Running and Rehab

Back to Training!!!!

2011-05-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'm training again. Nearly back to my old self. I am blogging about my training, and my upcoming races at my new blog

I also have another blog, in which I talk about sports injuries.

Also on the website, there are videos for preventative running injuries and other neat rehab and training based stuff.
Hope you enjoy it.

My New Blog!!!!

2010-06-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Go here. The saga of running continues, but I am giving out some good info, while I talk about my running endeavors.

Jeff Le's Weight Loss Story at Runner's World

2010-05-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

Jeff Le's Weight Loss Story at Runner's World

1 Month Anniversary

2009-11-24T13:16:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, I had my 1 month anniversary from not running. It's kinda funny how quickly things can turn for the better or worse... and in my case it has been for the better (I hope). Let me explain....

Cheryl, who is my office administrator, gave me this time article to read a few months back, and the cover read Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. I remember looking at it, and shrugged it off... actually I think I even said to her, "This article is probably written by a frustrated, overweight person, who is trying to convince themselves and others that it's all pointless (exercise wise)"... I never read the article. Cheryl still tried to press me to read it, and I think I just told her, "When I have time.." Well my oh my...look how things have turned for me.... A little over 1 month ago, I remember trying to purge through all of our magazines at my clinic to find this article, and I finally read it. Due to reading that article, I am proud to say that even though I have gone from my typical 150-180 miles of running/month to a big fat 0, I have not gained one pound....actually, I think I lost 1-2 pounds.

In a nutshell, the article stated that because we exercise, we almost feel entitled to eat whatever we want. Now, I know that there are some people that don't do that, but I was not one of those people. My eating habits were absolutely horrendous. My typical day of eating would consist of

1. Very little to no breakfast

2. A huge lunch (anything from Burritos, burgers, pizza)

3. Lots of candy

4. Maybe a redbull or two...or three... or four

5. Dinner (Wifey cooks pretty healthy, so that wasn't a problem)

6. Ice cream, especially when watching sports before I go to bed

7. Fruit drinks, usually apple juice diluted with water

Couple that with my 35-50 mpw and my weight stayed stable for the most part.

Well, that has changed radically for me. What I realized is that I was running and eating for comfort, and just soothing my cravings at all times. My marathon readers will understand this when I say this, but running changes your mood, makes you feel good...it's a drug, albeit a positive one....but also, when you are running the distances that I was running, I was putting in a 800-1000 calorie cushion to my typical day, so 2,500-3,000 would not create any damage to my weight control. Then if you add my eating habits, I was eating lots of comfort foods...tons of sugar and salty foods, which would again satisfy my cravings...day after day... it made for a really happy, but honestly not the healthiest person (at least on the inside). So now, Greg and food have a different relationship... it's more of a business relationship. I use it to satisfy my needs for energy, not for cravings... it initially was really difficult, but it had to be done...because I couldn't substitute my running for any other exercise without setting myself back again... and it has been extremely successful.. so far. So this is basically my typical day.

1. Morning (I will have cereal with skim milk and usually cut up bananas)

2. I try to take in about 70-85 oz. or water a day. (I'm telling you, water is the key...it fills you up)

3. My lunches are usually pre made from home, or if I do eat fast food, it's a Turkey Breast sandwich on wheat bread from Subway (300 calories for a 6 in.). I will get a foot long, and then have the other half between sometime between 4-6 pm.

4. I use a power juicer (celery, garlic, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, etc.) or make a protein shake every day.

5. No more coffee

I basically have tried to limit my intake to about 1600 calories/day.

I had to mentally change my attitude toward my food and obviously "detox" myself from running. I truly think I am finally on the road to recovery...

Out for the season

2009-11-14T06:09:00.001-08:00

I'm done running for the 2009 calendar year... And I might not be
running for a few months beyond that.
If you have read my previous entries, you know that the last few
months have been a rough patch for me with re: to resuming training after I
finished my 4th marathon in San Francisco. A few weeks after the race
I got a very bad flu, and I have struggled to train ever since.
Consecutive weeks of 25+ miles would just suck all the energy out of
me, and my paces for running have slowed down by about 2 min/mile. I'm
basically back to where I was at about 2.5 years ago, when I initially
started to run. Not really knowing what was going on, I continued to
train, but just took it week by week, and got some extensive blood
work done. Finally, and with at least some relief and closure, I have
been diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus. It's basically mono, but
it lasts for longer, usually 6-12 months. There is no real treatment
for it... You just have to wait for it to leave your body.... Or should I
say go dormant, because it never actually leaves your system. Rest,
fluids and patience are what I have to live by right now.

My MD basically put it like this..."Greg, you are not getting slower,
but you are certainly getting sicker. Running as much as you do puts a lot of stress on your body, and will prolong your recovery"

So it's been 3 weeks of no running, and I have had to develop a little
different perspective on things.

Being a Type A person, and loving structure in my life (can we say
OCD?), I have had to change my routine drastically. The 5:30-6:00 am
10-12 mile runs are done. I can't stuff my face with whatever I want
because I'm no longer burning 1,000 calories/ day. I'm not exercising
at all, so I have really had to clean up my eating and get very
serious about my nutrition.

I always feel like God always allows good to come out of what seems
like a negative situation. This situation is no different.

Probably the most positive result of my running over the past few
years has been my weight loss... And I have promised myself, that I
will do whatever I need to do to keep myself from not gaining the
weight back.

Over the next few months, that will be my main concern and where my
attention will have to focus. NUTRITION!!

This blog attracts a few runners, but I know that the majority of
people that read this blog are my weight loss clients based out of
Cypress Creek and patients at Renewal Rehab. I hope that by me posting
about my current situation, that it will serve two purposes.

1. Realizing that WE all go through situations that stink, but we have
to deal with the hand that we are dealt. All we can do is to try our
best to deal with it and rehabilitate ourselves to return to whatever
it was that previously made our lives feel complete. That might be something as trivial as what I am currently going through (not being able to run), or it could be walking, being able to eat without assistance, drive a car, or many other things.

2. Having a strong handle on my food intake is new ground for me. Just
like my running exploits, I feel like my best way to stay accountable
with this is to make this open to others that are currently struggling
with the same situation. Using this blog is my best way of
accomplishing that.

Thanks for reading and I will be posting early next week.

I've HADD it!!!

2009-10-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

The last few months have not gone as initially planned. The plan was
that the San Francisco marathon was supposed to be a fun race, which
wasn't run too hard, but didn't take much recovery time, so that I
could continue my training that had gone so well up to that point and
throw down some blazing times in all running distances from the 5k to
the marathon. Well, that plan has been scrapped... and that is
putting it lightly. I have struggled with illness and have not been
able to fully recover to get back to the running shape that I was in
during July. My running low point came during September, when my dad
and I ran at the beach and he was able to hold a running pace 2 min/
mile faster than I could. It has been a struggle since then. I would
take off a week, run a few miles and then it didn't seem to help... Or
if it went well, the next run would be terrible. Last Thursday, I
decided to leave the heart rate monitor home, and just run by feel.
What I learned is that although my legs feel fine at the paces I used
to run, my body just couldn't handle it. I nearly had to stop at one
point after clocking back to back 8 minute miles. What???Yessiree.
That's where I was at. So, I have decided that all races that I
planned on signing up for the remainder of 2009 ain't happening.
Luckily for me, the races that I actually paid for allowed me to
transfer my race fees to races that they have scheduled for early
2010....so that's a really good thing. I had 4 goals for 2009 with
re: to running. One has happened (18:54 5k), one is still on schedule
to happen (2009 miles for 2009), and 2 aren't going to happen (sub 40
10k, and sub 1:30 half marathon). I have decided to rebuild my running
base by using the HADD principles and run based on low heart rate
efforts until at least January 1st. It will allow my body to fully
reset itself, and fully get back to where I was before all this crap
happened... Who knows maybe even better??

I tell my patients all the time.... "Sometimes you have to take a step
back in order to take multiple steps forward". Now, I have to live it
out with re: to my running.

Although this process has been a little frustrating, it helps
tremendously that I have the opportunity to work in the field of
orthopedic physical therapy. Every day, I'm dealing with people that
have had many aspects of their lives stripped away from them. In some
cases, it's running or maybe it's strength training or even the
ability to walk and put on clothes without assistance. So it's
actually made me put my silly little setback in proper perspective,
because the fact is I'm still able to run... I just run slow as snails.

Two of the people that I work with (Chris and Julie) are currently in
the same boat I am. They are struggling with various ailments that are
limiting their running and not allowing them to go after goals that we
all previously set earlier in the year. We are all helping each other
get back to previous fitness levels, and I have encouraged them to
start to blog about their ailments. Its good for our patients to know
that although our issues aren't as pressing as theirs, we still deal
with doubts, frustrations, etc., when something unplanned, such as an
injury and/or illness rears its ugly head. So, I guess we'll see if
you all will not be subjected to having to only read my blog, but also
one of theirs... Thanks for reading!

Pete Pfitzinger - Lab Reports - Overtraining

2009-10-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

Oh Lordy... I think this is my plight..
Pete Pfitzinger - Lab Reports - Overtraining

Because I Can….

2009-10-08T12:52:00.001-07:00

Some Tuesdays, Kerry and I are able to go out to breakfast together… its kind of our time together; even though we have to bring two of the kiddies along (we just usually hope and pray that the little one sleeps while we are at the restaurant). Anyways, this past Tuesday, on our way to having breakfast we saw a man running on the Suncoast Trail. As some of you runners know, whenever you are driving, you look out for other runners… it's almost as if we are bonded together, through our likeness for the sport. Anyways, this guy was an above knee amputee, and he was just cruising along running on the Suncoast Trail, and I pointed him out to my wife. So, a few minutes went by, and Kerry seemed lost in thought, and I said, "Hey is everything ok?" She says, "Yeah… I was just thinking about that guy… why is it that he has one leg, and feels the need to go out there and run, and I don't even do it, and I have two legs?" So, I said to her, "Because he can." You see, IMO, we take so many things for granted… and the thing we take for granted the most is our health. Maybe I feel so near and dear to this because of the profession that I am in… but I always find it amazing to hear numerous patients of mine, or even runners that have a common story, in that it took a health scare, whether it was a torn up knee, a heart ailment, a bad habit or set of habits, to get them to change their lifestyle. I am one of them as most of you know, and over the past week, I have seen a few stories of individuals that have transformed their lives to do incredible endurance feats after some life changing health event.

Ed Rousseau is a 70 year old man that just ran his 163^rd marathon. Former alcoholic.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/10/04/kare.mn.man.run.163.marathon.kare?iref=videosearch

Or how about this guy?? Kyle Garlett, who is attempting to complete the Ford Ironman Championships in Kona, has battled cancer 4 times… is only 37 years old, and will line up for the race…. With someone else's heart… http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/13/heart.transplants.ironman/index.html?iref=newssearch

Don't take your health for granted… savor everything that you do. Enjoy every breath that you take…and do something with what God has blessed you with!!!

My Funky Week (and my plans for the rest of 2009)

2009-08-23T15:34:00.001-07:00

I've been in a week funk. Ever since I came back from my San Francisco trip, the stresses of life have just gotten to me, and it finally caught up to me this past week. Last Sunday, I went out for a 10 mile run, and when I finished, I just felt exhausted. I didn't feel physically exhausted, I just felt mentally exhausted. I knew I had a lot of things going on, but usually I can just press through everything and it will just go away. Well, this time I realized early that I might need to just chill a bit. I took 3 days off of running, and then ran on Thursday. I felt much better than I did on Sunday, but still not like how all my runs usually are. I usually always come back in the house with a big smile on my face, shower up, and feel ready to conquer the world. Well, Friday it was evident why I was feeling the way I felt. I just went into a full downward spiral with my energy all day. By about 2 pm, I had the chills at work, and actually got ill in between seeing patients at around 6 pm. My last 3 hours of work on Friday were more grueling than any marathon I have ever been a part of... that's no exaggeration at all. I just kept telling myself, "You're nearly done... only 6 more...5 more....4 more patients" Chris and Julie finished up my last patient for me, and I got in my car (my body was so achy, I had to lift my legs in the car) and drove home. I was so out of it, when I opened up the garage, I didn't realize that I didn't park the car all the way in, and as the garage door came down, it hit my car.... kinda funny now, but at that time, I didn't give a shiznit... I just walked to my bedroom and collapsed. At least I now know that my body was fighting something... I thought I was just going into an abyss or something.. LOL.

Anyways, I'm still trying to fight this nasty bug, and I can't wait to get back out there and start running again. But with all my downtime, I have had a little chance to come up with a plan for my running for the rest of the year.

I have just started P90x, which is an extreme home workout program. (Thanks Chris for letting me have... I mean borrow the DVDs) There are 12 workouts in the whole program, but I only plan on doing 3-4/week.

Legs and Back
Ab Ripper
Chest and Shoulders
Core

I did my first workout last week, and during the workout there was a series of calf exercises in which it was burning so much that I felt like my calves were going to lock up... now.... the only other time I have felt this is during the marathon... hmmm... maybe I just have some weak calf muscles??? Yup.

I'm planning on running around 35-45 miles/week for the rest of the year, in combination with the 4 P90x workouts/week. If I do that, I will hit my goal of running 2009 miles for this 2009 calendar year. I truly believe that strength training, especially with emphasis on the core and legs will help me stay injury free, and who knows?? It might even improve my running. I realize that the main reason that I have had such big improvements in running over the past 3 years is because I rarely get injured... and now that I want to put more stress on my body as I gear up for bigger and better things next year, I need to focus on building a strong base, so that my body can handle it. I'm also at the lowest weight since high school, but I only run...I'm slowly looking like a pudgy Kenyan runner...LOL... and I want to get a little more cut in my build.

BOLT!!!

2009-08-21T04:47:00.001-07:00

This is so huge!!! This guy is absolutely amazing!!! Usain Bolt has broken the world record in the 100m and 200m 5 times in less than 12 months. Yesterday, Bolt broke the 200 m record, which he previously held by 11 /100th of a second. That's just absolutely insane!! The great thing about this guy is that he does it on the biggest stages, which says something about his mental fortitude. As a fan of sports, I love it when you see athletes show up and showcase their best on the biggest stages. Most of us would shrink when the lights come on and the pressure is there...but not these people. Jordan, Phelps, Bolt, Tiger, Serena, Federer... they all have this uncanny ability to do this. I just love it!!!

As for him being from Jamaica... it's just icing on the cake. Most of you know that I was born in Jamaica, and although I left at an early age, I spent most of my summers from the age of 5 until I went to college, in Jamaica with extended family and friends. It's such a small country, which has many problems (poverty, crime, etc.)... so when something like this happens, the country is in complete amazement...no crime, no pain... just celebration, and it makes me feel so good for them.

The San Francisco Treat!!!

2009-07-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! What an experience that was!!! I just had the most enjoyable 3 hours and 50 minutes of running that I have ever had..... and coming from someone that pretty much enjoys every run he does, that is saying a lot! Let me get you all caught up on the trip. If you don't want to read all the details, just scoll down to Race Day

Friday:
We left the house at 9:05 am, in order to catch a 10:35 am. flight. The only issue was that dumbo (me) didn't read his emails and find out that the flight got changed to 10:20 am. Oh crap!!! We were so close to missing the flight, and obviously were the last group of people to board. To make matters more complicated, my wife and I brought the 3 kids with us, so it was quite unnervy to say the least. We flew from Tampa to Dallas, with a 1 hour layover, and then a 3 hour and 40 minute flight to San Francisco. Total travel in the air was 6 hours (7 hours with the layover). The kids were wonderful. Kerry and I were pretty nervous that we would have a tough time with Arjay or the baby, but everyone was on their A game!!! Once we got into SF, we got our rental car, and headed towards our condo. Once we got settled in, we went out to a local pizza parlor, and had some of the best pizza I have ever had! Good stuff!!! By this time, we were exhausted... it was 8 pm PST, but our bodies thought it was 11 pm... since we are on the East Coast. We gave the kids a bath, then showered up, and off to bed.

Saturday:
Expo was at the Embarcadero Center. It was nothing spectacular, but it served its purpose. With 3 kiddies, I wanted to get the essentials (Bib, shirt, etc.) and get the heck out of there.... and that's what I did.
We then drove to Sausalito (Marin County), and to go there, we had to go over the Golden Gate bridge. That wowed everybody... but then it was reality for me that I was going to run this bad boy in less than 24 hours...sweet!!!! We had lunch at a restaurant on the water, and the kids loved it... and the view!! But the highlight of the day was when we were walking around Downtown Sausalito and a lady was walking her dog.... Arjay and Adryana thought the dog was "Delgado" from Beverly Hills Chihuahua, so I asked the lady if we could take pics with her dog.... the kids think they just saw a movie star.. I don't want to rain on their parade, so it's all good.
After that we went to Contra Costa County (Richmond, Oakland) and went to the mall, and then took the Bay Bridge that connects Oakland to San Francisco. Once we got back to our pad, we went to a local Italian restaurant, and had a nice dinner. Arjay smooth talked the waitress a bit, and was blowing her kisses... he's such a playa!!! I had Alayna in the baby carrier, strapped to my chest, and she slept the whole time... and stayed asleep for over 4.5 hours... so when we got home, I just slept with her in the carrier for a few hours. Once she woke up, I showered got the running gear out for tomorrow, and went back to bed.

Race Day

I woke at 4 am. Even though we rented a car, I decided to reserve a taxi to pick me up at 4:30 am, because the Downtown area was going to be very crazy with the closure of so many roads. That was a smart move, and I got down there by 4:45 am. I decided that I should run with my long sleeve running shirt, because this was just to darn cold for my liking. I talked to some people before the race, and tried to get my mind focused on what I was about to do.

Miles 1-4: Embarcadero, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39.
7:52
7:37
7:33
7:35
I started about 2 minutes after the gun went off, and tried to get into a comfortable groove. I was able to successfully do that, and was running at a comfortable pace in which my breathing was very controlled and not labored. These miles were completely flat, and I had a big smile on my face. I knew what was coming ahead.. just didn't know exactly how bad it would be.

Miles 5-10: Crissy Field, Golden Gate Bridge (out and back):
7:36
8:13
7:43
7:28
7:39
7:48
This is where things started to climb... hills, HR, etc. I purposely wanted to hold back here, and many people passed me, but I knew that was the smart thing to do. When I trained, I would do anywhere between a 4%-6% incline on the treadmill for a 1/4-/1/2 mile. The first major climb was 15% (according to a local runner). Holy shiznit!!! So, even though it was for a little less than a 1/4 mile, it would level out for a minute or so, and then climb again. I had slowed to a low 9 min. pace, and still my breathing felt comfortable, but the legs were working quite a bit. This climb was to enable us to get close to the GG bridge, and truthfully the bridge wasn't that bad compared to what we just went through. But the bridge..... absolutely unbelievable!!! It was a bit foggy, and all you could hear was the ferry going under it. At this point, I actually just took a step back (not running, but mentally... the running would come a bit later) and thanked God for allowing me to experience this. Three years ago, I never thought I would be a runner, much less traveling to a state (that I have never been to before) to run a marathon and take vacation with 3 kids (6 and under). It's sometimes so amazing where life takes you, ya know? So after I soaked that in, we came off the bridge made a U-turn about a mile down the road, and ran the thing again.... I love it!!!!

Mile 11-15: Presidio, Golden Gate Park
7:17
8:05
7:50
7:33
7:55

Once we got off the bridge, my legs were starting to feel a bit fatigued... but I was holding up fine. Presidio is absolutely beautiful, and I felt as though this area had more downhills than uphills. This was really good, because I was just cruising and at one point, I looked down at my watch and saw my lap pace in the low 7's... I kinda got concerned, because I didn't want to go that fast, but I couldn't help it.. and was such a steep decline. I think I hit the split in 1:42:xx, but I didn't know that because my Garmin watch got water on the bezel and it wouldn't let me change screens.... oh well, I was just running on feel anyway. Golden Gate Park was beautiful also... but this is where the legs were starting to weaken a bit. We would climb up a hill, and then level off, and then climb again, level off.. you get the picture!! Again, the heart was behaving but now I think that my legs were starting to misbehave... but just a little bit. I tried to spark conversations with a few people, and they would talk to me, but they were working quite hard, and were labored in their breathing... so I just left them alone, after awhile.

Miles 16-20: Golden Gate Park, Haight Ashbury
8:00
8:08
7:38
8:07
9:16
So this is where the fun began for me today. I was at mile 16 and I'm climbing another hill and bam!!!!! I cramp in my (L) hamstring. I had two GU's in my back pocket and I took out both of them, and ate them... I had passed a water stop about a 1/4 mile back, but I sure as hell wasn't about to go back. So that was fun... 2 GUs and no water. Good times. Well, the good news is that the cramping went away... for about 2.5 miles, but by mile 19, the cramping onslaught was well in force. Oh boy... my calves, hamstrings and quads were just seizing up like crazy!!! If you have ever been through that, it is nearly impossible to run, because not only is it painful (I can deal with that part), but if you keep going, it just gets worse, and it can bring you to your knees or make you fall over... no joke!!

Miles 21-26.2: Franklin Square, Third Street Bridge, AT&T Park, Finish
9:55
10:37
12:43
11:52
11:34
11:11
At this point, the race starts to get ugly for me, because there are no more uphills or downhills... it's just flat. Unfortunately when I tried to run, I could get to around 1-2 minutes before I had to stop. The cramping started to travel down into my toes and that really hurts bad... running on your toes after you have run 20+ miles is... well, let's just say I would rather have a foot rub...not running on my damn toes!!! LOL! Believe or not, I probably had the most fun during this span... because I really used the people to my advantage... I told them, "if you cheer, I will run fast!!!", so they did, and I would do a sprint for like 20 seconds, until I would nearly fall over... it was so funny!!! At mile 24, I met a local who I ran with in the first part of the race, and he had the same thing happen to him with the cramps, so we ran together for the rest of the race. I pushed him, he pushed me.. it was groovy. The last mile of the race was so cool... we ran right next to AT&T park, and I got to see the whole field, as it has an open back. We ran on the Boardwalk, and looked at the beautiful views again. At this point the crowds were getting bigger, and I got people to laugh quite a bit, when I saw the Marathon photographer, and had him take a picture of me posing for the Heisman... you would've had to had been there... funny thing is that as I got into the position, I cramped violently again... LOL!! The last .2, I tried my best to pick it up, and I high fived the crowds as I ran in. It never gets old to finish a marathon... it's the only running distance that makes you feel warm and fuzzy when you finish.
Finish time: 3:50:50

After I finished the race, I got my medal (huge and beautiful) some water and a banana. I went to pick up my bag that had my cell phone in it, and while I was waiting in line, I started to feel lightheaded...like I was going to pass out. I came out of line, and sat down next to a pole. A Medical Volunteer came by me, and gave me some electrolytes and salt... I felt better within a few minutes and got back in line. Called Kerry and the kids (who sang on the phone.... Go Daddy!!! Go Daddy!!!! you know??? the way black people say it!!!I hopped into a cab, and....
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!!!!!

Post race recap: I have 99% positive emotions about this race. I will sort out the positives and the negatives.

Positive:

1.I have earned a PR (personal record) at the marathon distance by 46 minutes from my previous effort in Chicago.

2. This was by far, the most beautiful, scenic and challenging course I have faced so far... at any distance.

3. The crowd support was better than I expected... obviously it ain't no Chicago, but Chicago ain't no San Fran when it comes to scenery, etc. The least scenic aspect of the race was probably still better than the most scenic aspect of the Chicago Marathon (sorry Walter and Paul, you know I got love for ya'll!!) BTW, Tampa is a joke compared to this!!!

4. This was by far the most enjoyable training season I have had. I am much faster, and 4 months ago, I was extremely concerned about what role running would have in my life... not even considering that I would be running 4-5 days/week, and completing my 4th marathon.

Negatives:

1. I know I could do a better time in the marathon. I'm glad for the 46 minute PR on a challenging course, but I know I had a lot more left in me today, if my body would not have had a hissy fit during the last 6-7 miles.

2. I need to figure out my nutrition. As I look back at my previous marathons, nutrition has played a negative impact on my racing times. I never have a problem during training, but I noticed today that the cups were very small, and not filled up even halfway. I think that played a role in my cramping today, because I was pretty dehydrated, even though I have been training in much tougher conditions than this.

Where do I go from here??

Do another marathon of course!!! I plan on doing a few half marathons first, because I want to see how much I have improved on my time since last November. I think I would like to do a local "practice" marathon this fall 1st; maybe just simulate it as a long run and see if I could get this perfected. Once I do that, I think there's gonna be another big PR waiting for me.

I also think I can still go for a BQ race later this year. But this will be the first time, that I am running specifically for a time... meaning I get that "time" or it's a bust... I don't dig that too much... I like to stop and smell the roses a bit.... but I do want to eventually run the Boston Marathon, and next year would be nice because I know a few of my peeps that are going, and would love to hang with them... but if it doesn't happen, no sleep lost on my end.... but it probably will ;)

I just wanted to say thanks to a few groups of people. First, my wife... who has gone from "Greg, why don't you just run less and run only 5ks around the area" to... "Where is the next marathon WE are going to, sweetie?" Homegirl loves her vacations!!!! LOL! She is absolutely wonderful and so understanding of my training, and she completely gets it. She realizes how much I love this, and I realize how much she loves me for letting me do this!

Chris and Julie... yesterday, as I was getting nervous about the race, you both texted me very calming words, because you know what makes me tick.. and you said the right things to me yesterday. I thank you both for your friendship and being my running pals.

3:20 crew: Gang, thanks for following me today!!! You all say the right things, and always tell me to do the right things, even if I don't want to listen... much appreciated, and I hope I get to meet you all in Beantown. P.S. For those of you doing, Boston 2 Big Sur... bring the treadmill grade past 4-6%, ok???

The Courage to Try

2009-07-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is a blog post from Dean Karnazes, who is an ultramarathoner. He has completed 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Whether you like him or not, he is a very accomplished runner, who has done many extremely impressive feats during his running career.

"For those of you who followed the Gabby Awards last week, I was fortunate to win. It was a glorious victory shared with my family, in a spectacular theater, during a grand white tie event telecast live. I was on top of the world.
Today, I am on the bottom. In an attempt to complete my 12th Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, I failed spectacularly. Surrounded by family and friends, I completely blew up and dropped out at mile 62. I had sacrificed so much, as had my family, and here I now sit in defeated ruin, wrecked and destroyed.
What constitutes a life worth living? Is it high achievement? What I’ve come to believe is that more than anything, it’s having the courage to try. Perhaps no one has stated this more eloquently than Theodore Roosevelt when he wrote:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
May you strive for greatness, may you set your sights on the stars, but more than anything, may you always have the courage to try.
Battered but not beaten,Dean
P.S. If you have any stories of great victories, or stupendous failures, please do share by leaving your comments below. Right now, I could definitely use some consoling to lift my spirits."

We all have bad days..... Not sure what will happen on Sunday, but one thing is for sure... I will try, and no matter what the results are, I will continue to have the courage to try harder as long as God gives me the strength to do so.

Taper time

2009-07-11T13:29:00.001-07:00

Ahh!! I have 2 weeks until my race in San Francisco....and I'm getting excited. I feel good about everything leading up to this race. The only bad thing is that because I was trying to pack in all of my runs in last week so I could have the whole weekend off, I aggravated my right booty!! More specifically, my right ischial tuberosity is a little inflamed at the hamstring insertion. So this week, I tested it out a bit, and never had any problems with my runs, but I still felt it after every run. Wednesday, an orthopedic surgeon that works next to one of our clinics, examined my hip during our lunch breaks, and said that everything is fine..just a little tendonitis and I tested out fine.
So Thursday, I had a kick ass run, with no pain, but still a little soreness after the run. I ran faster than I ever have in less than ideal conditions, so my confidence is pretty high going into this race. So high, that I decided to skip my weekend run since we left for Georgia this morning, and felt like it would be safer to rest up instead of pushing it. So a measley 30 miles for the week, and I probably won't have any time to run at all until Tuesday...but its all good. No worries on my end...just can't eat too much chicken and ribs, ya know??

But obviously, there are still a lot of unpredictable things about the race. I don't know how bad those San Francisco hills are gonna beat me up and slow me down...not sure how much better I'm gonna feel running in weather 20 degrees cooler than what I am used to. Just wait and see, right?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Work Hard.... Pray Hard.... Play Hard.... Train Hard

2009-07-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you have to make your training work for you. It's not just about training... you gotta let loose and have fun sometimes, ya know? My plan this week was to keep my same volume (~ 50 mpw), but condense it into 5 days... never done that before. I knew I was coming down to Ft. Lauderdale, and I didn't want to be under the pressure of having to wake up and run when I'm down here for the weekend. So this is what I did.

