This morning marks one week since my last run, and I just felt like writing out some thoughts from the roller-coaster week that has followed…

• I have a new respect for those that can’t run due to injury. I had no idea how hard it would be to hear other people plan runs, listen to others talk about great runs, or see people running down the street, and know that it is something I simply cannot do. I’m determined that I’m NOT going to ask people to stop talking about running around me, but instead am going to grab hold of this and use it as fuel to keep me going on my rehab.

• I’m trying very hard to stay positive, but I’ll have to admit that it has been an emotional roller-coaster. I go from being encouraged to frustrated to energized to demoralized. I know that I was in the best shape of my life. It is hard to think that a certain percentage of the hard work I put in over the past 12-weeks will be for nothing. I try to push this thought out of my mind, but it is hard. I’m determined to be better than ever as soon as I’m fully healed.

• Aqua-jogging is awkward, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how good of a workout it is. I’ve put in over 3 hours since Tuesday, and I think I’m finally getting the hang of how to do it effectively. I’ve received quite a bit of ribbing about doing this, but I’m just trying to turn this into more fuel for my recovery. I’m not looking forward to “long runs” in the pool, but I guess we’ll just see what happens.

• I don’t have a real bike, so I’ve been forced to use a stationary version as another cross training option. I never listen to music while running, but find that the only way I can get through any amount of time at all on the bike is by either listening to music, watching TV, or reading. However, I just can’t get my heart-rate over 120 or so on the bike.

• Over the past week the pain in my leg has subsided considerably. As of Monday I was having a hard time walking at all, and now I feel like I am really close to being able to walk without a noticeable limp. This is encouraging. I’m fascinated by the fact that I was still able to run last Friday morning, but by that afternoon I could barely climb stairs.

• I’ve been overwhelmed by all of the support I’ve received from my friends, Tumblrs, and others regarding my recovery. Thanks to all of you who’ve passed along an encouraging word. However, I’ve been surprised at a couple of negative responses I’ve gotten…For example, telling me to forget what the doctor said about being back in 4 to 6 weeks, and just shut everything down for the rest year. I understand someone thinking this, but why verbalize it? I have no idea what my recovery ultimately holds, but I know one thing. I’m going to work as hard as possible and see what happens.

Well, there they are. Hope everybody has a great weekend. Keep Beast Mode going strong!

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All I’ve got to say is WOW…..seriously!

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Thanks to Olivia, I am now the proud owner of a shiny new Fitness Gear Water Resistance Belt, and hope to make my first attempt at “aqua jogging” this afternoon.

I’m sure it will be riveting 😉

So what is this you ask…

….well this is an “Ultrasound Bone Growth Stimulator,” which is supposed to help with the healing process of my stress fracture. Not exactly sure what it does, but I’m hoping it is similar in effectiveness to this:

BTW….If you don’t get this, it is a Harry Potter reference.

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SportsCenter tells the inspiring story of Matt Woodrum, an 11 year-old with cerebral palsy, and his incredible desire to compete with his classmates.

This helps put my injury in perspective.

I already strongly suspected this would be the case, but now it has been officially diagnosed. Well, here’s what this means:

The Bad

• Can only bike or swim for the next 2 weeks. Have follow-up visit on September 12.
• Will most likely miss the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon on October 7th.
• Will most likely miss the Murfreesboro “Middle” Half Marathon on October 13th.

The Good

• I don’t need crutches.
• The MD said this is a “Low Risk” stress fracture since the bone is very thick (i.e. not likely to become a full fracture)
• I should be able to return to running in 4 to 6 weeks
• When I return, I should NOT have to gradually work my way back into running. He said that if I wanted I could run a marathon the next day (not planning on it…btw)
• Therefore, I should still be able to run the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon and maybe the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon (though not as fast as I had hoped)

Considering that I already expected this diagnosis, this turned out to be pretty good news. I was expecting to be out for 8 to 12 weeks, so 4 to 6 was much, much better. He said that you generally only see a stress fracture of the femur in “advanced runners” (his phrase, not mine) who are in top condition. I thought this was a very nice way to tell someone they had a stress fracture 🙂

Anyway, I plan on hitting the bike (and maybe the water) hard over the next two weeks, and look forward to my next follow-up visit to track progress. Keeping my eyes fixed on the road ahead! Thanks to everyone for their support.

