May the Mass x Acceleration be with you

Easy 4 miles on the trails in 32:37 (8:09/mile)

I was pushing it to run 2 days in a row. I pushed it even more by running on the trails. Everything turned out great, though. No pain or discomfort in the knee, legs felt good.

8.5 miles on Military in 1:03:45 (7:30/mile)

I ran this kind of as a light progression run, but kept the pace pretty relaxed the whole way, no faster than easy-moderate. I tacked on a 1/2 mile cool down at the end because I knew my legs needed to have at least a short jog at the end before stopping.

Splits will come later, but I was somewhere under 1 hour for the 8 miles. The only trouble with the knee was at the half way point. I stopped for about 30 seconds before turning around, and then when I started up again the whole knee felt tight and swollen. I stopped, shook it out and started up again and was fine the rest of the way. I think I was also going a bit too fast when it was hurting, so I backed off just a bit.

Splits 7:55 - 7:33 - 7:32 - 7:13 - 7:26 - 7:10 - 7:24 - 7:14 - 4:19

10 miles on Vickory in 1:19:49 (7:59/mile)

This was a tough run. It felt long. At about 7.5 I wanted to stop, but of course had to run home. The main problem, I think, was that I was tuckered from shovelling and wheelbarrowing soil from the front to the backyard. I meant to do it for about 1/2 hour as a warmup before the run, but ended up doing it for about 1 1/2 hours. I guess that was a little too much maybe.

Afterwards I didn't feel well at all and didn't get much more shovelling done.

On the plus side, I made it ten miles, which is my longest run in some time. Probably since the Lake Youngs Ultra back in June.

Splits:  8:21 - 7:55 - 7:51 - 7:51 - 7:48 - 7:50 - 7:36 - 8:00 - 8:14 - 8:25

Cylindrical form,

Golden crisp as autumn leaves;

More tater tots, please

6 miles on Military Road in 47:24

Still pretty tired and a little stiff from the weekend. Knee doing OK. Another beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day.

Splits: 7:50 - 7:47 - 7:53 - 7:46 - 8:12 - 7:56

Easy 5 on the trails in 42:58 (slow/mile)

Nice, easy, relaxing pace. No knee trouble. One of our last sunny warm days turned out to be cloudy and cool. No rain, though.

8 miles on Weyerhaeuser/Military in 1:00:38 (7:35/mile)

The plan was to run a light progression run like last week, but it didn't go quite as well. The quads tightened up quite a bit in the 2nd half and it was a bit of a struggle. Oh well, still a decent run.

Splits: 7:43 - 7:32 - 7:38 - 7:19 - 7:24 - 7:30 - 7:39 - 7:53

12 miles on Vickory in 1:36:06 (8:00/mile)

My first run in the rain since who knows when. It's been months. Unfortunately the front of me didn't handle it well. I delayed the run because weather.com said it was going to be dry between noon and 3, so I went out at 12:30. The hardest of the rain today fell during the second half of my run. My shirt as a little rough and I spent the last few miles pulling it out from my chest to avoid more pain and suffering. I also slowed down during that time, so that's my excuse. Otherwise, the run actually felt better than the 10 last week. Of course I wasn't shovelling and wheelbarrowing beforehand today.

Splits: 8:13 - 7:43 - 7:48 - 7:56 - 7:43 - 7:35 - 7:51 - 7:58 - 8:06 - 8:18 - 8:30 - 8:26

4-something on the trails in 34:39.

I wasn't supposed to be running today, but lunch plans were cancelled. I didn't have my knee brace, so I only did 4 instead of 6. I'll be continuing to wear the knee brace.

My weight has hit its max today and now it is going to start going down. You heard it here first.

7 miles on the Bonneville Trail in 55:33 (7:56/mile)

After today's run I decided to make an appointment with the knee doctor. The knee has gotten steadiliy worse over the last week or so. It's time to get this figured out. Insurance deductible has already been met, so even an MRI shouldn't break the bank.