Monday: 7 miles on the treadmill before work (5 am start)
Tuesday: 11.25 miles outside (Hot as hell!)
Wednesday: 9.5 miles on the treadmill before work (4:30 am start)

By Wednesday night after work, I was absolutely exhausted. My schedule is 7 am to 7:30 pm, and I usually get home by 8 pm. I knew that I was working my long shift again on Thursday, since I was taking off Friday to come down to S. Fla., so I decided to "sleep in" and just wake up at 6 am, go to work, and run after work if my body felt up to it. So this is how it ended up.

Thursday: 10 miles at 7:15 pm... finished by 8:40 pm. Got home, went out to get a bite to eat with Kerry and the baby, and got to my bed by 11:30.

Friday: Woke up at 5:15 am, and ran a little over 15 miles... so over the last 10 hours, I ran a little over 25 miles.
53 miles over 5 days... that's enough for me!!!

I'm done. Satisfied. Sore. Done!!!

So, since then, I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale (did my legs hurt when I got out the car!!), watched Andy Roddick win his Wimbledon semifinal, took a nap with my son Arjay, and now just chillin' with the family a bit. I will not put on the running shoes again until Monday morning, and I am embracing the little break. I'm sure I will feel strange tomorrow when it's like 10 am, and I haven't gotten "my sweat on". But I will surely embrace a late sleep and get my body recharged.

Ok, enough about my training... I have found some good websites for you re: calories you burn during exercise, along with calories consumed with certain foods.

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc : Calculates calories burned with different types of exercise.

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/calcalcs.html : Put in your weight, and it will tell you how many calories you can consume to maintain your weight.

http://www.calorieking.com/ : The biggest food database. Before you pound down a "Big Mouth Burger" at Chili's, check out the calorie intake of that bad boy!!!

Ok, that's good for now... Enjoy your 4th of July!!!

The numbers don't lie....

2009-06-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today I finished my week with an 18.5 mile run, which has given me 58.5 miles for the week, and 229 miles of running for the month. I feel a little sore, but overall everything is pretty groovy for me right now. I absolutely love not having to follow a plan. With my current life responsibilities, it is just a completely useless stress that really isn't worth it. The funny thing is that I am running more than I have ever run... I just have no idea how I plan to pull it off from week to week. But, it seems to be working just fine, and I don't feel mentally or physically worn down by it.

Earlier in the week, a patient started to tell me her struggles with weight loss, and how she doesn't understand why she is unable to take off weight. She seemed genuine in her frustration, so I started to ask her a few questions... and after about 10 minutes of talking with her, she realized why her goals weren't being met with re: to weight loss.... so what did I tell her?

Let's say that "Sally" is currently at 170 lbs. and wants to lose 40 lbs. Where would you start? How do you going about tackling this? So the first thing I always tell my clients is take your current weight, and multiply by 10 (females) or 11 (males). So in Sally's case:
170 x 10 = 1700 calories.
The second thing is that approx. 3000 calories = 1 pound. So, in order for you to lose weight, you have to go into a calorie deficit of 3,000 calories to lose at least a pound.

There are two ways to go into a calorie deficit: Eat less and/or exercise more... take your pick.

If "Sally" was to take in 1300 calories per day, that means she would go into a 400 calorie deficit per day, which means that if she did this consistently for 7 1/2 days, she would be at a 3,000 calorie deficit, which is..... 1 pound.

If "Sally" was to stay at 1700 calories/day of intake, and she decided to exercise every day for 30 minutes, she would burn (depending on the type and intensity of exercise) around 250-300 calories a day, which means that she would lose 1 pound in about 10-11 days.

Now, what sucks about this, is that as "Sally" loses weight, her caloric intake will have to decrease in order to maintain the weight. If she now weighs 160 lbs., 1700 calories would put her in a 100 calorie surplus every day...not good.. that means weight will come back on.

In a nutshell, that is how it works.... This patient that was talking to me said, "Well Greg, you are so lucky that you have good genes, and you are skinny... because it's so hard for us folks with the bad genes"

Most of the time, I don't say anything, but since I didn't have any more patients coming in for another 10-15 minutes, I gave her a breakdown of my workout schedule, and why I can continually lose weight... because I exercise a lot (compared to the average American that is). So figure it this way... if I run on average 50 miles/week, and each mile of running allows me to burn around 90 calories, that means that I am in a 4500 calorie deficit every week due to exercise alone. So if I wanted to stay at 160 lbs, I can eat up to 2300 calories a day, and still maintain my weight... sounds good to me.... but that's a lot of running!!!

I completely understand and respect the struggles of weight loss for people. The first thing is that it can get a lot more complicated for those that have hormonal imbalances, and other medical issues, along with those that have been on many different types of diets before, which have affected their metabolism in a negative way. Also, our society is set up for all of us to be overweight...

Did you know????

......... that a slice of cheesecake at Cheescake Factory is 1300 calories?

........ a Big Mac and Large fries is 1230 calories

....... 2 slices of Papa John's pizza is 670 calories

....... a Whopper contains 670 calories

So to put it in perspective, last night I had Chinese takeout (General Tso chicken, Sweet & Sour chicken, fried rice, lo mein and an egg roll). It was approx. 1500 calories. It took me about 20 minutes to have dinner, as I was watching the Rays vs. Marlins game. This morning I burned a little over 1600 calories, by running 18.5 miles in the stinkin' heat which took me over 2 1/2 hours... that SUCKS!!!!! Weight loss is not easy, but it's doable... you just have to watch what you eat, and start moving!!!

When will I learn?

2009-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I ran 20 miles, starting at 4:30 am. I finished this week with 58 miles of running, and I only have 4.5 weeks left before the San Francisco Marathon. I'm starting to get excited!!!
If you want to see any of my outdoor runs this week, just click on any of the runs in the right hand corner of the screen, and you can see what I did. All of my treadmill runs won't show up on here.

So anyways, I have a group of online training buddies (RWOL 3:20 thread) that have helped me tremendously with my running over the last year, and I am forever grateful to all of them for their input on how to make me a better runner...particularly at the marathon distance...cuz Lord knows, I need the help. One of the frequent posters, Paul from Chicago has a blog, similar to mine, and had a great post that he wrote the other day. Let me quote what he said:

"I always chuckle when I hear someone refer to something like the baseball season being a marathon. So is marathon training the real marathon? I understand the analogy, but the baseball season or things of that ilk are much more forgiving the a marathon. If you don't feel 100% on the day of the marathon, you're pretty much screwed. It's very unusual to be able to suddenly turn things on if things aren't going your way for the first 10 or 15 miles of a marathon. If you don't feel 100% on game day in baseball, you still can piece things together and if things don't work out, you still have 161 other games spread across 6 months."

Boy... ain't that the truth. I have done 3 marathons, and have been unsuccessful in all of them. The good thing is that I completed all of them...but unfortunately I crashed in all 3. This is probably why I am so enamored with attempting to run this distance... because it has made a complete ass out of me every time I have tried. Without these 3 poor performances, I probably wouldn't be 1/2 the runner that I am today... you know what they say... you never learn off of good things..only bad.

Someone once told me that for the marathon distance everything has to go right in the race...so what is "everything"? Here it is...

1. Nutrition- You have to fuel your body perfectly with the proper carbohydrates before the race and during the race, because it is pretty certain that you will run out of them at some point in the race. And when you run out them, it starts to get ugly... it is one of the worst episodes of pain I have ever felt. During the race you have to properly hydrate your body with fluids because you lose so much running so hard for so long. For all 3 of my marathons, I have failed to do this properly... one marathon I overhydrated and my body went into a cramping fit only 8 miles into the race, and the other two races I underhydrated, which made my body cramp at mile 14 and 18, which unfortunately never let up until I finished... ugh!

2. Weather- The cooler the weather, the more lax you can be with executing your hydration. You can "mess" up a little, because your body is not losing electrolytes and minerals as quickly. Unfortunately, being in Florida, we get stuck with a lot of warm races, so weather is not usually on my side.

3. Execution of the race - The excitement of the marathon is very great, and the tendency is to want to start fast... and you usually feel ok in the beginning, but you pay dearly for it later in the race. Your body is like your car.... make your whip go at 30 mph, and the fuel will burn much more economically than if you are cruising at 70 mph. You have to show restraint, along with understanding what type of course you are running on (hills, etc.)

4. Taper/Rest - A few weeks before the race, you have to decrease your training to allow your body to recover from the beating that you have put on it throughout the training cycle. It will allow you to recover and regenerate your body in order to be fully prepared to handle running 26.2 miles. Also, the week before the race, you need to get adequate sleep, so your mind and body are prepared to tackle the grueling distance.

5. Training - If you don't train right, you don't stand a chance... at least at the marathon. This is the most important of all. Many people don't train enough, and many others overtrain. It is such a fine line to manage, but it is extremely important to do as much as you can, without overdoing it... if that makes any sense.

As I look back at my PRs (personal records) at all the common running distances, I start to think about those races and my lead up to them.
1. When I PR'd for my 5k, slept about 2-3 hours the night before, along with having some of the greasiest take out Chinese food with 2 egg rolls at about 11 pm that night. The race was at 7 am, and I ran an 18:54...

2. When I PR'd for my 10k, I came down with the flu a day before the race, had #2 stomach problems the night before, was pretty dehydrated going into the race (only did it, because my dad was here, and he really wanted to run the race with me) and I tore it up and ran a 40:38 on a fairly challenging course

3. When I PR'd for my half marathon, I was in S. FL for my our baby shower for our 3rd child, and was all over the place all day.... drove from Tampa at 6 am Saturday morning, spent the day with family and friends, and went to my bed around 12:45 am. Woke up at 5 am, and ran the race in 1 hr and 33 min with temperatures starting at 70 deg. before the race.

But the damn marathon... if I try any of that nonsense that I did in my other races, I'll get burned.... badly... again. I have yet to crack the 4 hr and 30 min. mark, and this time around I am hoping that I will make major improvements.... but I better make sure I have all 5 of those things in order, or it's gonna be a long day...

That was then... this is now

2009-06-13T11:44:00.000-07:00

This morning, Chris (fellow co-worker and good friend) and I ran this morning and did a 12 miler on the Suncoast Trail. Chris just got notified that he received entry into the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1st, so he is trying to get the ball rolling and get himself back into marathon shape.

When Chris and I run together, we talk about everything, because so many aspects of our lives have similarities. We are both married, have children, are in the same profession, and started running at the same time. I give Chris a lot of credit with getting me to start running and continuing to run. We both were overweight and had health issues approx. 3 years, and finally said "screw this" and started to run.. and the rest is history. During the run this morning, Chris and I talked about when we first started to run and how hard it was to even jog for more than 10 min. Anyways, to sum it up, we have decided that there is no way in hell that we ever want to go back to where we were... no matter how hard it is to continue to do this. It was so much harder to start than it is to maintain at this point. So anyways, I was looking at some pictures that I had, and wanted to show you all some pics of me about 3 years ago. You can click on them to see my former roundish shape. LOL.

Here are some pics of me over the past few months:

I wish I could tell you that I did this over 8 weeks, and it was so easy...yadda yadda yadda, but... it was not easy. Today, I was able to sleep in till 5:40 am before I started. I can't believe I call 5:40 sleeping in, but that is what has happened to my life. Losing weight is hard... actually very hard initially..but it is now not an option for me to do this. I actually enjoy most of it, but I'm not going to lie... it's still hard to get up some mornings... it's still hard to stay away from the 2 for $4 Big Mac specials... but nothing good comes easy, right?

My week

2009-06-06T08:44:00.000-07:00

This week might have been the easiest week of my training cycle. My family went to south Florida from Thursday to help my mother in law prepare for her 50th birthday bash. I was able to run without worrying about getting the kids off to school, or waking the kids up, etc. Which was nice...but I missed them.
So my week looked like this:
Monday: 9 miles after work, once the kids went to bed. Started around 9:30 and finished around 10:45 PM. Then I picked up Julie from the airport (late flight from san Diego).

Tuesday: 8 miles on the treadmill. Kerry and I talked for about half the time. Went to work after that.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: got the family on the road to South Fla., then went to the gym and ran 13.1 miles at my pace I want to run the marathon in, simulating the hills I will encounter in san Francisco. People looked at my like I was some freak since I was on the treadmill for 1 hour and 40 min ...maybe I am.

Friday: Ran 1 hour after work on the treadmill. Started around 9 and finished at 10. Watched the "Obama White House" on NBC. Good stuff. Started to pack for my short Ft. Lauderdale trip, and then started watching tennis. Didn't get to my bed until 12 am. Damn.

Saturday: Woke up at 4:50 am, put on my running clothes, and it starts lightning...damn.!! Rain is no problem...but lightning??? Hell na. Everything calms down by 5:30, so I set out and ended up running 18.6 miles. I wanted to do 20, but my cousin was on her way to my house from gainesville for us to drive together down south.

57 miles this week. I feel good...just a little tired in my legs, cuz I ran 25 miles within a 10 hour period, and 38 miles within a 40 hour period...but its all good. I'm ready for some good curry chicken, jerk chicken, and rice and peas at the party tonight.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The San Francisco Marathon

2009-06-03T18:45:00.001-07:00

The San Francisco Marathon

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It's been so long...

2009-05-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

I probably don't have anyone following the blog anymore, because I haven't written in such a long time.. life gets in the way sometimes. Over the last hour or so, I came to the website and read an entry that I had at the end of last year. It basically stated all the goals that I had for this year, and how I wanted to approach my running for this year. At the time, my wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant, and I didn't know how much would change in my life with re: to running, work, etc. Well, it's been 5 months since that post, and I'm still here plugging on.... so in a nutshell this is what has happened over the last 5 months with my life:

1. Alayna, our 3rd child has entered into our lives. She will be 3 months old next week.

2. I am working quite a bit, which actually is a good thing in these tough economic times.

3. Adryana, my oldest daugther, is finishing her first year of elementary school.

4. I have run 1010 miles for the year

January: 179 miles

February: 162 miles

March: 180 miles

April: 219 miles

May: 239 miles

5. I have signed up for the San Francisco Marathon, which is July 26.

6. I have run a few races since the beginning of the year:

Wiregrass 5k: 19:30

Clearwater Half-Marathon: 1:39:45 (with a friend)

Chasco Challenge 10k: 41:27

May Classic 5k: 18:54

There you have it...
I have improved my running quite a bit, and I am training more than I thought I would have been able to at the beginning of this year. We have adjusted with our new family, and life is good... hectic... but good.

I want to continue to become a better runner, because I am realizing that I enjoy running all distances, (not just the marathon). I have gone from being one of the slower runners in the race, to usually at the top 10% of finishers in the races....and I love that feeling!!! I love coming home with medals to give my kids!!!!

I will try my best to update my blog on a weekly or 2x/month basis as I lead up to the San Francisco Marathon. This race will not be my goal marathon race for the year, because it will be a vacation for me and the family, and I don't want to feel like crap for my vacation. But, depending on how it goes, I will decide later on in the year, if I want to attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which requires me to run a 3:10 marathon..... yup... 3:10, that's 7:15 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles. It sounds completely out of my league right now, but we will see how it goes.
Even though I won't be blogging minute by minute about my running endeavors, you can track every run that I do at the upper right corner of the blog. You can see all of my weekly runs, that are updated every 24 hours, and track how my runs go. That pretty much explains it all.

Oh yeah!!! One more thing... the purpose of the blog is changing. I used to blog about how all of my paces and training runs went (which can still be followed by looking at my runs)... well, now I think I want to blog about how I manage to do my training and stay active with my family life, spiritual life and work life... because that is what we all struggle with. How do you maintain a sense of balance with all aspects of life? I struggle with this on a daily basis, but I hope that some followers of the blog can find that we all struggle with the same things in so many different ways. It's hard to think that some folks actually get inspired by some of the things you do... but I get inspired by people that don't even realize that they inspire me.
1. My clients at the weight loss facility that I work at inspire me on a daily basis. Them walking 1 mile is more impressive at this point than me running 10 miles.
2. My patients at Renewal Rehab inspire me because of their determination to recover from various injuries to return to normal life.
3. My RWOL forumite friends (3:20 thread) help get my butt out of bed when I hear of their insane training schedules that they have with the same or more amount of responsibilites that I have. One of them literally got me out of bed, as she was down in my area, and ran 18 miles with me yesterday.
4. FB friends that are very active such as "K" who goes to the gym every single day and crushes out her workout sessions, and "A" who has completed 2 half-marathons despite having lupus... very impressive.
Most importantly, my family, particularly my wife who allows me to do this crazy stuff. She is my biggest fan and supporter of all.

Results

2009-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Julie!!! Way to represent Team Renewal!!!
Results

Why Runners make good employees....

2009-02-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

Something I found on wordpress.com

My good friend and super personal trainer Holly DiGiovine sent out an email over the weekend that struck a chord with me. Here’s some of what she had to share:
When you have a goal that is as huge as the marathon-it will “keep you honest.” It’s not like a smaller goal that you can announce and then put off or fake your way through. Once you sign up, commit months to training, and take your first step on race day-you better have done your homework.
The beauty of this is that it goes against 99% of the natural tendencies of our culture that favors gratification without effort or devotion. But is that kind of achievement ever as satisfying? Linda Hill once told me she loved the quote, “There is no glory in training, but there is no glory without training.” In no way is this more true than in running.
And business.
One thing I’ve found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.
Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people’s 9-5’s.
Whether you’re training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there’s no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you’re screwed. Politics won’t get you to the finish line. It doesn’t matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you’re out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there’s nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?
You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.
You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you’re tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.
Once you’ve broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind’s way ceases to exist. You become someone else.
That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.
We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.
The latter aren’t all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn’t take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.
Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.
Something to think about.

Treadmill Workouts...

2009-02-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Check these out... found them on Runner's World. I might have to use some of these soon when baby Todd comes along.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154666001

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9152461001

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid9154668001

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1382944374

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1364171464

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1373284230

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243489102/bclid1504353741/bctid1404866445

Keep on keepin' on...

2009-02-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting for awhile... I'm trying to get caught up with everything, and with the baby on the way soon... everything has gotten side tracked. Anyways, everything is all good, and I am keeping up with my running fairly consistently. I have done two races for the year so far... a half marathon in Clearwater and a 5k in Wesley Chapel. The half marathon might have been my most enjoyable race ever, because everything came so easy to me and I was pacing someone else... so I wasn't giving it full effort, but it is something that I said I wanted to do at the end of last year... just run to run.... not always have to race. The 5k brought me a new PR, 19:30, and that was cool. I placed 2nd in my age group. The good thing about this is that I haven't been focusing on my speed at all. I have just been running easy for the most part, and I was able to still pull out a great time. So, basically that's it.... I am running at least 40 miles a week, and my goal is to maintain that mileage consistently..even when the baby comes ( I might be changing my tune in a few weeks tho :). As for upcoming races??? I don't know... I really, really want to do Gasparilla 1/2 marathon, but that is next Sunday, and if the baby hasn't come yet, I'm not doing it... Also, if the baby does come this week, I just don't know if I'm gonna be so tired that I will have a crummy race... I guess I will play it by ear. Thanks for reading.

Larry King Live: LKL Blog Exclusive with Oprah’s personal trainer « - Blogs from CNN.com

2009-01-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

Larry King Live: LKL Blog Exclusive with Oprah’s personal trainer « - Blogs from CNN.com

Please read this !!!!!

Year in Review...

2008-12-30T13:24:00.000-08:00

It was a good year. I will always remember 2008 as the year I took my running to the "next level". I can't believe that I ran my 1st marathon in 2008, and my 3rd marathon in 2008.... I crammed a lot of stuff in this year.
I was able to truly push my body to levels that I never imagined it would go. I lost about 20 lbs this year, and I really feel good about my weight.
So, here are my stats...
I ran close to 1700 miles... around 30 miles/week average.
I ran 2 5k races (20:13 in April, 19:38 in May)
I ran 1 10k race (40:38 in November) (I did a time trial in September in 41:52)
A 15k in February (1:09:04)
A half marathon 3 weeks ago (1:33:34)
and...... 3 marathons (Disney 5:37, Ft. Lauderdale 4:53, Chicago 4:36)

The ironic thing is that all of my training for the latter part of 2007, and all of 2008 were focusing on the marathons, and those were my worst races of all of the races I did. But to harp on the good, I PR'd in every race that I participated in 2008... and for that I am very happy and proud of :).

My proudest running moment of the year was 2 weeks ago, when I got a 3rd place award for my age group in the half marathon that I participated in. My dad was there with me and was so happy and proud of me. That felt great.

My most memorable running moment of the year was my being with my dad for the last 2 miles of Disney. I had enough, and was having an awful time out there with my legs and cramping... and he helped bring me through the last 2 miles. Who would've thought that would lead to him starting to run and 11 months later pull off a 1:58 half marathon at the same race I was at.... Pops is no joke!!!!

So what do I want to accomplish for next year??? More PRs? A more respectable marathon time? Sub 1:30 half marathon? Sub 40 10k? Sub 20 5k? Yes.... and no.

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go with some friends to Jacksonville to watch them run a marathon. I was supposed to run the 1/2 marathon in Jacksonville, but it didn't work out because of me running the race with my dad the previous weekend. I was able to be a "spectator" for the first time, and it really allowed me to take in everything. I didn't have to worry about being nervous, not sleeping good, watching all of my intake of food, and suffering through cramps during the race (which happened to my buddy Chris.. poor guy...). I was able to watch everyone do their thing, and I realized how it was only a few of us that took everything so seriously.... not that we trained harder or less than anyone else, but some people (the more experienced ones) didn't make this stuff a life or death situation like so many of us runners do. They enjoyed themselves before the race, during the race, and after the race. Many of them were going for Boston, but didn't have mental implosions the minute they realized their Boston time wasn't going to happen. They prepared for the race better than I had in my previous marathons (with nutrition, sleep, and all the other little things that go into a race), but didn't take it so seriously.... they just ran and whatever happened... just happened. One of Chris' massage clients said something to Chris and I a few days after his recent marathon:
"You know what your guys problem is?"
Us: "What?"
Client: "Everything is about time with you guys!! Just enjoy it!!"
And you know what? She is right.
Today, I was able to chill out and read some other blogs on running, and most people that had subpar marathons encountered the same thing that I encountered in my marathons. Either before the race, or early in the race they knew it wasn't going to be their day. Being stubborn, they tried to push through whatever it was that they were feeling. They (Greg) didn't listen to their body and adjust their goals... because it was all about the clock... and they ended up having a miserable day.
Fortunately in all other distances (5k to half marathon), you can have an off day and still get away with it...because by time things start to act up, the race is over. But for the marathon, it doesn't work like that... if things aren't going right... you better reasses things quickly or you are going to be miserable in a hurry. And I have decided that when I run another marathon, I will not even think of undertaking it again if it is solely about a particular time... because it is too mentally draining to train just for that race and hope that my body is feeling absolutely perfect for that day....so that I can pull off the perfect 26.2 mile run. I think if I take that mentality into the race, everything will work out better for me.

And honestly, that is what I want to do next year.

I love to run, and I love to be around the running scene... it's inspiring, fun and motivating all at the same time. But I'm not going to put the pressure on myself to PR every race. I want to run races for fun (for the first time ever) and I want to race (because I enjoy racing). I want to collect medals, and just enjoy all of my races. For 2008, I enjoyed all of my training runs (except one) and for 2009, I want to enjoy all of my races (regardless of what happens).
More importantly, I want to make sure that running continues to be a solid part of my weekly routine, without it severely affecting my family life, as we prepare for our 3rd precious child to come into our family in early 2009.

Happy New Year to Everyone!!!

Races and weddings???

2008-12-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

They have so many similarities... let me explain.
This past weekend, I went down to Ft. Lauderdale because we were invited to a wedding, and my wife was in the wedding party as one of the bridesmaids. She is currently 7 months pregnant and had 2nd thoughts about being in the wedding d/t some difficulties with the pregnancy and being on her feet for long periods of time, but she did it anyway. (I must admit, I was a bit nervous about her being a part of the wedding over the weekend). All in all, the wedding went well and Kerry did fantastic. But the ironic part of it all is after the wedding.
So Kerry and I left the wedding, and drove over to my parents house, which was about 45 minutes from the reception... and during the drive over, Kerry is replaying to me the whole event... from her meeting the other bridesmaids at the hotel to get ready, to the limo ride to the church, the actual ceremony, the reception and every minute detail in between. She addressed everything that went well, everything that could've gone better... and then she addressed the similarities to our wedding nearly 8 years ago to this wedding.... to everything that we should've done different at our wedding...etc, etc..
The next morning, as we made our way into the van and started driving back to Tampa, Kerry rehashed the wedding details again... and you could see that she still was on her wedding high!!! Basically, it was more or less the same conversation that we had the night before, but I listened, and as she was talking, I was thinking about how passionate she is about this stuff. Instead of cutting her off, and telling her that we already talked about this, I realized that this is her marathon... this is her big race!!! And because I love her so much, I really started to get into the conversation... because I realized how excited she was about this... Honestly, we talked about wedding stuff for about 3 of the 4 hours of our drive. This morning, we went out together for breakfast and guess what??? We talked about....weddings!!!! And then I told her, "Babe, you should be a wedding planner". She gleamed from ear to ear when I said that... I guess it's like telling me, "Greg, you should train for the Olympic Trials.... you have the talent!" I mean I know that's not true about me... but that is her passion (and I truly think she would do well)... and that is exactly how runners feel.
This past weekend was a lot of marathons, and a few hours ago, I went onto a Runner's Online Forum and read so many peoples' race report about how their race went... all the details of the event and how they mentally and physically managed throughout the race. To a runner, it is almost like reading a really catching novel. Even though it wasn't my race, you know how much these people put into getting ready for the big day... and then to see it all come together for some folks... you just feel so good for them... and then to see everything implode for others... you truly feel their pain, because at some point, you have been there yourself.
The wedding is no different.... so much preparation goes into this 2 part, 4-5 hour event... and you just want it to be perfect.... for some the day goes as planned, and for others, there are many mini and/or major disasters...
To the spectators of the wedding or the race, well.... they are always much more forgiving... Kerry asked me, "Did you notice how this didn't go as planned?"... and I was like, "No, I thought that went great..."
It's basically the same as when I tell people... I ran a 4:36 marathon, and 99% of people are like... "WOW!!! That's really good!!" But for me, it is way under what I expect from myself.

Weddings and races.... so many similarities.....
I will never watch Bridezilla the same....

Why running can boost a company’s bottomline - Business of Life - livemint.com

2008-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Why running can boost a company’s bottomline - Business of Life - livemint.com

Turkey Trot 10k

2008-11-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

Let's get caught up a bit....
I ran the Clearwater Turkey Trot on Thursday morning, and ran my best race ever. Funny thing about it is that I felt awful leading up to the race. I have been battling the flu since Tuesday, and with a brutal work day on Wednesday, along with my family coming in town for Thanksgiving, I was just wiped out. I actually thought about bagging the race, but there were a few reasons why I ended up doing it.
1. My dad wanted to do it
2. This would be my first race since Chicago, and I needed to get a race of my potential in the books. The best thing you can do if you have a tough race, is to race again when you are HEALTHY!!
My goal for this race was to break 41:00. I ran a time trial 10k about 3 weeks before Chicago, and finished it in 41:52, but it was during the summer.... so I figured that in nice conditions, I could probably take close to a minute of my time.
So, anyways we (my dad and Julie) left from my house at 7:00 am, and drove to Clearwater. What a race!!! 15,000 people did all the Turkey Trot races... it was really cool! We hadn't signed up yet, so we went to sign up and then walked about 1.5 miles to our car to drop all of our goodies back to the car. We had about 30 minutes to spare after all of that, and I had to go to the potty. I thought to myself while I was walking to the start... "why is it that I am always sick before races?" Anxiety? Bad luck? Whatever... I just told myself that the quicker I get it over, hopefully nothing bad will happen...
Once we walked to the start, I saw one of my former patients that participated in the 5k earlier... that was pretty cool, because I knew she was going to be out there, but it was so many people I knew there was no way I would find her. But she found me so that was cool. A few minutes later, I saw a collegiate runner that I worked with a few months ago, who was running with her team. That was pretty cool... and it made me happy to see the people that I work with that are back to running. Made me feel good for them.
So anyways, Julie and myself started off at the same area, and we both had typical pre-race jitters, so we went and did some warm ups before the race. I think it helped us both.

