Time to pull it together. An injury week can either kill you... or, if you're very very lucky, you can trundle on forwards, starting several steps behind where you used to be.
L toe feeling almost back to where it used to be, feeling like it may be possible to resume some running. Rolling out my arch actually helps a lot more than I thought it would. Going to try the new PT regimen, to see if running can be managed without accumulating damage. Gotta focus on making good decisions this week.
Sunday 01/27: 38:41, short, very very chill run to test the waters. 4.4 mile loop around the neighborhood, made the call to deal with some pavement over the mushy mud that is likely to be in the Arroyo. Also tried a new shoe, an older model of the Gel Nimbus--while Asics and I haven't always gotten along, this shoe was so nice and cushy, I thought it would be better than my aging pair of Triumphs. Mostly a good run, the L foot had some rough patches, but felt alright by the end, otherwise very nice and easy, but felt surprisingly smooth and light on my feet. Was also pleased to see that easy hasn't reverted back to like 10 minute miles.
Monday 01/28: 41:27, Huntington back via Virginia. Rolling out my arches and looking forwards to this run all day. Not sure what the inspiration was, but did a real run for the first time in what feels like years... with a real "running" stride instead of a joggers shuffle like I've been doing for the past 3 months. Felt SO GOOD, just like heaven. Legs just felt so free, it felt like I was running for the first time ever, the movements felt so unfamiliar after so much trundling.
Felt good. Core strengthening at the gym afterwards. Then weird new PT for the toe, rolled out my arches some more. Hoping that nothing hurts tomorrow.
Tuesday 01/29: Off. Resting foot, lots of work. Kind of feeling like a stress (basket) case lately. Still waiting on the verdict for the new PT, though I have to say that the part that Andre worked on last week feel... really great. Arches are feeling not stellar bc I ran without the foam orthotics on Monday. The squishy spenco ones have considerably less support. Brought a tennis ball to work to roll out my arches during the day, but so busy it didn't get much use.
Wednesday 01/30: 41:49, 3 x Arroyo Tempo Loops (14:00, 11:53, 14:39) plus jog back to car. Tried the short segment of higher HR running again today, and remembered why I didn't want to leave the jogging only phase. No one likes to confront their own incompetence... my characteric "trundle" is currently optimized to about a HR of 165 and corresponds to 8:45 - 9:30 pace depending on the surface. Excursions too far from that range result in a disproportionate amount of cardiovascular discomfort... which is both unsettling and demoralizing. It's like one day you wake up and realize that you're a running "baby" again... everything's hard and consterning.
I pushed harder against the discomfort than ever before in the past few months, getting to about 185-195 range depending on uphill or downhill for the middle lap for a whopping 7:45 pace across about a mile and a half. Piece of cake for my legs, but the rest of me was feeling very "whoa, wtf?". It can't even imagine how I used to run 10, 12 miles at this pace. I've become this weird, slow, blobby thing that I don't really want to recognize as myself.
The former approach to such situations was to put my head down and grind through as many grueling sessions of ultra high intensity mileage until the paces started to come more easily... but such things are no longer possible for me, nor are they really the best way to gain fitness, as I am now told. I think that the reason I used to do things that way is because I AM mentally equipped to handle those physical battles lasting but a few weeks, but right now the majority of what I'm facing are psychological battles... making good choices for my sub-optimally healthy body in the face of slow progress and training discontent. And that, I'm not so good at doing.
Thursday 01/31: 43:09, Sierra Madre to an abridged Eichenlaub Grassy Special. Did not get out until pretty late, felt averse to running around the field, so drove out to Lombardy and Sierra Madre grass median. Felt pretty tired and not really enthused about this run, cold and stressed. Had a lot of trouble with footing early on in the dark, but managed an epic tumble off of curb at Oak Knoll, turning the right ankle (the good side, argh!) pretty bad. Lucky to have avoided doing a faceplant into oncoming traffic, but took a few minutes to get back on my feet again. Jogged really slowly back, but coming back up Sierra Madre, fell into rut in the grass and hyper-extended R knee. At this point did not care about pain, HR or form, just hurried back so as to make this godawful run end as quickly as possible.
