The Beast and Me

Thanks for all those who were concerned about the status of my behind recently. It's been a little more than two weeks since I injured my left glute/hip and I'm happy to report that there have been no serious issues lately. Still some stiffness, but I found a few new stretching exercises that have helped out enormously.

The reason for the picture of the shoe above is that, as you might've guessed, I am sporting a brand spanking new pair of Brooks running shoes. Thanks to co-worker John for reccommending I visit a specialty running store to be fitted with a shoe that's appropriate for my individual needs. I found a local joint in Dunedin, Fla., down here and man it was a great experience.

The guy at the store had me walk without my shoes on and with them on, and then asked me to run a little bit so he could observe my technique. I was very impressed, because the guy could tell I was rolling my right ankle slightly and wondered if I had ever done anything to it. Why yes! I had in fact sprained that thing multiple times.

He pointed to my New Balance shoes and said, "Never wear those again." Now, this could've been a sales ploy, but after he broke down how my feet and ankles worked and how I needed a shoe with better support, I was sold and willing to listen to anything this guy had to offer. He suggested I try the above shoe and I could immediately tell a different.

Apparently, the type of New Balance shoes I bought were better suited for someone with flat feet. I have a medium arch, according to Shoe Store Guy, and shouldn't wear NB shoes. Never again will I simply walk into a sports store and grab a pair of shoes that looks cool. Go to a specialty running store and have this done if you are an avid runner/walker.

On a different note, I've got to say that having a professional athlete marvel at an Average Joe's athletic venture is a great confidence booster. Earlier this week, Jays outfielder Reed Johnson and I were chatting at the ballpark and he mentioned he saw me running the other day around our condo complex. "I don't know how you do that," said Johnson, referring to my running long distances.

He and I had talked previously about how I was training for a marathon after I ran by he and hiw wife and their dog Shooter earlier this spring. Now, this is a guy who is a finely-tuned athlete. One of the top outfielders in the game and a former gymnast. He's impressed with what I'm doing? That felt good to hear.

Then, also earlier this week, I was walking back to my condo and stopped for a minute to chat with Toronto pitcher Jason Frasor, who was out walking his dog Cosmo. He asked how far I had just run, and I said "Six miles at eight minutes per." He laughed and said, "You trying to make the team or something?" Nice.

Needless to say, I've been feeling a little better recently. I took a full week off from running following the minor injury, and it was killing me not to be out there. By the end of that week, I was getting really stir crazy mentally. It's strange after a while how you wind up feeling like you need that fix. There's times during the day when I actually plot out when and how far I'm going to run that night. I'm a crazy person, I know.

Things didn't go so hot my first few times out after the long layoff. The low point was a three-mile run on March 15 that I needed nearly 26 minutes to complete. OK, for some people that's not that bad. But averaging over 8:30 per mile for three miles when I can usually stick between 7:10-7:30 per miles over that distance was depressing. I felt defeated.

I took the day off after that and returned with a sub-8 minute average on a six mile run. Then, after buying the shoes, I ran a 7:15 first mile in my new footwear and averaged 7:48 over 4 miles. Skipping forward to today, there were a few other runs in there, I ran 3 miles at 7:23 per miles. So, I'm getting back to my usual pace. Man, it's a good feeling, too.

So far this week, I'm up to 22 miles with one day to go. That equals my highest weekly output since I've been in Florida, and I plan on running again tomorrow. I've ran a total of 89 miles since heading down here to the Sunshine State, averaging nearly 4.5 miles per run. It all comes to an end soon, too. I head back to Toronto on Friday and the season opens on March 31.

I'm interested to see how I adjust to running on treadmills again once I'm stuck in hotels during the year. I know I won't be able to get outdoor runs in as often as I'd like. Balancing my training with the schedule I have is going to be a tough task.

I'm a Hipster Doofus

Yeah, see that pathetic looking dude over there on the right? That's me. I've become my own pain in the butt, literally.

