A good start to the week

Last week was not that great as far as training goes. I only swam Monday and Tuesday and worked out on my fitness ball Wednesday and Thursday. I wouldn't say I was slacking since it was mostly work getting in the way or the pool being way too crowded for me to swim in. I suppose I still did a lot more than what the average person on crutches would do but I like to hold myself to higher standards. I'm trying to make it to the pool on weekdays or get some other kind of workout on days I don't manage to swim. I'm not obsessing much about working out on weekends and I'll gladly skip a workout if I have something else planned. It's not that I'm obsessing much about my training in general at the moment but if on any given day my options are between sitting on the couch at home and going for a swim I feel like I owe it to myself to do the latter. In any case, things got off to a better start this week with a nice 40 minute swim. I didn't have anything planned for the day and since I hadn't swam the last 5 days I figured it was worth driving up to Club O. I had a good session, swimming something over 1K. That's probably really unimpressive but I'm only using my arms, I don't know much about swimming, which means my technique is probably horrible and I can't make a flip turn (I made a couple of unsuccessful attempts, maybe I should try it out some more) so I'm wasting a lot of time each time I get to the end of the pool. I feel at least that my swimming abilities are improving and I'm getting more comfortable in the water. In a few weeks I should be able to start biking so who knows, maybe after all these I could give a triathlon a shot.

Swimming!

I'm about a week late posting this but it's still pretty exciting news. Last Wednesday (March 4) I went swimming for the first time since my surgery and finally got a real workout. I don't think I have ever been excited about swimming, in fact I always dreaded heading to the pool, mostly because it was associated with me being injured. Funny how your perspective changes when you can't even walk for 6 weeks. Being able to swim suddenly feels a lot more liberating, even though, in my case, getting in and out of the pool is quite a process. Between switching from my street clothes to my swim truncks and back, I had to take off and put on my walking boot 3 times (which has a bunch of straps and flaps to remove). Making my way with crutches from the locker room into the pool must also look rather entertaining. I'm not complaining, though, and I've actually been feeling very motivated to work out these days. I went for a swim 5 times so far, going every day since I started except the weekend, when I didn't feel like driving up to Club O, and today when I got held up at work and didn't have the time to squeeze a swim in. Even on those days I worked out a bit at home, doing some strengthening and core stuff. So I no longer feel that I'm a lazy bum, like the first few weeks post-op.

Now on to the actual swimming part. I can't say that I've been pushing myself much but I think that I've been getting some decent workouts. I started with a 15 minute swim and progressed to about half an hour. I'm also gradually cutting my breaks shorter and increasing the actual swimming time. I know it doesn't seem like much but things are tougher when you suck at swimming and cannot even use your legs. Even in just a few days I've noticed some improvement so hopefully I'll be better and stronger soon and I'll be swimming more. I don't expect to become a competitive swimmer any time soon but what's important is that I'm doing something to stay reasonably fit.

Cast-free

I had another post-op follow up with Dr Oloff today to check up how my recovery is progressing. Everything seems to be going well and the doctor even said my foot looked better than he was expecting. There's not much swelling and the incission has healed nicely. I was expecting that I would get another cast but I ended up leaving in a walking boot, which has both advantages and disadvantages. I almost got the option of choosing between getting another cast but getting rid of the crutches then switching to the walking boot in a couple of weeks or going straight to the walking boot but sticking with the crutches for two more weeks. In the end Dr Oloff thought it would be best to go with the walking boot mostly because the skin on my foot was a bit irritated and the boot would allow it to breathe better. It would have been nice to get rid of the crutches but at least I can now take a shower without a cast. My foot certainly appreciated getting a good wash after being covered up for almost 6 weeks. I can also take the boot off at night and replace it with a splint, which will make things a little more comfortable. The best news though is that I can now get in the pool so I can finally start getting some exercise again.  Tomorrow I should be going for my first swim. 

1.5 feet on the ground

I'm closing in on 5 weeks after the surgery and an update was long overdue. I had every intention to post some more regular updates about my progress but I never got it. The truth is life isn't very exciting when you have to walk around with crutches so I can't say that I had much to write about.

There haven't been any dramatic changes since the first days after the surgery, just a gradual and steady improvement.  My left leg is still in a cast and I still need crutches to walk around but as you may have figured out from the title I can at least put some weight on the operated foot. I was on a non-weight bearing cast for the first 3 weeks and spent a lot of time trying to balance myself on one leg. It took some getting used to and for the first few days it felt like I was getting a workout everytime I had to walk. Not a bad thing I guess since I spent most of my days lying or sitting down. I think it helped improve my upper body strength along with my sense of balance and coordination, getting to the point where I could comfortably walk a decent distance. 

