Saturday, May 21, 2011

Who care's?

Oprah's last show is today or tomorrow or was it yesterday? Regardless, whoopity shit. Never was a fan. Smart woman, made her millions several fold. Never cared for her or her show. Only thing I wanted relating to Oprah, was a marathon time faster than her 4:29 in 1994. My first marathon was in 1996 and it was 3:50 or so. Really struck a nerve with her commercial; it shows clips of a lot of other TV farewell shows. MASH, stood out for me. Big fan of the show and watched the final show. Oprah just doesn't compare to that or any of the other shows in that commercial.

American Idol is coming to an end. Yawn. Watched it last night, even though I said I wouldn't. Just have zero interest in Lauren or Scotty. Haley was my favorite. Surprised she made it as far as she did. Really thought James would have been the winner, but wasn't surprised when he was voted off. Wish I had a brick to throw at Randy for every time he said "in it to win it". No shit. J Lo brought the sex appeal and never really hid who her favorites were. Steven was the bad boy of the bunch. Really enjoyed his off color remarks. This was the first time I've watched the show in the last couple of years.

Who'd have thought a broken collar bone would be so painful. I seem to have just as much pain as day one. It's just not as constant. I've run with a broken toe. I think it was two weeks later. But, still the pain levels were complete opposite. Went out to runningahead to seek the advice of the masses. Looks like a long recovery.

It's been 2 weeks since my accident. Go to the doctor on Friday. Imagine, my prognosis will be to continue with the sling. Alternative would be that it's not healing properly and surgery is needed. Don't see that happening. We'll see if he still thinks I'll be able to run in 4 weeks. Can't imagine trying to run, now. I'm only taking the pain meds at night. Pain is tolerable, but seems to peak towards the end of the day.

The drugs the riders in the Tour take must be some really good stuff. I can't imagine riding with a broken collar bone the day after it happened. (Tyler Hamilton, 2003 TDF broke his collar bone in the 1st stage and went on to finish the tour)Perhaps, now 2 weeks later, if it could be taped into a position that wouldn't move? Actually thought how I could pull that off. Be almost impossible for me to tape on my own. I'm sure Paula wouldn't do the taping either.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

sidelined

isn't it ironic? blog about staying injury free from running and break my collar bone in a bike wreck.

my running was starting to click, on pace for 30+ miles this week. thursday morning I went for a bike ride. it's getting light enough that I was able to leave the house at 5:30 am and get in an hours worth of riding before work.

only got 2.4 miles down the road before I wrecked. stupid mistake. actually the second time this exact thing has happened. riding down Thompson Lane to get on the greenway at the Thompson lane trail head. crossed over the river and noticed two deer off to my right. glanced over to make sure the gate was open to the trailhead. thought it was open. only slowed enough to make sure no traffic was behind or in front of me. turned left into the trailhead and the DAMN gate was locked. must have done a panic stop and grabbed to much front brake. I went over the handlebars and slammed the ground. guess I laid on the ground a second or two, because some women stopped her car to ask if I was ok. Kinda thought I was at that point. no blood or road rash, shoulder hurt alot. I waved her off and called Paula to come get me.

Bike seems ok. Brake lever is pushed to one side or the handlebar is bent. The chain came off the crank. Doesn't look like any scratches or any other damage. But, that's only the quick assessment while still in a pain medicated stupor.

X-ray at the ER shows a fractured clavicle and separated shoulder. Looks like all of the impact was absorbed by my shoulder. Strange that my jersey wasn't ripped, nor my shorts. Just a little road rash on my hip and shoulder. Gloves did their job, no road rash on my hands. Right hand was bruised enough that it was x-rayed as well. (even though I told them it wasn't necessary)

Just another reminder of the importance of a bike helmet. Luckily, my head never hit the ground. I can only imagine a face first or head first impact.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

10 commandments for staying injury free

Looking through some old Runners World booklets for an article on collapse point. Didn't find what I was looking for, but this instead. (circa 1986) Someone's more modern version. Found this instead of a picture of the tablets.

I. Thou shalt not become a slave to running
II. Thou shalt not train on legs that are dead
III.Thou shalt not experiment with a different pair of shoes during a race
IV. Thou shalt not run through any type of muscular or skeletal pain
V. Thou shalt not attempt to make up miles "lost" due to injury
VI. Thou shalt not increase mileage by more than 10% each year
VII.Thou shalt not do more than one long run per week
VIII.Thou shalt not do more than one hard workout on successive days
IX. Thou shalt not get carried away by an exceptional race and immediately plunge
into a higher level of training
X. Thou shalt not be afraid to rest

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

20 miles isn't enough of a base

Reality check workout this morning. Met BQ1 and the preacher for a 2 x 2 mile run at 10k pace. Tough workout, but should be doable for someone in training for a 5k. This was the second week of BQ1's buildup for his next 5k. I'm just hanging around trying to do the workouts. Last week I was able to hang on for 90% of the speed workouts. This morning, I couldn't even hang on to 10k pace from the start. It was a struggle to run a single mile at half marathon pace. Holy smokes, the endurance sure does disappear quickly.

This really shouldn't come as a surprise. I've only averaged 20 miles per week in two of the previous three weeks, and 34 miles this past week. I conned myself into believing that riding the bike a couple times a week would make up for the low mileage. It did to an extent. I'm stronger on the hills, but the endurance and turn over is back to almost zero. Pretty evident that low mileage with some cross training doesn't work for me.

No way I could use the FIRST program to run a 5k PR. That's the running program that has you run 3 times a week and cross train on the other days. (30 minute 5k'ers ?, that's not exactly racing) ((turn off snob mode, I'm old and slow to)) I've looked at it in the past and decided it was to intense to attempt alone. The stats look great, "went from a 4:00 marathon to a 3:30". Big freakin' deal. But, I guess it really boils down to the individual. Some runners don't need a lot of miles to run close to their potential. Or the bigger miles really increase the likelihood of getting injured.

I think Jeff's got the right idea. Run relaxed at a fast pace. That's exactly the feeling I've had in races that I've run well. It takes work to get to that point and several different workouts seem to get me to that place. The minute on/off workout seems to get the legs ready for the quicker turnover. Don't seem to have any of that right now. Can't seem to get to 5k pace. Longer runs at half marathon pace seem to be the staple. But, the biggest thing missing right now is the long run. I need to get back up to about a 12-13 mile long run, at a minimum.