Sunday, December 15, 2013

Week 1-- December 13 - 15

Friday 13: 30 minute run on the CCSF football lawn, felt good. Felt my shins adjusting from the work Dr. Heather has been doing.
Saturday 14: 45 minute morning spinning session. Felt good, legs strong and not even short of breath considering the lack of cardio for a few weeks.
Sunday 15: 30 minute run at the CCSF football lawn, felt ok. I did feel a horrific sharp pain in my right groin for the second time now this week. I felt it when i did a squat. I also felt it while i stretched swinging my leg too far from one side to the other. I did a groin stretch on my back bending legs towards my chest and pulling my knees down and out and i did not feel the pain. Not sure what it is.

Good half week of tune-up. Hope to polish the little things bothering me. Hopefully one day i will be pain free to really challenge myself. Ankle is improving, i now am 100% certain that i cannot cure my injury 100% without doing any running during the rehab. I need to combine biking, running, cross training, yoga, stretching, icing, massage and whatever else i can think might help. Will start training for the races i have registered for. I will run Way Too Cool in March and Miwok 100k in May. I also registered for the Golden Gate 50k in February and the Grizzly Peak 50k in April to prepare for both. Can't wait for 2014 to start, will have to train hard and smart to make this happen. I will give my best


totals: 

Running: two 30 minute sessions
Spinning: one 45 minute session 

Monday, September 30, 2013

Week 8

Monday: Wanting to go for a light cardio run to get the blood flowing for recovering i went for a half an hour run that started from the house and made it to the CCSF Track. Either the mile from home to the track or wearing the Cascadia shoes had a negative effect. At minute 18, starting from the house, i started to feel sharp pain in my lateral side of my right ankle a bit towards my achilles tendon. I immediately stopped and had a short stretch and called it a night. Went home wondering if it was caused because i was wearing different shoes from the ones i wear for running nowadays or because of the impact of running on the pavement from home to the track.
Tuesday: Had a 30 minute run this morning at the CCSF Track. Did not feel too much pain or sharp pain at all. I was wearing my Montrail shoes and was surprised to see that i did not experience pain at all. Not sure of the pavement impact. I will think about experimenting running on my Montrail shoes from home to the track to find out what was bothering me yesterday. Interesting stuff.
Wednesday: Good full day of work at Marin County Parks. 3 mile run with San Francisco Running Company. Felt good out there.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Marin County Parks full day of work.
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

Felt a bit off after the run on Wednesday. Don't know what is up, i felt weak all week after that.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Back to running - Week 6 and 7

Monday: Made it to physical therapy at the hospital and was examined by the physical therapist. She had me do a bunch of walking, skipping, shuffling etc...workouts on the hallway. Different movements that she was closely analyzing behind and on front of me. We talked for a while and i was able to tell her extensively about the ankle and she told me to come back in 3 days on Thursday and that i go for a little run before coming in. She said to run to the point where it starts to hurt a bit and then walk for a bit and run again as soon as it feels better. We went over the x-rays i took last month and she did not see anything out of the ordinary. All the gaps in-between the ankle bones are normal. She also mentioned i took enough time for my body to have recovered even from a stress fracture which is much more serious than my injury. She told me that i should record the duration of the run until it started to hurt and to write down what i felt. I will do that and get back to her on Thursday.
Tuesday: First running session at the CCSF track. 30 minutes with a 7 minute walk in-between. Ankle felt good more or less. My knees were the ones that felt a bit weird. Just little pulse pain here and there with sharp pinches here and there but not too bad. Felt normal considering the time i have been off from running.
Wednesday: Second running session at CCSF track. 10 minute warmup with different exercises and then 30 minute running session. First 12 minutes i felt a bit of a pulse on the back of my right knee but faded shortly after. Then my ankle started to hurt a bit. Right around the top of where the foot and ankle begins, a bit more on the left side. This is my affected right ankle by the way.
Thursday: Ran from home to the hospital to my appointment. 35 minute run, felt great.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off


totals:


