Swimming

Tonight I swam 1.5 miles in the pool at the Kent Rec Center. This is the farthest I've ever gone and I was surprised how well I felt. The pool is 25 meters, so that's 96 lengths. After I got past the first half mile, I got in a groove. I definitely could have kept going, but decided that was good for tonight. Plus I was getting a little bored.

During the summer last year, I swam a few times at Munroe Falls Metropark. They have a nice lake with a long lap lane roped off. Season passes, which go from May to August, are only $25 for Summit County residents. The length of the lake makes it a lot better than doing flipturns every 25 meters. Although, it is definitely harder - small waves, can't push off a pool wall every lap, and harder to stay in a straight line since you can't see in front of you unless you lift your head out of the water.

Getting Back Into It

This past week I went on two runs totaling 10 miles, swam half a mile and lifted. The highlight of the week was making it past 2 miles without my knee hurting.

On Tuesday, I did my longest run since August - 4 miles, yes I said August. I ran on the Towpath to avoid any hills or uneven ground. However, the Towpath wasn't melted yet despite warmer temperatures and the surface was pretty uneven.

So Saturday morning, I tried a bit further running 6 miles on the Towpath, starting at the Boston Store again. This time the path was a bit icier from the snow melting then freezing again. I was able to run on the sides for most of the run without slipping. Again my knee felt good.

After a big injury, you always feel paranoid about every little ache and pain. These runs were different, however. I felt that the slight discomfort was just from lack of training. I think it's crucial for me to continue to strengthen my quads and core as well as mix in swimming. Swimming really interests me anyway and is a great workout. I've gotten to the point where I feel l could swim a couple miles in the pool fairly easy. In the Spring, I hope to buy a bike and get into cycling.

I don't think I'm completely out of the woods yet with this injury, but I've learned a lot from it. You aren't invincible no matter how old or young you are and what races you've done. There's a reason endurance athletes are considered the toughest athletes out there. They train. They train hard. Training is tough and no one likes to feel pain or discomfort. Accomplishing a big goal doesn't happen from one big effort on race day. It happens from a bunch of great efforts during the weeks and months beforehand. Race day is just the day you showcase your training.

Anywho, that's enough rambling for now. I haven't posted in awhile so I had a bit more to say. Moral of the story: Don't be an idiot and train.

Snowshoeing at Kendall Lake

I met Brian and Maria Cala at 10 o'clock this morning at the Kendall Lake Winter Sports Center to go snowshoeing. We hiked around on- and off-piste for about 2 hours. Great time and great workout! Click here for pics from today.

Kent State Rec Center

Tonight I met my parents at Guido's Restaurant in Ravenna. We've gone here a few times and really like the food. My dad and I both got lasagna which they make really well. After we were done eating, I drove over to Kent State's Rec Center and got a semester membership which goes from January to early May. I swam 20 laps tonight then relaxed in the hot tub. I'm pretty excited to get a lot of lap workouts in during the cold months as well as lift and get my quads and legs stronger.

Laps

I went to the Medina Community Rec Center tonight and swam half a mile. I split the first 24 laps into intervals of 4 laps. I swam each group as fast as I could then cooled down with the remaining 8 laps.

New Snowshoes

After work today, I met Dan Bellinger and my brother at Kendall Hills to go snowshoeing. Both Brian and I had just bought Atlas 925 snowshoes for $100 and wanted to try them out. Dan and Brian had already gone an hour. We walked around the Kendall area for another hour. I thought the new snowshoes worked great!

I'm Alive

I haven't posted much lately, actually in two whole months! But then again, I haven't been running much either. The last time I ran any significant distance was more than two months ago when I did a 50K with Brian and Kirk Harrison from Pine Lane to Brecksville and back. Ever since then, my IT Band has been hurting. Even though I finished that 50K strong, it was still a stupid thing to do with hardly any training.

During my time not running, I have been swimming laps every once in awhile at the Medina Community Rec Center. I usually do 1/2 to a mile in the pool. I've also been stretching a lot and using the foam roller. When I was at Clarion, I used the foam roller a few times in the athletic trainers' office and it seemed to work really well. So I bought a giant one from Second Sole for about $25. Pretty pricey for a piece of styrofoam, but I figure it should last a lifetime.

So my only running goal right now is to get healthy. I hope to be able to run a loop of URINEO coming up in December since that's always a tradition. I would like to get completely healthy by January and be able to start training for a Spring mararthon (probably Cleveland) and get a new marathon PR. I'm also thinking about getting a semester membership at the Kent Rec Center from January to May and mix swimming and lifting in with my running. Kent is 10 minutes closer than Medina from my place in Akron so I could go a lot more often.