Friday 02/01: 53:06, Huntington, the real one up Oak Knoll. A new month, time to re-group. Iced the ankle, get the swelling down as much as possible to be able to shove back into a shoe. Right side rubs a bit uncomfortably against the sore part, but mostly okay. Didn't feel that great overall, but ran comfortably for my longest run in almost a year. Felt better towards the end coming up Oak Knoll, was mostly pleased with 8:30's on low effort. Could have been worse.
Saturday 02/02: 30:12, around the CMS fields with Carl, then a few more laps on my own. You'd think a couple of races would tire Carl out, but not so. Felt pretty beat, L foot didn't feel great either. Watched CMS alumni meet with Peter. Good to see everyone, but wished I could race. On a positive note, the sprain continues to improve.
Target Training this week: 3 hours? Basically anything I can manage without deteriorating the condition of my left second toe is fine for this week.
Actual training: 4:08:24 (not too bad, actually)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Week of 01/20/2008 - 01/26/2008 (Pre-Base Week 11)
Struggling with the whole consistency thing lately. Another crappy training week following a good one. This week's prognosis actually looks pretty poor as well.
Feeling alternately frustrated with life and then with myself. Obviously its my own responsibility to make time for the things that are important to me... but increasingly, I'm aware that "adulthood" forces you to admit the possibility that there are more important things in life than running. In my worse moments I highly resent that fact, and I resent the choices that I made that lead to wasting the years I had of lesser responsibility that could more wholly be devoted to running.
I always thought that it got better after tech, that you had more freedom, more time, more choices. Anything could be further from the truth... several years later, I find that while my life may less be confined by school work, but newly conceived notions of financial, professional, personal and social responsibilities have risen to take its place. In my current situation, I'm coming up against the fact that prioritizing training over absolutely everything else is selfish and ultimately untenable.
I guess if I were a better person, I would be okay with all of this... but apparently I've still got some personal growth to do...
Sunday 01/20: Off. More apartments. We aren't really excited about living in a planned living community. Gah.
Monday 01/21: XC ... skiing that is. Somewhere in the Rockies, about 2 hours out of Denver. You would think that it would be harder to fall down on a flat surface, but I managed to fall over in 2 hours more times than I've fallen downhill skiing in like 5 years combined. Took a bunch of getting used to, but fun towards the end. Good cardiovascular workout. Unfortunately this destroyed my L foot--per the pivot point for moving forwards approximately falling at the ball of your foot... it was actually a lot more stress to the bad joint than running. L forefoot grossly swollen for rest of day, hurts to walk.
Tuesday 01/22: Off. Feet mangled, body sore from waist down. Too much other crap to do. Got first allergy shot. Apparently you can't exercise for 4 hours prior and 4 hours after the shots, which I have to have twice a week... this is going to make scheduling running time even harder.
Wednesday 01/23: 15 minutes of ellipticizing, after which I decided that this sucked, so I tried the treadmill but it started killing my L foot after 5 minutes, but by that time, my elliptical had been taken... so 30 minutes of stationary biking, which made my feet (both) numb. Felt stupid and annoyed. Core strengthening afterwards, not a good day.
Thursday 01/24: 1 hour of ellipticizing, so as to avoid yesterday's mistake. Tried to do super high cadence. Did not feel like running. 165 HR never felt so bad. I was thinking, well at least it didn't hurt my foot... but the first step I took off of the machine was searing pain... not really sure how this happened, but it really irritated the bad toe again.
Friday 01/25: Off. Drinking off a crappy week.
Saturday 01/26: Went to the legendary Andre van Commenee to get my foot assessed... confirmed my suspicion of extensor tendonitis... which is apparently very very rare in this sort of manifestation. He did say that this was theoretically curable though, and was much preferable to joint damage. Felt cautiously optimistic about some exercises and home therapy to try over the next few weeks. Foot actually feeling not half bad this morning. Core strengthening at the gym with Peter in the PM.
Target training time this week: if I can get 2 ellipticizings and 2 runs in without pain, I'll call that a win.
Actual training: 50 minutes of assorted cardio, 1 hour of ellipticizing, some core strengthening
Feeling alternately frustrated with life and then with myself. Obviously its my own responsibility to make time for the things that are important to me... but increasingly, I'm aware that "adulthood" forces you to admit the possibility that there are more important things in life than running. In my worse moments I highly resent that fact, and I resent the choices that I made that lead to wasting the years I had of lesser responsibility that could more wholly be devoted to running.
