NYC Marathon Training (Week 17) – So Far So Good

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While running has been pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things this week, I have gotten in a couple of runs since my injection on Monday. Yesterday morning I did a very, very chill 6.25-mile run with Paxton on the Harpeth River Greenway. The temperatures and humidity were absolutely perfect, and the run was quite enjoyable with my friend. Overall my hip felt a little stiff and sore, but no pain to mention.

Tonight was track with the JSRC, and I was quite anxious about how it would go. I got there plenty early to make sure I was good and loose for the workout. Here’s a rundown:

  • 2-mile warmup
  • 6 x 100m Stride Outs
  • 3 x 400m fresh (60 sec / 400m recovery)
  • 3 x 250m gfg (150m / 400m recovery)
  • 3 x 250m ggg (150m / 400m recovery)
  • 800m Straights and Curves
  • 1/2-mile cool down

There were only three of us that participated tonight, and I ended up running most of the intervals with Hannah. I lagged behind her quite a bit on the 400s, because I was trying to be very conservative. However, by the time we got to the 250s, things were finally starting to loosen up and I was able to keep up.

All-in-all I felt really good, and my hip seems to be holding together pretty well. It is still really tight, but no noticeable pain so far. At this point I’m pretty pleased with the results of the injection, but the real test will come Saturday when I try my first long run. Hoping things will hold together well enough that I can still toe the line in NYC this fall.

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Kerry Anderson (1960 to 2013)

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On Tuesday, I lost one of my dearest friends. There is no way that I can express how much Kerry has meant to my life and I’m still in total shock. Kerry gave me my first job out of college back in 1996 and just a few months ago went absolutely out of his way to make sure that our family had the best experience we possibly could on our spring break vacation to St. Louis. In between I would just simply say that he was a good friend who made me laugh, made me think, encouraged me to be more involved in preaching, teaching, and writing, and who supported me in almost every way imaginable. You will be missed my friend!

Press Release from Gospel Advocate Company

Please pray for the Anderson family (Neil and Glenda, Matthew, Neila and Nelson) – They are a special family that has dealt with a number of serious trials over the past few years.

 

NYC Marathon Training (Week 17) – Hope to Get Off the Bench Tomorrow

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I went to see my ortho yesterday, and he diagnosed me with IT Band Syndrome in the hip along with possible Trochanteric Bursitis. The good news is that this is all “soft tissue” in nature, and he does not think that the injury involves bone or the hip joint itself. He gave me a cortisone shot in my hip to try and calm down the inflammation, and the goal is to be back running by tomorrow morning. He told me that the cortisone would take about 24-hours to start working, and then I could be back running in 48-hours.

It is interesting how sore my hip is today, but I’m guessing this is mostly from the shot itself and not from the inflammation. I’m pretty nervous about how my hip will feel getting back on the road, and know that I have to really buckle down on doing my glute and adductor exercises. I didn’t realize how intense the side effects would be from the injection, since it is localized. I’ve always hated taking a Prednisone dose pack, because of the way it makes me feel, and this is very similar. I’m constantly hot and feel like I’m hyped up on caffeine. I could not fall asleep until about 4am this morning and then had to get up around 6am to take my daughter to school. Hope this doesn’t last too long!

Anyway, I hope to post another update after my first run tomorrow morning.

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NYC Marathon Training (Week 16) – Just Can’t Stay Off the Bench

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Well….these days it just seems like I can’t keep myself off the bench. After taking 4-days off due to hip pain a couple of weeks ago, I’m back on the bench again with the same problem. I tried running at track last night, but quickly noticed that I was altering my stride to compensate for the discomfort. This caused me to bail less than halfway through the workout.

One of my running friends, who is a Nurse Practitioner, said she was pretty confident it was hip bursitis. I hope she’s right, and that this can be taken care of with a cortisone injection. Whatever the case, I have an appointment with my ortho on Monday to see what is going on. My plan is to stay off the road until then.

