a barrel of this

Near race pace today. I say near because there were no other runners to chase, no encouragement from anyone around, and I didn’t start out with the intention to run at race pace. However, I was tickled to turn in a fairly quick time. Unfortunately, at work today I stooped down to pick something up […]

At least my times are consistent. I seem to be running 4 miles in roughly the same time from week to week. Unfortunately, the ITBS that comes with it is not so consistent. Though perhaps I’m being unfair to my progress. It was not entirely unexpected that I would be more stiff today after slightly […]

An enjoyable run excluding the sand I managed to dump into my shoes right at the start. I wandered into an area where some homeless folks had made camp and so to give them their privacy I redirected down a steep, sandy trail and ended up with a shoe full of sand at the end. […]

A bit of a speed burst for the last .6 miles or so. Thus I think my condition is improving from fair to good. I’m trying to increase my distance very slowly. There was another runner out this morning running the same route at a slightly quicker pace. So the burst was actually to see […]

There were some crazy storm clouds out this morning. It looked like I was heading right into the rain but luckily I escaped and I believe no rain actually ever fell to ground. I tried to pick up the pace a bit today even though I have yet to increase distance. An increase in either […]

Early evening run in the park. I couldn’t manage to find a trail today to save my life. Usually I have a route that takes me along a nice, woodland path and avoids much of the asphalt. But today I got off course and spent much of the time on the pavement. My legs did […]

There was a wicked headwind at Crissy Field in the late afternoon today. However, that resulted in a pleasant tailwind on the return trip. The leg didn’t hurt today but everything else ached a bit. I’m definitely a believer in the foam roller now. This the longest I went without pain in weeks (or at […]

Go foam roller, go! I got through this run without too much pain and I only stopped once to stretch. The foam roller definitely seems to be helping. Also, I increased the tempo this morning. For some reason, and this is corroborated by other runners who post about such things online, running faster makes the […]

The iliotibial band. He’s the culprit. Bastard. My coworker Joel pointed it out to me because apparently my googling skills need some work as Iliotibial band syndrome, or ITBS, is a common injury for runners and cyclists. The next day Joel presented me with a foam roller. This apparatus looks like a large whacky noodle […]

Not a good day. The mosquitos have found my stretching area in Esprit park. It was cold this morning and my circulation is normally poor so my hands were frozen immediately. There were 1,600 18-wheelers idling along Illinois Avenue so I got to suck in plenty of diesel exhaust. Worst of all the leg pain […]