blowin' in the wind

Spring Marathon locked in!

2011-01-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the new year is here, and that means it's time to pick races! Have been out of commission because of the knee for a few weeks now, but the rest seems to have done it good, and am now able to climb down stairs without any pain or limp. Looking forward to running again starting tomorrow.

Have picked out a spring marathon - Seattle Rock N Roll, on June 24th. Am going to try Pfitzinger's 12/55 plan this time, instead of the RW plans I used for Portland and Eugene. Depending on how training goes the next few weeks, I might switch to the 18/55 instead, but only if I can get at least 3 consistent 30 mile weeks in before 2/20 (18 weeks out from June 24th). Both the RW plans I used were 12 week plans, and I have a feeling 18 weeks might be too long for me, but it also gives me some flexibility to switch things around.

knee no good

2010-12-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

hmm, so i went out for a run yesterday evening, and less than a mile in, the knee started complaining. this is such a bummer :(. i'm still hoping it's a temporary flare-up that'll go away with some RICE. planning to try out the cross-trainer this evening so at least i don't lose what fitness i have. am also adding in these knee exercises. fingers crossed, and really really hoping that i can get over this quickly.

ouchie in the knee

2010-12-09T14:28:00.000-08:00

hmm, my right knee has gone for a toss :(. it actually started a few months ago, when, on two successive days, i hurt the knee in exactly the same spot. the first time, i was helping ani clean up some of his toys, and mashed my knee against one of his knobbly puzzle pieces. it hurt like crazy for a little bit, but then eased up, so i brushed it off. the next day, at trader joe's, ani rammed his little shopping cart straight into the knee :(. the double whammy put me out of commission for a couple of weeks, during which i consulted with my terrific marathon-running PCP. he suggested that i RICE it, and things should get better. as indeed, they did, for a while. ever since those injuries, though, i've had trouble climbing down stairs, but after the couple weeks of rest, have been mostly ok otherwise.

this last weekend, suddenly the injury flared up again, and i can't really think of a reason why. it started hurting real bad to even walk, and i was getting quite bummed out about the whole thing. i tried jogging a little yesterday, and funnily, that didn't hurt at all! so am going out for a run today - let's see how it goes.

sleepless in seattle

2010-12-02T21:31:00.001-08:00

Crummy title, I know, but it really is appropriate. Had a really bad night's sleep last night, and it makes such a big difference to the quality of your run. I was scheduled to run 7, but decided to shorten it to 6 because of the lack of sleep. Usually, an easy run (between 8:30 and 8 minute pace) doesn't leave me breathing hard at all, but today, by mile 4, I was huffing! With a 2 year old, days like this are bound to crop up now and again, so I guess I'd best just get used to dealing with a little huffing!

here we go again...

2010-11-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

hi there running blog...been a while since we met, hasn't it :)...good to see you, and you're welcome for the face lift.

well, obviously a lot has happened since we last chatted...Ani's now 2, and I've run as many marathons! Portland '09 (3:34) and Eugene '10 (3:33). The rest of 2010 was mostly a wash, what with our move to Seattle, Mago Babago's visit, etc. I did finally run the Helvetia Half, in 1:39:42. That was a lot of fun. A half is over quickly even for slowpokes like me, and you aren't nearly as wiped out as after a marathon. Definitely see more of them in my running future.

Slowly getting back into the groove - the 3-month free membership to 24hr fitness was a windfall! The roads here are really really hilly, plus it's Seattle, so it's good to have a place to run indoors in the winter.

Have a running plan for the rest of the year set up, although the first week did not get off to a great start. Missed a couple days due to the really bad weather we had this past week - amazing how a couple inches of snow can bring a city this size to a standstill! Nice 8 mile run today on the TM. The hunger to run is coming back, which is wonderful!

i could almost cry with relief...

2008-10-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

our darling arrived a month ago :)...what a joy to be a father...to look into your child's eyes leaves all other emotions so far back in the dust it's almost scary...

running has naturally taken quite the back seat the last month or so, and have definitely been stressing periodically about this...am losing fitness, and there's not much i can do about it at this point. as the days go by, had been getting more and more antsy about this. workload is pretty heavy right now too, so with the lack of sleep, all of the other baby duties, etc., i just don't have the time to run.

we seem to take great comfort in realizing that there are others out there like us. mostly, i think it gives us hope that if someone else was able to go through this successfully, there's a chance i can too. this blog entry did just that for me today :)...oh man, what a relief!!

the last couple weeks...

