A "MESSI" SITUATION

I'm BACK! ... And I did it even faster than Barcelona's Messi ... but then again, if you look at that photo, he's dealing with something a little more "heavy duty" than I am ...

I cranked out some KM's last night (I know, you're asking now, "why does he keep running at night??!! ... you'd think that a little scare like that would set him on a better path" ...) Well, there are several reasons.  Here's a couple I can think of right off the top of my head:
 
  1. My days are filled with work, kids, "real life", etc ...
  2. The daytime streets are filled with scary cars, clueless pedestrians (and tourists) and lots of automobile exhaust .... (cough cough)
  3.  I save money on sunscreen.
  4.  .... because Ray says so ... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4rG4GRTVB4&feature=related)

So I did some slow, some fast and some quality KM's ... and today my ankle's a little sore, but I'm in no way in pain.  Today's (or should I say tonight's) workout is INTERVALS ... we'll see how that goes ... I'll let y'all know ...

A royal pain the the asphalt! ... (aka: ankle twist)

Thursday night's Tempo Run was cut short with a Close Encounter of an Urban Kind ...

We all know that putting one foot in front of the other should be easy
... we've been doing it since we began to walk. But when you start to
mix in factors like an increased pace and typical urban obstacles
(traffic lights, vehicles, people, etc) and then you throw in other
variables like darkness, mild training fatigue and a nasty pothole ...
well, bad things can happen ... and they did.

I took a big "digger" last night. About 30mins into my run I was
beginning the 8'@4:15/km leg and wanted to stick to the pace ... but a
pothole swallowed my right foot and spit me out right into the line of
traffic! ... It was amazing how many thoughts can run through your
head in the split seconds of flight (or freefall) .... they say you're
supposed to see your whole life flash before your eyes, but I mainly
saw myself on crutches watching the NYC Marathon from the sidelines
... damn!

When my foot went into the pothole, I think I had some reflex reaction
to pull it up and take all my weight off of it ... It sent me through
the air and onto the palms of my hands, followed by my shoulder, my
right knee and then onto my back ... traffic screeched to a halt
(luckily) and I got up and brushed myself off ... the taxi that almost
helped me to complete my "final lap" even offered to take me home ...

I preferred to walk it off a bit, wash my scrapes out and even try to
keep on running ... I finished my 8' TP interval followed by my 2' LR
interval and began my next 8' MP interval and decided it would be
better to listen to my body and take it easy ... I hobbled home and
hit the shower ... followed by 30mins of ice packs ... all topped off
with a Naxopren and some topical Piketoprofen gel (Calmatel) and off
to bed to sleep it off ...

This morning I'm surprised (and very pleased) by the minimal swelling,
even though I've got some nice purple and red bruising on the top and
sides of my foot (all within the area that would be inside my running
shoes ...I guess it's more like from the ankle down) ... and the
absence of general pain that I was expecting. I'll deal with the
scraped hands and knee. Here's what I've got though, serious pain
when I roll my foot/ankle to the inside or outside ... forward and
backward motion is fine ... I can lift my toes up toward my knee and
it feels normal ... I can point my toes down and things are perfect

... So, what to do?

My intuition tells me to take it a little easy, keep icing for a day
or two and stick with the anti-inflamatory pills/gel ... the pain
doesn't seem to warrant a visit to the doc's (even though my wife is
insisting) ... what do y'all think? .... Should I attempt to stick with my training plan and see how it feels tonight or should I take a day off? ...


In the meantime, run carefully ... run safe!

Ryan

Physical Therapy: Want a side of fries with that?...

It's now 2 weeks later and I've just finished my second session of PT ... I had to postpone the start due to the fact that I "threw out" my lower back last Sunday picking up Noa from her crib. (ouch) ... After 5 days of back spasms and crazy pain, the shot of Voltaren right in my ass/lower back, Ibuprofen pills, and "Happy Pills" (muscle relaxants) things felt just about right .... so off to PT I went. 

Yesterday they started me off with the new routine ... that will last 10 sessions ... they will vary, yet it appears that we will always begin the same way ... when I show up, they lay me on a cot (face down) and give me 3-5 mins of ultrasound right on the spot (apparently they've decided it's the PIRIFORMIS they need to focus on) ... the ultrasound is supposed to reduce inflammation. Good.

Then from there they take me into the next booth where they aim a crazy boom-arm apparatus thing at the same zone (yes, my ass) and say, "This is microwaves ... you'll feel heat, but it won't burn ... relax..."  (I'm uneasy by the "microwave" thing and wonder if I should order a side of fries with my rump roast)... they leave me baking for 8 more minutes ...  not bad ...