I always thought that it got better after tech, that you had more freedom, more time, more choices. Anything could be further from the truth... several years later, I find that while my life may less be confined by school work, but newly conceived notions of financial, professional, personal and social responsibilities have risen to take its place. In my current situation, I'm coming up against the fact that prioritizing training over absolutely everything else is selfish and ultimately untenable.
I guess if I were a better person, I would be okay with all of this... but apparently I've still got some personal growth to do...
Sunday 01/20: Off. More apartments. We aren't really excited about living in a planned living community. Gah.
Monday 01/21: XC ... skiing that is. Somewhere in the Rockies, about 2 hours out of Denver. You would think that it would be harder to fall down on a flat surface, but I managed to fall over in 2 hours more times than I've fallen downhill skiing in like 5 years combined. Took a bunch of getting used to, but fun towards the end. Good cardiovascular workout. Unfortunately this destroyed my L foot--per the pivot point for moving forwards approximately falling at the ball of your foot... it was actually a lot more stress to the bad joint than running. L forefoot grossly swollen for rest of day, hurts to walk.
Tuesday 01/22: Off. Feet mangled, body sore from waist down. Too much other crap to do. Got first allergy shot. Apparently you can't exercise for 4 hours prior and 4 hours after the shots, which I have to have twice a week... this is going to make scheduling running time even harder.
Wednesday 01/23: 15 minutes of ellipticizing, after which I decided that this sucked, so I tried the treadmill but it started killing my L foot after 5 minutes, but by that time, my elliptical had been taken... so 30 minutes of stationary biking, which made my feet (both) numb. Felt stupid and annoyed. Core strengthening afterwards, not a good day.
Thursday 01/24: 1 hour of ellipticizing, so as to avoid yesterday's mistake. Tried to do super high cadence. Did not feel like running. 165 HR never felt so bad. I was thinking, well at least it didn't hurt my foot... but the first step I took off of the machine was searing pain... not really sure how this happened, but it really irritated the bad toe again.
Friday 01/25: Off. Drinking off a crappy week.
Saturday 01/26: Went to the legendary Andre van Commenee to get my foot assessed... confirmed my suspicion of extensor tendonitis... which is apparently very very rare in this sort of manifestation. He did say that this was theoretically curable though, and was much preferable to joint damage. Felt cautiously optimistic about some exercises and home therapy to try over the next few weeks. Foot actually feeling not half bad this morning. Core strengthening at the gym with Peter in the PM.
Target training time this week: if I can get 2 ellipticizings and 2 runs in without pain, I'll call that a win.
Actual training: 50 minutes of assorted cardio, 1 hour of ellipticizing, some core strengthening
Monday, January 14, 2008
Week of 01/13/2008 - 01/19/2008 (Pre-Base Week 10)
Is it time to leave the nest?
I'm coming off of my highest week of training minutes, and I'm actually pretty close to 5 hours, which is 50 minutes per day with one off day. That's a decent training week. I admit, however, that it was kind of a shock when a certain someone (my beloved training consultant) told me that at this point, I'm a few months in and its not good to get stuck in the rut of running only easy all of the time. Meh? it isn't???
This is kind of the equivalent of when you pull the wheel chair out from under the patient who's gotten used to not having to have to walk, shoving some crutches under their nose and tell them its time to start physical therapy. Its... actually pretty comfortable in that wheel chair. I realized that I've kind of retreated back into this mindset, with no pressure and no expectations. I run at the same pleasant level of exertion every day, thinking that there's all the time in the world to run faster... Every day is pleasantly mindless, I run about the same amount of time, about the same speed, and mostly cheerfully if somewhat impatiently track my slow progress back towards presentability.
I so completely had to repress my instincts of better, faster, more to make it through this injury and starting running again without destroying my body, that it actually, really came as shock to me that maybe its time to toddle a few more steps forward. That my responsibilities to my training extend beyond trundling through my jogs and core strengthenings. I actually have enough weekly minutes now to organize a "long(er)" run, a shorter uptempo run, and some recovery runs, so that my week has some structure and variety. I have to admit that the return of training elements kind of makes me feel more stressed than before, and that apprehension is not entirely welcome... but if I'm ever to race again, I'm going to have to wake the competitive instinctive out of its extended hibernation.
