Training Report 02/18 - 02/24

I had a pretty slack training week again last week as I recovered from my cold.  I actually think I felt worse as I was "getting better" than I did during the first part.  Mostly it's been a lot of coughing my lungs up. 

Wednesday - Walked to the Credit Union and Post Office on lunch.  Probably about 1.5 miles.
Thursday - 3.2 miles.  I walked over to the park in very nice weather.  Felt fine except for a lot of coughing.
Sunday - Went to the park for a hike with the kids, wife, dogs.  It wasn't fast or hard but it was so fun.  I sometimes think I would give up running entirely if the family hiked at least one day every weekend.

Other - I'm basically released from my Chiropractic. I'll be going every 2 weeks or so for a while but mostly I've got my assignments to stretch and work on my strength and core and to take it easy when running and ice if needed.  I probably spent 3 - 3.5 hours working on those things last week.

Training Report 02/11 - 02/17

Another Monday... another Training Report.  Such as it is.

Tuesday - 3.37 mile walk in 1:00. A very nice day out and a walk with no low back pain.  I concentrated on tightening my core throughout.
Wednesday - 3.2 mile walk in 57.  Another nice day and another walk without back pain.
Saturday - 1.5 mile walk.  I'm guessing on distance.  The kids and I walked from the Marathon expo over to the park to play.
Sunday - 5.6 in 1:38.  I walked the first part of the Austin Livestrong Half-Marathon.  Due to my back injury and having a cold, this was all I could do. But I wanted to do something. I planned this and quit after just under 6 miles.  I carried the names of those I walked for and am glad I got up to do this race. 
Week - Monday and Wednesday I saw the Chiropractor and did strength and core work.  I did stretching every morning and evening and some middays when I could. I am definitely becomming more flexible.  I believe that when I am done having a cold, I will feel ok to start running again. Or at least to try to run again.  We will see.

Training 02/04 - 02/10

Again, I had a better week with some walking and even a short bike ride.  I've continued my treatment with the chiropractor which includes a bit of strength work, some core, and a lot of stretching.  At this point he says the problem is largely the lack of flexibility in my hamstrings and glutes.  So lots of stretching...

This week besides that work I:

Tuesday - 3.5 miles in 1:10. I walked over to the park and through for a little while before returning.  Had to walk up the very big 11th mile Half-Marathon hill. 
Wednesday - 3.18 miles in 58 minutes. I walked through campus because I wanted to avoid traffic noise because I was listening to a book on tape. 
Saturday - 3.0 in 1:00.  Went for a walk at Wells Branch with my friend LD.  Not challenging for either of us but a good walk and no pain. 
Sunday - 3.2 in 58.  A little neighborhood walk. I thought the family was going to go for a bike ride so I stayed close to home.  My map ended up looking a little like a flower. 
Sunday - 3.5 miles in 18 minutes. I've been wanting to see how I do on the bike. The chiropractor gave me the ok but said to ride about 1/3 as usual the first time and maybe 1/2 as long as usual the second.  I went just under 20 minutes and FELT NO PAIN!  I'm very excited about that. I came home and stretched and then iced. 

--I have two more chiropractor appointments this week.  It's a doctor heavy week as the kids both have dentist appointments and their annual well child checks too. 

--I've raised $1790 for Livestrong which is well above my hopes and expectations.  I'm very happy with that total. A few people have said that they will donate but once I get to this point, I've nagged enough.  They will give or they won't...

--Runkeeper updated their app to allow more options for time and distance triggers. I'm thrilled as it was one of the thing that irritated me.  I like the trigger to give me a cue but the longest time you could wait between triggers was 5 minutes.  Now you can choose up to 30 minutes or up to every 10 miles (why would you even want a trigger at 10 miles?). 

Training - 01/28 - 02/03

I don't even see a reason to post a planned week at this point.  Certainly last week was better in terms of my doing some walking.  And it's nice to see some green bars on the graph. 

Monday - 1.0 miles.  I walked around with ChocolateDaughter after work and chiropractor.  

Tuesday - 2.8 miles in 1:00.  Rather a slow lunch time walk around downtown.  I just wanted to move a bit but not worry about speed at all.

Wednesday - 2.95 miles in 55 minutes.  A bit faster but not pushing it.

Thursday - 3.5 in 55 minutes.  Mostly walking. I tried a bit of running which basically told me that I am not ready to run yet. 

Saturday - 6.5 miles in 1:50.  I walked both farther and faster than I have in the past few weeks.  I probably should have only gone about 5.5 miles or 1:40 but I was doing loops to the house and got a bit farther than was ideal.  I iced afterwards and it isn't too bad.  Lots of soreness on Sunday though.

What I know:  I can't possibly run or even walk the entire half-marathon.  My current plan is to walk the first 5 miles.  The family usually shows up at that point to cheer for me. I'm thinking that I'll walk that far, then DNF with them.  I feel bad for the people who have donated and those I'm (not) running in memory or honor of but I have to stay healthy too.