Doctor Stuff

I finally had my appointment with my new primary care doctor this morning and I got what I had hoped for... a referral to a sports doc! They will look at my heel and tight hamstrings and hopefully come up with a game plan. 

My new PCP is really nice, as well. Younger, competent, and easy to talk to. Glad I'm finally in their system. 

After that, I went back to work. Turned out to be good timing, as my morning class went full remote because of the unexpected snowfall overnight. Business as usual with my afternoon students, including a snowman making contest during our mask break. 

Yes, the cat won. 

Ran 3.3 miles after I got home and set up the heated waterer for the chickens. Went okay... the usual issues, but not so bad where I couldn't get it done. However, there was an extra mental boost knowing that additional help is on the way. 

Six in a Row

 Pretty stoked to run six days in a row! Granted, most of those days were on the very short side, but consistency is key. There were a couple of noteworthy ones in there as well, though. 

Monday - off

Tuesday - 3.2 miles, which includes two, half-mile repeats at tempo pace. Interval work, woohoo!

Wednesday - 2.1 miles

Thursday - 2.5 miles with both dogs, easy. 

Friday - 1.3 miles

Saturday - 3.3 miles

Sunday - 8.2 miles w/ Moxie. 

Total mileage = 20.6

Hamstrings continue to show noticeable improvement. Heel is having more tolerable days, but I'm still wearing the brace off and on.  During yesterday's eight mile run with Moxie, it was off, but the heel started to show some discomfort in the last few miles. However, rather than linger, it quickly calmed down within a few hours. 

Cross country season only has a week left, which will give me an extra 20+ hours a week, making it easier to run and also manage a crazy year of teaching. It's always a bitter sweet end as coaching is so much fun, but at the same time, I welcome the extra time on my day and the Saturday's free. Will try to get in similar mileage this week.

This One's Optimistic

A promising run yesterday: 10K at a respectable pace. Though 8:48/mile felt like a bit of work, but it wasn't a struggle by any means and was totally in bounds. When in shape this would normally be an easy pace for this hilly route, so still a ways to go, but I can tell I've made a lot of progress in that direction. I am rounding the corner, which in my case is not a false, bullshit claim. 

Moxie ran with me, as she often does on the weekends. We also had a nice bonus towards the end when we came across Kate who was running a little over two miles with Hagrid. 

The PF was still aching but only very slightly, as it has been all week. The hammies a touch tight, but way looser... the biggest discomfort was sore glutes, which tells me they are likely activating and finally joining in on doing some of the work. Good signs! 

Will likely take today off from running and do a glute/core workout when I get home. 

Lunch Break Run Courtesy of Corona

 I was just mentioning to Kate yesterday morning that the coronavirus appears to be creeping up the coast to Downeast, and low and behold, that afternoon we got word that a case of it popped up in our school. I am of course thinking good thoughts for those affected and am concerned for my community.

We went to remote learning for the day, which meant greater flexibility with time. In between my classes and a staff meeting was my lunch break, and I was able to get both dogs out for a run. Moxie is a natural runner. Little Hagrid, he's a natural sniffer, usually insisting on stopping every 100 feet to take in some whiffs of something good. 

He was way more focused today for whatever reason, and we got in a really fast pace for him. We also went 2.7 miles, up from the usual two miles even. For Moxie, of course, this was practically nothing but she was grateful all the same. 

So today was remote, but it's back to in-person learning tomorrow. I'm scratching my head a little at that. Actually, a lot. Granted, it was just one case and not (yet?) a community outbreak, but the CDC guidelines seem a bit... well... interesting? 

Everyone who was in contact with this person, defined by being in the same room (or on a bus) with the infected individual for more than 15 minutes must quarantine for 14 days. That part is logical, but that's also where it unfortunately ends. 

Among those in quarantine are three of my students and five of my cross country runners. Eight total. And do I have to quarantine? Nope. Allegedly, I'm good. Never mind that I was with them this week for several hours, and was on a bus with one of the runners. No, don't worry about, you're okay to return to school and be around others. Oooooookay. 

Compacted Week

 I felt pretty good about my running for the prior week. This week? Not so much. The way the week played out just didn't make it easy, but the real culprit was poor time management on my part. 

One way to combat that is early morning runs... something I find difficult to do despite relishing in waking up early. However, whenever I do them, I am always very glad that I did. Looking at the week ahead with cross country meets on Monday and Thursday, I may have to give it strong consideration. 

Rewinding back to last week though, we had Monday off for Indigenous People's Day. I headed to a well known, if not famous, river about an hour and fifteen minutes from my house to capitalize on fly fishing the landlocked salmon run. I know this is off-topic but it's my blog and I can do what I want. 

The salmon here see A LOT of flies thrown at them and are all the wiser for it. However, I was the first person to arrive at one popular run, and on my third cast I hooked and netted a muscular 20+" salmon. The air was cold, my fingers numb, and the adrenaline was surging, so my picture sucked:

It was the only fish I caught. Talking to other fisherman confirmed that it was indeed a very difficult day, so I was extremely stoked to get that one... and it was a doozy.

The Monday off left the work-week crunched. I was only able to run once with the team, and even then it was just a mile and a half total on their warm-up and cool-down. However, yesterday, another biggish rain storm was moving through and Moxie and I got out the door in time to beat it. 

We did five miles and I opted not to wear the ankle brace. We took it especially slow, but the achilles felt a little tight afterwards but loosened up on its own. All in all, not horrible. I'll hopefully get out for a short three miler today but with the brace on this time. 

Cooking With Gas

 A very encouraging week of running, with a total of 14.3 miles and feeling progressively better as the week went on. 

Granted, a few of the runs were very slow and easy, like the two miles with both dogs yesterday. While Moxie loves to haul ass and is built for speed, Hagrid is not. Plus, he loves to stop and sniff things every hundred feet. But, he of course loves it. 

This morning, I woke up and tied a few flies while sipping coffee. A few hours later, Moxie and I were out the door for four miles. Lot's of rust, but the hamstrings felt much looser. The plantar fasciitis has also waned considerably. The ankle brace is really helping with that. 

Still a ways to go, but this week was quite encouraging. Will continue the glute strengthening and core workouts while kicking off the rust. 

Dangerous Riddles

 The fine line between encouraging signs and false hopes: Yesterday I ran a little over two miles with the cross country team on their warm-up. The pace was 8:21/mile, which felt at least a minute faster in my rusty state. My lack of fitness dominated my thinking throughout, which I realized afterwards was actually very good news. My tight hamstrings didn't feel as tight, my PF/heel issues were tolerable (though I was wearing the brace). 

I wondered if I would wake up today with aggravated heel pain or banjo string-hamstrings thanks to the run. I did not. Very minimal heel pain and hamstring issues that appear unaffected by yesterday. 

A good sign, but even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day. Another case of king for a day, fool for a lifetime? Time will tell, but it's nice to have reason for cautious optimism.