No watches, iPods or heart rate monitors. Just the sound of breathing and my feet hitting the pavement. No planned route. I ran until I felt like coming home and then ran all the way home. The connection of my feet with the ground and the wind blowing. Zen running at its finest! No stressing over time, no set mileage to cover and no target heart rates. Nothing complicated at all, this running is easy stuff!
I wore a pedometer today just to see how much I walk during an average day. Today was over 15,000 steps! I knew I walked a lot, but I didn’t expect a number near that high. Despite complete exhaustion in my legs I still managed to drag myself out for a 5K run as well. I didn’t exactly blaze a trial out there and I was way off from setting any kind of PR, but I still managed to get through it without too much pain and suffering. So after a day like that all I can say is, “Bring on the carbs!”
NB Minimus
I finally bought a new pair of running shoes. I went with a New Balance minimus shoe. Needless to say I tried them out as soon as I got home! I went for a 5K run (my first in over 2 months) and they actually felt pretty good. Other than the blister/scrape I got on my left achilles tendon I have no complaints (and even I expected some form of scraping/blistering with the new shoes anyway.) I also ran sockless which is what these shoes are designed for. I started off fairly easy to get a good feel for the shoes and picked it up coming back to get a feel for the shoes when running at full stride. I have to say I’m impressed with the quality of the product. I especially like the way they feel when running at full stride. You really do feel connected with the ground and you don’t even feel like you are wearing shoes at all. My poor calf muscles are paying the price right now, but the is the idea behind going to a minimal shoe in the first place is to promote a more natural stride, take stress off the joints and engage more of the muscle in the exercise. This is one purchase I’m glad I finally made!
I haven’t done any major exercise in the past few weeks because I am trying to get over a few nagging injuries from hockey season. The first injury occurred about 6 weeks ago. I sprained my knee in the first period of the game. The second happened 4 weeks ago also in a game. I took a nasty hit that bruised a few of my ribs. I still finished my season wearing a brace on the knee and protecting myself from the hard hits.
For now I’m just doing an easy upper body routine once per week and some strengthening of the legs to take some pressure off the knee joint. I’ve finally taken the brace off and can walk with little or no pain or discomfort. The ribs are OK for the most part, but whenever I sneeze it still knocks the wind out of me.
I’m looking forward to starting up a normal routine again and getting myself into racing form. I had hoped to be ready to race sometime early in April, but it looks like I’m pushing any kind of competition of until at least mid May barring any other setbacks or complications. I’m itching to get back out there!
So here is a quick update. Life is still hectic sometimes but the routine is getting back to normal. On the training front things are on hold for any sort of intense training right now. I twisted my knee a few weeks ago in a hockey match and it’s full of fluid right now. No major damage just a whole lot of discomfort. I’m wearing a brace and still playing through it with no major pain. Keeping the leg strong and strengthening the joint is my #1 priority right now. Once hockey season is over for me (10 days and 2 more games) I will see where my knee is and figure out a program to get myself back into racing form. I’m still working in a few light sessions from time to time now just to keep my overall fitness level in good shape. I’m itching to get after it but I’ve got to make sure my knee is solid before going too crazy. I don’t want to spend my summer on the couch!
Everything else in life is smooth sailing which is good!
No updates for the past few weeks. My schedule is a bit hectic. It goes a bit like this:
Hoping to return to some sort of regular scheduled programming soon.
Every once in a while during a workout I get a feeling that I haven’t had in a long time. Today I experienced it again. It’s a feeling of effortlessness. Every part of my body and every movement is in synch. The breathing is spot on, the mind is in the right place, and the body follows without thinking. Ah good old muscle memory! It’s a place that I aspire to be once again. It happens for a few seconds, maybe even a minute and then it’s gone. I like that place, I want to go back. To be “in the zone” again! It is a familiar place, one I haven’t seen in quite a while. I know what it takes to get there. Every day is another step in the right direction.
