Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon

A couple of months ago I ran the Kaiser half and started writing a race recap afterwards but somehow managed not to save most of it. I didn't feel like writing it again but I figured I should at least write a shorter version. The very short version is that I ended up running a rather painful 1:19:50, averaging ~5:50 pace for the first 7 miles before slowing down significantly for the last few miles. Here are my splits:
5:48, 11:34(5:46), 17:36(6:02), 23:37(6:01), 29:33(5:56), 35:11(5:38), 40:52(5:41), 46:54(6:02), 53:05(6:11), 59:36(6:30), 65:59(6:23), 1:12:39(6:40),1:19:50(7:11 for the last 1.1 mile)

Before getting into some more details about the race I should I guess mention what I've been up to since the last time I showed up signs of life on this blog. Last September, as I was getting ready for Alumni XC, I was starting to get a little more consistent in my training and I was hoping I would carry on and increase my volume even more afterwards. Unfortunately that hasn't happened and I was actually less consistent over the last few months. I've been good about running on weekends and in general I would run 8-10 miles on Saturday and follow that with a 13-16 mile long run on Sunday. Weekdays though were pretty much hit or miss and most weeks I would only manage to get out the door once or twice more. So I probably averaged something around 30-35 miles per week and wasn't running any workouts either.

A few weeks before Kaiser I started thinking that I needed something to motivate me and that's why I decided to sign up for the half. I knew I wasn't really in shape to run a half and I wasn't expecting much but thought it would be good to get in a race again, even if I would run it as a workout. When I signed up I was thinking that I'd probably start out running 6:30s and try to finish up the last few miles at a tempo effort. Two weeks before the half I ran my first workout since September and ran 3200-1600-4x800 in 11:16, 5:15, 2:32, 2:32, 2:31, 2:31. The following week I ran 5x1600 in 5:21, 5:21, 5:21, 5:25, 5:16. I was definitely surprised as I was running considerably faster than my last workouts without really having trained much in between.

After those workouts I wasn't sure what to shoot for and thought it would be best to start out somewhat conservatively, somewhere around 6:00, and push the last half if I felt good. That plan kind of went out the window once the race started and the adrenaline rush I got from racing again made the first couple of miles a little faster than what I wanted. I was feeling rather comfortable though so I just went with it. I settled a bit in miles 3-5 but got faster again on miles 6-7, thanks in part to a downhill section through the park. I was still feeling pretty good at mile 7 but soon things changed once we turned along Ocean beach. While I was still feeling fine aerobically, my legs started having trouble handling the pounding and soon I was in survival mode instead of racing. I struggled to keep myself moving and got passed by quite a few people, which was a bit disheartening, but at that point I wasn't thinking about racing and only wanted to get myself to the finish. I somehow managed to get to the finish line without completely falling apart but was pretty much wiped out. I walked straight to my car afterwards and headed home without doing any stretching or cool-down. It was definitely one of the most painful races I've ever run.

I had mixed feelings after the race but after thinking about it for a while I wound up feeling fairly good about it. I know it's hard to get excited about running almost 10 minutes slower than my PR but it's not too bad considering how much I've been running. In September I only managed to average just under 6:00 for 5 miles and now I was just over 6:00 for 13. I know the comparison between cross country and the roads is not exactly fair but still, that's quite an improvement in my book. So, a step in the right direction I suppose.

Reviving the blog

It's time to bring this blog back to life. I think the timing is good, right after competing at the Alumni cross country meet this past weekend, my my first race in 23 months. I'll follow up with a race report in another post but first there's some gaps I need to fill in.

First of all, the big question; where are am I at at the moment? The short answer; in good enough shape to run a 29:28 at Franklin Park. Training-wise I've been running around 45-50 miles for the past few weeks and even started running some track workouts about a month ago. The important thing is that the Achilles is feeling good but I'm still being a bit cautious and intensionally only running 5 days a week to give my foot some recovery time.

I know it seems like my recovery process has been pretty slow, especially if you consider that in my last post, which was over a year ago, I was raving about how I was starting to feel like a runner again. Back then I was thinking that it wouldn't be long before I'd be able to get back to some solid training so 20 months after the surgery it's obvious that things haven't exactly progressed as I was hoping to. I could definitely try to analyze everything that happened during all this time but that might take a while so I'll just try to sum things up in a hopefully not too long way.