Week 7

Monday: Off
Tuesday: CCSF track session, 30 minute running session on the football field. About 9 min/mile, felt good.
Wednesday: Long day of work at Marin County Parks.
Thursday: CCSF track 30 minute run with a short dynamic stretch before and after. The run was comfortable, minus the tight left knee. Ankle was ok, felt a bit of soreness but not too bad.
Friday: Long and tough day at Marin county parks today.
Saturday: 1 Hour long run in two sessions at the CCSF Track this morning. First session was 45 minutes and then i stretched for a bit and then continued with a 17 mile run which was pain free. Felt good most of the time. the first 20 minutes i felt a bit of tightness on my right knee. This tightness i felt it traveling from the lateral side of my knee down the shin towards the ankle. Could be shin splints. The ankle was a bit in pain from minute 15 to about 25 or 30. Afterwards it kinda faded away.
Sunday: CCSF Track running session. Started out with a 15 minute stretch and then a session of 30 minutes running. This first session felt ok, minor tightness but definitely less than yesterday. After first session i stretched for another 10 minutes and then ran a second 30 minute session feeling less and less of the tightness that i felt when i started. I definitely felt less tightness than yesterday and less pain on the ankle. The ankle pain never went over a 3 on the scale of 1-10 throughout the entire hour. Total time was 1 hour at 8:45 min/mile and with a total distance of 6:87 miles. So excited to be back at it.

Totals:
Week 6: 3 running sessions of 30 minutes
Week 7: 2 running sessions of 30 minutes
               2 running sessions of 1 hour.
               2 tough days at Marin County Parks

Two weeks of experimenting with running and today i'm sitting here thinking about yesterday's 1 hour long run and this morning's 1 hour long run. Both runs felt great, the pain, tightness, twitches that i felt when i started have slowly faded away. A bit of tightness here and there but significantly less than when i started. Ankle has been tolerating more and more of the running (time and length). Need to make sure i ice after the runs and take care of any inflammation signs. Summarizing the two weeks i would say that my body needed to get back to running to adapt to running again. I just need to take it easy and not go all out in short time. I will gradually increase time based on how i feel. Next week i will go back to 30 minute runs a day for the week and then i will get back to an hour and make that my new base for a couple weeks. Good to be back.  

Monday, September 9, 2013

Week 5

Monday: Rode to the gym (10 miles this time) and had an amazing gym workout + 30 minute bike session. Had a full workout focusing mainly on the gluts and ankles.
Tuesday: Excellent dynamic stretch at the gym and rode to Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and back home (14 miles).
Wednesday: Long day at Marin County Parks and made it to boot camp and spinning. I was tired from not sleeping well last night and the long day. Good effort at boot camp but spinning i took it easy the last 20 minutes. Didn't protect my ankle and i was just being careful, not worth risking all the progress i have made thus far. I hope i didn't do enough damage to regress on my progress. Will ice as long as i can tonight and tomorrow.
Thursday: Off, should not have made it to Boot camp or spinning yesterday. I was exhausted from Marin to begin with and had no time to rest or ice myself for a bit before going to the gym. I made it through boot camp ok but it was at spinning that i felt i pushed my self too much. 25 minutes before ending spinning i sat back from the bike and slowed things down. 15 minutes before the end i abandoned the class. I did not want to push my luck and further. Glad i did, i did a bit of damage on my ankle but not too much. Glad to see where my limit is.
Friday: Off
Saturday: Went to Mike's mountain bike race and tweaked my left knee. I was walking on the trail looking for the place on my phone and i stepped on a whole and my ankle rolled. My ankle did not hurt so much but my knee did. My knee tweaked and i felt it right away. It was painful when i extend my leg all the way and push my knee even further back. I felt this acute pain when i did that. After getting back i iced water my legs immediately. Pain was still there on my right knee.
Sunday: Off, pain is diminishing on my right knee.


totals:

Running: 0
Outdoor biking: 24 miles
Gym workout: 2
Boot camp: 1
Spinning: 1
Biking: 1 (30 minute session)


Sunday, September 1, 2013

Week 4

Monday: Rode to the gym and had a good short workout. Started out with a 30 minute bike workout and followed by a short workout of ankle and glut exercises. Felt great, my legs feel tired but strong. My legs have never been this strong. My quads feel powerful and my thighs are getting there too. Feeling good.
Tuesday: Rode to the gym and had a short stretch workout that felt amazing on my ankle and legs in general. I went with whatever my body told me just following signs of healing and satisfaction. Felt great to do that.
Wednesday: First day volunteering at Marin County Parks, 9 hours, and made it just in time for boot camp and spinning at the gym. Challenging day on boot camp with TRX. Spinning was great, feel like i put in a great effort. Still not standing up to do the sprints on the bike but making it challenging for myself on a seated position. I have been feeling great after a full day working outside walking on my ankle.
Thursday: Went to the gym and had a 30 minute bike session and a short stretch
Friday: Off
Saturday: Boot camp and spinning class at the gym. We had not had a boot camp like we did today in a long time. New instructor named Brandon gave us 5 simple workouts and rotated a couple times. After that he gave us another 5 exercises to do them on a faster pace. All 5 of us doing the class were on fire, not one backed down. Maybe it was the class that was fun and challenging. Sometimes that make it engaging. Spinning was great. John told me that he wanted me to challenge my ankle a bit by getting up from my seat on the sprints and i did and felt good. A bit of pain but not one to feel conserne over. Great yoga session after that. What a great 3 hour session this morning. I have not enjoyed a day at the gym in a long time.
Sunday: Off


