Running on different surfaces

I've been taking this week a bit easier on mileage after feeling some tightness and lingering twinges on my right ITB following Sunday's run. I feel that the right leg is only about 80-85% healthy since the injury. On Monday I gave the legs a break from running. Since then I've kept my runs at about 50-60 minutes while running on different surfaces. Ran on the treadmill on Tuesday, beach on Wednesday, track on Thursday and mostly on grass today. Tuesday and today's run was lovely as I took in the beautiful scenery of Guam's water.

View of Tumon Bay from Two Lover's Point

Yesterday's run on the track was fun. Instead of just circling the track at an easy pace, I decided to add a little speed with some circuit training. After 20' of easy running I did 400s at 5k pace with some core exercises (pushups, situps, crunches, leg-raises, etc.) and plyometric drills between each 400. Did only 7 x 400s as I didn't want to aggravate the ITB. Splits (80, 80, 79, 78, 77, 78, & 80) were fairly consistent at about 5:20 pace

Missing the running trails.

It has been a successful last couple weeks of running. Following a week of recovery from Grandmas I'm slowly building my base mileage. One thing I realized is how lucky and spoiled I've been while stationed at Fort Bragg. The Army post has many running trails (grass, dirt, and sand) and roads to run on giving runners an option to run on soft or hard surface. I think most runners would choose to run on trails versus asphalt/concrete any day of the week. This hasn't been the case for me over the past two weeks as there aren't much running trails in Okinawa and Guam. All of the last 130+ miles has been on asphalt/concrete. There is no doubt that I could feel the extra stress and pounding on the legs and knees. I'm missing the trails.

30 Jun - 06 Jul
Mon: DNR;
Tues: 8M (56:58 - 7:07 pace)
Wed: 8.9M (1:03:23 - 7:07 pace)
Thur: 9.2M (1:04:24 - 7:00 pace)
Fri: 10.1M (1:10:08 - 6:57 pace)
Sat: 10.6M (1:12:35 - 6:51 pace)
Sun: 10.1M (1:10:38 - 7:00 pace)

Weekly Total: 56.9M in 6 runs

07 - 13 Jul
Mon: 7M (1:00:37 - 8:38 pace)
Tues: 10.1M (1:09:22 - 6:52 pace)
Wed: 12M (1:23:07) - 6:56 pace)
Thur: 10.6 (1:14:56 - 7:04 pace)
Fri: 10.2 (1:12:13 - 7:05 pace)
Sat: 11M (1:16:40 - 6:58 pace)
Sun: 14.6 (1:44:23 - 7:09 pace)

Weekly Total: 75.5M in 7 runs

Finally an update

After some convincing from friends, It's time to get back to updating my blog. I have no reason not to blog now, especially that I've recovered from my ITBS and back on the roads and trails. Here's an update of what has taken place since my last post a couple months ago.

Injury
I was sidelined with an IT Band Syndrome on 1 April . After 7-8 weeks of almost no running, plenty of core exercises and weights, nightly foam roller tortures, and lots of stretchings I managed to get healthy and put one foot in front of the other. All I can say is that it was a great feeling to run for 10 minutes, then 15, then 30 and so on.

Grandmas Marathon
After 4-5 weeks of pain-free running, I decided to continue with my planned trip to Duluth, MN for Grandmas Marathon with my friend Bobby. Bobby and I registered for Grandmas so that we can finally say we ran in the same marathon. I ended up running the marathon despite no training. My longest run was a 10-miler on Wednesday the week of the race. I know many people disagreed with my decision to run the marathon, but I truly didn't want it to be my first DNF in a marathon or in any race. I could have easily decided not to make the trip, but then it would mean I'd waste a few hundred dollars and abandon a friend. There were no regrets making the trip. I had lots of fun and still broke 3-hours. Finished in 2:54:08.

Okinawa
I spent a week in Okinawa visiting my brother and playing tourist. Okinawa is beautiful and reminds me of home. The only thing I'd hoped for was that it be a different time of the year. It was just too hot and insanely humid....but again what place isn't this time of the year. I was able to get in at least an hour long run each day, thanks to these drink machines. I was very impressed to see these drink machines (Coke, coffee, juice, tea, water, gatorade, etc.) about every 1/4 mile along the roads. I'd run into these drink machines in places that I'd never thought they'd put one. And they all worked too. 120 Yen was enough to get me through a hot, sweaty hour run.

Guam
Currently in Guam visiting family and friends before heading out to my next duty assignment in the Netherlands. The weather here is nice, around 70-80 degrees with some humidity. As far as running goes I'm trying to put in as much base running as I can while home. So far I've managed to get in 65-85 minutes of easy running each day. These next few weeks will serve as my base phase in preparation for a fall marathon (hopefully ING Amsterdam Marathon).