The Comeback Trail

Played a little church B-ball!  Had not played in over a year, we had alot of fun and I wasn't even as rusty as I thought.  Will be running today at 3 with some of the running club guys. I will count this as 5 miles, 10 min pace 1 hr.

Met up with Dustin, Bill and Bruce at the Dixie center.  Ended up doing 7 miles, overall pace was 7:16.  Our fastest mile was 6:58 and the slowest was 7:48.  This was a nice run, we did alot of talking.  Also, it was Very, Very Awesome to see the Wild Bull pushing the pace again, I hope that back feels good tomorrow!  Dustin was his usual run in the low 7's while not even breaking a sweat!  If he can stay un-injured, I am looking for a great run out of him at Ogden!  I was a little fatigued,  I am hoping it was from playing B-ball before the run.  The truth of the matter is, taking the last week and a half off has hurt a little!  I will get it back.

Ran with Marcie today, 10 miles.  Most of the run was nice and easy, I was a little sore from Saturday.  We ran from SCHS into town and back.  The run is mostly rolling hills.  We decided to throw a couple faster miles in just for fun and hit 6:48 on one and 6:50 on the other.  We did a one mile cool down to finish the run.  Avg pace was 7:45.

P.M. 3 miles Elliptical and circuit weight training with crunches.

Could not sleep, so I decided to hit the treadmill at 4 am.  Listened to some GNR, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Nickelback and some others.  Also watched sportscenter.  Ended with 8 miles, did an alternating hill workout.  Threw 2 faster paced miles in the middle.

P.M.  Ran with Bruce Rea.  We were only going to do 5-6, but ended up running 8!  This was my first big mile day in awhile.  I felt pretty good, we took it easy most of the run with 3 miles at marathon pace.  avg for the run was 7:45.

Ran with Marcie today.  I put these down as easy, but the truth of the matter is, I struggled from 5 on!  It was very nice to have someone to run with today, I would of never got the 10 in alone, thanks a million Marcie!  I will be headed to California tomorrow, coming back on Monday.  Hope to get a couple of runs in, but just excited to hang out with Colleen and the kids!

Ran on treadmill at the Trendwest Resort in Anaheim.  Blah, Blah, Blah.   This was the only day I ran in Cali, too much walking too and from the Dance comp and Disneyland.  We had A great time, although the Eshelles would not let me dance!  4 days of no running and eating 100 Churros, Hambugers, Cotton Candy, Milk Shakes and anything else I could get my hands on, didn't help much.  Sometimes you just switch gears and live life!

First day of running in 4 days.  Ran with Marcie, 8.0 miles.  We started out nice and easy, felt like I was breathing pretty hard (already out of shape)!  We discussed weather we were going to run Spectrum or not.  I am leaning toward running but just making it a tempo run and add some miles at the end. With the knee problems, I am just not ready to race.  We also discussed the effects of father time and your ability to run fast times as you get older!  The last 2 miles we decided to "kick it up a notch". I wanted to see how painful it would be to run a little faster on the knee and just see where I was at fitness wise, in case I run Spectrum.  We eased into it at mile 7 and ran a 7:19.  Mile 8 we took it down to 6:19. Because of the lack of training and in my opinion lack of tempo runs because of the knee, this was a hard pace for me to hold.  I will ice the knee, then see how it feels today.  I am thinking run Spectrum, but go in with the idea of running somewhere in the 7's per mile, we will see.

P.M. 3 easy miles, no gps.  I am guessing around 9 min pace. Very awesome time of year to run in St. George!

A.M. Cross training.  6 miles on the Elliptical, 48 min @ 8:00 min running pace.  After the Elliptical, I did my circuit weight training.  Planning on running with the club tonight. 

P.M. Ran the Spectrum course with the running club.  We ran the first 5 miles in the 6's then slowed a bit.  We extended the run to my house, for an even 10 miles.  I have a bad head cold and breathing was very hard, hope it's gone by sat.  As for the course, the first mile is downhill, then pretty much rolling hills from there.  In the middle you loop through a neighborhood, that is mostly uphill.  I expect the top guys, that are in great shape to hit some good times.  I will say if they do, it's well deserved, I don't feel this is a very fast course. My knee was pretty sore after the run, I really don't know what kind of time I will be capable of. I am just going to enjoy the race and have fun. 

The Big zero today!  Sore from yesterday and been sick with a head cold and larengites.  I told Wild Bull, I can't hardly talk.  He said, you don't need to talk to run, thanks Bull!  With that in mind tomorrow will be no problem.

