Weekly Summary Aug 18 - Aug 30

8/24/2009 - 8/30/2009: 85 km 8:42:00

Good solid week. I was planning on only 8 hours this week, which would have been quite the jump from last week, but things happen and it ended up with a little higher total. Heel has been behaving, laser is doing it's work on my Achilles and I got a great massage Friday from Sarah at Montgomery Massage

Mon - AM Strength - Noon BioFlex

Tues - AM 28' - Noon Strength - PM 1:32 (Running Drills)

Wed - Noon - 1:00 (Descided I needed different shoes for easier trails. My Mizuno's are too soft and the Wildcats too stiff, sound like Goldie Locks, so picked up a pair of Crosslites on the way home - MEC is a dangerous place (; )

Thu - AM - 1:06 (Out at 4:45 to hit the trails while it is still dark. Feeling much more relaxed and confident out there, of course the new Myo XP helps significantly - thanks D.) - Noon Strength

Fri - Massage (see above)

Sat - 1:11 - Trails in the rain - Loved it. Ran 31' solo and then met Kimber for another 40' - The trails look so different in the rain - dark and beautiful - loved being out there, could have spent the day just running various loops.

Sun - 3:25 - Kimber and I met Eric at P7 in the Gatineaus and headed out/back on Trail #1 - not too technical, but some nice hills. We have missed running with Eric, good times - we just ran, talked, laughed and had fun in the woods. 1km before the end Eric and I left Kimber to run another extended loop, and Kimber went on the Finish the 25km - her longest ever. (way to go HB). So Eric lead me on a 9km loop trails 6-17-22-8 - super technical stuff. I use to bounce over this, but the legs aren't there just yet, still fun to run and I survived it. Eric is so ready for the 50 Miler at Haliburton. Ran the whole distance in the Crosslites - they were perfect, no issues at all.

Sunday was a good confidence boost for me for my pacing duties at Haliburton. This week will be more of the same - likely not at high as I plan to run a double 21km Sun/Mon.

Weekly Summary Aug 17 - Aug 23

8/17/2009 - 8/23/2009: 71.5 km 6:39:00

Say hello to Stella, Heather and Brian's new little girl. She is a Boston Terrier / Beagle mix and the cutest little pup. Heather rescued her from the pet store on Friday and Kim and I got to be her first visitors. A bunch more pictures can be found on our website.

Week was productive, good increase in time, distance and effort with some aches and pains but nothing too serious. I started Bio-Flex laser therapy on my right Achilles to see if I can get some additional relieve. After Monday's treatment I could feel no real pain in the tendon, but after 3 days of running and another treatment it was quite tender, still I am being optimistic.

Plan for this week it to continue building time and distance, and hopefully adding in a couple of double days, with an easy 20' run. We hope to get up to the Gatineau park for our long run Sunday, it seems like a life time ago since we were there last.

Mon - AM Strength, Noon - Bio-Flex

Tues - Noon Strength, PM 1:23 (Drills)

Wed - Noon 1:00

Thu - AM 1:01 ( Headlamp on the trails), Noon Bio-Flex

Fri - AM - 1:00 Bike

Sat - PM - 1:00

Sun AM - 2:15

Weekly Summary Aug 10 - Aug 16

8/10/2009 - 8/16/2009: 54.4 km - 5:34

Feels good to be back. When my fracture happened a number of people thought I would be bummed and go crazy not being able to run, that did not happen. I needed the time off, as I had stated before, and I am finding myself mentally and physically ready to start training for Rock and Ice. I still have a ways to come back, and still treat each run carefully, but the confidence and the conditioning is starting to return.

It was a good week, building on last week, adding running skills and getting seriously back to the trails. It started with the final Beaverchase race of the season, and ended with a great, but hard 2 hour run in Frontenac park. I had no expectations for the Beaverchase race, so running the 6km in 26:20 was just fine with me; with the heat and lack of conditioning, it was a pretty good showing. Kim and I really enjoyed Frontenac Park, even though the drive was a little longer than heading to the Gatineaus. We hope to get back in the fall, staying overnight at the Stepping Stone Inn.

Here is a couple of shots of Kim working hard to keep ahead of the Deer Flies in the Park.

Mon - Noon weights and core

Tues - Noon weights and core, PM 53' (Beaverchase)

Wed - PM Running Skills 47' (3' barefoot)

Thu - AM Hills 49', Noon weights and core

Fri - Noon Arc Trainer 20' + shopping at the T&L warehouse sale

Sat - AM 1:00 Trails, 5' barefoot, 1:05 Bike

Sun - AM 2:00 Trails (Frontenac Park)

Running Drills

Reading Pete Magill's post the other morning got me to thinking about my own return from this stress fracture and that I am a perfect candidate who could benefit from doing running drills to rebuild my stride efficiency. Problem is that I have never done them before and wasn't too sure of what they were. Along come Google. What I discovered is that drills seem to be a cross between plyometrics, speed workouts, and dynamic stretching.

So armed with a list of drills from here, plus some in my head that I wanted to do, I headed to the track after work yesterday to give them a try. Plan was to execute a drill for 100m and then run/recover 300m to make it 1 lap per drill set. So following a 2km walk/run warm-up I got right into it.

Here is what I ended up doing

Sideways running - 1 set facing in, 1 set facing out

Sideways cross overs - 1 set facing in, 1 set facing out

Backwards Running - 2 sets

Hands on Head - 2 sets, but executed in a single lap, so only 100m recovery

Butt Kicks - 1 set

High Knee A - 1 set but only 50m

High Knee B - 1 set

Quick Feet - 1 set

Straight Legs - 1 set

Skip - 1 set

Finished with 3' barefoot on the grass around the track

I was really impressed by the workout. It was not easy, but not too difficult and you can make it harder or easier as you want by increasing the length of each skill. It felt like it was building strength and co-ordination with an added aerobic touch. I can not imagine there is anyone that would not benefit by adding skills to their workout arsenal.

I plan on continuing with these for the next few weeks as I build back, adding a few more skills to the list and extending the workouts. Kimber will be joining me next week, so I will be interested to get her opinion.

Weekly Summary Aug 3 - Aug 9

8/3/2009 - 8/9/2009: 49 km 4:57

We made it to the Southern most point :) (from our circumfrance of the island run)

So I can officially announce my return to running this week. I completed the 3 week schedule for return to running, pushed the distance some, but all cautiously heeding any little ache or niggle from my heel. The week started on the hot concrete sidewalks in Key West and ended back on the local trails, quite the mixed bag.

This week will again be a week of cautious running, we have the final race of the Beaverchase series on Tuesday evening, and with all luck will get to Frontenac Park on Saturday for a 25km outting.

Mon - 31' (Key West)

Tue - Sailing in Key West

Wed - 1:27 (Ran the circumfrance of Key West, 15km)

Thu - 46' (Key West in the rain)

Fri - Travel Home

Sat - 1:03 (Trillium Woods)

Sun - 1:10 (Trillium Woods)

Greetings from Key West

Just popping in to say hey! It is friggin' hot down here, hotter than Orlando or New Smyrna. Kim and I did get in a 9.7km Run/walk today, longest outing since my injury.

A few pics