April 27th, 28th and 29th

Thursday was a day of anticipation about seeing the doctor Friday morning. I forced myself to run a 5k on the boardwalk after some warm-up stretches. (34:00)  This was the first time I actually experienced typical plantar fasciitis symptoms as my discomfort disappeared completely halfway through this run.  I wanted to be experiencing some discomfort in the morning when I was at the doctor’s office. I have to say finishing without pain was really nice.

Friday was an extremely interesting day. I had my visit with Dr. Stein at Rothman clinic at 10 a.m.   First they x-rayed my foot and found no signs of trouble.  When I brought up the topic of a cortisone shot I received a dramatic response. Dr. Stein, who is a relatively young woman, told me if she gave me a cortisone shot she would lose her job. She said the Rothman Clinic does not approve and would never administer a cortisone injection to a 74 year old man.  She recommended a month of physical therapy along with a anti-inflammatory prescription, and being fitted for orthotics after my race at Nationals. We discussed the relative merits and heat and ice for this condition. She finds no value in ice whatsoever. She recommends heat and stretching consistently throughout the day. Her specialty is fitting runners for orthotics which I made take her up on it later in the summer.

So I went home, took 2 ibuprofen and ran 4 miles on the boardwalk in 44:10 with no sign of pain in my left foot. I became so excited I ran the last mile and 9:57.  Things are looking up!

Saturday was it an unseasonably hot day in Atlantic City; so Arlene  and I took a long walk on the beach.  (92*)

Stats- Poor job of stat keeping last few days?… Back on track tomorrow…

April 26th,  Wednesday

After a few dynamic stretches and a one mile jog, I ran 5K in 35 minutes.  That was all I wanted to accomplish today.  Wanting to see if my left foot would continue to improve through running, I opted for a little longer run.  The last K was a little sore.  I iced immediately, but tonight the arch is grumbling a bit more.  So, I am glad that I have an appointment with the doc at Rothman Institute on Friday.

Is a cortisone shot in my future?  I have pretty much accepted the idea as it is getting  close to the crisis stage for training for the Nationals.  Six weeks is not much time.  To my surprise people close to me have recommended that I pursue that option. These are  people who are usually very conservative and generally opposed  to medical intervention.  The logic seems to be, ” What are you waiting for?  You have been training for this for over a year. How many more times do you think you going to get back to the Nationals?”   It’s reasoning I have difficulty refuting.  We’ll see what the doctor says on Friday. I am not Galen Rupp, but I would like to run a fast 800m and 1500m  in June.

Why not take a shot?  Ha,Ha!

Ice, stretch and sleep now………

Stats-  Holding steady

April 24th. and 25th

Monday–  Attempted 4 x 400m on cinders today @ under 2:00  (8:00 pace) with 2 minutes recovery.  Ran 1:45, 1:46 , 2:00 & 2:04.  Felt a little twinge in my hamstring on fourth one, so had to slow down the last 50 meters.  With warm-up and cool-down  a total of 2.7 miles. I iced the hamstring  and my sore foot after the run and both seemed pretty well today.  The workout was pretty demanding on both my aerobic and anaerobic system.   It was probably the first time I put myself in serious oxygen debt in a long time.

Tuesday – Today I used as a recovery day after five pretty solid days of work. At the exercise room I did 15 minutes of upper body work on the weights, a  10 minute bike ride and 10 minutes on the elliptical machine.  That was followed by 15 minutes of hot whirlpool to complete a relaxing evening. I hope to be back on this in this tomorrow.

Stats –

I-Mad = 0

I-Mid = 2

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Weight = #152

Sleep = 8 hours

Workout = above

April 23, Sunday

Seven solid miles on the 1 speed today in Jackson. Still stretching, icing & rolling sore foot.

Stats-

I-Mad = 0

I-Mid = 3

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Sleep = 8 hours

Weight = #153

Workout = 7 biking

April 22 & 23, Friday & Saturday

Feeding the monster….?

I had two very good days and work on Friday and Saturday.

Friday at the club I did 85 minutes of some serious work. That included 15 on the weights,  15 on the bike,  20 on the elliptical machine, 15 on the treadmill ( including a 10 minute mile) and 20 running in the pool with 8 x 100 to 200 stride bursts.  Love the complete body drain.

Saturday on the cinders I ran 3 miles which included  9 times 200 meter pickups all around 55 seconds. Remarkably my foot caused me very little discomfort today.  I think it has been responding to my aggressive efforts, icing, rolling and stretching, plus wearing the foot brace while sleeping.  And best of all running does not seem to be aggravating the foot. On another positive note my body seems to be recovering well from days of hard work. I hope that is an indication that my fitness is sound.

