Lately everyone in the family has been training. I've been running more and my knee seems to be holding up. My wife and her running partners are continuing with her routine. My daughter has rediscovered some of the joy of running while cross training during the swimming off season. And my son has been training with his middle school cross country team.
So what happens? As soon as I am out of town for a business trip the rest of the family decide to go racing. They found a local race with the choice of a 5k and a 10k, and the kids lined up friends to run with. My daughter and her friend did the 10k, with everyone else in the 5k. I wasn't there, but wish I had been. My daughter and her friend ran together until close to the end and went 1-2 in their age group. My wife set a 50 second PR and placed 2nd in her age group. Then to top things off, my 12 year old son went 20:49, a 2 minute PR, 1st in his age group, and 5th OVERALL!
I'm really bummed that I wasn't there, but really proud of my clan for getting up early on a Saturday morning, going out and getting after it.
Artist for Song in Title: Level 42
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
At Least We Tried
Between all of this years travels (both business and family), track meets, baseball games, and wet weather I haven't been on my bike a lot, much less gone on a group ride. That's been pretty disappointing since Will's swim schedule lined up perfectly to remove any conflicts from that angle. Finally last week we got the chance to get out. I have to admit I was a little nervous. With the little of riding I have done, I was worried about my ability to stay with the group for 26 miles and with Will having ridden even less, I was more concerned with him. Last year he struggled to find his form on the shorter, slower ride and the first ride we did together a couple weeks ago showed some of the same signs. I had hope because our most recent ride left him strong and ready for more, not to mention how he dusted me on the hills. I think he may have been a little nervous as well.
We showed up at the ride with plenty of time to get a parking space, which isn't always easy with 200+ showing up for this ride each week, and found our place in the staging area. As we pulled out, I became less nervous about Will as he was riding strong toward the front of the group. We cruised along well for the first 5 miles before coming to a fairly busy cross street. We were slowing in prep for the intersection, but the leaders were late in calling for a stop. Will moved to the right to avoid hitting the rider in front of him, who unfortunately did the same. Long story short, they made contact and Will hit the pavement. Luckily not too bad; some skin off his knee, a bloody elbow, ripped shorts (OK, he needed new ones anyway), pretty scraped up hip (ouch!), and messed up bar tape (crap!). He was sore for a few days, but we got everything squared away and he raced and won our local Kids Tri for Kids triathlon on Monday.
This week we were back to the group ride for another try. I still had the same nerves as last week but with an additional concern of riding in the group. The weather threatened a little bit, and we did get drizzled on a little for the last 5 miles of the ride, but everything was a success! Both Will and I had a great ride, and while we didn't spend the entire ride side by side, we didn't make sure that we were near each other after intersections and did spend much of the ride together. Nerves are gone, Will has a new max ride distance and is in good form. We'll still take it a little easy for the first 1/2 of the ride, but I can see us potentially moving up to the next group before the summer is over.
Artist for Song in Title: Moby
We showed up at the ride with plenty of time to get a parking space, which isn't always easy with 200+ showing up for this ride each week, and found our place in the staging area. As we pulled out, I became less nervous about Will as he was riding strong toward the front of the group. We cruised along well for the first 5 miles before coming to a fairly busy cross street. We were slowing in prep for the intersection, but the leaders were late in calling for a stop. Will moved to the right to avoid hitting the rider in front of him, who unfortunately did the same. Long story short, they made contact and Will hit the pavement. Luckily not too bad; some skin off his knee, a bloody elbow, ripped shorts (OK, he needed new ones anyway), pretty scraped up hip (ouch!), and messed up bar tape (crap!). He was sore for a few days, but we got everything squared away and he raced and won our local Kids Tri for Kids triathlon on Monday.
This week we were back to the group ride for another try. I still had the same nerves as last week but with an additional concern of riding in the group. The weather threatened a little bit, and we did get drizzled on a little for the last 5 miles of the ride, but everything was a success! Both Will and I had a great ride, and while we didn't spend the entire ride side by side, we didn't make sure that we were near each other after intersections and did spend much of the ride together. Nerves are gone, Will has a new max ride distance and is in good form. We'll still take it a little easy for the first 1/2 of the ride, but I can see us potentially moving up to the next group before the summer is over.
Artist for Song in Title: Moby
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror
Note: This post was drafted this while I was travelling 5 weeks ago.
My blogging continues to mirror my activity. Sporadic. After returning from my late March/early April travels, the weather improved and I was feeling good so I hit the roads...probably more than I should have. By the last week of April I had logged a 20 mile week and was en-route to another when I noticed a limp as I walked from the parking lot to my office in the morning. My knee had been bothering some throughout the month, but the limp was finally the sign that I needed to react. I promised myself at the beginning of the year that would listen to my body, so it was time to fulfill that promise.
Did I do the right thing? Yes and No. Yes; I listened to my body and stopped. No; for a week I did NOTHING! After that I got back with the program, and did something. Not running, but something. I made it a point to get out on my road bike. I've been feeling good and am trying to slowly build up the length of my rides.
Eventually by mid-May I was able to do a few short runs, without irritating my knee so I was excited and ready to go...just in time to leave on another international business trip. I usually don't mind running in the heat, so maybe it is just a seasonal difference, but the Malaysian heat and humidity with afternoon rain storms combined with the inner city location where I'm staying have kept me from the roads. At least the extreme jet lag has left me with time each morning to practice some Yoga sequences. I really did want to do a short run just to say I had run here, but that didn't happen.
