Mike Hanlon's Journal

November 26, 2008 (Posted December 2, 2008)

I’ll start by warning you right off the bat that this might not be the most thrilling journal entry ever. I unfortunately don’t have much training news to report on, as the last two months I’ve been afflicted with a nasty case of patella tendonitis. It was one of those injuries we’ve all had where it seemed so minor but it kept nagging and before I knew it I had lost almost four weeks.

I’ve only just gotten back into somewhat steady training again after several false starts. Now normally when I don’t have much to talk about as far as running is concerned I would move on to my second favorite topic which is Michigan football, but, yeah, maybe not this time. We’ll revisit that topic next fall…

The life of an injured athlete can be just as busy as that of a healthy athlete and of course much more frustrating. However, at Team USA Minnesota we’re really lucky in that we have access to so many resources to make our stint on the DL as short as possible. For starters I have to give a shout-out to Jill at Lyn Lake Chiropractic and Becky (a trainer) at Augsburg – they have been absolute life-savers.

They tried everything at their disposal to fix my knee and were amazingly patient, far more so than me anyway (of course when what they tried didn’t work it was much better than my usual routine of ice, ibuprofen and yelling “why don’t you get better!!!!” at the offending body part….). So thanks are definitely in order to them and their staffs, because without their help I would most definitely still be injured.

The other amazing resource we have with Team USA Minnesota is a free membership to all Twin Cities-area Life Time Fitness clubs. Now I’ve never been a gym guy – I hate treadmills and I’ve been amazingly lucky injury-wise until now – so this was a pretty new thing for me. However, in the last few weeks as I was forced to become a regular attendee I have to say I’ve become a convert to the whole gym experience, or even, dare I say, an addict?

The sheer size of the place I usually go to is unbelievable so you never have to wait for anything to open up, and the TVs actually right on the machines are amazing. I realize I sound like a tourist describing the “big city” for the first time, but like I said I never really ventured into gyms since my last injury (early high school) so I was quite impressed by the leaps in technology since that time. Ever though obviously I would’ve much rather been running outside, cross-training was at least bearable this time around. Who knows, when the Minnesota winter really kicks in in another month or two, I may even be back to try this whole treadmill thing I keep hearing about!

Well, I suppose that’s about it for my journal entry. Treatment and the gym have been my life this past month so that’s about all I have to talk about. The cool thing about doing these journals is seeing what other athletes have been up to – it can really be interesting to read about.

For instance, I found out that none other than Ryan Hall recently suffered through patella tendonitis during his build-up to Beijing. Throw in the fact that my good friend Frank Tinney of ZAP Fitness also just got over a case himself and, as Mugatu would say, patella tendonitis is just so hot right now. How well Ryan did at the Olympics despite that though is something I can really draw inspiration from. If he can do what he did then there’s no reason I can’t rally and have a solid track season. Check back in to nyrr.org in the coming months to find out how it goes!

Introductory Entry (Posted October 15, 2008)

Hi everybody! I am the newest member of Team USA Minnesota checking in with my first NYRR journal entry. I’ve been out in Minneapolis since early September and absolutely love it so far. But before we get into current events, let me tell you a bit about myself.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and went to Huron High School. For college I went to Colgate University in beautiful Hamilton, New York. After that I spent one year in Flagstaff, Arizona, and now I’m here. So between Michigan and central New York, I will hopefully be ready for the Minnesota winters, but we’ll see!

I’ve been really lucky in that just about everywhere I’ve been I’ve had incredible coaches and teammates and so far my luck seems to have held here in Minneapolis. Coach Barker, Pat Goodwin and all my new teammates have been really helpful in getting me settled in.

I live right on the chain of lakes (Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet) in Minneapolis and the running is fantastic. I’ve entered the specialty running store industry as an employee of Marathon Sports in Minneapolis and that’s been working out really well.

My training is also off to a good start. Right now I’ve just been putting in the miles and the threshold work. I can’t wait to get out there racing again, especially after watching how well the rest of the team has been racing lately. My goals for the coming year are to get faster on the track in the 5K and 10K and hopefully make some noise on the roads in the U.S. Championships as well.

That’s pretty much it for right now. Keep checking in to see how the rest of the Team USA Minnesota athletes and I are doing as the season progresses. Thanks!