Running Down the Right Home Remedy

I have had a few "injuries" since I have started my marathon training.  The reason I say "injuries" is a throw back to playing high school football.  Our coach, Jim Sizemore, the high school coaching legend in the Hattiesburg, MS area, would always ask players who went down if they were "injured" with quotation fingers.  He subscribed to the theory that an injury means you cannot get up or continue to perform.  I agree with that.  It's more of getting hurt.  You can keep going if you are just hurt.  This, my friends, is a running INJURY!

I have been both hurt & injured during my training.  My knee was an injury.  I could barely move, not to mention I could've never run on it after I injured it.  My shin, on the other hand, is a hurt.  I have also had a hurt foot, a hurt knee, and several... SEVERAL... hurt muscles!  When you repeated slam 240ish pounds on to your feet on to pavement, you are bound to hurt something!

For my hurts, I have found some, less than officially licensed means to help.  Let me break them down for you.  You may be surprised what you can use, just around the house, to help some of your hurts.

Large Muscle Soreness - for large muscle groups, like the thighs, calves, & glutes, I use a wooden rolling pin.  This allows for broad even pressure to be placed on the muscle to work out the soreness. 

Arches of Feet - for sore arches, I have resorted to placing a golf ball on the shower mat in my bathroom, and rolling my foot across it for a few minutes.  Do be careful with this though, as too much pressure kind of hurts.

Shins & Feet Aches - I have found that a raquetball feels REAL good on my sore shin and on the tops & sides of my feet.  Even on the balls of my feet.  I will rub the raquetball all over the sore areas of my shins & feet and the grip it gets due to it's texture really feels good & helps massage away the pain for awhile.

Muscle Cramps - you all probably already know this one, but bananas ain't just a song by Gwen Steffani!  The potassium in bananas helps prevent muscle cramps.  It's just plain science!

Tight Shin Muscles - there aren't many stretches you can do for tight shin muscles.  One that I did find is to sit in a rolling desk chair and place your foot back behind you.  Now, with the other foot, slowly pull yourself forward, stretching the shin muscle.  This works & really helps.

General Aches & Pains - there is no substitute for vitamin M as most folks in the military refer to it as.  Motrin, or some form of Ibuprofen, is proof that God loves runners!  800mgs of this wonderous concotion soothes the pain & makes life after your first 5 miler much easier!

These are just a few of the tricks I have found to help keep me on the roads, running & abusing my body more.  They really have helped me stay out of the hospital though, and if I can avoid that place, I am super happy!

Weekly Data Points

For the folks who like to see the numbers!

Count: 3 Activities
Distance: 20.03 mi
Avg Distance: 6.68 mi
Time: 03:28:26 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:09:28 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,812 ft
Avg Speed: 5.8 mph
Avg HR: 157 bpm
Calories: 3,965 C
Median Distance: 6.60 mi
Max Distance: 8.17 mi
Median Time: 01:08:12 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:26:46 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 937 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 825 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,310 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,790 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 930 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 807 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,353 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 10.0 mph
Max Avg HR: 162 bpm
Max HR: 174 bpm

Not too shabby for 3 days of running!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 28th Run (Week 20, Day 41)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 28th Run (Week 20, Day 41)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Now, before anyone says anything, yes, I know my run was slow for having the past 2 days off. Happy Thanksgiving to ya'll by the way! :)

I started looking at my running chart I made to track all my run days and such on. As I progress, I will be gaining a mile each week. This morning, I figured I'd test my knee to see if it's the mileage that hurt it last time. As you can see in my GPS tracker above, I ran the same route and got roughly the same distance. My knee feels great so far... it's been about 5 hours since I ran. I ran intentionally slow so if I felt any twinges of pain of unusual snaps or pops, I could stop and try to isolate where it's coming from, plus I don't need to overdo it.  It felt good during... well, except for my left shin is still bothering me, and today, it felt like someone had pulled my right arch so tight it was about to snap. I looked that up and will be trying some home remedy using a golf ball & raquetball... I'll explain in a later blog about home remedies for the runner.

