The Men's 4-Miler, June 19, 2011

Well friends, the new race course and event were fantastic. On Father's Day this month, about 500 men in Charlottesville lined up at 7:30am in the parking lot of Scott Stadium at the University of Virginia to run the revamped (men's only) 4 mile race. My personal record for this event (back when it was held in Free Union) is 31:58. I was nervous about the new course, hills, etc. but what slowed me down more than anything was the humidity. It was fairly brutal, at 90 percent humidity and air temps of 72 degrees. My finish time was 32:48, or an 8:12 pace per mile. Not bad, but not a personal record. I started out well, with a mile 1 split of 8:05 and a mile 2 split of 7:59, but then I lost a lot of steam. (Note about the course: While the reports were that the first two miles are slightly uphill [true] and the last two miles downhill [untrue]. Some hill training at miles 3-4 would definitely help. My final two miles were slower than the first two, not exactly a recipe for a PR. But what a great event. Here in Charlottesville, the Women's 4-Miler is such a mega-event, selling out in 48 hours. It's nice to see the men improving on their participation, and for proceeds of the race going to the Department of Urology at the UVA Medical School for prostate cancer research and overall support of men's health initiatives. Hope to see more of you next year. Who knows? Maybe the men's race will become the super mega-event like the women's race!

I'M BACK!

After a long respite from blogging, I'm back. It is 10 days before the Men's 4-Miler race here in Charlottesville, a wonderful event that I would not miss. Injuries are minimal to non-existant at this stage. Yoga could be the missing link in my running lifestyle. A couple of quick tips that come from listening and reading from other people who know diabetes management and running much better than I do:
1) Hydrate. It's hot out there already (heat index today in Crozet is 105). It is almost impossible to drink too much water, so drink it all during the day so that even if you run in the early morning, you will not dehydrate during your runs of one hour or less. More than one hour? Take water with you.
2) Practice breathing. Tara Stiles, yoga guru, inspires us each day to learn that a good, deep breath helps your body relax. Lord knows life is stressful out there, so add some routine to your days where you practice being quiet, breath deeply, and let go. If you add yoga positions to that, all the better. Check out her website at www.tarastiles.com

Anterior Tibialis Tendinitis

My running the past two weeks has been inconsistent, due to a recurring and extremely painful left lower leg injury. I have been trying to diagnose it myself, and think I've found the answer (isn't the interweb wonderful?). I think I have something called Anterior Tibialis Tendinitis, most likely caused by an extremely tight soleus muscle. I should have kept massaging the soleus in both legs during the latter stages of training for the Charlottesville 10-Miler. By restarting my soleus-targeted massaging (using the wonderful devise by www.tptherapy.com) the pain has started to subside. I ran 6 miles yesterday virtually pain-free, and hope to rebuild slowly and maintain the massaging 2-3 times per day throughout my next stages of training. My fingers are crossed in hoping that the pain will stay away, and I can continue to run throughout the summer and fall.

Trail Running

My new favorite love? Trail running. This week I ran three 4-mile loops, mostly groomed trails near our house, and my knees and joints are quite happy. There are so many advantages to "going off road":
1) No traffic
2) Nature in abundance
3) Softer and kinder surfaces
4) Body works on twists and turns of trails, thus strengthening the "support" muscles not often exercised when running on straight pavement surfaces
5) You must slow it down, which has its benefits.
I encourage you to hit the trails this weekend and give it a try. This month's "Trail Runner" magazine (May 2010) is dedicated to beginner trail runners, so pick it up and give it a whirl.

Running For Fun

I am focused on running for fun right now and I must tell you it is, well, fun. I have a schedule that is fairly loose, running four days a week and keeping it around 18 miles per week. Last Saturday, I biked to Mint Springs Park (about 4.5 miles one way) and ran 3.5 miles of trails (very slowly) then biked back for a total of nine miles. It felt good to do something different. I am also running more miles "off-road." Mt blood sugars have been a little irregular, but I attribute that to too much snacking than anything else. Happy spring running, everyone!

Recovering

Dear fellow runners and people managing diabetes: It is now ten days since the ten-miler, and I feel good. My recovery runs have been fine, following the advice of Runner's World magazine so I am running four days a week, but using slow durations runs (20, 30, 20, 30, 30, 40, 45, 50 minutes over two weeks) as my guidepost. I have not been running for distance or speed, just easing in and listening to my body. The body has not complained too loudly, and the soreness I feel is not race related, at least that's what I think. I will begin building back slowly and maintaining my running, but I might mix in some combination trail biking and trail running to spice things up. I definitely feel better when I run on softer surfaces. Looking forward to watching the live streaming of Monday's Boston Marathon. I'd like to see Ryan Hall win in the men's division. He is awesome. Sorry that Kara Goucher is not running this year, but maybe we'll see her again in Boston before too long.

The Charlottesville 10-Miler Race

Friends, family and colleagues have all been wonderful, and politely asking me "How was your race?" I have hesitated in answering because I'm not yet sure. The race itself is a wonderful event, great atmosphere, well organized, a true fundraiser for the local food shelters, etc. But the course itself? It's brutal. The hills are sneaky tough, but I ran them fairly well, never stopping at any point in the race. So here is a summary of some race stats: Pre-race blood glucose was 262 (a little high from eating a light breakfast and purposely not over-bolusing two hours before race-time), post-race glucose was 122 using a 50% of normal basal rate for 90 minutes. I finished the race with a chip time of 1:30:07, about 2.5 minutes below my training target rate. The course measured 10.15 miles on my GPS watch, which leads me to believe the course is a tad longer than 10 miles. I am sore. Next time I run the race, I will bring my own small water bottle. It is too chaotic to run by tables and attempt to drink out of cups while one is running, and it does slow one down! I am looking forward to recovery runs this week, staying on track for about 20 miles per week, and finding some new races for the fall. I might run some shorter races for fun, just to keep me honest on speed work. Happy spring everyone!