Old friends

Alriiiiiight, let's see if I can make this shorter than it needs to be. One sidenote before I start, people have been wondering what the heck I'm doing with my life now that I'm a college graduate. Well I'm taking the MCAT again in April, but this time around I'm taking a Kaplan test-prep class. I'm also working, and volunteering as a course assistant in an anatomy lab...it's something I did last year too.

Anyway, Wednesday my physical therapist taped me up again and that night I went on one of those stationary bikes that has a seat-back and killed two birds with one stone by studying for the MCAT. Time flew by because before I knew it, I had completed 13.5 miles, so I called that a productive night. Thursday I did 4 miles on the elliptical with some speed intervals thrown in, and then did 4 more easy elliptical miles with a nice 6.5 mile bike ride thrown in for good measure on Friday. Friday was also my last physical therapy appointment, and my physical therapist said that there's only so much they can do and that I need to just do the exercises on my own. We agreed on going a week without therapy and seeing how things hold up. If anything, I'm definitely breaking down a psychological barrier in that I'm pretty much DONE with physical therapy.

Saturday, I biked 5 easy miles to get the blood flowing, and then lifted the upper body. This morning was the most telling - I met up with an old friend for a little over an hour. That old friend just happens to be the river trail that I did most of long runs on during training for the Detroit Marathon. The last time I ran on it, it was the beginning of October, the leaves were changing colors, and it was picture-perfect. It was picture-perfect again this time around, except everything was covered in snow, the trail was almost clear of snow, and there were other footprints on the trail as if another runner ran the same way earlier and they were saying "Hey I was here an hour ago, come find me." It was a balmy 15 degrees when I started, but I was planning on going 10 miles, so I bundled up for the ride. I didn't want to go too fast, but with the somewhat slick snow, I kept it at about an 8:00 min/mile pace. Sure enough, I completed the first 5 miles in 40:12, just a shade over 8 minute pace. I felt like I kept the same pace thru 8.5 miles, and then I decided to pick it up a little and finish strong. I forgot to stop the watch at the end, but I think it was right around 38:30 for the second half. Negative splits are grrrrrrreat.

All in all, my IT band felt better during that run that it had in a long long time. Old friends have a way of bringing out the best in us, huh? I did get a couple of minor pain sensations but I felt like I spent most of the run just waiting for something to happen, so it was like I was forcing it to hurt. I gotta stop doing that. It also felt great throughout the day as well, which makes me very happy, you don't even know.

Well that's about as short as I can make this...though I feel like the post is a little disjointed. Hmm...

Eat your vegetables

Ok, you didn't think the 3-day interval between posts would last, did you?

Friday morning I got my knee taped again at physical therapy, and then ran on it Friday night. The tape job seems to help, it's just awkward as heck. About an hour afterward, the lateral side of my knee started barking just like clockwork and stayed that way for the rest of the night.

Saturday...I had to drive down to Detroit to pick up my parents and brother from the airport and drive them home, and a funny thing happened during the trip. This was the first time I went down there since the marathon and I drove the same car that I drove to get to the race. Well, after I got home and settled in, I felt the same feeling of weakness that was there the night before the marathon. Granted, I had no idea what it was the night before the marathon and I just attributed it to first-race jitters. Now I'm better educated about it, and I know it's not a good feeling. So I was bummed all day Saturday. Sunday morning I didn't really feel anything, so I did 6 pleasant miles on the elliptical. Things felt fine immediately afterward, but then about an hour after that the "weakness" came back. Sure, it's not pain, but it's still something.

Monday was more physical therapy and the exercises seemed to make it feel better to an extent, and then today it just sort of was....there. I don't know, it's just sort of hard to explain. It doesn't hurt but there's still something there. I had a long day today - volunteer work from 6:45-11:45am and Playmakers from 1-5:30pm. After that I went grocery shopping, and during the shopping and the ride home, I slowly but surely convinced myself to skip a workout tonight. I was on my feet most of the day and my knee doesn't feel 100%, so why risk it?

Speaking of work, I'm still getting hours at Playmakers. When I arrived yesterday, they asked me what my schedule looks like, so that's a good sign. I think by the end of the week I'll know for sure whether or not they're gonna retain me for good.