So.. the race??? Ok, we started way to fast!!! The 1st mile had a slight downhill decline, and a bunch of people (at least 200-300) started out at around 6:00/mile for the 1st half mile... I slowed down and shouted to Julie to slow down!!! So I ended up hitting my first mile split in 6:27, once I probably ended up running the 2nd half of the 1st mile in right under a 7:00/mile. I fell into a somewhat comfortable groove, and all my sinus trouble and stomach issues were gone.
Mile two didn't feel too hard either, and it was encouraging because a good amount of people were already starting to fade back, which meant that I made the right decision about slowing down for that 2nd half of the 1st mile. The main thing I could remember about the 2nd mile was a guy who was out screaming for all of us to commit our lives to the Lord and pray for salvation..... and the guy on the opposite side of the street telling him to "GO HOME". Trust me, even though you are focused on what you are doing during the race, I try to take in all the stuff going around me. They also had a band playing at mile 2, which was pretty cool. Finished 2nd mile in 6:29. Mile 3, I was starting to work. By the end of it, I felt like I could stop already, but had to remind myself.. "Sorry buddy, this a 10k, not a 5k" So, mentally I had to dig deep and try to focus on holding pace for as long as I could. Body was still feeling suprisingly good, considering I didn't sleep a wink last night, and my tummy and sinuses bothered me all night. So, what I did from mile 3 to the end was race.... yup... it is the first time since I have been running that I actually started to race people. I tried to catch some people... then others were catching me...and it was fun!!!! There was the one guy who I passed, and then behind me I can hear he was laboring... and almost sound like he was trying to throw up, but within 20 seconds, he caught and passed me, and we did that for like 10 minutes or so... it really made me have to focus and work so hard.... this is probably the hardest I have ever worked in a race ever. But thanks to those guys, they pushed me harder than maybe I would have pushed myself. Mile 3- 6:34. Mile 4 was more racing and hurtin... and a Mexican band...that's all I remember... 6:37. Mile 5... was a killer hill (for Florida that is). I saw it from the end of mile 4, and was like... what the heck is this? We are in Florida for crying out loud!!!! So my heart rate started to spike, and my pace slowed... and I knew that I just had to get past it and not slow down to bad... I just didn't want to see a 7:00/mile pace on my watch... and I was close, but it didn't happen.... so that was great! After we passed the hill, there was a downhill portion and I made up the time by pushing with all I had and striding out more. Mile 6- 6:31. I truly didn't have anything left at that point. I just kept on looking at my watch and realizing that a PR was there for me!!! I tried to sprint the last .2, but it ended up being my slowest split of the race.... boo!!!! But hey... I'll take it... great race, huge PR and I ran better than what I thought I could do.
10k- 40:38 - average 6:33/mile... I think I placed 83rd out of 2408 participants...and I got a cool coffee mug for placing in the top 125 males in the race.... YAY!!!!!!
Unfortunately, in retrospect, I beat up my body so much leading up to the race with having the flu, working a lot. And with having family in town and doing a lot of hosting, I am burned out. I have the full-blown flu, my stomach is in havoc, and I can barely get out of bed. I have not run since Thursday, and the way I feel now, I don't think I will run for at least a few more days. I can't remember the last time I have not run at least 10 miles on the weekend. Last weekend, I ran 24 miles, and the week before I ran 26.2, but now??? I'm sitting here typing this from my couch. My body has had enough... I'm done, and today it will be me, my couch and the NFL.

Running by the stars... (house)

2008-11-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

This Saturday was probably the most eventful training run I have had over the past few months. Liz, one of my running buddies, invited Chris, Julie and myself to run with her in Avila, which is one of Tampa Bay's premier private country club communities. I have always wanted to see inside of that community, so I jumped on the opportunity to go over there and run with the group.

It was probably the coldest run of the year for me, as the starting temps were about 40 degrees. We ended up running 16 miles in around 2:25 and the temps were probably 45 when we finished. It was cold and because the community had a lot of trees, it never really warmed up.

So basically, it was a very cold running tour of Avila...

I enjoyed every minute of it, as I got to see so many houses of some of the big names in Tampa. So how big were these houses? Massive!!! It is so funny, because in my neighborhood there is one house that looks like it doesn't belong here. It is a custom home and it seems so huge... maybe 4,000-5,000 square feet.... well that is probably the smallest house in Avila...whew!!!

There was one house that looked like a castle!! No joke... don't believe me???

I told ya....

Anyways, my body felt a bit on the stiff side today, so after church I ended up running 7.5 miles, which has made my muscles feel so much better.

This upcoming week, I will be running the Turkey Trot with my dad on Thanksgiving day. It will be a 10k race, and I'm going to race this thing all out. I am hoping to break 41 minutes, as my 10k pr is unofficial, but it was 41:52 when I did a time trial right before the Chicago Marathon. I think that should happen... but thinking and doing are two separate things, right?

Anyways, it will be nice to race again... and the really nice part is that I will get rewarded with tons of great food later that day!!!

Men's Health - Eat This, Not That - The Healthiest Supermarket Foods in America

2008-11-19T04:24:00.000-08:00

Men's Health - Eat This, Not That - The Healthiest Supermarket Foods in America

Half of primary-care doctors in survey would leave medicine - CNN.com

2008-11-18T04:50:00.000-08:00

Half of primary-care doctors in survey would leave medicine - CNN.com

This says it all....

The "Easy Run"

2008-11-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today's run brought me back to why I love to run so much. There is nothing better than doing an "easy run". An easy run is a run where you aren't striving to hit any time goals or distance goals.... you just run and run at a very low intensity to where you could have a full conversation at all times. It is the best feeling that you can have while running. You actually don't ever really want it to end... you just want to continue going at all times!! I trekked out this morning with no goals in mind... just run and put on the Ipod...when I felt like finishing, I would finish... that's it... and it was perfect.
I got onto the Suncoast trail by the 3rd mile...and at the end of the trail, I can tell that this guy was trying to talk to me. So, I took off my earphones and heard him say to me, "Are you even breathing???" and then he said, "I wish running could be that easy for me".

The truth is that easy running wasn't even possible for the first year that I ran. Every time I ran for the first 4-5 months, I felt like my heart was going to explode. Now, that was because I truly didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I was very slow, and my goal was to finish as fast as possible...but it was more often than not...miserable!!!!

If I could give any advice to anyone who is new to running, or thinking of getting into running is that I would just try to run and not completely wipe yourself out. Once you get the hang of easy running, you will be surprised on how fresh you feel after all of your runs.

The Best of Both Worlds

2008-10-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

I always want the best of all worlds... and I am always striving to get it... in all aspects of my life. Unfortunately, I have an addiction. Fortunately, my addiction is to running races, and it's not anything that's negative. My addiction has allowed me to manage my life better, given me an outlet when I am stressed, lose weight and has improved my health significantly over the last 2 years. I love running, but the only downer to becoming a stronger and faster runner is the time commitments. As I said, I want to have a strong business, invest a lot of time into my family, and run good! So, I have developed a new running regimen to allow that to happen.
I am going to try and run at work now that the weather is nicer during the middle of the day. I will have to use my lunch break to get in a few miles, and will bring my lunch, so I won't have to waste time buying lunch ( and waste money!)
The whole idea of me doing this is to maintain the shape I am in, so that I can run races whenever I want. The great thing about running races is the actual event. It's exciting, competitive and it's just a great way to test your true level of fitness. The bad thing about training to be competitive is the early mornings to train, and having to be on such a strict regimen all the time.
It is always nice to run, but this week it has been extremely pleasurable... because I am not having to wake up at 4:30 to hit the roads. I don't really miss that at all. But I do miss not having a big race coming up... so I think I will be doing some more big races over the next few months... just keeping myself in good shape at all times, and deciding on the fly whether or not I want to run races on the weekend. More importantly, Kerry is 100% on board with it, and realizes how much fun I am having participating in the sport of running. But as I said, I have to figure out how I don't have to go through the major grind of intense training, and still be able to stay in great shape.
My plan is to run more often, but less time for each run...mileage is the key, so I will transition into doing that, while trying to average 30-40 miles every week. Let's see if it works.

Ignorance sickens me!!!!

2008-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

This blog is diverting from running (but I did run a few times this week, and was perfect!) for just one post...maybe two. Haven't ever done this before, but I have to get this off my chest.

I sit here right now watching Michael Moore on Larry King, who is very "left" in his thought process. He is a very avid Obama supporter, which I have nothing against, but the fact is that he is very liberal in his thoughts... so with that said, coming from an extremely conservative person in my thoughts about most things.....the dude hit the nail on the head with re: to the outcome of this election.

There are a lot of people out there that should vote for John McCain, because it just makes sense for them. Whether it's that you make over $250,000/year, you believe that the war in Iraq is needed, or many other things... I completely understand and respect those people that make that decision.

There are a lot of people out there that should vote for Barack Obama, because it makes sense for them. You don't believe in the war, you feel as though the middle/lower class need more assistance, etc.. I completely understand and respect those people that make that decision.

BUT, I must admit.... I actually agree with Michael Moore's statement, that he just made saying... there are people (not all) out there are voting for McCain out of fear... fear that Obama is a Muslim?? Fear of having a black man as president of the United States? At the same time, there are people that are voting for Obama, just because he is black...not even researching all of the things he truly stands for.
At a rally that John McCain had, he let a lady from Pennsylvania speak, who said that she can't vote for an Arab. John McCain corrected her (telling her that Obama is not an Arab)... and she still didn't get it. Unfortunately, that is so sad.... It's sad that people still think like that, and realize why they can't get ahead in life.... what is so sad, is that the majority of these people fill the pews of churches every Sunday, worshipping the same God I worship.... and don't even realize there is anything wrong with that.
Even though I am not Muslim, I have heard of many Muslim-Americans that have died fighting for us in Iraq, and if I was one of the parents of those soldiers, I would be so sad and burdened by some hypocritical ignorant a** saying something like that.
This is more of a ignorance issue here....and it upsets me a lot...especially knowing that my fellow Christians are some of the biggest culprits....

As for the election....none of these guys will decide my fate. God and myself will decide my fate. God opens doors for me in all areas of my life, and I decide whether or not I want to try to enter the door or not (sometimes I fail, sometimes I succeed)....that's how it has always worked, and that's how it will always be. When he closes the door, I will sometimes hit my head against the door a few times, and then realize that I need to move somewhere else. Bill Clinton, George Bush (Daddy or Son), have never decided my fate. I am a hard worker, a follower of Jesus Christ, and believe that the Lord will help me through my trials and guide me to inner peace at all times.
That's it... carry on.

The Chicago Marathon (with pictures)

2008-10-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to begin....
What an experience... you really need a few days to decompress when you put yourself through such an emotional experience as the marathon, but I have decided to start blogging about it, because I know most of you want to know how it went for me.
Just to get to the nuts and bolts of it....
1. I finished the marathon
2. I set a new PR
3. My time was a disappointment, given the training that I put in.

So I know that all doesn't really make sense to 99.9% of people, because finishing the marathon and setting a new personal record, would make for the perfect day, but my expectations were higher and it didn't work out for me the way I planned. With that said, I had my best marathon experience yet, by far!!! Chicago is an unbelievable city, and I can't imagine a marathon more electric than that....and if there is one, I don't even think I could handle it, because I thought I was playing at a Bucs game (how loud the crowd was) and the game was over 4hours... and they were all cheering for me to finish 26.2 miles!!! Here is a video of an overview of the race
So basically this is how it all went down: Sit down and get some popcorn....

Saturday - Marathon Eve
I left Tampa on a 7:10am flight on Saturday, and got into Chicago at about 8:40 central time. Chris and I ended up taking a shuttle to our hotel, and were able to go to the expo (which was located at our hotel), go for a 3 1/2 mile run on the lakefront (that is a great place to run.. Soldier Field on one side and Lake Michigan on the other), hang out a bit around the hotel... all before noon. Talk about making good use of your time!!!! Later on, we met up with one of Chris's clients, Scott, who had lunch with us. We enjoyed his company, and he is a really cool guy. We watched some college football games and talked while at the restaurant. After that we went upstairs and watched more football, and I fell asleep for about an hour or so. Later on, we went back to the expo, bought some cool running gear and then went to dinner. Our hotel had a marathon "dinner buffet" and we decided on that for our meal. Pictured below is Chris' plate of food, not mine!!I had a chicken breast (which was my initial plan, and a bowful of pasta). I didn't eat much at all, as I wanted to play it safe going into tomorrow.
Everything was ok, and felt fine, and later we went back to the room, I showered up and watched the Rays game... or at least the first part of it. I was able to get sleep in for an hour here and there, but I felt ok.... until about 3 am.... and my tummy started grumbling and acting funny. To spare you the details, I had to go potty about 5 times from 3am to 5:30 am. At this point, Chris just shook his head in utter amazement how this stuff always happens to me. I basically thought it wasn't too big of a deal, and didn't want to psyched myself out... because of my stomach problems, I was unable to have any breakfast in the morning, because I didn't think I could keep it down. So by time I left to go on the bus, I took it out of my mind and just started to focus on the race.

The Race
The atmosphere was like nothing I have ever seen. It was the Disney Marathon x 50!!! I think Chicago is the largest marathon in the world, with 45,000 registered entrants... not sure if any other marathon (maybe New York) allows that many people in. From getting on the Bus system, to getting to Grant Park and entering the runners area, I really just tried to soak it all in...and I did. I didn't talk much, I just looked around and at one point I just felt so blessed to be able to experience all of what was going on.
At this point, my stomach was holding up, but I had to go do the other potty...maybe a little nervous energy and the fact that I had a full Gatorade before I left to offset all the fluid loss from earlier in the morning. By time I got out the bathroom, there was only 4 minutes to start.
Once we started, I tried to fall into a groove and not go out too fast. I also told myself that I would run this 1st part of the race based on my HR, so I could save a lot for the last half of the race. The problem was that my HR at that level was making me run about 1 minute per mile slower than any other typical day. I knew something wasn't right, but I stuck with the plan. After finishing the 1st 2 miles, I was able to keep the pace pretty easy, but not because I was sticking to the game plan, but because I couldn't go any faster!!! But honestly, I was very concerned, but about 5 miles into the race, I knew this wasn't going to be the race I hoped for... but I would just make the best of the race... and that was very easy to do. I took it all in, I ran at close to 9 min pace by mile 5, and just looked at the crowd, and the sights of Chicago and took it all in. I was running at a pace close to what Chris and I ran the previous day (where my HR was averaging 140 at 11:30 am) and today my HR was 30 bpm higher.... by the halfway mark my body started to cramp up... and then a mile later, it was very severe... but because I am experienced in cramping during races (LOL!!!) I was able to understand that even though it is painful, I know I can work through this... so basically I ran/walk the rest of the way, and just enjoyed the sights of the city. The crowd was so encouraging, because there were times were it was quite visible how my body was failing me, and people would encourage me to keep pushing on.... it wasn't even an option for me... I have never been so happy with a disappointing race result. I have been able to think about everything over the day or so, and it was amazing how I felt low at the 1st-3rd mile because I knew my body wouldn't cooperate with me so early in the race... how high I felt after I got over that my time wasn't going to be what I initially expected and I embraced the crowd from mile 4-13... and then hitting another low when I started to cramp severely all over my legs... and basically figuring out how I was going to get through the next 13 miles... but I did it... given the situation, in a fairly respectable time I might add :) So... I was able to get through it, and again I found out things about myself that I never knew. And actually, I think that's why 45,000 people subject themselves to this punishment (and pay big money for it!!!). Because the marathon race/distance gives you so much, and you get so much from it. The truth is, you can't get this from running a 5k, 15k, or a half marathon.... just when you are pushed a bit in those races, and it's getting to be a struggle...it's over, but for the marathon, you realize how deep you are able to dig to muster up that much more energy to get a few more steps, and a few more, and a few more. It makes everything else that you do in everyday life seem so much easier... and not to sound like an elitist or anything, but now I realize why so many of these marathoners are such resilient and successful people, because they use the race as an annual event to show what they are made of, and that no obstacle is too big for you to overcome, and also how strong the human spirit is. It was also so beautiful to see how the city of Chicago (which is such a culturally diverse city) was able to come out for the race and support the runners. From Michigan Ave. to Wrigleyville to Greektown to Chinatown to Harlem, all races and cultures wanted me to finish the race... and that was just incredible. If everyday could be like yesterday... oh..what a more progressive world we would have.
So once I got up to the end of the race, I tried to sprint (with my locked up calves and quads) to the finish, and I did... it was probably pretty ugly, but I did, and I kept on jogging because I wanted my medal so bad. Like the other marathons, I felt like I really earned it... and I wanted it around my neck. I kept on asking the volunteers, "Where is my medal?" and they kept on telling me, "Straight ahead sir!"
I put on my medal, and headed back to downtown to find a bus to take me back to my hotel, and unfortunately I waited over an hour before I just had to find a cab, but people were just high fiving me, and saying congratulations for running. But unfortunately, I saw many dejected people that had on bibs, that didn't have medals around them... and that was when, while waiting at the bus stop, that I bowed my head and just raised my hands for a brief moment and thanked God for allowing me to finish the race and be ok... I felt very blessed, and I know its because of everyone of you that were praying for me that allowed my body to get me to the finish.... I thank you all and I thank God for that.

Post Race Recap

As for my race performance, I was able to go on runnersworld.com today, and hear from all the folks that have been training extremely hard, and hear of all of there experiences. The good, bad and the ugly... and I realized that I am very blessed. But the truth is that, to have a good marathon performance, everything must be right. The weather, your body, and everything else!!! Ironically, yesterday was the Ironman Kona, which is where the best of the world compete to finish the Ironman, and last year's winner??? Was unable to finish.... he obviously has the talent, certainly trained well, but yesterday wasn't his day. Will he quit?? No, just pick up the pieces and try again. As Pat Riley said, "Hard work doesn't guarantee you anything, but without it, you don't stand a chance." I don't know any other way to train and approach my life in all of its various aspects , but to give it my all... and during my training I enjoyed every run, (except for 1), and I wouldn't change anything.... and can't wait to get back out there and do it again.

So Where do I go from here?
I will use the next few days to rest and start back to running later this week (yes, I will be running again in a day or two). But I will take it fairly easy over the next month. It takes a week or two to get back in the full swing of things. I have a half-marathon scheduled for the beginning of December. I am hoping to run under 1:32.... I know that sounds aggressive, that would be over 10 minutes better than last year's half marathon, which was probably my best half marathon race performance. So let's see what happens.

Thanks for the love!!

2008-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a quick blurb thanking those of you who have emailed, text messaged and called me to wish me good health and good luck for my race on Sunday morning. As always, thanks for the support and good vibes that you all have sent my way.
The weather in Chicago is going to be warmer than they expected initially, but should be perfect for me, d/t the conditions I have been training in. I will be leaving for the airport in the early morning and will fly out first thing in the morning. Chris will be with me throughout the trip, and we will probably spend a decent amount of time at the expo, and maybe go check out NikeTown and Garmin shop in Downtown Chicago if time allows. My schedule will be quite tight, as I plan on returning to Tampa on Sunday after the race. When I return to Tampa, I will post a race report on my 1st Chicago Marathon experience. I am excited, anxious, nervous and quite optimistic all at the same time!!! As always, I pray (and ask for your prayers also) for God's protection over myself and others that are participating in the race, along with my immediate family that will be back in Tampa, and my extended family who is in Jamaica for a funeral.
Thanks again to all of you.

I did it!!!

2008-10-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

At least the training for the marathon, that is.... I feel so blessed and happy that I was able to get through the training for my 3rd marathon. I guess the more amazing thing is that my 1st marathon was a little less than 10 months ago, and I feel as though I have learned so much about marathon training, and about myself since then. I have completely changed my training regimen since the 1st marathon, which has been less intense, but much more volume. I have had to make a new found commitment with re: to getting up early in the mornings and running in very uncomfortable conditions this summer. I lost a bit of confidence midway through my training regimen, because the heat and humidity were starting to get to me and slow down my training paces considerably. Over the last few weeks, everything has changed... the humidity has lessened and the temps have gone down, and my paces have gotten so much quicker. I actually have started to run later in the day (around noontime, because I want my body to stay acclimated to the heat, and for me not to get too confident and cocky). My wife and kids have liked that because now when they wake up, Daddy is now home to greet them, instead of them greeting me when I come back from my runs.
Most importantly, I am relatively injury-free. I was able to get a massage yesterday from Chris, and that was perfect. My body feels loose and ready to run. This morning, I completed my last long run of the training period of 12 miles with Chris. I was able to run the whole time, and have a full conversation without really breathing hard at all. It was just a perfect run for me. The last two miles, I was able to hold a much faster pace, but I didn't feel spent at all. I just came back from church and we taught the little kids this morning and I don't even feel stiff.... I feel so blessed!!!
So here are my stats for this marathon training period:
I started my training in June

June: 167 miles
July: 200 miles
August: 190 miles
September:189 miles
October: 25 miles so far... and a little 26.2 mile run next Sunday

771 miles since June:
New 5k race PR: 19:38
Unofficial 10k time trial: 41:52

This is just awesome.... I can't believe I have been able to run a 5k under 20 min. based on marathon training that has me going fairly slow most of the time. Can you tell I'm happy??

But now comes the big one.... I guess this race means a lot to me, like everyone else that is running it. The marathon is such an emotional event, because you are running with so many people that have put in as much or much more time and dedication to their program than I have. You just want everyone to do awesome, but the truth is that the marathon is such an unforgiving distance, that anything can go wrong, and if you crash....it gets ugly.....real ugly. So with that said, I am happy about all the great things that happened throughout my training cycle, but I expect good things to happen next Sunday, God willing of course.

My marathon PR (personal record) is 4:52. That should be crushed next weekend (noticed I said "should") Based on my training, I should be comfortably under 4 hours, as long as I do the following:
1.Don't get caught up with the fact that I am running with 45,000 other people, with many of them much faster than I am. I have to run my own race, and not worry about anybody else.
2.Try to stay relaxed
3. Don't do anything stupid this week with re: to nutrition and hydration.
4. Pace evenly and properly and listen to my body.

Easy, right???

No matter what happens next week, one thing is for sure.... this is my last marathon for awhile. Why??? Because my wife and I agreed on it... more like my wife said it is!! LOL!!
Kerry is so supportive of me running, and has never stopped me from my training... and I mean never. She never complains about my running habits, my running obsessions, etc. But with a new child on the way, the training is very time consuming, and we don't have a major support system here in Tampa to help with our kids and other stuff, so I have decided to scale it back a bit. This has nothing to do with how well or poor I do next weekend. This is more of a family thing...which is a hell of a lot more important than marathons.
I will still be running around 3-4 days/week, and will be able to participate in local races from the 5k-1/2 marathon distance, but I will not enter marathon training until at least a couple months after the baby is born, which would put me at doing no marathons for the rest of 2008 and all of 2009. I guess everything is subject to change, but for now.. that is the plan. With that said, that is why Chicago will be so special, because I know that I just need to soak in the whole experience.

The 1/2 Century Mark

2008-09-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the 3 week taper period of my upcoming marathon, and I am enjoying it...and today was no exception. I was able to do something that I very rarely, if ever, get to do. I was able to take a little longer lunch break since I had another therapist work with me this morning, and go out for an afternoon run. I very rarely try to run in the afternoon, because it is usually just too hot and muggy for me. But, I want to keep my body used to the heat, and the weather today was very nice this morning, so I was able to run at 11:15 am and run 5 miles in 45 minutes. It was perfect for the 1st 3 miles and started to get a bit warm for the last 2 miles...but I got through it fine, without a hitch. I was able to shower at the Seven Oaks Clubhouse, and later I ran into some people that I know from Saddlebrook. The cool thing is that Seven Oaks has a cafe with some really good food... so I was able to have lunch (by myself) and enjoy a Chicken sandwich and a smoothie.... yum!!!! This was perfect for me.... I deal with people all day, and I was able to get a full 1 hour and 45 minute break by myself doing things that I love to do.... run and eat!!!!! So anyways, I was able to weigh myself today and I realized that I have now lost 50 lbs. since I started this running endeavor 2 & 1/2 years ago. I'm sure that I will probably gain a few pounds back over the next few weeks, since my training will decrease, and a few more after the marathon as I will be taking a break from running for a little... but still, it is pretty cool. The funny thing is that it really just happened... I wasn't even trying to lose this amount of weight, but I just really started to enjoy the sport, and I have been so focused on becoming a better runner at all distances from the 5k to the marathon... that this just happened indirectly.... so maybe that is the key to weight loss, huh?? Stop thinking about losing the weight and start thinking about starting a journey that you can enjoy and pursue bigger and better things for yourself. At the end of every training period for a major event, you get time to reminisce and think about the fruits of your labor... and this is no different. So far, I have PR'd in my weekly distances with running (highest mileage week at a little over 55), I have PR'd in the 10k distance, this Saturday I hope that I will PR in the 5k distance, and hopefully great things will come on October 12th.

We The Best!!!!

2008-09-22T05:44:00.000-07:00

Two other things that really made my weekend fantastic:

My daughter, who started kindergarten last month, was picked as "Student of the Month"..... oh yeah!!!! Amazing for her, because I don't think that Kerry or myself were ever picked for Student of the Month. I'm so happy for her. We will be celebrating with her school and other students this Thursday... very happy!!

Also, Renewal Rehabilitation-South Tampa got picked as the Best Physical Therapy Center in the Tampa Bay area. Click here to read about it.

Very proud moments for both of my families (working and personal).

My Birthday!!

2008-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very interesting, but fulfilling day for me. To set it up, I have been a bit under the weather since Wednesday night, and have been trying to fight off the flu since then. Unfortunately (or actually fortunately), I had a really busy day on Friday, so my body really felt run down by time I ended up going home (around 8:00 pm). About 6 weeks ago, I committed to sponsoring a breakfast for the Blue Sharks running group on a Saturday morning, which happened to be yesterday. The other thing that I had to do yesterday was finish my 20 mile long run (the last 20 miler of my training cycle). The reason why I wanted to do the 20 miler yesterday instead of today was because last night was a date night for my wife and I, and I didn't want to have that 20 miler hovering over my head. I wanted to know that it was over, and that we could go out and do whatever we wanted, as late as we wanted, and just have a blast.... but as I said earlier, I felt terrible at the end of my work day, and actually told Chris and Julie (who were running in Downtown also, that I would probably have to skip out on my 20 miler).

I was able to get to my bed by 10:30, but I was very stuffy. I woke up at around 12:30, and went to the bathroom, and when I went back in the bed, I was so uncomfortable and congested, that I could not sleep. I knew I had to get up at 4:30, in order to drive down to the Downtown YMCA and host the breakfast, but I was so frustrated because I was not able to go back to bed. I tried to relax my mind as much as I could to no avail. Finally, I think I fell back asleep, but woke up again before 2:00 am, and was even more uncomfortable at this point. So, I started to think..... should I just do my 20 miler now??? I know, it sounds crazy, but at least I could get it out of the way... I just didn't know if my body would hold up. I realized that this would take me around 3 hours, and it wouldn't give me enough time to complete it by my house, shower up, and get down there in enough time. So..... I decided to get dressed, drive down to our office in South Tampa, and I started to run on Bayshore.... at 3:15 am!!!! Right before I started, I called Chris to let him know what I was doing (he just laughed at me) because I knew that he was going to be down there around 4ish to start his run also. I figured that we could meet up at some point and run together.
As I was driving in Hyde Park, it must have been around 2:45 or so, and I saw many people by their cars, at bars...even saw a few people puking on the side of the road (from too much alcohol I assume)... and thought to myself....as crazy as I may be, I would rather be doing what I am doing, than what those folks are doing right now.
Initially I was nervous about running that early...because there was obviously no people running or walking on Bayshore, except for homeless folks sleeping on the benches. I tried to keep my breathing quiet so I wouldn't wake any of them up, but once I got going and turned on my Ipod, it was like any other run. I basically ran all the way on Bayshore to Interbay and 1st St. and then back to the YMCA. About 8 miles into the run, I met up with Chris and Julie and ran another 7 miles with them. We met up with the Blue Sharks and Fred (the director) introduced myself and Chris to everyone and mentioned that the Renewal Rehab facility was sponsoring the breakfast (we appreciated the plug!). I then proceeded to run an additional 6 miles to finish up with a little over 20 miles, which was done by 6:15 am. After I finished, Chris, Julie and myself went to pick up the breakfast, set up our tables, and meet with all the runners as they finished their runs. I ended up staying until close to 10:00 am and met a lot of people, including a good amount of people that are also running the Chicago Marathon.

When I got home, I had my 3 favorite people waiting for me, and sang Happy Birthday to me, and greeted me with loving arms (luckily I took a shower at the Y, so they were safe). All these things happened today, and it wasn't even 11 am yet....

I did relax for a few hours and then Kerry and I went out for my B-day and had a blast. From Bennigans to Splittsville to Grille 54 for dessert (which is an awesome restaurant!!!!).... we had such a good time... anytime I can be with my sweetheart are good times.... felt like college again... but always so nice to have a great time, and then come back to our kids and kiss them goodnight.

This was my best birthday in a long time! Actually my best birthday ever, because every year I feel blessed that God has given me another year to enjoy my kids, my wife, and the people that he has put in my life.

Nailed it!!!!