Good busy week. Had great workouts at the gym and worked at Marin and my ankle felt good. Apart from Saturday, i took good care of my ankle by not irritating it too much in the gym and on spinning by standing up on the sprints. Saturday i did try standing up and it felt ok. I will try it again next Wednesday spinning and see how it feels. Overall i have been feeling super good. I feel i'm getting in a real good shape, at least better than i have ever been while racing ultras, both in my cardio fitness and the overall strength of my body as a whole. When my ankle is completely healed i will be in an amazing shape to get back at running. I have also felt a great difference on my left leg. The tenseness that i always felt sometimes goes away for long periods of time. Sometimes for days. Comes back when i sit for long periods of time. I attribute this change to the exercises i have been doing for the gluts.


totals:

Running: 0
Biking: 14 miles
Gym: 2
Boot camp: 2
Spinning: 2
Indore biking: 2, 30 minute session. 


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week 3,

Monday: Active day Off, went to see the stranded whale at Stinson Beach. I was there for a few hour.
Tuesday: Active day Off, i had a volunteer interview for the Marin County Parks.
Wednesday: Rode my bike to the gym for boot camp and spinning classes. Super challenging day today. Boot camp was extra challenging today with a warm-up and then TRX. Spinning was great. I still am babying my ankle so no pressure of standing-up on my bike. Apart from that i think i made it challenging for myself. Yoga stretch after the classes went extra long today, that was good.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Off
Saturday: Rode to the gym for boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was ok, not as challenging as Wednesday but a good workout. When you get challenged like we did on Wednesday workouts like today's are a stretch. Spinning is great as always. John always gives us a good workouts and lately the 20+ minute yoga session to wrap up a great fitness day has been fantastic. I'm so grateful i can still do these classes now that i'm injured, if i wasn't able to do both running and these classes i think i would go absolutely nuts.
Sunday: Off


Slow, week. A week where my routine was interrupted by my trip to Marin on Monday and Tuesday. I need to get better at multitasking because my life is where is headed. There is going to come a time where i would be juggling multiple responsibilities and i need to get comfortable at it.

totals:

Running: 0
Biking: 
Outdoor biking: 7 miles
Boot camp: 2
Spinning: 2
Gym workouts: 0

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Week 2 of semi-normal gym training

Monday: Rode to the gym and had a light weigh workout. These last couple days have been a bit harsh on the soreness and today after getting of the bike for half an hour i was warmed up to do some dead lifts and stuff like that. Thirty minutes of biking and i called it a day. Felt great by the way.
Tuesday: Had a great glut workout. The most intense glut workout i've had in years. After reading Joe Uhan's response to my comment on IRF about my gluts being weak, i took it upon myself to get it done. I will do similar workouts like this to strengthen this up.
Wednesday: Rode to the gym and completed both boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was challenging with TRX. New guy named Daniel gave us a good workout. John on spinning was good, i'm still taking it easy on the pressure. Completed the class but i just didn't stand up at all on the sprints or other combination workouts. I still made it challenging to myself by sprinting faster that usual. Great workout.
Thursday:Off
Friday: good workout at the gym, did the but routine that i put together. Was a good challenging one and to wrap it up i did a 30 minute bike workout.
Saturday: Boot camp and spinning this morning at the gym. Boot camp was great because we did mostly agility stuff doing fire feet on squares. The instructor had a long variety of different ones. I have never done this kind of stuff before and i know for a fact that i NEED to do this kind of training NOW for rehab. I feel that this is the perfect timing for doing this kind of training and i feel like it fell out of the sky for me.
Sunday: Off

Was extra careful this week on not putting a lot of weight on my ankles when working out and i think i did a good job. My ankle feels good, no notable extraordinary progress but do know that i need some time. Feel strong about this approach and will continue to follow it for the next weeks.


totals:

Running: 0
Biking: 7 miles
Boot Camp: 2
Spinning: 2
Indore biking: 2, 30 minute workouts.
Lifting: 2 workouts