On a random note, in the past couple of years I've been guilty of becoming a bit mean and grumpy, mostly due to the stresses of higher-level college courses and the work that comes along with it. Since then I've been trying to buy into the attitude that I shouldn't take life too seriously or I'll get eaten alive. Case in point: Tonight I treated myself to some macaroni and cheese for dinner and decided to make some frozen vegetables on the side. I heated them up in the microwave, no problem, but when I took the bowl out of the microwave and tried to set it on the table, the bowl slipped out of my hands and slid across the table. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I saw the bowl get closer and closer to the edge of despair, and finally I could only watch in disgust as the bowl toppled over onto the ground. Needless to say, everything had escaped the bowl and a cleaning job was in my immediate future. I was upset for a couple seconds, but then just kind of shrugged and laughed off the whole thing. No use in letting a small situation get the best of me. It's may be a little thing, but it's a start in removing my sometimes grumpy attitudes. This whole paragraph was for Melissa....hopefully she's reading this.

Play on, playas.

Contract extension

3 days between posts, I haven't done that in a while!

Alriiiiiight...continuing from last post, I'm pretty sure I just strained the tendon of the biceps femoris in the snow during my run on Sunday because it felt better after using the foam roller on Monday and hasn't bothered me since. Tuesday I did 4 and a half miles on the elliptical and all went well. Wednesday brought more physical therapy, and for some reason I just got this feeling that things are really gonna be ok. Like I had it before, but I just got very confident about the feeling this time around. We did some more functional exercises during this session and it really seemed to help everything as a whole. That was supposed to be my last session of PT but my physical therapist thought I needed some more sesssions, so we scheduled 4 more for the time being and then we'll go from there.

This afternoon I did speed intervals on the elliptical where I warmed up for 5 minutes, did 2 minutes easy/2 minutes fast for 25 minutes, and then did about a 10 minute cool down...it all added up to 4 miles, but it was nice to finally get in some semblance of a speed workout for the first time in a while.

As for Playmakers, Monday was originally my last day of work since it was the last day of the sidewalk sale, but one of the higher-uppers asked if I wanted to work some more days this week. Heck yea, to be analogous to sports, a contract extension! So they scheduled me for Tuesday, Wednesday and tomorrow (Friday), and most of the work they had me doing the past couple of days was behind-the-scenes cleaning up from the sale and also transferring new in-season shoes to the shelves and whatnot. So now tomorrow is my new last day and I'm hoping I'll get the call up to the big show for good. One of the guys that runs a bunch of the races around here, Tony, is your typical badass - shaved head, goatee, tattoos, etc. - but he's such a nice guy, and he's been working at the store for about 3 months. Anyway, before I left work on Wednesday, I made it a point to say bye to him and he took me aside and told me that he put in a good word for me. Sooooo I don't know how much weight that will carry, but it's a good sign! I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Working hard or hardly working?

Well I guess 5 days between posts isn't as bad as 6 days...

During the day on Wednesday I ended up getting used to the tape job on my knee and I ran 4 miles on the treadmill that night. It sort of seemed to help...I mean, it just kind of felt like any other run. From what I remember, nothing seemed to be really hurting either.

Thursday was the longest day ever...up at 5:30 to help a professor from 6:30-11:30am, then work (more on that in a second) from 12:30-5pm, then my Kaplan class for the MCAT from 6-9pm. Somehow I survived, don't ask me how!

Friday morning my physical therapist taped my knee again, I worked in the afternoon, and then ran that night in the rain! It was light enough to make it bearable but hard enough to make it fun. The knee felt great, but then it started barking a little bit once I ended the run and stretched and whatnot.

Saturday I did upper body but also threw in a light 5 mile stationary bike ride in there and things felt fine. Sunday morning it snowed a couple inches (finally) and I set out to run 8 miles. Things were going great until about halfway through when I hit a spot where somebody had shoveled and my IT band didn't enjoy it too much. I stopped to stretch it and then went a few more feet before it started bugging me again. I rolled up my spandex to see if there was any noticeable damage, which there wasn't, but then the big lightbulb illuminated above my head - why not use the spandex as a makeshift compression band? Long story short, I ran the last 4 miles with the spandex one one leg rolled up and the other leg normal. I'm pretty sure I looked like a goofball, but that's ok, I'm used to it. The leg felt fine during the rest of the run but has been bugging me a bit since then. This morning it wasn't bad at all, and it also feels better now that I had physical therapy this morning.

