Happy Birthday Ken, I miss you......

Today has been a day of mixed emotions for me. It's Ken's birthday, the first one we will celebrate without him. I could see the pain, and love, in the birthday wishes his children posted on Facebook today. It feels like only yesterday that Ken passed away, then I realize it's been over a month. There was sunshine here in Vancouver though, which I'm sure Ken sent down to us. It was a nice break from the rain, and it encouraged me to get out to track practice that I've been skipping due to my tendonitis.

Sunday I did a 10-mile run without my iPod. This was a first for me, I have only done short runs or track workouts without having music accompany me through the miles. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it, but also how much I was able to increase my pace. I set out with the 10:30-pace leaders who were taking it easy on this run, I was excited when I kept up with them all the way through mile 5. Sadly that's when my nagging foot tendonitis decided to flair and set me back to a walk. I completed the distance though in 2 hours and 7 minutes. That last time I did a half-marathon it took me over 2.5 hours, so I'm excited to see how well I can do at the inaugural Vancouver 1/2 Marathon in a few weeks.

Having completed a 10-mile run on Sunday, I was excited to get back to the track and work on my speed. I was very diligent about rolling my legs and feet 2-3 times a day to make sure my long run hadn't set me back for track this week. I had physical therapy this morning, and my therapist was all for me trying track tonight after doing so well on my long run. I made it to the track, started off with our two lap warm-up feeling good, and letting my foot get used to the gentle laps. Sadly when we started the high knees, and other dynamic warm-ups the bouncing set my pain tolerance to the limit. I backed off, and did some stretching waiting for our workout to begin. Unfortunately my foot decided the bouncing was too much, and I couldn't walk the pain off. So I wasn't able to complete tonight's workout, but I also know that next week to skip the bouncing, so I can focus on the turn-over aspect of the workout.

I think part of being on the track tonight was a little emotional for me also. I kept thinking about Ken, and how he would have loved to be running on such an amazing spring day. I tried to run for him, trying to push through the pain, but I think the emotional pain was also just bubbling under the surface and it kept me from pushing too hard. Instead, Ken will run the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon with me in mid-June. I'm sure he would have happily signed up for the race if cancer hadn't robbed him of his ability to run; so Ken my birthday present to you (and your family) will be to put your name on my shirt as I run. I send my birthday wishes to you up in heaven, and look forward to sharing another run with you this Sunday.

Starting on a new path....

In my last post I mentioned a running clinic I was attending on May 18th, that clinic was the Good Form Running clinic. It was all about "proper" running form, foot/hip positioning, and gait. It was definitely well worth the drive into Portland, and I was very excited to apply several of their suggested techniques on this morning's long run. The clinic started off with all of the participants being video taped as we ran a short distances in our current running shoes, after which we repeated the process in our bare-feet. Needless to say there is a lot of debate as to the health and safety of running barefoot, this clinic was not about running barefoot, but about proper foot alignment. Several participants, such as myself, are heavy heal strikers when we run. This means that when moving forward I land on my heal first, and roll through my foot to push off. This tends to cause a lot of pain in my heals, and creates a tendency to lean backwards when running. Good Form has you shortening your stride, landing mid-foot, and leaning forward from the ankle. (I suggest taking a look at the link to the side, and visiting their web-site for more information) I implemented several of these changes today, and had a FANTASTIC run!! My tendonitis didn't flare until a long uphill, and I was able to run a full 5-miles, the first time ever for me. This new form should also allow me to increase my pace, something that has eluded me since I started running in 2002. I saw it start today, but I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, so I'm not 100% sure what time I started at. I do know that I passed the 11-minute mile pace leader on my run today, and stayed ahead of her until I had to walk due to the pain in my foot. I'm excited to see how far I can continue this, and if I can make it up to a 10:30 pace, by mid-June.

June also starts me on several new adventures. One adventure is that I'll be participating in the June challenge at my Barre3 studio. I will attempt to take 20-classes within 30 days to meet this challenge. I'm also going to be stepping up my weights, and cross training, as I am going to be working toward getting my personal training certification. So I want to take as many workout classes as possible to increase my knowledge base as I move forward on this new career path. My plan is still to move into Real Estate Development someday, flipping houses, but I would also like to have my own personal training studio too. Plus there is nothing wrong with having a back-up career path. So while I'm applying for jobs, and getting my workouts in, I'll spend my free time enjoying a little "light" reading, like this as I await the arrival of my CPT text books.

And we're back.....

Well ok, I'm back.....as most of you know I went through a very stressful period of my life, and that chapter finally wrapped up with a fairly successful conclusion at the end of April. While I'm please with the end results, my body reacted to the release of stress and it took me almost two weeks for my body to feel like it was finally recovering from the massive amount of stress it was under for over 4 months. I was also nursing a tendonitis type issue with the last two toes on my right foot, thus the span in my training posts.

I did participate in the RACC (Ride Around Clark County) at the end of April, and let me just say who ever created that 65-mile route was, how to put this politely..... down right sadistic!!!! I'm in decent shape, and I had to walk three different hills on this route. In fact, most of the hills were in the last part of the ride. For those of you who live in the Vancouver area, one of the last hills was the Felida hill..... yeah, I'll admit it "sucks monkey balls"! I couldn't think of any other way to politely describe my thoughts of that hill as I followed everyone in front of me walking up it, or all the people behind me also walking up the hill.


 Thankfully my training partner Cindy already blogged about the ride, so this is stolen from her training page (along with the pictures above):

Notable events on this ride...

• There were only two rest stops, Heritage Park at Lacamas Lake, mile 15.2; and Daybreak Park, mile 42.2. 
• It really, truly has 3,000 foot elevation gain! The worst hill was Felida hill at mile 60, which I already aptly noted, "Sucks monkey balls!"
• We only had one mechanical problem, which was Cindy's chain coming off her front gear stack while changing to high-high gear readying to head down a steep hill in Ridgefield, about mile 55.
• The worst part of the ride is between mile 50 and 60, despite what the elevation chart looks like! Maybe we were tired!

So that takes us through the end of April.... on to May. Through the release of stress I also met with a wonderful gal, Theresa who is studying to be a Nutritional Therapist. She decided to make me her final project. Due to all the stress I'd been under, and my poor eating habits during my stressful time, my digestive system was very "out of whack". Theresa had me take a survey to discover where my primary areas of concern where. To her  amazement my chart had almost everything in the "red" level. After my initial intake interview, we decided to focus primarily on digestion, and would focus later on my adrenal fatigue syndrome. I know most doctors don't recognize this as a valid diagnosis, but the information I've read, and the symptoms, I'll go with it. Theresa checked several reflex points on my body, which confirmed several of her suspicions. Theresa recommended several diet, actually lifestyle changes, which have resulted in an exponential increase in my energy levels, better sleep, and a significant amount of weight loss in my first week. Since changing my lifestyle, I have lost over 5lbs, in just 8 days.

The increased energy has also led to longer, and better workouts. On Monday (May 16) I did a run, and lifted weights, Tuesday (May 17) I enjoyed a Barre3 class and then went back to track practice that I had been away from for two-weeks; today I clocked in 7 miles at Lacamas Lake, and am awaiting Cindy to arrive before we head out to swim at Klineline Pond for open water practice before heading into Portland for a running clinic.

So that pretty much catches up on my training. I'll tease you with the following though, in the hopes that you'll check back soon..... I have decided to make a career change and am heading out on Sunday for a 12 mile run, which I plan to follow with an ice bath. Yes the run, and my new career path have a link..... one that I'm feeling pretty excited about. Alright I'm off to find my wet suit.....