Weekend Update

This is brief since the weekend is not yet over and I still have a lot to accomplish with the few hours that I have left.

On Saturday I went for a run early in the morning and had a decent time of it. I ran 3.5km with no breaks and felt pretty good, all things considered. Then I spent the rest of the day getting Christmas lights and putting them up on the outside of the house. It's amazing how long it takes to get that done!

Today I also went for a run in the morning. I didn't feel as pressed for time and so I decided to take it easy and took brief walking breaks after every kilometre. These really are barely walking breaks as I tend to take about ten or twenty steps and then run again. I ran a total of 5km and broke the 20km mark for the week (total of 20.5km). Not much of an accomplishment, but still...

I think this week I will actually try and take it down a notch and run a little less. I've decided to try and give my body a break every three or four weeks, and I might as well start now. The right knee, though getting better, is feeling a bit tight and can probably use a bit of rest.

Now I have to figure out how to install a garage door opener...

Oh yeah, we took the kids skating at Nathan Phillips Square this morning. It was fun! Malks fell and hurt his bum though. That was not much fun...

Late Afternoon Run

Got home a bit earlier than expected after my appointment with the surgeon (another post-op check up) ended at such a time as to make going back to the office useless. And so I took advantage of the extra time allotted to go for a run. Monica had gotten home early from a conference downtown as well, and was in a rather poor mood due to some stuff that was bugging her at work, and I dragged her out to run with me.

We jogged and chatted and it was great. We took very brief walking breaks at every kilometre and eventually made it around to Owen's school after 3km. Monica thought it would be good to pick Owen up and so I headed off alone to get Malcolm at his school.

I continued to run and tacked on another two clicks for a total of 5km for the day. After I picked up Malcolm he wanted to race home and so I likely ran another kilometre chasing him all the way home, but I didn't have the Garmin turned on by this point so it went unrecorded.

Now, post shower and dinner, it's time to get the boys to bed. Ahhhh. The routine.

Wish I could say it "eases the pain"...

Early Morning Jog

Without any plan I, once again, on the spur of the moment, went out for a short run this morning. I would think that if I was to do anything more than the 3k that I ended up running then it would have never happened. But I'm happy to just be getting out there for these short runs. My body seems to be responding OK as well, though I have a long way to go as far as leg strength goes.

In any case, the weather was pretty much perfect for a morning run: +9C and a bit wet, though not actually raining while I was running. It's been a very mild month and it's nice to be able to take advantage of the weather as I get back into running on a consistent basis.

Now, with the run finished, I am faced with taking both of the boys, and myself, for flu shots this evening. Happy Wednesday!

This is becoming a habit...

Never, and I mean NEVER, have I gone out for a run three days in a row. Sure, my distances are short and my pace is turtle-ish, but tonight marks the third day in a row that I've gone out for a run. I am pretty much just going out for runs whenever I feel like it, both physically and mentally. I didn't plan on this run, but when I came home and put some meat in the oven for dinner I had no interest in biking over to the school to pick up Owen, and I definitely hate using the car for such short trips. The school is a little less than a mile away, and I had time to strap on the old Garmin and running shoes and headed out for a jog.

I decided to run three kilometres and took a bit of an around-about way to get to the school. Walking breaks every kilometre, as has become my habit, and I arrived at the school with just a little less than the three clicks, so I ran around the playground and back to the front door.

When I collected Owen I didn't expect anything other than a nice walk home, but he noticed that I'd been running and said he wanted to run home. His reasoning was pretty good, saying that running would get us home faster for dinner and, ultimately, get him to his Cubs meeting on time. So off we went, me carrying his backpack, for another kilometre.

A total of 4km was what I did, and it feels pretty good. There is definitely something in commuting by foot - I love it! Can't wait to be in shape enough to perhaps run to and from work sometime in the new year...

Couple Short Weekend Runs

This weekend was a lot of fun, and some running was accomplished as well. On Saturday morning I went out for an easy 3km run on my own since Monica had run with Owen the previous evening and the little guy was not up for another one so soon. I took brief walking breaks at each kilometre marker and felt pretty good. In fact, although not blazing or anything, I ended up running about thirty seconds per kilometre faster than intended. Afterwards we all headed off to Darlington Provincial Park and had a great hike through the woods and along the beach. The boys had a great time spotting dear tracks on the train, and leaving a long trail of driftwood thrown into the water along the beach.

Today Monica and I took advantage of the fact that the boys were with my Dad and drove down to Ashbridges Bay Park for another run together. It was great! We managed 4km with walking breaks, and really had a lot of fun. The terrain was really varied, which made for a soft ride: wooden boardwalk, some asphalt paths, wood chip sections, and even a bit of a dirt trail.

I finished the week having run five times, which is unusual for me, and feeling pretty good. It's so nice to be enjoying running again. My right knee continues to have a bit of pain under the kneecap, but I am continuing to do lunges and can feel my legs slowly getting stronger. I think as long as I do this, and stretch consistently, the knee will continue to improve. What will be difficult is holding myself back from running too much too soon, and too fast. That's why I am running with no goals at the moment...

Rain Rain Rain

Not much to say other than...

Got soaked biking to work.

Got soaked biking back home.

Figured since I was soaked anyway, why not run and pick up Owen at school?

So I did.

3.8k was how far. Don't really care at this point how fast. Just happy to be running again.

Good Morning Boiler!

This morning ended up a bit different than the norm.

