October wrap-up & rebuilding progress

October turned out to be my best month of running since May, before the Achilles injury. I've been walk/running three times a week - twice a week early on roads and once a week off-road. In the last two weeks I've dealt with cool rain and with increasing cold - 33 degrees one day last week. Not bad if you're dressed for it.

My favorite October running moments were stepping outside one frosty morning to a clear sky full of stars, and a Saturday trail run that featured glowing fall colors. I forgot my camera that day but it was good to travel light.

I hadn't been a big fan of running on roads in recent years but oddly enough it seems to be working for me right now. My Achilles is getting stronger with the firmer running surface, and my shins are doing fine as long as I don't overdo the downhills. I try to get out on trails on weekends for some variety and some "soul" running. Apparently I need more of it as I've found myself easily fatigued trying to avoid rocks while running up leaf-strewn slopes. I'm still doing very short distances but increasing a little each week.

I'm also thinking about something I read in a triathlon training book this summer. This writer felt that developing good running technique, particularly in terms of foot strike (forefoot or midfoot strike vs. heel strike), was more important than sheer running endurance and that the former should precede the latter. This runs somewhat counter to a lot of other running advice I've read or followed. I think I've tended to be a bit of a heel striker, which I thought was good for shock absorption, but from what I've read - not so good for speed. Your foot stays on the ground longer with each stride. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but I've been working on my form and I like what I've seen so far. I seem to be landing a little more on the midfoot, staying on the ground less with each stride, and taking more strides per minute. A couple days ago, I ran on a track for the first time in many months and it was a positive experience. The flatness of it made it feel like I was running slightly downhill. I thought my three minute "comfortable" runs might cover only 500-550 meters. Actually, although I may have been a little excited by the setting, I covered 600-650 meters each time, which after crunching numbers is a faster pace than I managed in my three trail races in Spring 2008. Granted, this was a very short distance, but I was not running hard, just turning my legs over faster. I think I can stay with this form as I build endurance and sustain this pace for a 5K - at least I hope so.

October colors

This is one of my favorite times of year in New England. The weather is very good for running - temperate and often dry. The trees are at their peak. It's been over a decade since I've seen the fall colors, and they're even better then I remember. I've made a concerted effort to get outdoors on the weekend to see the sights.

The last two weeks have seen encouraging progress on the running front. I'm doing walk/runs three morning a week, twice on roads and once on trails. I start with a walking warmup for ten minutes, then run a short distance several times with an equal walking recovery. I'm actually running for time, not distance, e.g. 1 min run, 1 min walk, repeat, or run 90 seconds, walk 90 seconds, run 90 seconds, etc. I conclude with a walk of ten minutes or more depending on how much time I have. In the morning before work, not much. My lungs are not where they were this spring, and I really feel the hills, though I'm doing minimal running on them to ease my Achilles back into running shape. One exception is that I am doing a little bit of downhill running to maintain, and improve, my ability to make use of gravity on the downhills. In retrospect I see that long running layoffs in Florida, and running mostly on flats, left me unable to cope with running down big or steep hills - my shins would get overwhelmed. I want to work towards preventing that. There are two sides to hills and you really need to train on both I think - uphills to strengthen legs and lungs, downhills to strengthen shins and allow one to use gravity instead of braking.

My weekly trail "run" is generally on fairly firm surfaces - I want to avoid the loose sands that may have contributed to my Achilles injury in Florida this past spring. Most of the trails in Connecticut are much firmer and can be quite rocky depending on the trail.

The trails at Bluff Point State Park are hardly a state secret - they seem to get a fair amount of use. They are wide and relatively smooth and can accommodate bikes, walkers and runners. I tried to get a few pictures of the fall colors but it was early in the morning and still shady.

In honor of Wordless Wednesday

Anne at Run DMZ has this terrific concept. Every Wednesday she posts a photo under the caption "Wordless Wednesday" and lets the photo speak for itself.

Under the idea that imitation is the sincerest flattery (except for photo quality - I'm not even going to try to match Anne in that category), here is an entry that captures a little bit of summer in CT. Oops - couldn't resist a few words.

Hanging in there

For those of you who haven't given up on me or this blog, thanks. I am hoping to slowly resume a little running this week, on top of doing more walking. This has been a pretty long layoff for me - 4+ months with essentially no running except for short tests to see how the Achilles was doing. Until late September, it was not ready. Now, perhaps it is.

My hope now is to steadily rebuild the fitness I've lost. It's going to be slow going, as I could not do all of the cross training I would have liked to, and I also did not do perhaps all that I could have, even given my injury limitations. It's funny how your world shrinks sometimes, and you feel that even walking a few blocks is too much because it's uphill. I felt sort of closed in after the move from Florida because I was suddenly in hillier terrain, and I did not want to strain my Achilles further on the hills, even though I wanted to build my strength up. It's been frustrating.

