4th Weekend

We are back in Des Moines after a nice weekend.

Too much swimming.  But, there is a lot more swimming ahead.  Wisham got me into the North Y on Saturday morning.  I forgot my normal swim jammers and had to wear a very long pair of Brooks shorts.  They are pretty long when they are dry, but ridiculously long when wet.  They looked like kulats or man capris.  Great look for me and my short little legs.


I was able to swim for 45 minutes and do 15 minutes of core work.  Booooring.  The salt from the pool dried on my face and made my beard look even more gray / white than it already does.


Today I was back in the pool at PLF for the exact same workout.  45 in the pool and 15 of core.

This leg has to heal quickly.  I can't take it.


Teresa had two really solid runs this weekend.  She hammered out an impressive Bix @ 6 on Thursday and then got a PR for the 10K at Firecracker.


What else...we spent some time with Dave and Michelle, hung out with my Dad, met up with Chad, Dave, and Damian, had pizza with Megan and the girls, met Todd and Ronnie for a drink, went to Fischer Fest, and saw my cousin.  Fischer Fest was insane by the way...they should call it Fischerpalooza.  It was like Woodstock for families, but without the drugs and mud...although I did leave early. 


Other than that, it was a pretty quiet weekend.  I am looking forward to getting to work so I can relax.


check out my "other blog" at http://runchump.blogspot.com

Well, it is official.  I have tendonitis and something else called tenosynovitis.  Just a fancy medical way to say that  have strained my tendon, it is swollen, and so is everything around it.  Including the tendon skin.  It isn't really called "tendon skin", I just can't remember the real term.

So what does all of this mean?  No running for 2-6 weeks.  2 weeks if I am super lucky and twice as awesome as I think I am.  Probably 4 weeks if I do everything I need to do to recover properly.  Six weeks if I am a dummy and try to do too much to soon...and re-injure it.

I didn't take the news too well this morning.  I have been on a good run and felt poised to drop some good times.  This changes things a bit.  No worries though...(now)  I will do what I have to do and be rocking it by mid July.

Okay enough of that.  Teresa, Kristy, and me hit the pool and did some water jogging.  I don't think I was doing it right before.  It was a lot harder today.  (shut up Curtis)  We did some intervals and were in the water for about an hour.   The workout would have lasted longer but Kristy was too busy flirting with the boys...or boy...or Mark.

I started with an easy swim, and closed with an easy swim.

After the gym Teresa and I met Curtis, Delsin, and Kristy at Saints.  They have really good Garlic Fries.

Water logged

Please let me heal quickly.  I had to spend my workout time in the pool.  I swam a bit, water jogged a bit, swam a bit, water jogged a bit, back and forth for about 45 minutes.  It was not fun.

I felt like a kid who got grounded and sent to his room.  And while in his room he just stared outside at all the other kids, just wishing he was out there playing too.  But he wasn't so he pretended he was anyway.  Lifetime is a brilliant television network.

Except I am a grown man stuck in a swimming pool by myself.  And I was forced to watch all these able bodied people run past the pool windows.  It made me sad.  I think I even saw a couple of them say something funny...and I just wanted to know what they said.  Is it odd that I laughed when they laughed?  I just wanted to feel like I was a part of something.


Hopefully my shin deal heals up real soon.


Hey, but I did mow my yard and have chili.  So, I have that going for me.

Interesting Weekend

It was supposed to a good endurance weekend.  It was a good weekend, and I did get some good exercising in, but my shin is worse than it was on Wednesday / Thursday.


Based on Dr Feldman's poolside diagnosis, I do not have "shin splints", rather I jacked up my peroneal tendon.  Good news, it may be easier to heal than shins splints. Bad news, I need to take a week or so off from running.

Teresa and I are going back to the QC for Bix @ 6 on Thursday and staying for the 4th of July and running the Firecracker 10K on Sunday.  Looks like I will be a spectator this time.


Today Teresa and I did a little water jogging so I could keep the cardio up.  Certainly not my favorite activity.


Back to Saturday, we ran about 9.5 miles at the downtown YMCA, rode about 25 miles from downtown to Cumming.  Later we met up at Saints, and everyone made fun of me for being old.


Good times - 

New Pain Same Route

Ugh.  Yesterday I hurt my shin on the track.  I thought it would go away...but not so fast.  It was really tender at the start of the run.  The harder I ran, and more I pushed off of my toes, the worse it was.  Boo.