Back in June 09 I was very happy with my training. I was riding 120-130 miles a week on my bike, even doing a couple of 60+ mile rides. In addition to that I was running 1-2 miles, 2-3 times a week, I was going for physical therapy 2 times a week and even had the occasional session on the elliptical. In general I was very motivated, feeling like I was in pretty good shape and excited about getting back to regular running.

Things took a different after my summer vacation in Cyprus. I didn't really do much for 3 weeks, which was pretty much what I was expecting as I wanted to enjoy my vacation and wasn't really in a position to worry about losing fitness. My summer laziness alone shouldn't have been a big deal but what got me into trouble was that I got a little impatient as soon as I returned to the Bay area. I had been very patient up to that point but suddenly I was really anxious to get back to running and pushed myself more than I should have. I was starting to feel good and thought I could both start running longer and faster at the same time, which I did without much trouble at first. Unfortunately my legs, particularly the calves, were still not strong enough and the faster pace put too much stress on the Achilles. One thing I started regretting about my laziness in Cyprus is that I neglected the stretching and strengthening exercises which I had been so diligently doing in physical therapy over the previous months. In retrospect that could have been one of the reasons of my setback as I lost some strength and flexibility and probably paid for it when I tried to run faster.

With the Achilles flaring up again I had no option but to take a break from running and shift my focus towards increasing my strength and flexibility. It was a frustrating thing to do as it felt like I was going back to where I was 4 months earlier. The frustration was followed by a significant decrease in my motivation levels. I did a decent job with my strengthening program and did as much walking/jogging as I had planned but besides that I didn't feel motivated at all to do any additional cross training. I could barely get myself to stay on the elliptical for more than half an hour and didn't manage to get any good bike rides either. Eventually I felt that I was so out of shape that I didn't see any reason to cross train. Two or three months later I slowly started getting back to running but I took things really easy this time, taking my time to progress from jogging at 10min pace to something I could actually call running.

It wasn't until late last year / beginning of this year that I was able to get back to putting in some decent runs. It wasn't exactly smooth sailing from then on but at least things were heading in the right direction. I was gradually able to handle longer runs but I couldn't get myself into a consistent training regiment. In part that was because I was being cautious and didn't want to ramp up mileage quickly. Also on a few occasions the Achilles would feel tight at the end of a run and I would give it some time off to make sure I wouldn't have another setback. These definitely sound like legitimate excuses but I can't say that I was giving this comeback my 100%. As much as I hate to say it I have to admit that at some point running was no longer my top priority. When you are only trying to run 3 or 4 times a week it doesn't seem like a big deal to skip a run and when you are not exactly in shape and don't have any real goals it's easy to let other things come in the way of running. It was kind of a weird situation overall and it took me a while to bounce out of it.

I can't really isolate a single turning point but I did get more consistent eventually, about 2 months ago. I guess the alumni meet gave me some motivation and seeing how Schmeck was falling behind in his training I started thinking I might have a shot at winning our bet. If it weren't for the alumni meet I would have probably waited a bit longer before starting track workouts and definitely wouldn't consider racing for a while longer. I think it helped though to start doing some faster stuff as I finally started feeling like I was getting more fit. In the end time kind of run out and Schmeck managed to come on top but I have to say I'm very pleased with the progress I made over the last couple of months.

That was kind of a long summary I admit. The last question I guess would be, what's next? Well, I haven't exactly figured that out yet. The important thing right now is to remain consistent and keep putting in more miles. I still need some time to get my base fitness back up to a good level so I probably won't get into any more races any time soon. We'll see, I'm playing things by ear for now. At least for the first time in quite a while, I'm being optimistic and getting excited about the future.