It was cold this morning, but I warmed up quick. It's nice seeing all the Christmas lights & decorations going up little by little. It's actually helping to motivate me to see what's new along my route! I love this time of year!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 25th Run (Week 20, Day 40)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 25th Run (Week 20, Day 40)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Today's run was a pretty good one. Almost had to stop a little short as my distance was getting close to 6.66 miles! LOL! Call me superstitious, but with the problem I had with my knee & my current shin problem, I'm not chancing it! But I was able to make it to my stopping point at 6.60 miles.

Shin was a little better on the pain scale, but nagged me a little longer than on yesterday's run. I'm just working to get to my 2 day break after my long run & I'm going to ice the mess out of it. I may even soak it in an ice bath for 20 minutes to see if that'll help it... not really!

It was nice & the sun was shining today. What a welcome change from either runs before dawn, runs after sunset, or runs through dull gray fog. It was a little foggy, which made me realize something kind of neat.

When I was training for my SCUBA certification, we talked about something called a thermocline. See Allen, some people actually do pay attention in class! :) A thermocline is a point in the water that you can actually see, where the temperature changes. That's what it was like today! I was running through some light fog, that was actually hitting about mid chest level. Then I ran down a hill and I was fully in the fog & it was colder. As I climbed back up the next hill, I felt the warmth go from my head, all the way down to my knees before I went back down into the fog. I've said it many times on here, I'm a science nerd, so seeing something like that on my run made it all worth while!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 24th Run (Week 20, Day 39)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 24th Run (Week 20, Day 39)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Decent run this morning. Shin is still tender. I don't know what's wrong with it... don't want to go see a doctor about it either as he'll probably tell me to stop running and to give up the marathon training. I already have 200ish miles & 36+ hours invested in this training, so I cannot forsee me giving up.

The rain was coming down as an icy, driving drizzle this morning, making me pretty chilly to begin with, but by the turn around point I was shedding the gloves & unzipping the collar of my all-weather outer shirt.

Other than my shin, I felt pretty good though.

Weekly Data Points

For the data-heads!

Count: 4 Activities
Distance: 23.81 mi
Avg Distance: 5.95 mi
Time: 04:03:08 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:00:47 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 2,693 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Calories: 4,688 C
Median Distance: 5.58 mi
Max Distance: 7.50 mi
Median Time: 00:57:26 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:16:33 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 673 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 545 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,262 ft
Elevation Loss: 2,864 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 716 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 595 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,255 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.0 mph
Max Speed: 10.2 mph
Max Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 187 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 22nd Run (Week 21, Day 38)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 22nd Run (Week 21, Day 38)

Click the link above fro my run from this evening.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I ran on Sunday. We went out on K-town with some friends on Saturday after I got off work, so I had to push my long run to Sunday evening.

Was a good run today... 7.5 on the button. My shin is really sore when I start running and after running, but while I am on my run, it feels okay. I don't know what it is, guess I will have to look it up.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 19th Run (Week 21, Day 37)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 19th Run (Week 21, Day 37)

Just a "ho-hum" run today. Nothing exciting about it... a little slow. I guess that's the great thing about training for a marathon... no matter how bad a run is, there are usually several more to try for a good one! LOL!

On a side note, my shin feels a little better after icing it yesterday. Will ice again today and tomorrow before my long run Saturday.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 18th Run (Week 21, Day 36)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 18th Run (Week 21, Day 36)

Click the link above for my run from this morning!

Well, I'm glad it was my mid week run today. Mid week for me is morphing into a slightly longer run. I need it after last night too!

A friend from high school, Kara, was in town TDY to Ramstein for a training class. It's been since graduation in 1995 since I had seen her. I was excited to introduce her to my wife & daughter & just catch up on life events. We decided to hit this resturant in Ramstein Village calle The Big Emma.

