Hobbling on the Road to Recovery

The Stats 6/17/12 - 6/23/12
6/21/12: 2.8 mi; 21'26"; 7'24" avg. pace
I hit my goal of resting until the 18th...and then some. A weekend of vacation in SC left me exhausted leading into the week and made it easy to rest through Wednesday. The sole run of the week came on Thursday as I finally felt comfortable giving the knee a go. There was some discomfort, though thankfully not on the same level as two weeks ago. I jogged out my regular route with probably a faster pace than I should have. Miles 2 and 3 saw considerable favoring of the left leg. This led me put more pressure on the right thigh than I usually would. I stopped before hitting my goal of 5k, as I had looped in front of my house at 2.8 miles.
Friday morning showed how awful a disjointed running form can make you feel. My right thigh was very sore. I hobbled around the office and did my best to stretch when no one else was leering into my cube. With soreness persisting into Saturday (my long run day when I'm in normal mode) I decided to let this week remain extremely soft and hope for full recovery next week. However, I did decide to pay a visit to Robert's Running Store for the first time. I've been wanting to head over there ever since their Charleston location opened. This whole knee injury deal has convinced me I need to try a minimalist running shoe that will encourage ground striking on the ball of the foot. I sampled three pairs Saturday morning, jogging on the treadmill and making the rounds outside the store. Ultimately, I felt the least amount of elevation and most freedom in Newton's Momentum shoes (pictured below).

Ready to log some serious mileage. Thumbs up, let's do this!

Much thanks to Alana for humoring me and letting me try out a number of kicks. We'll see how a different shoe alters my gait in the coming weeks and if it has the potential to relieve stress on the knee. I'm worried it's a problem with the meniscus, but I'm not overly book-learned when it comes to anatomy.
The coming week features no run events. Still, it could be just the shot at getting back to form that is so desperately needed. Fingers (and toes) crossed.

The Resting Is the Hardest Part

The Stats 6/3/12 - 6/9/12
6/6/12: 0.7 mi; 5'46"; 7'20" avg. pace
6/9/12: 1.0 mi; 7'10"; 7'10" avg. pace
It was a rough week of running. More accurately, it was a rough week of not running. I stepped up my summer training too soon when I ran the Corridor G hill last Saturday. That led to an aching knee, which had me walking with a limp. In addition to the slight injury I had nights of quite little sleep. Those two factors worked together to sideline me until Wednesday. I foolishly headed out Wednesday, hoping the pain in my knee might be worse walking than running. This hope was flattened as I trotted along behind UC heavily babying the left leg. Darn. More rest seemed like the only reasonable treatment. I did that and iced down the knee at intervals through Thursday and Friday.
It was a bright, sunny day on Saturday so I thought I'd test out the knee again. Mike had taken out his boat for its maiden voyage the previous evening allowing a nice evening of rest heading into the day. The first half mile was semi-normal. I tried to keep pressure off the knee while not significantly altering my form. At around 0.75 miles, I could feel a little twinge and some slight popping. I knew it would be a mistake to try to push any further. A serious commitment to rest has to be made. On the surface that sounds easy, but running gets to be a habit when you form a slight addiction to it. Severing an addiction, even a positive/slight one, is tough. I have to be smart and strong enough to not ruin the next few months of running activity. It helps that I haven't signed up for any road races in the near term. My plan is to hang up the Nike's until at least June 18.
It ended up being an even tougher week due to other family issues outside of those listed. Here's hoping for better days.

Fat Kid Introduction (Mike)

Hi all - I spent most of the decade making up my 20's as a powerlifter; twice a week listening to Heavy Metal and moving as much Heavy weight as possible.  I had a couple long breaks; first when I attempted to join the Peace Corps and then again during grad school.  My powerlifting career culminated in 2010 when I attended my first ever powerlifting meet.  Unfortunately, I received bad information about the type of bench shirt I would be allowed to use and essentially had to lift raw after I had already set my weights for the meet.  Three attempts at 407lbs and none were successfull.  Regardless, I've moved on and decided to join my brother in cardio sport.