I was still able to get a good 8 miles in.  Jake, Pete, Mark and I ran the usual route from the gym.  Jake ran back to the house with me..and then back to the gym.  See my GARMIN info HERE.  We need Feldman to come back and get the group going faster again.

Curtis's Volvo (is it Curtis' or Curtis's) would not start this morning.  Maybe these Scandinavian cars aren't all that after all?  Nah.  You know what though?  The team at Willis Volvo took care of it as usual.

Some of you may remember that I went and saw Marcus Luttrell speak this winter.  It was awesome...great story...great book.  I have added this handy Amazon.com widget on the left so you can get the book or download it for your Kindle.  See, I make the world an easier place.  I have a signed copy of the book too, you are welcome to borrow it.  Although I looked for it earlier tonight and could not find it.

Wow, this is really turning into a nerd blog...more nerdy running talk...less funny.  Boo.

Too tired

I am too tired to blog, so I will just post a quick update.

Yesterday in the HEAT I ran 6.2 miles (two laps around raccoon) at 6:54 pace.  See Garmin info HERE.  It was tough because of the heat, I was going to do three laps at 7:15 pace, but only did 2...a bit faster.

Today was a track day.  I ran to the track with Mark.  Kristy and Jeff did their own speed work, Mark did an 800 with me.  Jake didn't make it.  My splits for the 800s are below, I did 6 of em.

1. 2:51
2. 2:51
3. 2:55
4. 2:57
5. 2:57
6. 2:51 

With the 3 mile warm up, the 400 jog between 800s, and the 3 miles jog home, I ended up with 11.50 miles on the day.  See Garmin info for today's run HERE.

Hey, my new Brooks shoes came in today.  They are pretty sweet.  

Sorry for the short post, I will try better next time.

Monday

So my pig got out this weekend.  No sickos, that isn't a euphemism for some weird old guy perv thing.  My   potbellied pig (Fred) got out yesterday and was hanging out at  my neighbors house.  In the 13 years we have had Fred he nevergot out...mostly because we never left the gate open either.

My little piggy went wee wee wee all the way...again sickos it's not what you think.

Okay so what about the running.  I met Jake at Raccoon for a 3 lap (9 mile) run.  We ran a nice easy 7:30 pace and then compared Volvos.  seriously...stop it!  I'm not bragging but my Volvo is bigger than Jake's.  dude

Today I ran to the gym and met up with the group.  From there we ran over to Valley and back in.  I ended up with 8 miles.  It wasn't quite the "opportunity of a lifetime" that Eminem   promised me.

Mrs. Brooks is in the QC today and tomorrow for work.  So I am flying solo tonight.  And I just realized that I am using my free time to BLOG.  The nerdy keep getting nerdier.

The greatest ever

Before we start talking about running, I need to point out that I completely destroyed Mrs. Brooks in miniature golf today.  Now I'm not saying it wasn't close, but Teresa didn't beat me at a single hole.  I was on fire...I hit a ball off of the rocks and sunk it dead center.  I am pretty sure I shot the single greatest round ever on any mini golf course in the world.  I'm just saying.

Back to running...I ran from home to my office downtown.  It wasn't a full tempo run, but I did run hard.  I ended up averaging 6:59 for the run.  See Garmin info HERE.

When I got to the office I ran a cool down just shy of 2 miles.  Teresa met me at the office and we walked in the Heart Walk...about three miles.  The dogs came along, it was a good morning.

Hot Laps

Whoa Nelly.  What a hot day.

I ran a track workout with Jake today.  90+ degrees with WIND.  Here is how the track conversations went.  "okay, let's do 8 X 800 today."  "alright, it's a little warm out, how about if we do 6 X 800."   "hey, there is no shame in running 5 X 800 on a hot day like today."   You know, 4.5 X 800 is a good workout!"

That's right.  We ran 4 1/2 800s.  The half an 800 (otherwise known as a 400) was only because the 1:45 pace just wasn't going to cut it.

Mix in the 3 mile warm up, 3 mile cool down, and some 400 recovery jogs...and you've got 9.63 miles.  See Garmin info HERE.

In the last 7 days I have put in over 60 miles.  That is why I get to take tomorrow off.  The chart below shows the last seven days.

Count:	8 Activities
Distance:	62.78 mi
Time:	07:53:45 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	1,264 ft
Avg Speed:	8.0 mph
Calories:	4,499 C

Alright kids, have a great weekend!  Good luck to K-Dorf and Lizzie at Grandma's on Sunday.  It's all downhill!!

