Slack

Tired, and needing to get to work early, so I skipped a morning workout and didn't get back to the room until 11:00 last night.

Fourth of July

All day with the family, driving and doing little else.

A workout busy, but a good life day. Can't complain about that.

Three Days Off

I can't remember when the last time I had two days off, let along three. However today was day 3. I had planned on running after we got back from letting the dogs run around, but after feeding, I was ready to just lay down with Tia.

Sat I was beat after a long travel day. I had chores to do, and family here, so I skipped things. Friday I was up early, at the event all day, and worried about my energy with 4 talks, so I didn't work out in the am. After the event it was dinner with my boss and by the time I made it to Heathrow, it was 10pm.

Today starts a new effort.

A Day Off

I had chores, and a busy day, and ended up skipping everything with not great weather.

A new start tomorrow.

Slow

After 2 weeks since I last ran, I got out today and went further. I did a 5k, actually a touch over, and was glad I did. I run too little when I run and doing the 4 miles in Bellevue, which didn't killed me, reminded me I can and should do more.

This was slow, but not as horrible as I might have thought. I was tired, trying to baby the knee a little, and still was under 30, which was good.

Glad to be back running.

Broken Streak

Once again I missed a day of exercise. After 20 days, I skipped.

Life got busy with work, with kids, and Scouts. I was tempted to run at night, but it had been a long day and I wanted to spend time with my wife. Getting away to run just seemed a little much for this day.

New streak tomorrow.

A Sore Knee

I pounded outside for a longer, faster run than normal recently and I knew I was hitting the ground hard. My right knee too most of the pounding for some reason.

The next morning I hit the treadmill and it was sore, but not too bad. However a day later, and an activity filled day of running, and other exercise, and it was swollen slightly, sore to the touch, and I used ice. I ran slower for a few days, and it felt better.

I've been able to run through a lot of injuries across the last 3 plus years, injuries that would have sidelined me for weeks in the past. In that time I've learned a few things, at least I think I have. I'll never know if I'd done damage here or not, but here's what I think.

The body can recover quicker than you think, at least from minor soreness-type injuries. They're injuries, but not debilitating.

Rest doesn't necessarily speed up the process much, and I think it makes it harder for you to get back into the routine of exercise, especially for us non-pro-atheletes.

Active rehabilitation is better, doing some motion and work with the body. Slowing down, and reducing the duration has worked well for me.

Shaky

I hit the treadmill at the hotel the other day since I was really in a hurry in the morning. It was a modern LifeFitness model, the ones that often have the TV attached (this one didn't), and I was surprised by how shaky the treadmill was. If I ran in the middle, it shook audibly, and visibly, making it hard to hear the TV and unnerving me a bit.

I started running at 2.0 incline, but backed that down. I even went to 0 and it was better, but still shaky. I noticed that the left side was much worse, and if I slid to the right a bit, essentially running right of center with both legs, it shook much less.

I did that, and worried because occasionally my shoes would squeak on the side of the treadmill as they hit the deck. Eventually I was close to center, just enduring the shaking. It was an annoying and hard run, making me wish I'd gotten up 30 minutes earlier and gone outside.

Mixing things up

I still enjoy running, and look forward to it most days. Even when I have something else scheduled.

It's mixing it up time in my life, adding in weights and kid activities on top of BFL. So far I think I'm doing well, but we'll see how it goes over the next month. My legs were definitely tired today, and I'm not really looking forward to lifting later.

Just running

It's been two months of basically just running. Not quite as I've lifted a bit with my son, but easy workouts. Baseball a few times, but about every other week with holidays and travel. Some swimming with the kids, but not really working.

Overall my legs are better, but not great. Still tired, and aching sometimes, but aching less than with karate.

Slowly monitoring and thinking about it, but I may end this soon. My wife wants to do p90x or body for life, and I'd like to swim more. I may have to go down to 1.2mi runs some days if I keep going, or just stop this streak and keep it going as just an "exercise every day" streak.

12,000 Feet

Last week I was in the mountains camping, and after a 4-5 mi hike up a peak, I decided to run. We were near Grays Peak and there was a bumpy, gravel road from the trailhead that I started following down the mountain. .75mi or so later, I turned, knowing it would be hard to get back.

It was crazy hard.

I had .25mi to go, ran .3, or really slowly jogged, and barely made it. My chest was on fire and I struggled quite a bit to make it that .3 mi. The rest of the way I alternated some walking with some jogging, but it was hard. Definitely a difference running at 12,000 feet.

Outside for a week

I drove to Boy Scout camp last night, for a week of outdoor life with my son. No cell service, very little power, and really a week of time outside as he works on his scout journey to Eagle scout.

Meanwhile, with limited duties, it's a time to unwind for me, and a time to run outside in the mountains. I'll run based on time, and then map the routes when I get back, since I'm not sure where I'm starting from. It's high, higher than I normally run, and I expect more hilly, but we'll see.

My plan is early morning runs, before coffee, when it's cool and quiet. Looking forward to the rest of the week after today. Once the boys are settled, I'll run this afternoon.

Exercise in the Margins

This article about exercising when you can is really interesting. It contains a number of hints about exercising and fitting it in, but fitting it into your life, as you live it.

I love the ideas about the fact that you will lose time, you will have setbacks. That’s one of the reasons I started the mile a day streak. A mile, even jogging slowly, takes no more than about 15 minutes. Maybe 20 if you’re older. I can always find 15 minutes in my day. I’ve done as low as 12.