I'm still doing some pushups but not as consistently lately. If I can regain some consistency I can resume my quest for 50 straight.

Bumps in the road

The late summer weather in Connecticut has been wonderful overall. I've been able to enjoy some short walks in the woods and I've seen a few wild turkeys, which are surprisingly common around here now.

On the fitness front I've had a couple more minor setbacks in the last month. First, I managed to fall down and bump my head. An embarrassing incident - I usually like to think I have a modicum of balance and agility - but it wasn't really an athletic failing, more of an "in the wrong spot at the wrong time" thing. Then, I experienced some swelling behind my knee and started to come down with a couple of symptoms similar to Lyme Disease. I didn't detect a tick but no matter, it was off to the doctor and time to start antibiotics. So far so good - things didn't get too bad but I will continue to monitor it.

On the positive side, with my new health insurance in effect, I was finally able to see a sports medicine doctor about my Achilles area. I'm cleared to do low impact exercise like a stationary bike or elliptical trainer. I can even run as the doc feels I'm a low risk for a serious injury, but I'm going to rest further as I'm still not 100%. I have some more knowledge and more techniques for coping with it now. He told me it may take awhile, which wasn't news as it's been three months and it's not right yet. This is starting to rival my most significant running injury in years. I had tendonitis in my shin years ago that took months to heal, and was too uncomfortable to run with. This is more deceptive because I feel I could do any one run at any speed with this condition without much discomfort... until afterwards. Which is pointless.

So I watch the fall races go by, like the leaves starting to drift down, and tell myself - someday, another day. I just have to do what I can for now.

Open water swimming

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. The whole moving business, combined with a total lack of running (waaaah!) to report on, has kept me largely off the blogosphere lately.

A couple weekends ago, still resting my Achilles, I watched the Niantic Bay Triathlon (sprint distance - 0.5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.5 mile run). It was the first triathlon I'd ever watched in person, and was well attended with over 500 entrants and probably an equal or greater number of spectators. The whole event was inspiring enough to make me think of trying it myself next year. The idea of getting a lot better at swimming and biking is intriguing.

I watched the swim from a hill above the beach, and marveled at the speed of the swimmers and the distance they were covering in ocean water. Then I headed over to the transition area to study what sort of gear the athletes used, and how they handled the transition from swim to bike, and then from bike to run. I literally took notes as this was new to me. My only experience with triathlons pretty much comes from watching parts of the Ironman on TV, and reading a little about triathlons online and more recently in library books.

A week or so later, inspired by the triathlon and also by the Olympics on TV, I headed out into the ocean myself on back-to-back days to try a little open water swimming. My goal was to get myself introduced to open water swimming, so that it would not seem quite so daunting mentally or physically. The first mental/physical hurdles were the weather and water conditions; they were virtually identical each day: about 60 degrees air temperature at 6 am, water temp around 73-74, flat calm. So no problems there. Yes, I swam early... it's light here earlier in the day than in central Florida, and I like to get up and get my exercise in and have the rest of the day free. I was pleased to feel warm enough which was a minor concern after living in Florida until July. The next mental/physical hurdle was dealing with the large number of jellyfish inhabiting the bay. Apparently there is a bumper crop of them this year. My technique was to swim between them, and I guess I got lucky, as I escaped unscathed. One beach walker was surprised I got in the water with them at all. Another told me I deserved a good day for swimming so early. I thought that was nice. I've never been stung by jellyfish before (I used to catch them in my beach pail as a boy, actually) so I'm either lucky or the jellies like me.

Speaking of technique, I found that my swimming technique was much worse than I feared. I learned that it's one thing to flail across a pool, or swim the length underwater, but something else entirely to swim hundreds of yards in open water. You have to actually breathe. Imagine that! Swimming without breathing doesn't work well for longer swims (which I define as 100+ yards). It's tiring trying to swim with mostly your arms (again, still resting the Achilles) while keeping an eye out for jellies.

I have a very long way to go indeed.

New latitudes

I have now relocated to Connecticut and I am settling in and enjoying the cooler temps. The humidity has been a lot more tolerable than in Florida, where sometimes the air seemed so thick you could cut it with a knife. The sun is not quite so blindingly bright. It's a nice time of year.

I still have limited computer access for now, aside from being busy establishing myself as a CT resident once again.

I'm still resting my Achilles until I can get a professional opinion on it. It's frustating to not go running, but there are worse things in life.

On the plus side, I did a new pushups test and completed 40. :-)
A little rest does wonders. I'm probably the only one who can tell, but the arms and shoulders are showing more definition. I feel like my shoulders have biceps now (granted this is on a runner's, not bodybuilder's, overall physique).