I woke up just before 6am to this loud vibrating and buzzing noise that sounded like something was not happy and about to leak or blow up. I suspected the new boiler that we'd had installed a couple of weeks ago and went down to the utilities room in the basement to discover that, indeed, this was the source of the disturbance. We're not very happy about our new high-efficiency boiler making all this noise and waking us up, though it does heat the house up really quickly, and we will be following up with the company that installed it, but for the moment I was able to at least muffle the noise a bit by shoving a sponge between the gas pipe and the water pipe that were vibrating like crazy and hitting against each other. I also moved the front panel on the boiler itself a bit until the noise was slightly better, though I had to go through some spots where it would rattle like we were in the middle of an earthquake or something.

Anyway, with the boiler having woken me up, and it being a little past 6 in the morning, I felt that I had a decision to make. Go back to bed for twenty minutes before the alarm wakes me up once more, or head out for the 3km run that I was planning to do in the evening?

I chose the run! It was nice to be out with the City just waking up (people in cars rushing off to beat the traffic, shoving handfuls of something that was supposed to resemble breakfast as they went by was somewhat entertaining), and I do not do this enough. Never have, and probably never will.

I ran all the way without the walking breaks that I've been taking since getting back into running, and felt none the worse for wear. Maybe is was the reading of Dean Karnazes' book "50/50" that inspired me to do an early morning jog?

Whatever it was, I'm certainly glad to have had the opportunity to do it. So, thank you boiler!

Now shut the %^$& up!!!

A Jog with a Wee One

Got out after work for another run, and had a surprising running buddy for the last bit too! After getting home, starting dinner, rushing off to pick up Owen, dropping him off at home, going to get Malcolm, coming home, grabbing Owen and taking him to a bus that would take him and his Cub Pack to some observatory up at York University, then getting back home I decided a run was in order.

So I set off on the now typical 3km with walks after each click. Upon getting home Malcolm came running out of the kitchen all ready to go for a run, so I was back out the door to "race" the five year-old. We had a great time, and with only a couple of short walking breaks, we managed to reel off another kilometre for a grand total of 4k for me, and 1k for him. Pretty good pace he was setting too, and a great companion for conversation. Not a dull moment the entire way! The little guy kept on doing "acrocatics" (that's how he seems be convinced it's supposed to be pronounced) - skipping and twirling periodically with me trying my best to not burst out laughing or topple right over top of him.

Now I am waiting for Owen's bus to get back. It was supposed to be back at 9pm, but as I was sitting in the car waiting another parent knocked on the car window and let me know that they would be back around 9:45pm. Great! One last errand to run before I can finally nod off for the night.

A Couple More

Managed a couple more of the same type of jogs in the last few days. On Friday I went out on my own after work and did the same walk, run a kilometre, walk, run thing for a total of 3km. It was a bit faster, though still definitely in the slow and tentative range.

Today, Monica and I had an opportunity to run together and we did the same routine for another 3km. Things are feeling pretty good, and it would seem that the plantar fasciitis, which I've been battling for over a year, has finally healed. Those two and a half months of, over a week of which was spent in bed on account of the surgery, fixed that annoying issue I guess. Now I just have to be conscious of my foot so that it doesn't flare up again. That means doing some exercises.

I have also been doing more leg exercises as well, such as lunges and squats. The runner's knee on the right side isn't completely gone, but I can feel it getting better as my legs get stronger. I will not start upping mileage to any significant degree until I feel absolutely no pain.

I am also thinking of joining a gym around the corner from my office so that I have access to more weight training equipment than I do at home. It's a corporate deal thing that wouldn't start until the middle of January, but it would force me to work on something other than endurance. Also, if this does come to pass, I will be focused on lower body and core strength. As a former swimmer my abs are in pretty good shape, but the muscles that absorb shock as I run are poorly developed.

It's great to be back at running again! Slow and easy, but at least I'm back out there.

Out Again

Yesterday was both Remembrance Day and Polish Independence Day. The first is a chance for all to remember all those who served and or perish, or continue to serve, in the military. The second is a celebration of Poland becoming a country once more on November 11, 1918 after over 100 years of being partitioned between the likes of Prussia, Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

And I went running again...

Monica and I both had the day off on account of Remembrance Day and I spent the morning studying for yet another exam, but in the early afternoon we drove down to the Beaches and did our little run-walk thing on the boardwalk. It was sunny, a bit windy at first, but it was a lot of fun to be jogging together. Like last time I ran a kilometre, walked a little, ran another, etc... until I managed to complete 3k. I felt pretty good, all things considered, though the achilles tendon on the right side feels tighter than I'd like it to on account of the wonky ankle, and all. I'm not too worried about it since my ankle has always improved the more I use it, and so I am planning to do another 3k jog either on Friday or Saturday.

It's the start of the long road back to proper training, but at least it's a start...

Tentative New Beginnings

I've been out of touch for a while as far as this blog goes, but I just couldn't come up with any real reason to get on here and post something as long as I was laid up and unable to walk, let alone run, for a period of time. After my surgery I was the (un)lucky recipient of a blood clot in my leg that hurt like a mofo and promptly put me on my back for over a week.

As an aside, being on medication sucks...

Anyway, it took a while after that for the pain to go away to the point that I didn't feel like I was ripping the calf muscle right off of the bone, and then out of nowhere my wonky friggin' ankle flared up on me something fierce on Halloween weekend and I felt like I was once again taking two steps back. A full week went by and now, finally, I am starting to feel better.

I hadn't run a single time since August 26th, but managed to head out on Sunday morning for a very slow and tentative trial. I walked for a bit to "warm up" and then jogged for three kilometres with a bit of walking in between each click. It was slow, sure, but at least it "was". Twenty minutes or so of jogging and now on Monday morning I feel a bit stiff. Pathetic, I know, but I'm just hoping it is the beginning of my glorious comeback.

No goals at this point other than getting back to running regularly and relatively pain free. Here's hoping for a healthy rest of 2009, and a 2010 with lots of running and racing.