The hiatus is over

Well, at least I hope it has ended.

It seems like it has been ages since I last wrote here, so here's quick summary of my not so eventful running life over the last 4 months.  July through Oct 25th, I continued with easy paced runs, 3-4 days per week.  My primary goal during this time period was to get where I could confidently run without any sort of pain.  In addition, and somewhat in the same vein, I wanted strengthen my lower abdominal and groin areas.  Slow, relaxed runs, in which I gradually increased the amount of time on my feet, were the constant call for the former and countless hours in the gym served as the framework for the latter.  I should go into more detail about what went into my comeback running and gym efforts, but will save those topics for a later date.

Moving along, I met up with Carmen Ayala-Troncoso's training group to resume training on October 25th.  Well, I should caveat the previous sentence, because my only training goal at this point to regain a level of fitness to train, if that makes sense.  I am definitely not training for a race in 2011.  I will run the remainder of the year with Carmen's group and hope to be shape to train/race in earnest come 1.1.2012.  That written, I may or may not run a time trial in the next few weeks to set a somewhat official fitness baseline.  Again, that is another post.

Speaking of Carmen, she has been great to-date.  The knowledge/wisdom she displayed over the last three weeks has really blown me away.  I am really happy to be part of her group.

Over & out until the next time.

Running is getting easier

Yep, it shore is.

Over the past couple of weeks, my body seems to have really acclimated to this running thing.  I am moving a little faster, more fluidly, and the mental confidence is increasing.  Aerobically, I still have work to do.  But that piece will come soon.

Ran three times this past week, and I hit the track after two of those runs to grab some drills/form running.  I am going to continue w/ the 3-a-week routine for the rest of the month and then reassess.  Stay tuned.

Google+ - How does it work?

Being new to social networking, I don't have the answer.  But - I will let you know once I do. :-)

7.5 months since the pubic stress fracture diagnosis

I have been meaning to revive the blog, but, hmm, just have not had the motivation.  Let's see if I can get back into the blog-a-logging.

Where did I leave off?  Don't remember and not really important, but I am sure enough "back to running."  Only two days a week, however, both of those days have been pain free to date.  Yesh!  This past Saturday I ran for an hour, make that 56 min to be precise, and 3/4 of the time I was on the Barton Creek Greenbelt (gasp!).   Great times!

So - I am going to finish out the month w/ the twice a week routine, and in July, we shall see if the ole bones can handle an additional day.  I like my odds.

Running update

On Saturday, I ran one mile - continuous.  Nothing hurt during, but I was a little achy in the groin afterward.  Today, I ran for 10 min.  No issues at all - well, except some lower back pain from pwr cleans and core work yesterday.   I even passed what I call the "squeeze test" post-run.  That is, putting something like a TP block between the legs and doing 10 reps of "squeezing both legs together for one sec and then release." FYI, the groin pain has been the slowest thing to heal, and as of a couple weeks ago, it even seems to have mostly dissipated. Digression, I do believe I will take it!

The slow, methodical recovery comeback forges on...

Da Bike

1. Disk brakes
2. Upgraded pedals w/ clips as of 4/8
3. Source of numerous recent bodily scrapes and bruises
4. More to come I'm sure...

Rockhopper cont...

I had a purty good time riding the mtn bike on the maiden greenbelt ride.  So much so, I went out and bought one of my own a couple weeks later - a Specialized Rockhopper.

First real ride on it, Muz and I left his crib and headed to the Barton Springs trailhead entrance.  We rode for about 2 hours.  Lots of fun lemme tell you.

Second ride - I left my place and headed back to the Wildflower Preserve greenbelt (GB) entrance (intersection of Repub of TX and Travis Country).  My primary goal w/ this ride was to explore the diff trails in the immediate area.  I was relatively successful, figured out where several shorter trails led.  But I did not make it down to the Barton Creek bed.  I did however manage to throw myself over the handle-bars of my bike (about 10 ft).  To add insult to injury as I headed home, I hit root at a slow speed, came to an abrupt stop, and fell off to the right side of the bike.  The first fall hurt like hell; the second, was just sorta embarrassing.  Oh well, crashing a mtn bike is just part of the learning process I reckon. 

Third ride, I took off from my place thinking to look for another trail entrance, but after riding for a few min, I decided to head back to the good ole WP trailhead entrance.  No wrecks the first half of the ride and I made down the the creek bed. The WP trail intersected w/ the south bank of Barton Creek, and I could not decide which way to go.  Thought for a min, and I decided to head East. As I was riding next to this...rocky wall (which I presume had been washed out over the years from high waters), I lost control when I hit some rocks.  Before i could hit the brakes all the way, I came to an abrupt stop when my rt shoulder hit part of the rocky wall that jutted out.  I can now confirm that the shoulder does not function well as brake.  Who knew?   I had to get off the bike for about 5 min to walk the aforementioned lil mishap off, cuz I felt nauseous for a few min right after.  Once I gathered my faculties, I decided to head west instead (heh!).  I rode for about 15 more min and then decided to head home.  A decent 2 hour ride, but the last hour really sucked cuz my freaking shoulder was a throbbin.  Once I made it home, I washed up the wound, cleaned up, and treated myself to a good 30 min of ice pack time.  Good times.

I do believe I need to be a little more risk averse on the bike in the future.  Let's see how this plays out...