I changed over to a weight bearing cast about a week and a half ago so things are even more comfortable now since I can stand on both feet. It took a few trips to the doctor before I could get a weight bearing cast as they had to push my foot up to a 90 degree angle before I could stand on it. My foot was pretty stiff the first couple of times I replaced the cast and I went through a few intermediate stages where they kept pushing my foot further up each time. They got it up to a 90 degree angle eventually and I gradually started putting weight on it.  I was supposed to be putting only 25% weight for the first week, which basically meant my foot was touching the ground but pretty much just used for balance, with all the weight on the crutches. I'm now at a 50% weight so it almost feels like I'm walking normally, with some support of course from the crutches. Next week I'll start using only one of the crutches and a week later I'll be crutch-free. I'll be walking with the cast at first then getting a walking boot for another couple of weeks so I'm looking at almost another month before I'm walking around with my own shoes on both feet. 

It goes without saying that all this time I've been eager to get some kind of exercise. It's tough to do much when you are standing on one leg so I was fairly sedentary for the first 3 weeks. I did some crunches every now and then but nothing particularly demanding. I made it to the gym once and even had the bright idea of trying to work the stationary bike with one leg but that was rather unsucessful. I guess I'll need to wait a couple more weeks before doing any form of cross training. In the meantime I'm trying to stick to an almost daily program of core work and upper body strengthening. 

That's all for now. Hopefully I won't take another month to post an update. 

The first few days

It's been 3 days now since my surgery and my recovery has been going well. I haven't experienced any side effects from the surgery or the medication I've been taking. No drowsiness, nauseousness, stomach pains or anything. I only watched out my diet on the day of the surgery, just to be on the safe side and not because I felt that I'd get nauseous from eating something. The day after the surgery I was already back to my regular diet.  

The pain has been rather mild although I should probably attribute that to the pain killers, which seem to do a good job at masking the pain. I had been taking pain killers every time I started to feel some pain, which would happen every 4-6 hours. I was also using a cryotherapy unit, which is a cooler-like box with a motor that pumps ice cold water to my foot to reduce the pain and swelling. Basically instead of icing my foot I had this unit attached the whole day (I only plugged it off when I went to bed at night), constantly cooling my foot. I stopped using the unit last night and today I only took a pain killer in the morning and I'm still pain free 9-10 hours later. 

Everything I mentioned so far makes it seem like the surgery hasn't affected me much but it goes without saying that my mobility has taken a big hit. I need to be walking around with crutches for 2-3 weeks without putting any weight on my left foot. For the first 3 days my foot was just wrapped around with bandages and a splint on the back of my leg but today I had that replaced with a cast. Even with the cast, though, I can't put any weight and I'll rely on the crutches until I can switch the cast to a walking boot. Even the simplest tasks become challenging when you have to balance on one foot and can't walk and carry anything in your hands at the same time. One of the toughest situations is waking up in the middle of the night, needing to use the bathroom, and having to find my way there while half asleep.  At least I've gotten the hang of it by now and I can walk around rather comfortably whenever I'm fully conscious. I still spend most of my day lying in bed or on the couch, which doesn't take long to get boring.  I watched as much TV as I could take this past weekend but I'll be back at work this week (still at home but working nonetheless) so I'll have things to keep me busy. I'll be able to start driving on Wednesday so I'll even be able to get out of the house a little bit. 

All things considered I'm happy with how things are progressing. I still have a long way to go before I'm fully recovered but the worst part is over with. 

Surgery

I went back to Waverly Surgery center today and this time everything went according to plan. I was in at 6:30 am, in the operating room at 7:30 and on my way back home by 10:30. I was actually a bit surprised at how quickly everything was over with. I remember being rolled into the operating room and starting to doze off along the way then waking up in the recovery room a couple of hours later. I was fully concsious 5 minutes after I woke up, not feeling any drowsiness or pain (thanks to some good pain killers of course). I didn't have much trouble the rest of the day either besides having to deal with some discomfort from lying in bed all day with my leg elevated. I was able to walk around with crutches right away but was instructed to restrict my movements to only the necessary trips to the bathroom. It's good to finally have the surgery out of the way and knowing that everything went well. 

A break from daily posts ...

I haven't had much to write about for the last couple of months but I never got out of the habbit of posting daily updates. With my surgery coming up in a week I won't have any running to write about for quite some time so I'll only write whenever I have something that's worth mentioning. Look out for updates on the surgery and my recovery process. 

Friday, January 16, 2009 [0M]

I went to Waverly surgery center this morning for my scheduled Achilles tendon surgery but came out without even making it to the operating room. The reason: a small cut on my left ankle which I got from the soccer boots I was wearing when I played soccer last Monday. It was just a small open wound but my doctor thought it would be  best to postpone the surgery to avoid the risk of infection. I was literally 5 minutes from heading to the operating room when the surgery was called off. I was all prepped for it, had the IV on my arm and even had the lower part of my left leg shaved. I wanted to get the surgery over with so it was kind of annoying to push it back for another week but it's definitely better to be on the safe side. 