What Does It Really Mean to Have Faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:19-26) – Audio recording of my Sunday evening sermon at Maple Hill Church of Christ in Lebanon, TN on July 15, 2012.

This sermon looks at two of the must fundamental questions in Christianity:

(1) Why did Jesus have to die?

(2) What does it REALLY mean to have faith in Jesus?

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  

A big THANK YOU to everyone on the encouragement after my injury post yesterday. You guys rock! Regardless of what this turns out to be, it is little more than a small bump on the road of life. Still very, very blessed. Everybody else keep “Beast Mode” going while I’m on the bench!!

lifewithkim replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Oh no!!! I will be praying for you.

davidsgoals replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

So sorry to hear that!

runwithrach replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Oh no!!!

livelongtrainhard replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

I hope it can be a short layoff, too. Good luck.

runlong replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Hope you’re able to get back to it soon!

runrunningrunner replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Oh no. Wishing the best for you – very right to shut down the training for now.

amyrunning replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Oh no! I hope it’s a quick fix!

rookcanrun replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

So sorry to hear that, you’ve been killing it!

seechrisrun replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Man that sucks. It seems like you were training the right way. I hope it’s something minor. Do what you can to stay active while you wait for a diagnosis.

michaelontherun replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

It happens to the best of them… hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Keep us posted.

katie-girl-wanders replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Ahh hope you have a speedy recovery from whatever it is!

westcoastrunner replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

UGH — Keeping positive thoughts and prayers for you!!!

markicksass replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Beast Mode: Paused. I am sure you will be back. I think it’s very smart to lay off and see a doc. You are so fit that even if you have to take some time off, I bet Boston will still be there for you when you stage a comeback! Chin up! 🙂

lagirlontherun replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

RICE! Hope you are on the mend and back to running soon. Wish you were in LA so you could see my Sports MD. He is the best!

running-travelling-med replied to your post: Quest for Boston….Is on Hold

Noooooo! Fingers crossed for you.

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I’ve tried to ignore it. I’ve tried to explain it away. However, the pain in my right leg is no longer confined to my quad, and continues to get worse and worse. Because of this I’m shutting everything down until I can get in to see a Sports Medicine MD. Hoping this will be a short layoff, but preparing for something much worse. I’ll update when I know something. Everyone else keep running strong!

I honestly thought the Kinvara 2 was the perfect shoe for me, and was very nervous about trying the new version. Well, this was by far the best a new shoe has ever felt out of the box. I’ll write a full review after a few more runs, but just had to share what an awesome shoe this is.

How did the Kinvara 3 not win “Best Update” from Runner’s World Magazine?

Find Your Strong!

The time between my 75-minute run today and last night’s 15-miler with 10 Yasso 800s was a little less than 12 hours, so I was feeling a little bit of residual fatigue throughout the run this morning.

However, it was good to be joined by both Nathan and Paxton. This was the first run for the acclaimed “Bellevue Trio” in quite some time. We started out at the Bellevue United Methodist Church Parking lot, and ran for 6-miles through the surrounding neighborhood and the new segment of the Harpeth River Greenway.

Paxton only wanted 6-miles total, so we looped back to the cars, and then Nathan and I headed back out into the surrounding neighborhood for our final 25-minutes or so. Our pace started off very, very chill, and then slowly got faster through the first 6-miles. However, I slowed down quite a bit for most of the final 25-minutes, because my legs were toast. I’m looking forward to the nice break before Thursday night’s track workout.