From there we move into the stretching/exercise zone ... they walk me through 3 different stretches and leave me on my own to do 15 reps per leg for 10 sec holds of each stretch ... (kind of trying to make up for all those days, weeks or years I neglected stretching ....whoops. )

Then the PT takes me to the massage cot where she starts to twist turn pull dig press and whaterver else to see where the problem is and how to untie the knots ... as she interviews me to collect more info I confess my poor discipline for stretching ... and she replies, "you don't have to tell me, I can feel it ... and you're damn lucky you haven't done more serious damage sooner ... get on the ball with this one, it's not too late..."

She aligns my "sacrum" and tells me to run through the stretching again at night and to return the next day for more .....   that was easy and far less painless than I was hoping ... I feel like I need someone to really dig the knots out with their elbow ...  more tomorrow.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Next Step: Recovery ...

Good news! The ST (Sports Traumatologist) read the test results of my MRI and X-rays and told me that although there is mild compression on my semi-dehydrated disk between L4 and L5 that there is clearly no pinched nerve ... whew! ...
The x-rays show no problems either (except for the fact that he pointed out that my "femur heads" which are normally spherical are more oblong or oval shaped ... which may lead to problems some time down the road  - I guess he added that just so I had something to look forward to when I get old ...)
So, he prescribed 10 sessions of "functional rehabilitation" (I've translated that directly from his presciption ...) i.e. PT (physical therapy) ... massage, etc.

I've got my first visit lined up for Friday on my lunch break ... I'll let you know how it goes ...

I gotta run (soon)-
Ryan

...A little bit of "down time" ...

I'm really struggling with this hip/ass issue ...
It's still buggin' me and not going away, as much as I try ...
Stretching, running, resting, etc ... all help, I'm sure, but they don't resolve the problem.

I went to a Sports Traumatologist yesterday.
He prescribed and X-ray and MRI ... got that done.
I just picked up the results:
What does the report say? Can't stand the suspense? ....


My rough translation would be as follows:
________________________________________________
COMMENTS:

"There is no observation of loss of vertebral alignment. The L4-L5 the disk shows signs of partial dehydration as well as a partial overall (global) distention with the rear half portion compressing the "hard casing" with no evidence of true significant compression nor any root consequences ..."

"Signs of overload on the "interapofisarias" L1 to S1 with no "foraminal" reprocussions. (Big words there, huh?)

DIAGNOSIS:
Grade I Degenerative "discopathy" L4-L5 with no evidence of saco-radicular impact/influence. ________________________________________________

Now, I'm no doc, but I think this sounds good ...

I think I'll be able to convince my ST that some good PT time will do me good to get everything more flexible and relieve some of the pressure that's reducing my range of movement and really draggin' me down ...

I go back to him on Tuesday to see how we have to tackle this ...
 I'm getting antsy ... and really REALLY want to run "normal" again ...

I'll keep y'all updated.

R.

Starting on the right foot ...

(Bruc and I on his first run on the country road oustide Enguera, Spain)

Over Easter weekend I had a "milestone moment" that I think is worth sharing... and whether or not you agree, I'm still going to post it ('cause this is my blog, and I'm the boss here).  There are always points in time throughout any trajectory that are more or less worthy of recognition.  My son is not yet 6 and, in fact, still doesn't fully comprehend what Daddy's running is really all about (If he figures it out, I hope he lets me know ...I'm stumped too!)  However, he's starting to accept the fact that ... well ... Daddy runs.  Why, where to, and all the other variables keep him scratching his head, but at least he's coming to terms with the "What" ... and yes: Daddy runs.

I normally run on weekdays during my lunch break (here in Spain they sometimes call it "siesta" ... most get 2-hour midday breaks and that works great for shorter runs ... the drawback? ... later evenings at the office) and if the midday thing doesn't work I "sneak" out of the house after the kids are in bed and sleeping ... (back to the drawbacks of the 2hr siesta: I work until 8, the kids get to bed around 9, I get dressed and out of the house before 10 if I'm lucky ... and depending on the mileage/kilometrage you can do the math ... some late LATE nights in the peak of the training season - but we'll save that for another post...)  When the weekends roll around, I try to coordinate my plans with family events so as not to interfere with the flow of things ... at times we head down to the beach and I disappear for a run ... or we head to the mountain trails above Barcelona and while the picnic is getting ready I run ... or I get out of, and back into the house [far too] early ...