Thursday, January 15, 2009 [0M]

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 [0M]

Spent last night in London and flew to SF this morning. Long, long flight. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 [0M]

Flew from Larnaca to London. 

Monday, January 12, 2009 [0M]

Played some soccer again. It will probably be a long time until I play soccer again. 

Sunday, January 11, 2009 [0M]

Saturday, January 10, 2009 [0M]

Friday, January 9, 2009 [0M]

Thursday, 8 January, 20098 [0M]

Wednesday, 7 January, 2009 [2M]

Ran a couple of miles for warm-up before playing a soccer game. 

Tuesday, 6 January, 2009 [0M]

Monday, 5 January, 2009 [0M]

Sunday, January 4, 2009 [0M]

Saturday, January 3, 2008 [6M]

Rizoelia.

Friday, 2 January 2009 [0M]

Thursday, 1 January 2009 [0M]

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 [7M]

Salt Lake.  I drove out to my usual starting point near the salt lake and headed out towards the airport. It turned out to be a pretty good run and I ended up going further than I was originally planning. I almost made it to Tekke and took a detour to run the last kilometer or so of what used to be my high school cross country course. It wasn't exactly as it used to be but it still brought back some memories.  On my way back it occured to me that this was the last run of 2008 and I thought I should do a year recap.

It's somewhat sad that I don't have many good things to write about this past year. I was on a rollercoaster as far as my training goes, as I managed to sustain high mileage for a decent number of weeks, peaking at just over 100, but also hit rock bottom a few times as I spent a good part of the year sidelined because of injuries. In total I only ran 247 out of 366 days so almost 4 months without any running. Somehow my mileage total, which ended up at 2478, is higher than 2007 and is actually one of my highest yearly totals.  I don't know if this speaks more about my lower mileage past or about the high volume I was putting in when I was able to run this year. In any case, averaging under 7 miles a day is not something to brag about. I don't have many positive things to write about as far as racing goes either. I ran a couple of decent half marathons but anything else fared from mediocre to bad. I wish I could say that I'm hoping for a better 2009 but unfortunately that won't be the case. I'm going in for Achilles tendon surgery on January 16th and I won't be able to run a step for almost half the year. It goes without saying that I'll need a lot of time to build up the mileage and get my training to full swing. I can't, therefore, expect too much out of this year. 

I hate to write depressing posts so I'll try to end this on a positive note. I know I have a tough year ahead of me but I need to look at the bigger picture and think of the years to come. After all what I'll go through was my decision with the hope that it will lead to better things in the future. I've been dealing with this Achilles injury for about 7 years now and I'll take a few months of suffering if that means I never have to worry about my Achilles again. I'll only set one goal for this year: stay motivated throughout the recovery period and deligently go through all the physical therapy, strengthening stuff and cross training that I'll have to do.  I'm optimistic and I think that I can bounce back from this stronger than ever.

Tuesday, 30 December 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Monday, 29 December 2008 [0M]

No running today but I played some soccer, which involved a good bit of running and sprinting so all in all a good workout. 

Sunday, 28 December 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Saturday, December 27, 2008 [5M]

Rizoelia - GSZ roundabout. I was out around 11am and opted for one of my old usual loops. I was feeling pretty good on the run, averaging 6:45s without much trouble. The weather was beautiful this morning, sunny and in the mid 60s, making this a very enjoyable run. 

Friday, December 26, 2008 [0M]

No running. I was up early again today but didn't feel like getting out for a run in the morning. I ended up spending the rest of the day visiting relatives and the day just flew by. 

Thursday, December 25, 2008 [7M]

Thanks to the weirdest jetlag I've ever experienced I  was up at 5 this morning. I usually have trouble going to sleep early and in the past I remember staying up until 7am before managing to get myself to sleep. Surprisingly I didn't have much trouble sleeping at a reasonable time the last couple of days but somehow I woke up ridiculously early and couldn't get any more sleep. The only  good thing to come out of this was that I had more than enough time to have breakfast, sit down with my family for the Christmas gift opening and go out for a run before the traditional Christmas feast. I headed straight to Rizoelia park, ran one loop around the perimeter and headed back. I had to run quite a few hills in the park, something I haven't done in a while but I did a decent job at it. Along the way I started entertaining thoughts about running at our cross country nationals, which will be held at Rizoelia park on January 3rd. I know I'm in rather horrible shape but it might be fun to get in the race without any sort of expectations and see what I could pull off. I think I'll decide about racing after seeing how much running I manage to get in over the next week. 

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - [0M]

Spent the day hanging out with friends. 

