Easy Does It

Today was a scheduled 6 mile run. All day I told myself I was going to take the day off just to be on the safe side in response to the knee pain I had at the end of Sunday's run. After work I told myself I would just go for a short walk with the dogs. On the drive to the path I told myself I would walk for at least 2 miles. On the path I figured I might as well just run it because the knee felt fine and why do all this driving around just to go on a walk. So I ended up running a crisp 2.5 miles. That's a logical sequence, right?

Thanks for all the advice about the knee pain. It felt fine today, but I guess I really wasn't expecting it to have any pain in such a short distance anyway. I'm taking some ibuprofen and icing it and will probably take it easy all this week. I have my trail race on Saturday and I want to be sure that I'm at 100% for it. Cross my fingers that the knee won't be an issue...

My conclusion about the knee pain on Sunday is that I was just pushing it too hard on the uphills on a distance I'd never run before, especially when I was feeling so strong approaching mile 12. This is a lesson to learn from. I don't want to not run hills on my long runs, mostly because the flat routes around here are either boring or not dog-friendly, and I just really have come to like running hills. So I don't think I'll shy away from the hills completely on my long runs, but I will definitely (attempt to) pace myself better on the ups.

Today: 2.5 miles

It's getting hot again this week. I'll try to keep running though. :)

Scott


FOR FUN
The bumper sticker I received in the mail today from my father-in-law:


I showed Sadie and she immediately started licking her...well, you get the idea.

Setback??

Pain in my knee - oh no.

The temperature is a bit more reasonable this weekend. Highs in the mid 80's. No reason for old men (even cute old men) to chastise me for this running activity that I've got myself addicted to.

Saturday was my short run. I took Sadie on a back route to meet Jeanie and Shasta at the doggy play park. Pullman is a bit dog unfriendly when it comes to the city parks. We've had a couple people complain in the past about having the dogs off leash (while playing fetch or Frisbee!) in the city's leash twilight zone. The dog catcher was even called on us once. I called city hall and asked where there was a park we could take the dogs to exercise because my border collie had trouble catching a Frisbee while attached to me via leash. The nice lady on the phone told me we had to go outside the city limits. Just to exercise the dogs?!? Whatever... We found a fenced in, seldom used rugby field on the university's campus and called all our friends with dogs and we kind of take over the park once a week with a big dog party. Sometimes up to 8 or 10 dogs. So far so good... When the students come back for the fall semester we will probably have to find another park though because this is the park that the marching band practices on.

So Sadie and I ran to the park as a pre-Frisbee warm-up. My legs were super heavy and weak. Probably still feeling it from the triple digit 6 miler on Thursday. But I also think my diet is still way out of whack from my wisdom teeth surgery last week, which added to my overall feeling of fatigue. With four big holes in the back of my mouth that have to be rinsed out after I eat anything I think that I've been not eating as many times throughout the day (my granola bar and fruit snack attacks) for convenience. So yesterday after the run I made sure I ate as normally as I could.

Today was my long run for the week and I felt much better...at first. It was a scheduled 15 miler (my longest ever) and I choose to veer away from the flat Chipman Trail where I did my last long run and head to the hilly wheat fields where it's simply more relaxing, scenic, and solitary. The route covered paved roads, gravel roads, and some dirt roads. The only thing I was missing was a dip in the river. I felt very strong for the first 12 miles. Very strong. I was attacking the hills and felt like I was keeping a nice steady pace.

Mile 12 to 13 was a bit of a struggle. This section had a few hills that I could only walk up. At around mile 13 I started feeling a pain in my knee. The same pain I had about 3 months back when I decided to take 2 weeks off to rest it. I slowed my pace considerably, hoping that would help. But it didn't. I walked a bit and then tried to run maybe a 1/4 mile, but the knee was not feeling good. If I absolutely had to I could have run through it (like if I was being chased by a killer sloth) but I didn't see any point in trying to push through it. So the last 2 miles were mostly a brisk walk. It's funny because a couple times I tried to jog at the same pace I was walking and the pain returned. But walking it felt fine. I'm not sure what that means. I have no pain sitting here right now, but I'm sure if I went out and tried to run it would flare up.

This is frustrating because I'm a little nervous this may be something that may not go away as quickly as I'd like. Rest day tomorrow and then I'll see how the knee is feeling on Tuesday.

I've been following my training schedule almost on cue in terms of miles per week. Last week because of my surgery I ran about 5 miles less than called for. So I don't think I'm over training. Maybe it's just a little thing that won't be there on my next run... We'll see.

Oh, and I ran out of water. I'm carrying 42 oz. with my fuel belt but it wasn't enough for me and Sadie. Pretty soon I'll start running with milk jugs full of water.

Saturday - 3.5 miles
Sunday - 15 miles

PHOTO 1 - a taste of wheat and hills
PHOTO 2 - Sadie thinks I'm scared of that hill...

Keep running!

Scott

Say Hello to Summer

"Hello summer."

---

Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday. We had a great time visiting friends and eating way too much.

