Ouch part deux!

In a recent post I lamented that I had not been as diligent in my training and I believe I even made reference to starting a new workout regime. If I did not allow me to in form you that I did start a new program. I joined a small group at my church and it is "Pump and Pray". I knew it was going to be a challenge, but this is ridiculous.



Me and several other men are working out with the pastor and the gym owner. The gym owner is huge and bends metal for Jesus or did at one point. Well I went twice before Meg went out of town for her conference. Day one was pulling and day two was legs.



I figured I would be fine on legs and I am for the most part.



Now before I go further let me say that this was to be able to improve run times. What it did for me was make it nearly impossible to bend my arms! Now before you all laugh and think "shows you right for showing off". I DID NOT SHOW OFF!!!! If anything I was the most conservative of the bunch.



That being said let me set the stage for you. I left the gym feeling fine a little sore, but no biggie. Then at about 4am it happened my arms were so sore it woke me from a dead sleep (you can ask Meg, that is hard to do). I stumbled to the bathroom closet looking desperately for some muscle rub; no dice. I finally found sone Advil and popped a few and went back to tossing and turning. I was so sore my arms literally stopped bending!



So I did what you would expect - I woke up and went to work my legs when the alarm wore off. The work out was fine as long as I did not bend at a greater then about a 20 degree angle. I was miserable. I did finally find my muscle rub and used it though out the day and Meg was helpful with applying it to my mid neck area. I was miserable all day.



I have since not been for a workout since and today is Saturday and I have only recently began to be able to move my arms in a full range of motion with out applying tons if muscle rub...I did learn something from all of this and it was this: I am thankful for straws! With the aid if straws I was able to make it trough the day and keep hydrated. With my minimal reach it wasn't like I was going to be eating that day...oh the price I pay to stay buff and pretty. 

Man it has been a while!

Wow little did I realize how long it has been since I have updated all my fans on what has been going on and for that I apologize. I know it is hard to be inspired if I neglect you and it is my goal to inspire everyone to be more active in some way. In many ways I think my training reflects my posting and I have been very lazy on both fronts. I am still training, but I have to admit I have had a bad year following my ultra-marathon. Lets recap how I got to this sad state shall we.

First, I once read a quote stating that I was not ready for my next marathon until I could forget about my last marathon, I now know what is meant by that...I think. I think it means that if I am still focused on the marathon and I have not taken it upon myself to heal and repair my body and my thinking then I am not ready for another one yet. I have to admit it did a number on my body and I did give my self about a month to heal and I came along fine, but it is the mental part I struggled with. I was still there and I think in many ways I still am, it was so much fun and I want to do it again. Heck I still think about it so I may not be ready, but I am going to have to be ready I have one coming forward in November.

Second, the weather was horrible and I don't mean just hot (I know that is going to happen), but there were these wildfires burning over a hundred miles a way and there were days were the ash was falling from the sky like snow. That is not a condition by which a person can run and I know - I tried. My lungs ached from the effort. It took months for them to go out and truly it put me behind to the point that I probably will never catch my schedule back up no matter how much effort I put into it.

Third, I have not been able to find the balance that I so desperately need. I have not been committed to running because I have been trying to make time for other things in my life and I have been totally slack about being committed. I want to run, I like to run, I really think I need to run, and when my life is not in harmony then I don't run and when I don't run - I just really don't like being around myself. So, if nothing else I have to be balanced and committed at the same time.

Fourth, I have not been good to myself (maybe this should be under my third point). I have not been sleeping and eating correctly and I have been allowing a lot of stress to invade into my life in a way that has drained all my energies. Work has changed and my family and future is changing and I have simply been feeling the drain. I used to sleep and eat better and I have begun to suck back into the bad habit of being up too late and eating to feel better. Ugh that paragraph alone is a shining example of blah!

Fifth, I lastly think that what has also put me here is my lack of motivation and poor time management. I think these go hand in hand as I have not been truly motivated to do my running and there for I have created excuses to not run like I should have. I have done a marathon and then I ran an ultra distance and I have been struggling to find a way to stay motivated. I thought by taking on a double marathon would help, it did not. I thought that taking on the Goofy Challenge would help and it did not. I finally I had to face the fact that my motivation had to be as it has needed to be all along an internal motivation that is mine and I can not longer allow myself to rely on the outside world to make me go forward.

