Category Archives: My Running

TCM Training Week 8

Feeling good and running.

Previous Posts

Fartleking is a funny sounding way to have some fun and add speed to your training.  Do you remember the Olympic Track Trials, here are a few videos to remind you of the great races. As part of my fundraising for World Vision last year I shared a slide show that I would use to tell people about my trip to Ghana.  Foto Friday was the walking man symbol painted around the city.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 33.3 Miles

This Year’s Training
Here is something different for this week. First is my Running Ahead feed in Facebook and second is my tweet stream with the hashtag #runlog.

This Year’s Mileage

Run: 20.4 Miles
Bike: 38.4 Miles

TCM Training Week 7

Been Sick.

Past Posts

Two years ago I ran the CdLS 5K. Someone stopped me recently when wearing the shirt and asked if I knew anyone with CdLS.  I said it was just a race I had run.  He had a son with CdLS and thanked me for helping raise money for the cause.  That was pretty cool.  I bought a pair of Pearl Izumi shorts to wear for my marathon and reviewed them.  I wrote about education in Africa as part of my World Vision fundraising.  I run a lot on the Midtown Greenway, it is a great place to run and bike.  Foto Friday was from the Outer Banks Killer Dunes 2 mile race.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 39.3 Miles
Bike: 30.3 Miles
Swim: 300 Yards

This Year’s Training

Last week I felt a little off one day, ran the next and felt great, then didn’t feel so well again.  On Friday I woke up with a pain in my neck and lower back (when I stretched).  I opted not to run and by the evening I was starting to feel achy and exhausted.

Saturday I woke up with a fever, achy, chills, and still with the 2 pains.  I convinced Christy to take me to Urgent Care and we arrived right before a big rush.  The doctor spent maybe 10 minutes with us – listening to my symptoms and quickly checking my body over.  She ordered a CBC to check my white blood count.  The lab tech had trouble drawing my blood because I was so cold, he managed to get enough to  test my blood.  We then met the doctor again and she said that things looked fine in my blood so I had some type of virus.  She indicated that she couldn’t test me for H1N1 aka Swine Flu.  She also said that she couldn’t prescribe the tamiflu to me anyway so there was no reason to test for it.  I was also missing 2 of the “indicating symptoms” of H1N1.

My symptoms don’t really match any specific virus that I can find online.  I don’t have enough for lyme disease or West NileWebMD has lots of great diseases that I checked out over time, but none really matched my symptoms.

I mostly have a fever while I’m sleeping or napping.  Which is what I’m supposed to be doing.  My temps have ranged from 96.3 to 102.3 since Saturday.  Friday was the last time I slept through the night.  Every other I’ve been awoken by the fever.  When I haven’t had a fever I feel pretty good and life seems normal (except for the being cooped up at home part).  But once the fever hits I don’t feel so hot again.

Luckily, I’ve been able to eat full, regular meals without an stomach or intestinal distress.  That is the only upside of my being sick.

Over the last week I’ve had to miss work everyday, a board meeting for the YNPN in the Twin Cities, SALT (English tutoring), a race, 2 group runs, small group, and had to reschedule an appointment with a physical therapist for my running.  Not to mention that it has been an amazing week, weather wise.

I’m planning on going to a doctor today.  Hopefully they will be able to do something for me, besides just rest and drink lots of fluids.

I’ve been tweeting about my illness. Check out this link to see what I’ve said  #stupidvirus

By the weekend I was feeling a lot better, but not quite good enough to risk going for a run or bike.  Soon enough.

This Year’s Mileage

Nada.

Did you actually finish MOby Dick? I couldn’t do it, but I tried in 7th grade

TCM Training Week 6

Been running.  Got sick.

Past Posts

Two years ago I ran the Chesterfield 10k on the 4th of July. This was a tough race with some great competition.  An older post about running logs, it could probably use an update.   Have you been wearing flip-flops this summer? I got some for $1 at Old Navy, but I don’t wear them very often, because they don’t help very much for my foot pain.  Several videos including some about World Vision and some humorous one about treadmillsFoto Friday was a throwback to winter and the ridiculous amount of clothing necessary.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 34.2 Miles

This Year

The week began well enough, with a 3.5 mile run Monday run on Pike Island.  It was 63 degrees and I saw 5 adult and lots of baby turkeys, 4 deer and 2 humans on the loop.  I wore my Salomon trail shoes for the first time on a run and liked them well enough. It felt nice and easy and my foot didn’t really hurt too much.

