Building Back Up

Week of Dec. 13 ~ 19

Plan: 80k
Ran: 77.3k 6:59

Tuesday
4:30 12.3k in Yoyogi Park. 1:07:53 @ 5:31
Felt ok.

Wednesday
10k at the track at night.
400 x 4 x 3 at an easy pace.

Thursday
3:30 - 15k. 1:21:48 @ 5:27
Calf ok, but quads sore.
Temp: 7C/45F, clear
Weight: 62.4kg

Friday
11:00 - weights and core
3:30 - 10k. 56:16. Easy, quads a bit sore.
Temp: 9C/48F, clear
Weight: 62.2kg

Saturday
3:00 - 15k around the Imperial Palace.
6.5 easy in 35:49 @5:31
5k in the Namban club partner race. You and a partner run 5k without a watch. You each give your estimated time and start separately. My time was 26:30 and my partner's was 25:00, so she started 1:30 behind me. If we both ran exactly the right pace, she would catch me right at the finish line. In fact, she caught me about 150m from the finish. Of course, we both could have been running the wrong pace, but we thought we were pretty close. And we were...we won! There were 10 teams. We were 8 seconds slow. (The two timekeepers did a great job of figuring everything out.)
The race was held before our bonenkai - year-end party, which was at the British Embassy, thanks to a woman in the club who works there.
Then another 3.5k easy.
(I just realized: the Palace is 26m long, so our 5k time was almost correct to the second.)

Sunday
3:30 - 15k. 1:14:17 @4:57
26:14/24:44/23:19. Last 5k in 4:37/39/42/35/44.
Felt ok and quads were ok (but sore afterwards). Nice to run at a good pace again...it felt all right.
Weather: 9C/48F, 30%, clear
Weight: 62.7 (due to parties Friday and Saturday night)

Running Again!

Week of Dec 6 ~ 12

Plan: 54K
Ran: 54K

Running again means, of course, running with no pain. If there was still pain, I would not be running.
So I decided to try 5 on Monday, then one more each day, and it worked fine.
One by-product of not running for 8 weeks is that I am really motivated to work hard to get back into good shape. So there is your new motivational technique: don't run for 8 weeks. Not really recommended, though.
Another is that it made me aware once more of how enjoyable running is. My runs this week were definitely the high points of each day. Does that mean I love running, or just that I don't have a life? ... Well, I think I do have a life, so it must mean I love running. And it's nice to be reminded of that. So let's remember to enjoy each run, even the bad, hard, wet, cold, etc. ones, because...they're better than not running.

Monday
3:00 - 5k in 28:49. Slow, but no calf pain!
Weight: 62.6kg (Ha! Gained 2 and 1/2 kilos. And it's all around the middle.)
15C/59F, clear

Tuesday
11:00 - Weights and abs in the gym, and 10 mins. walking on inclined treadmill.
1:00 - 6k in 33:24 @5:34
15C/59F, clear

Wednesday
1:30 - 7k in 39:18 @5:37
Calf ok, but quads sore! (maybe cause I haven't run for 8 weeks...)
Weight: 61.9kg
12C/54F, clear

Thursday
3:00 - 8k in 42:18 @5:17. Quads sore.
11C/52F, clear

Friday
11:00 - Weights and abs, 15 mins walking uphill
1:00 - 8k in 42:03 @5:15
12C/54F, clear

Saturday
12:30 - 10k in 52:57 @5:18. Wow, 10k! Quads still sore.
Each k got faster, from 5:36 to 5:07, which I was not trying to do.
15C/59F, clear

Sunday
4:00 - 10k in 50:48 @5:08.
Quads ok until last 2k. Last 3k in 4:52/50/49. But just cruising.
14C/57F, cloudy
Weight: 62.3kg (big lunch). I WILL get back down to 60.0

So, I guess the calf is all better. Due mainly to rest, OR mainly to the hot brick therapy. That's the thing with rest and therapies, you can never tell what it was that worked. But that guy swore by the brick, and I think it actually did help. I am still doing it every night, but cut out the mornings. By the way, Kylie, a woman in my club, said I should name the brick, so I christened it Fred. I always thought Fred was a funky name, and it also has "red" in it.
54K for the week. Rest tomorrow, then next week I'll try about 80. If that goes all right, I'll go back into marathon training mode at 120 per week.That will give me 12 weeks until the LA Marathon, with a one-week taper.

The Rock Island Line

Well, there's no running news to report, so I decided to treat you to some good music.
(I didn't run this past week, I'll do a test run tomorrow and am hoping to be pain-free after 8 long weeks.)

So thanks to an unrelated Leadbelly link from former running and blogging legend, now brewing legend, Steve Lacey, I came upon The Rock Island Line, one of the greatest songs ever, which I hadn't heard for years and years.
Here's the Leadbelly original:



Then it got juiced up a bit by Carl Perkins:



And reached full expression by Johnny Cash (this is a remix, but good; you don't have to listen to the last part):



This is also a great version. Little Richard can generate more excitement just sitting in a chair in a studio than most singers can on a big stage:



Hope you enjoyed that. Talk to you next week.

