Day 44

I was really tired this morning and kept resetting my alarm, so I ran faster more out of necessity than planning. I ran 3.00 miles in 29:36 for an avg pace of 9:53/mile. My avg heart rate was 167. Hopefully I get more sleep tonight since I will be waking up extra early in order to run 6 miles tomorrow.

Day 43

Today was a rest day, after work I did a little bit of yard work, we took the kids to a park with their scooters and let them ride around for a while, then we came home and made banana smoothies. Not too bad of a day. I also weighed in at 178.8, which is down from my high of 204 at the start of the year.

Day 42

Today is my cross training day. I always have a problem on Sundays because I like to sleep in after a long week, then between church and family dinner, there is not much time left. We decided to go for a walk as a family along the Jordan River Parkway and feed some ducks. It's probably less than I should have done, but at least I got my heart going a little bit pushing the stroller down the trail. :)

Day 41

We went fishing this morning and then again this evening, so the only time I had to run was in the afternoon. Wow, that sucked. I made it through the 7 miles, but at a lot slower pace than I would have liked. I ended up running 7.00 miles in 1:24:27 for a pace of 12:04/mile. My avg heart rate was 168 bpm.

Day 40

Today was a rest day, which helps after running 8 miles in the last 2 days and then getting ready to run 7 miles tomorrow, all in my first week back from taking time off to let my knee recover. My body feels great now, no pain at all which I am thankful for. I really like my new shoes, they are much more comfortable than my Nike's. I'm going to try to get to sleep early tonight because besides running 7 miles, I am taking my kids fishing in the morning as well.

Day 39

I ran in the evening today as well because I didn't think it was a good idea to only have 8 hours between my runs as I am just 5 days away from recovering from knee pain. I love running on the Jordan River Parkway, but the bugs at night are a pain. Today's run was 3.00 miles in 31:40 for a pace of 10:33/mile. My avg. heart rate as 173 bpm.

Day 38

I stayed up way too late last night, so I was too tired to wake up this morning. So, I ran my 5 miles at night. It was pretty hot, so I waited until the sun went down. Sarah decided it would be fun to bring her and the kids and let the kids play at a playground along the trail while I ran, which did motivate me at the end to push a little bit to get done as it was getting pretty dark. My final numbers were 5.00 miles in 54:38 for an avg. pace of 10:55/mile. My average heart rate was 179 bpm.

Day 37

It feels great to be back healthy and running, I got up early and drove out to the 4800 south trail head of the Jordan River Parkway. I kept an eye on my heart rate and ignored my pace to make sure I didn't over do it while I am coming back, so I was a little slower than I would normally like. My run was 3.0 miles in 33:30 for a pace of 11:10/mile. My average heart rate was 158 bpm.

Day 36

Well, today was a rest day, so naturally I went for a hike. I took the day off and we all went on a hike up to Timpanogos Cave. For those who don't know, it's a 1.5 mile hike each way with a 1000+ rise in elevation. I carried my 3 year old Ella the whole way up and down while Sarah carried our baby Jocelyn in a baby carrier. The other 3 kids (Lindsey-5, Emery-7 and Robbie-9) hiked the entire thing, I was very proud of them.

Day 35

My knee felt great this morning, so after the rain stopped, I decided to go for a short and slow run to test it out. I drove down to the Jordan River Parkway for a run so that I could still run on asphalt instead of concrete, but without the crown that streets have. I started out my first mile at a 10:35 pace, so I slowed it down and was at 11:12 for my 2nd mile which should have been about right. Then, letting my competitiveness kick in, I started thinking that was too slow and I kicked it up for my last mile and finished the last mile in 10:38. I hadn't been watching my heart rate much though and was shocked to see that in the last mile, it reached 192 bpm (my supposed max heart rate calculates to 191 bpm). While I was certainly pushing it, I didn't feel like I was giving it my maximum effort. Luckily, my knee still feels great, so the run was a success although I went faster than I should have. I am going to ease back into my training schedule now, giving myself a rest day tomorrow, though I may change the view on my watch and replace the larger pace field with my heart rate for a little while and not worry about pace at all. This does make me want to calculate my max heart rate more accurately by running hill repeats to push it as high as I can, but I am going to wait until after the marathon for that.

