Training Tuesday - The agony of da-feet

What Now?

If you are old like me and loved watching the Wide World of Sports you remember the opening of the show with "the thrill of victory" and "the agony of defeat" lines. I remember clearly the ski jumper taking a huge digger and crashing hard for defeat. Funny how I can't remember what the clip was for victory. Anyway, while watching some Olympic ski jumping my daughter asked me if the jumpers ever crash? I took her to the computer right away and youtubed that clip. Man, did that dude "F" himself up or what. Well, my post is not about that, but more my own agony.

Last year, just before I was set to run my first ever half marathon I got a bad case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I pulled out of the race and stopped running for a couple of months. When I started up again in December the foot felt great and I was back on track. I set out my goals for 2010 and number one on my list was to run another half marathon set for March 6. Everything has been going great until my long run 8 days ago. The next day I felt something in my right foot that sure felt like the beginning of plantar fasciitis. So, I started the healing routine again: ice, stretch, rolling my foot over a tennis ball, ibuprofen and no running all week.

Sunday, feeling great, I took off for my 10 mile long run. About mile 7 my foot starts to hurt, but not enough to get me to stop. I make it through the run OK, but that night my foot really started to hurt. For the past couple of days I have been in real pain. This sucks. I am 11 days away from finally running my first half marathon and I’m looking another DNS in the face. I really don’t want to pull out of it, but I also don’t want to make things worse and threaten the rest of my racing year.

B suggested I see the LMP-C IMT (integrated manual therapy) she sees for some intense sports therapy massage. This guy puts her through the ringer, but if he can get me to run on the 6th I’ll take the pain. The only real issue I have is HE IS A GUY and I have a long standing rule against having a male massage therapist…but I want to run that damn half, so I am breaking my rule this once. I just hope "it does not move" like it did for George on Seinfeld.

Here's to my journey into a new frontier.

Peace out!

The OTHER great race

What Now?

Yesterday, at the World Track and Field World Championships, Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the 100 meter dash with a time of 9.58, shattering his own world record in the process. Bolt, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, once again showed why he has the title of "world's fastest man" by blowing away the competition.

And yet, on the other side of the world another race at a local high school track was about to take place. A race that, in my little world, makes the world championships seem rather unimportant. This race would pit father against daughter, a rivalry just starting to take shape, but will no doubt be ranked among the best in sports, at least in my daughter's mind.

For anyone who developed an interest in sports at a young age the biggest rival you faced was your parent(s), especially if you are the first born. Sibling rivalries are big, but don't really develop until all the siblings reach a similar level of ability. Heck, I could whip my younger brother in just about any sport invented for the first 18 years of his life. But I would say the last 15 years things have changed big time in the only sports we dare to compete in, like golf, ping-pong and racquetball. I would challenge him to a game of basketball, but I'm afraid I would injure myself beyond repair.

As the oldest child in my family it was my Dad that posed the biggest sports challenge I could ever face. To me he was like Larry Bird, Dan Marino, Don Mattingly and Carl Lewis all rolled into one super athlete. No matter the sport, he would always get the best of me. Until that one day that will live in sports history, or my mind, forever. The day I finally beat him in basketball. I don't remember the details, but I certainly remember the feeling. I have to believe it's right up there with winning a Super Bowl, an NBA title or a World Series. I still don't know if I beat him legitimately or if he threw the game, but for me things changed from that day forward. And now as a father I know they changed for him too.

How do I know this, well let's get back to the big race shall we? I thought it would be fun for the whole family to head on down to the local track and run around a little. We could probably tire out the kids a little and if I could avoid pulling every muscle in my body it would be a good day. My 7 year old is built very much like me, tall and all legs. I know she is fast. I've seen her leave friends and cousins in the dust when they race. When she suggested we race I'm sure you could see the glimmer in my eye a mile away.

We lined up at the start of the 100 meter dash. I told her I would give her a 5 second head start, just to be fair. To be honest I thought I could probably catch her by the 50 meter mark and then jog it in for the win. We get set, we get to our marks and I yell 'GO!"....and she is off. I count to 5 very loud as I see my little girl tear up the track...oh shit, I'm gonna really have to run now. At 5 I take off, determined to catch her.....better go faster.....come on dad, better catch her. Whoaaa, she is really fast. Don't hurt yourself old man, this is just for fun remember. Amazing how many thoughts I'm putting together for this short race, eh?

At this moment I know what my Dad felt like when we would play. On one hand you love seeing your child compete, give it everything they have to beat you. On the other you do still have a little pride, and you don't want to just hand them victory, you want them to earn it.

So, how did the race end you ask? You mean it wasn't posted on ESPN.com right under the world championship results...that sucks! Well, let's say it took just about everything I had in the tank to just nip her at the finish line. We did race one more time, and in that race she got me....and if I let up at the end she will never know, nor will she care because she beat her dad and that feeling will stay with her forever.

PEACE OUT DADS!!!

Run Forest Run

There are many things in your life that you can't control. Sometimes those things can drive you crazy and/or effect your life in dramatic ways. The current economic crisis is really effecting my business and at the same time effecting my ability to find another job. This double whammy is driving me crazy and is completely out of my control. At the same time, there are many things we can control in our lives and sometimes it is those things that bring balance and calmness. For me one of those things I can control is my fitness level and exercise routine. Last year I found cycling to be a great way to get in shape. I bought a new road bike, signed up for the Seattle to Portland ride (200 miles in two days), started training and away I went. I could determine when, where and for how long I would ride. It gave me a great sense of control and provided me with a calmness that I needed to handle those parts of my life that I could not control. Right before the holidays I put the bike away and started running. Thanks to a new treadmill purchased with holiday gift money I kept a pretty good training program going and even ran my own half-marathon in January (not the best time to run a long distance outside in Idaho, but it was great and I finished it). I have now set my sights on my first full marathon this Memorial Day weekend. I am training hard and loving it. Most of my life I have been a runner competing on track teams and then running for fitness after my competition days were over. Because of an expanding waistline and sore knees I went away from running for many years. But, I decided that both of those excuses were things I could control, so I started slowly and began to run again. What has been an extra bonus is that my waistline has shrunk (almost back to my running weight in college) and because I am carrying less weight around my knees are not as sore. What a great deal that is. The college track team I ran for had a special one day camp for local elementary school kids so I took my first grade daughter and she had a blast, even said her favorite part was the hurdles (my event back in the day). If I could only pass one thing on to my children it would be a love of fitness, sports and physical activity. To me so many other great things can happen when you are fit and active. And it's something you can always control.

UNTIL NEXT TIME...DAD IN TRAINING OUT!