Once again, a runner

A monumental day! I think I can now call myself a runner again. Technically I have been "running" for the past 2 weeks but today I crossed the line from jogging to actual running. I had started doing some fast walking on the treadmill almost a month ago, gradually adding some intervals of light jogging until I managed to jog my first continuous mile 2 weeks ago. My jogging pace was only marginally faster than walking, though, I was walking at 12:30 - 13:00 pace and started jogging at just under 12:00 pace. For the past 2 weeks I have been jogging a mile every other day and gradually increased the pace but didn't really get much faster than 11:00 pace. I didn't have any issues with the Achilles but trying to get my legs moving again felt a bit awkward at first. Not surprising I guess after not having run a step in 4.5 months and still lacking strength in my legs. There was steady progress of course but no dramatic changes from one day to the next. The last few days I have been feeling stronger but I was still cautious and didn't try pushing myself much. Well, today I thought it was time to take a leap to the next level. It was a pretty good day overall, I managed to get myself out of bed early enough to ride my bike to work and had a really good ride on the way back. I'm either getting stronger or finally started figuring out how to climb hills on my bike as I was doing a really good job at it. I ended up back home around 8PM, finishing off a total of 32 miles on the bike, and despite having worked my quads quite a bit I was pumped about going for a run. As soon as I got home I switched out of my biking and into my running clothes and headed down to the treadmill for the usual mile. So far I had been doing some walking for a few minutes before starting my jog but this time I jumped right into it. I started at slightly faster than 10:00 pace for maybe a minute then brought it down to about 8:30. I kept it steady for a while and dropped down in the low 8s for the last couple of minutes. I felt like I could easily go faster but I thought it would be smarter not to get carried away. My legs are getting stronger and cardiovascularly I think I managed to keep myself in good shape. Sure, I still have ways to go but for the first time since the surgery I got a glimpse of how it feels to be running again. And what a great feeling that is. Never take that for granted.

4 Months

4 months have come and gone since the surgery and I'm staring to feel like my return to running is fast approaching. I know of course that I still have ways to go before I can get back to a regular running routine so perhaps I shouldn't be getting too far ahead of myself but it's good at least that I'm almost ready to take the next step. I met with Dr Oloff this week and he was happy with my progress, everything seems to be going according to schedule. I've been cleared to start doing some fast walking and gradually progress as tolerated to some light jogging. I got on the treadmill once this past week and walked a mile, starting at 20 minute pace and progressing down to about 13 min pace. A few times I tried to jog a couple of steps, just to see how it felt, and the result was rather encouraging. I didn't feel any pain but trying to run did feel a little awkward, which shouldn't be surprising I guess. I think my Achilles could tolerate some light running right now but I first need to build some more strength in my left leg, especially in the calf. I'm still not able to fully do a single leg calf raise on my left foot and I need to be strong enough to push myself off the ground before I can start running. Hopefully I'll get close enough by the end of this week but I'm definitely not gonna rush into it. I've waited long enough so far and I don't mind waiting a few more weeks to ensure that I don't have any setbacks. After all it's not like I'm gonna jump into running right away. I'll probably start with jogging a mile every other day and gradually build up the mileage and intensity. I'll continue to cross train until I get to the point where I'm running sufficient mileage, which of course won't be happening any time soon.

Speaking of cross training, this past week has been pretty solid. I started the week with a 29 mile bike ride on Sunday, got on the elliptical Monday-Tuesday and rode my bike to work the last 3 days of the week. Saturday was off as planned. In total I biked about 130 miles and spent a couple of hours on the elliptical. Here's the summary:

Sunday - 5/17
29 mile bike ride

Monday - 5/18
1:30 on elliptical

Tuesday - 5/19
Physical therapy
30:00 elliptical
1 mile fast walking, some jogging


Wednesday - 5/20
Biked to work
~32 miles


Thursday - 5/21
Biked to work in the morning, biked to PJCC for physical therapy, biked back to work and home in the afternoon. ~38 miles

Friday - 5/22
Biked to work
~32 miles

Saturday - 5/23
Off

Back on the open road

I'm not quite ready to start running again but last Sunday I stepped outside for my first post-surgery bike ride on the road. It was pretty exciting to be doing something outdoors again. It's not really the same as running but at least time flies by a lot more quickly when there's a change of scenery, making it easier to get a longer workout. I was a bit concerned at first about riding outdoors but I didn't have any trouble with it. The riding was actually smoother since with the clip on shoes my feet were not jostling around like on the stationary bike. I didn't have to make any sudden stops and opted to stay on flat ground so I didn't really do anything that would put too much stress on the Achilles. I rode 18-19 miles on my first ride last Sunday and rode once more on Tuesday, making it to work on my bike, about 32 miles round trip. The only drawback of starting to ride outside is that it made cross training more boring and I had to force myself a couple of times to stay on the elliptical for long enough. It ended up being a good week though, the best ever since the surgery. I spent about 3.5 hours on the bike and almost 4.5 on the elliptical in 6 days, with Saturday being a planned day off. Timewise that's about the same as running a 70 mile week which is not too shabby. If you even consider that I've been going for physical therapy 3 times a week and on those days I usually end up spending about 3 hours in the gym, plus I do a lot more stretching and strengthening exercises on a daily basis, it all adds up to a fair amount of time spent in training and rehab. One of the goals I had set for this recovery period was to go diligently through the rehab and do a decent amount of cross training and I think I'm easily meeting if not exceeding my expectations. For someone who hasn't run a step in almost 4 months I actually feel that I'm in decent shape. I know it's gonna be a while before my legs can handle a decent running volume but in the meantime I think I'm doing a good job at keeping the cardiovascular system functional.