My final stats were 3.00 miles in 32:28 for an average pace of 10:48/mile. My average heart rate was 177 bpm.

Day 34

I haven't been getting more than 4-5 hours of sleep every night this week, so it was great being able to sleep in today. I finally got up around 9, and Lindsey, Ella and I ran to Costco to grab a few things. When we got home, I hurried and got the lawn mowed just in time, because it started raining right as I finished and it poured for a long time. Sarah put me to work today though since I couldn't be outside doing yard work. We swapped the boys and girls rooms since the girls need more space since there are 3 of them. I think it would have been easier work digging up trees and pulling weeds like I had planned. :)

My knee is probably about 95%, I only felt a hint of soreness, not really pain today. I may go out for a short run tomorrow morning to test it out (and try my new shoes :) ).

Day 33

My knee is nearly healed, just a little bit of pain off and on today. My new shoes got here today, I can't wait to go out in them.

Day 32

I woke up today without any pain in my knee at all, which was the first time since this happened. It usually hurts the most when I first get out of bed, then lessens as it warms up during the day. There is still a little pain there if I have been walking for a while, but not bad at all.

Day 31

Well, my knee was feeling great today with only a small amount of pain. But then, my cousin Sidney gave Robbie his old skateboard while we were at their house for a birthday party. When we got home, I let Robbie try it out in the alley next to our house, but then when we were about to go in, I decided to show off and took a turn on the board. It started off well, but it was dark and I didn't see a rock which brought the board to a halt and sent me sprawling. I put out my foot to catch my balance and not fall and it just happened to be my left foot and my knee is hurting again. I am an idiot.

Day 30

My knee is feeling much better today, other than a couple of times, I didn't feel any pain at all. I think I should be ready to ease back into my training next week if everything continues.

Day 29

After discussing my symptoms with some friends online, I am 99% sure that I have pes anserine bursitis. My symptoms match up perfectly with it, plus it is said that having tight hamstrings is a big cause of this, which anyone who has seen me try to stretch can attest to me having some of the tightest hamstrings possible. I have no flexibility whatsoever, it's pretty sad. The good news is that it's nothing big and it should go away after a week or 2. Also, it helps knowing what it is so that I can work on stretching exercises for my hamstrings as well as strengthening my quads.

http://www.sports-injury-info.com/pes-anserine-bursitis.html

Day 28

It's painfully slow, but there is some progress in the my recovery. The pain in my knee is slightly less painful. I'm hoping that it doesn't take too much longer.

Day 27

My knee feels slightly better, but still pretty painful, especially to the touch. I am going to rest it another week, then if it still is hurting I will go in and have it checked to see if is more than just tendonitis or bursitis. This sucks.

Day 26

Not being able to run is killing me. I am going stir crazy. It is feeling better though, so hopefully it won't be too much longer. I am going to wait until there is no pain and I have my new shoes.

Day 25

Well, I think I am going to have to take a week or so off (hopefully) because my knee is still hurting. Based on where it is, I think it is just bursitis or tendonitis, but I am going to rest it. I have also decided to start running the Jordan River Parkway instead of on uneven roads, plus I am going to go with a Motion Control shoe rather than the Structured Nike Triax 11's that I have been using because based on the wear patterns on my shoes, I am still overpronating in the Triax's. I just bought some ASICS GEL-FOUNDATION 8's for 25% off at footlocker.com.

Day 24

Today was not a good day. I woke up and got out of bed and as soon as I stepped, I felt a pain in my left knee. I am not sure if I laid on it weird, or if it is something that has just been gradual and it is finally presenting itself, but it's a small but sharp pain on the inside lower part of my left knee. I decided to still go on the run, hoping that it would go away after I warm it up. After about a half mile at a 9:20 pace, the pain was still there and I felt like I was hobbling, so I cit the run short. I've iced it down and also had an ace bandage on it at various times during the day and it is still a little sore, but not much. I think I may need to look into getting some new shoes based on this though. I am an over-pronator and currently run in Nike Air Triax 11s which are stability shoes, but my wear patterns on the shoes still show some very uneven wear, so I will probably buy some motion control shoes to see if they will help. I think that these shoes also are a little narrow which has something to do with the foot pain that I seem to continually get.