Having fun with Monsta concept.  It stems from an event that occurred with a runner a few years ago. His name was Karl Petrini. Karl was a fine young man who worked harder than just about anybody else. He was very loyal to me and believed everything I told him. Well, Karl made some remarkable progress in his senior year eventually braking 4:30 for the mile which, based on a 4:59 PR coming into the season, was a remarkable accomplishment. I became so exciting watching call run down some runners to win the distance medley for our guys at the Somerset County relays that I started yelling to our team on field, “Karl is a Monster!”   Well, with my Jersey City accent that comes out as “MONSTA”.  So the name stuck. Carl wrote to me a lovely letter shortly after he graduated thanking me for believing in him and for giving him a nickname that he still loves. I still have that letter, and it always brings a smile to my face.

Stats-

I-Mad =0

I-Mid = 2

a.m.HR =54BPM

SLEEP =10 HOURS

WEIGHT = #154

WORKOUT = ABOVE

April 19th & 20th

My new training motto……….

” The only way to become a MONSTA is to train like a MONSTA.” ?

Wednesday –  A good day of work with my new commitment to serious training. I was in motion for 100 minutes with 45 minutes of biking , 35 minutes in the pool swimming  and running, plus 20 minutes in the weight room.

Thursday – While aggressively and  proactively treating for plantar fasciitis, I headed to the cinder track for a test workout day. After a considerable amount of walking, jogging and stretching, I decided to attempt some 200m pickups which I have measured out on the 800m track. My goal was to stay within the one-minute range per each 200m effort while maintaining a short quick stride. I managed to complete 8 x 200m all below 1 minute, which is an 8 minute per mile pace.  My legs and breathing were fine.  The foot ached most of the way, but the discomfort remained constant.  (A MONSTA  fears no pain.) That was the first real running workout I accomplished in a few weeks, and it felt very good!

STATS –

I-MAD = 0

I-MID = 3

A.M.HR =54BPM

SLEEP = 7 HOURS

Weight = #155

WORKOUT = ABOVE

April 17th, Patriots Day

Galen Rupp inspired me today at the Boston Marathon! He finished second after suffering with a sore foot for the last month.  I have been reading my blog from last year when I had the same injury in April and May.  When I finally had an MRI performed the diagnosis was inflammation of the plantar fascia. My response was to shorten my runs,  ice a lot,  supplement with ibuprofen,  wear the night-time brace and suffer through  until things straightened out. Rupp had two cortisone shots. Beginning to wonder if that is something I might consider.

So, after the Boston Marathon, I decided to do a test run on the boardwalk today for 30 minutes. The conventional wisdom is that with plantar fasciitis  the discomfort declines as the run proceeds.  Well, the soreness neither increased nor decreased as I continued to run.  I am not sure what that means exactly: but the level of discomfort is not such that I cannot tolerate it for 30 minutes at a time. The morning after tells the tale.?

The little guy from Kenya dropped a pretty quick 4:26 mile to break Rupp on the 21st mile of the race today!  NASTY!

Stats –

I-Mad = 0

I-Mid = 3

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Weight = #156

Sleep = 10 hours

Workout = 30 minutes easy. (Test)

April 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th

Nothing to report.  Resting, heating foot, taking ibuprofen. A little depressed. Maybe a lot.

April 12, Tuesday

Another day off my feet…….

Went back to the club today for weights, swimming and deep water running. After a  short, 15 minute, light, weight room session to warm up, I headed for the pool.   I swam for 23 minutes non-stop, a new recent PR. Then I ran 30 minutes in the deep water. Within 30 minutes I ran a 1200 stride continuous effort pretty good speed to simulate a whole mile. Then I ran a 600 stride effort simulating a half mile. All this is based on my calculation that 75 strides equals 100 meters on a track. I think that 75 strides is really longer than 100m, but it’s close and convenient. Both these efforts were quite difficult, but I was happy to complete them as I think it showed me that my aerobics are still solid and my legs have not lost too much strength.  (1200 quick strides in water is pretty tough!)

The foot is getting close to pain free.??

Stats-

I-Mad = 0

I-Mid = 3

a.m.HR =54BPM

Sleep = 8 hours

Weight =  #155

Workout = above

April 10, Monday

National 1500m is two months from today!!!

Spent a day off yesterday enjoying brunch with Kristen in Philadelphia while reclaiming our house plants, then  sharing dinner with Matty O’Rourke  as he prepared our tax return.  Today I returned to the pool for a pretty strenuous 30 minute effort. In the course of 30 minutes running in the deep end I inserted 7 x 150 to 200 stride pickups. I calculated that about 150 strides is what it would take on a track for me to cover 200 meters. It is pretty aerobically demanding and works my leg muscles quite a bit.  So in my head I did a workout on the track of 7 x 200 meters in 30 minutes including warm up cool down?

Stats –

I-Mad = 0  ☺

I- MId = 3/4.  ?

a.m.HR =54BPM

Weight = #154

Sleep = 8 hours + an afternoon nap. ?