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NYC Marathon Training (Week 16) – “Celebrating” My Birthday with the 11.2

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This time last week I was pleased that my hip issue was doing lots better. Well, it is still largely better than it was, but is still something that continues to flare up. Not too bad as long as I keep it stretched out. Here’s a quick rundown of the past week:

Thursday

After taking the previous week off at track due to my hip issues, I came back to track last Thursday night. The humidity ended up being pretty nasty, though the temps were thankfully only in the mid-80s. Here was the workout:

  • Approx 1-Mile Warmup
  • 6 x 100m Stride Outs
  • 3 x 400m fgf (200m / 400m) – 1:29 / 1:21 / 1:23
  • 1 x 800m g (400m) – 2:58
  • 3 x 400m fgf (200m / 400m) – 1:25 / 1:20 / 1:24
  • Approx .5-Mile Cooldown

I probably ran most of these splits too fast, but did remain fairly consistent all the way through. Ideally I like to get in at least 2-miles warm-up before doing the stride-outs, but I was running late due to work responsibilities. Happy that my hip felt decent throughout.

Saturday

After taking Friday off, the group ran the vaunted 16.5-mile loop in Percy and Edwin Warner Parks on Saturday, starting at the Edwin Warner Nature Center. This is one of the hardest runs in Nashville, due to the extreme elevation changes:

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I was quite nervous about being able to finish this one since my longest recent run has been 13.5-miles, and that was on fairly flat terrain. The humidity was tough, but we ended up getting quite a break in the temperatures, which never left the low 70s. I ended up feeling better during the second half of the route than I did during the first. My strategy throughout was to take it VERY easy on the downhills (to protect my legs), and push a little on the uphills. The best I felt all day was during our climb up 3-mile-hill in Percy Warner (was 13th mile on this run), and during the last mile where I tried to finish with a much quicker pace. Again my hip felt great throughout, and I was surprised at how good I felt overall throughout the run. I had never started the 16.5 from anywhere other than the main gates in Percy Warner, but this proved to be a nice change.

Monday

After taking Sunday off, Nathan and I did a VERY, VERY, chill 5-miler on the Vaughn’s Gap Cross Country Course in Percy Warner Park. It was a pretty humid, partly cloudy morning, and the sky was quite beautiful during sunrise:

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Unfortunately, my hip was very stiff after the long run on Saturday. This slowly subsided throughout the run, but it was more bothersome than it had been in several days. Overall though it was a good shakeout run on a nice, soft surface.

Wednesday (Today)

To “celebrate” the final birthday of my 30s, I did the Percy Warner 11.2-mile main drive loop. Incidentally, this route is fully contained within the 16.5-mile loop mentioned above, so this made twice in the past five days. That’s a lot of elevation change for my already trashed legs:

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Wednesday is normally an off-day, but since I didn’t get to run on Tuesday, I decided to do a run this morning. I wanted to get in 8 to 10 easy miles, but for some reason I let Nathan convince me to join him and some other friends from our group (Dan, Dawn, Mary, Lesley) to do the 11.2 this morning. I’m no meteorologist, but I’m pretty sure the humidity was around 7,454%. I don’t think it is possible for the humidity to be any higher without it actually raining (it did rain before and after our run). Nathan and I commented several times that the moisture was so heavy in the air that it looked like we were running through the rainforest. Nathan even said that he half expected a T-Rex to jump out since it looked like Jurassic Park.

Anyway, this humidity was suffocating, and I slowly wilted throughout the run. Things felt ok for the first 6 to 7 miles, but then I just hung on for dear life the rest of the way. Dan had started early from a different spot, so he finished within the first 4 miles of the loop. Once I started to fade, Dawn, Mary, and Lesley pulled away, but thankfully Nathan stayed with me. I know he could have easily kept up with them, but there is no way I would have finished without walking had he not hung back.

All-in-all it wasn’t the best run, but I’m glad to have finished. My hip was still bothersome, but at least it didn’t affect my stride. Hopefully I can get it really stretched out before track tomorrow night.

Beast Mode….ON!

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