I've had some discomfort in my hip area for about a month now I'd say. I even went as far as talking about the matter with the Blue Jays strength and conditioning guru to see what I might be doing wrong. He gave me some tips and everything seems to be going fine since.

Then around Sunday (six days ago), the discomfort flared up a little more, unsurprisingly, the day after I logged 10 miles. I didn't think much of it and I ran a hard three miles on Monday -- sticking to my program -- and on Tuesday, man, I could barely get out of bed. The discomfort had turned into full-fledged pain.

I continued to think it was the left side of my hip, but upon further review, the source is deep in my left glute. Yeah, my left cheek. So I googled "Pain deep in buttocks" and found this thing called Piriformis Syndrome, which I may or may not have, but includes symptoms that I've been having -- hip discomfort being one of them.

It says this "syndrome" is more common in women than in men, but that in other cases it can be common among runners. Hmmm, I seem to fall within that group (Runners -- not women!). Kelly was down here this past week and she thinks it could simply be from running on the hard promenade, which is made up of cobblestones. It could be that, combine with the running form I discussed with the Jays guy.

He said that one problem I could be having is running too upright, suggesting that I lean slightly forward during my stride instead. I thought that was going well, but maybe I reverted back to a more upright technique while logging the 10 miles on Saturday. It's been uncomfortable to go up stairs, get up from my seat, get out of bed and at times even to walk.

Needless to say, I haven't logged any miles since Monday, even though I've been going stir crazy. It's weird how I start getting really antsy if I haven't gone running in a couple days. I'm itching to get back out there and I'll probably start with a slow three miles tomorrow (Monday). The wife isn't here to tell me to take it easy any more, so if I do go running, I need to at least force myself to focus on finishing, not setting record time or anything.

That 10 mile run was great, though. I finished in 1:21:31, or a little more than 8 minutes per mile. My splits were 8:09/8:21/8:24/8:23/8:20/8:23/8:12/8:06/8:10/7:03. Yeah, I had enough leftover at the end to run nearly a 7-minute mile on the last mile. I could've kept the pace slower and done a few more miles, but I figured 10 was a solid long run at this point.

The following day, which apparently wrecked my body, I ran 3 miles in 21:48 (7:08/7:10/7:30). That last mile might've been more in line with the first two had it not been for a giant puddle of water that I didn't see. It felt like my whole foot went under and my entire right shoe and sock were soaked with about 1/4 of a mile to go. I was not happy, cuz I was hoping to break 21 minutes. Ah, well. I ended up breaking me instead.

We'll see how I feel this week...

Take it outside

So that picture there is a couple years old now, but the place I stay at every year for spring training looks the same. It's a great little gated community of condos, where a few of the ballplayers live during February and March as well.

One thing I love about the joint is the brick promenade that runs behind the buildings and along the water. It's great for running, though a little hard on the legs when you haven't been running on a real hard outdoor surface in a while.

The only disappointment was finding out that the running path isn't the 1.5 miles that they bill it to be. My handy-dandy Garmin informs me that the path is actually roughly 1.35 miles, so 2.7 when running from end to end. That stinks, because here I always thought I was getting a 3-mile run in and I was being shorted by more than a quarter mile.

No worries, though. I've been down here for 13 days and I've gone running on 7 of those. My legs were killing me after the first few runs -- I think simply making the adjustment to the type of surface, the new winding turns and some light hills here and there -- so I took six days off in a nine-day span there at one point.

My first run here went spectacular. I think I was just so excited to be back in Florida and running on one of my favorite routes that I was hymped up on adrenaline. I logged three miles in 22 minutes flat the day I got here -- splits of 7:15/7:33/7:12. I bested that on Saturday with a three-miler in 21:26 (7:00/7:04/7:22).

I really didn't feel like going today, but I got out there and did three miles in 22:10 with my third clocking in at 6:58 -- my first mile under seven minutes since I came down here. On the seven days I've run, I've logged 30 miles, including an 8-mile run (longest since Dec. 21), completed in 1:08:51 on Feb. 17. I had a few miles over nine minutes on that run, but I was taking it easy and I did finish with a 7:28 split on my last mile that day.