2008-09-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Just a great run this morning...due to being inspired by what I saw yesterday. Unfortunately, about 3 of my patients had to cancel last night because of a gas leak on I-75, so I finished work a little earlier than usual. I knew that Wiregrass High (which is a school that our facility sponsors for Cross Country) had their first meet of the season at their school.... so I decided that I could at least catch part of the race. I was able to get there by 7:05 pm, and the boys meet started less than 2 minutes before I got there. For those of you that don't know, a cross-country race is a 5k, and the winning team is the team that has the most amount of runners place in the top 20... I think??? I'm not sure completely about this, but I know that the winning teams had the lowest numbers. Anyways, it was really cool to see this, because I had never really been to a cross country meet before.
Anyhoo, Wiregrass girls and boys team won the meet, and more impressively, the Boys team beat Land O' Lakes High, which hasn't lost against a Pasco team in over 4 years... so it was pretty cool to see it all go down.
This morning, I was able to do my hardest intervals during this marathon training... and I nailed it. I envisioned myself being in that meet last night while I was toughing out those interval sessions. Between the 10k and the intervals this morning, I really have a lot of confidence that my speed has returned, and that it is better than ever. I do realize that the temptation is there to really test my speed this weekend during my 20 miler this weekend, but I'm going to resist. Someone told me... don't leave your marathon performance on the roads this week.... save it for Chicago... and that's what I plan on doing.

On the 6th day of running.....

2008-09-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today will culminate the toughest 6 days in my training cycle so far. After my 5 mile run today, I will have run 6 days in a row for the 1st time in my life. As they say, sometimes the journey feels like more of an accomplishment than the actual event itself... and that is the way I feel now. But on the way, I've been feeling pretty beat up, especially after yesterday. So here is how the week went for me:
Tuesday: 8 miles with intervals
Wednesday: 4 mile recovery run
Thursday: 11 mile run
By that time I was feeling pretty tired after Thursday. Friday was a planned day off for me from running, and I was supposed to do a time trial 10k Saturday, and a 17 mile long run Sunday, but I was able to run Friday after work, because the wifey and kids went to a party. So after a full days of work (and a workout at Sports and Field with Scott before work at 6 am), I decided to do the 10k time trial and give it all I had. My reasoning for it was that I really wanted at least one of my weekend days to sleep in and not have to get up at 5:00 am and train.

So I did the 10k, and finished it really strong. I held on for dear life at the end... I thought my heart was going to explode!!!! But I was able to hold my pace the whole way. Unfortunately my Garmin 405 watch failed me at the end, and wouldn't stop... so it kept on ticking away seconds even though I was done. I don't know for sure what my official time was... and I guess it doesn't fully matter since it wasn't official anyway, but I do know that it has me on pace to finish the marathon in the projected goal time that I wanted to aim for. This was so key for me, because through the whole summer, I felt like I was getting slower and slower, and that my tempo and interval pace runs have been so hard for me to hit my goal times due to whatever reason(heat, humidity, training, etc.). So I was really please to see what happened with the 10k. You just never realize what you truly have in you, until you just let it rip (giving everything you got!). So with that said, I headed back home, showered up and had some leftover pizza and watched the USF vs. Kansas game (while I waited for the family to come home).

I knew Chris, Julie and some other folks were going to run at Flatwoods Saturday, along with the Wiregrass team being out there, so I decided to just get the 17 miler out the way on Saturday instead of Sunday. I knew it would be helpful to have some company for at least part of the run. So, between the 10k and the start of my 17 miler on Saturday morning was 10 hours... and boy did I feel it by mile 14. My legs were shot, and I just pushed through it. It was the first time that I have felt like I wanted to cut off my legs for this whole training period. I got to my car, and literally had a difficult time getting in my car. I gingerly got myself in the car, and got to a gas station close to my house and bought a bag of ice.
As soon as I got home, I filled up my tub and poured all the ice in there and just let my body enjoy the ice bath. My body has been as stiff as a board all day yesterday, and every time I tried to stretch, my legs cramped up... so my lovely wife gave me a massage at my right hamstring for a few minutes and I fell asleep.
Today, I am feeling about 50% better, but I think I need to actually run really slow to get some of the soreness out of my legs. So that's what I plan to do later on today. A really slow 5 mile run, and hopefully I will feel great again. It will also allow for me to sleep in until 6 am tomorrow, instead of having to get up early and run before work.... so I'll take it.
So there it is... 6 consecutive days of running for me. It's a big deal for me, and just another moment that proves that you can push your body further and further (within reason, that is).

Thanks for reading

I don't have time!!!!

2008-09-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

As I sit here, watching the Dolphins try to stay alive against the Jets (although I am at least enjoying that football is back on TV), I just started to think about something one of my potential fitness clients said to me this week. "Greg, I just don't have any time to spare to exercise... it just takes too much time!" There might be a little truth to that, but I started to think about my week, and how much time I have spent doing certain things... so here it is.
Working: Clinical (40 hours at the office). Marketing (5 hours). Administrative (3-4 hours)
Training/Working out: (7.5 hours)
Here's the kicker.... TV (about 20 hours!!!) Between pro football today, college football yesterday, all of the US Open for tennis, Big Brother, parts of the polititcal speeches on CNN, and other little things here and there.

My wife just asked me out of the blue, if I would consider training for a triathlon? I am following some people that Chris works with that are doing the Wisconsin Ironman today, and immediately said.. "I don't have the time to train"..... but actually I do, if I wanted to right? Let's face it... add another 10 hours/week of training and I could be prepared to do it... so.... take away 1/2 the TV time, and there you go...

I am not doing a triathlon... don't have any desire currently to do one, but my point is that the time thing is such a lame excuse... we all need to stop using this...either you want it or you don't... it's time spent vs. reward. For 99% of people, time is not a factor, even though we say it is.
I have a patient that is a single dad of 9 children.... 2 are autistic....that's right... 9 children!!! I asked him... "How do you do it?", and he said, "God doesn't give you more than you can handle"... makes me feel like an absolute dud.

But the main thing I realize is that no matter what it is, we are always going to find time for things that mean much to us. Our economy is in shambles right? I have patients every day telling me that they can't afford to pay their co pays for pills, MD visits, and visits to our office.... but I watch football today, and I see stadiums filled to capacity. I went to the movies last night and it was pretty much a sell out... the restaurants were packed, and as I came home yesterday from my run, I saw numerous cars getting on I-75 to go to Gainesville to watch the Gator/Canes game. So.... no matter how bad things are financially, personally etc., people will find a way to do the things that mean the most to them. It's just that simple.

Wait and see approach...

2008-09-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I am nearly 5 weeks from the big race... my training has been a little bit up and down over the past 2 weeks or so. 2 weeks ago when I went down to the Downtown area to run with the Blue Sharks, I rolled my ankle inward when I turned a corner, and "jammed" my ankle.... which at the time didn't hurt because I was at mile 4, but I happened to run 20 that day, so I continued to aggravate it throughout the run (even though I didn't feel it), and I really struggled after I got home that day. I was only able to run 30 miles for the week last week, which was 20 miles less than I was supposed to do. This is the time that I really need to be in full intense workouts, and I have had to taper it back quite a bit, because the ankle continues to nag me... so I decided to go from a 5 to a 3 day/week program, so that my ankle/foot can rest up and get back to normal. I continue to have good and bad days with the foot.... and this morning was no different.
I started to run at 5 am, and when I took my first 50 steps, I felt like my foot was on the verge of doing something very strange... almost like something was going to "pop".... as I was deciding whether or not to shut it down, my foot stopped hurting (this all was in the first 1/2 mile) and it gave me no other problems throughout the run. Go figure. When I got home, no problems with the foot, and all day I have been fine... until now when it is starting to ache a bit.... so it's a wait and see thing for me each day. I have just come to terms with the fact that I might be able to run only 3 days/week until the race.... at this point, I'll take it. The marathon means so much more to me than just having an "ideal" time... because from what I hear, the Chicago marathon is just such an incredible experience, that I want to just be there and soak it all in.. and I know that I'll have a great time. With that said, I feel as though I can continue to put in the fitness gains that I need to on 3 days/week of running.

So here is my plan as I lead up to the race:
I have 3 more challenging long runs, starting this Saturday, when I have to do 17 miles, with 14 of them at 8:00/mile pace (or at least that's the plan). This will give me a good idea as to what pace I want to attempt to hold throughout the race.
Next Saturday, I will do a 17 mile run, with the last 8 miles getting faster and faster (hopefully I will be running around 7:30/mile by the last mile)
The following Saturday, I will attempt to do the same thing but I will do 20 miles instead.... that will be my last "long run" before the race. I will be ready to taper at that time.

Somewhere in between now and September 20th, I will do a time trial of some sorts, probably a 10-15k, and that will give me additional information on what pace I should try to hold for Chicago. Just writing about it is getting me psyched up!!!!

Olympics in Review......

2008-08-24T17:51:00.001-07:00

It's really cool when you can witness history in all different aspects of life... and really neat when you can witness history in sports. Over the past 2 weeks, many of us witnessed some pretty incredible feats that took place at the Beijing Summer Olympics. In my opinion, this is the best Olympics I have ever watched... but that might be because I have a new appreciation for many of the Olympic events that I would have not particularly been interested in a few years back.

So the highlights for me???

Michael Phelps - Ok, so the guy is a freak of nature, and has a body that is ideal for swimming.... but do you realize that he swims for 2-5 hours/day??? That is just unreal... this guy works so hard, that he has developed that mental edge over all of his competitors... that to me is the most impressive thing about him.

Usain Bolt- 3 golds, 3 world records, in two of the most highly anticipated events in the Olympics??? And of course, he is Jamaican... so this one is near and dear to my heart. What the Jamaicans did in this Olympics was incredible... with a population of 3.6 million people.....to have that much talent in the Track & Field events is very impressive... they are still partying in the streets of Jamaica... actually my cousin was in Jamaica this past Friday, and he told me that they have sold out of (Usain Bolt Water)... which is supposed to make you run faster!!! Classic... he said they are selling like hotcakes!!!!

Also the Jamaican women went 1,2,3 in the 100 m. That is just unreal!!!!

Redeem Team - It's not just that they got back the gold medal... but it was the way they handled themselves throughout the Olympics.... they were at so many of the events, cheering on other Americans... they didn't come off as "We're better than all of you... so this is above us" type... they really made the U.S. proud, and put basketball back where it is supposed to be. I must say though, that the world continues to catch up... beware in 2012....

The women's and men's marathon- I know this is not necessarily a favorite event to most of you.. but for me, this was one of my favorites (obviously there is some interest on my part now). It's really cool that a lady that is 38 could crush the competition like that... which shows that your body can continue to do amazing things as we get older... it's usually ourselves that put these limits on what we want to do.

The Kenyan man that won the Olympics was absolutely incredible. I don't think the average person realized what he did yesterday... running that pace in that weather was almost incomprehensible... even the experts thought he was going to croak or something.... for me that was the 3rd most impressive feat at the Olympics (behind Phelps and Bolt).

7 weeks left....

2008-08-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

until the big day!! I was having a difficult time with the training when I came back from vacation, along with having a really crummy goal pace run... but since then, things have really made a turn for the better. I am back on track with my running. Below are some of the runs that I have done since last week.
14 mile run with Shane and Chris on the Gandy Bridge.
12 mile tempo run around my neighborhood
12 mile easy run on the Suncoast Trail
I have decided that my main weakness at this point is not having the confidence that I can hold a fast pace for the full marathon distance. That is going to be my biggest area of concern over the next 3-4 weeks. Today, I did a 20 mile run with a big running group in Downtown Tampa called the "Blue Sharks". They had 122 runners that started at 5:30 am this morning...wow!!! That was enough to get me pumped up and ready to roll. I did the first 12 with the group, and then decided to add another 8 miles...trekking down Channelside and then to Ybor and heading back on Bayshore.... it was quite nice...but I can tell that my body is just not used to running that long...much less running any type of respectable pace. Luckily, I still got time... so I'm gonna work hard at this over the next few weeks. After I finish a 6 mile easy run tomorrow, I will hit 55 miles for the week, matching my PR. Last week, I was feeling so lethargic and undisciplined, that I thought this week I would scale back quite a bit... well... I didn't and I feel really good. I realize know that most of my problems last week, was d/t me getting back in the swing of things with being on a regimented schedule. Now, I think I am back on that... and it will make it much easier to really get back on schedule when the Olympics finish.... man I'm tired from staying up and watching this stuff.... Big up Jamaica!!!!!
Speaking of the Olympics... I'm going to watch the men's marathon now... hopefully it will be a great race with a great finish.... hoping for Ryan Hall to perform well... ok, see ya!!!

Mental battle with the training

2008-08-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

My bad for not posting for awhile. I have been away and when I came back to work this week... it has just been one thing after another. But I am somewhat back to normal and everything is all good... Praise God!!!
But honestly, I would say that this has been my most disappointing week of training. Until 2 Saturdays ago, my training has gone near perfect with my runs. The weather has been uncomfortable, but I have been able to hit most of my paces (besides tempo runs) without a problem. My last post talked about my first 20 miler of this training cycle, which did not go so well, so I won't harp on that too much.
During my vacation week, I was still able to hit most of my runs, but I decided to do them on a treadmill for 2 of them, so I could sleep in and feel lazy!!! I must say it was quite nice... the only thing that I did new was try hill repeats in a parking garage and on a treadmill. I am wondering if my legs got messed up from this new type of training. Anyways, this is the start of my stinky training week....
I was supposed to do 15 miles with 12 miles at marathon pace. I have been looking forward to this run, because it was supposed to give me full confidence that I can hold that pace very easy. I am more than halfway through my training for Chicago, and I haven't been able to run any races, so this was more of a reward of how my training was going. I was supposed to do this on Sunday, but I was still on vacation, and I decided to wait until I got back. So this Tuesday, I woke up at 5 am, and trekked out to do the simulated run.... it sucked!!! It was hard from the 3rd mile.... I just felt like my legs were heavy, my breathing was labored, and I had difficulty holding my pace. I felt like I was running 30 miles, instead of 12, and this was NOT good for my confidence heading into the second phase of my training. Basically, I ran the splits as fast as I ran my half marathon about 9 months ago.... which is not too reassuring... I am supposed to be much faster, right???? Well the second I finished that 12th mile, I had to stop and catch my breath... I averaged about 6 seconds slower than what I planned...ugh!!!! I had to battle throughout the run to keep going... this is what I expect at mile 22...not mile 9!!!! So anyways, my confidence has been a little shot, and mentally I am struggling to put it behind me. But, I was able to think about this a little more.... I am training for a marathon.... and I know that completing a marathon is more mental than physical.... so I am looking at this as mental training for me.... can I pick up the pieces of a key run, and continue to plug along??? Well.... yes!!!! I will, and I won't let this get me down for long. I will say that I am actually going to substitute the bike for one or two of my easy runs over the next 2 weeks, so that I can get my legs back... but I have two key runs this weekend... a 14 miler on the Gandy Bridge with Shane and an 8 miler with some interval sprints in there.
Shane and I talked today a bit, and he feels as though because I am fairly new to running, my body is not used to running high mileage (for me that is)... so he wants me to tone it down a bit, and take out a day of running over the next week...to get my mental edge back... and that is exactly what I plan to do.... I'm ready to go out there again!!!!!

BTW, after my Tuesday run... I came into my house, kinda bummed, and as soon as I turned on the TV after I showered, it was on the Olympics channel...not NBC, but the channel that is a 24/7 feed on the American athletes and their road to the Olympics... made me put things in perspective a bit.... as Pat Riley said, "Hard work guarantees you nothing, but without it, you have no chance"

Bumps in the road

2008-08-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning, I journeyed out to finish my highest mileage week ever. It seems as though every week, I seem to break my record with re: to mileage... but this is it!!! I will not go beyond 55 miles for my program in preparation for Chicago, so I felt as though this would be the ultimate test for me. I was not very motivated to do this run, and I asked Chris if he would accompany me on part of the run. He obliged, so we decided to start around 5:40 am at the Suncoast Trail. Chris said that he would run the first 10 miles with me, and then I would be on my own for the rest. The interesting thing is that when I run with Chris, we always have great talks... I don't want to bore you with our conversations, but the main thing we talked about was how we all have weaknesses, and sometimes our spiritual enemy plays on us a bit, and tries to expose our weaknesses....so we have to get stronger with re: to our weaknesses. Also, we talked about how crazy it can be when everything seems to be going right, and then all of a sudden... all hell breaks loose (no pun intended). It was a great talk, and I needed the encouragement and I'm sure he needed it too.
Well after he left me, I had to finish the last 10 miles. I decided to stop and put on my Ipod, and finish out the run strong. The funny thing about the last 10 miles of my run is that it was exactly what Chris and I had talked about. I was running really comfortable.... actually, a lot slower than I usually do my long runs, and I just decided that I was going to coast for the last 10 miles. I would not push it, just finish. Well.... all was well until around mile 18 or so... and then I just felt like... ok, this might get kinda tough....let me slow down a bit more. As soon as I hit the 19th mile, I started to feel woozy, like I was gonna hit the ground. I stopped running, and I started to drink the little water that I had left. I felt awful... I knew I was in trouble, but I also knew that I could at least walk the last mile if I had to. So, I ended up walking for about a tenth of a mile, and then I started to run again. I was severely dehydrated at this point, and I knew it... my legs didn't feel like lead, but my body just ran out of steam. When I got to 1/2 mile left, I said I would just try to run a little bit more and then walk, but I just kept on going and just playing mental games with myself. I ended up running/shuffling (but most importantly...not walking!!!) the last 1/2 mile. I was disappointed in how my big week finished, but I felt as though I showed some mental toughness in gutting it out and finishing the run.... running!!! So, I was able to crawl in my car, get home... and I crashed.... felt like I was gonna puke honestly... but after about an hour or so of getting fluids back in my body and taking a 90 min. nap, I felt better again, and drove down to Ft. Lauderdale. That's where I am at now, and will be here for the rest of the week. This will be a recovery week for me, in which I will cut back to 40 miles or so... I need it though, because my body feels tired. So here is the run/carnage. My run was exactly what Chris and I talked about earlier.... things can be going so well, and all of a sudden, bad things can come in a barrage... but you gotta fight through it... and I think that is what I did... it wasn't pretty, but I made it. Isn't that what life is all about????

Feeling the beat down

2008-07-29T13:18:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been challenging for me from a running standpoint. I'm still a fairly new runner, with my first half-marathon only 18 months ago. I was averaging about 10 miles a week at that time, and for my first two attempts at a marathon, I was averaging 20-25 miles/week. It's funny how your perspective changes... because at that time, I felt as though my body was being pushed hard. I also thought that it would be virtually impossible to train more than 40 miles/week... just felt that my body would not be able to handle it, along with feeling that time constraints would be such a major issue for me. Also, when you tell someone that doesn't run at all, that you run 10-20 miles/week, they think you are nuts... but times have changed for me. I now browse RW.com forums on a frequent basis, in which the average person on the marathon boards runs around 60-75 miles/week... with a good amount of folks averaging 80-90 miles/week, and going over the 100 mile mark a few times during their training. Also, most of these folks run twice/day.... and it is not uncommon to find many of them starting at 4 am to get their first runs in.... seems crazy, huh??? But common... one guy who is training for a marathon this fall, said he gets home from work at 10-11 pm, and usually runs from 12 am-2 am, goes to bed, and wakes up at 7 am to go to work... it's his way of managing everything and getting his runs in. Gosh... it really makes me feel horrible to even slightly complain about my running schedule.
So.. I have just completed my first 50 mile week.....ever... I was recently not driving 50 miles/week when I was just working at the North Tampa clinic... a year later, I am running that per week... how cool!!!! My schedule over the last 3 days was as follows:
18 mile long run on Sunday
6 mile recovery run on Monday
11 mile tempo run today

Sunday's run really exposed my weakness..... endurance. I have good endurance for the average person, but I struggled to hold pace at the end of the run... from miles 16-18, I tried to hold my goal pace for the marathon, and even though I did it... that was not about to happen for any more miles. I am hoping that over the next few weeks, I will build up my endurance by doing more of these long runs. Its just draining to do them.... but just like everything else, your body starts to get used to it.
Usually after a Sunday long run, I feel pretty good, and ready to do some sort of run by Monday... but I just wasn't feelin' it Monday morning. I did not want to wake up any earlier than I had to, so I ended up doing my run right after work (Bayshore... yeah!!!). It was supposed to be a recovery run, which it was for the first 4 miles. All of a sudden, about 20 high school girls and 3 older guys started to run in a pack by Bay to Bay Blvd. I was kinda intrigued, and one of the girls looked like one of my former patients, so I decided to run with 2 of the guys and started to talk to them about the group. It was the Plant High School cross country team, and I did a little marketing while I was running with those guys, and told them about what I do, and if they needed any of our services... (services are always needed!!!). So I ended up running the 5th mile faster than I would have liked, and the 6th mile was supposed to be sprints anyway... so I just don't think I really "recovered" from that recovery run...does that make any sense???? With that said, I knew I had a 11 mile tempo run scheduled for today, and I knew it would be a struggle.... and it was. I started a little before 6 am, and it took me a full 3 miles to feel somewhat warmed up. My heartrate was climbing, I was sweating heavily, and I just knew this was gonna be a crummy one. I guess the good thing was that I was able to fight my way through the tempo portions, and my splits were somewhat respectable. I really wanted to just walk home after I finished the tempo portion, but I just knew it would make everything prolonged... I just wanted to take a shower and climb in a bed or something.... but then I thought... this is what it will feel like at the end of the.... marathon!!!! This was a little test for me. I had to fight through it, and keep on going even though I didn't want to go... and you know what??? After a mile, I was ok.... not great... but ok. I could've kept on going, but once I got to my house, I was happy to get inside, go straight to the shower, and get in some clean clothes and hug and kiss the Todd Squad. My right outer ankle (peroneals) are on the sore side, so I definitely won't run tomorrow, but I plan on doing a 12 miler on the Gandy bridge Thursday morning before work with Shane. I want to be well rested for that, as this will be the first time I have ever done hill work. If my ankle (which is already feeling a little better) is not right by tomorrow, I will bag it for another day... but I think I will be fine. Saturday morning, I will have a scheduled 20 mile run, so the beat down will continue. I will finish out this week at 55 miles. It will be my highest week ever, and it will be my peak week for my training for Chicago. Let's keep on keepin' on!!!!!

I ain't the only one

2008-07-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

I decided to bite the bullet, and wake up really early this morning to get an 11 mile run in. I usually don't like to run very long, or at all on Wednesdays because I work at the South Tampa clinic at 7 am. If I do run, it is usually an easy run of 6 or less miles, because I know that I have a long day ahead of me. Tomorrow though, I have to take care of some stuff in the morning, so I knew it was better just to get it done now. So, I woke at 4 am, drove down to the clinic, and ran Bayshore to Gandy and then took Gandy to past Dale Mabry. I was trying to make it to the Gandy Bridge, but d/t time constraints, I had to turn around before I got there. I've never done it before, but I figured I could give it a try. Oh well... maybe next time. So, I thought I was going to be one of maybe two or three people running that early. I guess not.... because within the 1st mile of running, there was at least 10 runners that passed me. To cap it off, by time I got past Bay to Bay, there was a woman running with a baby in a jogging stroller... what???? Whatever works for you, right? The fact is that, as I was running, I felt very proud of those people that were so dedicated to start running so early. It also made me feel normal. It was a good run for me, and I must say that I pushed it a bit at the end... almost got a bit too carried away, because there were so many people running at that time, that it just got my juices going. About 75% of my runs are done with me not seeing anyone, so this was a treat. So, here is the run.

Life is like a....

2008-07-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

box of chocolates??? No.... like a marathon...more like my marathons that I have run so far!!!! You never know what you're gonna get.... It has been a roller coaster 3 weeks for me, and that is putting it mildly. I had a major letdown... then got brought back up again with other news... and then another major letdown... and none of this has anything to do with running. Needless to say, that is why the blogging has been non-existent. Whatever strength I had over the last 3 weeks, I didn't want to use it up blogging...but I have been getting a few e-mails, questions, etc. from a few of my faithful blog readers, and have been responding... I finally realized that it is easier just to talk in the blog about stuff.

So.... I am still training for Chicago, and through all of these trials that I am dealing with, I am very proud that I have not missed a day of running. This morning I did a run with Chris that turned into a 14 mile run in Tampa Palms. Both of us have never run there before, and we were invited to come out to run with a group of triathletes that Chris's massage company sponsors. It was really cool to talk to new people, and see how dedicated some people are to their sport. Most of the people that we were running with are training for an Ironman triathlon... which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run.... back2back2back.... makes what I am doing seem like a walk in the park, huh???

We all started together, and ran the 1st mile or so together... until Chris fell into a pothole and twisted his ankle and fell to the ground!!! There is always a funny,dramatic, crazy story when we run together, and this time was no different.... anyways after he got up and everything checked out somewhat ok, we continued to run, and we broke apart from the group and picked up the pace. We averaged a 9:47 pace during the whole run, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was really cool seeing the improvements that Chris has made over the past 2 months with his conditioning... he is back to where he was before all of the layoffs...probably even more conditioned.... and should really see some nice results in his future races. About 11 miles in, we saw one of my former patients running, and met up with her and ran together for about a mile or so. That was really nice... because she was one of my favorites....even better was to hear that the injury that I was treating her for is all gone... Yay!!!! She also asked me about the blog, and I promised her that I would get back on it today.... so here it is...

The coolest part of the day was after the run. We ran back to where we parked and met a guy who had a "Team in Training" shirt on. I actually can't even remember his name, but we got to talking a bit, and he told us a bit about himself. Within 5 minutes, this guy completely inspired me. He started running in August of 2007 (nearly a year now). He was 360+ lbs back then.
So apparently he met up with his former fraternity brothers at some reunion, and one of his frat brothers told him he was a fat, piece of #%&*..... (just quoting what he told me...) He decided the next day to go outside in 95 degree weather (with a sweater and jogging pants on) and run as far as he could. He ran out as far as he could, and walked back to his house. He later got into his car and drove the route he ran. He ran for..... 2 tenths of a mile.... not too good. The next day he did the same thing.... following day, he did double... and threw up.... same thing the next day... threw up again at the end. He followed this routine for 5 days, and then came home one day, and got a postcard in the mail from "Team in Training", which is an organization that helps you run a half-marathon, marathon and/or triathlon, in return for your raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma. 4 months later, he ran his 1st half-marathon, and a few weeks after that, his 1st full marathon. So far for 2008, he has run 3 marathons and 2 half marathons..... he is also down to 255 lbs. He lost the first 90 lbs within 3 months. Unreal..... that guy made my day. You can tell how passionate he was about his running, and his team, etc. It was so cool to hear a story like that...
So it just put so many things into perspective. Good things don't come easy... and sometimes life can be unfair... but you have to fight and keep on pushin'.

So over the past few weeks, here are some of my more memborable runs:

A 16 miler in my old neighborhood in Pembroke Pines.

A 6 mile recovery run with Shane on Bayshore:

A 17 miler on the Suncoast Trail... quite uneventful, but I saw an alligator!!!!

You know what bothers me???

2008-07-02T15:57:00.001-07:00

A day like yesterday bothers me. I hardly ever go on rants (on this blog, that is).... but this is the right time to do it... at least for a paragraph or two. I got to bed a little past 11 pm on Monday night (partially d/t the Rays game vs. Red Sox (wow!!!), but I knew I had to run on Tuesday to stay with my running schedule....especially considering that I would be heading down to Ft. Lauderdale later in the week, and who knows what will happen with my running once I am down there. So needless to say, it was a struggle for me to get up at 5:00 on Tuesday morning. I did it, but I was slow moving.... and it was taking me forever to get moving. I didn't get out the door until 5:40 (I should have left by 5:30 at the latest, considering I had an 8 mile run with 10 x 100 meter sprints to complete. So, already I was off schedule, because I knew I had to leave my house by 7:00 am, since I had a 7:30 patient. I only had about 50 minutes to work with. So I decided to not push the pace, since this was my 5th day in a row running, and just cut the workout short. Work obviously takes precedence over another 2 miles of running.
So I ended up finishing about 6.1 miles of running, rushed inside the house, and took a quick shower.... no breakfast and sped off to work. When I was about 5 minutes away from the office, Cheryl (the office manager) calls me to tell me that my first patient canceled, saying he was too busy to come in today. I didn't have another patient until 8:30 am..... ugh!!!!
Couldn't he have called yesterday??? Not like 10 minutes before his appt???? Geez!!!!
So why does it bother me so much???? Because just like everybody else, my time is truly valuable (to me, that is). Chris and I were just talking yesterday about time commitments, and maintaining a healthy balance with work, family, hobbies, etc, and how it is so difficult to make time for everything, especially when you want to be great at all of those things. And if you are good at all those things, you have to use your time extremely efficiently and wisely. It doesn't help matters, when people only take into account their time, and not yours. I could've slept a little longer, finished my 2 miles, and see my kids wake up and kiss them before leaving the house, if this person would have just called the day before and notified us of his cancellation. Just got me off to a bad start... but whatever...
Again the rest of the day was a microcosm of what I talked about previously. Trying to find a balance.... I have my nephew here from Tallahassee for a few days, so my wife brought him and the kids to my office for us to have lunch together. Unfortunately, I had to do a mini-meeting with a fellow co-worker that was extremely urgent.... trying to find the balance... didn't do too good there. I got back to my office with about 15 minutes before lunch ended... thinking I would have a little time to actually talk to everyone, but people were standing outside... waiting for me to open up the doors.... sigh!!! (Ok sweetie, gotta go!!!! Love ya!!!) Kerry is so understanding... God Bless her!!
Later in the day, I had to re-organize some work-related things, so that I could spend some time with my nephew, as this would be the only time I could spend with him, given my hours at work. Again...stressful, but I know I made him happy and I am glad we got to do some fun stuff together.
There is a saying in Jamaica, which goes like this:
If yu wan good, yu nose afi run!!!!
Translation: If you want good things.... sometimes its gotta hurt or be uncomfortable....