So, where is all of this leading? ... When my son does "catch" me and see's me running it sparks his curiosity ... which is often accompanied by protest (It could be worse, he could tell me to get lost).  I'm overjoyed that he always wants me to stick around, yet torn by the fact that I need to get in my training ... and it's hard to make him understand it'll only be an hour or two ...  That's where this "milestone moment" occurred (I know, cut to the chase, right?) ... I got geared up and was about to head out for a long run when I got snagged with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar.  Dressed, laced up, heartrate monitor strap and GPS locked onto the satellites I walked out the front gate right as he stepped out the back door of the house where we were spending our weekend holiday ... BUSTED! ... I thought it was going to be more of the same: "Daddy, don't run ... c'mon! ... let's play catch, let's kick the ball, let's do something..." but he just said "wait one second, I gotta get something ...." he ran back into the house and a few moments later reappeared in shorts, t-shirt and his "gym" sneakers ... "I can come with you, right? ... Please??!!" ... he didn't have to beg, I could see by how his face lit up with the joy of his own idea, that there was no way to resist....

Of course I had to modify my plans for that run, but I can assure you that on that day I ran one of my happiest and certainly my most memorable 1.25 kilometers ever! ...

I'll post more later ... Gotta run!
Ryan

You can take it with you wherever you go...

So, back from Easter weekend vacation with the family down in the
outskirts of Valencia... I'm back to work now and into "the swing of
things" ... trying to get into the familiar rhythm of work, etc ...
you know: ROUTINE. It's good for all of us. I've found that
vacations, travel, and sometimes even just plain 'ol weekends can
really stir things up a little ... especially when I'm in "training
mode".

One of the nice things I've found about running, of course, is that
you can take it with you wherever you go. It doesn't take up much
space in your suitcase (except for my size 13 Asics) and there's
virtually no place you can't unpack 'em and head out there for some
quality mileage/kilometers. I've got some great memories of "vacation
runs" in tons of places like NY/NJ, Sunny Florida, Tuscany,
California, Valencia ... Hawaii ... and all around Barcelona. I think
it has more to do with wanting to see where you are from a different
angle. Sometimes your run will grant you a perspective that you
wouldn't have noticed otherwise ... I particularly like the ones that
are better without the headphones, just looking and listening ... (and
hopefully not having to be too much on the lookout for traffic). This
weekend I got back out on [one of my favorites] the country road that
leads out of town from my wife's father's childhood villiage Enguera.
Aside from the steady strides and rythmic breathing ... I was all
alone out there with the olive trees, orange groves, grasshoppers,
warm dry air and the rolling ribbon of asphalt that leads over the
arid ground through the hills of the scenic spanish countryside.

Most people in the villiage can't understand why I'd get out on that
road and ... run.
Most people in the villiage have never been out there listening to
what I've heard.

Pain in the ass ...

The training is picking up, and since I'm always squeezing in runs
between work, sleep or something I seldom have the time to stretch
properly prior to, and after my runs ... the result? ... Slower/longer
recovery time. Risk of injury ... tight/sore muscles and whatnot.
Right now I'm battling with a royal pain in the ass ... Priformis pain
and some crazy "trigger points" ...

I'll work through it ...

Sightseeing at 20km/hr...

one of the nice things about running is that you get to see
interesting parts of the city that most people perhaps would overlook
...
When you're trying to find 20-30km routes around Barcelona, you
oftentimes wander into areas that you wouldn't normally see in your
daily routine...
That, to me, has always been one of the perks of urban running ...
here's something groovy I spotted the other day ...

Of course, I don't carry my camera with me on runs ... I went back to
photograph it today.

"Congrats! Now get healthy"...

Funny. You finish a half marathon in your best time. All after
having trained since early summer. Your training schedule demands 5
or 6 days a week ... sometimes getting up to a total of over 90km/week .... You shed extra weight, tone muscles and increase your
cardiovascular fitness level to a new high. You sweat all the
impurities out of your system. You've fine-tuned your diet so that
you balance your nutritional requirements of fats-protiens-carbohydrates, etc. You get in tune with running and feel your "groove" ... You feel almost like an efficient machine ... meanwhile, all of your friends (or at least mine) can't even understand why someone would go out and run 20km at night after working a 10-hour day at the office. You are in shape.

One would easily label you as "Healthy".

Upon qualifying for New York City ... I posted the news on my Facebook wall. An immediate response came from Jim Vance who I had been in touch with after having met here Barcelona last summer when he came with his wife and some friends to follow the Tour de France. His comment was direct ... "Congrats! Now get healthy!" ... Jim was aware that I was "struggling" with new knee pain. However, it seemed ironic that feeling so "healthy" I needed to "get healthy"

...but he was right. Being "fit" or "in shape" doesn't necessarily mean being "healthy" ... So I began to care for my knee ... and things got better. I pampered it, took lots of "Vitamin I" (as my brother calls Ibuprofen) and used anti-inflammatory gels. I rested and learned how to stretch. For the first time since I began running (over 20 years ago) I took the proper time ... perhaps even more ... to stretch. Before and after running. Even on "off days". I uncovered the magic of an essential tool that I had been disregarding for all the time that I have been running ....stretching (more on that in a later post). The pain slowly disappeared, but the psychological effects remained ... I had to work through the fear of feeling the knee pain again as I tried to ramp up my running again ... finally, it came to a "do or die" point and the Barcelona Marathon rolled around.