I ventured on from KL to Shanghai, China, and was able to get in a run before a day of sight seeing. The Sunday morning that I got out to run was wonderful. Rain had cleared the smog and the wide empty sidewalks made fore a good time exploring and stopping here and there for some pictures. The bummer was I only got out for the 1 day. During the week the crowds grew and schedule kept me inside.
I'm not doing what I really wish I was, but I'm trying to be optimistic. Conveniently, my work schedule is going to keep me from really having an 'A' race this year, so I have an opportunity to take a breath, heal my body and build for another year when I don't have the constraints.
Artist for Song in Title: Elvis Costello
My blogging continues to mirror my activity. Sporadic. After returning from my late March/early April travels, the weather improved and I was feeling good so I hit the roads...probably more than I should have. By the last week of April I had logged a 20 mile week and was en-route to another when I noticed a limp as I walked from the parking lot to my office in the morning. My knee had been bothering some throughout the month, but the limp was finally the sign that I needed to react. I promised myself at the beginning of the year that would listen to my body, so it was time to fulfill that promise.
Eventually by mid-May I was able to do a few short runs, without irritating my knee so I was excited and ready to go...just in time to leave on another international business trip. I usually don't mind running in the heat, so maybe it is just a seasonal difference, but the Malaysian heat and humidity with afternoon rain storms combined with the inner city location where I'm staying have kept me from the roads. At least the extreme jet lag has left me with time each morning to practice some Yoga sequences. I really did want to do a short run just to say I had run here, but that didn't happen.
I ventured on from KL to Shanghai, China, and was able to get in a run before a day of sight seeing. The Sunday morning that I got out to run was wonderful. Rain had cleared the smog and the wide empty sidewalks made fore a good time exploring and stopping here and there for some pictures. The bummer was I only got out for the 1 day. During the week the crowds grew and schedule kept me inside.I'm not doing what I really wish I was, but I'm trying to be optimistic. Conveniently, my work schedule is going to keep me from really having an 'A' race this year, so I have an opportunity to take a breath, heal my body and build for another year when I don't have the constraints.
Artist for Song in Title: Elvis Costello
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Travelin
As I look back I noticed that I missed posting for the entire month of March. I think I can explain the reasons for that, but unfortunately, the frequency of posting also reflects the my running activity. Luckily it was not a perfect mirror image. I have achieved some sort of work/life balance, but not the preferred type as I have been overloaded on each end. March was championship swimming for club, spring break in Washington DC, and a business trip to Romania. Anyone of these things in itself would not have derailed my training, but putting all in the same month is a different story!
March was going to be the month that I got everything back on track. Week 1 went by: no runs. Week 2 started off on the right foot with a pre-travel run with my wife. I packed all of my gear for my 2 week tip to Romania, because I was sure that I would have time. I even made the trip with zero jet lag, so what could go wrong. 11 hour days and group dinners left my gear teasing me from the closet on a daily basis and no additional runs. I did finally get out for a 5 miler on the weekend and then one run mid-week, but two runs over the trip duration was not what I had hoped or intended.
Week 3 finally got me more on track. 4 runs and 1/2 my total miles for the month! I was able to get another run in with Jil, which I really enjoyed. We haven't run together for quite a while, so it was nice to get back to that. We also experienced a wonderful change to spring, and I couldn't resist getting out in the weather.
Week 4 returned to the previous normalcy. I got a nice 5 mile run in prior to piling into the family vehicle and traveled to Washington, D.C. No running gear was packed. We did spend a ton of time on our feet walking through the city and museums, but it's just not that same. Regardless, the family had a great time (the point) and saw some really cool stuff.
What's next? April has me staying home, the weather should continue to improve, and the kids activities are reduced to mainly practice. My desire is to be running more consistently and getting out cross training on my bike. Wish my luck!
Artist for Song in Title: Josh Kelley
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| Peles Castle, Romania |
Week 3 finally got me more on track. 4 runs and 1/2 my total miles for the month! I was able to get another run in with Jil, which I really enjoyed. We haven't run together for quite a while, so it was nice to get back to that. We also experienced a wonderful change to spring, and I couldn't resist getting out in the weather.
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| SR-71 Blackbird, Air and Space II |
What's next? April has me staying home, the weather should continue to improve, and the kids activities are reduced to mainly practice. My desire is to be running more consistently and getting out cross training on my bike. Wish my luck!
Artist for Song in Title: Josh Kelley
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Build Me Up
I've spent the last few weeks easing myself back into running after my brief layoff. I have a return to running plan that I got from a past injury when I required physical therapy. The plan has worked well in the past, so it has become my go to plan for rest to run. The plan spends the first 3 weeks with run/walk workouts before finally getting in an all run session.
The run/walk sessions have gone very well. Because of the ice narrowed streets and the focus on time rather than distance, I stuck to the treadmill. This week I did take advantage of nicer temps, a good thaw, and the plan switch to all run to get outside. It was wonderful to be in the elements, but I missed the pace control of the treadmill. I'm not sure if it was just being outside, or muscle memory, but I went out harder than I have since beginning my return and was sucking wind.
It didn't feel great while I was on the road, but I can feel good about where I am and knowing I am building up to that strong place I had found last year.
Artist for song in title: Huey Lewis & the News
The run/walk sessions have gone very well. Because of the ice narrowed streets and the focus on time rather than distance, I stuck to the treadmill. This week I did take advantage of nicer temps, a good thaw, and the plan switch to all run to get outside. It was wonderful to be in the elements, but I missed the pace control of the treadmill. I'm not sure if it was just being outside, or muscle memory, but I went out harder than I have since beginning my return and was sucking wind.
It didn't feel great while I was on the road, but I can feel good about where I am and knowing I am building up to that strong place I had found last year.
Artist for song in title: Huey Lewis & the News
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