I have to stop here and leave with this thought: Taking care of self allows me to take care of the others around me and for now my favorite form of self care is running and I think it is time I get to running.

Sacrifice

There comes a time in everyones life (in some cases several times) where a person is asked to do a gut check and make needed sacrifices. I had such a moment recently when I had a conversation with my wife about our priorities. I have them, you have them, we all have them and they are truly personal otherwise they would not be priorities.

That is not to say they don't change over time or get rearranged based on where you are in your life at a certain time. I had to think long and hard about where I saw Team Davis (that's our nickname for ourselves) going into the future. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with a running blog, but I'll get there. I have recently interviewed for a job and in the interim been offered a promotion where I work because both would effect our future and both would require further sacrifice by the team to make happen.

I am pleased to say I took the promotion, it was an easier sacrifice to make. Then I had to make another choice and another sacrifice..to get serious about bringing a person into the family to make it whole, NO MEG IS NOT PREGNANT, it was about adopting a child into our lives. In order to get there I had to make choice and one such choice was what to do with the promotion money. Play or be responsible. I sacrificed play.

The renewed rule in our home is play if It is in the budget. To be responsible means to pay off debt and start the adoption process. We are down to only one credit card now so it was time to start the adoption process. So, I signed us up to get on the list so we can being a child into our home and to be able to show that child how much they will be loved by us.

Now for the running part - I have decided to sacrifice many of my races to complete the family. I still plan on doing the Goofy Race, but the rest the smaller races I won't. I'll still training and get new shoes and running gear as needed, but I cannot in good conscious spend money that could be used to bring my baby to us. Yes we will still have an occasional Disney trip, but it will be well planned. Yes we will have fun but on a much less grand scale.

Yes we will still be who we are, but the focus will be much more tight on the goal. I mean I can't wait forever to finish the family, I am much to impatient for that and I feel that God is telling me now is the time to take action. So l, as I continue to blog about my running and what it means to me; my thoughts and perceptions will undoubtedly change, but it will still be about running.

I just think for the next little while the goal will be about more than a medal or a new distance or a faster time, it will be about finally finishing a race that Meg and I have been training for, for a very longtime.

Wearing them with pride

This may sound strange to several of my readers, but I have to say I have managed to get my newest set of black toenails following my ultra-marathon at the Earthly Unicorn 720, and I could not be prouder of the accomplishment they represent. I am sure that at some point over the next several weeks I am going to loose them completely, but until then I look down at my feet with pride. I would have posted pictures, but truly I do not have pretty feet to begin with...well I am pretty all over, but of all my prettiness my least pretty part is my feet with black toenails.

I feel that for a runner having a black toenail or two is an accomplishment for many (or an example of bad foot care, but I digress) that run, but not a requirement to feel accomplished you simply do that by showing up with determination, training, and crossing that finish line. It can be an outward expression of that inward drive if you show it off with pride and beam a little when you tell others how you got them. Again though keep in mind you will get those quizzical looks when you tell them.

I don't want you to think that I have come here to brag about them and I am not following up with it in the real world. I have been wearing flip-flops and sandals when not barefoot and have even made it a point to hit the beach a couple of times to really get some quality foot exposure. I am glad to have them and  I am even more thoughtful about what comes next in my running adventures and what will my training look like. Here's a hint think Goofy...like Disney Goofy...and then think about how excited I must be to sit here and drop hints about a race over 6 months away!!!!!!

Never have I ran so far...

As many of you may have been aware I have finished my first ultra-marathon distance this past weekend at the Earthly Unicorn 720. How long is an ultra-marathon you may ask, well in the classic distance it's 50k, but in truth it is any distance beyond a marathon. Usually you should prep for this with lots of training. Well, I did not, with little preparation and not too much thought I jumped into this race. In all fairness I new it was coming and had committed to it months ago, I just did not training as hard as I should have. In the weeks leading up to this event I think the longest run I had engaged in was a weekend five miler. That is not the distance needed to be able to go out and own a distance of any great length. So keep that in mind.