And that's about it. Anything good for you is not always the easiest route... no way around it. That's the way it will always be, and sometimes you just gotta suck it up and keep on going if you want it (or all of those things) bad enough.

What's next????

2008-06-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

I got through the week.... Yay!!! You know, it's probably not that big of a deal, but it feels like it is to me. I guess since I am fairly new to the running thing, and would never think that running 40 miles in a week would be remotely doable with my schedule... this does seem like a big deal. But probably a few months from now, this will probably be a routine week for me... actually I will only go under 40 miles for the week 2 more times for the next 3 1/2 months...so I better get used to it. My body feels pretty good right now... just a little stiff, but overall I feel good. So, since the last time I posted, I have run 3 days in a row. On Friday, I cranked out a 9.5 mile run with Shane (had to cut it short, because I knew I was tight with time, with my first patient at 7 am. On Saturday, I ran a 5 mile recovery run (it was supposed to be 4, but I wanted to make up for the 2 days that I had to cut my runs short this week). Today, I ran a strong 14 mile run. The first 9 were at a 9:00 min/mile pace, and the last 5 were around 8:15-20/mile. The only thing that bothers me was my heart rate. I didn't pay any attention to it, but it was quite high at the end. The high 180's... but I felt fine. It was also quite hot, and I know the HR starts to climb as the temps climb, but hey.... that's how its gonna be for the next few months, so I just have to deal with it.
Next week, I will go up to 42 miles for the week. It might get a little tricky again, because we are headed down to Ft. Lauderdale for the 4th of July. I have to find some places to run....especially with a 15 miler that I have scheduled next Sunday. I might change around my schedule a bit, because it will probably be chaotic throughout the weekend down there. I might do my long run before I leave...I'm not really sure yet... I'll just play it out as the week goes on.

Another interesting thing I noticed as I was downloading my last few workouts this morning. I ran for exactly 6 hours this week. When you really think of it... it's such a small portion of my week, even though I thought this week was such a big deal. I sometimes spend 6 hours/week watching reality shows (when my favorites are on) or doing some other mindless endeavor... this is so much more beneficial than wasting time listening to Ryan Seacrest or some other joker.

Ok, gotta go... I will update as the next week progresses. Have a great week!!!!

Trying to chill

2008-06-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to chill today. I was supposed to run 10 miles this morning, but after my week so far, I told my wife that I am not doing anything today (running wise). I felt so tired last night when I got home. Unfortunately, my body is used to waking up at a certain time, so around 5:40 this morning, my eyes were wide awake. I had to try to fight it and go back to sleep... but I couldn't. I still stuck to my guns... and I didn't run, so I decided to go upstairs and take care of some work-related stuff, and just watch TV. The week has been a bit tough so far, but I am still on schedule. I ran 8 miles on Tuesday, 3.5 miles yesterday, and I will run my 10 miles on Friday (instead of today) with my buddy Shane on Bayshore. Luckily, the clinic is next to Bayshore, so we will start at 5:30, and hopefully finish a bit before 7. My first patient starts at 7 am, so I should be okay.
Today should be fun, because it's my day off from work, and I want to do stuff with my kids (maybe go to the movies, or go to the pool... just something fun!!) So not running today will make my day really easy with them.
BTW, did any of you see the concerns re: air pollution in Beijing for the Olympics? This is really disturbing... Click here

Run on feel

2008-06-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

As much as I love gadgets, such as the Garmin Forerunner 405, I think sometimes you really lose your ability to just run off of feel. Sometimes I fall into the habit of not listening to my body, and I become a slave to all the data that the watch shows. Am I in the right pace zone?? HR to high?? HR to low?? It's just too much information sometimes to take in!!! This morning I set out to run at 4:30 am, and in a way, it was a blessing in disguise because I could not see my watch due to it being so dark. So after a 2 mile warm up, I started to run at a comfortably hard (if that makes any sense) pace. I did look down on my watch in the beginning and saw that I was running at a 7:05/mile pace, and after that I did not look at my watch again. I just wanted to run off of "feel", not worrying about what the watch stated. At the end of the run, I felt like I should have felt... worked hard, but not absolutely wasted!!! Once I got home and looked at my stats, I was within 6 sec/mile for each mile, which was great!! I'm happy about that. It is now 11:00 am, I have seen about 6 patients so far, and my body feels really good. I hope I don't crash after lunch or anything. Still got a full day of work left before I go home.

I must admit that it was pretty desolate as I was out on the roads at 4:30 running... and it made me think... is this too crazy to be out this early? Well, I went on RW forums for the Chicago Marathon, and there has been over 14 people so far this morning that have posted information re: their runs.... 8 of them started at 4:30 or earlier... misery loves company!!!!
Click here to see my run. Have a great day!!!!

Challenging week ahead...kinda...

2008-06-22T15:24:00.000-07:00

I was able to get in 2 good runs this weekend. Saturday called for a 5 mile run at a fairly slow pace, but Chris and I decided to run together from my house, so I ended up going an extra 3 miles. The purpose of the run was to make sure my body was ready for today's run, and since I didn't give much of an effort, I felt pretty good after. This morning, I ran 13 miles before church. It was kinda weird, because the weather was almost perfect (for June that is!) at the outset. I guess with all the rain we got yesterday, it cooled down everything, and I felt absolutely great!!! I was around a 9:00/mile pace for the first 8 miles, and my plan for the last 5 miles was to average 8:15/mile. I stayed with my plan, even though it started to get pretty hot. I was able to do that, but for the last mile, I probably used a little more energy than I wanted to expend. I didn't feel wiped out by any means, but looking at my heart rate (which was hovering around the high 180's), I probably should have slowed it down. The biggest thing that I want to accomplish during my runs is to not feel wiped out throughout the day. This time, last year, I would have felt like a truck ran over me during a long run. Now, I felt just fine within 30 minutes after the run. I am sure my wife and kids fully appreciate that. Kerry and I taught 4-5 year olds at church, and then when we left church, I took Adryana to a local pool and practiced her swimming with her. I even swam 3 laps, just to try to work on my swimming strokes (triathlon in the future???)
Today I was talking to one of the ushers at church, who is a faithful blog reader, and he asked me how I got into the blogging? My wife, of course got me to do this... but I was also thinking about how people that read this blog are so helpful in keeping me on track. I use the blog to act as my accountability partner. Like everyone else, there are mornings that I want to sleep in later, and not bother run that early... but d/t having accountability in many different ways (the blog being one of them), I will usually fight it off and get my butt going. I never regret it, and I am grateful for that.
This week will be another challenge for me, as my running goes from 4 to 5 days/week. I have never run 5 days/week.... ever!!! But the overall mileage is 40, and due to the extra 3 miles that I put in yesterday, it brought this past week to around 39-40 miles... so that shouldn't be an issue. It is really just the logistics of my schedule. I work from 7 am to 7:30 pm M,W,F this week (usually don't leave the office until 8 pm) and I have to split my schedule between 2 clinics (one in the morning in Hyde Park, and the other in the afternoon). Tuesday, I will work from 7 am to 3:00 pm at the Wesley Chapel office, and then work with my Therafit clients ( I think I have my last scheduled client at 6:00 pm), so I should be home by 7:15-7:30...
Forgive me because I am thinking out loud how I am going to pull this off....
Monday: NOTHING
Tuesday morning, I will get up at 4:30 and run 8 miles, with 4 at tempo pace ( means hard, but I'll live)
Wednesday: Wake up at 5:00 am and run 4 miles... leave the house at 6:00 to get to the office by 7 am.
Thursday: I have the day off!!!! Run 10 miles.
Friday: No running
Saturday: 4 miles
Sunday: 14 miles
I guess it's not so bad...
I am assuming that many of the people that read this blog have blogs of their own. If you struggle with sticking to an exercise plan, or struggle with weight issues on a whole, I advise you to talk about your plan on correcting your problem via your blog. It will make you accountable to a lot of people, and might just give you the kick in the rear that you need. Just a thought.

Thursdailies

2008-06-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was able to get a surprise last night as I was getting ready to leave work. My wife called me and said that the kids were going to spend the night with their auntie, and that they would be coming back home tomorrow. That very rarely ever happens. We have never let our kids stay overnight anywhere, except for with their grandparents in Ft. Lauderdale... so this was the first time we were doing this. But after our initial reservations, we decided to have a little fun with the break that we had. My Wednesday work day was a 12.5 hour shift at work, so I got home around 9 pm; so we decided to go and catch a 10 pm movie. Didn't get home until close to 1 am. It was so nice to get out though. I woke up at 6:30 (tired as can be) and headed out to do a 10 mile run. It started out crappy (literally)... and I didn't feel well at all. The lack of sleep, and pounding down popcorn and fruit punch at 11:30 pm, while at the movies was catching up to me very early in the run. But there are times that I have felt worse than this, and usually, my body just starts to warm up during the run.... which is exactly what happened this morning. By the 3rd mile, I was feeling better and luckily the sun didn't come out, so it made the run quite manageable. Usually when I run on the Suncoast Trail, it is very nice quiet time for me because you just don't find too many people biking or running during the week at that time in the morning. This is pretty much how it looked this morning on the Suncoast Trail:

While running, I glanced down at my watch and saw that I was running at a pace that only 1 year ago, was my pace that I ran my tempo runs at. It was very satisfying to think of how my fitness levels have improved over the last 10-12 months. I guess that is why my relationship with running is still in the "honeymoon" phase... because my improvements have been so drastic, that it just seems like this is how it will always be... but I know that is definitely not the case. I did think that when I used to run 9:30/mile runs, I never thought I would get to the point that I could run a 9:00/mile pace for more than 5 miles... but it happened. And the improvements have continued... so you never know. Anyways, I will continue to enjoy the "honeymoon" phase. This weekend, I will do a 5 miler on Saturday and a 13 miler on Sunday. That will put me at 36 miles for the week, which has been around my average before starting this structured program for Chicago.

It's all in your head!!!

2008-06-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there. I was able to have quite a nice Father's Day. I started it off with a 12 mile run with Ben at 6 am this morning on the Suncoast Trail. When I got home, my wife and kids presented me with cards with beautiful words... as always. We got Chinese food after everyone got home from church, and they presented me with cake and ice cream and sang, Happy Father's Day (Birthday style!!).

Running with Ben during my long runs has been very beneficial for me. First thing, is that it is allowing me to run without an Ipod... which I plan to do for my marathon. I enjoy talking with him, and he has so much great information to offer.

Today we talked about sports on a whole, and the mental training that it takes to succeed. We both felt as though we could do much better in running if we had a better mentality when it comes to "gutting it out". When I read stuff on message boards on Runner's World, and people give their race reports on marathons that they have completed, if they don't do well, there is almost always an excuse of some sort.... "too hot", "too hilly", "too flat", "didn't sleep well", "garmin wasn't working properly"... and I am no different...

As we continued to talk about it, we came up with a conclusion on why we mentally fade when the pressure is on.... most of us can't handle the fact that if we run a marathon (or train for any other sport for that matter) and give it everything we have in training... and fail? Well, we just can't handle it... we don't want to accept the fact that even your best effort at times will still not be good enough... that's a tough pill to swallow. Ben even said that when he didn't get under 3:00 hours in his marathon, he said he knew (while running the 26th mile of the race) that he would get a little sympathy because of all the excuses that he had... valid excuses... but excuses nonetheless.

For me, it's the same thing... Disney was because of poor preparation with hydration before the race (the water is not at fault...) I screwed up.

Lance Armstrong's coach was interviewed about 3 years ago on the Jim Rome show, and Jim Rome asked him if Lance did not get cancer, did he think he would have won 7 Tour DeFrance titles...
He answered, NO!!!! He said that when Lance realized that his life was nearly taken away, he said that he was no longer afraid of giving it everything he had, and was able to deal with the consequences of failing and just not being good enough.
Today, I watched a tennis match in which the #2 player in the world played the #3 player in the world. It was a very tightly contested match, but the #2 player won.
During the post ceremony speeches, the #3 player wanted everyone to know that this was only his 2nd tournament played on a grass court, and that he was very happy with his result.... again, I know his result weren't bad, but that was a bunch of nonsense.... he knew he could have won, but just didn't... because the other guy was better... but he had his string of excuses lined up to kind of sugar coat him not winning the match.
As I am typing this blog, I am watching the final round of the US Open golf tournament... and I just find it ironic how every time Tiger hits a bad shot, the announcers blame his knee as the culprit... but when he nails a ridiculous shot... he is just the best mental competitor of all time (which he is, IMO)... but my point is why are they trying to make excuses for Tiger if he happens to lose???? I mean, if he wasn't able to play, then don't play!!!

Okay, I don't want to go on a rant and get side tracked here, but at the end of the day, I realize, it's all in our heads...for the most part. We just have to believe in ourselves, and not be afraid to fail... and if we do fail???? Oh well.... try again another time... no excuses!!!!

Gettin' by....

2008-06-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

I was a little nervous about this week. I sometimes get a bit fidgety if I know I'm going to have a rough week ahead of me. Chris has been on vacation this week, so I have had to work a bit more than I usually work. The work part of the week wasn't so much of an issue, but we also have my brother-in-law (who is 12) and niece (10 years old) here this week, so I thought it would be tough to get in my runs for the week. Well, everything has worked out fine. It's Friday, I feel fresh and strong, and I was able to get in a 7 miler on Tuesday and a 9 miler yesterday. I had a shorter day yesterday, and we were able to take the kids over to a local pool by my workplace. Once we got home, we were able to watch "Gameplan" and even got to watch a little bit of the Lakers vs. Celtics, last night. So now all I have to do is a 5 miler tomorrow, and a 12 miler on Sunday with Ben. My cousin and his family is coming up from Ft. Lauderdale today, and he has just recently started to get into running. Maybe he will accompany me on the 5 miler tomorrow... if he is up to it.
One of the reasons that I enjoy running so much is that I basically can eat whatever I want. I'm not saying this to brag in any way, but when you run as much miles as I am running... you really have to eat to keep your weight stable. The bad thing for me is that my stomach is very sensitive... actually it is quite unstable!!! So, for me I am trying to really get my nutrition down to the point that I am eating good food for my body, but at the same time not having Tofu for dinner... I would just strangle myself if I had to do that. So, that is what I am trying to figure out.... what is right for me? What can my body handle? What can I eat that will keep me healthy, but sane?
Any thoughts????

I need a Red Bull!!

2008-06-10T09:46:00.001-07:00

Today starts my formal training for Chicago. As usual, I run on Tuesdays, but I usually decide to run in the morning vs. the evening, based on if I can wake up early enough Tuesday morning. For me to run, I have to get up by 4:30-4:45 am. It usually takes me 5-10 min. to get ready to go, and I usually run for at least 1 hour. I don't set an alarm, because, as I said in earlier posts, I just don't want to turn running into a chore. If I wake up, I go.... if I don't, I'll just have to run at night. Well, my daughter woke up in the middle of the night and crawled into our bed, so I couldn't sleep great after that. That was my sign to get up and go.
So, I did a 7 mile run + 10 x 100 meter sprints at the end. During the run, I was shocked to see two ladies that were walking around 5:30 am. It was nice to have a little company, even though you only see them for like a second or two. As I got to mile 3 or so, I started to envision the race and running with all those people. So cool... I hope I get to the starting line to really experience it. The run went great, and my body felt very good afterwards. I showered up and felt great on my way to work. Well, I'm not sure what has happened since then (maybe because I've now been up for 10 hours and it's 1 pm), but now I feel blah!!! My eyes are shutting down, and I thought I would feel better after lunch, but I am still yawwwwning!!!! Well... the good news is that I should be home by 4:00 pm. Ok... gotta go... my first patient after lunch is here.

So Here's The Plan....

2008-06-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

I had a great run this morning. Ben, my new training buddy, met me at my house at 6 am. We drove over to the Suncoast Trail and went out on a long run. We completed 14 miles, and it was a very good run for me. I'm not sure if the weather was better than usual or what, but I was able to keep my heart rate down for much of the run. Even more importantly, I was able to keep my own pace, and even though Ben is much faster than I am, he allowed me to keep the pace, which kept me quite comfortable. The most beneficial thing about it is that he gave me so many good tips on marathoning and endurance sports on a whole. As much as you think you know, you can always learn off of someone's good fortune or mistakes of what they have done. I am very grateful for what he told me today. The good thing is that he told me about what he does with his marathoning training, and what he really focuses on during his training. I guess the really good thing is that he thinks that the program I am going to use is very good, and that my times should significantly go down based on the program. So... here is my plan for the next 4 months:
I will start my marathon program this upcoming week. It will start out at 32 miles/week, and will peak at 55 miles/week. I might add a couple of miles to my program, or bring up the intensity a little bit on my long runs if my body feels up to it. During the 18 week program, I will try to do 2 races (hopefully a half-marathon,10k, or 15k) to gauge where I am at with my training. Also, I am still quite new to races, and I want to feel much more comfortable with getting into "race" mode.

My main goal as always is to stay injury-free, and be able to run Chicago.... that is the most important thing. I want to be able to experience what it feels like to run with 35,000+ people in the same race. Gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Second goal is to finish the marathon, with running/jogging the whole way. I want to demonstrate mental toughness, and run the whole way... not necessarily fast, but just continue to move... Ben told me today that usually once you stop... you're done. That is what I felt like at the Ft. Lauderdale race when I stopped... you just can't get back into the swing of things.

Third goal is to run a smart race....meaning that I can adjust my pace based on the weather conditions for that day, etc. I can't necessarily say that I have a specific goal pace yet ( I think I will wait for another month or two, when I do a time trial or race, and then I will figure it out from there), but I need to run smart.

I will always have fun. So that is not a goal. Running has always been fun for me, and my competitive spirit is what drives me to try to put together a good performance. Running keeps me focused and goal driven, which helps me with everyday life. When it stops helping me with staying focused and is no longer fun, I will stop it... Hasn't even come close to that. I love to run, and I am so excited to start my training.
For me, it is not only the actual race that I enjoy, but it is the journey and training it takes to get there.
As always, Thank you Jesus that you have blessed me with two legs that allow me to run, and have fun!!!

I got a "running" buddy!!!!!

2008-06-05T06:57:00.001-07:00

This morning, I had no clue on to what pace I was going to run. I knew I wanted to run at least 10 miles, but with how hot it has been, I didn't know if I really wanted to run too hard. I didn't want to plop down somewhere on the trail... but I didn't want to run too slow. Anyways, I ended up going out fairly slow for the 1st 2 miles, and then I started to pick up the pace a bit. I decided to try to keep my pace around 8 min/mile or lower, and just see how long I could keep it up.... it's weird because at some points during the run, you feel pretty tired, and then it's like your body goes into another gear, and you feel good again. At the 5th mile, I had to take a potty break, and since I didn't bring any water with me, I decided to take a water break at that time also. I also decided to change my Ipod playlist.... so who knows... it could've been a 10 minute break or so. But whatever... I was able to get back into the swing of things within a 1/4 mile. So, basically I was able to run 8 miles under 8:00/mile with the rough heat. I was extremely happy with my run. The last mile was a little tough, and I could feel myself slowing down (I think due to dehydration), but I just did what my body told me... for me, unless it's a race, I'm not pushing the issue. So, I get to the 10th mile, which was my 8th mile of running hard, and then I went down to a very slow pace to start cooling down. All of a sudden, I sense someone sneak up right by me, and it startled me a bit... but the person started to run right next to me, and started to talk... I couldn't hear a word he was saying, so I took off my headphones. He basically introduced himself as "Ben", and he is from New Zealand. Apparently, he is visiting his brother for a few months here, and he is an avid runner. So we ended up running together for another 1 1/2 miles, and right before he came up to me, I was pretty exhausted..... once we started talking, I felt fine... I guess it took my mind off of my fatigue. So anyways, he just finished his 3rd marathon 1 month ago, and his time???? 3:00:08... WOW!!!!!! So, I told him that he was way above my league... and asked him if he was sure he wanted to run with me. He told me that he is not used to this heat and humidity, as New Zealand is nothing like this, so he has been struggling and needs to run a lot slower... so that sounds good to me!!!! I would love to learn off a runner that is that fast!!! He has run 2 other marathons, and finished both in 3:00: 48, and 3:00: 52.... so he wants to break 3 hrs... He has also completed a full Ironman, (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run). He is doing a 5k race this Saturday, and we decided to meet up to run on Sunday... we will probably run around 12-14 miles. I will take him on the Suncoast Trail, so he can see different areas to run around here. So, I am excited... always nice to have someone to talk to every once in a while when running. I like my alone time, but I also enjoy times when you can chat about stuff with people. Especially people you don't know... I am shy, but once we get in a conversation, I won't stop....
So... my plans for this weekend are to run 5 miles on Saturday... whenever, definitely not too early, and then do the big run on Sunday with Ben.
Should be fun....

BTW, here is my run from today.

Trying to fight it off...

2008-05-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

This whole week, I have felt like garbage... just haven't been able to completely get over that cold I was dealing with last week. Sometimes I feel right, sometimes I feel weak, and it has obviously affected my running. I'm usually a morning runner, but because of the way I have felt, I have not been able to get myself out of bed to run.... by the end of the day I'm usually better, and I will go out and just test my body out. As usual, running makes me feel better, and I end up doing more miles than initially projected. So... here are my runs for the week...
Tuesday Run: Easy effort - 7 miles
Friday Run: 10 miles (Felt like an eternity): 10 miles
Saturday Run: 10 miles (Next to the clinic)
I decided to switch it up this weekend, and run next to the clinic, since I had a meeting this morning there. It helped to have different scenery this morning, and I ran fairly slow, but it was my best run for the week.
So, I have been able to run 27 miles so far this week... hopefully tomorrow, I can finish off the week with a 3-5 mile easy run... take off Monday, and start again on Tuesday.

Even though this hasn't been a great running week, it has been a great week overall. Adryana just finished preschool. It has really been a monumental week for us, because we realize that our little girl is getting bigger and bigger. Adryana is also doing swim classes, and really starting to overcome her fear of the water.... very proud of her.
We also had family come in town last week and spend 4 days with us over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a good time with them.... always nice to be around family. I only have 1 week left before I officially start my training for Chicago. I am praying for good health throughout my training cycle. Let's see how it goes.....

Push the limits.... a little

2008-05-25T06:27:00.000-07:00

This is my run from this morning; it started out great and ended.... ok, I guess??? My body still hasn't gotten used to the heat yet, but it is starting to slowly adapt to it. One thing that I tend to do is use a heart rate monitor to keep track of how my body and my heart is working on a given day. As you have noticed, I have been really happy with how my body has been performing at these faster paces while keeping my heart rate in check. Well, those days are over... at least for now. The heat and humidity has made my heart rate climb up like it was at this time last year... its just that my speeds are about 1 minute/mile faster than last year. So today I decided to do just run my long run pace that I have been running before the weather got disgustingly hot like it is now. For me, that is at around a 9:00 pace for the first 7 miles, and then at an 8:20/mile for the last 5 miles. I just turned my Garmin screen to not show my heart rate... and I just wanted to see what happened. I periodically checked it during the 1st 7 miles... and it was in the mid-high 160's... which was fine with me. By time I finished the first 7 miles, I was on the Suncoast Trail, and it was time to pick up the pace. I knew I was hydrated well, and ready to give it a shot.... and the first 2-3 miles at the new pace felt pretty good... so I thought it was going to be a walk in the park for the last 2 miles. Once I got to the end of the Suncoast Trail, I have to open a gate to get back to where my house is... and it was amazing with me just stopping to open the gate, and attempting to start again was so difficult. The last two miles were a bear!!! It really took a lot of focus and concentration to keep my pace up, and maybe I could've pulled out another mile if I desperately needed to, but I'm glad I didn't. After looking at my watch when I finished, I saw that my HR hovered around the mid-high 180's for the last 3-4 miles... whoa!! But it's all good... I guess there are few things I might do different next time.... like start a little earlier, but overall I think I handled it quite well. The one thing that brought a little concern to me today was that last mile reminded me of the last couple of miles of the marathons that I have done so far... not too pretty... but this time around the last mile was the fastest... still felt like crap... but hey, I finished strong, so its all good!!!!

In 10 days, I officially start my training program for the Chicago Marathon. My goal is to run a strong marathon. All the way!!! I want to run the whole way.. no walking... just for water and fluids... but not because I'm just tired and beat. I have some time goals, but I won't share those just yet... I think the harder goal is to be able to run the whole way... cramps, no cramps... doesn't matter... just run a smart race. This weather that we are dealing with here can only help in the whole process. My goal is to run the paces I am running now, but with my heart rate about 8-10 beats lower than what it is now by the end of the training period.

Puts things into perspective....

2008-05-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

That is the email message I got from Chris about 2 hours ago. He was referring to this. Steven Curtis Chapman, a very popular Christian recording artist, had a tragic family accident yesterday, in which his 5 year old daughter was struck by a SUV in their driveway and was killed. It is obviously a very tragic event, and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

When I initially started this blog, my intent was to write about my running endeavors and rehab as it pertains to running. It has been close to 8 months since starting it, and the focus of the blog has turned more to running, instead of rehab, based on my frequent reader's request... Very few times I have talked about my wife, kids, etc. but every once in a while, I just have to say something about them, because they are so important to me. This blog post will not pertain to much about running, so if that's what you came here for... don't leave!!! Just read on...

Right now, the economy stinks, gas prices are high, homes are foreclosing all over, and jobs are being lost left and right... and I am not discounting any of those things... because they are important... but if you put things into perspective, you can really realize how blessed we all are.

In 1997, about 4 months before I started PT school, a tragedy happened in my family. My cousin, Brian Runcie, was killed on his way into a club in Kentucky, where he just recently moved to. Brian and my older brother were extremely close, and did everything together. Brian got me my 1st job at TJ Maxx, he was my older brother's roomate in college for 4 years, they started their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd business together... basically he was like my older brother. Brian was also extremely brilliant. He was a computer genius and got his 1st "corporate job" with IBM in Kentucky, immediately after graduating from Florida A&M. Even though he was very grateful for his job, he was extremely lonely in Kentucky, because he had no family or friends there. One night, he was on the phone with his girlfriend, and said he was going to go out. The club he went to was in a storefront and after he parked his truck, he walked his way to the entrance of the club. On his way to the entrance, he looked to his right and saw a young teenager through a glass window stealing something at a convenience store. The teenager came out of the store, and the details are a little sketchy from here, but witnesses say he pulled out a gun and shot Brian in the center of his head. Brian was dead by time he got to the hospital. This was an extremely hard time for many of us in our family. After a time of serious grieving, I actually was able to put many things in perspective. I no longer looked at getting older as "Oh my, I'm getting older... this stinks" I am now so grateful for every birthday that comes my way. This situation that happened today with Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter has again made me look at the big picture on stuff that is really important. So, here is my reality check that I do sometimes if I start feeling sorry for myself or my situation:

Am I alive?

Do I have at least one family member or friend that I have the potential to confide in?

Did I have food within the last 48 hours?
If not, am I still alive?

At least a few times times a year, I tend to think about Brian, and wonder if he was alive, what would he be doing now? What company or companies would he have owned? Would he have kids? Would he have gotten married by now?

As much as my wife doesn't like when I talk about this, I realize that at any time, this could be my last day on this earth. It could also be one of my kids last day, or my wife, or any of my family members or friends.... I mean its gonna happen, right? I know... this is not something we want to address... but the truth is, you gotta live life!!! Thank God for your blessings.... don't leave anything on the table... take advantage of everything that comes your way, and make an impact in something.

To some of my co-workers, friends and family, I frequently come off as very impatient... wanting to do crazy things... now!!! People always say, "Greg, you have all the time in the world... you're young." But who says that my last days are not just around the corner? If you knew you were going to die in two months, would you do anything different? Would you reconcile a broken relationship with someone? Would you try to work harder, in order to set up a future for your kids? Or lay back on work a bit to spend more time with your family because you have been absent in major parts of their lives?

