The Rowe Family Blog

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling very well when I said that I wouldn’t be running and that I probably wouldn’t even make it to the gym.  In the afternoon I started to feel a lot better and so I did go to the gym and I did run.  In fact run was all I did for 2 hours and 8 minutes.  In that time I ran 13.1 miles.  Sure, it’s not a blistering pace by any means but it’s the first truly long run that I’ve completed since the marathon in early January.  I was starting to wonder if I still had it in me.

I slept horribly last night.  I’m not sure if it’s the cold that I caught from Mary, the long run, the migraine, or a combination of those.   Today, mostly because I’m tired I will probably take it easy at the gym.  Maybe I’ll do back or possibly back and biceps.

I can’t believe I nearly forgot the best news!  My shins didn’t hurt for the entire run nor did they hurt after the run.  Maybe the excercises I’ve been doing are helping?  It’s still too early for me to say but I’m optimistic.

I doubt that I’ll be running tonight. In fact I probably won’t go to the gym at all. At 3am I woke up and discovered, by my lack of vision, that I was to be the proud recipient of a brand new migraine headache! I had hoped that I would sleep through the worst of it and maybe I did but I’m not feeling well right now. My head hurts and my stomach is rather upset. Stupid brain.

Last Wednesday night I ran for 4 miles.  I believe it took me about 37 minutes for the run.  It wasn’t a very good run.  My shins hurt for the entire run and it just wasn’t as easy as I had hoped.  I went at a slower pace because I had run the night before at a fast pace.  I think it may have been a mistake to run.  I probably should have given my shins longer to recover.

I didn’t run at all this weekend primarily because I didn’t have as much free time and there were other tasks that I really needed to accomplish.  Unfortunately I haven’t been eating as well as I should lately.  We’ve gone out to eat numerous times in recent weeks visiting with friends.  It’s great visiting with friends but I have a very difficult time eating healthy food when I’m out.  To make matters worse I also tend to over eat when we are out.

I’m not sure what my running will be like this week.  I’m tempted to go for a long run on Tuesday.

Last night I ran 3.5 miles in 27:14.  That’s a 7:47 mile.  It’s not a lot faster than last Friday and it was significantly harder.  I ran at a much more constant pace so it was probably a better training run.  I pushed myself very hard.  I felt a bit light headed at the end of the run.

My shins, I think, are starting to get better.  I’ve been following a coworkers advice and poing some simple calve exercises twice each day.  It’s too soon to know if this is really helping or not but I’m optimistic.

I’m 26 weeks along today. The baby is kicking a lot these days. It’s often tough to sleep in because the Little One is kicking so much! I’ve been feeling pretty good.

Recently, I’ve been a little lightheaded and the doctor has asked me to step up my consumption of iron-rich foods. Specifically, today I was asked to eat more hamburgers and steaks! So on my way home from the doctor’s today, I met Greg’s Mom for a burger and a Frosty at Wendy’s. I don’t usually eat like that, but it is doctor’s orders!

Other than that, I’ve been feeling great and continue to exercise 3-5 days a week. I’ve been doing step aerobics classes 2 nights a week and have been doing weights and/or walking on the treadmill the other days. Thursday nights are currently Lost party nights so I don’t usually make it to the gym then.

Greg and I don’t want to know if we are having a boy or a girl. We’ve been working on names for the baby and have some that we really love. It’s going to be tough to whittle down the list. Sorry, but we’re not sharing names until the baby is born. We will take suggestions though!

I just finished registering for the 2007 Spring Forward 15k held on April 1st at Mendon Ponds park.  The course is rather hilly (follow the link for elevation data) but it should be a fun event.  At least two other people from the company that I work at are running it as well.

I guess it’s time to start some hill training!

I didn’t run very much last week.  Early in the week I ran 7 miles in 1:05.  It wasn’t a good or a bad run just an average run.  Even though the treadmill stopped at the 1 hour mark I pushed on for that extra (whopping) 5 minutes.  It seems that all of my runs lately have been for 1 hour.  I prefer to run based on distance, not on time.  I felt that I needed to get to the next mile mark or I would be wimping out.

I ran again on Friday night.  That was a good run.  I ran 3.5 miles.  It’s not a coincidence that the Chase Corporate Challenge is 3.5 miles.  I finished it in 27:37 which is slightly below an 8 minute pace.  That’s very good for me.  Last year while training for the corporate challenge I could barely complete 3.5 miles in under 30 minutes.  I think I can push myself even faster than I did on Friday night.

My shins are still hurting me.  On the recommendation of a coworker who is also a runner I started doing calf exercises twice each day.  I’m also cutting down on mileage a little bit and focusing a little more on speed.

Mary reserved a place for us to stay and registered me for the 2007 Boilermaker.  For a while I really didn’t think I was going to run it.  Hotels there are expensive and most require two night minimums.  I refuse to stay in the Quality (Hah!) Inn in Rome again.

In other running news my toenail finally fell off last night.  It’s strange.  It fell off in layers.  Last night was the last layer.  I still have part of the nail and the base of the toe and hopefully that will grow back to the front eventually.  It doesn’t hurt so I don’t care.

Now I need to decide if I should run the Marine Corps. marathon or not.  I probably should and I think I want to.

My shin splints refuse to go away.  I took two solid weeks off of running after the marathon.  My shins felt good after that.  I would press alongside the bone and there was no pain.  Then I ran last Tuesday and last Thursday.  I ran for 1 hour each night on the treadmill.  My pace was not fast, it was about 6.5 mph.  I had the treadmill set on a 1.0 incline, as I always do.  After Thursdays run I had a lot of shin pain.  Not enough to keep me off my feet but enough to be very annoying.

I’m not really sure what to do about it.  I’ve tried different sneakers and I’ve tried resting.  It seems like I’m more prone to injury while running on the treadmill than I am running outside.  However, since it was -0.5 F outside this morning I do not see myself going outside willingly for quite some time.

On February 13th I’m attending a free talk from Dr. Dr. Oliveri at Fleet Feet Rochester.  Maybe they can provide some insight.  I actually hope that it’s just me being a whiny baby.  I would like for Dr. Oliveri to say “Mr. Rowe, I’m afraid that the problem is that you are a whiny baby.”  At least then I’d know that it would be safe (but uncomfortable) to run though the pain.