Now let me paint the scene for you (keeping in mind I am not a fast runner usually around 11 min per mile) as I pull up to my friend Eddie's house (aka the race site) I meet several people there for the run and they were all faster then I was, a lot faster. As I get out of the car and hear the "snap, crackle, pop" of various joints and various body parts I get a chance to meet everyone. Eddie's father Ed was there and he is a great guy who was super supportive of my efforts and stayed out in the driveway, if he was not running the whole time I was running. I also got to meet some of Eddie's other neighbors and ran across some guys from church, it was good to meet with other runners. As I prep for the course it takes mere moments for Eddie and a friend come around the corner and I quickly fell into line to learn the route and the pace...the very fast pace. It was not a pace that would be maintained (9 minute miles is what I do in my sprints not a long distance race...or I could try running faster...a thought for another time).

I have ran many miles before, I have ran many miles in many different settings, and I have ran for long periods of time and never really covered a lot of distance before. Never before, though, have I gone though so many different mindsets in a run. I started out focused on getting miles done, then I ran on remote, then I walked, then I totally just made it a point to muscle through the miles, and then back on remote. All and all it was an exercise of mental toughness that I had not experienced in years. I have experienced several different challenges in my life that have required a mental toughness of their own, but this was a completely different mental toughness and, not to sound pretentious, I can honestly say that running a marathon was easier this time for me despite the poor prep.

The course was easy enough a loop that was one mile and some change and after seven hours I started to feel like a slow motion NASCAR race always making left turns! I was there though pounding out the miles and I felt great for a long long time. I was doing really good truth be told, but the miles really started to wear me out around mile 23 and for the record 31 miles is way longer then 26. I took needed breaks and ate and drank to keep myself in as good of a shape as I could stay into and finally after much effort I ran across that finish line and ever so thankful to be done! I was ready to be sitting and relaxing and so was my body.

I hurt mostly in my hips and feet that day and to say I was tired was an understatement, but what I really surprised me was not being hungry, until that is I got home and then I got hungry. I slept well Saturday, I slept better Sunday, and I slept even better Monday. I wonder why I slept so much better the further from the event I got? I guess a smart medical person would have to tell me.

I was also sore, but I did not really hurt until Sunday when my hips simply did not want to function, but how do you explain that to people, especially my little people, who simply want their daddy around. So, I got up and kept going walking tall, walking stiff, and not understanding why at church they kept insisting I stand. I did not make a production out of it, but honestly I can praise the Lord from a seated position. My pain ebbed and flowed that day and since then it has slowly improved. The areas of soreness have changed along with my recovery this time around. It seemed the further I got away from the event the more tired I was despite my sleeping and napping. I can say that at the end of today though I feel close to charged up.

I have been using my muscle rub and taking some Advil (but only when it was safe to do so since it is an NSAID) and I tried out a new concept to aid in my recovery. I used KT Tape to help my sore shins and I think it really is helping or its a placebo. Another way I changed was I did not get sick at all this time. You may recall after the marathon I was sick for about two full days; but not this time. I think both my body and mind were in a better place to handle the recovery.

As I sit here in my race t-shirt I think to myself about what now, but I remember the old adage that "you are not ready for your next marathon until you can forget about your last one" and I can assure you I have not even gotten close to forgetting my ultra, so I think I will...oh I know really do something nuts and train for back to back marathons in the fall! Sure that's what I will do! Run a 1/2 in October (if allowed), then a full in December followed by the Goofy Race Challenge in January, that should be enough of a challenge to make most people question my sanity, but hey what's the point of running if you don't enjoy the odd looks everyone gives you. I wonder why they never do that to football players or baseball players? Hmmm another topic for another day.

A time out for T-Ball

I have been spending time away from running lately and spending more time coaching my daughter's t-ball team. I am sure that many of you can guess where this is going and you are right! I really enjoy being apart of this opportunity to reach out to my child and other children as well. To talk about the team I have fourteen kids, mostly boys as one would suspect, and these are some of the most fun children to have on a team. I have two other parents helping with the coaching and that makes a big difference and that helps to keep comments down. I also employ the age old strategy of involving my critics. I am always on the look out for a parent or two who think they can do a better job and then put them on the field or in the dugout so they can be part of the solution. This serves two purposes, one they don't criticize what they are apart off and second they get a taste of trying to herd cats. I know, I know, I said it...managing 14 kid on a baseball field is like herding cats.