Here's a recap of what I've done since the last update:

Thursday - 4/23
Bike 40 min

Friday - 4/24
Physical Therapy
Bike 35 min

Saturday - 4/25
Day off

Sunday - 4/26
Bike 25 min

Monday - 4/27
Elliptical 30 min
Bike 30min

Tuesday - 4/28
Bike 30 min
Elliptical 30 min

Wednesday - 4/29
Swimming 45 min

Thursday - 4/30
Elliptical 1h 30min

Friday - 5/1
Bike 1h

Saturday - 5/2
Day off

Sunday - 5/3
Day off

Monday - 5/4
Physical Therapy
Bike 15min
Elliptical 35 min

Tuesday - 5/5
Elliptical 1h

Wednesday - 5/6
Physical therapy
Bike 45 min

Thursday - 5/7
Bike 20 min
Elliptical 1h

Friday - 5/8
Physical therapy
Elliptical 1h

Saturday 5/9
Day off

Sunday 5/10
Bike ~19 miles, 1:30

Monday - 5/11
Physical therapy
1h 20min elliptical

Tuesday - 5/12
AM: Bike to work, 17 miles, 1:09:45
PM: Bike from work, ~ 14.7 miles, ~55 min


Wednesday - 5/13
Elliptical 30min

Thursday - 5/14
Elliptical 1h

Friday - 5/15
Elliptical 1h 30min

Saturday - 5/16
Day off

Some numbers

I thought about putting all the details of the workouts I've done over the past few weeks in my last post but I figured it was worth breaking into a different one. No interesting stories here, I guess this is mostly for my benefit to keep track of what I've been doing and help me stay motivated. I realize that the times I had for my swimming workouts might not be very meaningful (they don't make much sense to me either) but I put them here so I can see how much I've been improving.

Sunday 3/29
Swimming
150 warm-up
800, 600

Monday 3/30
Swimming
150 warm-up
5x200
4:01, 4:03, 4:25, 4:15, 4:19

Tuesday 3/31
Strengthening and core work at home.

Wednesday 4/1
Swimming
2x1000
22:57, 23:50

Thursday 4/2
Lifting

Friday 4/3
Swimming
150 warm-up
800-600-400-200
17:35, 13:33, 9:08, 4:14

Saturday 4/4
Nothing

Sunday 4/5
Swimming
3000
65:12
1K splits: 21:21, 43:18 (21:57), 65:12 (21:54)

Monday 4/6
Nothing as far as I can remember. Probably worked out a bit on my fitness ball.

Tuesday 4/7
Swimming
300 warm-up
10x200

Wednesday 4/8
First day of physical therapy at MORE. Worked with the trainers for about an hour then swam for about 20 min.

Thursday 4/9
Swimming
1000-800
20:25, 16:49

Friday 4/10
Physical therapy

Saturday - 4/11
Nothing

Sunday - 4/12
Nothing

Monday 4/13
Physical therapy
10 minutes on bike. First time on a bike so I was pretty cautious.
Swimming
2000
1K splits: 18:31, 19:01


Tuesday 4/14
Bike
15 min

Wednesday 4/15
Physical Therapy
Bike
20 min

Thursday - 4/16
Swimming
25 minutes


Friday - 4/17
Physical Therapy
Lifting
Achilles felt a bit sore so I opted out of the bike or swimming.


Saturday - 4/18
Nothing

Sunday - 4/19
Nothing

Monday - 4/20
Physical Therapy
Bike
30 minutes.