Late last night I told my wife, I was not running!  I started getting sick on our way back from Cali and it turned into laryngitis the last couple days.  I had totally lost my voice and just did not feel up to it.  When I woke up, I felt a little better but not much and just decided to go for it.  Rode the bus to the start with Dustin and got to talk to my old pal JeffC a little.  (Jeff sorry I could not find you after, I just did not feel up to extending the run.) I jogged around for like 1 minute before the start, just a small warm up did not have any energy to waste. Wild Bull, Marcie and myself had decided to try to run together.  The race started and there was a mad dash.  Nobody wanted to get too far behind with the trail coming up.  My first mile was 5:48, I was having alot of trouble breathing and knew I was in for a tough run.  I decided to just watch Bull and Marcie go, they were running awesome!  I slowed down alot for mile 2: 6:35, this was very dissapointing, I wanted to run fast, but with my throat closing off I could not breath.  Mile 3: 6:31, I have accepted the fact that I will not be able to push any harder than this today and just trying to maintain.  Mile 4:  6:53, I just want the race over at this point, starting to really feel sick.  Mile 5: 6:52, I can see Bull just ahead and decide to catch him.  If not for Bull, I would have just let this thing go.  Mile 6: 6:58, Bull let me pass him on this mile and I was just thinking finish line.  Not sure of the 0.21, forgot to turn the gps off.  I don't really know how I feel about this race.  I did get a P.R. but was frustrated the entire race.  I am going to get an MRI on Monday for my knee and shine area.  After I get the results, I will then either committ to Ogden and get ready, or shut it down and get myself better for STGM.  I finished 6th in my age and 31st overall.  Avg pace 6:35.

Also:  Marcie, Holy Cow!  what an Awesome race!  Your training and dedication is paying off.  I was very happy to see you have a great race!  Congrats! 

Woke up sore from the 10k yesterday.  I decided to get on the elliptical to loosen up, it helped alot!  I have decided to make an all out assult on getting down to 175lbs.  No I am not a weight fanatic, it's just alot easier on my knee with the weight off.  When I was running 80+ per week, I got down to 180 and it made a huge difference.  I backed way off my miles and ran the 10k yesterday at 190, (almost back in the clydesdale division).  After my MRI tomorrow, I will know what kind of running I will be able to do.  I am hoping for the best, but if not, I will swim and cross train like crazy.  I think everything happens for a reason and thats just the way it is.  You can either sit and cry or do something about it.  It was exciting to see all the new PR's yesterday, great job everyone!!

Cross training.  Did my circuit weight, with 3 miles of elliptical.  The total workout takes about and hour.  I will be doing this twice a day, trying to loose some baby fat!

Update:  Had the MRI today.  I won't know the results until tomorrow at 4:30.  Thats the part I hate about these things, waiting for the results.  Will post what I find out tomorrow.

P.M. Same routine as morning, nothing too exciting!

Cross training again.  4 miles on the elliptical and did my circuit weight training routine.  If nothing else, doing this workout with all the crunches I am doing, will bring back the 6 pack!  Have not seen that since my senior year in HS! 

MRI Results:  I had my MRI yesterday.  I had a message on my phone when I got home from work, to come back for another MRI today.  I thought that this was kinda strange, but went back first thing today.  This time they injected the dye in me and did the MRI.  I had an appointment with my Doc at 2:00.  He told me after reviewing the MRI, they had found a Lesion (Tumor), growing inside of my Tibia.  The Tibia has fractures at each end where it meets the tumor.  This is what is causing the pain.  I have to go in tomorrow morning for a CT Scan and they will be testing to see if the tumor is cancerous.  Either way it will have to be removed.  I don't exactly know the procedure for this yet and will most likely have to go to SLC to have this done.  Obviously, this means for now running is over.  I will have alot better feel for this situation once we get the results from the test tomorrow. 

On the bright side:  My Doctor, told me without my running and ramping up the miles, this would have gone undected for quite some time.  The running caused the fractures where the bone meets the tumor.  The tumor growing inside of the tibia weakend the bone and could not handle the 80+ per week miles.  This pain was right below my knee and made it feel like my knee was hurting.  Actually my knee is in pretty good shape, they also did an MRI on it, (good news).  This also makes me feel a little better about my time in the Spectrum 10K.  I took 2 pain pills before the race to run it. (not recommended)! 

I appreciate all the concern and encouragement the fellow bloggers have shown me.  I am planning on running that sub 3 at St. George, yes this year!!!

My usual, Circuit weight, crunches and elliptical.  On a side note: was 190lbs when I ran Spectrum.  I have been watching what I eat and cross training twice a day, now down to 184 lbs even!  175 here I come!

Elliptical, 4 miles and did my circuit weight workout, mixed with crunches.  Total workout time 1 hour.  Hope to get this same workout in again late tonight.  Going out with some friends, but will do it after.  Since I can't run, my wife suggested a little weight competition,  She knows I am bored!  Her and I both picked a goal weight and we are racing to get there.  Winner, well, gets whatever they want!  Now I am motivated!

All my testing is done, just awaiting my results on Monday.  I go in at 8:30. 

Circuit weight and 3 on the elliptical.  Nothing exciting!

6 miles on the elliptical.  No circuit weight tonight.  I did take my bike in to have it fixed, getting a little bored in the garage! 

Circuit weight and 6 miles (48 min) on my favorite friend, the ELLIPTICAL!!  I know, I know, same old same old.  My bike should be fixed soon and we are getting the pool ready.  Some variety to come! 

Update:  I head to the Huntsman Center on Monday the 31st.  It will be nice to get this thing figured out!!  YEEHAW!!

Well, another grand ol'day on the elliptical!  I started with the circuit weight and 35 min on the elliptical this morning.  Then, hit the Elliptical again while my wife did the treadmill.  We workout for 45 min, while watching Deal or no Deal.  Total Elliptical time today was 80 min, or 10 miles.  It should be against some kind of rule, to use the word ELLIPTICAL, so many times!!