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - [4M]

Flew out of London this morning and was in Larnaca in the early afternoon. I haven't been home for about a year and a half now, it was quite a while. I rested for a while when I got home and went for a short run in GSZ by 5PM. Everytime I'm back here I say that there's fewer and fewer people I know who are still training and today was no different. Besides Pambos, my former coach, I didn't know anyone else. I got there a bit late so it was a small crowd but I think that doesn't change the fact that I'm getting old. 

Monday, December 22, 2008 - [0M]

Touring London - part 2. I thought it would be fun to go for a run in London but ended up staying out a bit late and didn't want to get out for a run in the dark. Such a run would have "Lost in London" written all over it. 

Sunday, December 21, 2008 - [0M]

Touring London.

Week Recap (14 December 2008 - 20 December 2008) - 23 Miles

Saturday, December 20, 2008 - [0M]

I flew out of San Francisco at 8PM last nigh, arrived in London around 2:30PM and made it to Iraklis' place a couple of hours later. I'm starting my vacation with a fews days in London and won't be flying to Cyprus until Tuesday morning. It should be fun. 

Friday, December 19, 2008 - [0M]

As off 5:30 PM I'm finally off on a much needed vacation. It was a rather stressful day, as I was trying to finish off a few things before I took off and headed straight from work to the airport. I could have used a run today before getting on a plane for a 10 hour flight but there was no way I could find time for it. 

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - [0M]

No time for running again today. I was back from work around 7PM and continued packing, both for my trip to Cyprus and for moving stuff to my new apartment. 

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - [0M]

Today I called Dr Oloff's office to ask a couple of things about my surgery and shockingly discovered that it is scheduled for January 16th instead of the 21st. I'm pretty sure I asked to have it on the 21st and even scheduled pre-op and post-op appointments on the 19th and 26th respectively. I guess in some ways it would be better to get the surgery over with earlier but considering that I'm traveling back to Cyprus in 2 days and coming back on Jan 14th,  I'll need to rush a few things quite a bit. I'm moving out to a new aparment and was planning to move when I got back but seeing how I'll only have a day before surgery I had to start preparing for the move today. I started packing as soon as I got home from work and didn't have time for anything else this evening. 

Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - [8M]

San Carlos. Started out with Justin and Joe but Justin turned around at the 3 mile mark so we were down to 2 from then on. We were running 7:15-7:20 for the most part, just cruising along comfortably and chatting the whole way. 

Monday, December 15, 2008 - [8M]

Redwood Shores. 

Sunday, December 14, 2008 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan.

Week Recap (7 December 2008 - 13 December 2008) - 28 Miles

Saturday, December 13, 2008 [4M]

Spent the entire day looking for a new apartment, got back home around 6:30PM and squeezed in a short run before going out for dinner. 

Friday, December 12, 2008 [0M]

Long day at work, ended up working until 9:30pm and went out for dinner right after.  

 

Thursday, December 11, 2008 [0M]

I wasn't expecting to find the time to get a run in today. Left work at 5:30 PM and spent my evening at a concert. 

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 [9M]

Foster City. Longest run in quite a while. Felt pretty good for the most part although my legs were feeling it a bit at the end. 

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos.  Met with the group at 6:30 this evening and ran with Joe, Justin and some other who's name I don't recall. We ran to the 3.5 mile mark and back, going out rather casually on the way out and gradually picking it up on the way back. We got down to a good clip for the last mile and a half and it got down to Joe and myself for that part. It was a pretty good run, both because of the company and the run itself. I was feeling a lot more comfortable than my last few runs and was starting to remember what it feels like to enjoy a run. 

Monday, December 8, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out from Club O around 7PM, planning originally to go for the usual 6 mile loop. I was feeling decently at the start and a couple of miles in I decided to go for the full 8 mile loop. Once again I was running without a watch, something I'll probably stick to for a while longer. It helps keeping me running at a comfortable pace without having to know how slow I'm running. After all I'm only running for fun. 

Sunday, December 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing again. 

Saturday, December 6, 2008 [0M]

No running. 

Friday, December 5, 2008 [4M]

Brittan Ave. Almost called it a day without running but I managed to squeeze in a short one before dinner. 

Thursday, December 4, 2008 [0M]

I broke my incredible 3 day running streak, posting another goose egg. My parents flew back from Hawaii today and we ended up going for some shopping this afternoon and the day just  flew by. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Made it 3 in a row with an easy 5 miler after work. I can't really say that running for 3 days straight is an accomplishment but it's something I haven't done in the last 2 months so I'll give myself some credit. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos. I went back to Road Runner for one of the Tuesday night runs after a 2 month break. I ran with Shyamal the entire time, taking it easy and chatting the whole way. I didn't have a watch again so I'm not sure if I was running slower than yesterday but I felt a lot better. Maybe running with some company had something to do with it. 