Sunday 01/13: Off. Playing hooky today to go snow shoeing with Peter! Drove up the Angeles Crest past Newcombs Ranch to the Mt. Waterman trail. Followed the packed snow path for a bit, then embarked on an off roading adventure with the snow shoes. Parts of it very steep and strenuous, but there was also some pleasant rolling parts. Almost fell into a snow covered stream, which was really, incredibly frightening ... every Peter production is a curious mix of super fun and super harrowingly scary.
Monday 01/14: A bad day at work. Ankles and heels (where the achilles feeds in and also where the plantar fascia tendon attaches) feel inflamed from the steep uphill snow shoeing. Decided to give the system an extra day to heal (no pun intended). Core strengthening at the gym with Peter. My proficiency on this front seems to be back on the improving track again after the layoff over break.
Tuesday 01/15: 44:30, Monterrey to bridge... really, really freaking slowly. Felt not great in the morning, but not completely wiped out. However, run was 2 minutes slower than usual, wtf? I am displeased. R hip and foot feeling crappy afterwards, and I was sneezing almost constantly throughout the day. Weird and uncomfortable and crappy. More stress at work, and I'm slowly, dying from the 3 week gap in insurance coverage of Zyrtec, and commercial release of the over the counter version. Glahgahgalghghg. As a result, I've been feeling respiratorily crappy for the past week or so, but its never clear if its from allergies or from having contracted the plague. Grouchy today.
Wednesday 01/16: 42:01, 3 x Arroyo Tempo loops (14:17, 12:19, 14:08) plus jog back to car. I'm learning some Spanish words from work. The word for how I feel today is: Basura. Woke up feeling totally exhausted, did not make it out to the Arroyo at 7:30 as planned... which was fortunate bc that allowed me to be woken up again at 8:15 by a frantic call from El Boss Man. At this point, I decided to crawl out of bed, empty the sinuses and head out for a run, because it does NOT sound like I will be going home early tonight to run. Felt pretty asleep and crappy. Nasal and upper respiratory passages still swollen and stuffy from yesterday's mystery sneezing episode.
Today was supposed to be my first "long run" of 10K (4 arroyo tempo loops with the middle 2 at running effort instead of jogging effort) but I realized that I didn't have time and I also felt inordinately crappy, so instead I just did 3 loops. Took the HR monitor out, mostly to see if I could determine if I was getting sick (higher resting rate) but it looks like a negative on that one--so its just the allergies (kind of scary)... relief comes on 1/24, only 8 days away. HR monitor was freaking out in the Arroyo for most of the time, so didn't get a ton of readings. I did the first and last loops at the same effort level as all of my other runs (which Mark calls "perma-trodding") about 155-165 bpm, then for the middle loop, I pushed the pace up to the maximum sustainable level without breathing out of my mouth, which was about mid 180's. Felt so, so fantastic to run with a "running" stride instead of the "jogging" stride, but only thing that didn't really gel was the breathing part... throat just felt really tight and swollen like forcing air through a coffee stirrer.
Thursday 01/17: 43:33, ran out of time in the AM, so Monterrey to bridge loop again. Slowly, again. Still feeling pretty crappy. wtf is up with this week? R heel and L foot is feeling crappy as well. Arghhh.... sucks.
Friday 01/18: 40:45, one perimeter lap around the RB in the AM. Disaster strikes... along with the highly consterning realization that I need to make better decisions for myself. Had a full scale asthma attach halfway through this run, felt dizzy and vomitous, but was 20 minutes away from car in either direction, so had to gut it out. Don't recall a worse run in the past year or so. The rest of this run felt very much like the end of track 2006, where muscularly you feel great, but its like having cotton stuffed down your nose all the way into your lungs...
Went to buy the highly expensive antihistamine pills immediately after the run. I just don't think I can make it these last 7 days like this... In hindsight, I should really have just shelled out the money for all 3 weeks of the insurance gap, because I'm really not okay without them. Maybe I would have been okay if I wasn't trying to train... but like I was feeling really great after I got back from vacation, like I thought I had turned a corner with my training, but I've watched it crumble in the past few weeks and feel frustration at myself for not being able to recognize that a one time expenditure of $65 is probably still less than the price of happiness that I would have derived from 3 solid weeks of training. At any rate, what's done is done... I'm hoping my body will slowly go back to normal within the next few weeks and I can graduate from "Pre-Base" in a healthy and happy state.