My point is that if you are reading this blog, I am assuming that you have been living for at least 4x as long as Maria Chapman... and her life has ended here on earth. Unfortunately, her time expired without her getting a chance to experience a lot of the things that we are experiencing.... don't wait... do it now!!!

Garmin Connect

2008-05-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I am completely in love with Garmin and their products. I give Garmin most of the credit when it comes to my frequent running routine. Their GPS watch really gave me a lot of freedom to run where I want, when I want, and gives me a full breakdown of how my run went. Running has become so much more of a new experience every time I go out to log in miles, because I know my watch is tracking everything for me, and I just enjoy the rest. Well, now Garmin has taken it to another level. Garmin has a new site called Garmin Connect. This site is similar to motion based in that it logs all of your runs, your heart rate, etc. But what makes this even better than its predecessor is that it allows you to make goals for yourself on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. For instance, I like to run 4x/week, so I have set up goals for myself to run 4x/week, 16x/month, and every time I log in, it gives me updates on how I am progressing to achieve these goals. To me this is extremely beneficial, because it keeps you on track...which is the key to success. It is actually bugging me know that I will probably not be able to hit my first weeks goals of running 4x/week, because I have had the flu since Tuesday.
Monday night, when I got home from work, I could tell that my throat and nose were starting to bother me, and knew that the flu was coming on. After taking some Airborne, and taking in some fluids I got ready for bed. Around 4:30 in the morning, I woke up and my throat was bothering me and I couldn't go back to sleep. So what did I do??? Yes, I decided to go running... because my rational was... I'm not going back to sleep, so I have 1 hr 30 minutes before I have to get ready for work... so maybe the running will make me feel better... I know, moronic.. but when I went outside, and I turned on my Ipod, I had to start laughing because the 1st song that came on was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. I felt like I was crazy for doing this, but like always, about 5 minutes into the run, my body felt great. I think the dumb thing that I did was that I ran mile repeats, which is running the mile 3 times at a pretty fast pace. Maybe that wasn't a good idea, because I could not hit any of my times that I usually hit. I was around 6:40/mile and I can usually stay around 6:30-6:35/mile. I felt pretty good for most of the day, but by the end of the day, I was toast. Yesterday was miserable also, and by time I came home, I just wanted to go to bed. So, usually today, I would have logged in a nice 10-12 mile run, or so... but that's not happening at all. I feel a little better, but I just don't have the energy to run right now. I definitely have the desire to do it, but it just can't work today. Oh well, it's all good... I'll rest up and get ready for maybe a good run tomorrow, or on Saturday.
I want to give a quick shout out to my little sweet girl, who is "graduating" from preschool tomorrow. I am very excited about going to the graduation... I can't believe she will be in Kindergarten later this year..... she was just born...crazy!!! I love you Adryana!!!!

Stir up the pot....

2008-05-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

It looks like I created a stir on the RW forums re: a topic on "Are runners athletic?" Well here is how it started (this was my first post):

Had a discussion a few days ago at work re: which sports require true athleticism...
We came up with a formula on what it would require for you to be considered "athletic".
1. Speed
2. Skill
3. Power and/or Endurance
4. Agility

Very few sports require you to have all 4 of these attributes, but sports that I found to require a great deal of athleticism have at least 3 of the 4.
IMO, running only requires speed and/or endurance..definitely not agility or skill...
Sports such as gymnastics, football, soccer, basketball require at least 3 of the 4, if not all 4. Running is an extremely one dimensional sport.
This is just my little "formula" that I came up with... some might agree or disagree... just interested to get some takes on what you all think of distance running, and although I realize it requires work and dedication to be successful, does it really require any type of athleticism???

As you see, even though I am a runner, I don't believe that it requires true athleticism. It is a great form of exercise, and it requires incredible endurance, especially if you are doing the marathon distance. But let's be honest here... Lebron James is a ridiculous basketball player, and if he had decided that he wanted to go the football route instead of the basketball route when he was in high school, I'm sure he would've done incredibly well. I don't think you can take a 130 lb elite marathoner and put him/her in most sports that they would excel in. You see, most of can run.... some of us like to run, fewer of us can run long, and very few of us can run fast and long.... to me that's it. I don't think running translates into hand/eye coordination sports, or agility sports for that matter... it is strictly a matter of endurance, proper training and proper pre-race, race and post-race strategy.

Now, one of the nice things about running is that you can see improvements if you train properly. It's one of the few sports that you will continue to see improvements, especially over the 1st 5-10 years that you work on your training. That's part of what makes it so rewarding. Today I ran 14 miles, and it was hot... and even though it wasn't one of my better long runs that I have had over the last 3 months of my significant gains in speed, it took me back to a run that I had about a year ago around this time. I was at Flatwoods park with Chris, his sister-in-law, and one of my patient's coaches (who is a runner also). I decided to run my 1st 14 miler that day, and the weather was about the same as it was today. I was running around a 9:30/mile pace that day for the first 9 miles.... and then I crashed... crashed hard.... I was passed by everyone... and honestly I didn't think I would make it to my car... I actually thought the paramedics might have had to get me, because I was so dehydrated and just torn up, that I just couldn't walk anymore... I ended up having to walk the last 3-4 miles, and that was extremely disheartening. I would have to say that it was my worst training run I have ever had. So the fact that I was able to do the same distance today, even faster than when I did it that day, and finish strong (but soaking!!!) it made me reminisce back to that day, and realize how much better things have gotten since then.
It actually made me think that I want to start to train in the heat, so my body gets used to it... just in case Chicago has a heat wave like it had last year. I guess its more of a scheduling thing for me than anything. Family has to come first... and it always easier to run before the Todd Squad wakes up.... know what I'm sayin??

She's no joke!!!

2008-05-13T18:29:00.001-07:00

I am extremely grateful that I have a very supportive wife when it comes to running. Earlier this week, I was browsing the runnersworld.com message boards and there was a discussion thread re: "Does your significant other ban you from running marathons?" It was interesting to see different issues that people have with re: to how they get around doing their long runs on the weekends, and the training that they put into their running. I guess it is not really my place to comment on everyone's individual situation when it comes to managing their running schedule... but when it all comes down to it, you have to have a supportive partner. I am very grateful for that, and that she encourages me to run and keep myself in good condition. I have tried to encourage my wife to start running herself, but she has never been interested in running in the heat... no sense in pushing the issue, so I just leave it alone....until 2 months ago.....
Kerry decided to give the stationary bike a try, and I was so proud of her when she was able to complete 20 minutes of the stationary bike at about 20 rpm. It was a very admirable accomplishment for her, and I was very proud of her.... I have never bothered her about doing the bike or running since then, because she is now addicted to the bike. Can you believe that she actually works out more than I do now!!! I run 4x/week, but Kerry bikes around 5x/week. Yesterday, she text messaged me at work to let me know that she crushed out 50 minutes on the bike at 40 rpm. I mean, that is just ridiculous!!! Her conditioning has improved so much, and more importantly, she absolutely loves it!!! She calls it her "escape", and I think even more know, she understands why running is so important for me to do... because it allows you to decompress and collect your thoughts... it's also good for me, because when I am home and she is biking, I can understand what it's like when I am out running and she has to deal with the kids.... always good to be on the other side to see how your partner feels. Anyways, just wanted to give a shout out to my boo to let her know that I am extremely proud of her, and very happy that she is doing something that makes her happy. You go girl!!! I love you....

Warming up....

2008-05-08T05:29:00.001-07:00

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks again to all that participated in the May Classic 5k. We all had a great time..... and we are already planning for the next one. It looks as though the Tower of Terror 13k in October is going to be the next challenge for us. That is not official yet, but I will keep everyone posted. BTW, we are starting an email group for people that are interested in the fitness events (primarily running) that Renewal Rehab will be doing. If you want to be notified of upcoming events, please email me in the comments section of the blog.
This week has been a relatively good week of running for me. As I said last week, the paces are getting more challenging, but so far I have been able to handle it. Over the next month or two, the workouts will become even more manageable, and I will have to challenge myself even more. The only thing is that I won't see as quick of improvements until the fall, because of the weather... it's getting very warm... actually its hot!!!

My Sunday run was pretty tough, because it seems as though the temps are starting to be around 4-6 degrees higher than what I am used to. I had to shorten up the run to 8 miles instead of 10 that I was going to do. I was dehydrated, and felt extremely sluggish for the entire day. By Sunday night I was ok, and Monday morning I had a very good speedwork session before I went to work. Wednesday was a very good session also, as I was able to run 5 miles around a 7:00/mile pace. It was extremely challenging, but I got a second wind at the 5th mile. I felt as though I could of probably pulled out another mile or two at that pace. The ironic thing about my run is that I finished a little over 9 miles, with 5 of the miles at a fast pace and 4 of the miles very slow (warmup and cooldown)in around 1 hr and 11 min. Earlier this year, I completed the Gasparilla 15k in 1:09:04, which was my best race before the 5k I did 2 weeks ago. So I know I definitely have a much better time ahead of me for my 15k and half marathon. So that's very exciting!!!!
This morning I did a 12 miler, and luckily I brought some gatorade with me. I needed it, because it is just so warm out there... When running at a slow pace, I usually feel quite fresh at the end, but not today. I was kinda happy that I just had to do 12 miles... could've done a few more, but wasn't really looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, I can't post my runs today like I usually do, because I have switched over to a new website to monitor my runs. It is called connect.garmin.com. It is taking over for Motion Based, and I have yet to figure out how to post it on the blog. I'm working on it though...maybe I can figure it out later today.

So, you all know I am a techie geek (or a wannabe techie geek)... Garmin has just released the Forerunner 405, which is a new GPS watch that does all the things that the Forerunner 305 does, but looks like a watch (a big watch for that matter). It also has a bezel screen that switches through different menus like how you do it on your Ipod....way cool!!!! I'm figuring out more things about it, so I will post all the cool features on it as I learn more... here is a pic. With that said, I have my Forerunner 305 that I could sell to someone for a very reasonable price.... you just have to promise me that you are going to use it a lot!!!!

An even better prize this week!!!

2008-05-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

This running is getting pretty fun...... and I really didn't even run today. Today was the May Classic, and as I said during my last post, we were part of a corporate challenge to see which local company could get the most people to participate in the race.... and we did!!! Yay!!!!! I think we finished up with 34 people who signed up officially under us, and we had a least 2 people that were former patients who were affiliated with us. It was a great showing!!! Thanks to everyone who came out to support us, but also to run the race!! All of our people did extremely well while running. Cheryl, Chris, Denise (who all work at the Wesley Chapel clinic) completed the 5k... and they all hit personal records (It's a personal record when you have never run a 5k before, right?) I'm so proud of them for coming out and trying hard and doing well. My little sweet girl (Adryana) really had a ball. She was a little shy and nervous at the beginning of the 1 mile fun run, so we walked for most of the 1st half. After that she wanted to run, so we split it up to where we would run to the stop sign, or some landmark etc. She did so well, and she was so excited at the end. She loves Denise's daughter and she hung around with her the whole time after the race. Unfortunately, she was sad when she had to go, but no crying...just bummed that it was all over. I got to meet a frequent blog reader, who is a friend of one of my former patients, so that was pretty cool. She has adopted the Chi Running concept and seems to be doing quite well with it. We had our Saddlebrook crew come out and do the race also. Remember the lady that passed me during the Disney Marathon??? Well she passed me again, but this time I was only running 1 mile, and she was running the 5k, go figure!!! There are so many other current and former patients that were out there and did a wonderful job, that I just wanted to give a little shout out to you guys for working hard, training and finishing strong.
So here are a few pics from the race:

Me and sweet girl with the Corporate Challenge Award:

Cheryl, 2 of her sons and their girlfriends:

The Saddlebrook crew: The one on the far right is the lady who keeps on beating me in races... that's why she is smiling so much in the pic.

Denise, her husband Pete and the kids (Nick and Gabriella - Adryana's "best friend")

The original "Renewal Rehab - Wesley Chapel crew": Jennifer (my 1st ever patient at Renewal Rehab) and April (my 1st crazy patient at Renewal Rehab). They became great friends during their rehab.. now they have taken up running, which is great. The ironic thing is that last year, it was Chris, myself, Suzie, Jennifer and April. I could not have imagined that this year we would have so many people and win the "big" award!!!

Ready for Saturday

2008-05-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday is the May Classic 5k, and I am pretty excited about this one. Not for the reasons that I'm usually excited about a race for, but because we will have a good showing of participants that are affiliated with our clinic. 26 and counting..... I think we had another 4 sign up this week for the race, which brings to 30 (which was the goal). Considering we had 3 people sign up last year, this is a major improvement!!! Well, a lot has happened since last year, and I am hoping that this can become a tradition for our clinics. The race is having a corporate challenge, to see which company has the most people signed up for the race. Last year, Albertsons won. Little ol' Renewal Rehab is much smaller obviously, but we pack a punch!!! Hopefully we can get an award of some type for all the folks that came out in support of this.... Thanks again to everyone!!!! I so appreciate you all doing this, and I'm sure you are going to have a great deal of fun!!!!!!

My brother came in town for a meeting (he works for Red Bull) and decided to stay the night here in Tampa, so we could hang out and he could see my family. Once I got home from work, we decided to go out for a bite to eat and Chris accompanied us. We didn't get home too late, but I told myself I wouldn't set the alarm to get up to run. I will just start running whenever... usually that's when I wake up early... which was the case today. I was out the door running by 6:45, and because the weather was so nice, I decided to do a pretty long run. Again, right now I don't have any limitations or structure on how my running schedule is. I just usually decide while I'm running what I actually want to do. The first mile I felt stiff, because I ran a hard Ivy Lake/Suncoast Tempo Run yesterday, the second mile I felt in my groove, and then the start of the 3rd mile, I had to go to the bathroom.....immediately!!! So, luckily I was by the park bathroom, and I was able to take care of business... and then the run finally started, with no more hiccups!! I ended up going on the Suncoast Trail, which is about 1 mile from my house, and ran on it for around 5 miles. By time I made it home, I put in 12 miles. The weather was perfect, and based on my avg. HR, it showed. I was able to hold under a 9:00/mile pace (8:42/mile pace if you take out the bathroom break) while keeping my HR at a 152 avg. So that is one of the nice things about not being in training mode. You can take advantage of these beautiful days in Tampa, and put in an extra couple of miles if its perfect outside.

Can't wait to see all of you this weekend. For those of you that don't know where the race is, Chris will be at the Wesley Chapel clinic on Saturday morning, and leaving at 6 am, so if you get there by 6 am, you can follow behind him. The race starts at 7:15 am, so that will give us enough time to get registered and not be too rushed. See you then!!!

So.... now what????

2008-04-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

As I promised, here is the picture of my medal... or should I say Adryana's medal..if you click on it, you will see an up close picture of it. Yesterday was for sure my best running performance yet, and I just wanted to enjoy it because it is always so cool to see my fitness levels improve, and see it come to fruition in a race. As great as marathon training has been, I know I made significant improvements in my fitness during that time, without question... but when you can't translate it into a good race, its a bit disheartening. But I do realize that I won't always do this. Most people don't get 2 1/2 minute improvements in their 5k times over 1 year, so I realize that it is probably not an attainable goal to ask for the same improvements next year...but maybe???? Well, this is how my brain works... I have already thought of what I would like to do by the end of the summer, by the end of the year, and for next years Draft Day Dash 5k. Some of you might call me psycho.. which is fine... I call it goal driven. Once you have the goal and vision in place, you now know what you have to do to get there... and anything less than getting there is a disappointment. But if you do get there, then you smile constantly for like the last 36 hours like I have done between yesterday and today. For me, that is my profession. Everyday, I see people with injuries from minor to devastating. And the way I have my patients mentally cope with their rehabilitation is to break up their total rehab time into meeting specific goals. If we don't meet the goal, we don't move on to the next. And it gives us hope and excitement in seeing improvement little by little. That's why its such an awesome job, because if everybody puts in the appropriate effort, we usually get there and it feels good for me and obviously even better for the patient. When we don't, it is a disappointment, and we have to regroup, refocus and make new goals. Simple as that.. so for me, it's no different....
By the end of the summer, I want to have a 5k time of under 20 min. I feel that is completely attainable, but since I will not be doing a lot of speed work and more distance running, I feel as though that will not be as easy as it sounds... It's only 17 seconds, so hopefully it will be done. Hopefully after the Chicago Marathon, I will be healthy enough to just take a few weeks off and get back to running, so I will not lose much fitness and be able to pull off a 19:30 5k by the end of December 2008. By this time next year, God willing, I would like to take off 1:18 from my 5k. Yes, 18:59... not sure if I can really do that, but I'm going for it. I realize that if I am in that range, I can start looking at getting medals in races because I actually might place in my age group... I feel as though a low 19, high 18 5k, will do that for me. That would just be awesome!!!! So, that's my little 5k goals that I have for 2008.
The really challenging thing that happens after a race that you do well in, is that you have to change your training paces. For the last few weeks my training runs have been quite easy for me, reason being that my fitness had improved and everything was becoming quite manageable. But now that I have a race that has shown that improvement, all of my times for my runs have to be faster now, to continue to see improvements in my times. So this week will be a challenging one for sure. I'm kinda looking forward to my run tomorrow, which will be an 8 miler with some mid-distance interval spurts in there, but I am kinda worried about my Thursday tempo run, which has to be run at 7:00/mile for 4 miles.... sounds kinda hard to me.... never done that before, so I guess we will see.
So here is something that is pretty cool... today I was at church and Kerry and I were teaching the 3-5 year old kids, which we do like 2x/month. One of the ushers usually pass by to get a head count of the amount of kids that are in the nursery, our class, and the 2-3 year old class also. This week, when one of the ushers popped their head in, he looked at me and said, "Did you get it?" so... I'm like thinking in my head... what is he talking about??? So, I didn't want to seem as clueless as I really am... so I said "Yes!", but I honestly had no idea what he was talking about.... so he kept on talking and said that he was so happy that I got the MEDAL!!!!! I felt like such an idiot.... but anyways, he said that he was praying for me yesterday morning before my race, and it made me feel so good!!!! So basically, I tell you all that because I thank all of you that read the blog on a regular basis, and I thank you all for your prayers yesterday, and any day for that matter, and also that you would take the time to read my thoughts about something that is so trivial to most (running that is...), but so special to me right now. It's always nice to know that you could be in the midst of something, and someone might be praying for God's protection or direction on you at that moment??? The power of prayer... good stuff....

Got It !!!!

2008-04-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

The medal is mine!!! I have never been so happy over a little plastic looking medal, but honestly I am. So I guess I gave it away, but yes, I got the medal, and I ran a personal record (PR) for my 5k. So here is how it went.

I slept great last night, but I woke up around 5:15 am, and couldn't go back to sleep. I wasn't thinking about the race, but I had a lot of work stuff that was going on in my head. I know deep down that I was thinking about the race though... so I went upstairs and watched SportsCenter for the next hour or so. Around 7 am, I got ready and left the house for the race.
When I got there, there was a good crowd of people at the south side of Raymond James Stadium. I would estimate that there was around 1500 people that showed up for the race. Just a guestimate... maybe a little more or less... I found Cheryl (the Office Manager at the clinic that I work at), who was there with her 3 sons (21 year old triplets) in which 2 of them were competing in the race. They are fast as lightning so I kidded them that I would trip them before the start of the race so I could beat them. Their goal was to finish in the top 10 in the race, but they told me that there were some pretty fast people out there today (I guess they know all the fast people, because they ran cross country in high school). So anyways about 10 minutes later, we lined up for the start of the race. Spurlock, the BUCS player that ran back the first kickoff return for a TD, said some pep talk stuff before the race, and then we got ready. I was at the front, but all the way to the outside of the starting line. Again, my goals was to break 21:00 and get a medal, and once the gun went off, I just saw so many people sprint way out ahead of me, and I was just like whoa.... It felt like about 200 people just sprinted fast out of the gates, and they weren't letting up at all. I was pretty nervous, my legs felt weak, and I felt like my breathing wasn't normal... I'm just not used to racing and I have to get myself comfortable with racing.... it's so different than just doing my training runs by myself. I knew I was ok, just hopefully it would all go away soon. I passed a few people during the 1st mile, but a decent amount of people passed me also. I got to the 1st mile split in 6:38. So far so good... but could I keep that up??? During the 2nd mile, at least 1/2 of it was run on the practice field of 1 BUC Place. That was pretty cool. Even though I felt a bit winded, I felt like I could probably keep it up, but I ran it slower than the 1st mile. I think it was like 6:42. At that point all I had was a little over a mile left, and I knew what my splits were, and I felt as though the 21:00 goal was probably going to happen. The bad thing was that it seemed as though there were so many people in front of me, that I thought I had no shot at getting the medal. I definitely did not think I was in the top 100. So I figured, why not just go for it.... when I knew I had around 3/4 mile left, I just tried to start picking off people. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pass anyone until about 1/2 mile left, but after that I probably passed around 6 or 7 people, which was pretty cool. Then we went through the tunnel, and ran towards the 50 yard line..... I gave it all I had for those last 50 yards or so.. and I finished...... in my best time ever.... 20:17!!!! I think... When I looked up at the clock, it said 20:15, but when I stopped my Garmin after I finished, my watch said 20:17.... so let's go with 20:17. Anyway you look at it, I was absolutely floored. I actually crossed the finished and once I stopped and looked at my watch, I was just so pumped at how good I did, and how I felt.... As I started to walk, a guy gave me a card and said... go pick up your medal!!!!! I was so happy!!!!! I was the 79th male to finish the race, so that was awesome. I promise at some point this weekend, I will take a pic of the medal, and post it on here, but right now my kids are fighting over who is wearing it, so I'm not going to burst their bubble right now. I will get it from them when and if they actually take a nap today. As for Stephen and Billy(Cheryl's kids), they finished 11th and 12th overall with a time of 16:59 and 17:10 respectively..... fast as the wind!!!! Billy got his personal record for a 5k, so congrats to him also. All in all, a great morning for me, and that is one race time, that I am extremely proud of.
Ok, I'm gonna go chill, watch some sports and play Xbox with Arjay....
Later.....

Gimme dat medal!!!

2008-04-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

That's all I want tomorrow.... I know, kinda stupid... but that is the main reason why I signed up for this race. Last year around this time, I did the May Classic 5k and finished in 22:59, which is still my PR for a 5k. I was elated with my time, but remembered thinking to myself after the race that I would like to take another 2 minutes off of my PR (personal record) by time I do this race again next year. Well, after a full year of training for marathons (not 5Ks!!) I feel as though that is an attainable goal for me... the only thing is that it is going to have to happen tomorrow, instead of next week, as I won't be doing the May Classic 5k this year. I will be running the 1 mile fun run with my daughter... so this Draft Day Dash race gives a finishers medal to the top 100 men that finish. Looking at last year's results, it seems as though to be in the top 100, you have to finish in the low 21's to achieve that... and ironically, that is what I would need to reach my goal of shaving off 2 minutes from my PR. Actually, I need a 20:59, and that is what I am going for. I need to average 6:45/mile to get that, and I have never come close to doing that in any of my hard training runs, so it seems quite daunting honestly. But so did doing 22:59 last year. So if all goes well tomorrow, I will get my medal and a PR improvment.
Since the intervals on Monday, I took off Tuesday and ran Wednesday am and Thursday pm.
Wednesday was a great run... I had no goals, or time to be out there. I just wanted to be out there. I enjoyed my run so much, I decided to make it longer than what I initially set out to do, and kinda got carried away, because I came back home a little late, and was pressed for time to get to work. But luckily, it all worked out and I got to the office with some time to spare before my 1st patient.

Last night was supposed to be a tempo run for me, but I didn't want to run so hard with the 5k being tomorrow, so I decided to run at a slower pace, but again, since I was already home, (and got the ok from wifey to go run) I decided to run a little longer than what I initially intended. That is the nice thing about when you aren't really training for anything in particular. You don't have to follow any program to a "T". If I want to run longer, I can... if not... I go home. But this week has just been one of those weeks where everything is just feeling good and you just realize how good running can feel on your body.
Here is my Ivy Lake/Suncoast Run from last night.

Let's see what happens tomorrow....

Long Run and Intervals.... Back 2 Back

2008-04-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

This was a pretty big couple of days for me, because I can't say that my body is very used to running consecutive days. Over the last month or so, I have started to run 4-5 days per week, instead of my usual 3 days/week program. I am not running as hard as I used to, but I am definitely logging more miles... which honestly I am enjoying as much or even more. But Sunday and Monday was the most pounding that I have put on my body in consecutive days...ever!!!
Sunday morning, I met up with Chris and went out for a Suncoast Long Run. Lately, I have been running by myself, so it is always nice to have some company out there and talk about whatever comes to our mind...usually work stuff, but it could be anything.... so the good news is that I was able to keep my heart rate extremely low (for me that is... ) throughout the whole run. I was able to average 151 bpm, and we averaged a 9:20/mile pace for 12 miles. I guess the good news is that I used to be about 15 bpm higher about 3 months ago, running the same pace. So, I know that I am making significant improvements in my fitness. I promised one of my clients that I would run with her Monday, so I knew that I had to recover quick on Sunday, and be ready for a tough run Monday morning. So Monday, I left my house at 5:15 am and drove down to Davis Island, to go run with a client of mine. It actually was a very good run.... we did 8 mile intervals. It was her first time doing intervals, but she is an extremely strong runner, faster than I am... so I was actually happy that it was a workout that she wasn't too used to doing, because she would've blown me out of the water.... and left me stranded on Davis Island somewhere. Luckily, I was able to hang with her throughout the intervals...so I got through everything unblemished... Thank God!!!

My body feels pretty good now, and I have taken off today from all working out.... Tomorrow, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do, either a tempo run or an 8 mile easy run. I just know that I will do one tomorrow, and one on Thursday, rest Friday and race the Draft Day Dash on Saturday morning.
So as for this 5k I am doing on Saturday....the main goal is to get a medal...the top 100 male finishers get a medal, and it is a very cool medal... I want this thing sooooo bad!!!!! I looked at the results from last year, and it looks like I would need to finish in under 21:00 to get a medal. I think that's pushing it for me, but I will do my best to get that medal. My kids love when I finish a race and come home with a medal. They think that I have won the race....no sense in bursting their bubble, so I just agree.... in their eyes, I'm an elite runner... ha ha!!! Ahh... nothing like your kids making you feel like a million bucks!!!

My stats....

2008-04-15T16:16:00.001-07:00

I was just loading my workout that I did earlier today on my computer, and I was able to look at some interesting stats about my running since I got the Garmin Forerunner 305 watch in November. It showed me the totals of all of my running since I initially loaded my 1st workout on this watch.... so here are some of my stats.....

From November 1st - April 15th

Miles run: 564

Calories burned: 78,297

Total Time that I have run: 82.34 hours

It seems as though that is a lot when you think about it.... but I know some folks on Runners World Forum that have put in over 1100 miles in 2008 alone.... freakish!!! Its kinda crazy to think that I have put in over 2 full work weeks of running since then. Well, IMO it has been over 80 hours of good times (except for about 2 hours at Disney, where I was like...what the heck is going on?)
So as for this week.... good week of running for me.... I was able to do close to 8 miles on Tuesday (with 3 miles of intervals) I was able to do those fast miles in around 6:45 per mile avg. The last mile was extremely tough because I was going into the wind, and I felt like I couldn't move.... I think I did it in around 6:55. Felt like 15:55. So here it is...

This morning, I ran a Ivy Lake Tempo Run, but it was my longest mileage I have ever done for a tempo. I only ran 4 of the miles hard, but I ran 5 miles for warming up and cooling down, for a total of 9 miles. At the end of my 4th hard mile, I felt like something was irritating the arch of my foot... It actually felt like a pebble or something was in my shoe..... or I was developing arch pain. Anyways, once the last mile was completed, I stopped and took off my shoe and wiggled around my foot and shaked whatever might have been in my shoe out. Once I put the shoe back on, I didn't feel anything anymore. So, after 2 more miles of easy running, I was at my house....stretching and cooling down. This time, I worked my way into the hard tempo miles and didn't push it nearly as much as what I did last week, and I felt so much better. My body felt great after the run, and continues to feel good now. Tomorrow, I am scheduled to run around 8 miles, then I will take off Saturday. Sunday, I will probably run around 12 miles before church....maybe at a new place just to change it up a bit...who knows???

To run or not to run???