Monday, December 1, 2008 [6M]

Redwood Shores. Vacations can't last forever and today I had to go back to work. I took a red eye flight last night and went to work without much sleep, which made it pretty rough to be productive, especially if you consider that I had spent my last 10 days in Hawaii. Despite being somewhat tired by the time I got off work I wanted to get a run in. I felt horribly out of shape and I was running pretty slow. It was probably a good thing I was running without a watch. 

Week Recap (23 November 2008 - 29 November 2008) - 0 Miles

I was in Hawaii the entire week and didn't manage to squeeze in any running. I didn't try really and I'm not gonna say that I regret it, even though I felt a bit like a slacker for not running at all for 10 days. I don't get many chances to go on a vacation like this one and it was good not to worry about having to get a run in while trying to see as much of Hawaii as possible. I went on a couple of fairly long hikes, 8 & 9 miles respectively and did quite a bit of climbing on both so that counts at least as some sort of physical activity. 

Sunday, November 30, 2008 [0M]

Last day in Hawaii.

Week Recap (16 November 2008 - 22 November 2008) - 4 Miles

I slacked off quite a bit this week. I started things off with a 28 mile bike ride on Sunday, which included a brutal 2000ft climb up Skyline. The only other activity I managed to squeeze in this week was a slow 4 mile run on Wednesday. My parents came over on Monday so I spent some time touring SF with them. Friday we all flew to Hawaii and did too many things to have time for running. 

Week Recap (9 November 2008 - 15 November 2008) - ~15 Miles

I've fallen quite a bit behind on the updates so I'm only posting a week recap in an attempt to catch up. I don't have much that are worth mentioning anyway. I ran 3 times, 5-6 miles each time and that's pretty much all I did this week. I don't even remember the details of those runs so I'd probably have a hard time filling up a week's worth of posts. I suppose I could write about other every day things but my daily life really isn't that exciting. 

Week Recap (2 November 2008 - 8 November 2008) - 9 Miles

Not much to write about this week, a couple days of running and nothing else that would count as a workout. It's hard to find motivation to cross train when it doesn't seem like I can really benefit from it. By now I'm fairly certain that I'm going for Achilles tendon surgery in January. I have tentatively scheduled surgery on January 21st so now the decision would be whether I would want to opt out of it or not. I've been thinking about it a lot and I can't see any reason to opt out. I'm sure it's not an easy thing to go through and I know the recovery process will be long and frustrating.  I do think, though, that it will be worth it. Realizing that I won't be able to resume training until some time in June or July is somewhat scary but if that means I don't have to deal with my Achilles again I can live with it. What I've been debating about is what to do over the next couple of months.  I'm feeling good enough now to think that I could start running again on a daily basis  but I don't know what I can shoot for given that I'll need to take a very long break in 2 months. I'll be back in Cyprus between mid December to mid January so I don't even need to consider embarassing myself at alumni. I could shoot for competing at cross country nationals in Cyprus but considering the short time frame I don't think it's worth it to put too much focus for that. I definitely missed running over the last month and I want to get back to it as soon as possible but over the next two months there's no point in obsessing much about my training. I'll take things as they come, running when and as long as I feel like. I have some vacation coming up, including 10 days in Hawaii and almost a month in Cyprus so I guess it's not a bad time to just enjoy life. 

Saturday, November 8, 2008 [0M]

Slacked off again. 

Friday, November 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Thursday, November 6, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. It almost feels like I'm getting back to real mileage. My foot still hurts a bit but I think it's at the point where I could keep running through it. I might give a couple more days of rest though. The run itself wasn't too bad, I thought I was running pretty slow but I was just under 7:00 pace so not too bad. 

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 [4M]

Out again for a run today, doing a short out and back on the bay trail in Redwood Shores. 

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 [0M]

Worked from home again today and pretty much spent the entire day watching the election coverage in parallel. 

Monday, November 3, 2008 [0M]

We had a power outage at work this morning so I came back home and worked remotely the rest of the day. I wasn't planning on running and didn't feel like driving back to Oracle to cross train. 

Sunday, November 2, 2008 [0M]

Spent the day in SF. 

Saturday, November 1, 2008 [4M]

I wasn't planning on running today but I couldn't resist getting out in the rain. First couple of miles were slow and not very pleasant but towards the end I even started feeling good. My foot was hurting mostly in the beginning but I didn't feel it much after I warmed up a bit, although I still think I need some more recovery time before I can jump back to building up the mileage. 

Friday, October 31, 2008 [3M]

I went by Club O after work and after debating for a while between running and cross training I opted to go out again for a few miles. After being out for so long it feels like I'm trying to learn how to run again. My form was awkard and I felt out of shape. 

