Back, Tree, Midnight Mile, Guy at Work

Medium 4 miles today. First 2 were at a quicker-than-usual pace. Had to jump over snow piles and trudge through ice and snow at 2.5...had to fling the arms around to keep my balance. The back started hurting all of a sudden and almost forced me to start walking. But no! There were cars driving by, so I kept on going. During the next half mile my back started to feel better.

Back was doing good and feeling better every day...then yesterday my dad and brother and I were cutting down a tree, so I was pulling a rope. Yep. I pretty much pulled the tree down. That is what probably made the back sore again. Anton kicked a tree down. It is a true story.

It is nice to get 2 days of running in a row. Need to get on a regular schedule again. I am planning to run every day this week, with a total of 35-40. That will be a good way to get back into running higher mileage again.

Ben suggested that we start running right before the new year comes, and bring in the new year while we run! What a great idea! Just like old times, when Anton and I would do a Midnight Mile...

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I believe they have an actual Midnight Mile in Central Park. That would be fun to do!

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Yesterday at work this guy comes up to me and asks if I am a "fitness fanatic" or something like that. I said, "I guess so."

Basically, he wanted some help with fitness and health, and I offered him a lot of advice and said that I would be his personal trainer. He doesn't do any physical activity at all, really, and his diet is not that great. So, I suggested small changes in his diet and am going to help him increase his max pushups from 1 to 40 or so in 4 months. I think that is a good goal for anyone.

Hopefully, it isn't just one of those new year resolutions that dies in about three weeks. Regardless, I am glad that I can help someone out!

A Run with Anton

I ran an easy 2 miles with Anton today...the first time running with someone since August! It was a grand run. The weather was nice, 43, sunny, and a slight wind coming from the north. What a good day to run!

Wore his Garmin. It was awesome. Having your pace, heart rate, etc. right there in front of you is a real help! Grand!

Christmas!

This Christmas was sort of strange. I had to work at 7:00 am until 3:30 pm...dang work! Dang!

Did not run or do PT. The back is feeling a lot better, though. At work, when I was sitting there, something sort of popped, like it popped back into place, and since then it has been feeling better.

Yesterday my sister looked at my back, and then my mom gave me a massage, which made the it feel better too. Thanks to them!

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Jason Statham once said "if you're going to eat s***, eat s***," and that's exactly what I did today. I did not, however, overeat. Hooray! I am getting good at not overeating...it used to be that I overate whenever there was turkey, and mashed potatoes, and pie, and et cetera, et cetera...

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Hope that you all had a very merry Christmas! Hooray!

Pain Migrates from Knee to Back

The pain in the knee is gone...but yesterday when I was trying to move a suitcase, I didn't really use my legs at all (I was wary about my knee), so I think I lifted wrong and now my mid-back is sort of sore.

Well...I might have to take another day off. My knee feels good to go, but now I have to wait for my back to feel better.

:(

A sad face. Boo-hoo!

Knee, Pullups, Hot Tub

So after having an excellent run yesterday, I awoke today to find that the back of my knee was sort of sore. It might be the place where the calf or the hamstring attaches to the joint. I do not know.

I do know, at least I am pretty sure, that I did not hurt it running yesterday. Sure, there was snow and a couple times were I almost fell, but there was no pain at all yesterday. I went running at 11 am, and there was no pain all day. When I was at work, there was no pain either.

Maybe during the night I somehow hyperextended the knee. Maybe I had some kind of crazy dream and was kicking my legs around. Who even knows? No log is kept of what happens when I sleep. Once I tried to get my cat Nacho to take notes of what happens at night, but she ended up falling alseep herself.

Anyway, I have been icing it, put some heat on it, have it compressed with a bandage, and am going to do nothing today. That should help it recover fast. Actually, right now, I am about ready to go get in the hot tub here at the hotel...that will DEFINATELY make a difference. It will improve my mood too.

So, there it is. The negativity has been released. Now recuperation can begin.

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PT

Pullup pyramid, 30 seconds rest between sets. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, failed on 10th with 7 pullups. Waited one minute before doing another max set of 10. Total: 62. Not a bad workout. Only took about 7 minutes.

Planning on doing pushups and situps later...but for now...

HOT TUB!

Run! Finally!

Finally, I got outside for a run! It was awesome! Ran 6 miles...bundled up to survive the -16 degree windchill (the temp was 3). Had to run through some snow...worked the legs. A good time. Didn't get cold at all!

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PT

5 sets max pullup, roughly 90 seconds between sets: 23, 15, 10, 8, 9 = 65 total
87, 70, pushups and situps w/ 15 minutes between sets = 157 each

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I plan to get back on my schedule of getting up at 7 am. It is a good schedule.

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Happy running for all! Are you excited? I am excited! I want to run all the time now! Whoo!

No Run, Again!

There was no run today (Sunday)! I was going to get up at 7:00 and run at 7:30...but then I only woke up at 9:00. Then I fell asleep until 10:15! Oh no! No time to run!

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Planning to go 7 miles tomorrow morning. It is supposed to be 0 degrees at 8:00 am with a windchill of -17. That's what I'm talking about. Real winter. Bring it!

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I am hungry right now. I wish I had a nice meal, but there is no nice meal.