Saturday 01/19: 45:00, treadmill at the hotel in Denver. Apartment hunting with Peter this weekend. Lots of snow, freezing temperatures (literally) and pavement, not a lot of time either, so treadmill in the gym it is. For what its worth, this was the most technologically advanced treadmill I've ever seen, with a big color screen that I eventually figured out could be turned into a TV. Never figured out how to un-mute it though, so not terribly entertaining.
To pass the time, I tried testing the effect of various speeds and footstrikes on HR. Maybe not a great sample size since everything was confined to "slow"... but found that running with a "running" stride instead of the shuffling jog stride is actually more "efficient" on a speed per HR basis. Also, thinking about something stressful raises HR by ~5 bpm at any given speed. Did ~20 minutes at 145-155 bpm, then 15 minutes in the 160 range, then the last bit at 170 with some jogging at the end. Breathing easy (effect of altitude probably canceled out by effect of having taken 2 zyrtec since yesterday's disaster), but felt pretty crappy otherwise. Legs felt pretty heavy, feet hurt above averagely.
Target training this week: 4 hours?
Actual training: 3:35:49
Ambitious on 5 days... but I want to *try* a longer run this week, playing it by ear for now.
**Later revision: yeah, not gonna happen this week. Try again later.
I'm coming off of my highest week of training minutes, and I'm actually pretty close to 5 hours, which is 50 minutes per day with one off day. That's a decent training week. I admit, however, that it was kind of a shock when a certain someone (my beloved training consultant) told me that at this point, I'm a few months in and its not good to get stuck in the rut of running only easy all of the time. Meh? it isn't???
This is kind of the equivalent of when you pull the wheel chair out from under the patient who's gotten used to not having to have to walk, shoving some crutches under their nose and tell them its time to start physical therapy. Its... actually pretty comfortable in that wheel chair. I realized that I've kind of retreated back into this mindset, with no pressure and no expectations. I run at the same pleasant level of exertion every day, thinking that there's all the time in the world to run faster... Every day is pleasantly mindless, I run about the same amount of time, about the same speed, and mostly cheerfully if somewhat impatiently track my slow progress back towards presentability.
I so completely had to repress my instincts of better, faster, more to make it through this injury and starting running again without destroying my body, that it actually, really came as shock to me that maybe its time to toddle a few more steps forward. That my responsibilities to my training extend beyond trundling through my jogs and core strengthenings. I actually have enough weekly minutes now to organize a "long(er)" run, a shorter uptempo run, and some recovery runs, so that my week has some structure and variety. I have to admit that the return of training elements kind of makes me feel more stressed than before, and that apprehension is not entirely welcome... but if I'm ever to race again, I'm going to have to wake the competitive instinctive out of its extended hibernation.
Sunday 01/13: Off. Playing hooky today to go snow shoeing with Peter! Drove up the Angeles Crest past Newcombs Ranch to the Mt. Waterman trail. Followed the packed snow path for a bit, then embarked on an off roading adventure with the snow shoes. Parts of it very steep and strenuous, but there was also some pleasant rolling parts. Almost fell into a snow covered stream, which was really, incredibly frightening ... every Peter production is a curious mix of super fun and super harrowingly scary.
Monday 01/14: A bad day at work. Ankles and heels (where the achilles feeds in and also where the plantar fascia tendon attaches) feel inflamed from the steep uphill snow shoeing. Decided to give the system an extra day to heal (no pun intended). Core strengthening at the gym with Peter. My proficiency on this front seems to be back on the improving track again after the layoff over break.
Tuesday 01/15: 44:30, Monterrey to bridge... really, really freaking slowly. Felt not great in the morning, but not completely wiped out. However, run was 2 minutes slower than usual, wtf? I am displeased. R hip and foot feeling crappy afterwards, and I was sneezing almost constantly throughout the day. Weird and uncomfortable and crappy. More stress at work, and I'm slowly, dying from the 3 week gap in insurance coverage of Zyrtec, and commercial release of the over the counter version. Glahgahgalghghg. As a result, I've been feeling respiratorily crappy for the past week or so, but its never clear if its from allergies or from having contracted the plague. Grouchy today.
