Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Back to Blogging

Hello boys and girls.  I haven't posted in a very very long time (a good 6 months) When I bailed on the posting back in February I was struggling w/ an ITB injury.  Perhaps at a later time I'll get into the details of what happened there, but for now I'll just say that it took almost 4 months to find the root cause of the issue which has subsequently been rectified and I should not have those issues again.  I'll also say that it was a very frustrating experience, and had I not taken the advice of a supposed "foot expert" I never would have had this injury at all!

The "pain free" running started up again in May, but in June our family took a nice 3-week trip to Hawaii, which temporarily interrupted the training.  The trip was great - highlighted by a 17-mile ocean kayak journey down the Na Pali Coast off of Kauai.  (National Geographic rated this trip the #2 adventure in all of the US in their top-100!)  I picked up the training again in mid-July and have been running 4-5 days/week since then.  The cardio isn't quite where it used to be obviously, however I began a much more serious weightlifting routine (almost back to the college powerlifting days) along w/ a lot more stretching, rolling (foam roller), and several exercises that strengthen the hip-flexors, adductors and abductors.  

After almost 6-months of lifting, the result is that my body is getting closer to what it was when I was in my mid-20s, and even though my cardio isn't at a very good level yet, my running on the track is already as good or better than it was before.  I can feel it every time I do anything up tempo - I'm simply running with a lot more power.

For the past month, my weeks have consisted of a couple of easy days, a longer day and a couple of up-tempo days (either threshold running or faster reps)  And I'm in the gym 4 days/week as well.  In another couple of weeks, I plan on getting back into a base phase where I'll work on getting the mileage up and continue the lifting.  After the long layoff due to the injury I really need to work on my endurance.

Anyway - I've been healthy since early May, and it certainly is nice to be healthy.  I probably lost a total of 8-months from the injury (4 months being hurt, and another 4-months to get back to where I was prior to the injury)  But on the bright side, I learned a lot during my down time, and I've incorporated everything I've learned into my training which is already paying dividends.  I don't think you ever want to say losing 4-months to an injury was a good thing, but I'm certain my overall training would not be nearly as comprehensive had I not suffered that set back.  At this point, I'll just continue to work hard and see where it goes. . . talk to you guys soon!


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