Thursday, October 30, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 [3M]

My foot is still hurting a bit but I decided to ignore reason and go for a run. It was just one of those days when I wanted to run to burn off frustrations and was getting more frustrated because I couldn't run so in the end I said "the hell with it all" and just went out for a short one.  It didn't feel all that great but it was good to get out there again. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 [0M]

Some elliptical, some bike. I don't really remember exactly what I did and for how long but it wasn't much. 

Monday, October 27, 2008 [0M]

I finally went back to Dr Oloff's office today to find out my MRI results. The MRI ruled out the stress fracture but that's all I got as far as good news. The bad news is that the pain is related to the chronic Achilles issue, which was a bit surprising since the pain was not at the usual spot but more on the inside of my foot. The tendon was shown to be irritated, though, and is starting to detach at the point where it meets the heel. There's a lot of fluid accumulated on the sides of the tendon, which is why my foot has been hurting. For the short term, there's not much I can do but give this some more rest. For the long term I have two options: 

1. Do nothing. I could start running again once  I feel better and keep doing whatever I have been doing all along. Whenever the Achilles starts acting up again I err on the conservative side, start the I-squared treatment and hope things get better without having to cut back on my training much. 

2. Have surgery to fix the problem for good. 

Things would be a lot easier if I wasn't running competitively, since I wouldn't really have any reason to go through surgery. I would go about living my life and not worry about this, even if the Achilles was acting up every now and then. If I want to keep running, though, and especially if I want to make another attempt to prepare for a marathon, I think I need a more permanent solution. It's frustrating when I'm doing some serious training, running peak mileage and good workouts, to have everything go to waste because of this one injury. The source of the problem is that I have an elongated heel bone, which irritates the Achilles tendon, and there's basically no other way to fix the defect without surgery. My main concern is that this kind of surgery will require a long recovery period. Few weeks on crutches, lots of time in physical therapy and about 4-6 months before I can get back to running. It's up to me to decide if I want to go through surgery but it's not an easy decision to make. If I were to have surgery it wouldn't until some time in mid-January so I still have some time to think about it. Oh, nothing as far as training today. I was back home early in the afternoon after my appointment and stayed home, completely unmotivated to do anything. 

Sunday, October 26, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. I didn't have the time to fix my bike to go for a ride before going to a concert this afternoon.

Week Recap (19 October 2008 - 25 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Almost 3 weeks without running. Compared to the previous two weeks I did a somewhat better job at cross training this week although I could still do a lot more. I'm having a hard time finding the motivation though. There's only 6 weeks left until CIM and I think I need to accept that I won't be toeing the line for my first marathon on December 7th. I have to wait a couple of more days until I find out what's wrong with my foot but I'm not very optimistic that I can get back to running soon. I tried a few times to jog a few steps and my foot was still hurting quite a bit so regardless of the diagnosis I I still need more time off. Even if I could start running again tomorrow and jump back to hundred mile weeks right away, I would still not have enough time to be ready for a marathon in 6 weeks.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 [0M]

No cross training today unless I can counting paddling on a surf board counts as cross training. I took  my first shot at surfing this morning and spend some time in the ocean, battling some pretty big waves. I didn't have much success since the waves were too big for a beginner but maybe I did get a bit of an upper body workout. 

Friday, October 24, 2008 [0M]

After another bike attempt gone wrong I can only say that my bike must hate me. I got out of Club O just after 5 and I thought I'd have enough time to put a couple of hours on the bike before it got dark. I headed south towards Bair island and got a flat tire about 4.5 miles out. I had a spare tube this time so I made the switch but as I was pumping it up I broke the air valve and was left with no backup. I thought about walking back at first but I figured I'd rather take my chances riding a bike with a flat tire instead of walking 4.5 miles wearing bike shoes. Running is so much simpler. 

Thursday, October 23, 2008 [0M]

Elliptical + stationary bike. Pretty short workout today. My right calf was feeling sore after yesterday's session on the elliptical, somewhat remeniscent of the last time I pulled my calf on the elliptical. I tried using the elliptical again but got off after a few minutes since my calf was making things somewhat uncomfortable. I got on a stationary bike for about 20 minutes but I could still feel the calf a bit and got fed up so I called it a day. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 [0M]

30 minutes on the elliptical + ~15 minutes of swimming. I would have stayed on the elliptical for a while longer but my foot was hurting a bit so I opted to head in the pool instead. I reminded myself that I pretty much suck at swimming and couldn't stand it for too long. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 [0M]

9 miles of biking. I was planning to go on a longer bike ride but I couldn't get out of work until 6:30PM . I started from Club O and biked along the Bay trail to San Mateo bridge. I decided to turn back as it was starting to get dark and I don't have any lights on my bike. I slowed down a lot on the way back as it got pretty dark by the end and I didn't want to crash on anyone. 

Monday, October 20, 2008 [0M]

I had an MRI this morning, although I won't get the results until next Monday. No workout today as I opted to go out for dinner after work.  