The Big Emma is known for their portions! It's reputation was well earned too! I ordered the 1/2 Cheeseburger, and literally, the thing was the size of my head... and if you know me, you know that's pretty large! I ate maybe, MAYBE 1/3 of the burger, & the leftovers FILLED a togo box! It was humongous! I needed this run today to burn those calories! LOL! The snitzels were pretty large too!

Run was okay today... a little slow, but I managed. A little sore in my left shin. Guess I will start icing it with my compression wrap thing. Great invention!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 17th Run (Week 21, Day 35)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 17th Run (Week 21, Day 35)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning!

Okay, so I'm back on the horse! It feels good to be running my normal schedule of runs this week. It's definately been awhile, and I can tell you, once you stop running, everything you have built up goes away, REAL fast! I felt so slow this morning, but I nailed my goal pace, so that made this morning feel pretty good, not to mention I am going to get my truck this morning! It's not new, but new to me... LOL!

Weekly Data Points

Here's this weeks unspectacular data.

Count: 2 Activities
Distance: 10.73 mi
Avg Distance: 5.37 mi
Time: 01:49:17 h:m:s
Avg Time: 00:54:38 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 1,757 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 160 bpm
Calories: 2,135 C
Median Distance: 5.37 mi
Max Distance: 6.04 mi
Median Time: 00:54:38 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:01:42 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 878 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 878 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 1,235 ft
Elevation Loss: 1,880 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 940 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 940 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 1,340 ft
Max Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Max Speed: 11.1 mph
Max Avg HR: 163 bpm
Max HR: 177 bpm

Enjoy!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 14th Run (Week 22, Day 34)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 14th Run (Week 22, Day 34)

LRD of 6 miles. It actually shows 6.04. I forgot to turn off the GPS after the 6 mile point, so it shows .04 of my cooldown walk!

Run went okay... both knees feel a little sore today, but not like last week. Legs are still tight during my runs... need to get them loosened back up. My morning runs next week should help get me fully back in the swing of things. I am back on to the 5-6-5 cycle during the week next week, and probably 7-7.5 on Saturday.

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 12th Run (Week 22, Day 33)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 12th Run (Week 22, Day 33)

First run back after the knee issue. It felt okay I guess... my legs are definately yelling at me, trying to figure out why I am punishing them after 5 days of no running.

I kept it shorter than my normal run distance today to make sure my knee would hold up. It seemed to do okay. Back on the run cycle now, off on Friday, back on Saturday for a long run... this week is 6 miles.

Big Day Tomorrow

Well, after a few days of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, & Elevate) of my knee... Throw in a handful of Ibuprofen for good measure... And my knee feels 100%. I wa going to run today, but after we got back from The military cemetery at Saint-Avold, France, and grabbed groceries, and it was already pretty late. I will be running tomorrow, then again on Saturday to get back on my schedule.

Thanks for those who sent me warm wishes & prayers.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oh No!

Well, I went all weekend with just minor soreness after my long run on Saturday.  This morning, at around 4am, I woke up in pain.  My right knee is killing me.  I hope it's just overuse and not a severe injury that will make me stop my training for too long.  I got up and took some Advil and put on a patellar compression wrap and put my cold wrap in the freezer.  Guess it's time to start the RICE cycle.

RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate.  This is the common method of dealing with overuse injuries.  Maybe with a few days of RICE, I'll be back to my old self and running again.  I will keep ya'll updated.

:(

Weekly Data Ponts

Another week of review for all you data-heads out there!