Tuesday’s group run was at Bredesen Park in Edina. We ran 7.25 miles in 58 minutes.  Our pace dipped into the low 7 minute pace. It was 81 and humid.  My foot had hurt all day but after running it actually felt good.  Odd…  We saw lots of rabbits.

Had a morning meeting on Wednesday which kept me from running, but got 2.16 miles in on Thursday morning.  It was 60 and humid as I ran around the neighborhood, making a large square.  Saw more graffiti that I reported to 311.  We’ve seen a huge increase in rival gang graffiti so we’ve been trying to report everything we see.

I had planned on running Friday morning but my neck and back hurt so I thought I’d wait and see if I felt better and run later.  By the evening, the pains hadn’t gone away and I was feeling achy all over my body.  The flu like symptoms continued into Saturday and mid-afternoon I was shaking from cold chills so we went to urgent care.  Some blood work was drawn but it looks like a virus.  So there isn’t anything they can do.  Oddly, the doctor said they couldn’t test me for H1N1.  It sounded like they couldn’t test me at all since I wasn’t in the “at-risk populations”, but it may have just been that I didn’t have the respiratory or diarrheal symptoms associated with that particular strain.  Rest and lots of fluids are my prescription.  Yuck.  My fever finally broke late on Saturday and I awoke Sunday feeling a lot better and almost back to normal.  My body still hurts and I’m still contagious.  The doctor gave me a work release until at least Tuesday, so that is nice.  I’m not sure if I’ll try running or working out again before Wednesday or not.  Frustrating.

This Year’s Mileage

Run: 12.9 Miles
Bike: 21.5 Miles

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TCM Training Week 5

Getting back out there.

Post Review

Just like me last year, Ryan and Sara Hall have devoted their running to help raise money for World Vision.  Last year’s Foto Friday was a stock fireworks picture.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 28.9 Miles
Bike: 49.0 Miles
Swim: 400 Yards

Last Week’s Training

It was nice to actually run again.  The week started out pretty well. I felt good after Monday‘s 1.5 mile run around my neighborhood.  Tuesday was the first group run and it was good as well.  My foot hurt a little bit but not too bad.  I cut the run a little short at 5.5 miles in 43:28.  We have a lot of new people in our training group this year.  Our pace’s group almost doubled.  I took Wednesday off and ran 1.9 miles on Thursday around the neighborhood again.  I could feel a little foot pain but nothing major.  I took Friday off of running but ended up riding my bike for 27.77 miles with a good portion of that being between 18-20 miles per hour, so got a pretty good workout!  On Saturday we met at the Calhoun Executive Center and the scheduled plan was to run 12 miles.  I planned on running about 6 or so.  I ended up running 7 around Lake Calhoun and Cedar Lake.  I felt fine while running but afterward my foot started hurting more.  I took a quick swim in the cool water of Calhoun – mostly just to  ice and relax a little bit, before heading home and enjoying the 4th of July festivities. On Sunday Christy and I went to the YWCA and swam.  I did 450 yards throwing in 2×25 yard all out “sprints”.  It was a nice, fairly easy workout.  I actually almost puked in the pool though after the 2nd sprint.  Oops, luckily it was just that nasty taste in the back of my throat.  So I stopped for a bit and recovered.  As always sipping my patriot power greens drink in the hot tub is a nice way to finish a swim workout.

This Year’s Mileage

Run: 15.9 Miles
Bike: 50.0 Miles
Swimming: 450 Yard

TCM Training Week 4

Hopefully the last week of zero miles.

Two years ago I ran the Buzzards Roost 10k, which is an evening race and usually pretty hot.  One of my all-time favorite places to run, even to this day, is Mounds State Park in Anderson, IN.  Last year I was tagged in a meme. I don’t usually participate in them, but it was a good chance to talk about some of my past running experiences.  Last year I dedicated my first marathon to Team World Vision and helping raise money to end poverty around the world.  How do medical professionals recover after a run? See my analysis of a medical journal article discussing that issue. In honor of the Olympic Trials last year I posted a Foto Friday with my 1996 Olympic Trials number.

Last Year’s Mileage

Run: 29.5 Miles
Bike: 58.0 Miles
Swim: 350 Yards

I kind of slacked off this week.  I only swam and lifted once on Monday for 500 yards.  I did increase the number of reps in my lifting from 10 to 12 for each set of 3.  But then I wasn’t motivated enough to go back again!  And I drove my car to work a few days…

Weekly Mileage

Bike: 21.3 Miles
Swim: 500 Yards