Wednesday 01/16: 42:01, 3 x Arroyo Tempo loops (14:17, 12:19, 14:08) plus jog back to car. I'm learning some Spanish words from work. The word for how I feel today is: Basura. Woke up feeling totally exhausted, did not make it out to the Arroyo at 7:30 as planned... which was fortunate bc that allowed me to be woken up again at 8:15 by a frantic call from El Boss Man. At this point, I decided to crawl out of bed, empty the sinuses and head out for a run, because it does NOT sound like I will be going home early tonight to run. Felt pretty asleep and crappy. Nasal and upper respiratory passages still swollen and stuffy from yesterday's mystery sneezing episode.
Today was supposed to be my first "long run" of 10K (4 arroyo tempo loops with the middle 2 at running effort instead of jogging effort) but I realized that I didn't have time and I also felt inordinately crappy, so instead I just did 3 loops. Took the HR monitor out, mostly to see if I could determine if I was getting sick (higher resting rate) but it looks like a negative on that one--so its just the allergies (kind of scary)... relief comes on 1/24, only 8 days away. HR monitor was freaking out in the Arroyo for most of the time, so didn't get a ton of readings. I did the first and last loops at the same effort level as all of my other runs (which Mark calls "perma-trodding") about 155-165 bpm, then for the middle loop, I pushed the pace up to the maximum sustainable level without breathing out of my mouth, which was about mid 180's. Felt so, so fantastic to run with a "running" stride instead of the "jogging" stride, but only thing that didn't really gel was the breathing part... throat just felt really tight and swollen like forcing air through a coffee stirrer.
Thursday 01/17: 43:33, ran out of time in the AM, so Monterrey to bridge loop again. Slowly, again. Still feeling pretty crappy. wtf is up with this week? R heel and L foot is feeling crappy as well. Arghhh.... sucks.
Friday 01/18: 40:45, one perimeter lap around the RB in the AM. Disaster strikes... along with the highly consterning realization that I need to make better decisions for myself. Had a full scale asthma attach halfway through this run, felt dizzy and vomitous, but was 20 minutes away from car in either direction, so had to gut it out. Don't recall a worse run in the past year or so. The rest of this run felt very much like the end of track 2006, where muscularly you feel great, but its like having cotton stuffed down your nose all the way into your lungs...
Went to buy the highly expensive antihistamine pills immediately after the run. I just don't think I can make it these last 7 days like this... In hindsight, I should really have just shelled out the money for all 3 weeks of the insurance gap, because I'm really not okay without them. Maybe I would have been okay if I wasn't trying to train... but like I was feeling really great after I got back from vacation, like I thought I had turned a corner with my training, but I've watched it crumble in the past few weeks and feel frustration at myself for not being able to recognize that a one time expenditure of $65 is probably still less than the price of happiness that I would have derived from 3 solid weeks of training. At any rate, what's done is done... I'm hoping my body will slowly go back to normal within the next few weeks and I can graduate from "Pre-Base" in a healthy and happy state.
Saturday 01/19: 45:00, treadmill at the hotel in Denver. Apartment hunting with Peter this weekend. Lots of snow, freezing temperatures (literally) and pavement, not a lot of time either, so treadmill in the gym it is. For what its worth, this was the most technologically advanced treadmill I've ever seen, with a big color screen that I eventually figured out could be turned into a TV. Never figured out how to un-mute it though, so not terribly entertaining.
To pass the time, I tried testing the effect of various speeds and footstrikes on HR. Maybe not a great sample size since everything was confined to "slow"... but found that running with a "running" stride instead of the shuffling jog stride is actually more "efficient" on a speed per HR basis. Also, thinking about something stressful raises HR by ~5 bpm at any given speed. Did ~20 minutes at 145-155 bpm, then 15 minutes in the 160 range, then the last bit at 170 with some jogging at the end. Breathing easy (effect of altitude probably canceled out by effect of having taken 2 zyrtec since yesterday's disaster), but felt pretty crappy otherwise. Legs felt pretty heavy, feet hurt above averagely.
Target training this week: 4 hours?
Actual training: 3:35:49
Ambitious on 5 days... but I want to *try* a longer run this week, playing it by ear for now.