Count: 4 Activities
Distance: 24.64 mi
Avg Distance: 6.16 mi
Time: 04:10:51 h:m:s
Avg Time: 01:02:42 h:m:s
Elevation Gain: 5,229 ft
Avg Speed: 5.9 mph
Avg HR: 161 bpm
Calories: 4,904 C
Median Distance: 5.64 mi
Max Distance: 8.22 mi
Median Time: 00:58:27 h:m:s
Max Time: 01:24:27 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain: 1,307 ft
Median Elevation Gain: 1,191 ft
Max Elevation Gain: 2,460 ft
Elevation Loss: 5,314 ft
Avg Elevation Loss: 1,329 ft
Median Elevation Loss: 1,199 ft
Max Elevation Loss: 2,531 ft
Max Avg Speed: 6.2 mph
Max Speed: 12.7 mph
Max Avg HR: 165 bpm
Max HR: 174 bpm

Man, that's alot!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 7th Run (Week 23, Day 32)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 7th Run (Week 23, Day 32)

Click the link above for my run from this morning.

Today was a special run. I participated in World Run Day, that I blogged about a couple weeks ago. Basically, World Run Day is an event that people can sign up for, and run either by themselves, or in a local group, to help raise money for the charity of your choice. Of course, I donated to Livestrong. I was only slated to run 6 miles for my World Run Day entry, but I wound up running 8.25.  I was planning on doing around 7.5 miles today, but lost track of my mileage as I neared Horbach.  At least I know I am capable of making it that far!  LOL!  Next week is a step back week.  I cannot afford to lose track of my mileage next week.  The step back weeks are designed to let your muscles repair the micro tears you put in them by extending your runs, and to give you body extra time to heal.  It's expecting to run a long istance, so when you run a shorter distance, it seems easier to run longer the next time.  I'll admit, it's been a few weeks since I did a step back week, so this will be a welcome change of pace.  Not to mention, I have swing shifts next week at work, so I need to figure out what time I am going to run... I may just keep it the same though, just to stay in some sort of cycle.

I took Horbach, the next village past Linden, by storm this morning. A whole new batch of people staring at me wondering what this guy is doing, where are those weird sounds coming from, and why is he spraying our village with snot rockets! LOL! I made a loop around their church and back to Queidersbach.  Sorry, I looked extensively through Google, and couldn't find 1 picture of Horbach, Germany.  I did learn that there are 2, 1 is up near the Netherlands, and I did not run to there!

It was pretty chilly this morning when I started running, but my gear kept me warm enough once I started running. I had a head wind on the way out to Horbach, with a driving, misty rain the entire run. It rained pretty much every day this week over here. Made my autumn carpeted running trails a mushy mess!

I can definately tell the difference when I use the Jelly Belly Sport Beans! Man, it's crazy how much 15 jelly beans will feed your muscles. I know, they aren't exactly ordinary jelly beans, but I did read a few forum posts about someone who uses just your plain old jelly life savers. Makes me wonder!

Today was special for another reason. I am 1/4 of the way to Paris right now. That's a huge accomplishment for me. I still have a LONG way to go on the fundraising though, as I don't think I have gotten 1 donation! *sigh*  Hopefully my band of friends will swoop in and save the day!  Most of the folks I know are procrastonators anyway!  Love you guys & gals though!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 5th Run (Week 23, Day 31)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 5th Run (Week 23, Day 31)

Click the link above to see my run from this morning.

Sorry for the late post, but I forgot to publish this blog! LOL! I'm scatter brained sometimes!

Nothing very remarkable about this run, other than I ran it about 12 hours after my last run! I think I felt a little of what "The Wall" feels like! I could literally feel my legs tightening up on every stride. I decided I'd better not run for pace, but run just to log the mileage. I still kept it respectable though!

Ready for 7+ on Saturday!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 4th Run (Wek 23, Day 30)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 4th Run (Wek 23, Day 30)

Click the link above for my run from this evening.

Man, what an eventful run tonight. I saw this break off from the trail on my run on Saturday, so I figured, since I am running with some sunlight, I'd try a new trail today. More on that in a second.

God decided it was time to start cleaning house today. It was some pretty gusty wind all morning here, so it blew a lot of the leaves off the trees during the storms. It was awesome, running with a perfetly laid, autumn colored carpet at my feet.   This picture isn't of the trail I was running on, but it sure is a close approximation, though, the trail that I was running had a much plusher carpet of leaves, no tire tracks, and was 100 times more gorgeous than this picture.  In fact, even if I went to take a picture of the trail tomorrow, I doubt a picture could do it justice.  The experience was amazing!  I do not deserve the blessings God gives me!