Concerned but not worried, I was convinced that my knee had healed. The race was a [personal] success ... My knee felt great and didn't bother me in the least bit. Post-race recovery was fine as well ... During a few short recovery runs, I felt slight bruising on my kneecap (similar to the pain I had during training season) ... and a strange sensation similar to having a string lightly tied across my knee .... It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was there ... and I kept wondering ....

Then I got the link to my photos from the organization ... and one of the shots showed the exact thing that I was feeling (attached). I won't say that it's a bad thing, because I don't know. I just know that it's a weird-looking thing ... and it keeps me concerned. I want to "Get Healthy" for NYC. So, I decided to schedule a visit with a sports traumatologist ... just to put it to rest (I'm sure). I'm on my way there in 30mins ... to tell him that "I had a pain that I no longer have" .... strange .... I'm confident that he'll give me the "green light" ... but I wanted to clear up all doubts ... I'll let you know how it goes.

Gotta run!...

My NYC Qualifying Race - Jan 2010

This is the race that got me in. I had the qualifying cut-off time
(1h:30 for my agegroup) set as a goal, but I wasn't too worried about
reaching it. I had thought that it would be more like another "long
run" in my training schedule. If it went well, great ... but if not,
I didn't have to sweat it ... I still had 2 months of training for the
BCN Marathon ... I had it pretty clear that my true goal in order to
qualify was to come in under 3h:10 in the Barcelona Marathon in
March... so ....
Aside from showing up a little tight for time, the temp. was pretty
chilly (the car dash read-out said -2ºC as we passed through the towns
on the way down the Mediterranean coast) and I didn't get a chance to
stretch or warm up "enough" ... The race kicked off and I battled a
cramp in my left shin for the first 3km ... it finally subsided and I
began to smooth out. The running felt good, the day was perfect and
the race turned out even better than I had thought... (Aside from the
fact that the organizers slipped up and painted one of the turns wrong
and we all ran about 350m more than we were supposed to)
My final (adjusted) time (ChampionChip calculated the overshot
distance and subtracted the corresponding percentage from each
athlete's time) was 1:27:52 so my qualification was complete. When I
called my brother to tell him how it went, he read off the ING NYC
Marathon website that "all guaranteed qualifying entries must have met
the appropriate qualifying time between January 1, 2009 and January
31, 2010" ... WOW! I should have read the fine print ... or maybe
better that I didn't. That way I enjoyed the race and ended up
qualifying too ... If I had put it off until the BCN Marathon I would
have, of course, passed the cut-off date and this would not all be
happening ....
Here's a link to my Garmin file from the race (I'm curious to see if
this works)... you can see the course, results and all 1km splits ...
etc.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/22046038

Catch ya later .... I gotta run!

let the quest begin ...

Intro.
So, I don't know that much about blogs ... in fact, what I do know tends to bore me.  I believe I have never really read through an entire blog, and perhaps that's just the idea, you find what interests you and read what you want ... the rest is just filler ... who knows ... Either way, I wanted to try to find a way to create a running account (no pun intended) of my latest goal and to share it with whomever it may interest...

It began on the morning of March 7th, 2010 at around 11:41:09am (Barcelona time) ... that's the moment I crossed the finish line of the 2010 Barcelona Marathon in my personal best time ... 3hours 11minutes and 9seconds .... got it? ... eleven minutes (and nine seconds, but who's counting?) .... at that precise moment, even though I had just "shattered" my own personal record by more than 19 minutes in a full marathon (42.2km / 26.2miles) and had fallen short of my goal for that day of coming in under 3h:10m:00 I knew that I had to strive to come in under that magical cutt-off point of 3 hours.

My registration (via qualifying time of 1h:27m for a half marathon) for the 2010 New York City Marathon had already been accepted.  I knew that my plans this coming fall would take me back to New York where I ran my very first marathon in 1998 (3h:50m)  ... and I knew that I had to make it a big.  I knew that it was where it was going to happen....  three hours ....

Sound like a realistic goal?  I'm not quite certain it is... 
Impossible? .... no way!

Now, ahead of me lies the next 7 months that will be filled with the joys and hardships of balancing "real life" with the demanding challenges of preparing for my next marathon.  Over that period my daughter will have her first birthday.  My wife and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary.  Our son will turn six ... on the same day that I'll turn 42.  The patience and support of my wife, my family and friends will be invaluable tools for reaching this goal.  I look forward to documenting and sharing all I can throughout the course of that period here. 

I think I can do it in eleven less.  Dare me?...

Gotta run ... Ryan