Back At It

I feel recovered from the race now and I was actually ready to run about 3 days after, but my left shin is still in pain, even when I walk.  It gets progressively better each day though, so I'm not seeing a doctor.  I'm sure a doc would just tell me I have a bone bruise and tendonitis in my anterior tibialis.  When I flex the muscle I can feel it creaking against the bone.  Kinda gross.  Looks like I'll be a stationary bike and elliptical junkie for the next couple weeks to keep my fitness up, which really sucks because this is my favorite time of year to be up in the mountains.

Tried the elliptical but it still puts too much pressure on the leg.  The stationary bike seemed to do the trick though.  Kept the resistance fairly low and just cruised with some tunes in my ear.  Not exactly my idea of a good time, but it's all I got right now.  30 minutes of something is better than nothing.

30 minutes spin bike
30 minutes weights circuit

Felt the after effects of Saturday a bit with this stupid injury, so I went a little less hard and for a little less time today.  Seriously, who knew that smashing my leg against a rock would produce the worst tendonitis I've ever had?!  Feels good to finally be doing something physical again, even though it's not exactly my preference of activity.

20 minutes spin bike
20 minutes weights circuit

Back on the spin bike today.  However, after 5 minutes it was hurting to sit on that thing (guess you've gotta get used to it over time?).  Regardless, I went 15 minutes total before I called it quits. 

Had some time on my hands so I jumped on the treadmill, turned up the incline and started power hiking.  No major pain in the shin which was encouraging.  Turned up the speed and actually ran for 4 minutes before I started feeling pain, so I started power hiking again.  Ended up with almost 20 minutes and some vert.  Forgot to look at the distance, so it's a guess.  Happy to be on the verge of running again.

15 minutes spin bike
20 minutes treadmill
700' vert
Weights

Decided to do just the spin bike today in order to rest the shin.  I'm planning on hitting the JRP on Saturday to get a gauge on how this tendonitis responds to actual running, outside.  I'm hoping things will be ok since I'd really like to be ready to pace my dad next Friday at PET 50 if he needs me.

30 minutes spin bike
Weights

Went to the JRP and I'm happy to report that I'm finally able to run again. Didn't want to push it so I kept the mileage and pace pretty conservative, but didn't really have any problems. I could feel the shin a bit on the slight downhill sections, but it wasn't painful, just noticeable. I'm going to run every other day for the next week or two just to make sure things hold up ok, then I'll get back on track.

27:34

Easy 4 miler at the JRP. Just making sure this injury is basically gone before I start with anything more intense.

Looking forward to crewing Dorsimus this weekend at the PET 50. Should be a fun weekend with good friends and some racing.

34:47

Crewed and paced the last 15 miles for Dorsimus at the Pony Express 50.  Lots of fun out there seeing friends and hanging out.  Matt did awesome and stayed strong finishing his first 50 miler.  Congrats to him!  The good news is that my leg seems to feeling better.  Didn't have any problems with it out there, so it looks like I'll slowly creep back into some training.

This is also the time of year I start thinking about races I'd like to do next year.  I'll definitely be putting in for Squaw Peak and Wasatch next year, but I'd also like to race something out of state at some point.  I'm also leaning toward training for a fast (for me) marathon in the spring.  Maybe Salt Lake?  I'm thinking the goal there would be to go sub-3.  Definitely doable if I'm willing to put in the effort.

JRP run.  Wanted to go a little further, but my legs were telling me no.  Funny what happens when you don't run for a month then you go do 15.  So instead I turned up the speed a little and got a nice workout in.  Hoping to get in 4 days of running this week.

22:18

JRP run.  Just wanted to get out and see how things are holding up.  Felt much better than Monday.  Took it easy and was really enjoying the cool weather out there. Been feeling some slight PF in my left foot since the run on Monday.  Nothing major, just something that's been making appearances every now and again since January.  Just plan on keeping things light for the next week or two and hopefully it works itself out.

42:21

Another easy day at the JRP.  Legs feel like they're slowly coming around.  Taking tomorrow off, then running something a little longer Saturday morning.  What longer means... Not quite sure yet.  That's the beauty of the off-season though: No commitments so I'm just going with the flow.

33:14

Failed to get out today.  All excuses cuz I could've ran if I really wanted to.  I tweaked my back a little bit at a Halloween party last night and it was just enough to lose motivation.  Lame.  Not sure how I did it to be honest.  Maybe it was the sweet dance moves I was pullin off all night?  Or maybe it was the game of Twister I played on the girl that was rockin the game as a cocktail dress?  Either way, I'm sure it'll be fine in the next day or two.  Lookin to get back to a normal running schedule this next week.

Went to the BST in Sandy for one last nice trail run before the weather turns.  The plan was to meet my friend Scott and run the HPHM 10K route.  However, I ended up getting off work a bit early so I went up and ran a tempo run for 15 minutes out, then 15 minutes back.  It felt nice.  Then I met up with Scott in the parking lot and we ran the 3 miles out and back.  Felt like I only got 9.5 in total, so when I got home I took my dogs to the park and ran around for a bit with them to make it an even 10.

It was a beautiful day out there and I can't remember when I've had a more enjoyable run on that trail.  My back still hurt from being an idiot over the weekend, but I think running loosened things up a bit.  Things should be back to normal in the next few days.

On a side note I wore my Rogue Racers on this run and they were awesome.  My previous long run in them was 4 miles.  I love how much room they have in the toebox for my wide forefoot and how much more stable the platform feels compared to my Wildcats.  Looks like I'll be transitioning to these to race in next year.

1:34:31