 

Tough Day

The good news is that I did not have to run in the rain, delay my run because of the rain, or not run at all because of the rain.  I was about to Google the blueprints for the Arc.  Okay, I did Google this.  I already have two Whippets and a pig.  This is a 30 Cubits model.  Not sure what a Cubit is?

I felt less than great on the run today.  I felt like Homer...

Probably because I started out way too fast.  The first mile was a bit under 7 minute pace (6:53).  The Second mile was 6:36.  About a quarter mile into the 3rd mile I felt really light headed and weak.  (yeah, weaker than normal).  So I slowed it down and closed that mile at 7:11.  The fourth mile was a different story...7:57 pace.  Bliggity Blammo.

Then I got my second wind for mile 5 & 6, and I dropped back under 7:00 pace.  Today was a goofy day.  I ended up averaging 7:10 for the 6.2 miles.  Not bad all things considered.

Came home and mowed the yard.

Start PT keep running

Yep, I started back at PT today.  He did a lot more work on my total core.  The last time we focused on my ab.  This time we worked all around my ab...the lower back, the hips and hip flexors, the hamstrings, and obliques.  Pretty tough deal but good.

Tonight I ran to the gym, ran 4 miles, ran 3 miles, and ran home for a grand total of 9.95 miles.  Running with Mark (aka Wolverine)


is sometimes like running with Jiffy Pop.  Dude is all over the place...like a "fart in a skillet".

Feldman wants to do a tempo run on Thursday at 5:45 pace.  Um, I can barely run 1 mile at that pace.

Guess I'd better rest up.

What else?  Not much, just busy "Living The Dream" 
Teresa made tater tot casserole tonight.  Dem's is good.  Dem's is real good. 

Indoor, outdoor, indoor

Pictures from Dam to Dam came  back.  The shirt is really yellow...not green like the picture looks.  Man my hair looks really grey in the first picture...you know, cause its jet black in real life.  If the camera adds 15 pounds, I'd better start lifting some weights. 

Now back to the present

What a gnarly day.  We got about 150 yards from the gym and the rain came in a big way.  So, we went back inside and ran the track, blah.  I don't like that track.  After a bit over an hour of indoor running and we went back outside for a 7 mile cool down.  Looks like we got 15.75 miles in or so.

Last night Feldman ran me through the ringer for a tempo / track workout.  Basically, 2 mile warm up, 4 miles @ 6 minute pace, and a 2 mile cool down.  12 hours later we are dropping 15+ miles. What is tired?

In the last 30 days I have run a lot of miles for me.  216 miles in a month...not bad eh?

Count:	26 Activities
Distance:	216.59 mi
Time:	27:04:18 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	4,525 ft
Avg Speed:	8.0 mph
Calories:	21,532 C

The blog is back in town

Not really, just a slow night of television.

So what's been happening in the super awesome life of Chris Brooks you ask?  If you really asked that, then you are a bigger nerd than I am, and quite frankly I am a little frightened by you.  Please stop reading my blog...you are creeping me out.  Seriously.  Log off now.

So I ran Dam to Dam.  I wanted to break 1:20:00 but sadly I lack talent and ran a 1:20:16.  There is a good chance I will be crying myself to sleep for weeks.  Not true.  Real men don't cry.  I will just punch a wall until my fists bleed because I am a badass.  Not true.  I will get over it 48 hours ago.  It's just running.

What else?  Um, I ran with JG, Downs, Swish, Petey, and Kristy tonight.  We ran midgetville and Swish explained to us what a "Pirate" is.  Don't ask.

I go the Doc tomorrow for a CT Scan on my ab.  Why am I going to the Dr for my ab?  Cause their SICK.  Bamm!  (that was for you Kris)

Have a good night campers!

Tempo Tempo

Raccoon for two quick laps -

Avg 6:45 for 6 miles

1   7:06
2   6:55
3   6:47
4   6:42
5   6:33
6   6:27

Nice negative splits.  Sadly they were brutal...legs felt really heavy.  This was the 6th day in a row of running.  It's time to rest the dogs.  I cannot run Saturday morning either, so it will be later on Saturday before I get back out.  My legs will like the 36 hour rest.

We are thinking about getting another whippet (dog).  They make it way too difficult to get a dog.  I think it is a sign.  "Dog People" are weird.

