Our New Entryway

Thanks to our city water service program, we got two, free, water-saving toilets. So, what are we to do with the ones we replaced? Well, we can think of a couple things to do with them. This is a running joke here in S. Texas. In some neighborhoods you'll find "flower pots" like these. Maybe when we replace our bathtub, we'll have to look for a statue of the Virgen de Guadalpe. I bet our new neighbors would love it.



Violi's dad came over last week while Anna was in town. He brought a truckload of memorabilia from the ladies' childhood. The sisters were talking about taking their old quinciniera dresses and hitting the riverwalk after the kids go to bed.



Yesterday we took a trip to the Witte Museum. They had an exhibit displaying the works and ideas of Da Vinci. Pretty neat stuff. Elliot liked it because you could touch most of it. We also got to try out their "Treehouse" with exhibits that are designed for children. He's having more fun at places like this since we can let him run around and explore more now and doesn't have to stay in his stroller as much.

New Shoes...and Races!

I've been slacking pretty badly on posting on this. My training is coming along. I took a couple weeks off of high impact (running) workouts. Left calf feeling a twinge. Same feeling I had prior to really injuring myself back in April. So I rode my bike a for a good ride and started doing some resistance, circuit training. I really needed to start doing some resistance work anyway, so I plan to keep that up 2-3 days a week.

I got a new pair of shoes and my feet are feeling better than they have in the last 4 months. I'm going back to my old type Mizuno Wave Nirvana. I wish I had never switched from these. They feel so good and give me so much support for those longer runs.

In race prep news. I've signed up for two half-marathons this fall. The first is one that goes along Mission Trail here in San Antonio and will be on October 11th. It'll be a local race, but should be pretty fun. I hope to use it as a good practice for the 2nd race, in which I hope to set a personal best. The next one is in the middle of November and is the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Antonio. There are expected to be over 15,000 runners and possible up to 20,000 for the race. It should be pretty much a party atmosphere as there are expected to be bands playing all along the course and a big headliner band the night of the race.

It's a good feeling to register for the races because it helps psychologically with the training. I'll scheduled to do about 10.5 miles this week. That's not a bad distance, but I'll soon have to do a 15 mi. and a 17 mi. run along with some speed work, which is the harder thing for me, considering I'm such a slow runner.

Stability, you idiot...

That's what my feet have been saying to me the last few weeks. After I cut back my mileage to ease up on my calf, I got a new pair of shoes. I thought I may have needed a change and so rather than getting the same shoe, of which I had worn through three pairs, I decided to go to the running shoe store and have them match me up. Long story short, it didn't work for me this time. Finding a good running shoe consultant is a bit like finding a good mechanic or dentist. Once you find them, you want to keep using their service. Unfortunately, I didn't get into the right pair at this store.

They said that I didn't need all the stability I was getting from my Mizuno Nirvanas, so I tried a neutral shoe, the Brooks Glycerin. It felt okay at the store and I even ran around on the pavement outside for a minute, but it's not quite the same as going several miles. Since then, my feet have been pretty achy. So I went to a different store to get a pair of insoles that I had used previously when I had a similar problem a couple years ago. As I was checking out, I was chatting with one of the workers there. With just barely looking at me he could see I was an over-pronater and with a quick check of my shoe he said that I really needed to stay with the stability grouping of shoes. So, next time I buy a new shoe, I'll go back to that store and run on the treadmill there so they can give me even more sound advice.

I ran with my insoles today (Super Feet, green) and my feet have been thanking me all day. Ahh... it makes such a big difference running when you're fee feel good. I can't wait to get out again.

Close but not quite.

It's Flag day today and we had a nice little race at McAllister today. I had marked this as the race for me to attempt to beat my personal best for 10k a couple months ago. After a injury last month, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to happen, so I set a different goal, under 1 hour. My previous best was 55:18 or something like that. It wasn't too bad of a day, a bit humid, but good cloud cover. The race was not very well organized and got off to a late start. The lack of a large crowd probably was a good thing, the trail weren't crowded at all. I started off faster than I anticipated with the first two miles in 18 min. flat. I crossed the halfway point at 28 even. I slowed just a little and completed the next mile in 9:23, then 9:06., then 1.1 mi. in 9:48. So, I pretty much kept up the same pace over the course of the race.