2008-04-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today I had a really good run of a little over 8 miles.... I was planning on doing 10miles, but I woke up a little late, and I had a meeting to be at by 8:30 in the South Tampa clinic, so I had to cut it short. It was probably my best run in the last 2 months. Not that I ran really fast or anything like that, but I tend to look at my heart rate as a sign of improvement with my fitness, and I was able to keep my heart rate under 160 beats per minute throughout the run. Even better, I was able to keep my pace at an average of 9:00/mile, which I have never been able to do. It was just perfect pace, and I'm not sure if it was because the weather was a little cooler than usual, but anyway you look at it, I'll take it. I'm so happy about the run. So here it is....
Ivy Lake Easy Run

Even more important than today was on Thursday. Because I worked for Mike at the South Tampa clinic on Monday, he gave me off Thursday, so I was able to take my family to Busch Gardens. We had a great time, and got to see so many cool things there... I haven't been to Busch Gardens in like 3 years or so, so alot of things were fairly new to me. I had never been on Sheikra, so I was able to conquer it for the 1st time. Unfortunately, Kerry and I weren't able to go on it together because one of us had to stay back with the kids, so I didn't enjoy being in the line by myself and not having her to talk with. But the ride was great!!! Short, but intense....

I guess the most ironic thing about our time in Busch Gardens was that we spent about 80% of our time in the kiddie area. It's funny how when your life changes with having kids, how certain things that you never used to pay attention to are now a consistent part of your life. I have been to Busch Gardens at least 8 times over the last 12 years, and I never even noticed they had a kiddie section. Now, it's the main reason for me to go.... interesting, huh? I would have it no other way though, and I had more fun watching them have fun, than going on Sheikra... kids are such a blessing!!!!

Kerry and Adryana enjoying a ride together.....

Adryana and Arjay stopping to pose for a pic.....

The kids racing on the track in the car....

So after a long day at the park, we worked our way home and we were tired and exhausted... Unfortunately the kids took a little nap in the car, so they were revitalized once they got home. I told myself that I would go for a run at some point after I got home, but I kept on putting it off. Finally after 8 pm, we got the kids to bed, and I had to make a decision.... should I run? I wasn't really tired, but I just felt lazy.... I didn't have anything else really to do, I just felt like I had to make a choice of whether to sit down with a bag of Doritos and watch the Rays game, or go out for my scheduled tempo run.... This was one of the few times that I didn't really want to run....so I had to make a decision... I almost felt like I had the angel and the devil on both sides of my head, pulling me to do one or the other. Well after about 5 minutes of contemplating, I decided...
"Let me do my Ivy Lake Tempo"
So I guess the perfect ending to the story is to tell you that my run went fantastic and that all my hopes and dreams came to pass....well the run was difficult, I ran too fast, and I felt like garbage when I finished. I got home at 9:15 pm, took a shower and stretched a bit, and got in the bed. But you know what???? I think a few months from now, that run might have been my turning point with taking myself to another level with my fitness and training for my running. If I didn't run, it probably wouldn't have changed a thing with my fitness, no one run will really have that much of an impact on my overall fitness. I didn't lose any weight or get stronger abs... or anything like that.... but what I did get was a little bit more discipline. If I start to get into the habit of missing one run here, another one there.... then my fitness and overall potential of doing extremely well with my races will collectively suffer, and I don't want to be full of excuses. Sometimes, it's about doing stuff whether you want to do it or not. The closest analogy that I can think of for me is reading my bible at night sometimes. Most nights, I want to read my bible and find out more about the word of God. But sometimes, I'm tired, just want to get to my bed and that doesn't seem as important. But if every time I didn't "feel" like reading the word, I didn't... then it would become more routine to just "tank it" on a routine basis....the totality of that could affect me on a whole, because I try to rely on the word of God to guide me throughout my everyday life. So basically what I'm trying to say is that I think we all have things that are good for us that we usually like to do, but sometimes don't want to do... and I think that is normal, but if it's good for you, do it...don't sell yourself short. Hopefully, when I feel like that again.... I will go back to this blog to remember what I felt like.... Have a great weekend!!!!

Two very good websites...

2008-04-06T17:49:00.001-07:00

Since this blog is called running and rehab, I want to give you all two very cool websites (one related to running and the other related to rehab) that I ran into this weekend. I can't take one ounce of credit for finding these sites. Both of these sites were brought to my attention from a current and former patient of mine. So, here they are:

This website is perfect for those of us that suffer from RSI (Repetitive Strain Injuries). Most of my neck and back patients suffer from ligament based injuries that lead to bulging/herniated discs in the spine region. Most of these injuries arise from improper posture and prolonged sitting. Most of us are at a computer for a good part of the day, and one of the biggest ways we can combat RSI is to take frequent rest breaks. The website shown above downloads software into your computer station at work that basically reminds you to take breaks every ..... minutes. You tell the software how often and how long you need your breaks to stretch and get up from the prolonged sitting posture that you assume throughout the day. No more excuses for forgetting to get out of your chair......

The second website deals more with running. Here it is
This site allows you to map a run anywhere you want...whether it is around your neighborhood, or at work.... doesn't matter...wherever google maps, you can map it. It will tell you the actual distance, elevation, etc... It will also allow you to find runs that other people have mapped in your area. So you can try new routes that you are not used to doing. This is extremely important, because you want to always try to break up the monotony of running the same route all the time. That's why I like the Garmin watch so much. It gives me the freedom to run wherever I want, and I know exactly how far I am going. Speaking of Garmin, on the website, if you find a route that you would like to try, you are able to download into your Garmin watch....Garmin has a compass feature that directs you on running the route accurately.... how cool is that????? I tried it today and it works... can't wait to actually do the route my patient sent to me.... hopefully sometime this week.
Well, hope you get to look around these sites, and hopefully, you find one of them, if not both, beneficial to you in some way.

It's time to ramp up....

2008-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Luckily for me, I was able to get in a good run this morning, before the rain started. I started out at about 6:30 am, and ran from my house to the Suncoast Trail, which took me about 2.5 miles and ran about 5 miles north on the Suncoast Trail. I turned around, headed back home, and the run was a little over 14 miles.

This has been my longest run since the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon, and my body felt pretty good overall. My knees were a little achy during the run, but like all long runs, you feel something and then it goes away, then you feel something else, and that goes away... and the process continues throughout most of the run. It is so interesting that it was around this time last year that I was conquering my 1st 10 miler, 12 miler, 14 mile run, and it was so daunting and almost frightful every time I went out.... just not knowing whether or not I would survive the runs. And it seemed as though every time Chris and I ran together when we did one of these long runs, something bad happened to one of us. It was just so hard to complete these runs. Now, the 14 miler felt like a walk in the park.... how times have changed.... I mean don't get me wrong, you are fatigued at the end, but last year, if I would do a 10-14 mile run, I would crawl into the shower and then curl up in my bed for like 2-3 hours after the run, and I would limp all day... I remember going to church and people would ask, "are you ok?"....seriously... just brutal.... As I am writing this blog, I have very little to no soreness in any part of my body.....and I say these things not to brag in any way...it's just that I think it is always important to look back on where you were and how far you have come, so you can focus on the positive improvements that you have made. A lot of times I have to do that with patients. They might come to the office and be in agonizing pain, and then like 3 weeks later they have a couple twinges here and there, and get down on themselves that there is still discomfort at times. I have to remind them of where they started, and it helps them to realize that even though the goal has yet to be achieved, they are getting closer and closer.... There is hope for all of us.

Ok, so enough of that... now it's time to ramp it up with my running. I have been around the 30 mile/week mark for the last few weeks and my body feels pretty good. I will now do two hard workouts (or quality workouts) every week for the next month. That means workouts where I will work mostly on my speed. These workouts take a lot out of you, and they never get easy. But I think I'm ready to get back into it full speed ahead...no pun intended. Once I do this for about 4-6 weeks, I will take it easy for 1-2 weeks, and that should take me to the beginning of my 18 week training schedule for the Chicago marathon. My main focus, as always, is to stay injury-free...second objective is to get fast!!!!! So let's see what happens.

Perks of the job....

2008-04-05T08:15:00.000-07:00

A few hours ago, I went on cnn.com and started to browse the website, like I usually do daily and saw a poll question... re: Do you like your job? I was able to pick from the following:
1. Hate it
2. Don't really care for it... but it's a paycheck
3. I'm living my dream

I would say for me it is usually #3, but I think we all have days that 1 or 2 sometimes pop up for various reasons. For me, my primary job of treating people with different orthopedic ailments never gets old, and it is always so cool, when you can get someone to feel better and get back to the things that they love to do. People are usually so appreciative of that. On Thursday, I worked at our South Tampa clinic and got to run 8 miles on Bayshore Run before I started my day, saw a lot of my former patients, and got to work with my co-workers who are good friends of mine....we always trip out when I work down there.... fun times....
Last night, I was able to run with a former patient of mine and help with her running form as she has been recovering from a nagging injury. It's nice when you have the same passion as someone else, and you are able to help them with your training. On Wednesday, I saw a new patient that came in for a few ailments that developed while running. Before I could even say anything to him about my running, he said to me, "Even though my MD told me that I should come to this facility, I wasn't completely convinced until I went on your website and saw your blog... I then knew that you had the same passion about this as I do" I felt as though he realized that I could relate to him, and I just thought that was great!!!

The days that I hate my job, is when I don't have the ability to treat someone the way I want to because of insurance. Some people come in our doors and have some serious ailments, and you know from experience that they can get better, but it will take time. Unfortunately most insurance companies don't care, and the patient might have insurance benefits (we shouldn't even call it benefits anymore) that allow them to come for 2 or 3 weeks, even though the MD and myself feel as though they need to come for therapy for a few months. So, sometimes we are slaves to the insurance industry, and they try to take away your expertise and force you to treat patients the way they want to pay you... it's just so frustrating....ugh!!!! The health care industry is so unstable because at any time, an insurance company can drop your reimbursement by as much as they want, and there is virtually nothing you can do about it.
If you really think about it, how crazy is this concept???
If I owned a pizza shop, and the price of cheese and meat and bread went up by 50%, what would I do? You got it.... raise my prices for the pizza.... but in health care, we continue to get paid less every year for doing the same treatment on patients... but patients have to pay more for their insurance...so obviously 2 of the 3 people in this equation aren't happy (the health care provider and the patient), but the insurance industry is laughing all the way to the bank. It is extremely frustrating to even talk about it, but when a frustrating situation comes up for a patient that needs care, I feel like I hate what I do....at sometimes I wish we didn't have insurance, and that people would just save the money that they use to pay their premiums to insurance companies in health savings account. When they got hurt, they would pay health care providers from that stash of money... when they aren't hurt, keep the money in the stash... I think it would give people more incentive to try to live healthier lifestyles... but that's just my opinion...whatever....
For me #2 answer doesn't come into play. It's either I love it or hate it... it has never just been a paycheck for me.... I'm dealing with people here!!!!
All in all, I realize we all got problems at our respective work places... whether its my issue, or having jobs shipped overseas, or greedy corporations trying to lowball their employees... it just stinks sometimes... but it's all good... I'll just continue to have fun and keep running!!!!!

I love that girl....

2008-04-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Since I have done this blog, I have tried to keep everything running related...but not this entry. I had the most incredible day yesterday....
Yesterday marked my Anniversary to my best friend for 7 years.... it honestly felt like we just had our wedding .... I can still remember my wedding day, which was the first time I actually cried for joy... will never forget that...I didn't even realize I had that emotion in me.
So luckily for me, I usually work a 7-7:30 shift on Monday, but this week, I was able to have someone work for me in the morning, because I have to help out at our other clinic this Thursday. That allowed Kerry, myself and Arjay to go out for breakfast (Adryana was at school). It was just so nice for us to be together and talk/reminisce on everything. At breakfast, we exchanged cards, and as always, my wife wrote the most touching, beautiful things, which makes me feel like a million bucks... she never fails to boost my confidence and make me feel so needed...
Yesterday also happened to be our busiest day ever at our Wesley Chapel clinic... it was steady and it wasn't overwhelming, but at the end of the day, I realized that a lot of people came in for the day. So needless to say, even though it was a shorter day than usual for me, I was pretty tired, and I didn't finish any of my notes. I hate to not finish my notes before I leave work, because it tends to bother me all night... because I feel like I left things not completed for the day. I usually don't sleep too well when that happens. Something told me to go home, and not finish my notes... at that point it was already past 8:00 pm, so if I stayed and finished my notes it would have been close to 8:45 pm before I left the office. So on my way home, I usually talk to my wife, but I had to take care of some work stuff on the phone. When I got home, opened the garage, it was to my surprise that my kids weren't running out to come and greet me. Usually by that time, they have had their bath and are waiting for me to get home. Even better, Kerry was waiting for me, dressed up stunning as usual, and brought me into the kitchen... the lights were dimmed, candles were lit, and she had my Ipod playing with some of our favorite songs. She basically made a special dinner for the both of us and made me my favorite foods, which are chicken parmesan, garlic bread and garlic mash potatoes. It was awesome... we also played the song that we danced to at our wedding and we danced together in our kitchen... incredible!!! Just like our wedding...except we know each other even more, love each other even more, and have 2 beautiful kids that are a part of our lives. God is good...and I thank him so much for my wife, who is my backbone, my biggest supporter, and my personal comedian (makes me laugh at least 2x/day). I am so thankful that God allowed me to meet her, and put her in my life.
I also want to say that she didn't pull this off by herself... her best friend, Keveta, took the kids out while we had our dinner, and treated them to McDonalds and had a little field trip to Target at 9:30 at night!!!! It almost felt like we were at a restaurant by ourselves, and then we didn't even have to drive home!!!Thanks Keveta!!! I almost forgot to mention that my daughter made both of us personalized cards that was at our table when we ate... just a fantastic day for me.... Kerry, I love you so much... thank you for a beautiful day yesterday and I hope, God willing, we will be able to celebrate many more of these days together.

Getting back to race form....

2008-04-01T07:09:00.000-07:00

Great Run this weekend for me!!!! It capped of my highest mileage week ever at just under 38 miles. The good news is that my body feels great. I feel as though I can get my body to do close to 50 miles per week, if I gradually build myself up to that level... slowly and carefully. I was able to put in 4 miles on Saturday Ivy Lake Easy Run and 12 miles on Sunday before church (Ivy Lake Long Run). I have never attempted to run back to back days with so much mileage, but I believe the key is that I was running fairly slow and controlled. It's amazing how your body bounces back so quickly when you put in low intensity with mileage.
Today, I ran a little less than 8 miles, with approx. 3 of those miles really fast. It is the first time I have done speedwork in over 2 months... and it showed... it was a struggle for me to keep the times that I used to keep when I was training for Disney. Did I say it was hard? It was good to get a gauge on where I am at, and what I should shoot for when I do the Draft Day Dash at the end of this month. I think my goal should be to get under 21:00, which would be about 6:45/mile. I initially thought I might be able to do 20:30, but after today I realized that there is no way I would be able to come close to pulling that off. If everything goes great....I could do under 21 minutes, which would be 2 minutes faster than what I did last year.... that would be awesome!!! So here is the run from this morning.

Mental Therapy?

2008-03-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Finally, some concrete scientific evidence to how I feel after my runs....I guess I might not be crazy after all....well...

Interesting NY Times article:

By GINA KOLATA
THE runner’s high: Every athlete has heard of it, most seem to believe in it and many say they have experienced it. But for years scientists have reserved judgment because no rigorous test confirmed its existence.

Yes, some people reported that they felt so good when they exercised that it was as if they had taken mood-altering drugs. But was that feeling real or just a delusion? And even if it was real, what was the feeling supposed to be, and what caused it?

Some who said they had experienced a runner’s high said it was uncommon. They might feel relaxed or at peace after exercising, but only occasionally did they feel euphoric. Was the calmness itself a runner’s high?

Often, those who said they experienced an intense euphoria reported that it came after an endurance event.

My friend Marian Westley said her runner’s high came at the end of a marathon, and it was paired with such volatile emotions that the sight of a puppy had the power to make her weep.

Others said they experienced a high when pushing themselves almost to the point of collapse in a short, intense effort, such as running a five-kilometer race.

But then there are those like my friend Annie Hiniker, who says that when she finishes a 5-k race, the last thing she feels is euphoric. “I feel like I want to throw up,” she said.

The runner’s-high hypothesis proposed that there were real biochemical effects of exercise on the brain. Chemicals were released that could change an athlete’s mood, and those chemicals were endorphins, the brain’s naturally occurring opiates. Running was not the only way to get the feeling; it could also occur with most intense or endurance exercise.

The problem with the hypothesis was that it was not feasible to do a spinal tap before and after someone exercised to look for a flood of endorphins in the brain. Researchers could detect endorphins in people’s blood after a run, but those endorphins were part of the body’s stress response and could not travel from the blood to the brain. They were not responsible for elevating one’s mood. So for more than 30 years, the runner’s high remained an unproved hypothesis.

But now medical technology has caught up with exercise lore. Researchers in Germany, using advances in neuroscience, report in the current issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex that the folk belief is true: Running does elicit a flood of endorphins in the brain. The endorphins are associated with mood changes, and the more endorphins a runner’s body pumps out, the greater the effect.

Leading endorphin researchers not associated with the study said they accepted its findings.

“Impressive,” said Dr. Solomon Snyder, a neuroscience professor at Johns Hopkins and a discoverer of endorphins in the 1970’s.

“I like it,” said Huda Akil, a professor of neurosciences at the University of Michigan. “This is the first time someone took this head on. It wasn’t that the idea was not the right idea. It was that the evidence was not there.”

For athletes, the study offers a sort of vindication that runner’s high is not just a New Agey excuse for their claims of feeling good after a hard workout.

For athletes and nonathletes alike, the results are opening a new chapter in exercise science. They show that it is possible to define and measure the runner’s high and that it should be possible to figure out what brings it on. They even offer hope for those who do not enjoy exercise but do it anyway. These exercisers might learn techniques to elicit a feeling that makes working out positively addictive.

The lead researcher for the new study, Dr. Henning Boecker of the University of Bonn, said he got the idea of testing the endorphin hypothesis when he realized that methods he and others were using to study pain were directly applicable.

The idea was to use PET scans combined with recently available chemicals that reveal endorphins in the brain, to compare runners’ brains before and after a long run. If the scans showed that endorphins were being produced and were attaching themselves to areas of the brain involved with mood, that would be direct evidence for the endorphin hypothesis. And if the runners, who were not told what the study was looking for, also reported mood changes whose intensity correlated with the amount of endorphins produced, that would be another clincher for the argument.

Dr. Boecker and colleagues recruited 10 distance runners and told them they were studying opioid receptors in the brain. But the runners did not realize that the investigators were studying the release of endorphins and the runner’s high. The athletes had a PET scan before and after a two-hour run. They also took a standard psychological test that indicated their mood before and after running.

The data showed that, indeed, endorphins were produced during running and were attaching themselves to areas of the brain associated with emotions, in particular the limbic and prefrontal areas.

The limbic and prefrontal areas, Dr. Boecker said, are activated when people are involved in romantic love affairs or, he said, “when you hear music that gives you a chill of euphoria, like Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.” The greater the euphoria the runners reported, the more endorphins in their brain.

“Some people have these really extreme experiences with very long or intensive training,” said Dr. Boecker, a casual runner and cyclist, who said he feels completely relaxed and his head is clearer after a run.

That was also what happened to the study subjects, he said: “You could really see the difference after two hours of running. You could see it in their faces.”

In a follow-up study, Dr. Boecker is investigating if running affects pain perception. “There are studies that showed enhanced pain tolerance in runners,” he said. “You have to give higher pain stimuli before they say, ‘O.K., this hurts.’ ”

And, he said, there are stories of runners who had stress fractures, even heart attacks, and kept on running.

Dr. Boecker and his colleagues have recruited 20 marathon runners and a similar number of nonathletes and are studying the perception of pain after a run, and whether there are related changes in brain scans. He is also having the subjects walk to see whether the effects, if any, are because of the intensity of the exercise.

The nonathletes can help investigators assess whether untrained people experience the same effects. Maybe one reason some people love intense exercise and others do not is that some respond with a runner’s high or changed pain perception.

Annie might question that. She loves to run, but wonders why. But her husband tells her that the look on her face when she is running is just blissful. So maybe even she gets a runner’s high.

Tempo Time!!!

2008-03-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Over the 6 weeks, I have not done a "quality" run of any sorts. By quality, I mean a run in which I push myself pretty hard to improve my speed and endurance. After the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon, I think my body was kinda beat up, so I wasn't planning on running hard anyway for at least 4 weeks. The knee discomfort turned that into a 6week hiatus from hard running... but now I am back!!! The two types of runs that allow for this to happen are tempo runs and intervals. Next week I will explain intervals, because I plan to do an interval workout next Tuesday... but for now we will go over what a tempo run is.
The whole idea of a tempo run is to improve your lactate threshold. What the heck is that? Well, at all times of the day our bodies produce lactic acid and remove lactic acid at a fairly even rate. When you push your body really hard, like running, doing aerobics... anything for a fairly long period of time (over an hour) your body usually produces so much lactic acid, but it can't get rid of it fast enough, so you start to slow down, because your body has had enough...this happens to most people in marathons, and this is the single most important aspect of successful marathon running.... run at a pace that doesn't build up to much lactic acid in your system that it builds up and your body can't get rid of it quick enough... good news??? That can be improved upon with proper training, and the tempo run is the best way to do it.
So basically what I did today was warm up for 2 miles, run at a tempo pace (which is a pretty hard effort) for 4 miles, and then cool down for 2 miles. I'm not going to lie... it's challenging, but when you finish, you are tired enough where you are glad its over, but in the back of your head you think "I probably could have done another mile or so...."
So all in all... it was an 8 mile run today. The weather was very nice this morning... in the high 50's, and I felt really strong. I was concerned with not having done one of these runs in almost 8 weeks, and I thought I might not be able to hold a strong pace for long, but it went quite well. Here is the run... if you click on the map below, you can see my splits throughout the run. At some point this weekend, I plan on running around 11-12 miles at a fairly easy pace. Just not sure if I want to do this on Saturday or Sunday... it just usually depends on how I feel after a long day at work tomorrow.

Shame on Me...

2008-03-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

My bad... haven't blogged in a while, so sorry to those of you who follow the blog on a frequent basis. It's not that I haven't had plenty to blog about, but I was out of town for a good portion of last week, and I didn't have access to the internet for a few days. So anyways, I have some pretty good news.... I am back to pain free running!!! Last Wednesday, I was able to run without any pain after changing my form a little bit. I actually changed my form to what I was doing a few months back, which was from a book called ChiRunning. I hold this book responsible for me being able to run fairly pain-free since last summer. After I read it though, I think I started to slowly creep back into my old habits, which might have led to my knee pain that I was dealing with. Anyways, the morning before I left for my trip, I was able to run 7 miles, symptom-free!!! Yes!!! And it felt so good!!! The only bad thing is that it was pouring rain... but at that point, I didn't care... I just felt great running!!!! The bike is ok, but nothin' close to running. So anyways, while I was away on my trip to South Florida, I was able to run once. I was able to run by my parent's house, which was the neighborhood that I grew up in since I was in 1st grade. Lots of memories for me there, and as I was running around the different areas I grew up, I just remember thinking how blessed I was to have been able to grow up in the same area for pretty much all of my childhood, teenage years, and even collegiate years... I actually was even able to show my wife where I lived in North Miami before I moved to my parent's current house. So let's just say it was a "Blast from the past weekend". So, I was able to run a 5 mile trek through Pembroke Pines and here are some pictures of very special places to me in my old neighborhood.

This is my house that I grew up in for nearly 18 years...my parent's and younger brother still live here... getting ready to run!!!

This is my old elementary school... I won a 4 mile race called the mini-marathon in 4th grade. That was and currently is the highlight of my running career!!!!

This is the plaza that as high schoolers we would hang out at on a Friday night... nothing like chillin' out by the local Blockbuster Video!!!!

This is the McDonald's that we would go to all the time when we were in elementary school and middle school....especially during the summer. My brothers and I would mow the yard, make $5, and buy as many Big Macs as possible...

This is the 1st place I ever volunteered at to become a physical therapist, just out of high school.... only a few minutes walk from my house. As most of you know, I actually was a manager at a CORA for about 2 years.

This is the house that Greg Morris grew up in (Greg is a good friend and co-worker of mine)

This is the baseball field that Greg Morris and I played baseball at year-round. In this neighborhood, baseball was the sport of choice for most of us. A few of us would play in basketball summer leagues, but most of us tried to excel in baseball. We have had a few major leaguers come from our park. The most notable one was Bobby Estalella (In the Mitchell Report he was accused of doing steroids, ouch!!!)

So anyways... that's about it... great run and it was cool to bring out the camera and stop to take pics.
Yesterday I ran 5 miles with my son in the stroller (that is starting to get really taxing, because he is getting pretty heavy to push)Ivy Lake Easy Run

Today I ran 8 miles after working at our South Tampa clinic. Today was so beautiful!!! Probably about 65 degrees at lunch time... perfect!!! (Not to rub it in to you northerners at the RW boards....)

Tiger Woods

2008-03-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I'm a Tiger fan.. when Tiger Woods is in contention for a tournament or leading for that matter, I tend to want to tune in and watch what incredible feat he comes up with this time. I just don't get too psyched up to watch the likes of Vijay Singh battle it out with Chris DiMarco on the final round of a tournament (even though they are great players) Today was no different, as Tiger headed to the 72nd hole, tied for the lead, but having a 35 foot putt to win the tournament. Most golfers in that situation would play to send the tournament into a playoff and just not screw up the situation... not Tiger... the guy just has nerves of steel... eyes down the putt... and sinks it. Just unbelievable!!!! I have seen him do so many amazing things since I have been watching him play and win all of these tournaments, but today was no exception. Just as amazing as all the others.... so it brings me to this point. People say... Tiger Woods is a freak (with his not so human capabilities as it appears at times). I fully agree with that, but in my opinion, I think sometimes people get natural born talent and the ability to be great at a sport mixed up. I think there has been more than a few people out there that are as gifted as Tiger Woods. The difference with Tiger Woods (Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Wayne Gretzky, Alex Rodriguez, etc...basically anyone who excels at their sport) is that they take their work ethic to the next level.... beyond all of their competitors and just have so much confidence and such a mental edge, because of their preparation. Martina Navratilova, who was one of the greatest female tennis players of all time was asked the question, "What made you so confident, week in and week out, feeling that you could beat any other females on tour, for so many years?" She said, "My confidence was based on my preparation. Because I feel like I was prepared better than anyone else, I felt extremely confident that I should beat that individual because my preparation is far superior to most of my opponents"
Currently I am assisting a former patient, who is a fairly high level marathoner, with her return back to running after a few months off the road d/t injuries. Every week, information about the program I have set up for her is sent to me through the Garmin watch. I can see everything that she does on a weekly basis, how fast the runs are, the cross training she performs, etc. The times produced from some of the marathons my client has participated in have been in the 3:20's, which is extremely good. At the Gasparilla 1/2 marathon last year, she placed 3rd overall in her age group (which is quite impressive considering it is such a big race). So my point of saying this is that a lot of people would think, "She is a gifted runner"... which might be the case.... but when I see the amount of time that she puts into her program, week in and week out... she has put herself in a position to be a great marathoner, because of the work she consistently does to make herself a better runner.
I guess even myself, who has taken the running seriously over the last 2 years... sometimes thinks that I put alot of time into running. But when I see some people's schedules, I realize, I'm not even close to being on the same level as them. Everything is so relative sometimes...
So I guess my main point of this blog is that.....
People want so many things sometimes, like
1. Being in a position to win the Bay Hill Invitational on the 72nd hold with a 35 foot putt, and having the crowd roar, and collect a million bucks!!!
2. Run a marathon in under 3:30 minutes (I'm talking to myself here!!!)
3. Lose 50 lbs
4. Make the high school varsity team
5. Lose 20 lbs in 1 month
6. Contentment with life.....

Whatever it is... we all want it, and feel like it's attainable because we see someone else with it, but we have no stinkin' idea what type of dedication, time, effort, sacrifice, has to actually go into pulling something like that off. I mean if it was easy, we would all have it, right????

I write this blog to hopefully encourage someone out there, by getting under their skin... hopefully making you want to work harder and harder at getting that thing that has eluded you. I have actually just pumped myself up to go do an extra workout now... See ya!!!!

Good news... bad news....

2008-03-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

I ran for the 1st time this week... and I got some good news... and some bad news...
Bad news first... My knee started to bother me at the 2.5 mile mark. It didn't bother me a lot, but it didn't feel like my other side, so instead of doing 8 miles, I only did 5 miles.
Good news... as I ran faster, it completely stopped bothering me, and more importantly, I started to run really fast, and I could tell that I haven't lost any of my conditioning. I was able to run at a 6:30/mile pace for 1 1/2 miles, which makes me think that even though I am mostly doing the bike as of late, my body is still making improvements. So overall I'm pretty happy... have to try to think what I want to do next week with running... let me see first if there is any residual soreness tomorrow. But no problem... I will continue to do the bike if needed.
Everything else is going well. I am very excited about the response we have gotten over the May Classic 5k in May. I think we have about 20 people signed up so far, so thanks to all that have committed to doing the race. It should be a fun day.

The 5k Challenge!!!