Having never been successful at herding cats and had little hope of keeping all the kids focused during a game, that even when played by well trained adults can be agonizingly slow, is just as slow when they are actually apart of the team. I have been able to make it through the only practice I want to have and the first game. I am so glad that we don't keep statistics for a group this young and growing up where score was everything, I am equally as glad that there is no score. I want to tell you about my kids. I have some older some younger, some new to the sport and some in their second year, but no matter how long they played they are passionate about getting a hold of the ball and hitting the ball. It is great to line them up as one big sweeping arc and then let them go where they may when the ball is hit. An untrained eye or visitor from outer space would have a hard time telling the difference between fielding in a t-ball game and a shark feeding frenzy both are amazing to watch and has the potential for blood shed.

I also have some real characters on my team. I have some very good hitters (one managing to smack me in the face with a line drive) and very good runners. I have one that, right now, always runs for the pitcher's mound when the ball is hit and still others that aren't terribly sure where second is and if it is necessary to tag the base. The part I enjoy best is how they all get confused about the importance of actually touching home plate. Several were coming up short and had to be encouraged to keep going those final 3 or 4 steps.

At the end of the day it is a fun game with good kids. I'm not sure RK will be a heavy softball player in the years to come, we may have a girl into dance on my hands, or a soccer girl since she has a friend that plays that sport. I will make sure to be there and coach if needed based on the best of my ability. Keep in mind I know nothing about the following sports:
Soccer
Lacrosse

Fencing
Cricket
Rugby
Disc Golf
Lawn Darts
Surfing
Snow Boarding
Snow Skiing
or hockey (lawn or ice)

Luckily I do know about the following sports:
Football
Baseball
Bull riding
Bronco Busting
Ultimate Frisbee
Golf
Swimming
Endurance Running
Water Skiing
Skateboarding
Motorcycle Racing
and Fishing (yes it is a sport for some people...Come on it's on TV and has been for years)

I look forward to the next game and to see the team again and come this fall to whatever sport or non-sport RK may be interested in.

It is time to restart the training season

Well friends and neighbors I have been missing from the blogosphere for several months and I have to tell you it has been a lack luster off season. I have not had the healthy recovery I was planning on, instead I have put down very few miles and have developed a new pain in my leg, yes that leg, now it seems as if at all times my knee is hyper-extended. It hurts when I am walking, sleeping, and least of all running - hurtful, just plain hurtful. I have decided to not let this go on and on like I did before. I am going to go see a doctor next week and I intend to get this corrected and corrected with out surgery ever again. I can not for the life of me figure out how this happened. I went to bed health and literally woke up with this condition about 3 weeks ago. This has been really hampering my return to the training season ahead of some big runs.

To give you an idea what I am training for in 2011, I can tell you it is going to be a fun time for me, and hopefully my wife will continue to be indulgent, as I begin to train for my first 12 hour ultra run. It is called the World Unicorn 720 this means that I will start hard core next month aka tomorrow. It is going to be super important to but down really consistent numbers to build up my wind and my stamina. Then I will be looking forward to possibly a short easy race in Tybee. It is a little beach run with a turtle release that I think the kids would enjoy seeing up close. After these two new races I will be going to some of my regular races.

The 4th of July race on St. Simon's, The Beach Run on Jekyll, and then the Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon. All this leads to the true test of mind and body for me. I am looking forward to my first Rock and Roll Marathon in Savannah in November! Then I will be turning around for the GOOFY in January! In case you thought I was crazy before when I first started talking about the Goofy last year, I can assure you this second half of the year will really make you think I have jumped off the deep end. I will provide more information in the coming months about how I will be totally doing different every thing to make this a reality.

I thought I ran a lot last year and honestly with all these races I don't know if I am adding any extra miles as much as I am rearranging the miles that I run. I am excited about this run season and I hope that like last year I can have my kids catch the fever. I would love it to have RK at more runs this year, the little ones as well as the Disney stuff, I can not tell you how much I think accomplishing a race builds her up. As a father I love to see her excell.

Up coming posts... how to train for an ultra - Dave Style!