I got some of my Brooks running swag today.  Total buzz kill.  The t-shirts were too big, the shorts were the wrong size, and the other shorts go to my knees.  Maybe I am just too short?

Anxious

I really want to get my miles up.  The abs feel better every day, just trying not to re-injure anything.  So for right now I am trying to play it cool.  Next week I will ramp the miles up a bit.  I will probably get to about 40 miles this week and then step it up slowly.  Last year this time I was a lot farther along.

My next planned race is Bix...so I have plenty of time.

I am going to our Atlantic and Ft Dodge offices tomorrow.  Five hours in the car for three hours of meetings.  Fun day.

No pop in over a week.   

Catch Up

I haven't updated in a few days.  This thing is hard to keep up with.

Sunday -

I went to the gym again for 30-60 minutes...wasn't sure how I would feel.  Curtis was there and ran the first bit with me and the Feldman showed up to run with Mark and she ran with me for about 10 minutes.  That broke up the run nicely.

The the tri geeks showed up.  I couldn't let them beat me.  Pride is a bitch.  It was good though.  It forced me to drop the pace for 20 minutes.  I am guessing that I ran a bit over 6 miles.

Monday -

Good to get outside again.  Pete, Curtis, Jeff, Mark, and I ran from the gym.  Weird run.  We ran the first mile slow and then turned on the jets.  I didn't get anaerobic, but it was close. Mark and Jeff had no mercy. When we got back to the gym I did my core work and then ran a 1 miles cool down.


Tuesday -


Sushi for lunch at Myabi 9. Good.


I haven't been to Raccoon River Park for a while so thought I would head down. I did not feel great today. I forgot my watch and had to use my cell phone as a clock. boo. I ran too fast. boo.


Teresa dropped me off at the gym after. Did my core work and ran home.


Done.

Inside again

The weather was rough so I opted to run indoors today.  So did Pete, Curtis, Kristy, Christy, and Mrs. Brooks.  Sorry Striders, it was just a bit too slick for me.

Anywho, I ran 1:15:00 at a pretty easy pace.  I am guessing we got 10 miles or so in.  Curtis and Kristy went a bit further.  They logged 12 miles.  The abs felt pretty good.  I don't like doing all this core work but it seems to be working.

After the run we went to Gateway for some delish breakfast.  Too bad they were so slow...I really like their food.

Reno and I are going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight, Teresa and I already went to church, and Northern Iowa beat number 1 Kansas.  Another good day.

151.0

Last day PT today went well.  First run post PT went well.  Me being awesome is going well.  This blog, well...


This was the first weekday in a long time that I ran outside.  Can you say 65? 


"65" 


Pete, Mark, Shauna (sorry, not sure how to spell Shauna...might be Shanna), Curtis, Jeff, and I ran from PLF.  Most of the group ran 4, Mark and I ran 6 almost.


I don't know if Shauna / Shanna will ever run with us again.  We need Feldman back.  That's not a crack on Shauna / Shanna.  It's a crack on Mark, Curtis, Pete, and Jeff.  Certainly not me.


Let's see, what else?  Anyone want to talk health care?  Yeah, didn't think so.  


G'night Gs!


Oh, I almost forgot.  I weighed 151.0 today, hence the title to this blog entry. 

It's on

I signed up for the Pikes Peak Marathon today.  Awww man.  Delsin signed up for the Ascent, and N & L signed up for the marathon too.  Time to get my training on.


Tomorrow is my last PT visit.  I think.  Hopefully it goes well and get to it.


Yesterday I ran at the gym with Curtis and Mark.  We started out nice and slow but picked the pace up nicely.  The weather is nice and supposed to be better tomorrow...but not better this weekend.  Boo.


Tonight I went to Dr. Ganske's (former US Congressman) house to meet Congressional hopeful Jim Gibbons.  Those of us that have been in Iowa for a long time know the Gibbons boys for their 10 state championship wrestling titles.  Jim went on to coach Iowa State.


Also there tonight was former Speaker of the House, Speaker Hastert.  Very cool.


I came home and had a little turkey chili and water.  mmmm.  Healthy schmealthy.

Great Weather

Nice day.  It was nice to see the sun shinning and the temps high.  So I celebrated the warmer day by working out indoors again.


Pete agreed to join me on the elliptical for 30 of my 60 minute workout.  I didn't want to push my luck by running after yesterday went so well.  Not too much can be said about the elliptical.  I hate it...but it works.