Tuesday - 4/21
Bike
40 minutes

Wednesday - 4/22
AM
Physical Therapy
Bike 30 min

PM
Swim 30 min

A long overdue update

It's been a while since the last post so an update was long overdue. The last few weeks have been rather eventful but I've had little time to write about it. My recovery has been going well, it sure is a long road but things are progressing well.
Over the last 3 weeks I gradually eased out of the walking boot and today was the first day I didn't wear at all. Walking without the boot felt awkward at first and for the first few days I was walking pretty slow, even slower than the first days on crutches. The lack of flexibility in my Achilles and strength in my left calf were the main limiting factors. Things progressively got better and by now I can almost walk like normal. My Achilles still gets a little stiff if I'm sitting down for a long time but after taking a few steps it loosens up and I can walk without a noticeable limp. I have to attribute the improvement to a large extend to the physical therapy sessions which I started a couple of weeks ago. I have 3 physical therapy sessions a week and I'm doing a lot of strengthening exercises on a daily basis so I've been spending a lot of time in rehab. I haven't been swimming as much mostly because between having some busy weeks at work and spending a lot of time in physical therapy, I didn't have the time for it. On the plus side, I started working out on the stationary bike so I can now have some variety in my cross training and the option of a workout which relates more to running. Overall I'm happy with the progress I made so far and I can only hope that my condition will continue to improve at the same rate. The most optimistic estimates put me back in my running shoes in about a month, which is starting to seem so close. It's hard to believe that it's been 3 months already since the surgery.

Wishing I could run

It's been 9 weeks since my surgery and until the last couple of days I made it through without letting the fact that I can't run get me down. Perhaps that wasn't the hardest thing to do while I was on crutches since running is not the first thing on your mind when you can't even walk. Even after I started walking though, I managed to keep a positive attitude and think of the bigger picture. Any other time I was injured in the past I couldn't get out of my head that as long as I was sidelined I was losing fitness day by day. The most frustrating thing is that there was usually a lot of uncertainty on the period of time I'd need to sit out and that can drive you crazy when you are eager to get back to running. My current situation is somewhat better in that respect since I have a better idea of what the recovery time frame is. This will be my longest break from running ever but knowing that ahead of time at least allowed me to prepare mentally and so far I hadn't though about running much. On Friday evening, though, I went to watch the Stanford invitational and started feeling the need to run again. As I'm getting close to the track I see lots of people running and getting ready for their races, meanwhile the radio starts playing Tom Petty's "Running down a dream", and I can't help but wish I could be racing myself. It hasn't helped that the last couple of days the weather has been sunny and in the 70s (I don't mean to make the Boston people jealous), the kind of weather that makes you hate yourself if you are not outside. Anyway, writing more about this won't help either so I'll move on to what I've been doing this past week...

It was a rather hectic week at work so I didn't do that much. I swam on Tuesday, extending my longest swim to 1500m (it's possible that this is 1500y as I'm not sure if the pool at Club O is 25m or 25y long). On Wednesday I didn't feel like swimming when I got to Club O and thought I'd lift instead. After lifting, though, I decided to go for a swim after all and did a short workout, doing a 150 warm-up, then swimming 200, 150, 100, 50 as fast as I could and finishing off with 100 cool-down. I haven't lifted in a long time but still managed to bench 3 sets of 6 repeats with plates although I was pretty sore the next few days. I didn't do much on any other day of the week as I wound up working late and with the pool closing at 9:30PM I didn't have time for a swim. Next week I'm taking the boot off and hopefully I'll be able to start doing some biking (on the stationary bike at least). I'm definitely more comfortable with swimming now but it would be good to get some cross training variety.

Back on my feet!

Last Tuesday, 54 days after my surgery, I took my first steps without crutches. I doubt there will be a bigger milestone than this in my recovery process. Sure, I still look forward to walking without the boot, getting on the bike and ultimately starting to run again, but nothing is as important as the ability to walk. There are some fundamental things that we take for granted and we can only appreciate after spending some time without them. It will take some more time of course to get back to walking normally but at least I now have my hands free and I can carry stuff, which makes a huge difference. My walking abilities are not too bad actually, I was pretty slow the first day I was back on my feet but I'm walking more comfortably now and I'm mostly limited by the clunky boot on my foot. A little over a week and I'll be back in my own shoes. Now onto the past week... I went swimming on 4 days and swam more each time compared to the previous week's sessions. Wednesday was my best day, swimming almost a mile in total and breaking my longest interval record with 1K interval. I swam that 1K in just over 26 minutes, which I'm guessing puts me in the slow jogger category in equivalent running terms but if you consider that I could barely swim 100m-200m without a break when I started I've definitely come a long way. I was hoping to put in a couple more swims like that later in the week but I came back home from work early on Thursday, feeling a bit sick and was still a bit under the weather on Friday so I took 2 days of complete rest. I went back for a swim on Saturday morning but was a bit lazy and only stayed in for half an hour. Still a good week overall, I couldn't expect to be doing much more at this point.

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.