In total Nathan and I completed just under 9-miles with an average pace of 8:50 per mile. That makes just over 30-miles completed since Monday morning.

Beast Mode….ON!

Tonight our group met at the Vanderbilt track to do Yasso 800s, which is designed to be an indicator of what marathon time someone is capable of completing. For those of you that are not familiar with this workout, here is the lowdown…

Yasso 800s are a popular workout among runners who are trying to achieve a specific marathon goal. The name “Yasso” comes from Bart Yasso, the chief running officer at Runner’s World magazine, who popularized this workout. Here’s how to do Yasso 800s:

• Take your marathon goal time in hours/minutes and convert this to minutes/seconds. For example, if your marathon goal is 3 hours and 10 minutes then convert that to 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

• Try to run 800 meters (approximately 1/2 mile) in your converted time (3:10 in this example).

• Recover after each 800 by jogging or walking for the same amount of time (again, 3:10 in this example).

• Start with three or four repetitions in the first week.

• Continue with Yasso 800 workouts once a week and try to add one more repetition each week until you reach ten repetitions. The first few should feel pretty easy, but you’ll notice that they’ll start to get more difficult as you continue to add repeats.

The theory is that if you can complete 10 of these at your goal splits, then it indicates you should be able to achieve your marathon goal. Well, since the group was getting together to run Yasso 800s, John put the following in my schedule:

• 15 to 30 minute warmup
• 8 to 10 Yasso 800s (Goal time 3:05 / 3:05 active recovery)
• 15 to 30 minute cool down

I did my warm up around the Vanderbilt campus and on the track for just over 26-minutes, and then did two quick 100m stride outs with the group. For the Yasso 800s, my goal split time was 3 minutes 5 seconds (6:10 pace), since my goal marathon time is 3 hours 5 minutes. Also, per the design of the workout, I was supposed to run easy for 3 minutes 5 seconds between repeats.

Other than the start of the first one, I ended up running the workout by myself. However, in spite of this I still felt FANTASTIC! I was expecting this to be brutal, but I felt great, and nailed my splits. The biggest thing I had to fight was going too fast. Here’s a rundown of the splits for my 10 repeats.

1. 3:05
2. 3:03
3. 3:04
4. 3:05
5. 3:04
6. 3:03
7. 3:03
8. 3:04
9. 3:04
10. 3:05

I’m very excited about how this workout went, and it was a BIG confidence boost. I don’t necessarily buy into the idea that this means I can definitely run a 3:05 marathon, but I am pleased with how I felt throughout the workout. I think I could have easily run 2 to 4 more and maintained consistent splits.

At the end of the Yasso 800s, I ran a 30-minute cool down on the track, and then back onto the Vanderbilt campus. My legs still felt great during the cool down, and I felt like I could run all night. BTW….We had awesome weather tonight, which was a big plus.

In total I finished with 15-miles on the button at an average pace of 7:44 per miles with warmup and cool down. Might be hard to get going for my 75-minute run in the morning, but tonight was awesome.

Beast Mode…ON!

Today’s schedule called for 50 minutes at easy pace with 6 x 100m stride outs at the end. The weather this morning was just magnificent with temps around 61º and lower humidity. It was weird to finish a run and not be dripping wet.

Nathan and I met at the Edwin Warner Nature Center, and then ran out-and-back to the model airplane field. We started off at a very chill pace, and then got progressively faster throughout.

Overall I felt pretty good, but could tell that we’d run a hill 18-miles on Saturday. I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently about the twinge/strain in my right quadriceps muscle. Well today it was particularly annoying, and did not really loosen up until just before we started our stride-outs. I’ve been really stretching and rolling it tonight trying to keep this from becoming a bigger problem, but I’m starting to get nervous that this may ultimately lead to some missed time.

I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I was actually pleased with how I felt during the stride-outs, and so far the quad problem has not affected my stride or ability to run fast. Anyway, in total we finished just over 6.3-miles at an average pace of 8:19 per miles.

Beast Mode…ON!

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