2008-03-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

the last couple of weeks have been a study in contrast!

monday 2/18 - sunday 2/24

after i felt the lingering pain on monday, i decided to take a break from running for a couple of days. on tuesday i went to the gym and rode the stationary bike for 45 minutes. took wednesday off, except for doing the quad routines i picked up here. also, sweetie got me the polar rs400 :)!!! another post shall be dedicated to raving about it. on thursday, went out for a "shakeout" run (term i've stolen from nate jenkins :)). essentially, an easy run meant to get the blood circulating more than anything else. did the usual 7-miler from work @8:13. amazingly, felt nearly no pain in the knee, so it seems to have been a random flare-up more than a real problem (am keeping my fingers crossed - on both hands :)). took friday off, and switched my long run to saturday, as we were going to the portland film festival on sunday. the long run was probably one of my worst ever! i felt awful at around 11 miles, and actually stopped and walked most of the rest of the way home! don't know what it was, maybe just the fact that i hadn't done a long run in a while, or maybe the lingering cold i still had...whatever it was, it had me feeling pretty crappy and frustrated :)...

i'd been reading nate's blog, and noticed his emphasis on the easy-hard philosophy - have easy days and hard days, and go easy on your easy days, hard on your hard days. greg mcmillan also advocates the same approach, and i'd heard this advice in other places too, but had never taken it very seriously. consequently, i'd been doing my easy runs a bit too fast, i think. the other thing i hadn't been taking very seriously was warming up before hard workouts. i've decided to incorporate both these elements more strictly into my training, and so far, am liking the results :)!

monday 2/25 - sunday 3/2

this week, i set out to do two hard workouts, plus a long run, and easy runs the other two days. monday and friday were going to be easy, tuesday and thursday were workout days, wed and saturday were off, and sunday was the long run. miraculously, after a long long time, the week actually went to plan! monday i set out for the 5-mile route from work, but at jackson school road, was feeling great (it was fabulous weather), so went north towards evergreen instead of south back to sunrise ln. took evergreen to 15th, onto sunrise, for a total of just under 6 miles @8:22.

on tuesday, i did a progressive tempo run on the treadmill (the first time i used the treadmill's at the gym at work). warmed up for 10 minutes @ 8:27, then 10 minutes @ 7:48, 10 mins @ 7:42, 5 mins @ 7:36 and 5 mins @ 7:30, then cooled down for 10 mins @ 8:27. it felt way too easy, though...i should've gone a bit harder. next time, i'll try 10 @ 7:42, 10 @ 7:30 and 10 @ 7:18. the whole thing was at 0.5% incline.

on thursday, i tried a workout that mcmillan calls tempo intervals. the idea is to do 2 or 3 x 2 miles @ 10K pace. i did my usual 7-mile route from work, warming up for about 10 minutes @8:20, then 2 miles @ 7:15, 4 minute recovery (had planned on 3, but needed to get to my marker :)), 2 miles @ 7:17, and then cooled down for about 1.75 miles @ 8:15. was happy to be able to hold the pace well without struggling.

friday i went out for an easy 4-mile jog @ 8:40. was a lovely sunny day, felt great to be outside.

sunday was much chillier, temps down to about 30, and pretty foggy when i set out for my long run at about 9. i made a conscious effort to take the first 8-mile loop easy, and managed to do exactly that, running at 8:22 pace. came back to the car, switched my bottles out, and set out for the 5-mile loop to make 13. i was feeling great, so decided to try out running at mp the last 4 miles, and boy :)!!! i ran the last 5 miles @ 7:50, and the last 4 probably even faster, since i only picked up the pace after a mile or so into the 5-mile loop. it was hard work, but left me absolutely thrilled!!! am usually very cautious during my long runs, for fear i'll run out of gas, so i end up going pretty slow. this time, i decided to risk it a little, and am very happy with the results! even had two gulab jamuns for dessert to celebrate :)!

polar rs400

2008-02-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

i got the polar rs400 for my birthday :):):):)!!! my darling wifey researched and ordered it online, and it's totally awesome!! the two biggest features i'd been missing are the continuous monitoring and a better display...anyway, quick post for now...will post details of last week's workouts later...am doing much better now though, managed to get a decent long run and a recovery run in, plus a bit of cross training on the bike...

