Sunday Long Run

I had a great long run this afternoon.  The weather was awesome (42 degrees) and the sun was shining down on me.  I ran 9.34 miles with a pace of 9:34/mile.  That's kinda interesting when you look at that 9.34@9:34.  My legs felt great.  I have been having a little trouble with my lower left leg lately.  I think I have a tendon issue on the inside of the lower leg and foot.  I have been doing some isolated strength exercises (mainly ankle and foot work) along with my regluar strength training.  I still continue to do Coach Jay Johnson's warm-up and cool-down followed by yoga.  I finished the week with 25 miles of running.  

Weekly Update 1/16 - 1/22/12

I ran a total of 24 miles this week.  I did the majority of my running at the gym on the treadmill due to the snow we got here in Des Moines, IA.  I did two tempos and my 9 mile long run on the dreadmill. When I run on the treadmill I use my Garmin for a heart rate training run.  I felt great running my 9 miles today.  I'm getting stronger and hoping to run injury free this year.  

Weekly Running Recap.

I had a pretty good week of running last week.  I did suffer a little on my Monday run.  I went out on my run to meet my girlfriend at the gym and I was really sore.  I did run an eight miler the day before and It was just a little too much.  I did have two good tempo runs each a little over 5 miles each.  I had a great long run this past  Sunday.  I ran 9.2 miles with 46 degree temperatures.  I have had the best winter for running in Iowa.  I finished all of my runs at the gym doing yoga and strength training.

It's finally cold in Iowa

Well I guess my fall winter weather here is Iowa is over.  Today it is COLD outside.  The temperature is 16 degrees with 24 mph winds.  I'm lucky I don't have to run tonight because I did my tempo run yesterday when it was 36 degrees out.  I do have another tempo scheduled tomorrow and I will just have to power through the cold.  Google tells me it's going to be sunny and 23.  Lets hope for the sun.

Week in Review

I had a great week of running.  I did two tempos my fastest since my injuries and I also got out for a two mile run with my 9 year daughter.  My daughter is just starting to run.  She has put in a total of five miles with me so far.  Hopefully she will be a future runner.  Back to my running progress.  I also did an 8 mile long run this afternoon.  I put in 26 miles this week.  I have been progressing slowly so I don't continue to injury my self.  I am continuing with my strength training and yoga.  This has all been such great help.

Awesome Tempo Run by sscharer at Garmin Connect - Splits

I had a great run this evening. I hit my tempos with strength and tackled the Park Avenue hills here in Des Moines. I'm finishing my fourth week of base training and I doing awesome. Here are is a copy of my garmin splits. I will post a recap of my week on Sunday.

Awesome Tempo Run by sscharer at Garmin Connect - Splits

2011 A look Back

Well, my 2011 running year had some setbacks.  I started the year with a calf injury (my left peroneus longus muscle) which had me going to physical therapy for about month.  Once that healed I started training for the 2011 Dam to Dam race here in Des Moines.  The Dam to Dam is a wonderful 20K race held during the first week of June.  But all wasn't well.  In May I stress fractured my left fibula.  I was thinking really who stress fractures their fibula (that is a support bone) and once again I start physical therapy.

Then I was back to running in July and things were going well.  I started taking it slow because I developed some bursitis in my left knee that the physical therapist was working on.  I started feeling great then in mid-August I damaged my right peroneus longus.  This was a serious injury.  I could barely walk for 3 days and I couldn't run for 8 weeks.  For some reason I didn't go see the doctor or return to physical therapy.  I set out on a path of strength training.

I returned to running September 12th and I have been running strong ever since.  I continue to strength training and I'm logging about 20 miles a week.  I learned to slow things down and not race my workouts.  I have a set workout routine I perform weekly.  I do yoga now and I continue with my physical therapy exercises.  I hope 2012 will be a better year and I will continue to write about my ups and hopefully less frequent downs.

Summary of 2011:
Total miles run 604:  Not bad :)
Injuries:  4 :(
Total of 10 weeks injured without training
No races :(   

Tempo Run by sscharer at Garmin Connect - Splits

Ran my second tempo for the week. This run was a little tough. I started my run off with sore calves and couldn't really step up my speed. I did run with my heart rate monitor and stayed within my preset range so the run overall a good run. I did step up my tempos this week I added another 1,000 M on to my routine. I am not running 5 x 1,000 M at my heart rate tempo speed. I did link my splits to the page. Feel free to comment if you wish. Thanks. Shane

Tempo Run by sscharer at Garmin Connect - Splits

I had a great 7 mile run today.  This is the best Christmas present you can give you self is going out for a run.  I ran from my house to Grays Lake.  Grays Lake is a popular lake in the Des Moines, IA are with a 2 mile black top track surrounding the lake.  There is a nice city view in the back ground.  Next time I'm there I will take a picture to post on this site.  I had perfect weather today.  It was 45 degrees, sunny, and we don't have snow.  This is pretty strange weather for Iowa in late December.  Overall I ran 20 miles this week.  I did two tempos, an easy 30 minute run and today's long run.  I get to step up my base training a little more this up coming week.  I'm looking forward to posting next weeks training.

Nice Long Run

Feeling a better.  I ran for the past 3 days putting in 15.6 miles.  I just finished up my return to running training program and I'm ready to start my base training for next years racing season.   I plan on running Iowa's Dam to Dam 20K.  I ran this in 2010 and this was a great race course.  I signed up for the race this year and suffered a stress fracture.  I been doing great with my recovery training and hope the base training goes well.  I have been feeling a lot stronger.  Well I will post some more updates very soon.

P.S.  Here is a picture that I took on a little trail next to the river this afternoon on my long run.  I call it 'Running of the Geese.' There were about sections of geese on this mile trail.  I had a hard time maneuvering around all the poop.

Long Run Today

I had a nice long run today.  It's starting to get cold here in Iowa and I still in my summer mentality.  I ran wearing shorts and nearly froze to death.  I put in 6.5 miles in a little over an hour.  I started my run with a quick warm-up and finished my run with some runner's yoga and a few leg exercises.  Now I'm going to eat some chili and relax.

Back to the roads of sorts.....

I finally made it back to pavement running.  I ran around Des Moines, IA Gray's Lake park today!  I felt so good to get off the treadmill.  I had a great 25 minute run.  I logged just over 3 miles according to my Garmin.  My legs felt great and my blister on my right foot did not act-up at all.  I haven't felt this good in a long time.  I plan on getting back to Gray's Lake on Friday.  Thanks for listening :)