The day I set my personal best, happened to be my first ever 10k. It was a bit cooler that day and the biggest difference was I had much more left at the end that day. I did the last mile in about 8 min. with my brother-in-law pushing me along.

So, a mixed bag today, I was close enough to my pb to be disappointed that I didn't get it, but I also finished in 56:19, which was about 4 min. faster than I thought I would, so I'm happy.

It's been difficult the last couple week getting motivated to train. These close to 100 degree temps are not good for running. I guess I don't have much to complain about, I could be in Iowa where I wouldn't find many dry roads to run on.

So, Happy Flag Day!

Blasted

I haven't had a run so psychological defeating as I did today. I guess I shouldn't say defeating. I accomplished that which I set out to do, run six miles, but it really took a toll on me. I feel good that there were several places where I could've taken a short cut back, but I continued on and made it through. I say psychologically hard because my body didn't really feel all that tired or run down, my head just had a hard time telling it to keep going. I guess you can blame it on the humidity, the late start (9am), the heat, the mound of cookie goodness I ate last night, but it was just a tough day.

This time of year is always tough in S. Texas for running. I've got my bike in the shop getting tuned up, so hopefully when I get it back, I'll be branching out to biking for more of my cardio work. It's much easier to ride in the heat than to run it. It'll also give me an opportunity to do a little tri training. There's a short tri coming up in July I've got my eyes on. I think it's 800m swim, 20 mi. bike and 6k running. Should be just about my level for right now.

I've signed up for a 10k in two weeks. Originally I had planned to try for my personal best, but as it gets closer, I don't think I'll push it. I don't want to strain my achilles any more (though it hasn't hurt in a couple weeks), but also the heat will be bad and I'm not sure what the course will be like. It's at McAllister, so some of the trails may be pretty narrow and depending on how many people are there and the course, it could be pretty crowded. I'm thinking I'd be pretty happy with a time less than 1 hour.

Rehabbing it.

Well, I'm finally starting to run again. I did my best over the last three weeks to keep up the cardio work. I got a few hours on the eliptical and several times in the pool. I've done a couple short, slow runs this week and everything feels really good. I have to thank the Athlete's Foot staff person for fitting me with a good pair of shoes. The Brooks Glycerin. Apparently, I didn't need all that stability, it may have been keeping my tendons from bending enough, or something like that. I had always thought that I was an over-pronator, but apparently, I have a very normal foot strike and roll. I need a lot of cusion, and my arches are flat and wide, so most of the pressure is on the outer part of my foot. The two runs I did were about 2.5 and 3.5 miles. I'll try to go do a 6 or 7 miler this weekend, i think.

Since I wasn't running as much in the last couple weeks, I took the time to get my mountain bike functioning and I am stoked about having it ready, now. I've done 3 rides now to McAllister Park. It has a bunch of trails that are a blast to ride on. It's the first time for me to really do actual off-road biking, but it really is a lot fun. I'm looking forward to incorporating it more into cross training.

I've got about 3 weeks left until a race I've been hoping to do. It's a 10k and I was hoping to try for a personal best. I'll have to see how I progress of the next three weeks before I decide to try for it or not, if not, I'll have to look for another race to run later.

Injury Bug

Well, it finally hit me. I've been injury free for some time now. I think my last running injury came a few years ago when I was struggling through plantar fasciitis. It started with a little soreness in my heel, achilles area. I ran with it and hoped it would go away. I lingered for about 2 weeks or so, but then this last Saturday after about 3.5 miles, I had to call Violi to come pick me up. After some minor research, it looks to be achilles tendonitis. Hopefully a couple weeks of rest will do it good. I hope to do swimming/cross training during that time to keep up the cardio aspect of the training. Lots of stretches should help as well, and with a good warm-up I should be able to run on it when it doesn't hurt any more.

One cause that was listed on some of the sites I visited was a sudden increase of hill work along with poor stretching or sprinting. At first I blamed my interval training, thinking that I was pushing myself too much, but I think I probably exacerbated a slight problem by running in Indiana last week. French Lick had some beautiful roads to run on, but it is super hilly. Now that I think about it, that was about the time I started noticing the problem.

I still hope to run in the 10k on June 14th, though I'm not sure I'll go for the personal best on that day, it will depend on my injury progress. This injury might also help me to focus more on what I'm eating.