last week's workouts

2008-02-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

last week began on an ok note, ended very high, and then it all came crashing down yesterday...

to begin at the beginning, was eager to get back to running after returning from hawai'i, but had to wait until saturday...was jet-lagged on thursday, and had to attend to some piled up stuff at work on friday...saturday was a nice day, sunny, temp in the 40s, so i went out in shorts and a long-sleeved tee. did that new route i'd been meaning to do for a while in bethany, and it was pretty nice...it's got some rolling hills, and it's a nice change of scenery from my usual rockcreek 7-miler. ran @7:57, my usual pace. was happy that i didn't seem to have lost any conditioning with all that down time :)...

on sunday, i set out for my regular weekend 13 miler, but started feeling a tightness in my hamstrings and calf muscles at around 7 miles or so. finally had to stop at 9 miles, very disappointed. i haven't done a long run in nearly a month now!!! it's so damn frustrating. maybe it's just winter, but am so ready to get back to some serious running. little did i know that worse was to come...

monday i did a very easy 5-miler from work, 8:16 pace, and ended with a couple of 100m strides. felt great, all the tightness was gone, and was happy that i managed to actually run at the easy pace, and not succumb to the temptation to go faster :).

tuesday, i did the treadmill hill workout (3 x 3min@4%@10K), running at 7:45 pace this time, but it turned out to be too easy. didn't really feel pushed at any point, so will switch back to 7:30 pace.

wednesday was off, and thursday again i got too busy at work to run. friday i was working from home, so did the new bethany route again, and decided to push the pace a little to see how it felt. results: i ran at 7:36 pace for 7.25 miles!!!! was totally thrilled :):):)!!!! and the best part was that the run actually felt great! i took it easy the first 3.5 miles or so, and then picked up the pace a little, but only to a PE of 7.5 or 8. it was great to be able to carry that pace the rest of the way, and i ended pretty strong too. it was another gorgeous day, with temps in the 50s, so conditions were ideal too. all in all, a nice workout.

and then came sunday. went out for my long run, determined to take it easy the first 6-7 miles, and i did, running at about 8:20 pace. then, out of the blue, i felt a sharp pain under the right kneecap. almost immediately, it got much worse, to the point where i had to stop and walk. i tried starting up again a couple of times, but it would immediately hurt again. am totally confused by what this might be. my only guess so far is PFS. i've been doing more hill work lately, and haven't really paid attention to strenghthening (the only resistance work i've been doing is upper body - push ups and core work), so the quads probably need some work. am really really hoping this is just a small flare-up that'll go away quickly.

i tried running again this evening, but the pain was still there, so i stopped in 5 minutes. for now, need to figure out quad strengthening routines, and will slowly get back to running over this week. let's see how it goes...

back in hillsboro...

2008-02-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

hawai'i was terrific! we had great weather the first couple of days...caught some sun (and sunburn, it turned out) at the beach, watched a gorgeous sunset at the luau, and got in a couple of nice runs too! my backache was much better, thankfully, so that didn't get in the way of things.

the runs were from the b&b we stayed at, and the highlights were the hills, and running on the beach. the b&b was on a ridge facing the ocean, so i'd run down to the ocean, and then work my way back up. the second day, i thought it'd be nice to jog along the beach a little, and it was :). i saw more folks running/jogging/walking (on the beach and elsewhere) in hawai'i than i've seen in all the days i've been out running in hillsboro, combined!

missed a few runs, and off to hawai'i tomorrow

2008-01-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

so i ended up missing quite a few runs the last week...including my long run :(:(:(...apart from all the meetings, we had a fundraiser for AID on Saturday, so was busy helping the wife with decorations, and then working at the actual event itself. on sunday, i realized that it would be the last opportunity to get some shopping for the hawai'i trip done, so had to forgo the long run...

this is bad...i need to wake up earlier on sundays and get out of the house by 730...that will get the long run out of the way by 10, and we'll still have time for a full day afterwards. i hate missing my runs :(:(:(...

ran the 7 miler from work again on monday, felt great! normal pace - 7:58. pretty nice weather, although it had snowed in the morning...was about 40 degrees or so.

later monday evening, started feeling a tightness in my lower back, which got progressively worse as the evening wore on, and was a full-fledged lower back outage by the night...am still recovering, so, once again, have missed my runs yesterday and today :(:(:(...

tomorrow we're off to maui, and wifey dear has promised to let me run once while we're there :):)...looking forward to running outdoors in shorts!!

that's it for now...mahalo!

haile...