Anyway, about work - this weekend Playmakers had their bi-annual sidewalk sale and they always hire more people solely to help out during the weekend. Well I decided to get my foot in the door and send in an application to work the weekend. Every now and then they retain a couple of those people after the sale depending on if they need it, so I hope that's what happens with me. They recently were rated as one of the 50 best running stores in the country, so I think that would be an honor. Everybody there has been helpful for whenever I had a question, and their attention to detail is just amazing. Anyway, I'm hoping for the best!

And of course I want my leg to fully feel better...it's frustrating.

Shipping error

I thought I'd have more free time now that I graduated, but apparently that hasn't been in the works for me...so to make a long story short:

Sunday I felt good so I tried my hand at running 6 miles. The first 3 miles felt great, but that's only because I was thinking of how freaking cold it was and it took my mind off of everything else. I came from 80 degree weather back to a run in 32 degrees with a wind chill of 27. Oh well, it's January in Michigan, what should I expect? After 5 miles, right near the end, I kind of felt a little bit of discomfort in the knee, but nothing to really be alarmed about.

Monday when I was at PT, my physical therapist was checking the alignment of my vertebrae and he noticed that I had a couple of minor curvature problems, which is something that I've known about since high school but hasn't ever bothered me at all. His theory was that was just how I was "shipped from the factory", and it's been offset by the fact that I have a good core, but he also said that it also may be the reason why this IT band thing happened too. Just a theory.

Tuesday I did 4 miles on the elliptical....or I should say 1.4 miles before the fire alarm went off, and then 2.6 more when we were allowed back in the rec building. Everything felt fine during the exercise, but I did have a wee bit of dull pain on the leg during the day.

This morning at physical therapy I got my knee taped so that my patella is supported toward the medial side of my leg. My physical therapist taped it pretty aggressively, so I can't bend it too far but he said I'll get used to it as the day wears on. He said he wants me to try running on it, so I'll probably jump on the treadmill when I have time tonight. I'm not so sure it's going to help me at all, but he's the one who's making money so I'll trust him on this one.

Alright, I'll try to make an effort to not wait 6 days between posts now...

And 'aloha' means goodbye

I swear I'll be posting more often once I get back home...

Monday I went swimming at halftime of the Rose Bowl, and that's about it. It was New Year's Day, also known as my 22nd annual day of being lazy and watching college football allllll day long :) More about that in a second....

Tuesday I ran 4 miles, and it was definitely the best 4 miles I have run since before my marathon in late October. Nothing hurt me at all during the entire run and it put a smile on my face. Big time.

Wednesday I walked around a lot, and everything felt fine. This weekend is the Mercedes-Benz Championship, which is the season opening golf tournament for the PGA, and it's on a golf course not even 5 minutes away from where I'm staying in Hawaii. Wednesday was the pro-am, and I got to watch guys such as Kelly Slater, Dennis Hopper, and Samuel L. Jackson hit the links with the pros...it was a good deal :) Anyone who's interested in seeing the scenery from where I've been the past couple weeks should watch the Golf Channel Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It's really something special.

Today I ran again...two miles in, I felt great so I decided to try a fast mile to see how my legs responded. The first 7/8 of the mile were great, and then I felt some discomfort in the knee, but it ended up being a 6:30 mile in very strong wind at some points. I ended up doing another slow mile to make it 4 total miles, and then called it a day. The knee didn't bother me at all during the rest of the day, but the discomfort still makes an appearance every now and then. I was planning on running again tomorrow but I think I'm gonna go swimming instead. My plane leaves here tomorrow around 5pm and I'm not gonna arrive in Michigan until Saturday afternoon, and since I'm probably gonna be jet-lagged, I'm just gonna try running again on Sunday. No big deal. And I'm also going to update my sidebar a little bit too when I get back, hence why there's no 2007 mileage count yet.

As for the bowl games, I'm not gonna say much but I'm reallllllly glad Michigan got pounded by USC. Typical, they whine and whine about deserving better and then they can't even show up in their bowl game. And how about those Boise State Broncos?!? I love it when the underdog small schools make a statement that they belong. It's just more proof that we need a playoff system...