Barely the basics

Yesterday I decided to try and swim a lap of freestyle. What a fucking disaster that was. Frustrating!

My shoulder rotation is still an issue and my strength is nearly zip. I forced myself to do a handful of painful laps since the best thing for this screwed up shoulder is to get it moving and stress it a bit.

Super bummed that my stroke is still not there. Grumble...grumble.

Miami 10-Miler

Today I was scheduled to run 10 miles as part of my Saturday Long Run. 10 miles...alone...in a city I don't know well. Now this was going to be interesting.

I mapped my route --- a straight-shot south from my hotel on 48th street and down to the inlet passed 1st street and back. Luckily I had a great path --- the Miami Boardwalk and the Promenade along Ocean Drive.

Here's a pix from the lovely boardwalk that runs from 46th Street to 21st Street.

Overall, it was a good run. The back-half felt especially good which was unexpected. The only trouble was my shoulder. It's still nagging me. Around mile 7.5 it really started to ache. No amount of stretching or wiggling seemed to help. I just had to gut it out for the next few miles.

I'm proud of myself. Running 10-miles is tough to do alone. Luckily I had this great view and some good tunes to motivate me along.

Pumpkin Pie for Breakfast

On Thanksgiving morning I found myself surrounded by 4,600 runners in Miami's Tropical Park lining up for the Miami 10k Turkey Trot.

My dad, brother, sister-in-law and friend were all signed up to run --- everyone but me was tackling the distance for the very first time. Very exciting!

Overall, it was a good run. I paced my brother to finish his first 10k. As usually I felt a burst of energy and speed as we were a mile and a half from the finish. I felt myself starting to pull away (insert Chariots of Fire music), but then pulled back to get back in line with my brother. He was doing great, but I could here his breathing beginning to labor and his turnover slow.

In no time we were racing toward the finish.

In short order my Dad was coming into the finish and had surprisingly ran the whole race! Nice job for someone who hadn't trained and planned to walk the distance.

Nice job RunMiami. You put on a very well organized race...and the pumpkin pie at the finish line was a nice touch.

Pinching, poking & stretching

That's a lot of what of what happens when I show up for my appointments with Allison at C.O.R.E. That and I'm learning a lot about how the body works.

Physical therapy is no joke!

Aside from the homework I'm supposed to do on my own three times a day, when I'm with Allison we work on waking up my shoulder --- muscles, tendons, nerves and whatever else is in there.

My official diagnosis is commonly called an avulsion with frozen shoulder. Basically I fractured part of my shoulder, caused internal damage and time spent in the sling has limited blood flow through my muscles and around the cup-like structure that encapsulates the rotator. Limited blood and movement causes everything to stiffen and tighten --- including my nerves. The result is that it hurts like hell to move my arm in certain directions.

I like to think --- use it or lose it --- and that's what's happened to my shoulder.

After three weeks of PT I've definitely noticed a positive difference. Hopefully I'll be in even better shape in three more weeks.

Allison recommends living my life since there's nothing I can do to "break anything" --- but I can do things that will cause significant pain. I just keep doing stuff to continue testing what that boundary is for the day and hope that the boundary keeps moving until soon I'll be back to "normal."

Just like old times

To help get myself motivated and to make sure I'm getting in my weekly mileage I started using the treadmills over at One-to-One a couple mornings a week before work.

Talk about old times. Walking into One-to-One is like walking into your old hometown ---- clients and trainers who have been there for years and who have been following you on your fitness path. It seems right that I found my way back to One-to-One.

It's great to get the workouts done early since trying to do them after work seems to be more challenging. Being the energizer bunny first thing in the morning isn't too shabby either.

Quest for 26.2 Miles

For the last two Saturdays I've found myself gathering my things and back in familiar surroundings --- Georgetown Running Company.

After 9 weeks of inconsistent training the idea of going out and running 8 miles and then 10 miles the subsequent week was a bit terrifying.

The good news is that I know I'll be in good hands with the DC Road Runners and it was very nice to see so many familiar faces --- granted most were coaches vs. trainees!

For the last two weeks the coaches
have been checking paces and soon will be posting the "official" pace groups and associated coaches.

Well...I know that there won't be much question as to where I'll be. I'll be in the dead-last group. Interestingly, the last pace group is running their Saturday Long Runs at a 10:45 min pace --- which I find interesting to be SO far back in the pack!

The majority of folks are in the 9 and 10 min mile groups. I'm lucky that there are a couple stragglers like me who are enthusiastically covering the tailend of the training runs. Bonus that there are a number of coaches who are lingering around us and keeping us company.

As much as I know that this isn't a race and that there's no shame being in the back it's still tough and frustrating. Mostly frustrating to see how much fitness (and toning!!!) I've lost since the accident.

The good news is that I'm well on my way to getting back on track and closer to tackling the marathon.

And it begins

Marathon training that is. I know...how can you train for a marathon when you're still going to physical therapy twice a week.

The answer is two fold --- first I can't stay this inactive any longer. I'm going stir crazy and I'm starting to pudge up. Second, I really want to tackle the marathon distance --- at least once and since I missed Marine Corp I figured this time is as good as any other.

With that in mind the first day of the DC Road Runner 20-week spring marathon program started this Saturday. Since I was out of town I had to knock out 6-miles on my own.

Luckily, I was able to hook up with the HipAHAs to tag along for part of their 12-mile Saturday long-run. Yay!

We headed north on Coastal from Fenwick to Bethany. It was a classic brisk, but sunny fall day --- but with 25-30 mile an hour winds out of the north. There were a couple gusts that had some power to them and I was fighting to stay straight. I'm convinced we were leaning forward into the wind for three miles. Now that made for a challenging few miles. Overall I was thrilled with my pace and was able to chug along the whole time.

It's been nine weeks since my bike wreck and though I've vacillated between full-on pissed off and resolved to just dealing I learned an interesting fact while cranking out my 6-miles.

I THINK the reason I was supposed to deal with this shoulder setback was to help me reconnect with why I like training and how much running has been a key component.
I started all this madness with a challenge to myself in 2009 to tackle the Army 10-Miler and it was through running that I discovered a whole new and wonderful world.

What's the old saying, "absence makes the heart grow fonder?"