2008-01-25T22:42:00.000-08:00

saw this video on youtube a few weeks ago from the sydney olympics...all of these guys seem to run so effortlessly. incredible stuff!

blast those meetings :(...

2008-01-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

dang! i wanted so much to run today - great weather again, and i had everything planned for a 7 miler. then this friggin' guy from israel decides to show up and brainstorm from 3 to 5 both today and yesterday :( :( :(...that, plus some morning work meetings meant that i had absolutely no 1-hour slot in the day to get a run in.

anyway, so i ended up doing a treadmill speed workout instead of hills on wednesday, and it was good. i repeated the 3x(3 min @ 10K, 3 min @ 5K) from last week, and already, it was much easier! felt like i could've easily done another set. am always amazed at how quickly the body adapts.

am doing a new 7-mile route tomorrow, with some meaty hills. let's see how it goes.

some terrific weather...

2008-01-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

...we've had so far this week! sunny, crisp, and dry. cold too, but i can live with that after so many years in Utah :).

the running's going well...i did end up missing the track workout last week due to the soon-to-be-revealed developments, but the long run on sunday was fun...i did the first 8 mile loop counter-clockwise this time for a change. i think the uphills are steeper this way, and the downhills more gradual. i gelled at 8 miles (i used to gel at 10, but then found myself running out of gas at 12 or so). i think this works better for the 13 mile distance. ran at what seems to be my new long-run pace - 8:30. the hope is to get it down to 8:00 by marathon day.

monday i ran from work, the usual easy 5 miler. great weather, but windy! ran pretty slow as a result, especially since i was heading into the wind on the latter part of the run - 8:20.

am debating whether i should do the treadmill hill workout today or the 10K/5K intervals...maybe i'll do the latter, and then do a hilly semi-long run tomorrow.

7 miler from work

2008-01-18T12:16:00.000-08:00

did my usual 7 mile loop from work yesterday, and it went great. started a little after 4. chilly outside at around 32, but dry! any day it isn't raining in these parts is a good day for a run :). construction on brookwood has closed the same sections of the sidewalks on both sides of the road, with each side asking pedestrians to use the other!

was running clockwise today, so i avoided running the segment on evergreen without a sidewalk before it got dark - the traffic on that road is nasty.

i might have to give the track workout a miss today, due to some, err, developments that shall remain undercover for now :).

drink like a fish...

2008-01-17T11:42:00.000-08:00

swimming last night was fun, the high ratio of water to air in my lungs notwithstanding :)...a friend of mine is a good swimmer, and was helping me get a hang of things...i've got to consciously relax in the water, and breathe in more consistently...goals for next week: two (breadthwise) laps in succession, atleast 6 laps of freestyle total.

run oregon blog

2008-01-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

looks like i'm blog-happy today :)...found this nice blog about running in oregon...they've posted a useful list of races for the year, and are also asking readers to submit their favorite road and trail runs...worth keeping an eye on...

this week's sched...

2008-01-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Run	Easy 5	Hill	Off	Semi-long 7	Track	Off	Long 13
XT/Other	Yoga	Core	Swim	Core	Yoga	Core	-

my first week in the new supernova, and boy, what a difference! had about 450 miles on the old pair, and had minor aches all over before i switched to the new pair. even had to cut short last weekend's long run. from now on, am buying my next pair of shoes at 300, and will rotate them in while the old ones wear out.

have managed to stick to the schedule so far...let's see how the rest of the week goes...

monday's run was a lot of fun - new shoes, new neighborhood, and great weather (although it started out slightly rainy, cleared up very quickly)...

yesterday, did a hill workout after a long long time, and for the first time on a treadmill. pretty intense! i like the set of workouts described here, and used the very first one: 3x3min @ 10-K pace with a 4% incline. since i haven't run a 10-K yet, i ran at about 7:30, a bit faster than my usual 8 min speed for training runs of that distance.

taking the plunge...

2008-01-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

ok, so i've decided to start writing about my running this year! right now, the aims are:

supplement the mapmyrun logs with more detailed notes about workouts
keep track of other running-related stuff such as yoga, core workouts, maybe nutrition, swimming, etc.
miscellaneous posts in the typical "oh my thoughts are so important" blogger style :P