3 milers back to back to back....wow?

I've been averaging about 24 miles a week for 3 months now, running 5-6 days per week. So must of my runs have been 4-6 miles. I still don't think the groin/ab issue is solved, but it is manageable for now. I may try to check out a sports (running) specialist at Tufts if this thing flares up again. But for now keeping my mileage low and mt frequency up seems to be doing the trick. I ran 7.5 mile runs 3 days in a row this week, mainly because I had the time off from work during Christmas but it will be a good test to see how the mid section holds up. Maybe I'll even pencil myself in for a 5k or 4mile race to push it in January.

PLODDING

Been running close to daily now. Haven't pushed it more than 5 miles at all and so far so good. I need to lose some weight!!!! At around 3-4miles I feel my right (and sometimes both) groin start to tighten up, nervous as hell not to reinjure  it. Figure when I get to a point where I run 4 without any incidents I'll start to push a little longer. I've been mixing in some situps in an effor to build some core strength and flexibility.

Am I still a runner?

30 days off and it sure doesn't feel like it, will I ever get back to relaxing runs?

5 weeks of PT

After a trip to my primary care, referral to my surgeon, referral to a sports dr and forward to a PT, hopefully I'm making progress. After the 1/2 I basically could no longer do a situp or get out of bed without pain, I had pain radiating in my lower stomach and right groin. So I stopped running and for the last 5 weeks have been going to PT  twice a week. 15 minutes of electrodes followed by 30 minutes of hard message, not particularly enjoyable. But I have no pain getting out of bed and just went to a 2 mile run yesterday and a 3 mile run today pain free. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but I am hoping I can get up to speed. This might take a while.

Run to Remember 1/2 Marathon

Nothing great to report about here. Still struggling with the groin pain and plodded through this one in 1:35. I ran the first 11 miles with my college friend Mike, a former UMass rower, I ran the last 2 miles hard and put some distance on him, just to see what my body could do. But not feeling the flow here, 7:20 pace should feel a lot better than that. The pain in my abdomen is back, I visited my primary care who said ice and ibuprofen and see a surgeon to rule out inguinal hernia. I keep reading about sports hernia and all these surgeries keep coming up, not good. Hoping it doesn;t have anything to do with the appendix cancer i had a few years ago. I'll schedule an appointment with my surgeon to check it out. Originally felt it after the 1/2 I ran last fall, summed it up as week muscles from my lack of core work and the back to back surgeries I had down there. Did some fall racing and marathon and backed of for a few months, started back up and seems like whenever I try to run hard it comes back.

East Boston Track.....kind of 400-800-1600-800-400

Did a little more track work this week. Mostly because it was windy and the airport loop I usually go on suck when it is windy. Fortunately the track in East Boston is somewhat sheltered. So here it is, 1 mile warmup, 1.5 cool down, 400 jog in between intervals:
400-1:37
800-3:31
1600-7:00
800-3:37
400-1:32

Zero Weeks

Zero weeks suck, I read guys who bitch about zero days. I can take the zero days, but the weeks set you back. I met my goal of 35+ per week in March and then had a collosally bad week ending 4/8.  The great part is all this crap happened on the same week:
1. Stomach bug Sunday night through weds (bonus lost 7 lbs)
2. Poison ivy flare up, left leg blown up so big my ankle was huge.  I actually went to the doctor thinking the poison ivy was so bad it was causing the stomach issues, but he said unlikely and in fact he would rather hold off on the prednisone until the stomach issues went away. Got the prednisone on Thursday and it started to go away-two weeks out and it is still there. I must be really allergic to this stuff or I got into a really bad plant along the Potomac on my DC trip.
3. Broke my left toe. I have never stubbed my toe so bad. Two weeks out and I am still favoring it when I run.

Anyhow, this was a miserable week and totally unpredicted, hopefully this is the only one like it this year and I can continue to put some distance on it and get back into shape for the 1/2 end of May. I need to start doing some speedier work, I might start finding some shorter between now and then to wake up. I had a nice jog on the charles today-what a nicer place to run. This crap in east boston is so uninspiring for pushing hard.

East Boston Track (1mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile)

If you can call it a track workout. I just wanted to run a little faster than my normal plod lately. Rainy, windy and all alone out there, just a few basic laps to dust out the cobwebs. 1/4 mile jog in between, 1.5 warm up and 1.5 cool down.
1 mile: 7:13
1/2 mile: 3:16
1/4 mile: 1:28

Baystate Marathon Training Buildup

I thought I'd post my training calendar for the buildup to Baystate last year. Although this year has been off to a rocky start, I am confident I can work towards a fall marathon. Here are the 3 months of Marathon Training:

Where have I been?

Since my last entry after the new year I have:

1. Moved
2. Got a membership to the East Boston YMCA
3. Competed in the Indoor Rowing Championships (CRASH-B's)
4. Cancelled my membership to the East Boston YMCA
5. Worked way too much
6. Not done my taxes
7. Not forwarded all my mail to my new address
8. Done a miserable total mileage for 2012 year to date of 83 miles
9. Done an even more depressing total for the last 3 months of 197 miles

Now I could blame the move, or work, or this or that for my depressing training these last few months. But no one reads this blog, so who am I trying to convince? Something has to be done. Small goals first, bigger ones later. So how about 35 miles a week for March, sounds achievable, so there it is.

Year End-Look Back

Taking a look back at last years goals, some good green below.
2011 Goals and Objectives

• Take stock in the positive, appreciate the small things, focus on family (Did my best w/ this one, need to focus on the small things more, keep getting bogged down w/ things beyond my control)
• Stay flexible (did my best, 6 months commuting to CA this year, think I was successful)
• 40 mpw consistent w/out injury or illness, slow and steady fitness improvements (38.8 mpw average, no major setbacks w/ injury or illness)
• Take GMAT (ughh-should probably set a date for this)
• Apply to MBA program (ughh-date for this as well)
• Take time off this summer with family for vacation (Kick ass 11day RV trip)
• Yankee Homecoming 10 miler (6:45 pace, back in the saddle after last years)
• Marathon (3:08/7:12pace BQ, oh yeah)