So I’ve decided to push my luck, and my knee.  Sunday at 2 is the annual Second Empire 5K in downtown Raleigh.  I’ve done this race the past few years and its always  a quick and fun run.  It’s also one of the races in the Second Empire Grand Prix.  This year the Grand Prix is seven races instead of five.  Only six will count towards the standings but unfortunately I won’t be able to make it to six of the races.  In the end I’ll be lucky to do four of them.

Either way I’ll be running this race on Sunday and hoping for the best.  I was able to pull off a five mile run yesterday with little complications.  My knee was tight starting off but loosened up as the run went on.  Towards the end it started to tighten back up but today its only a little sore.  I credit that to walking a lot after the run, taking an Ibuprofen, and icing the knee for a couple hours after.  I don’t expect to put in a PR on Sunday but it’ll be nice to have another run under my belt again.  I probably push things too far but how else will you find your limits, right?

So I’ll be coming out of the gate getting back on the road slower than expected.  Monday at the soccer game I had my suspect ankle all braced up for the sharp twists and turns figuring that would be the weakest link.  Then my knee reared its ugly cap yet again.  Last year it was the MS 150 that set it off and it bugged me in last years Livestrong Challenge a month later.  This year at the Duke Liver Center Half-Ironman it popped up again with the same soreness though not as severe.  Anyway by the end of the game it was sore and stiff again.  Yesterday I set out for a five mile run to get back on track for my marathon training and my Livestrong Challenge training as well.  The rest of the night was soreness and stiffness yet again and this morning it hadn’t abated.

It looks like I’ll have to take it easy and try to get going slowly and hope for the best in a few weeks in Austin.  I’ve had my knee propped up on ice most of the afternoon and took some ibuprofen since its supposed to be an anti-inflamatory.  Ill try to run again tomorrow, and then Friday and Sunday and see how it goes.  From what I’ve found poking around Google this is simply an overuse injury so it should abate, hopefully sooner than later.

It’s been a nice week off since the Duke Half-Ironman but its time to get back to work.  The Austin Livestrong Challenge is less than three weekends away and then the Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon is six.  I’ve been doing some digging and based on the training plans I’ve found I may have put myself behind the eight ball on the marathon training.  I’ve been doing the base miles it suggested in my half-Ironman preparation but I haven’t been hitting the long run distances they have laid out.  Looks like my marathon may not be as enjoyable as I hoped.

Regardless my current concentration has to be on the Livestrong Challenge.  I’ll be riding Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s, and a long ride on the weekends.  This schedule will allow me to work on my running for the marathon as well as be ready to go for the Livestrong Challenge.

The blogs been kinda slack because I’m being slack this week.  This week I’m tapering off for the Duke Liver Center Half-Ironman on Sunday.  Tapering is basically gradually decreasing your workouts and workload so that you’ll be fresh and ready to go come race time.  Today I did a short 13 mile session on the cycling trainer and Monday I did a four mile run and soccer game.  I’m planning on doing an easy 40 minute swim tomorrow and that will be the end of my workouts until the race Sunday.  I’ve seen it run both ways on the proper way to taper.  One friend told me he took a week off, another site I read said to take days off early in the week and ramp up towards the race slowly to that day.  I’m doing the middle ground and doing easy workouts and then two days off.

I’m still up in the air about how the race will turnout, most of me knows I’ll finish but there’s still some doubt out there.  After all a half-Ironman is no walk in the park.

The Friesen 5K lived up to its name of being a fun race to participate in, with many of the Carolina Hurricanes players participating. The temperature wasn’t too hot when I and my friend Laura made it out to the RBC Center for the run just after eight. I was expecting the normal long lines and limited supply of t-shirts as with any other race so I wanted to get there early enough to get a shirt and have everything wrapped up. Turns out it wasn’t necessary because the lines moved pretty fast and they had tons of shirts. For some reason I didn’t make the connection of “fun run” meaning an non-timed event till I tried to find where to pick up our timing chips. I was kind of disappointed that it wasn’t going to be timed because I was hoping to put in a PR on the course since it was the first 5K of the fall season. That and I wanted a record of any players I may be able to beat as well as evidence of my bet with Charlie on Rod Brind’Amour.