After my hour was up, I did my stretches and core work.  Almost as boring as the elliptical.

After going in to the office for some catch up, I took the dog to the park for a quick trail run.  Most of the trails we usually run were washed out.  We still had a good time and probably got 2-3 miles in.  It was nice to get him out for some good exercise.

Perfect Ten

No, not me.  Thank you for thinking I was a perfect ten.  Sadly, I am a only a solid 9.85.

We ran a bit over 10 miles at a "medium hard" pace.  It wasn't perfect but it went better than expected.  It was also faster than I expected.  We rolled out the first mile at just under 8:00.  After than we kept getting faster.

I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat wondering how the abdomen felt.  It's hard to answer...it felt strained the entire time, but good.  My form was good and my breathing was good.  The more I can relax, the better it felt.

Feldman, Downs, Swisher, and I hung together for the first 8 miles.  Feldman was putting pressure on us and pressing the pace.  With each mile our pace got quicker and quicker.  The last two miles we dropped down to low 7's, with the last mile at 7:03.

For the whole run we ended with 10.25 miles at 7:20 pace.  The last mile I could really feel the ab burning.  The good news is that is felt good after the run.

Thank you to Feldman for breakfast!  I "forgot" my wallet.  Swisher ate 22,000 calories at Palmers.  What a display.

Oh yeah, Nick put in 20 miles today.  He looked good.  Nice work!

Not Good

Boo, ugh, argg, rrrrr.  Whatever lame anger expression you prefer.  Today did not go well.

• I hope that the deep tissue massage broke up some scar tissue and maybe caused some bruising or swelling.  That would explain why I felt bad.
• It could be the poor diet I had today that caused extra pressure on my abdomen.  My weight was just over 154 lbs...right about where it should be.  My "fighting weight" is 147 lbs (ish). 
• OR, it cold be that I am not getting better.  That would suck.

I had PT this morning and we went through the usual routine.  Recap, ultra sound, massage, exercise review.  My belly felt gnarly all day.

My run was very unpleasant.  I kept waiting for the muscles to warm up and relax, but they did not.  It got worse.  I failed to stretch prior to the run...maybe that was to issue.  For those tracking numbers, my "pain level" started at 4-5 and ended at 5-6.  That isn't terrible, but it isn't going the right direction either.

Sorry that this is not a very uplifting blog entry today.  I just didn't have a very uplifting running day.

Back on Track - kind of

Today I ran 35 minutes on the track indoors.  We had quite a crew today.  Jeff (aka JG, aka Pause), Curtis (aka Curtis), Kristy (aka Feldman), and Mark (aka Mountain Man, aka the Kid).

I am not really sure what the pace was but I would guess that we averaged 7:30s.  We got progressively faster.  We could barley contain Jeff...the dude was ready to go.

Back to me.  My abdomen felt okay again.  I feel like I am right on the edge of pushing it too far.  Physically I feel  really good.  It makes it hard to hold back when the legs and lungs are strong.

Return to physical therapy tomorrow for some ultra sound and massage.  The rehab seems to be working...I need to keep the core work going.  I will stretch, ice, and advil tonight again.

A little rice and fish for dinner and some American Idol.  I am living the dream.

Later kids...

Brooks ID

I got an e-mail today that I was selected for the Brooks ID program.  Yeah!  The Brooks ID stands for...
"Inspire Daily" which is something I try to do.

I do not have all of the details, but I am stoked.

I love running and I love the Brooks brand for many reasons.  This will be fun to do something I love and represent the Brooks brand.  repeat...

Physical Therapy

I should change the name of this blog to "Chris Brooks Rehab".  I am still nursing a sore / strained lower ab.  Today was the first day back running at the gym.

I thought the blog would be a good way for me to track my progress.

Today felt pretty good.  I was supposed to keep my pain at a "5".  I think I did that.

The pain started on my left side and moved to the left.  The location was very specific.  I was still a bit sore from PT today.  The deep tissue massage made things more sore than usual.

I ran 4 miles in 30 minutes

• walked the first 2 minutes
• .70 miles at 7.5 mph
• 1.2 miles at 8.0 mph
• 1 mile at 8.5 mph
• .5 miles at 9.0 mph
• .25 miles at 9.5 mph
• .25 miles at 10.0 mph

I am writing this almost 2 hours after the run and I feel good.  I do feel the ab but the pain is low.  Ice and Advil are on the docket for tonight.

Hopefully tomorrow goes well too...