I'm on my feet most of the day at work, so part of me has been resisting the desire to get out there and run each night. I'm trying to work in off-days to incorporate long runs again, but the trick is not falling prey to too many off-days in a row. I've continued my core work each day for the most part and have hit up the nice little gym they have here a couple times, too.

Another issue I'm dealing with is eating out (man, that Thai place tonight was awesome!). It's tempting to head out every night with friends on the company's dime, but I'm trying to talk myself into staying in more often this year. I may come off as being anti-social, but it's for my own good!

Well, that's all for tonight. Again, even I think reading all of this is kind of boring, but hopping on here and writing about it helps keep me keep me in check. So far, I'm pretty happy with how I've stuck with this whole running thing, even though, honestly, I hate running. I was telling someone today -- I can't stand the actual act of running, but I love the idea of competing against yourself.

300 Spartan

That's right, this Michigan State Spartan has finally reached 300 miles. With that, I'm set to head to Florida for Spring Training. I logged 25 miles this past week -- was aiming for 30, but I listened to my dying legs and took a day off on Sunday. So, I did a 5-miler on Monday to reach the 300 mark. I've averaged roughly 2.7 miles per day this offseason, and 4.5 per day on the days I ran.

Now, I head to Tampa tomorrow morning for six weeks of Spring Training for the Blue Jays and Marathon Training for me. I'm transitioning back into my long-run routine, which consists of runs on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. So I'll log between 3-6 miles for now on the first three days and use Saturday as my long day. I'll probably start with an eight miler this coming Saturday. We'll see.

That's all for now. It's been quite the winter for me. I started off at around 170 pounds and am back down to a lean 160. Ideally, I'll be around 155-160 by October for the marathon in Chicago. Right now, it's all about strenghthening my core, building up my endurance and continuing to get better at that whole mind over matter thing. I like to remind myself of that Patton quote while I'm running: "Never let the body tell the mind what to do."

I lost, 6-5

Yup, Kelly outlasted me at the gym today, running six miles to my five. OK, five miles was all my routine called for today. But regardless, Kell's showing was the longest continuous run of her life, which is pretty cool for her. She wanted to do six to stick it to me after I gave her a hard time for taking the day off yesterday. Well played.

Since I posted last, I've logged 18 miles in five days, with an off-day on Monday. My goal this week is to run 30 miles, which would give me an even 300 for the offseason only three days shy of departing for Florida. I was hoping to have more by this point, but more than a week off after Christmas and a minor leg injury last month put me back some.

Word is slowly getting out that I'm training to run a marathon. As I'm getting closer to getting back to work, I've run into more fellow scribes and the usual reaction is along the lines of either "Wow, good for you," or "Geez, you're a crazy person." I've also found a couple coworkers who have marathon experience and I plan on hitting them up with questions and for tips in the coming months.

As for my recent runs, my handy dandy watch has all the info. Today I cracked up because my third and fourth miles were identical in time and steps (7:43/1344). I guess I was locked in my zone. I'm typically averaging around 7:30-40 per mile on runs of 5-7 miles. In six of my last seven runs -- ranging between 3-7 miles -- I've also clocked between 6:40-7:02 for my final mile, meaning I'm getting good at stepping it up a notch in the home stretch.

Here are my mile splits for my recent runs around the track:

Jan. 28: 3 miles -- 8:01/7:10/6:50 = 22:01
Jan. 29: 5 miles -- 7:45/7:48/7:44/7:25/7:32 = 38:16
Jan. 31: 7 miles -- 7:57/8:02/7:47/9:01/8:10/7:47/7:02 = 55:48
Feb. 2: 5 miles -- 7:53/7:48/7:31/8:02/6:40 = 37:57
Feb. 3: 3 miles -- 7:23/7:02/6:41 = 21:06
Feb. 5: 5 miles -- 7:59/8:01/7:49/7:54/7:01 = 38:47
Feb. 6: 5 miles -- 7:30/7:41/7:43/7:43/6:57 = 37:36

I'm hoping, in a perfect world, to be able to average around eight minutes per mile during the marathon. So I'm shooting for something around three and a half hours to three hours and 45 minutes. That probably means I'll finish around four hours. We'll see. I'll see how I hold up on some longer runs in the coming weeks.

