Weekly Log 24-Feb to 2-Mar

Monday: 6

The usually route

Tuesday: 6.4

Incorporated a little speed work in today’s run – UCONN Avery point has a loop that I use. MapMyRun.com has it as 400m – so I did (4) 400’s. Sorry no times to report, my story so each lap was faster than the other. Unfortunately I have not mastered the Garmin programming of this feature. So back to space watch school.   

Wednesday: 6

Parking garage – that’s right, parking garage. I’m not a fan of the treadmill, so I use the PG at work when it rains. This is a 5 story PG so I go up to the 4^th level, turn left and around and around and around like a NASCAR driver I go. I run solely on time because the space watch does not get a signal. According to MapMyRun.com, the top level of the garage is 300m for one lap. Remember, Chariho grad so I can’t count how many times I go around – trust me it is dizzying. I do go down and back up after a few laps, I even will do some speed work to break up the monotony.

Weekly Log 17-Feb to 23-Feb

Friday: 6.24

I woke up feeling lousy this morning so I just went to work. Grab my workout bag just in case I had time later in the day. Low and behold I found sometime to run – around lunch time (aka Jonny). I decided to turn right instead left like every morning – wrong dissension – ran “against the wind” good song from Bob Seger. We OLDER, AGEING runners will know this tune. Running at noon I happen to see 5 runners, all running with the wind. I was overly dressed as I’m usually running in the cold dark mornings. It was 39 degrees instead of 20 something, plus it was sunny. Springtime around the corner ?????

 

Thursday: 4

The dreaded treadmill – woke up little late, plus the cold wind, plus I hate winter = whipped out for controlled environment

Wednesday: 6

Tuesday: 6
My typical route in Groton, CT with a little black ice. Starting to pick up the pace (low 7’s) as the knee getting better, sucking cold air while running is something I have to get use to – ONLY 4 more weeks until spring, YES

I bet it will be the same thing for tomorrow – like the movie Groundhog Day

 

Monday: 6
My typical route in Groton, CT

Weekly Log 10-Feb to 16-Feb

Tuesday: 5

Cool 37 degrees, ran my usual streets in Groton.  I have been running these streets now for over 8 years, in every kind of climate – today was very difficult because of the black ice (I’m part of that 4:45 club that runs very early).  I had to walk around every corner, run in the middle of the streets; I tried all kinds of ways to run this route, black ice everywhere.  I finished with running 5 miles in 8 minute pace – wasn’t happy with that, so I will make the excuse of the black ice – man, I hate winter.

Get this – after finishing the run, showering and all that other stuff, I was WALKING to were my building is for work (1/2 mile away) according to Strava, yes I did measure it (big campus) plus I park in the parking garage (anther story) when I slipped on BLACK ICE.  I did not fall but I must have look like Kramer.  I bet whoever was driving by they must have had a good laugh. I hate winter

 

Monday: 5

Last week I began running on a routine bases - running on the treadmill at work playing around with speed and incline averaging 3.5 miles a day, seeing how the knee was going to hold up. My story is that I did not want to get halfway into a run and then walk back to work in the cold dark February morning, but the truth is I hate winter.

The knee has been progressively improving, especially this past weekend with little to no pain at all. So this morning I ventured outside running the streets of Groton, CT. The streets were slushy, and it was hard to find pavement to run on but I made the best of it and plowed through this run. Everything felt good, just little uneasiness with breathing cold outside air again.

Weekly Log 3-Feb to 9-Feb

Friday: I hate winter
Calvin is the best when building snowman

Thursday: 3.5 treadmill

Wednesday: 3.5 treadmill

Tuesday: 3.5 treadmill

Monday: 3

Back to the routine – wake up EARLY run outside in the cold dark streets of Groton, CT (I hate winter) - Nahhhhhhh.  Funny how I got use to sleeping in – entire 1/2 hr more (whew) while I was injured. So this morning I decided I would run on the treadmill in a controlled environment watching the recap of the Super Bowl along with that traffic girl on channel 8.

Side note - for us ageing or mature runners – a fellow runner and colleague mentioned to me about a pain relief and healing therapeutic cream called Topricin http://www.topricin.com . So this past weekend thought I would pick some up. A local Westerly store carries it (Allen’s Heath Foods) next to Subway. Little expensive - $25 but I want to run without pain so I thought I would give it a try. This is the third day using this cream on my knee and I’m already feeling improvement. I suggest Googleing it – I know some of you young wipersnappers are against using any pain relief – pill or cream, but the younger generation is naïve, they dress funny and they like to run trails. For those who don’t get it – this is sarcasm.

Sunday: 4

Went from house for a quick 4 before my boy indoor LAX game. Mid-morning, little chilly – but who cares, I’m running. Kept looking at space watch to see what pace I was going – pleased considering I haven’t run in weeks. As I started UP the hill on Elmridge road I notice another runner was just about at the top of the hill. So since I did not race with rest of team members I decided the hunt was on. I pushed the last 1/3 of the hill (steepest part) and was closing the gap – had a little pain in the knee – who cares – hunt is on. As I got to the top I was sucking in air, not use to running in cold weather (I hate winter) but I gained grown. At this time I notice that the turn was coming up where I had to make my way back home. Everything was feeling ok, and it felt good being out there in the middle of a hunt. Still need to work on speed work. I ending up catching up with this other runner (sorry Jeff, I did not have a WTAC application) then made my right turn. The runner was my neighbor so I will put a WTAC application in his mailbox along with a recipe for turtle soup. Conclusion – After coming back from injury it felt good to run at a descent pace.