Another Dull Week

Week of Nov 22 ~ 28

No running this week, just went to the gym twice. I'll give the calf another week and then try to run.

Went to the Tsukuba Marathon today (an hour+ north of Tokyo) to give out flyers for the LA Marathon, which I am the Japan representative for - promoting it to Japanese runners. I was entered in this race, but of course didn't run.
Well, I picked the right race, at least. It was a perfect day - cool, sunny, no wind, 9:00am start...and a flat course. Too bad. Maybe I'll try it again next year.

Hot Brick Therapy

Week of Nov. 15 ~ 21

No progress, my calf is still sore when I try to run. I ran 4k on Saturday and 6k on Sunday, with 2 walk breaks in each run. Started Sunday with a slight pain and it got worse as I went along. Was going slow, naturally. It was not a sharp pain, which would have caused me to stop, just a dull pain. Anyway, it looks like at least 2 or 3 more weeks of rest will be required.

Unless...the hot brick therapy works. This technique was told to me by a guy at the American School who works in the athletic office and was a serious soccer player. He has had various muscle tears and told me his surefire cure. You take an ordinary brick and put it in the microwave for 4 minutes (it doesn't explode). You then wrap a towel around it (one layer is what I use) and put it against the afflicted area. in my case, resting my leg on it. For 30 minutes twice a day, before bed and in the morning. Do this for 8 days and the muscle tear will be healed. He says.
Sounds like definitely worth a try, so I went out and stole a brick. Thought I would have to buy one, but passing a house on the street in back of my house, I spotted a brick on a side walkway. It didn't look like anyone was using it, so I went in and grabbed it, stuck it under my jacket and walked back to my house. After I'm finished with it, I'll return it. Which will freak them out more than when it disappeared, if they noticed.

Anyway, the brick should be hot, but not too hot, obviously. You don't burn your leg, you just heat it up. I suppose this promotes enhanced blood flow to the afflicted area. If it gets too hot, I just move my leg off for a few seconds. The heat lasts nicely for about 30 minutes. No progress yet, after 4 days, but I probably should not have run 2 days.I'll keep it up this week and let you know.
Also plan to get more serious about physio and also some acupuncture.

Since I can't run, I enjoy reading about your running, so keep those blogs up to date. Later....

Torn Calf Muscles — Common!

Week of Nov. 8 ~ 14

The torn calf muscle is still not healed. Tested it on Wednesday night at the track - ran an 800, then a 1000, then on the first lap of a 1600 it started to hurt so I stopped. Had been running easy, about 5min/k pace. Oh well, maybe next week. Or more likely two weeks from now. And have to run even easier.

Walked for 1:20 two days and went to the gym three times to spend some time on the bike, treadmill (walking up incline), and elliptical machine, just so I don't get too fat. I am putting on weight!

I found a blog with an entry on a torn calf muscle, to which people had left comments. About 300 people over the past two years! It turns out that torn calf muscles are not at all uncommon. It can happen to anyone, for a huge variety of reasons (or seemingly no reason at all). Often to beginners or weekend warriors, but also to pro rugby players, experienced hikers, etc. Actually, most people get it worse than I did. Many experience a "pop" sound, clearly audible, and a feeling like someone threw a rock at the back of their leg. They actually turn around to see who threw a rock at them. Then they fall down. That's a grade one tear - puts you on crutches. Mine seems to be grade two, not so serious, but still requires 4, 6, 8 weeks to heal. You're supposed to stretch the calf a lot, do light walking, get some physio...well, I'm doing those.

At first I didn't mind resting a while. But after a month it gets to be a drag. If you're a runner and you're not running...what are you? A blogger, I guess. Talk to you next week!

More of the Same

Week of Nov. 1 ~ 7

"The same" being, basically, nothing.
Following the advice of my expert commenters, I did not try to run or even jog the club 10k race, instead helping out with the timekeeping.
I had tried to run a bit on Thursday. Got to 23 minutes, 300m from home, when the calf started to get a bit sore. That was enough to tell me to rest for another week.
I did manage to do some walking and stationary biking on four days.

I also decided to throw in the towel on the Tsukuba Marathon on Nov. 28th. I won't be able to race it, and 42km is too far for a training run, so there is no reason to do it. Plus, even if the calf is better, I would risk re-injuring it.

I'll put all my eggs in the LA Marathon basket, next March 20th. If I can start training on Nov. 28th, that would give me 14 weeks.

By the way, I said last week that web articles on muscle tears say to expect 2 to 4 weeks of recovery. I found more that say 5 to 8 weeks. Since it's been 4 weeks, I guess 5 to 8 is not so unreasonable. Don't tear a muscle!
Three years ago I came back too soon from a half marathon and strained a hamstring. We never learn! At least, I don't, it seems.

Hope all of you fellow bloggers stay healthy....