2008-03-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

I have never been on a bike for more than 60 minutes in my life....until today. I rode the stationary bike at my house for 90 min. this morning. Gosh, my butt hurts!!! Anyways it was a good workout... not like running, but a good workout. I feel like I am getting some good benefits from the bike, and most importantly my knee didn't bother me during the workout. So hopefully, I will be back on the pavement fairly soon. Did anyone watch the 6:00 news on Channel 8 (NBC)? Well guess what??? My little neighbor that I talk about, Zack, was on TV! Apparently, there was a fundraiser done for him and another child who is battling with leukemia, and they raised $30,000 for the Children Cancer Center!! Wow!!! So, basically I wanted to use this blog today to say thanks to those of you who have supported Zack and given donations to the cause of battling leukemia. I greatly appreciate your generosity and again, if you are interested in giving to caring bridge or the Children's Cancer Center, please let me know, and I will give you the appropriate information to make that possible for you to continue giving.
Okay, so I have a challenge for any of you that are currently reading this blog today, that live in the Tampa Bay area. Coming up in May, there will be a 5k race and a 1 mile Family Fun Run in Hyde Park. The race is called the May Classic. Here is the website. This is a great race, and this was the 2nd race I did when I decided to take on the sport of running. I also did it last year, so this will be my 3rd year in a row doing this race. Well, this year my daughter said she wants to run, so if she doesn't change her mind, I will be running with her in the 1 mile Fun Run.... she always wants to run with me, so I will test her out around the neighborhood and see if she likes it. So, with that said... if my 5 year old can do it??? Then so can you.... c'mon.... give it a shot... The May Classic is having a Corporate Challenge, in which our company, Renewal Rehabilitation is going to participate in. Basically, the local business that gets the most amount of people to sign up for the race gets a unique award (assuming it's a trophy or something like that). So we need your help!!! I think it would give those of you who want to get in shape, and get going with your fitness a good, very attainable goal in the next 2-3 months. You don't have to run, you can walk it also... so this would be very fun. After the race, we all meet at our S. Tampa clinic (which is a 5 minute walk away from the start) and usually have a barbeque or some sort of food after the race. It really is fun!!!! Are you interested? Oh... I know what you are thinking.... how will I start??? I can't even run 10 feet!!!! No worries, I have a program already set up for those that haven't run in 50 years or so!!!! If you can walk for 5 minutes or more right now, you will be ready for the May Classic. No excuses....let's do it!!!! Please e-mail me if you are interested...

One Step Back....

2008-03-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes they say you have to take one step back to take 2 steps forward, right? Well, I have decided to take off a few days because I have been dealing with a left knee irritation (I can’t even call this an injury) for the past 10 days. After the Ft. Lauderdale marathon, I took off 6 days before attempting to run again. I ran 5 miles without any problems. I didn’t run again for another 5 days, but this time, I ran for 10 miles. I had no problems during the run, but when I went inside my house and sat to eat breakfast, I noticed that my left kneecap felt sore, and then really started to stiffen up. I took an anti-inflammatory, iced my knee and the symptoms were gone by the end of the day. The next morning, I felt absolutely nothing at my knee…everything seemed to be back to normal. I decided to run the following day, and again I felt perfect at the knee, but when I got to the 10th mile, it started to bother me, so I decided to walk the rest of the way home…just being very cautious. It is one of those things that if it happened during a race, I could’ve just run through it, but since this wasn’t the case, it didn’t feel like it was worth it. So again, I followed my same treatment as a few days ago, and again it was completely gone by the next day.
I decided that this week I would run shorter distances, and run slower, so as not to put too much pounding on my knees. The discomfort has not been as bad after the runs, but I’m still getting that stiffness under the kneecap after I finish…. So I feel like I had to make a decision on my running…. But…..
I usually can’t think straight when it comes to myself. Other people? Yes. I do that for a living, and I feel completely comfortable making decisions for others and telling them what to do, when to do it and how long to stay away from their training routine. But I just think that I have a very difficult time making decisions because I love to run (just like everybody else that‘s a runner) so your judgement gets a little cloudy when you are the patient. So you know what I have to do?
I thought of the last patient I treated, with a similar problem to myself, and look at how I treated that person, and I have decided that is how I will deal with my problem…..crazy, huh? So, with that said, I will not be running tomorrow morning; instead I will be doing the bike for about 90 min. (the same length of my scheduled run). I will not attempt to run until Tuesday at the earliest, and I will substitute all of my runs for bike sessions until I am fully back to normal. Will keep you updated.

What's the trick?

2008-03-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

So, I have been thinking about some stuff today... and I want to try to blog about it...hopefully this will make sense.
As most of you know, besides being a physical therapist, I spend 2 days per week on setting clients up on the Therafit program that my business partner and I designed about a year ago. Things have gone well with the program and people have had some incredible results. On Sunday, most of my clients will send me their information of their weekly workouts via e-mail, and I usually spend a few hours reviewing the information as it comes in throughout the day. Today I got an email from one of my clients stating the following,
"Greg
I am working hard. I feel so good. People are starting to tell me they see a difference. I feel such a difference."
This is from someone who has been on the program for only 1 month, but the ironic part about this, is that about 1 month ago, I blogged about consistency and I talked about one of my potential clients I met with that day, who happened to be the same person that just sent me the e-mail I received today. At that time, she was not on the program, but I think that part of the reason she has done so well is because I was truthful with how hard it is to lose weight the "right way". You see the truth is that I have lost 40 lbs over the last 2 years, but I think the best way to lose weight is to not think about losing weight. I started running because of health issues, but I wasn't going on the scale every day to see what my progress was.. because it would probably have depressed me. I mean if you think about it, 40 lbs is a lot of weight, but over a span of 2 years, it probably averages out to like 1 1/2 lbs per month... not too fast, huh? This hasn't been hard for me, because participating in running events took my mind off of weight loss. I started to just focus on initially completing the races, then on completing the races in particular times. I started to focus on training for these races, and participating in training regimens that would give me the best opportunity to achieve my goals for that race. In other words, weight loss hasn't even been a goal or an issue for me for probably about 22 of the last 24 months that I have really taken care of myself from a health standpoint. I think that is a better way of doing it, IMO. As I started to focus on my running goals, I realized... maybe I shouldn't eat that at 9:00 pm, or let me not have that fattening piece of pork, or let me hold off on that McDonald's apple pie.... (they are so good, though!!!) You see, if you can just find a way to participate in a healthy lifestyle through exercise and healthy eating habits that makes you happy on a daily basis and brings you benefits that get you to the point that you start to look forward to your routines each week.... well that's when you have hit the jackpot!!!! Learn to love your exercise routine... if you don't???? Find an exercise routine that you can learn to love. Running is not for all of us... trust me I know that, but it might be Zumba, or biking, swimming, walking, circuit training, going to the gym, spinning classes... whatever... just find something that you can train yourself to love to do. Remember it shouldn't be a chore... it should be fun!!!
Well I did run this weekend... and it was fun (even though it was at 6:45 am)!!
Ivy Lake/Suncoast Long Run

That's a lot of money!!!

2008-02-28T18:15:00.001-08:00

As I posted earlier this week, my next marathon will be in Chicago in the middle of October. It was a toss up between 3 marathons that I wanted to do. Chicago, Marine Corps, and New York. The Marine Corps was the one I initially wanted to do, because I have never been to D.C., and I thought I could kill two birds with one stone, by being able to run a race and see the monuments at the same time. Well my son's birthday is around that time, so I threw that one out the window. So, it was between Chicago and New York. New York is the premier marathon in the US.... all marathoners have told me that I have to do New York at some point in my marathon "life". But check this out... it is $155 to register for the race... $11 to process your application, and you are not guaranteed to get into the race!!! Over 100,000 people attempt to get into the race, and only 40,000 get in... so it is based on a lottery system.... isn't this quite strange??? People (including myself) will pay a pretty penny, to be placed in a lottery system to get into a race, where you are going to punish your body for hours... classic!!! If you really sit back and think about it.... it's pretty stupid in some aspects.... pretty smart in others.
The stupid part needs no further explaining.... paying money to run 26.2 miles is all that needs to be said....
The smart part is that, people are willing to invest in their well being and health.... they are willing to challenge themselves to do something that seems quite out of reach for the typical human, and push their bodies to further levels, and commit to at least attempting to train and complete a beast of a task like this... and most importantly...putting their money where their mouth is.
When I look at it, spending $155 for a race, is somewhat comparable to many people that spend hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars to purchase pills, invest in fad diets and go to the extent of having costly procedures done to lose weight. Actually, I would say it is much safer, much more rewarding, but obviously much harder.... what do you think?

So, this morning I ran my longest distance since the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon.... 10 miles this morning... and it was cold (well for us warm-blooded folks here in Florida). Check it out....

Where's the next race?

2008-02-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

If you click on this map, it will show you all of my splits for the race.
I am still working on gathering pictures from last weekend's race. Everybody had their own digital camera, and I am still waiting to have people download pics to me. I can tell you this though... nothing will top the pictures that were done by the marathon photographers... I really had too much fun with it... so here are a few links to them. These photos are your typical ones during the race and post race. This photo is the most special to me, because it's of me and my dad... his 1st half-marathon (or race of any matter). He did great... 2 hours 21 minutes... unbelievable!!!This photo tops them all... as I said, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I had fun for the cameras. This was my second favorite.... who said marathons aren't a lot of fun? This photo shows off my modeling potential.... or lack thereof...but it has a nice background of the ocean. Ok, more will come, but trust me.... they don't top these. Now I have to decide which of these I should buy and put up in the clinic... so my patients can laugh at me on a daily basis!!!!

Ok, so let's get back to business... I have decided where I want to run my next marathon... I'm going to do the Chicago Marathon. I have decided on this because it doesn't interfere with my son's birthday at the end of the month, and it is one of the big ones... put it like this... Disney, which was overwhelming, had their biggest registration ever with 18,000 participants... Chicago???? Try 45,000 racers and 1.5 million spectators throughout the course... whoa!!!! I gotta check this out!!!! So, I reserved my hotel and I'm in...

Why is it that I always have a race planned to do? Well, it keeps me focused... motivated and driven to keep myself in shape. That's why it is imperative that I always have multiple races that are in the near future, so I know that I won't slack off. So this is a general idea of what I will be doing from now until October 12th... God willing....

My next race will be at the End of April at the Draft Day Dash at Raymond James Stadium - 5k - The time I do in this race will give me a good idea of what my different paces should be as I get ready to start my marathon training for Chicago in June.

The following week, we will participate in the May Classic 5k, which has now become tradition for us at Renewal Rehab to participate in. Not running that one very competitively.

Maybe somewhere during my training for Chicago, I can do a tune-up race, but don't know how much will be available out there as it is in the midst of summer that this will be happening. Not too many races available.

BTW, I did run this weekend.... here it is... Ivy Lake Easy Run

A1A Marathon Extravaganza!!!

2008-02-19T05:38:00.000-08:00

Wow!!! It has been a whirlwind for the last 72 hours!!! I apologize for not blogging earlier than this but I did not leave Ft. Lauderdale until yesterday morning, and I got to Tampa just in time to treat my patients at 1:00 pm yesterday... couldn't even go home and get my car. Kerry had to drop me off at work coming off the highway and pick me up at 8:00 pm last night. On top of that, we had like 24 patients lined up for us yesterday, so there was no time to breathe!!! So, I am actually blogging in between patients right now... ok, so let's get started.
We got to Ft. Lauderdale Saturday morning at around 9:30 am, and dropped of my wife and kids at her parent's house. Chris and I went over to the expo and got our packets and got to browse around and see all the booths. That never gets old.... always see something or meet somebody that is so interesting. We met a lady named Marie that has run 125 marathons (she is 52!) She is currently training for a 125 mile race!!!! Unbelievable.
Later on that night, we went to Delray Beach to go watch one of our former patients play a tennis match. My brother had tickets to the match, so we decided to take him up on the offer. We had fun, and after the match, I saw my former patient, who said that I'm going to need physical therapy for months after finishing the marathon tomorrow... thanks for the love!!!
Once we got back to my parent's house, we watched the slam dunk contest and then went to bed.

Sunday morning was an early rise... slept a lot better than I did while at Disney... I guess I wasn't as nervous this time around. My dad, Chris, and I were on our way to the race, when my dad realized he forgot his garmin watch at home... so we had to turn back and go to the house, and get the watch.. it was so funny to see how frazzled he was when he saw that his watch not on his wrist. Anyways there was no time to overthink the race, because we got to the start about 5 minutes before the start of the race.
The area was beautiful... it was a beautiful atmosphere... but it was a little bit on the warm side. Starting temps were in the mid 70's and the temps were in the mid 80's probably 3 hours into the race.
So what happened??? Well good news and bad news..... Good news first.
I finished the race (good news) but did not finish in the time I wanted to (bad news). Chris hit the wall fairly early in the race, started having problems at like mile 14 or so. I think we went out too fast…we hit the halfway mark at exactly 2 hours (and we planned to do a negative split, so we could come in just under 4 hours). That unfortunately was not even close to happening. He had to start walking and jogging, and was struggling a bit. But he continued to fight it out and went on. I stayed with him, and what I did was just run to each mile mark/water stop and wait for him (had fun with volunteers, danced with the bands!!!), or just run with him and do intervals…I have run with him many times before and we did a 22 miler in like 3:20, so I know he can do it, but it was really hot (starting temp at race: 74 deg/ by 9:00 am it was like 83 deg.!!) and I think a 9:00/mile pace was too ambitious with that weather…hence the wall smacking him in the face!!! Remember when I told you earlier about that lady that completed 125 marathons??? She even got ill during the race due to the oppressive heat... she said she has never been off of her pace group but she struggled at the end... she was bummed out. Obviously with what happened at Disney, staying with Chris throughout the race was not an issue or option. I felt extremely bad for him, but I knew that he needed my support to get him to the finish line. I think my crazy antics with taking crazy photos and pumping up the volunteers and fans, dancing with the reggae bands at mile 19, cheered him up, because he thought I was making a complete fool of myself!!!! When I got close to the finish line, I saw my wife and kids and family and I stopped to greet everyone and give hugs and kisses... they weren't at the finish line at Disney, so this was pretty cool. Also, my younger brother works for Red Bull and he had a team of girls at the finish line waiting for me. I took a a few pics of them.... but I still hadn't even finished!!!! So I took a few more steps and crossed the finish line (taking some cool photos before!!!!) So anyways we finished in 4:53… I ran a few miles after the race with my cousin on the beach, and I feel ok. I will do all easy runs for the next 3 weeks, and then get going again…. BTW, after finishing, my wife saw that I could actually do this without it beating me up much, so she has decided to let me run another marathon this year... she said it was like night and day from the last one. I think I'm going to do the Marine Corps Marathon next (October 26)…looks like a lot of fun. It is nearly twice the size of Disney and you run by all the monuments in Washington, D.C.
Well, this is what I got from this race:
1.I love to run and I love events... even though Sunday seemed to be my day from a running time standpoint, I think I enjoyed myself as much or even more with all the fun that I had on the course. It is just awesome to be part of the hoopla!!! It's nice to run a good race like last week at Gasparilla, but it's also nice to take everything in like I did in this race.
2. Just because you can run a certain pace at certain temps, doesn't mean you can run that at any temperature. Chris and I are used to training in the am, when the temps are usually in the mid 50's, low 60's. 20-30 degree difference is huge!!! You need to change the gameplan...
Chris just read off his HR to me (he was in the 190's from mile 7... ouch!!!)
3. What a feeling when you cross the finish line!!! This felt as good or better than Disney. I just completed over 26 miles!!!!!

P.S. I will post pics on the blog later today or tomorrow.... I will have other races in between my next marathon.... I will keep you updated tomorrow on what my plans are for the rest of the running season.

Thanks for the love....

Fit 2 Complete

2008-02-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

I am so pumped up and excited to tell you all about a new program that we will be starting at Renewal Rehab. If you go to our website www.renewalrehab.com , you will need to click on the Fit2Complete tab. So let me tell you a little about the program.....
We wanted to start a program that would assist those of you that would love to participate in a running event of some sort (preferably a half/full marathon). So what we have done is created a program called Fit2Complete. With this program, we will give those that are interested in acheiving the goal of running a major race, a full program taking you from the couch to runnning, walking, or run/walk a half-marathon and/or marathon. We are trying to convince our patients to sign up for the 2009 Disney Marathon, which will be in January of next year. It gives us plenty of time to get you conditioned to have a great race and more importantly a great time. From now until January, we will have organized races that we, as a group will participate in, to keep our interest levels high, and to slowly get prepared for achieving the highest of goals, which is completing a half or full marathon. I want you to realize that the program is called Fit2Complete. It is not called fit2walk or fit2run.... we don't care which one you do, we just want everyone to complete the race. We will give everyone the appropriate program to assist them in achieving their goals. We are prepared to have people that have never run a day in their life, and people that have done some recreational walking and/or jogging in their past.
What we would like for you to do in return for us setting you up on a run/walk program, is to help us raise funds for my neighbor, Zackary Rozmeski. As most of you know, he is a very funny, happy and most importantly courageous 6 year old that is battling leukemia. When I meet with each individual, and give you your program, I will also give you a pledge sheet, that you can give to family, co-workers, friends, etc. and ask them for pledges that we would give for Zack's fund. There is no amount that you are required to raise, we just ask that you try.
The other neat thing that we will have is a discussion forum. This will allow everyone that is part of the program to have a forum that they can use to ask our therapists and trainers at Renewal Rehab and other fellow runners that are training in the Fit2Complete program questions about training, injuries and other pertinent questions, to assist you in achieving your goals of completing your training. This has the potential to be very fun and extremely rewarding for you. Upon us meeting for the 1st time, we will get into extreme detail about your program, and how you will build yourself up to be able to participate in a 3x/week run/walk program that will get you ready for participating in a half/full marathon.
What do you think?
For those that are interested you can either email me, post a comment on the blog, or call our office. For that information go to the clinic's website.
Lastly, Happy Valentines Day!!!! Make sure you hug and kiss your loved ones.

Gasparilla 15k

2008-02-09T13:55:00.001-08:00

Tale of two races... it was good to get this race in my system, since I still had a bad taste in my mouth from the previous one. I had a pretty good night of sleep, and headed out of my house at about 6:15 this morning. I was able to park at our S. Tampa clinic, since it is only a few minutes walk from the start of the race. I was able to follow other people who were doing the race or running in the streets, and finally I saw a ton of people by the Publix, where the start of the race was.

Gasparilla is a pretty big race....not the size of a Disney, but still a pretty big race. I believe there was close to 3200 people running the 15k and over 6000 people running the 5k. It was a really neat site to see so many people gearing up for the big race. I tried to capture showing how deep the runners were at the start line, but due to my inadequate height I was not able to capture it... but here are a few pics anyway....

The wheelchair division started at 7:25 am. These guys and gals can book it....

A good amount of folks here waiting for the race to start.

Due to me running the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon next week, I planned on trying to take it easy during the race, to reduce risk of injury before the big day next Sunday. I figured that a good way for me to do that was to carry a camera, in which I would take pictures before, during and after the race, so I would focus more on capturing the moment instead of racing my butt off. Well that was my initial plan, and as the race started I got out to a very comfortable pace of about 8:00/mile. The first mile of the race actually takes you right in front of our S. Tampa clinic... and all of a sudden I heard someone scream out my name.... "Greg, I need your keys!!!!!" So quickly I looked to my right and saw that it was the office manager for an orthopedic MD that is next door to our office... so I basically had to go back and give her my pouch that had my keys and my camera in it. Ok... so a little delay here in the race, and I obviously wasn't thinking clearly at that point in that I gave her my camera... but oh well... I figured I guess I can start to move pretty good now... so I started to speed it up and I was going faster than I initially planned, but not at a full race pace. So no more pics....sorry!!!!

The course as always is beautiful, and there are so many people running that it just brought a smile to my face... I just can't explain it... running with so many people is so cool. It's nice to run past people, and even have people run past you.... and it is always so neat when you are on an out & back course to see when those extremely fast runners start sprinting past you, when you aren't even close to the turn around point yet. That is one of the neat things about races... you are running in the footsteps of some of the best runners locally, nationally, and internationally.

So anyways I ran a comfortably hard race (if that makes any sense) I can't say it was a walk in the park, but I had some energy left in the tank, that I was able to run under a 6:30/mile for the last 1/2 mile without a problem. I have to admit that at the end when I slowed down, I wasn't really out of breath, but I did have a feeling of wanting to puke once I stopped running..... but luckily I didn't embarass myself, and it went away. I think I'm going to have some good pictures, because I looked for all the cameras and gave some pretty cool poses while I was running (what a dork, huh?) At the end of the race, I went to some of the booths that had drinks and food and ate a little, and then worked my way back to the clinic. As I was going back to the clinic, I saw some people that were continuing to finish up their race... some struggling quite mightily and one guy just puking his guts out and still continuing to run (TMI!!!) But it made me think that I was on that end just 3 weeks ago, and you never know when it is going to be your day or not..... today was my day, and I'm very grateful for that. So here are the stats for the race...

15k (9.3 miles) - 1:09:04

403rd out of 3918 finishers

36th in my age group out of 191 males aged 30-34

Ft. Lauderdale....here I come!!!!!!

What is wrong with me?

2008-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

My wife and I had a discussion (not argument) about me participating in more marathons for the 2008 year after the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon next week. She feels as though I should shut it down for the rest of the year and not participate in any more big races. I was trying to justify why I think I should do at least one (maybe two) more marathons later in the 2008 year… I mean its only February, right? She held her stance on this topic quite firm, and after we finished talking about this issue… I have begun to wonder…. Why do I have to run marathons? Why can’t I just run now for the sake of running? Is there something wrong with me?
So, I figured that I would use the blog today to explain my stance on this issue.
If you have read my blog since I started it, you would know that my reason for starting to run was primarily for health related issues. But since starting to run races, there are a few things that I have come to realize. I am never going to win any races, but I can continually push myself to levels that my body has never reached. There is something that is so cool, about being able to do something that you can say, I did better than last time, and next time, I'm going to go for the next goal.
Next, think of a hobby that you have.... some folks like to knit, sew, bake cookies....whatever. Would you like that hobby as much if you stunk at it? What if you continually baked brutal cookies that nobody wanted to eat, or continued to poke your finger every time you knitted. I feel the whole idea of having a hobby is to be good at it... it just makes it more fun to do.
So with those things said..... the marathon day itself is pretty cool, but it is the journey of preparing for the marathon day that makes it so special. 2 weeks ago, we celebrated Adryana's 5th birthday party, and leading up to the party, my wife put her all into making the party a complete success (which it was). Now, even though the party was great, there was a lot of preparation that she did throughout the weeks leading up to the party, and it wasn't always fun for her, but to see it all come together on that day was just such an incredible feeling for her (that she still hasn't stop talking about Adryana's party). Kerry actually has said that she would like to be a party planner...and I've always wondered, why? She seems to always be stressed when she is doing things like this.... but now it makes complete sense. The feeling you get when you prepare for something and put so much dedication into something, and then to see it all come together is priceless.... and that is what the marathon brings to runners.
Finally and most importantly, I realize that training for races (especially the marathon) makes insignificant things seem significant, and makes pressing issues not such a big deal anymore. What???? Let me explain..... about 2 years ago, I would get anxious and stressed out over certain things... like working real long hours, having multiple patients during a certain time of the day, etc. I would get all worked up if things never went the way I thought it would go. I would also get bent out of shape before a day would even start, just thinking of how I would actually handle everything. Now, I think that at times I get so engulfed with thinking about my training, that those things that used to bother me seem so insignificant. Yesterday was the perfect example..... we had 45 scheduled physical therapy patients at our facility, which is by far, the most amount of patients that we have ever had scheduled at our facility...of those 45, I believe 42 people showed up, and it was past 8 pm before I left the facility. Guess what??? My mind was taken off of all that because I was so excited about running the Gasparilla 15k this morning, that it didn't even phase me that we just had our busiest day in Renewal Rehab's history!!!! So basically, if your mind can only focus on a certain amount of things, it might as well be things that excite you and make you feel positive and happy, right? Ok, I think I have convinced myself that this is the right thing for me to do!!!! Hopefully my beautiful wife will take a peek at the blog.... let me see if she changes her mind.... I will let you know.

So, I did the 15k this morning and it went great... I am going to blog about it, but I want to download pictures on here, so you can see all the sights from the race.
Bye for now!!!!

Super Run

2008-02-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

Chris caught some flu bug and was unable to run this morning with me, so I decided to go out in the front of my neighborhood and set out to do 13 miles. The plan was to do the full run at my marathon pace, which I don't really know. Let me explain.. based on all these formulas that all these running gurus use, I am supposed to be able to run at about an 8:00/mile pace during the marathon, which I feel is extremely aggressive. I have been aiming to run a marathon at 8:20-30/mile during Disney, but obviously that never happened... so since then, my goal paces have kinda been up in the air. So I decided that I would try to aim for the low 8's and see what happens. It would be good to have some solid confidence going into the Ft. Lauderdale race, so this is really the last time that I'm going to be putting in some quality training.
So off I went at about 6:30 am, and I started out the 1st mile at about 8:10... from there on I really didn't pay much attention to my watch and I just ran what I felt was comfortable...every 2 miles I stopped and drank Gatorade or water (just like I would during the actual race) and then I started to run again. The weather was absolutely perfect (low 60's, with a lot of fog and no sun). I looked over at my watch during the 4th mile and realized I was running around 7:50/mile. I was a little shocked, because it really felt effortless. As much as I like my Garmin watch (A.K.A. my personal trainer)I also am always trying to be careful to not become a slave to the data given by a watch. I feel as though our body's internal clock can let us know exactly what is going on...quicker than any fancy watch can...so anyways I decided to stay at what I felt was comfortable but still very manageable and just roll with it... well I continued on, drinking routinely at every 2 miles, and taking in my endurolyte tablets every hour... and it was just great!!! I noticed that there were a lot of runners out this morning... I guess people are getting ready to participate in one of the Gasparilla races next weekend. There was one lady in my neighborhood that I kept on passing as I went around the lake in my neighborhood, and I gave her a little thumbs up encouragement as she went around the lake for at least the 3rd time (I figured she must have put in about 6 miles so far... so it might have been needed). I remember looking at my watch and saw that I completed 9.2 miles and 1:12 elapsed... and I was like..wow... I'm booking it... but again, I felt good and just kept it going. When I got to the 12th mile, I didn't want to stop and drink, because I knew that I was in a "zone", but I stopped and stuck with my game plan... I drank for about 15 seconds, and finished out the last mile. Final time? 1:42:50. Better than my best race (Reggae Marathon, Dec. 07 - 1:43:30)and I wasn't giving it my all... so I'm just happy... kinda shocked really at how it all went down today. I'm just hoping that I didn't do too much with 2 weeks before the marathon.
So here is the Ivy Lake Long Run

2 weeks to go....

2008-02-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to stay a lot more low key as I get prepared to run the Ft. Lauderdale Marathon. As incredible and emotional that the Disney Marathon was too me, it was obviously also disappointing from a time perspective on my finish. I still think that I have a much better marathon time in me, and I want to see what happens when attempting to do another race. I must say that my perspective on the marathon has changed and I realize that even with everything that happened at my last race, that I truly enjoy running and being part of the event even if it doesn't go my way. So this is what I will be doing in the next 2 weeks leading up to the event.
Sometime, between today and tomorrow, I will run 13 miles at around 8:00-8:30/mile. That will be my longest run until the day of the race. I will run 2 training runs in the week, and then I will run the Gasparilla 15k race next Saturday morning. For the 15k, I will not run it at my top speed... I will try to keep my times in the low 8 min/mile. I am actually going to treat it like a 9 mile tempo run.... the 1st mile fairly slow, then the next 7 miles at a high 7 minute/mile pace. Should be a fun race, and I've never done a 15k race before, so we will see how it goes. I will take the next week easy as we lead up to the race.
I have decided that I will pace with Chris during the Ft. Lauderdale marathon. Because of me screwing up his marathon, I know that his main goal is to try to run a sub 4 hour marathon, like myself... but are speeds are a little different, so in a race we usually don't run together. I know with us running together, it will make the experience of the marathon more enjoyable because we will be able to encourage each other throughout the race. But for sure, this time, if anything happens to me, I've already told him....GO!!!!!! I'm a veteran now at imploding at races, so it's all good... I realize there will always be another day to run, and I'm thankful that my body allows me to run, so it's no biggie, right? My dad is ridiculously pumped up for the race also, as he just ran 10 miles this morning as he starts to taper for his half-marathon.
Two of my patients, will have their husbands running the Ft. Lauderdale marathon also. I'm not sure if Chris and I will pace with them or not.... their goal is a 4 hour marathon too, but I'm not too sure on their strategy to complete a 4 hour race. Chris and I have our little thing in place already, so we will see.
Ok... hope you all have a great weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl tomorrow.
Greg's prediction: Patriots 38 Giants 30.

Patriots 19-0.... ugh!!!!