Monday, August 12, 2013

Back to the gym

Monday 5: Off
Tuesday 6: Off
Wednesday 7: Rode to the gym to start training again. 20 minute bike session at random and 30 minutes of lifting exercises. Spinning with John was a bit odd, i felt like a pig riding a bicycle. I felt so big and weak, not sure if my quads were weak from the weight lifting or if the quads are no more. What i do know is that i'm about 5 lbs. bigger than i'd like to be and it showed on spinning. I wasn't able to do some of the routine that was routine for me in the past but part of the reason is that i was a bit cautious with not applying too much pressure on the ankle. I feel like i'm definitely out of shape but not too much. What i did see is that not doing some of the toughest standing up sessions on the bike really made a difference on my ankle not being inflamed right now. I will keep at this until i see results and take it from there.

Thursday 8: Off, too sore to do anything. Will rest and heal today.
Friday 9: Had a great workout doing some upper body and some leg lifting also. I tried to do the quad machine that i had always been afraid of and it turned out to be great. I felt an immediate improvement on the way my knee felt. It felt loose and almost inflamed free. Came to the gym a bit low on energy and ended up having a great tough workout.
Saturday 10: Rode my bike to the gym today and took the boot camp and spinning classes. Boot camp was awesome, Brandon the instructor new guy by the way, had us do four simple workouts to warmup. Three sets of those and four more exercises, 3 sets each, and that was all we needed to be trashes before spinning. I was the second to last to finish the routine, what a change. Spinning with John was great because i did not feel any discomfort whatsoever, no pain, no re-injuring my ankle. That was because i did not put pressure at all on the ankle and that meant not getting up on the standing up sprints. At the end of the day i felt i had a great and challenging workout and i did not aggravate my injury at all. I think i will continue doing this for the next month and see where it takes me.
Sunday 11: Off


Having been off from running for so long has definitely made me aware of the importance of taking good care of myself on training and on races equally. Especially because this last injury, ankle, came out of a careless moment at the 'TNF50' and that forced me even to abandon the race. Being off from the trails from December till now, 7 months, has made me put things into perspective. I have learned a lot so far in my two and a half years running ultramarathons. One of the biggest lessons that i have learned up to now is the fact that i don't want to race any other race feeling 75% ok any longer. I don't want to do it any longer, not one more race. I want to feel 100% OK and enjoy every minute of the race without worries. I don't want to think constantly about when my knee is going to give up. I want to some day push myself physically on races and only worry about not blowing myself up by running too fast of stuff like that. For all of this to happen i need to rehab my injuries and work on strengthening my body, all of it, and on my flexibility. I also want to work on my stability and flexibility. I don't know how much longer i will be off from the trails but what i do know is that i want to be 100% the next time i'm behind the start line ready to race. In the mean time i will work out at the gym and do the boot camp and the spinning class that the gym offers.


totals:
Running: 0
Biking: 14 miles
Boot camp: 1
Spinning: 2
Indoor biking: 30 minutes
Lifting: 2, 1 hour sessions

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Northwest Road Trip and good news.


Friday July 19:
Have not posted anything in awhile so here is an update of the last couple months. I have been trying to get my injuries taken care of and to be healthy. At some point i have though that staying off my feet would be better off for me to recover. Ad so i did, i stayed off my feet and then in other occasions i have felt that i needed to be more active in my recovery and so i tried to do something about it. At this point i feel a lot better. what worked for me i'm not sure.

I also just got back from an awesome road trip with Karla that extended to 6 states. We started the trip at Boise Idaho then proceeded to the Tetons in Wyoming. After the Tetons we went to Yellowstone and Helena, Reding and Glacier in Montana. After Montana we drove to Seattle Washington and down south towards California. We stopped in Salem Oregon to visit my uncle and then made a quick stop at Ashland to see Roghe Valley Runner's. It was in time for lunch you know! Before we knew it we were back home, sweet foggy, cold summertime in San Francisco. Good to be back is something i will like to say and mean it.

I went out yesterday for a short workout at CCSF track and did a bit of a workout. Not too intense, just enough to feel good and short from being a training workout. I walked up and down the bleachers twice from one end to the other and felt ok. I also ran one mile on a 14 min/mile pace, 15 minutes, and i had minimal to no discomfort at all. That is great news. N ow the hardest part, not getting ahead off myself and start doing too much and re-injure myself. I must be vigilant about that.