My favorite cardio sport is cycling.  I always enjoyed watching the Tour de France and I took a leap in '06 after graduate school and bought a Cannondale Synapse.  Cycling is time consuming and I haven't had the opportunity to ride as much as I'd like some years.  Some of my highlighted events include:  2-day 116 mile ride from Louisville to Lexington for MS Kentucky in 2009, 2-day 137 mile ride from Lewisburg to Snowshoe and back for MS West Virginia in 2009, and 66 mile Mountain Mamma Road Bike Challenge with 6,464 ft of vertical climb in 2009.

I've managed to get my weight down from 230lbs during my powerlifting days in 2010 to around 210lbs.  However, running continues to be a challenge for me.  I first started running races with Matt in 2008.  Back in those days I was a run/walk/run runner.  Oddly enough, my times were faster employing that method.  I'm slow, but I find it much more rewarding to run a full race from start to finish.



I've recently taken up swimming with the hope that I'll someday be able to complete triathlon events that feature swimming.  Matt and I have participated in several mini-triathlons that replace swimming with kayaking.  We actually help sponsor the Capital City Challenge (Run-Row-Ride) mini-triathlon in Charleston, WV.

Here are some of my personal highlights as of today:

Max Bench Press (Raw) - 390lbs

Max Bench Press (Shirted) - 435lbs

Longest Bike Ride - 75.43 miles from Lewisburg, WV to Cass, WV (5:16)

Best Climb - Climb#2 on Sceinic Highway 150; 4.9 miles with 1,448ft elevation gain

Most Ridden in a Year - 1,002 miles in 2009.

Longest Run - 8.45 miles (1:39.22)

Best 5k Time - 29.47  (2010 Outrunning Hunger - Huntington, WV)

Best 4 Mile Time - 41.04  (2011 Joker 4-Mile Run - Charleston, WV) 

Best 5 Mile Time - 58.46  (2011 Run For Your Life 5-Miler - Charleston, WV)

Best 10k Time - 1:03.56  (2009 Ready River Run - Greenville, SC)

Most Ran in a Year - 154.62 miles in 2011

Longest Swim - 1,200 yards (48 laps) (37.24)

In closing, these stories have not been embellished, because - they need no embellishment.  They are simply, horrifyingly, the story of my life as a recovering powerlifter turned cardio sport participant.  Thank you.

Running Up That Hill

Hoping to recover from my post Cleveland funk, I went for a run up Corridor G hill yesterday morning. It is also affectionately known as Capitol Punishment Hill during the Charleston Distance Run. The hill is a solid mile from start to finish, if not longer. Nike+ Maps estimates it as a gain of 301 ft. over that mile. That's an average gradient of 5.7%, but there are definitely steeper sections along the way. I started to feel a slight twinge in my knee approaching the hill, so I took it cautiously this time out. My third mile took 7'47" with the hill starting at the end of that mile. The next mile took me 9'06" to complete, as I crested the height where 119 meets Oakwood Road. My knee held up, but the thighs were barking pretty hard. It was brash to try to come at the Corridor with no hill training so far this year, but I was really anxious to prove myself coming off a week long rest. Here is the view coming back down with the slope continuing for another half mile below the horizon:

Glad to be heading downhill

The final run stats were: 7.15 miles, 56:21, 7'53"/mile pace, 885 calories.
And now a comment on post frequency. Mike and I have decided to post weekly or monthly on our progress. Occasionally we'll put up a product review or special training note. Outside of that, I'll try to keep the posts event centered. As this was a special post on Corridor G, it took the place of my Sunday week-in-review post.

Spring Redux

It was a busy spring in the Harmon running clan. I kicked it off in April by running my alumni race at Georgia Tech. The Georgia Tech Pi Mile Road Race had its 40th installment in 2012. It was the fourth time I've been privileged to run the 3.14159265... miles; okay it's really just a 5k but you get the point, they like math at Tech. The race itself is a nice course, though it deviates slightly from the Tyler Brown Pi Mile Course that I frequently ran around campus as a student (see the Nike Run map image below). 