No turning back now

It's official. As soon as the clock flipped to 1 a.m. here in the East, the online registration opened for the 2008 Chicago Marathon. I waited up, logged on at the first possible moment and am now officially registered to run the 26.2 mile course on Octber 12, 2008. So, what has been a whole lot of talk is now set in stone.

I've paid the non-refundable fee and can now really start mapping out my training for the coming months. The only thing that could derail my part in all this would be if the Blue Jays make the playoffs and then advance to the ALCS. Let's just say the percentages are in my favor that I'll be able to run in the marathon.

As for my latest workout, yesterday I ran seven miles, which is the most I've run at once since Christmas Eve. I had removed long runs from my workouts in order to stick to indoor runs for now. The long runs will return in a couple weeks, when I'm down in the comforts of Florida. The winds have been blowing nearly 60 mph up here in Toronto this week and it's snowing now.

I finished the seven miles in 55:48, so just under eight minutes per mile. According to my handy-dandy Garmin, I took 9,568 steps and burned roughly 886 calories. My legs were aching in the first three miles (splits of 7:57, 8:02 and 7:47). But then I cooled down with a 9:01 on mile 4, suddenly felt refreshed and finished up with splits of 8:10, 7:47 and 7:02 on the last three miles.

It's nice to know that if I do feel some fatigue, I can slow my pace for a mile or so and then pick right back up after that. A lot of times, the fatigue seems more mental than physical. Once I slowed my pace, my legs no longer felt sore and I was able to steadily increase down the stretch. Hopefully I can use a similar approach come October if my body tries to convince me to stop.

Stay tuned for more...

Watch me go

For all those Garmin owners out there, this will come as no surprise, but I'm loving my new watch. It arrived in the mail yesterday and I immediately put it to the test at the gym.

I ended up getting the Forerunner 50 (thanks Marriott points!), which isn't nearly as fancy shmancy as some of the other ones people recommended, but it's light and has all the functions I care about. I just want to be able to see my splits for miles, and see how far I've run without counting laps or guessing based on a route I looked up online.

Yesterday, I ran two miles on a treadmill to test the watch's data to the treadmill's numbers. When I hit one mile on the watch, I was at about 1.97 on the treadmill. So, it was pretty darn close to exact, which is good enough for me. The next test was to see if our thoughts on the track at the gym were correct.

No one has been able to tell us exactly how many laps is one mile on our local track. Apparently, that info wasn't given to the people who work there when the place was built. Since it's smaller than the track we'd run on back home in the Chicago area, we ended up guessing that 15 laps was one mile. Well, my handy-dandy Garmin informed me that 17 laps was indeed one mile.

That was bad news, considering I've been keeping a nice log of my mileage this winter. I started running primarily on the track in mid December and have guesstimated that I've done about 100 of my 250 winter miles on said track. If my math's correct, I didn't run about 12 miles that I thought I had. Ah well, from now on I'll at least know my numbers will be accurate.

The watch also came with the cool wireless USB plug-in dealy that can upload your workout data. I played around with that some on my computer last night and was pretty impressed with all the graphs and charts it spit out. I also found that what I thought was a normal pace on the track was actually a whole heckuva lot faster than I was running on the treadmill.

I ran the first mile on the treadmill in 8:01, the second in 7:10 and the third mile, on the track, in 6:50. I didn't realize I was running that much faster on the track. Now I'll know, thanks to my Garminator. That'll definitely help me keep my pace in line when I start up on the long runs again. It also logged my steps =3,846.

It doesn't take much to impress me. Everyone told me I needed this big high-tech Garmin and I think my simple one that I got for the cost of shipping is awesome. People told me I was dumb for not getting one of those video iPods when I bought my little iPod shuffle, but the shuffle has turned out to be a great little gizmo for running.

Stay tuned for more...