I know that’s not easy for everyone, but I’d think most people could find 15 minutes to walk every day, whether it’s 5am or 11pm. Time is not a great excuse for a low bar.

However I do know not everyone likes traditional exercise. Walking stairs, walking out of your way on a flat surface, parking further from the door at the grocers, there are any number of small habits you can build.

Picking a sport is a great idea. It’s a commitment, but get a few friends, and try something. Even if you don’t play much, as I didn’t this year with adult volleyball, it’s a habit of movement that you are building.

And have a short memory for sure. If you miss a few days for some reason, forget about it. Pick up some small exercise tomorrow and don’t try to “make up” for what you missed.

Walking or Running

I've been on this running streak for over three years, and I've run every day. As part of my routine, I usually walk a bit before I run and walk a bit after. However lately I've been walking more as my wife trains for the Avon 40 mi walk in June.

It's interesting to look at walking and running. There isn't a lot of calorie difference between a purposeful walk and a slow jog. There isn't a lot of difference in the motion of the legs and I certainly get chafed when walking if I don't have good clothing. There is a lot of impact difference, and it makes me think I ought to walk some days instead of running.

My wife has been training for months, and she's gotten much stronger. She's only jogged a couple of times, but she's felt strong and it's been easy when she ran.

I keep thinking of this streak ending, and I know it will sometime. Stopping karate, and picking up some weights will give me a chance over the next few months to see how the body does and then make some decisions on how to move forward.

Water Views

I was in San Diego a few weeks ago and I had the chance to run along the water. It was a little cool, but not too bad with a light breeze coming off the water. Just how I remember it when I lived there 20 years ago.

It was a nice change of pace, especially as I've done a lot of treadmill running lately. This was a good chance for me to get out there and just run, doing 30 minutes, without worrying about anything. It was a break from life, and one that I appreciated.

Sand would have been better, but given the place I was staying downtown, this was nice. Watching the harbor, and seeing boats in the marina as I cruised along. I'm already looking forward to the chance to run on the East and West coast later this year.

April 2012

Not a strong month for me, and the body was definitely feeling beat up.  I did run every day, and had some nice runs in the UK and Arizona along the month, but overall I tried to take it a bit easy.

56 miles for the month, lower than 2mi/day, but not bad for me. Overall, I think I broke down a bit this month, and I need to do some recovery over the next few months, going slower, and trying not to make things worse.

I let myself get pushed for time too often, and ended up pressing when I should be out enjoying the run.

The Next Challenge

I wasn't sure I'd still be running at this point, especially given how I felt around day 1000, but something happened. The back loosened up, I enjoyed baseball more, and I felt good. Even with regular aches and pains, I managed to keep up karate, albeit at a reduced pace after my black belt test in July.

And I'm still running, with only a couple days in the last 200 that I've struggled with. Some great group runs in the fall with friends while traveling, and a long one in Liverpool at 8:30 one night after I arrived. I got lost on that one, which was supposed to be a short 1.5mi run.

A friend just completed a marathon, and that has me a little inspired. My wife wants to run one, though I'm not sure she'll find the time to train in a busy life. I'm thinking that I'll get a 5K scheduled sometime here soon. I was thinking I'd run one with my wife, but the new puppy has delayed that. I'm hoping to do a 5k or 10k and see how I feel sometime this year.

Three Calendar Years

Today closes out three calendar years of running. It's day 1207 overall, and almost 3.5 years in total.

In 2011, I wanted to average 2.0mi/day and I did that, getting to the 730 mark earlier this year. Around September I realized I might get there and wondered if I'd get to 750. Some injuries in Oct/Nov slowed me, but I had a hard push in Dec to finish the year with 754 miles in total, which is the most I've every run. I had friends that ran half marathons with training all year that didn't get there. Pretty amazing for me.

That also brings the streak total to 2135 miles in total. Quite an amazing run. I'll keep going for now, but we'll see what happens in life. It's been a great run along the way and if it ends tomorrow, that's OK with me.

The One True Way

I saw a TED Talk from Chris McDougall last year and found it very interesting. I've included it at the bottom of this post. Recently Chris wrote a piece in the New York Times about the "one true way" to run, without injury, for the long term. It's an interesting read, and I tried to modify my stride a bit and it definitely seemed to cut down on my impact on the treadmill. Hard to tell on the gravel outside.

When looking for the article later, I ran across a few more posts. Here's one good one that talks about Chris' piece and how there might not be as much science, or even truth about it as the NYT piece seems to indicate.

There's also a response on running form that seems to match up more with what I think.There isn't one way for everyone, nor one shoe for everyone. I tend to run upright, with a shorter stride that I've built over my streak that seems to work well for me, without a lot of pounding. I considered changing to more barefoot shoes, and I might try it at some point, but for now I like my shoes, my stride, and feel good.

Refreshed

The streak almost ended recently, but it didn't. In fact, I pressed on, even though I was tired one day, and I felt like I'd worked myself, even though I was tired. The next day I felt even better, even more refreshed and strong.

I've said it before, but the mental benefits of running every day, even when I'm tired, outweigh the physical ones. I just feel like I did something. Especially on those days when I might have worked outside, or be tired, but maybe didn't press that hard. Getting the run in makes me feel like I've actually done something positive for my health.