**Later revision: yeah, not gonna happen this week. Try again later.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Week of 01/06/2008 - 01/12/2008 (Pre-Base Week 9)
Breaking the curse?
Perhaps last week was kind of a cheat. But if we take it to be a valid training week... the completion of this week will signify the symbolic exorcism of the curse of the 8 weeks. In the past year and a half, it's seemed impossible by an unwritten law of physics for me to string together more than 8 weeks of training time, before having to have to take at least 2 weeks off due to injury of illness.
But yet, here I am, courtesy of the Meinhold School of Running for kids who need to chill the hell out. This is week 9, and I'm starting my third pre-base microcycle, a little bit worse for the wear after the East coast winter... but mostly healthy and pain free. Yay!
Sunday 01/06: 44:49, so squishy, so wet. Laps of variable size and enjoyability around the very soggy South field. Blech. Was planning to run around lane 6 per usual rainy day M.O., but knees and feet were feeling a bit balky, so decided to give them a bit of a break with the squishy grass. Not sure if it was just the "squeeeesh, squeeesh" sound with each step, or the slow seeping of water into my shoes, but this was not a very pleasant run. Felt pretty sluggish.
Monday 01/07: 42:22, Monterrey to bridge loop to scope out the new puddles. Determined the infeasibility of Arroyo Tempo loops in the near future. Almost slipped and ate it in some mud pits hidden under leaves, but it was pleasantly warm and sunny. Felt really good this run, and even a little bit faster than usual. Also felt pleased with the fact that 40 minutes doesn't feel like a lot of minutes anymore. Going to try to keep the runs shorter this week though, to allow for manageable increases the next two weeks.
Core strengthening at the gym by myself afterwards. Dunno how I feel about the new hamstring exercises.
Tuesday 01/08: Off. Lots of work... and apples. Honey crisp apples are really fantastic.
Wednesday 01/09: 44:56, Huntington back via Virginia in the PM. This run is always disappointing bc the first half is downhill and the second half is uphill. So in the beginning, I'm always excited that its so easy... so somehow I expect a fast overall time, but the uphill balances it out in the end, and its just the same as any other day. Meh. At least it was a minute or so faster than the last time... progress is soooooo slowwwwww. Actually that isn't that fair, progress is fine, its just that I have so far to go. So it seems like it takes forever.
Core strengthening afterwards at the gym. Managed to fall off of the exercise ball and sprain a finger pretty badly in the attempt to break my fall. So stupid! Good thing I'm not doing much riding these days, so I won't really require the use of my middle finger anyways (for obnoxious cars, only). Except for... typing... and... work... yeah.
Thursday 01/10: 43:08, Monterrey loop again. On the bright side, the mud pits have dried up sufficiently closer to the RB to try some other routes soon. Very chill today, in the AM, was worried about <24 hour recovery time since the last run, but didn't feel as bad as I thought I would. I guess my feet ARE getting stronger. Unfortunately, stomach cramps towards the end, and finger has now swollen solid into one shape and range of motion from that state is extremely limited... :(.
Friday 01/11: 44:04, 15 North Field laps. Too much work, had to run after dark again... this time found the North field gate open, so tried that. Really boring and really slow. Felt inordinately tired today. Blah. I also really do not enjoy running around in circles... and if I am, there better be an incentive in there--like winning... or... maybe more like, not last.
Core strengthening at the gym afterwards with Peter. Turns out, its useful to have the middle finger of your left hand. Meh. Not a great day for the training system.
Saturday 01/12: 39:02, one trail perimeter lap of the RB with KB and Susan. An unseasonably beautiful, clear, sunny warm day out. Half expected to be totally dead after yesterday, but wasn't too bad. Tried to run slightly faster than "jogging" for the last 5 minutes. Found out that that doesn't feel so good. Peter says its not good to "forget" how to run at different speeds and effort levels. Since its been 9 months since the last uptempo run, I think "forgot" is an understatement. Maybe try to phase in 10 minute segments of slightly faster running every so often. Let's see how my feet respond to that.
About an hour and a half of easy riding with Peter in the PM. Felt good. Really enjoyed the sun and the warm. Fun, despite feeling kind of headachey all day. Tired, went to bed at 9 pm. Hoping that I haven't contracted the plague.
