Starting Over

It has been 4 weeks since the Dr. put me on the disabled list. Due to what he described as “extreme shin splints” I have not been allowed to run for 4 weeks. 

Gains and Losses

Unfortunately, I was not very active on my down time so I lost a lot of fitness and gained a lot of weight.  I did make it to the gym a few times but not enough to maintain what I had.  

What’s next

For the past 3 days, I’ve run 2 miles each day.  The first 2 runs felt great although I have clearly lost a lot.  After today’s 2 miles, I was actually a little sore but the shins are fine.   It is sad to think that I was averaging 40 miles a week and now I am sore after two 2 mile runs.  

Since I don’t think I can recover in time for the St. Louis Marathon, I am looking for a new challenge.  Hoping that I won’t have to travel but there are not a lot of options when it comes to long distances.  For now, the plan is to see how the next 2 weeks pan out and to see where my fitness is truly at.  The fitness level will hope determine the next goal race. 

What did I learn?

I need to make sure I am doing my warm ups, cool downs, and core work.  When I was increasing mileage, I was faithful to the routines.  As time went on, I starting skipping them and eventually stopped.  Time to go back to the basics and good habits. 

10 things I love about running.

Even though injury has me on the sideline right now, I still love to run.  In joining the trend of list 10 thing I love about running, my list includes the:

1. Challenge – everyday is a new challenge to see how much better I can be.
2. Simplicity – can be as simple a throwing on some shoes and heading out
3. Trails – heading out to the trails puts everything into perspective.
4. Running Community – Doesn’t matter how fast or slow, how far or short, a run is a run and runners respect that.
5. Me time – love getting out on a run and forgetting all concerns during a run
6. Family connections – Only thing better than running on my own is sharing a run with a family member
7. Feeling of accomplishment after finishing a hard run.  
8. Reality Check – running keeps me from going insane.  
9. Immunity Boost – running boost the immunity system
10. Runners High – both during and after a run

One week away from hitting the roads.  I can’t wait.

Double Whammy!!!

For me, talking about mileage and health have always been the destruction of a successful "good streak." 
 
I've been enjoying my best running/health streak in years and have silently attributed it to my silence of success.  I am averaging 40+ miles a week and haven't been sick for well over a year.

All things good came to an end when I stupidly  inadvertently brought upon my demise. 

Day 1: The wife asks me if I am training for a full since my mileage keeps increasing.  She asked so I had to answer.  First time I had talked about my running in months. 
Day 2: A co-worker simply asked how I manage my sick time with so many kids.  My response, "I don't get sick very often so sick time is used for them."

Two simple comments.  I did not bring up the topics, I did not embellish the answers, I simply told the truth.  The end result is BAM!!!!!!!!!!
 
Day 3: Shin "pops" on a run and I hobble home.
Day 4: Although my legs can't run, the nose sure can.  Use half a box of tissues.

Fast forward (3 tissue boxes later)
Day 8: Try running 4 miles.  Body feels great (minus cold symptoms) but shin is still not ready. 
Day 9: Limping big time from the 4 miles
Day 10: Still can't run.  Time to shallow my pride and call the Dr.

So tomorrow is the orthopedic surgeon.  Praying that he tells me everything is fine and I just need to suck it up. 

Coincidence, maybe,  Cursed, probably. Time to get healthy again and quit talking. 

When getting a run in is NOT always better.

Like many, I struggle with the epic battle of life commitments vs. the run.  The battle also becomes more intense as mileage increases.  How can you find the time for a 8, 10, or 16 mile run while balancing everything else. 

One of my recent solutions has been to give up the luxury of running at different places and starting the vast majority of my runs from home.  Instead of taking time to drive to the park or stopping on the way home, I have been running the vast majority of miles starting from home.  It has given me a lot of flexibility and saved a lot of time.  

While I thought I found a solution to win the battle, the roads had their own sneak attack and have been slowly fighting back.  Their secret weapon: road crowning. 

Road crowning is the secret evil plan to hinder runners from using the roads.  Sure it could be considered a good thing for drainage and road safety but why design roads for vehicle safety.

Running on a crowned road means that you are always running at an angle.  Although it may seem slight, the same angle for mile after mile is very hard on the shins and hips.  While simply running on a crowned road is not bad, running too much on a crowned road is a bad thing.    It took me way too long to figure this out so now my shins are in great pain.

Some obvious solutions:

• Alter your running terrain: time to find some other places to run, preferably off concrete
• Run in the middle of the road: If it’s safe, run in the middle of the road.  Drivers don’t expect to see a runner in the middle of the road so be ready to jump in the ditch
• Typically sidewalks are not crowned so if you have them, use them.  Many runners think sidewalks are for walkers but suck it up and stay off the road. 

How do you avoid the crown?