A heat wave is sweeping across the Northwest. Yesterday morning we went on a 4th of July family jog/hike. Jeanie and the pups came along. It was a nice and easy 3.5 mile trip. At 9.am the temperature was about as hot as it's been all year. By early afternoon it was in the 90's. Very hot for Pullman. We spent the afternoon and evening down in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley for BBQ and fireworks on the river. BBQ - thumbs up. Fireworks - thumbs down.

Since I had today off as well, I thought I'd take a little drive to try a new run at Boyer Park on the Snake River. This is where we often go when we "go to the river," but I had never ran on the bike path before. Another reason I wanted to go here today was because temperatures were forecast to hit 100 degrees and the Snake is always so nice and cold. Too cold unless it's at least in the 90's. And the location isn't so close that I would make the drive often with gas prices where they are. But hey, I had the day off and it's summer, right?

Just as I started my run an old man carrying a fishing pole and tackle box looked at me and Sadie and literally stopped walking to tell me as I ran by, "Son, it's too hot today for that activity." And he didn't say it as a comment or friendly advice. He really seemed to have expected me to stop running. Like it was an order or something. I smiled, but not too big because I wanted to conserve as much energy as I could because it really was too hot to be doing this kind of activity.

The path (the Snake River Trail) is very flat and stretches for about 3 - 3.5 miles. Mapmyrun.com says it's 3 miles. But all the park websites say it's 3.5 miles. So I'll just call my out and back 6 miles to be on the conservative side. HOT HOT HOT - but since it runs along the river Sadie was able to jump in to take a quick soak anytime she wanted to - which was often. As hot as it was the run was quite enjoyable. As you can see from the photos the landscape is pretty spectacular. And it's definitely one of those times where a camera phone can't even come close to capturing the feel of the scenery.

After the run Sadie and I jumped into the river for a swim. (Have I mentioned how hot it was today?) The water was the perfect remedy for the heat. The kind of cold where you would dare someone to jump in. Of course, this is coming from a Texan who is used to swimming in rivers with temperatures near boiling. :)

All and all a good summer day.

Photo 1: Looking southeast
Photo 2: Looking northwest
Photo 3: Snake River from the road above
Photo 4: 102 degrees!!!!! (isn't that guy kinda sexy?)

Off day tomorrow. It is supposed to cool down a bit this weekend. I hope so.

Keep running!

Scott

Heavy Legs, Light Head... and Macaroni & Cheese!

I'm off my pain meds and I feel a lot better. I ate macaroni and cheese last night and it was so exciting to have something other than liquid. (I can't overemphasize how excited I was.) Jaw is still sore so may not be eating corn on the cob for the 4th bbq tomorrow. Burger in a Blender sounds good, though. :)

Since I was feeling so proud of myself to be off the meds and eating mac and cheese I decided I must feel plenty wonderful enough to go for a run this morning. So I went to my Headwaters Trail loop. I thought it would be a good day to bring Shasta also, since I knew I wouldn't be breaking any speed records. I felt really good considering I've been drugged up for the good part of the last week. My legs were a bit heavy and I got a little light-headed at the start but felt fine after I walked a bit. The heat wave has finally reached the Northwest and poor Shasta and Sadie were soaking up all the sun with their black coats, even at 9am. Temps are forecast to hit 100 on Thursday!

I had my first funniest home videos quality fall toward the end of my run. My legs were feeling heavy and I caught a root on a downhill. I thought I could right myself before eating dirt but - no. Big thud on my right shoulder and a five second barrel roll down the trail. Sadie and Shasta were just annoyed that they had to stop. Where's the love?

Notably bad movies I watched while drugged up:

The Libertine
Mongolian Ping Pong
As Good As It Gets
Seraphim Falls

I would like to note that I watched As Good As It Gets a few years ago and enjoyed it, so don't take these reviews to heart because the medication made it awfully hard for me to see and think straight.

I'm excited to be back on schedule. I have a trail race next weekend and I can't wait.

Keep running!

Scott

The Age Without Widsom (oh, I mean Wisdom)

I've been watching a lot of movies the past few days. Some really good ones, I hear. Four and a half stars even for some of them. One or two Academy Awards winners. A lot of actors I really like. Most of the time I am open minded about movies. If they're horrible I'll often say I like them for art's sake, even. But these last couple days I have been the most bitter and cynical movie critic ever. I wasn't happy with any of the movies. They did nothing for me!!! And I want movies to do something for me!!! I found myself wishing I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled instead of having to sit and watch them. Eh, maybe that's just the drugs....

So my teeth were pulled on Thursday and the giant holes finally stopped bleeding by Saturday morning. Other than that everything's been just jolly. (dry heave) Actually, everything has been going better than I pessimistically anticipated. Still a lot of pain in my jaw, though. And because it hurts too much to smile I crafted a nice piece of facial art to act as my interim-smile. All I do is flash it when I'm happy!

I have a photo of most of the pieces that used to be my four wisdom teeth. I guess one of them was at such an awkward angle that they basically had to cut it into a bunch of small pieces that weren't worth putting in my little to-go bag. :( Oh how I miss being smart.

I think I'll be okay to get back into my running shoes by the middle of the week. Hopefully Tuesday.

Scott