Saturday July 20:

After the good news of yesterday i wanted to see if i could do a bit more and not aggravate my ankle. I woke up a bit early and it turned out to be Saturday morning, the possibility to make it for boot camp and spinning was there and so i decided to give it a try.

I started with 30 minute biking session before the classes and i felt ok, not too off the game. Boot camp came along and noticed a new instructor, young asian gentleman who was great. With a very simple workout routine he was able to push us to the limit, i noticed the machine, Veronica, not enjoying it at all. Long story short, we got our buts kicked.
John got in for spinning and immediately felt like he had a different game plan for summer sessions. He seems to be a bit more aggressive than usual. He pushed us super hard, i did not think that i was so out of shape like i felt. Considering i have been doing sporadic workouts here and there. Maybe is because i've been tired and a bit stressed about job interview situation and stuff like that.


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Monday April 15: Rode to the gym and ran 3*6 min/mile sprints on treadmill for 2 min each. Had a tough leg workout, great work.
Tuesday April 16: Started off with 3*6 min/mile sprints on the treadmill for 3 min each and had a hard time working out today because i was drained of energy. Regardless i had a decent leg workout with tough workouts like leg presses.
Wednesday 17: Off
Thursday April 18: Off
Friday April 19: Rode to the gym and 15 minute bike warmup at the gym. Full Tony workout for legs. 
Saturday April 20: Rode to the gym and 15 minute bike warmup at the gym. Upper body workout.
Sunday April 21: Rode to the gym and back home. 20 minute warm-up on the bike and a full session of the stretching routine i just put together.

Week totals:

Running: ( 2 sprint sessions on the treadmill )
Biking: (To gym and back  3.7 miles (4)   ( Gym warmup 15 & 20 minutes ( 3 )  )   
Gym session: 4.7 workout sessions
Spinning: 0
Boot camp: 0

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Back to boot camp and spinning

Have been back at VM for about 2 weeks now but have not had the patience to write my weekly routine for posting at the end of the week. I will start this week. Great to be back working out, i have definitely missed being active. My first day after boot camp and spin was amazing because i had so much energy throughout the day. It was like my cells were injected with oxygen and were fired up about it. And that is just what happened to my body in my very minimal understanding of the human body.
Have felt that boot camp is just a little too much on the ankle injury so i will sit boot camp for a bit and just do spinning. I will complement the time with gym work. My legs feel very strong and they look strong as well. I cant believe how defined my legs have become from the past year or so. It is amazing.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Emmanuel's torture tools of preference.

Have been keeping myself off my feet as much as i can for the last month or so to reduce the pounding on the knees. I say a month because this last month is when i started to do rehab stuff not too strictly but  several times a month. I started to do some training at the gym but like i said, keeping the impact on the joints to almost zero. I am not yet ready to do any running training and limited gym training more on a structural basis where i do it no matter what but i feel like i'm getting there. Maybe in a month i will be on a better position to do that but in the mean time i don't want to pressure myself onto doing so. What i have been doing more and i hope i will keep tabs on is eating enough and smart. I feel like in the past i did not eat enough to sustain my daily physical activity and it transformed into injury after injury. I eat a lot but i try to eat healthy stuff so i won't get a big belly. I don't want to have a belly to work on loosing once my legs are ready to run. Another thing i have been working on for the last week almost on a daily basis is on getting rid of the knots on my lower legs specially around the shin area. The perennial muscle and around those small muscles. That area is so tight that it hurts like a mudafaca. My torture tool of preference is a softball and an empty wine bottle. Next week i will continue to work on that area and i will start working on the quads and gluts. That is the plan for the next week and the couple days a week i do of gym training.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Liberty

After my last race 7 weeks ago i promised myself that i would not run another race until i felt 100% healed from every injury i've suffered in the past. Today, i find myself sitting on the couch plotting the perfect excuse to break that promise and get out there. Maybe 3,4 or 6 months later when i'm completely healed i will look back and ask myself why/how in the world did i run all these races with these injuries. I could only imagine the freedom a physically healthy individual might feel. Run when you want, where you want, for as long as you want and as fast and hard as you want. I hope to have this liberty sometime.

Monday, January 21, 2013

It has been a week past a month since i last posted my TNF50 report. Vacation in Mexico was good with a lot of time to relax and eat all of the things i usually refuse to eat during training season. I did little fitness training there but i did a bit of stretching.

Back in San Francisco now with a busy schedule in school and have not yet got used to my new schedule to further program a Fitness training schedule. Within the next few weeks i will start my training with one goal in mind, TO GET 100% FROM ALL INJURIES. I will not race until i feel everything is cured.