My stats today were 0.54 miles in 5:02 for an average pace of 9:20/mile. My average heart rate was 149 bpm.

Day 23

Today was the first running day of my 4th week of training and although I didn't get enough sleep again last night, I felt great out there this morning. It was about 57 degrees and a little bit windy, but luckily it wasn't too bad. I continue to feel better and better out there and I think my pace is starting to show that. Today was my slow day in which I was trying to keep my heart rate around the low to mid 160's which I did for the most part, though I kind of surged at the end and it got up to a max of 183. The run ended up being 3.00 miles in 30:28 for an average pace of 10:09. My average heart rate was 163 bpm.

I am getting faster and I was interested in a comparison in my progress in just a week (since this is my 2nd Tuesday easy run since I got the Garmin and have heart rate data to show similar effort) and was happy with what I found. On 6/2, my pace was avg. heart rate was 161 bpm and my pace was 10:29/mile. So, today I improved my pace by 20 seconds/mile and my avg heart rate was within 2 bpm.

Day 22

Today was a rest day which was nice because I was exhausted this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night, so I reset the alarm about a dozen times this morning. I'm going to hopefully get to bed earlier tonight so that I will feel a lot better in the morning when I go out for my run. I just hope that it isn't raining while I run.

Day 21

Today is the end of week 3 and called for an hour of cross training. I normally have been trying to do it in the mornings, but it didn't work out today. The plan recommends walking, biking or swimming, so I thought it would be fun to go on a family walk. We walked about 2 miles in a little over an hour as I pulled Lindsey and Ella in a wagon while Sarah pushed Jocelyn in a stroller and the boys walked. We had a great time, even if it was kinda weird going for a walk with 5 kids at 9 at night :)

End of Week 3 stats - 15.00 miles in 2:35:33 for a pace of 10:22/mile.
Training totals so far - 46.7 miles in 8:23:17 for a pace of 10:46/mile.

Day 20

This week is a step back week, so the long run was only 5 miles, but it goes up to 9 next week. I was up too late again last night after making the bad decision to get our grocery shopping done last night. I also have to work today still, so I got up at out the door by about 5:45 this morning, hoping to be done and to work by 7:30. My run was 5.00 miles in 53:13 for a pace of 10:38/mile. My avg. heart rate was 158 bpm.

Day 19

Today is a rest day, and it certainly is nice considering I've been pushing myself a little faster this week, not to mention that my last 2 rest days were spent doing yard work the entire days. I've been at work all day, and then we are going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate the kid's last day of school. I have to work tomorrow as well as get a 5 mile run in early before work, so hopefully I will be able to get to bed somewhat early (ie:before midnight) tonight. I am thinking about driving down to a trail head and doing my run on the Jordan River Parkway. It will depend on how early I am able to get up though.

Day 18

Today was another 3 mile run at an easy/recovery pace which was helpful because I was a little bit sore still from pushing myself yesterday. I tried to keep as even of a pace as I could through the whole thing which I did a reasonably good job of. I finished up running 3.00 miles in 32:02 at a pace of 10:40/mile. My average heart rate was 153 bpm.

Day 17

I was a little bit sore today, but once I got out running it all went away and I was feeling great. That was my best run by far up to this point in training. Wednesdays are the training days where I am supposed to push myself as fast as I can handle, it should be at or near race pace. Also, today's run went up a mile (Wednesday runs add a mile every 2 weeks to a max of 10 miles). My run today was 4.00 miles in 38:51 for a 9:42/mile pace. My average heart rate was 170 bpm.

Day 16

I felt better today than I did on my last run, but I still need to be getting more sleep. It was about 60 degrees this morning which felt great. I ran 3.00 miles in 31:25 for an average pace of 10:28/mile. My average heart rate was 161 bpm.

Day 15

This was another "rest day", I've got to stop doing this. I working out in the yard for about 9 hours today, better that the 12 or so from my last rest day, but still too much. I started just meaning to dig up the chinese elms that keep sprouting up everywhere, but I ended up going along the fence and digging up grass to make a flower bed (there were already rose bushes along that fence, but surrounded by grass. My back is sore, I'm glad the training only calls for an easy 3 mile run tomorrow, I just hope that the rain stops by morning.