Some days, you just do not get to do anything that was originally on the agenda, that was pretty much my day today.

After doing Day 2 of Kinetic Revolutions 30 day challenge and my mobilization routine this morning, I was walking Bennie and got a call from Foster’s Tree Service saying they would be at SD2’s at 1:00 to take down her tree with the crane. Oh crap, completely change my day around or what!!!! I had told them that we could be available on short notice, but a couple of hours was cutting it pretty close.

I had to cancel and reschedule my Chiro appointment, change around some errands and go stupervise (mostly stay to hell out of the way) and watch them cut down her tree.

But I did make time to:

Run 3.0 miles for the second day in a row – mostly discomfort free.

Not much consistency in the pacing – that is for sure. It looks more like an interval or fartlek workout, than what I thought was a steady state run. However, the important thing was that I made the 3.0 miles and felt pretty good the whole way and I was even able to pick it up fairly good towards the end.

No, I still can’t do a full extension of my stride yet with my left hamstring, Although, I am getting closer and as long as I back off when the discomfort gets above 2 in the hammie, things will continue to improve.

Once I got done with my run, I did a quick set of 20 eccentric hamstring curls and headed off to SD2’s house to watch her big tree, be cut down by Foster’s Tree Service. Of course they got there early and already had the crane setup of and were getting ready to go. I know the guys and they razzed on me a little and then got to work.

They did a great job and I only had to turn my head and not look a couple of times, when big pieces of the tree were swinging around on the crane. 😉

IMG_20140602_124639_038 — Picking up a big portion of the tree with the crane

Looking a lot better!!! — Within 3 hours, things were done, cleaned up and looking a lot better!!!

Day 2 – Kinetic Revolution – 30 Day Challenge from earlier

I want to include some of the motivational writing that James from Kinetic Revolution is including into the challenge. I think that what he is writing is also important

Building Consistency to Get Results

So here we are on Day 2 of your journey through our 30 Day Challenge.Yesterday we focused on getting the technique correct with our three basic mobility drills, plus a little simple balance training. Today we repeat the mobility drills and vary the balance work a little. This begins to build some consistency in your training in terms of the mobility work.

“The only way we’ll see a change in any aspect of our body is through consistent training and practice. With this in mind, the mobility drills remain the same for the remaining few days of Stage 1. The balance work however changes daily… to keep things interesting and challenging!” Anybody who has trained for any period of time and seen results will appreciate the need for consistency and repetition, in order to see any kind of training effect.

So stick with it

Drills that I did today

Hip Flexor Stretch – 3 x [20sec hold + 20 active reps] each side
- I still have some issues firing my glute appropriately, but getting better
Hamstring Stretch – 3 x 20 reps each side
- Without pulling a bit on the back of my leg, I don’t really feel the hamstring stretch when I just interlace my fingers and hold, while straightening my legs. However, I can feel the clicking of my hamstring on the outside of each leg, so I know there is a build-up of scar tissue in there.
Adductor Stretch – 2 x 10 reps [7sec contract : 10sec relax + stretch]
- The one still sucks, I have very little stretchability in this position and moving forward and back really gets my attention
BONUS DRILL – Low Back Mobility – 2 x 20 [10 each side alternating]
- Wow, talk about lack of flexibility, I can’t even get close to the floor, with my shoulders on the ground, gonna have to work on this one. Plus it doesn’t help when the dog thinks you are playing and tries to “help” with the drill.

Today’s Balance Drill

Single Leg Balance – Eyes Closed (video) – 2 x 30sec each side
- I do great with my eyes open, but as soon as I shut them, not easy at all, need to really work on this one.
- Also did the “running on one leg, arm swing practice 2 x 30 sec each side – eyes open
- and writing the alphabet with each foot — no I didn’t close my eyes.

I got the exercises all done and felt pretty good about doing them, I am still not very flexible, but I know that I am a lot better than I was a couple of weeks ago and as I go through this challenge, I have a sneaking suspicion that the variety and difficulty of the drills will help me a bit in getting more flexible.

More of a long day

Speaking of being flexible, I think that I did a pretty good job of being flexible with my time and still getting my run in. However, I was a little disappointed with not going to the gym after watching the tree cutting. I got to the parking lot and felt like crap!

Probably a combo of dehydration, not eating enough, too much sun (3 hours of standing around) in 88F degrees, so I bagged the gym idea, went to Hannaford, got some coconut water and other stuff and went home to take a nap to see how I felt after that.

Unfortunately our female cat had peed on the stove top and SD1 was cleaning up that mess and I needed to strip the insides down to the insulation to get it all cleaned up, nasty bit of work that was. Although SD1 did most of the tough cleaning, before I got home, it still wasn’t pretty. I did sit and nap for a bit because of how bad I was feeling and then we put the stove back together.

So it turned out to be a LONG day!

Which didn’t help my choices for supper, small steak bomb and fries from Annies, with a chaser of coffee ice cream and jimmies. Oh well, I will get back to eating better tomorrow. So I guess I was feeling a little better to be able to eat that stuff.

Now to wait until Thursday to see the Chiro….mmmmmm I wonder if he still doesn’t want me to run until I see him then? Oh well, too late as usual.

Continue reading “Another 3.0 Miler Equals Progress – RunLog 6-2-14” →

As “everyone” knows by now, I am a more than a bit of a ramshackle mess and I have decided to really work on rehabbing this old body.

Yes in other words I am trying to get it back to where I want and where it needs to be for me to be able to run pain-free or at least as pain-free as possible.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have done a lot of the routines in Bruce Wilk’s – The Running Injury Recovery Program and Matt Fitzgerald’s Brain Training for Runners and while the routines are working, I am not completely…well satisfied with how it is going.

I have followed James Dunne and his blog Kinetic Revolution for a while now and I like/respect the information that he provides. A little while ago, I saw his 30 day challenge, but decided that due to my hamstring issues that I wasn’t ready to do it yet.

Fortunately for me, starting last Thursday, I found part of the solution for me and my hamstring has come a long way and when I read Dan’s post over at Run, Rest, Repeat