Totals from last week:

ChakaKahn	48.3 mi	5:53:11
nanxin	48.2 mi	7:15:15
Happyfeet	40.2 mi	6:32:13
theyapper66	32.8 mi	5:09:17
CliveFenster	30.4 mi	4:17:41
old-runner	25.1 mi	3:31:24
CarolinaBlue	20 mi	2:40:31
alholley	8.1 mi	1:13:42
rossruns	6.2 mi	50:29

I was in a cutback week, and I'm hoping that helps me get a bit of a groove back.  Haven't really felt the running mojo since my 8k a few weeks back.  Hope everyone else is enjoying their runs more than me!

And the Goes To...

old-runner: Met his race goal of 1:35 in the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon with a 4th place AG finish and a time of 1:34:21 and race pace of 7:14.

Got in 6.3 easy miles this morning.  Nice day out.

way to go Richard.. oh man! Nice showing. i read Allens race report and it sounds like you went out hard and fast..

 

 

close race for the gold star this week.. 

 

 

spring is near

Yep, I always go out too hard and fast. Something about all of those people in front of me just won't allow me to hang back and settle into a good pace although I'm sure that would be preferable. It was nice to get honorable mention in Allen's blog even though I think he was just pointing out that he had me in his crosshairs. 

Yay for me... blue ribbon for once! I'd like to thank the Academy, my wife, and everybody I've ever met, talked to, or read about.

90 minute mid-week run.  Nice, cool day.

MTA: Anyone know of any coupon codes for this year's Thunder Road Marathon?

Thanks, Mike.  I'll give it a shot.  I saw the 75, but early for the half is 45 and I was surprised the full was actually 30 more.

Anyone racing this weekend? Who is injured now (whatever happened to Lynwood -- did he retire or does he has disappeared fr the Weekly Totals?)?

I don't there are any road races in the area this weekend. Could be some trails but I steer clear of those.

Next week there's the "Get Your Rear in Gear 5k," which I'm thinking about running...

http://www.getyourrearingear.com/events/list/2011/charlotte-nc

I'm not sure where Lynwood is. We talked at the Cupid's Cup a couple weeks ago.

Clive/Cliff, sorry to hear about your AT.  Hope its not bad.  I injured my Achilles on Dec-19 and still dealing with it (was able to smooth out the scar tissue, reduce the swelling and reduce the area of pain from about 2" to about the size of the top of a forefinger). If you've dealt with this in the past, then you know what to do. If not, I can give you some things that worked for me (in addition to PT).

Hope this helps. Pain is a bad sign (swelling is not good).  If you have pain and swelling, I would go to a Dr so they can examine, confirm and you can then quickly get to PT. I improved after a combination of 3 wks of PT (2 p wk) and intensive focus.  My PT did ART (Active Release Therapy) which is where they did their fingers into the area of pain and swelling (scar tissue). What I did was aggressive massage (2x a day for 10 min digging my fingers into the area of pain to smooth out the nodules and scar tissue, pressing in a circular motion - remember to slap on Vaseline), icing 6x a day (and for 3 of those sessions using a frozen Dixie cup and digging the edges into the area of pain and swelling). The latter is the most effective.  I would not do any calf strengthening (i.e., you'll read about doing eccentric calf raises because your calves are probably already strong fr running and this will aggravate the injury based upon my experience).  Finally, calf stretching (on a 30 degree incline holding it at least 30 sec) and Achilles stretch (i.e., on a step, w/heels hanging, stretch heels downward & hold up to 30 sec). They tell you do at least a total of 10 min worth of stretching (I would concur). Don't "aggressively" stretch (i.e., use a steeper incline) and make sure to stretch your other foot.  Finally, when your cleared to run, I would tape (I tried KT tape and found it was not "strong" enough -- I use cloth first aid tape, start under heel up on one side of foot in between Achilles and ankle and then cross over to other side and tape up to upper calf  (to about 2" below underside of knee -- and use three strips on each side.

My pain is almost gone but have swelling (swelled up after run today & iced). My PT told me that to expect swelling for about a year!

If you go back to your log -- have you been running routes that have more hills? Done more hill sprints than usual? Did you favor the other foot during any of your runs? What will also aggravate the Achilles is running in "negative" shoes (relatively same heel to forefront height) or Vibrams.  I ran in Newtons (negative shoes).  Since I started up again, I had to buy a new pair of shoes (w/a higher heel to forefront ratio), gradually increase the elevation in my runs, and concentrate on shortening my stride when running up any incline to minimize the stress on the Achilles.

When you did your fingers into the area of pain -- do you feel lumps and/or nodules? Is your Achilles "creaky" (the tendon will actually make a noise due to the scar tissue -- plus you'll feel that  -- feels like "plastic"?