From all the articles I’ve read with Brind’Amour, he always says that he dosen’t run and he hates running. So I took that to mean that he never trains for running and even though he’s in legendary shape there’s a difference in doing a sport you train for and one you don’t. So I had $20 riding on beating Brind’Amour in the 5K with Charlie. I figured worst case that I’d keep up with him, but my worst case was way too lenient. They announced the players about a quarter to nine with almost everyone present except Nic Wallin, Eric Staal, Justin Williams, John Grahame, Trevor Letowski, and Jeff Hamilton. Mike Commodore wasn’t announced but he showed up just as the race was getting ready to start. Hurricane’s prospects Casey Borer, Justin Peters, Patrick Dwyer, and Ryan Bayda also were out there. Ron Francis also attended but stayed in the background most of the day until John Forslund outed him. I think that covers everyone who attended. Pete Friesen, the Hurricane’s strength and conditioning coach, welcomed everyone to the event and John Forslund, TV announcer, emceed the event. After the introductions we were all sent over to the starting line where the players lined up in front, even though not all would participate.

The horn sounded and everyone took off and I left Laura at the line to push up to the front to try and get in a reasonable distance of Rod so I could keep pace. I looked up and all the players were already 300 meters out, by the time I got through the crowd the guys were disappearing in the distance. At some point in my initial rush I passed Coach Laviolette and I think Jeff Daniels but I never saw him till the finish line after I had been there a while. So either he finished way ahead and came back to the line or I did manage to pass him. At about the one kilometer mark I caught Tim Gleason and Casey Borer running together on the parking lot road heading back up to the RBC. This was significant in that it was my first player catch and also the last time I saw Brind’Amour’s red hat in the distance and most of the other players. I was feeling pretty good when we got out to Trinity Rd by Carter Finley Stadium when my Nike+ system announced two kilometers completed. I picked up the pace a little when I heard in my headphones that the halfway point was reached. I had confused miles with kilometers and realized I still had a ways to go and was burning myself out too fast.

I turned onto Blue Ridge and caught sight of another player in the distance. I picked up the pace a bit and caught up with Ryan Bayda as we turned onto Westchase back into the finish. As I was beside him I mentioned I didn’t remember this many hills and he laughed and said “tell me about it”. I figured I was finally catching players again and I took advantage of the downhill into the last climb to pick up some time. As we turned onto the final straightaway with about 400 meters to go (according to Nike+) I saw Erik Cole. I kept trying to catch up to run beside him and at least get one more notch on the belt. I was pretty toasted when I finally caught him. I gave the look over and at 200 meters took off again and ran down one other runner just on the line. Either Cole was sprinting as well or the crowd reached further back than I though cause I heard them cheering for him as I was coming in. I was spent and when he came up beside me I told him I didn’t think I was ever going to catch him and he started laughing. Later when I was walking around I walked by him and Ray Whitney talking about finishing times and Erik didn’t know his so I told him mine since we were so close together and it was probably his too.

The finishing time was 21:47 which was my best time by almost two full minutes from my last 5K in the spring. My first mile was 7:14, second mile of 7:36, and my final mile where I caught Ryan Bayda and Erik Cole was 6:46. All pretty respectable mile times and each a personal best, but nowhere near fast enough. Later Pete Friesen announced that Rod, Ray Whitney, Scott Walker, and a personal surprise (his words) Mike Commodore had all run the 5K under 20 minutes. I was amazed by how fast Rod was. Later when Laura had finished as well I walked over to Rod and told him that in everything I read I thought he always said he didn’t like to run. He goes, “Yeah I hate running, this is the only time I run all year.” Talk about deflating, I’m constantly trying to improve my time. I told him after reading that my goal was to basically hang at his pace and keep up with him but I blinked and he was gone. He laughed and said that he had a side bet going on the race. I said I hoped he won because I definitely lost my bet and he laughed again before heading off.

All in all it was definitely a fun race and I’ll do it again, maybe next year I’ll be able to catch a few more players. This does bode well for my fall races and the Livestrong Challenge 5K that was added to the Challenge weekend.