Sunday, October 19, 2008 [0M]

28 mile bike ride. I bought a couple more tubes today so I could fix the flat I got yesterday and have a spare one for today's ride. I drove over to Canada Rd at 5PM and headed south towards Woodside.  I continued on Woodside Rd then picked up Portolla Rd and made the turn once I got to Alpine Rd. Pretty good ride, I was moving at a good clip the whole time and did a decent job working the hills. I think I'm starting to get a bit better at this biking thing although I'm sure I'm not even close to being a competitive biker. Not that I would ever consider picking it up as sport. 

Week Recap (12 October 2008 - 18 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Pretty much just a horrible week for many different reasons. No running obviously since my foot is still hurting but not much of anything else either. This turned out to be my busiest week ever at work and I ended working late too many nights and not having time to train. Even if I wasn't hurt it's very likely that my training would have taken a hit. Of course I would have been a lot more motivated to squeeze in a run on some of those long days but I just can't do the same when it comes to cross training.  

Saturday, October 18, 2008 [0M]

~29 mile bike ride. I finally managed to do something that counts as a running alternative. I started from home, headed to Oracle, picked up the bay trail to Foster City and continued all the way to the airport. Things were pretty smooth on the way out and I made the turn after about 55 minutes. The way back was far from smooth though. I didn't even go a mile after making the turn and I got a flat tire. I didn't have a spare since I used my last one last night and didn't buy another one before today's ride. I pumped the tire up and managed to continue for about 6 more miles without major issues by making a couple more stops along the way. I was thinking that I would manage to get back with just a few more stops but somewhere along the way I hit a bump and completely ruined the tube. I couldn't get any air in it so I ended up riding for about 7 miles with a flat tire. Probably not good for my bike but I don't know what else I could have done. Inevitably that last part was really slow and wouldn't really count as a workout. It's just my luck these days, even my bike is giving me a hard time. It's not enough that I can't run. 

Friday, October 17, 2008 [0M]

I left work as soon as I could today and was home some time after 1PM. After only getting about 3 hours of sleep over the last 2 days I needed to start catching up and took about a 4 hour nap. I wasn't in the mood for working out but at least I fixed my bike so hopefully I'll manage to go for a ride tomorrow. 

Thursday, October 16, 2008 [0M]

I finally had my appointment with Dr Oloff today but I didn't really get much out of it. I had an X-ray which didn't show anything and I'm having an MRI on Monday to check if I have a stress fracture. No time for a workout today, I was up all night in preparation for tomorrow's demo. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 [0M]

Today brought back some memories of MIT. It wasn't the good kind of memories and had nothing to do with running. We have a big demo on Friday and have been putting some long hours lately. Today I wound up working from 10:30 AM until 4:30AM, pretty much without a break. I'll be glad when this week is over. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 [0M]

I made it to San Carlos for the Tuesday night run even though I wasn't planning on running. I headed over to the trail with Becca and walked for about 45 minutes. I wouldn't call this a workout but it's better than what I've been doing lately. 

Monday, October 13, 2008 [0M]

Left work somewhat late and just headed home. I know I should be doing a better job at cross training but I can't help it. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008 [0M]

I wanted to go for a bike ride today but I needed to get a new tube to replace a flat and I ended up running a bunch of other errands and not finding time for it. I even had to get to had to go to work late in the afternoon and didn't get back home until 9PM, by which time it was too late to do anything.

Saturday, October 11, 2008 [2M]

I gave running a shot today but the outcome wasn't good. My foot has been feeling better, by which I mean I'm no longer limping while walking, but running turned out to be rather painful. I was hurting from the start but was hoping it would get better once I warmed up a bit. That didn't seem to happen and after going out for about a mile I decided it was best to head back. I'm staring to fear that this could be a stress fracture. Not much I can do but take more time off. 

Week Recap (5 October 2008 - 11 October 2008) - 20 Miles

My training took a serious blow this week and the future looks glim. I started out the week well by running a half marathon PR on Sunday but was  incapacitated for the rest of the week. The first few days after the race my foot was hurting bad and I had trouble walking around. Things got better later on but still not good enough to run, as proven by my unsuccesful attempt to return to running on Saturday. Looks like the road to recovery might be a long one. 

Friday, October 10, 2008 [0M]

Nothing again. No excuse really, I just can't find the motivation to cross train. 

Thursday, October 9, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. Long day at work, I wound up working until 8:30 PM and I had to get on a conference call an hour later so not much time to get any kind of workout in. It's always harder to squeeze in a cross training session on a busy day. 

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 [0M]

~20 minutes on the elliptical. I headed over to Club O after work and made an attempt to get some cross training in. It's always hard to get back to cross training and I had a hard time staying on for long. I was feeling fed up only 10 minutes in and forced myself to keep going a little over 10 more before finally giving up. I spent some time stretching and doing some core work before calling it a day. 

