Week 4 part 1 (of 1)

Knee pain and swelling, plantar fasciitis, and allergies have limited my training the last couple of weeks. I'm definitely not up to the schedule ol' Hal Higdon has cooked up. I've settled on a regimen of running three days a week and lifting at least two days a week. No post last week because I was getting brutalized at work and only ran twice.

I've changed my running up a little bit. For one I'm trying to run outside more often. When I do have to run on the treadmill, because it's dark or raining or whatever, I set the incline on the treadmill to 1. I read that this should more closely approximate trail running. Outside I tend to run a little slower than 8 min/mile, but I'm never gassed at the end. I seem to have a very poor internal clock, and without a watch or distance markers I settle into a slower pace than I would like. On the treadmill I'm doing 4 miles with the incline up at 1 in around 31 minutes (last night was 30:57, Monday was 31:32). I keep hoping that the treadmill running will train the correct pace into my motor memory, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

Right now my plan is increasing my runs by ~10% per week. This week I'm doing two runs of 4 miles and one run of 5 miles. Next week will be 4.5 miles twice and 5.5 miles once (12% increase). I'm still shooting for 10k at 8 minutes per mile. Once I build up to a long run of about 8 miles I'm going to try and add one day of speed training where I do 4x400m sprints* with 400m walk between each one, eventually building up to 8x400m.

I try to ice my knees for at least 15 minutes after each run. I don't know if it's just the increased rest or the ice or a combination, but my right knee has not been hurting or swelling as much recently. Of course, the arch supports could also be helping.

Yes, arch supports. Why didn't anyone ever tell me I needed arch supports before? I've never known what it's like to run and not have my feet hurt afterward. Turns out my recurrent plantar fasciitis and knee pain might simply be because my feet have the same contour two-by-four.

Studying continues. Nothing much to report there other than the iPad my department gave me seems useless as a board prep tool at this point. Actually, it seems pretty useless for most things.










* Let's not get carried away here. My sprint of a 400m is probably around 100 seconds right now. With training I'd like to get it down to around 70 seconds.

week 2 part 1

Took 3 days off for the trip to POC mainly because my right knee hurt like hell and was swollen. Felt better yesterday but stayed off it just to be sure. Did my 3 mile run today and am now icing it and feeling like a dumbass. Treadmill run in 20:44. No strength today because some kids were over-running the weight room. I'll catch that up tomorrow. I'll probably go back to alternating running and lifting days with one day off until me knee gets better. This week I'll probably do 2 days lifting in a row to get an extra day between runs.

week 1 part 2

Did the tempo run yesterday around Bachman Lake. Morningstar tells me that's a good place to buy drugs and/or get murdered. In retrospect I was the only Caucasoid out there among the dozens of people I saw. Too bad because it's a pretty nice 3 mile loop. I did 3.5 to 4 miles (hard to be sure because of poor distance marking) in the 35 minutes. Not quite on pace but I wasn't pushing it nearly enough. Without a watch or a partner to pace with I wasn't sure how fast to go. Next week I should definitely be able to get 4 to 4.5 miles in that time. I'll probably go to the track at Germany Park or hit the Katy Trail for that run.
By the way, treadmill running does not = trail running. Pushing it on the trail will get me to around an 8 minute mile pace, I think, whereas I can do a 7 minute pace on the treadmill pretty routinely now.
Today was back on the treadmill for 3 miles (21:00) and then strength training for biceps, deltoids, rotator cuff, and legs. Only I skipped the legs. I'll try and work them in tomorrow, which is supposed to be a "rest day" but whatever.

As for studying I'm still slogging through the Education Review Manual. Did a couple chapters this week which keeps me on pace for now.

Err...hi

This is now the online place to track my 10k training, and possibly beyond once I work up the balls to try a marathon.
Yesterday I started on Hal Higdon's 10k training program for intermediate runners (even though I do not fit his description of an "intermediate runner"). Did a 3 mile run in 20:47 and strength training on chest, back, lats, and triceps yesterday. Did a 3 mile run today in 20:41. Tomorrow I'm supposed to do a 35 minute "tempo run". Not too sure what that means but, hell, I'll try anything once. I only really started cardio training about five months ago and my 3 mile pace has picked up considerably, and more importantly my recovery from a 3 mile run is about two minutes instead of 20 minutes.

I don't have any particular 10k race targeted just yet, but I'll be on the lookout for one.

I guess I'll also try to post about my year long board review process. I'm currently about a third of the way through the Educational Review Manual in Neurology. Hope to finish that up by December-January. Then I'll work through Haberland's Clinical Neuropathology and Case Review Series Brain Imaging by around March. Then a couple months going through Colen Flash Review -- Neurology and Neuropathology. Finishing with Neurology for the Specialty Boards and Neurology & Psychiatry:1000 Questions to Help you Pass the Boards. I probably will not have the time to finish my epic battle against DeJong's The Neurologic Examination or Brazis's Localization in Clinical Neurology. Nor will I be able to read my new Neurology: A Queen Square Textbook, though I got that mostly as a reference anyway. We'll see how soon the wheels come off this plan. It will also be interesting to see whether I'm more dedicated to running or studying.

Things I learned or re-learned this weekend

(Sorry for the delay, technical issues)
1. My grandmother is a badass. Seriously. She just had her chest cracked open and sewn shut with wires, she had a tube down her throat, she was getting zero pain medication, and she was smiling at me. Damn.
2. My dad's conservatism trumps his intelligence. "I'm not convinced CO2 emissions are causing global warming." Okay...anything else I should take off the discussion menu: evolution, round Earth, the fact that rain is when Zeus beats off to Redtube clips of Ceres while Hera's in the shower and his seed spills down on us?
3. My mom has issues. She treated her eldest sister like a child. She treated her other sister's husband like a child. She treated her husband like a stranger. She refuses to acknowledge that her lifelong adequacy issues with regard to her older sister color their relationship to this day. She refuses to see that my dad is getting the short end of the stick in their relationship now. In her mind nothing has changed in their relationship since 1983, when in reality things have gone 180.
4. In 10 years I'll be my parents' only child with hair.
5. UT-Houston is not the flood-ravaged mess I visited on med school interviews.
6. Houston is not the dirty confusing mess I've always thought of it as since my initial foray as a driver at age 18.
7. Opera mini is a better web browser for my cell phone than the default browser, but still not the greatest.
8. Google maps cell phone app is far superior to the default map application provided by Sprint, but still far inferior to the true Google maps.
9. I might be on board with the iPad after all, though the name still sucks.
10. I like to have 10 items instead of 9 in a list.

Reasons I don't have a list for this week's post

1. I suck.

Qualities my phone has in common with Michael Jackson

For the record, I know that Michael Jackson jokes are older than Greg Oden's knees. I just don't care.
1. Excellent voice quality (when not dead)
2. Fondled by little boys*
3. Arrived at my apartment in a box, cold and lifeless**
4. Black fades over time



*Only one boy for the phone.
**On further review that was an alien sex doll I ordered off the Internet, and NOT, in fact, Michael Jackson's corpse. Totally unrelated, but I need like a dozen AA batteries. Thanks.