PPM by 2010

Easy run with Lily in the stroller. Easy on a Friday!

Started a BB09 training program yesterday with a coach. Focused mostly on drills and form. Heal-strike bad, mid-foot good. 90+ strikes per minute cadence, looking 15 feet out front with elbows driving straight back and hands near the chest. Amazing how much easier it is running with a shorter gait and a quick stride...

Felt great today. Knee is definitely getting better, just a few little "tweaks" here and there. Ironic today, really bad accident in front of the hospital on the way home. Would have had to exit via the Campus Drive exit which would have surely been backed way up...287 north was really bad. So, running home may have saved me time!

Anyway, really encouraged after today. May be able to do some tempo or intervals tomorrow morning. May do some hill repeats next week as well, but will ratchet back to 2-3 max and then make way up from there...as the article suggested of course.

Great article by MF on stride. Definitely a big interest of mine over the past year...almost an obsession for sure. Fascinated by the ability to mitigate injury through form. I guess this appeals to my ski racing and crew days where form is almost everything (well, strength and endurance are important as well). Really want to try those Lunaracers as the LunaTrainers definitely did not work for me. The weight of the things are amazing!

Great post by JOHN HALAMKA on Google Health. Fascinating technology, but so simple. Disruptive? Not sure.

Easy run to work. Terrible sleep the night before as we went to bed a bit late and O woke up not long after, was up for an hour or so. So, not in the best, most alert state for the run. Noticed that my legs were a little tired and my left knee kind of hurt early in the run. This evened out a bit, but might have been favoring the knee as my right one flared up a bit near the end. Really just sore with no acute pain, but annoying nonetheless. HR was much higher than it should have been given the pace. Was even a bit hot in my pants and shell. Weird weather.

First run since the little knee "tweak" at Eldora on Saturday. Was going a bit fast down a narrow, groomed trail when I hit a slight knoll. Lost a little control as the stiff Volkl's unloaded out from under me. Saved the fall, but tweaked the back side/outside of my knee. No pop and was able to ski the next few hours without incident. However, on the way home had intended to do a Betasso loop or two. No dice, as each stride definitely hurt with a near feeling of the right knee giving out...or rather, it felt that way when it hurt during the stride. Anyway, iced and rested it since.

Today, after much worry about the potential for a prolonged injury, the knee felt ok. I could feel the tweak if I overstrided or landed with my knee straight, but as long as I ran with decent form and a slightly bent knee under my center of gravity the knee felt fine. I even did a stride down in the low 7's and it felt better if anything. So, it seems that there is no real acute injury and that whatever happened is on the mend. Even several hours after the run as I write this the knee does not feel tight or painful. So, no ACL tear for me...

Overally decent run at a reasonable pace given the slight uphill all the way up Coal Creek, through Old Town and to Home. Faster than I normally run this route...probably because there was not drastic head wind as I had feared.