So, back to the trail I took today. It looked like it was another of the paved walking/bike trails around here that I normally run on. I get about 1/2 mile down the trial, and it turns in to Mississippi dual rut gavel road. If you don't know what they looks like, here's a good example. The bad thing about this is it collects the water. Since it rained this morning, and the leaves were falling, it made like the leafy, murky camoflauge for the puddles, or should I say lakes. My shoes are now soaked & muddy. That wasn't the worst part about the trail though.

This trail, about 1.5 miles out to where I turned around, was mostly uphill. It wound through the foothills around Queidersbach. If I would have kept running, it would have dropped me out on top of Queidersbach hill that I discussed in one of my earlier blogs. But even still, this wasn't the worst part about the trail.

Around the point where I turned around, there was what could only be described as a Nazi training camp! Big sand pit, plain metal monkey bars, the works. Nothing that really denoted it as a Nazi training camp, but it really looked like the same stuff you see on CNN when they show confiscated videos of Al Queda training camps! LOL! I'm sure it wasn't, but it was just out of no where. There were other runners on this trail, so I am positive it was safe.

I still won't be running this trail again. I'm a pavement pounder, not a root jumper. I prefer running on paved surfaces, no matter how bad they say it is on my knees. I figure, I'm running my marathon on paved road, I might as well put Coach Jim Sizemore's words to use, practice how you want to play boys!

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 3rd Run (Week 23, Day 29)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Nov 3rd Run (Week 23, Day 29)

Click the link for my run from tonight.

Great run! Relieved a lot of stress from my day today. It was a little cold, but I warmed up once I started running. It misted rain the entire time, but never really dumped on me, so that was good. My cold weather gear really does what it's supposed to!

Weekly Data Points

For the Data-heads like me out there!

Count: 4 Activities


Distance: 23.75 mi *NOTE* 1/4 mile added due to GPS malfunction

Avg Distance: 5.88 mi

Time: 03:56:47 h:m:s

Avg Time: 00:59:11 h:m:s

Elevation Gain: 2,597 ft

Avg Speed: 6.0 mph

Avg HR: 158 bpm

Calories: 4,409 C

Median Distance: 5.68 mi

Max Distance: 7.00 mi

Median Time: 00:58:07 h:m:s

Max Time: 01:09:55 h:m:s

Avg Elevation Gain: 649 ft

Median Elevation Gain: 647 ft

Max Elevation Gain: 825 ft

Elevation Loss: 2,809 ft

Avg Elevation Loss: 702 ft

Median Elevation Loss: 724 ft

Max Elevation Loss: 837 ft

Max Avg Speed: 6.1 mph

Max Speed: 20.9 mph

Max Avg HR: 161 bpm

Max HR: 175 bpm

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 31st Run (Week 24, Day 28)

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Oct 31st Run (Week 24, Day 28)

Click the link above for my run from yesterday.

Yesterday was a challenge. Not for the run, yeah, my legs were tight after the run and stuff being as it was my LRD, but it was a challenge mainly because I had to work. I have to be at work at 0545. Yeah, way to early. That's normally the time I am heading out the door to get running! If I want to run before my day shifts, I figure I need to get up around 0300. Being as I don't usually get in to bed until around 2200, 5 hours of sleep just won't cut it! So, I had to run when I got in from work.

Something about it just zapped my energy. My back & legs were tight while I was running, and I just generally wasn't interested in the run. Oh well, hopefully they will get better as since I have almost gotten my Watch Supervisor rating in the tower here at Ramstein, I'm sure I'll be pulling more of these shifts. I will probably just have to take my gear & run on base like I did before I started training for the marathon. Maybe the change of scenery will do me some good! LOL!