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. Still hurting quite a bit and not feeling motivated to cross train. 

Monday, October 6, 2008 [0M]

My foot started hurting a couple of hours after yesterday's race and this morning it was in much worse shape. I had trouble putting much weight on it all day and knew right away that running would be out of question. I'm actually worried that I might need more than a few days off for this to get better. I called to schedule an appointment with Dr Oloff but I couldn't get one until next Thursday so I'll have to wait another 10 days to get a diagnosis. I can only hope that things get better by then, in which case the appointment might be pointless, otherwise I might be facing a big setback. 

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon

 1:10:39.  

Splits:  5:13, 10:35 (5:22), 15:55 (5:20), 21:24 (5:29), 26:44 (5:20), 32:20 (5:36), 37:34 (5:14), 43:00 (5:26), 48:30 (5:30), 53:57 (5:27), 59:17 (5:20), 1:04:42 (5:25)

My goal heading into this race was to break 1:10, which comes out to 5:20 pace. The course is as flat as it gets so I was expecting it to be fast. My only concern was the foot injury that I've been battling for the last few days and I wasn't sure if I'll be able to make it through the race. I was hurting a bit on the warm-up but I was hoping that it wouldn't be an issue once the race started. I didn't get to the start line until 5 minutes before the race, since I couldn't run any strides in my corral, so I couldn't get on the front line. I managed to get out well, though, and quickly joined the elite women pack. It felt like the pace wasn't as fast as I wanted so I moved out on my own and tried to catch up on a group of guys ahead. That didn't really work out, though, as they were moving faster so for the first mile I was running all by myself. In retrospect I should have stayed with the women as they came through close to 5:20 while I was a bit on the fast side. Somewhere in the second mile the pack, with the top women and a couple of other guys, caught up and I settled in. I was running at the front of the group and was basically setting the pace. I probably got some good TV coverage as there was a crew following the women closely. The only annoying thing was that the crowd kept yelling "go ladies", which felt somewhat embarassing. I wasn't feeling that great for the first 3 miles of the race, in part because my foot was hurting, and I was even considering dropping out. Pretty much like my last few workouts it took a while to find my rhythm but after the 3rd mile I got into the groove and even stopped noticing any foot pain. Not much changed until mile 6, I was still leading the pack, running fairly even, coming through the 5K in 16:39 and the 10K in 33:20. It didn't feel like we slowed down much on the 6th mile but we surprisingly split a 5:36. It's possible that the mile mark was slightly off since the 7th mile was a 5:14 and I didn't feel like I sped up. At the time I thought that I was slowing down as I dropped off the pack but I guess the pack might have picked things up. The first woman ended up finishing at 1:10:03, which was right where I wanted to be, but at that point my legs were already feeling it a bit and I knew I was only about halfway through so I didn't stick with it like I should. At least I didn't fall apart, though, and kept people in front of me in sight. I managed to move up a few places after mile 10 but that was mostly because other people were fading while I was maintaining my pace. Aerobically I wasn't feeling that tired but my legs were beat and I couldn't move any faster. It felt like I was moving faster towards the end but the times seem to disagree. I was spent at the end and had a hard time getting a decent cool-down in. I wasn't as fast as I wanted today but I still ran a PR so I can't be too disappointed. The last few days have been rather rough with my foot hurting and I'm just glad that I made it through the race and managed to come close to my goal. 

Sunday, October 5, 2008 [18M]

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon, 1:10:39. I made it over to San Jose at 7AM, chilled for a few minutes and jogged towards the start line trying to find a bathroom. The line was pretty long and I didn't get out until 7:25, so I only had about 35 minutes until the start of the race. I ran back to the car, switched to my Hyperspeeds and headed back towards the start. I got into my corral with 15 minutes to go and stretched for a while then got out again since there was no room there for some strides. I made it back with 5 minutes to go and had to stand there until the start of the race. My foot was hurting a bit in the warm-up but I was hoping I wouldn't notice it once the gun went off. I was in the first coral, behind the elites, who were given a 5 meter gap for some reason. I got out and made my way towards the elite women front pack but got a bit antsy, thinking we were running slow and moved up on my own. My goal was to run 5:20 pace but I was a bit fast coming through the first mile in 5:13. The elite women caught up some time in the second mile and I stayed in that pack for the next 5-6 miles. I dropped off in the 7th mile and had a small mental lapse but I managed to recover quickly and get back on pace. My legs were feeling it in the last 4-5 miles but I managed to hold on reasonably and finish not too far off my goal. I was hoping to break 1:10 but this is still a PR so I can't really complain about it. I was pretty spent at the end and jogged some slow miles for cool-down, had some food and jogged back to the car. I got into an ice bath once I got home and spent the rest of the day resting on my couch.