Target Training for week: 4 hours
Actual training: 4:18:21
Perhaps last week was kind of a cheat. But if we take it to be a valid training week... the completion of this week will signify the symbolic exorcism of the curse of the 8 weeks. In the past year and a half, it's seemed impossible by an unwritten law of physics for me to string together more than 8 weeks of training time, before having to have to take at least 2 weeks off due to injury of illness.
But yet, here I am, courtesy of the Meinhold School of Running for kids who need to chill the hell out. This is week 9, and I'm starting my third pre-base microcycle, a little bit worse for the wear after the East coast winter... but mostly healthy and pain free. Yay!
Sunday 01/06: 44:49, so squishy, so wet. Laps of variable size and enjoyability around the very soggy South field. Blech. Was planning to run around lane 6 per usual rainy day M.O., but knees and feet were feeling a bit balky, so decided to give them a bit of a break with the squishy grass. Not sure if it was just the "squeeeesh, squeeesh" sound with each step, or the slow seeping of water into my shoes, but this was not a very pleasant run. Felt pretty sluggish.
Monday 01/07: 42:22, Monterrey to bridge loop to scope out the new puddles. Determined the infeasibility of Arroyo Tempo loops in the near future. Almost slipped and ate it in some mud pits hidden under leaves, but it was pleasantly warm and sunny. Felt really good this run, and even a little bit faster than usual. Also felt pleased with the fact that 40 minutes doesn't feel like a lot of minutes anymore. Going to try to keep the runs shorter this week though, to allow for manageable increases the next two weeks.
Core strengthening at the gym by myself afterwards. Dunno how I feel about the new hamstring exercises.
Tuesday 01/08: Off. Lots of work... and apples. Honey crisp apples are really fantastic.
Wednesday 01/09: 44:56, Huntington back via Virginia in the PM. This run is always disappointing bc the first half is downhill and the second half is uphill. So in the beginning, I'm always excited that its so easy... so somehow I expect a fast overall time, but the uphill balances it out in the end, and its just the same as any other day. Meh. At least it was a minute or so faster than the last time... progress is soooooo slowwwwww. Actually that isn't that fair, progress is fine, its just that I have so far to go. So it seems like it takes forever.
Core strengthening afterwards at the gym. Managed to fall off of the exercise ball and sprain a finger pretty badly in the attempt to break my fall. So stupid! Good thing I'm not doing much riding these days, so I won't really require the use of my middle finger anyways (for obnoxious cars, only). Except for... typing... and... work... yeah.
Thursday 01/10: 43:08, Monterrey loop again. On the bright side, the mud pits have dried up sufficiently closer to the RB to try some other routes soon. Very chill today, in the AM, was worried about <24 hour recovery time since the last run, but didn't feel as bad as I thought I would. I guess my feet ARE getting stronger. Unfortunately, stomach cramps towards the end, and finger has now swollen solid into one shape and range of motion from that state is extremely limited... :(.
Friday 01/11: 44:04, 15 North Field laps. Too much work, had to run after dark again... this time found the North field gate open, so tried that. Really boring and really slow. Felt inordinately tired today. Blah. I also really do not enjoy running around in circles... and if I am, there better be an incentive in there--like winning... or... maybe more like, not last.
Core strengthening at the gym afterwards with Peter. Turns out, its useful to have the middle finger of your left hand. Meh. Not a great day for the training system.
Saturday 01/12: 39:02, one trail perimeter lap of the RB with KB and Susan. An unseasonably beautiful, clear, sunny warm day out. Half expected to be totally dead after yesterday, but wasn't too bad. Tried to run slightly faster than "jogging" for the last 5 minutes. Found out that that doesn't feel so good. Peter says its not good to "forget" how to run at different speeds and effort levels. Since its been 9 months since the last uptempo run, I think "forgot" is an understatement. Maybe try to phase in 10 minute segments of slightly faster running every so often. Let's see how my feet respond to that.
About an hour and a half of easy riding with Peter in the PM. Felt good. Really enjoyed the sun and the warm. Fun, despite feeling kind of headachey all day. Tired, went to bed at 9 pm. Hoping that I haven't contracted the plague.
Target Training for week: 4 hours
Actual training: 4:18:21
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