Splits: 8:00 - 7:47 - 7:56 - 8:01 - 7:39 - 8;00 - 8:10

Easy 2 on the trails in 16:57

The plan for this week was to move up to 5 days/week. I'm going to go ahead with that plan for now just because I want to make sure my knee doesn't suddenly get better when I go to the doctor. I have an ppointment for tomorrow afternoon, so I'll run before that and then go to the appointment. I'm meeting with a PA so it will just be preliminary, though also an x-ray will be done.

5 miles to Virginia Mason, Celebration Park and back in 38:56 (7:48/mile)

It was actually a pretty good run today. The knee was the best its felt in a week, though it was still a bit sore and uncomfortable most of the time. Nice weather, cool, dry, high overcast clouds with just a little sun breaking in. No wind.

Splits: 7:39 - 7:31 - 8:15 - 7:44 - 7:47

Weight 184 - there, now I've got it to the maximum. Now I can start losing weight. I didn't want to start at xxx.5 pounds.

12 miles on Vickory in 1:33:36 (7:48/mile)

Much better than last week's 12 miler. Even though it was cool out I still should've brought some water. I was feeling a bit dehydrated the last few miles.

The knee grumbled a bit throughout the run, but nothing serious.

Splits: 8:04 - 7:42 - 7:35 - 7:39 - 7:34 - 7:36 - 7:41 - 7:56 - 7:52 - 7:54 - 8:01 - 8:03

I had an MRI on my knee today. Hopefully will get results tomorrow morning.

6 miles on Military Road in 45:51 (7:39/mile)

Not a bad run. The knee wasn't really bothering me today at all. I pushed the pace just a bit, outside of an easy jog.

Splits: 7:49 - 7:27 - 7:44 - 7:19 - 7:41 - 7:52

The MRI didn't reveal anything helpful. This is why I don't like to go to doctors for my injuries. They rarely have anything helpful to tell me. Neither the x-ray nor the MRI showed any structural issues. I guess the good news, though, is that I am not doing any damage to cartilage or bones. So, it was helpful to go to the doctor to at least know that. Now I can continue to progress and not worry about the pain too much. They did give me some exercises to try for a few weeks. We'll see. Next up will be some new running shoes. Maybe that will take care of it.

4 easy on the trails in 31:35.

I ran without the knee brace today and regretted it. A friend, who usually is much slower than me, caught up to me in the 1st mile and we ran together for a little while. The quicker pace on rocky and uneven terrain was hard on the knee. I ran the 2nd half by myself, slowed down, stayed on flatter surfaces and didn't have much trouble after that.

8 miles on Military in 1:00:44 (7:36/mile)

Definitely one of my best runs in a while. Felt good and strong the whole time. The knee was not too bad, with the brace on. The goal on this run was just to push mildly, an easy-moderate effort, the whole way.

Splits: 7:46 - 7:39 - 7:51 - 7:24 - 7:27 - 7:26 - 7:41 - 7:30

12 miles on Vickory in 1:33:36 (7:48/mile)

I held off running until almost noon, waiting for a break in the rain. I waited until weather.com assured me it would be dry for a couple hours. Needless to say it rained the entire run. It's always fun to wring out the shirt, short, and even underwear afterwards.

I taped my top parts to prevent chafing, which worked fine. My goal on this run was to run the first four miles easy, speed up to normal pace the middle four and then have enough energy to run quickly the last four. Not sure why it didn't work out quite like that. I guess the rain got too me? I wasn't feeling overwhelmingly tired or in pain, and I had brought water with me, too. I did end up feeling good enough to push the last mile a little bit. Still, I think this was my fastest 12 miler so far, thanks to the last mile. Actually, turns out I ran exactly the same time as last week. Add in the rain, though, and this was a better run.

Splits: 8:12 - 7:56 - 8:03 - 8:02
7:42 - 7:49 - 7:46 - 7:47
7:32 - 7:41 - 7:49 - 7:19

6 miles on Military in 47:05 (7:51/mile)

Forgot to bring the knee brace today. It went ok.

Splits: 7:52 - 7:39 - 8:05 - 7:43 - 7:55 - 7:52

6 miles on Military in 47:16 (7:53)

Splits: 7:43 - 7:45 - 8:06 - 7:47 - 7:58 - 7:58