursday was another day of physio therapy. This time I was surprised. While the therapist was pressing hard on my shins she asked do feel any tenderness when I do this. I didn't say anything right away I wanted to make sure, I couldn't feel any pain. So I said no. She said OK, you can try 5k on the weekend, very light taped up. I couldn't believe it. So soon! YES!

Friday was another long day at work.

Wednesday to Friday I biked every were. about 70km in total. (The garmin sure is handy)

Today I ran for about 1/2 an hour with my wife and the kids. The kids were on their bikes. The pace was no faster than 5k/minute. So far there is no heat or tenderness in the shin area. One funny thing; there is a very small hill and my youngest had trouble getting up the hill. We kept on going, thinking that he would catch up, but he got mad and threw his bike down, he said that he thought he would never catch us. I think he really got mad because he thought he would be able to beat us. He seems very competitive, already. We don't push this but he must picking it up from somewhere. :-)

Tomorrow, I'll get on the eliptical for 1 1/2 hours.

Lot's of Reading

I am almost done reading the book. It's been difficult to put it down and spend time doing the things that need to get done around the house. Page 105 is the most interesting for me because it describes the first phase in a way that is somewhat different then what I remember from the summary outline that is linked to Mike's web page. I am treating this first phase as a great learning experience so that when I try it again. I will know when to back off.

The best results come when you train to a comfortably tired state, knowing as you finish that the training could have been harder. Keep always in mind that you never run too slowly but you can run too fast.

Many of my first long Sunday runs were with Ken. He is a much faster runner than I am. We would run an out and back on a country gravel road together and he would slowly pick up and pull away from me. I knew that he was faster and that I should not be even trying. I know that I kind of did try, and maybe did not pay enough attention to my own pace. I thought wow I'm not too far behind. By the end of the run, there was no way I could have tried harder. It was only when I started to get sore did I start to slow down on my longer runs.

The other thing that Lydiard states is that "The in-between days are used for runs up to 60 minutes over varying terrain to strengthen the legs and condition generally or for rest. If the legs start to get unduly tired, you must ignore the schedule and lighten the training for a few days until your legs have recovered and you can run again with reasonable comfort.

Sometimes my legs would feel so bad that I thought a good picked up pace would loosen them up. Not so, it undoubtedly made it worse.

I can't wait to get these shins healed and try new knowledge and understanding.

Yesterday's training: More eliptical training 50 minutes,
The calves need to be stretched and massaged, they are feeling a little tight. I wanted to do 90 minutes but backed off because the calves were so tight.

Another day another dollar

I followed the regular routine of stretch, massage, leg/foot exercises and icing, then went into to work this morning for a few hours. This is not a normal thing for me on a Saturday, but it was needed. After work I drove for a couple hours to get home to my family.

I finally purchased the book; Running to the top by Arthur Lydiard. So far after reading a few pages, I like his style. The first part I noticed as I flipped through the book is the injury section and especially shin splints. Some of the causes he points out:
- stiff shoes at the heel,
- heel striker,
- tight ankle and calf muscles,

One of the things he suggested is to NOT run fast down the hills, walk or take them slow. First calf raises are suppose to help build the strength and flexibility. I was doing this and found that it would tighten up the calf muscles though. Also Hill bounding or springing will help build the muscles to prevent this injury from happening.

I found that the shins could easily get inflamed after doing the springing routine, even without the fast downhill running. However, I can say that they weren't really heeled so I should not have been doing them anyways.

Are Asics Gel Empires too Stiff? I would think that the Gel and the big chunks on the heal would make them soft like and full of padding.

I know that ALL my muscles got really stiff when doing the conditioning phase. I think I started out going too fast and progressed too much in mileage and this caused my muscles to get stiff. (I have to say though the legs have really formed up nicely) The heel striking thing would line up with the "overstriding" theory as well. It was probably a combination of all of these things that led to my shins getting really sore or I just wasn't healed yet from last season when I started my first conditioning phase. I can't wait to try it all again after getting healed.

I got on the elliptical trainer for 60 minutes around the 85 to 92 rev. / minute, with no tension.

Had supper and took the kids out to fly some kites. What a blast. The youngest was worried a plane was going to hit it. He thought it was too high.