It starts flat, to downhill as it circles around west campus on Ferst St. Following a loop around Fowler & Bobby Dodd Way, the incline picks up on 5th St. Techwood is slightly uphill and leads into uphill sections on North Ave. and Tech Parkway. Tech Parkway is about where I traditionally feel like gearing down the pace. Still, my third mile matched the pace of my first mile and I ended up with a course PR of 22:55. Here's me sweating out the finish.-  

Back in WV, Mike and I gave the Great Greenbrier River Race a first attempt. Unfortunately for us, there was a steady ran lasting for nearly an hour prior to the race. All we could do to stay warm was huddle in a tent and try to steal some body warmth from the other participants. The race start was pushed back about half an hour, but we stuck it out and made our mark. I was pumped to get running just to warm up out of the gate. My 5k flew by, but the kayak down the Greenbrier River proved difficult. Some shoulder stiffness aside (possibly due to poor form) I survived and kicked up some mud on the bike. The bike path was soaked, muddy, and narrow making passing very difficult. I managed to fall down at one turn around point when I couldn't clip out of my cycling cleats fast enough. This made me have to pass a number of riders again. But I struggled on and rode into Marlinton triumphant. My final split times were: Run - 21:29, Row - 54:20, Bike - 38:30. Mike's splits were: Run - 29:17, Row - 56:26, Bike - 41:41. Celebrations were had by all at Snowshoe.

In early May, the Triana Energy crew took part in the WV Komen 5k. It manages to draw the largest crowd for any road race of any distance in the state with probably around 5,000 participants, runners and walkers. Our yearly epic struggle places Mike against Drew. The story of that battle is long and may or may not involve breast cancer survivors being pushed out of the way near the finish line. It's complicated. This year's victory was decidedly won by Drew who edged out Mike by a good six or seven minutes. I slogged through another rainy race relatively well, posting a time of 21:10 on the flat, fast course that is the Kanawha Boulevard in Charleston, WV. Below are pictures of Drew (face agape) and myself.

Late May saw one of my local favorite events come to pass again. The Poca River 15k boasts being the oldest road race in WV. It certainly is one of the more scenic ones. Approximately 9.3 miles of looping and winding roads, with car dodging a hazard, has some beautiful open land to ease the leg pain. I ran substantially better than two years ago and posted a time of 1:09:26 which is around a 7'30"/mile pace. The picture shows how much fun I had cruising along this year.

Lastly, the greater Harmon running clan made its first 10k foray of 2012. We ran Cleveland in the Rite Aid Cleveland 10k at the end of May. Mary, Mike, Emily, Krystle, Jess, Stacey, and Kirsten joined in for the fun on this one. It was a hot day for Cleveland, especially in May with the wind offering surprisingly little relief. The course snaked from Browns stadium and through downtown on Superior and Chester Ave before turning on E 40th St. From there the course looped back around, mostly on St. Clair Ave before hanging a right on E 9th St. and ending around the stadium. I posted a respectable, though not PR chip time of 45:19. Mike struggled in the heat but finished with his signature sprint timing in at 1:06:20. Emily took slightly longer with a time of 1:18:46. And Mary did some walking as her training for the year isn't up to full speed quite yet; she stopped the clock at 1:35:29. I got a nice mid-air shot near the finish in this one.

As the summer wears on, I hope to add each race as it happens and provide a more detailed look than I gave to these past events. The schedule is not set in stone, but our next family 10k might wait until the fall and is likely to be located in Pittsburgh.

Introduction

Welcome to Participation Trophy Runners. My name is Matt, and I like to run. My brother Mike and I indulge in local road races/cycling events/mini-triathlons. A broader contingent of our family has made it a goal to run a 10k in every state of the union. There is no particular timeline on that goal, but it seems to take the shape of one or two out of state events per year. This is my attempt to chronicle our exploits and provide some interesting insights into amateur endurance sports. I have no particular expertise in running technique, but I am learning and making improvements to maximize each experience. Our attitude is a relaxed one; we do our best, but at the end of the day are just as excited with a rewarding meal as with our finishing times. So read along if that sounds of interest to you!