Day 29, 336 To Go

January 29, 2013

    How to Ruin Your Running Season,  Course 101

Throughout your running career, you will be faced with obstacles that will derail your training, ruin your season, or worse, ruin your running career.  Here are a few things to avoid:

1. Cross training is great, but some sports to avoid if you are a bit older ad your priority is running are basketball, football and maybe even soccer.  Why?  Lateral movement.  What you don't realize until it is too late is that your knees are not as strong as they used to be.  One wrong move and there goes your ACL and your season, and potentially your running career.
2. Overeating because you are training.  How does this matter?  Well, most people who start running, especially if you are running a lot get really hungry.  The problem is that you tend to eat more than you actually need and since you are exercising you feel like you deserve that Klondike bar (or two...yes, I ate two last night...so sue me!) and that cheesecake (I didn't eat cheesecake) and that pizza (ok, I ate pizza again.) and before you know it, you have gained ten pounds and that takes a toll on your joints.  If you gain the weight slowly, you have time to adapt, but if you pack on the pounds and you are pounding the pavement, injury is around the corner. 
3. Helping your friends move.  Sure, helping your friend move is something you should do, but do you need to carry a refrigerator on your back all by yourself?  Is your friend so damn cheap that he couldn't hire a mover or two?  How's that back feel?  Nice, right?  Every step you take is agony shooting up and down your spine.  Bye, bye season.
4. Acrobatic sex.  Ok, I'm not going to discourage you from doing the Wheelbarrow or the Reverse Cowboy, but one wrong move and SNAP!!  Try running now cowboy.
5. Sprinting at the track.  So you are at the track and doing some speed work or perhaps you just want a soft surface to run around.  And your friend is there and he is goading you on running with you..."I bet I can beat you in a 100 meter dash!"  On your mark, get set, hamstring pull!!  If you do a lot of long distance running, most likely, sprinting is not your forte anymore and you are going to hurt yourself.  Remember number 1 above...cross training with other sports?  Probably the sport where you are most likely to pull a hammy is something mild like Softball.  You hang out on the bench, drinking beer, you patrol right field where no one hits the ball to you, and then you get up to bat...you luckily hit the ball and BAM!! You sprint out of the batter's box and there it goes.  Or, you can be an idiot and slide like a crippled blind kid into 3rd base and dislocate your shoulder (It fucking hurts!!)
6. And last but not least, move a piano.

Number 6 brings me to the whole point of this blog.  Honey had a great idea...lets' get a piano!  So, we found one on Craig's list.  Isn't it beautiful!

It needs to be tuned, but it is in semi-decent shape and it was fairly cheap.  The problem was picking it up.  And I do mean picking it up.  Me and a friend of mine, Mike McCain picked up the piano at its old residence and brought it home.  Mike is a big dude...me, not so much.  Can I just say, Ouch?

Today, my knees are barking and my back is a bit sore.  The back is no big deal, but my knees...they are hurting and I'm worried I may have derailed my season. 

Screw it.  I'm going to press on, pain or not!  I am determined to keep going and I am not going to be moving the piano any more, so that's a plus.  I am also not going to do any of the 6 things above (at least not again!)

Here are our numbers:

Time: 15:00

Distance: 1.16 miles

Pace: 12:57/m

Max Pace: 7:18/m

Calories: 104

Avg HR: 109

Max HR: 127

I'll just continue to take it easy, and maybe my knees will respond to ice, Advil and res...ok, no rest.  Two out of three ain't bad.  Just ask Meatloaf!

Run for life!!