Ugh, so here I am, two months later... having just logged my first "real" run in... two months.
For the past few years, I've been plagued by the curse of the training log. Every time I post something here, I get horribly injured, without fail. That is the curse of the training log. It is real people, and it is powerful. Just after my last entry in August, I tore the edge of my left plantar fascia, just under the cuboid. &#%$. I was thinking at first maybe it was just a locked cuboid, or maybe it was just a petty little strain... but in the end, it claimed 6 weeks... basically the same as a stress fracture. $%@#! I've been jogging 3 x a week for the past 2 weeks on the treadmill and finally got the go ahead to run outside.
So, here we go again. It is time to retire the curse of the training log, I will not be cowed by this irrational coincidence!
Sunday 10/30/2011: Arroyo 3 mile loop, 21:03 (7:01 pace), PF felt a little tight in the morning, so I wasn't sure about this run, but it warmed up very nicely throughout the day, and there was no pain during the run. Wore old racing flats, orange/white Brooks in which I set most of my PRs 6 years ago (ouch!). Felt kind of cathartic to just blast through all of the rocky parts, after a year of having to tip toe carefully around them in the Vibrams. Anyways, so maybe I started out a bit too fast (Garmin says 6:42 for the first mile) and there was maybe a bit too much huffing and puffing, but on the whole I am pleased with this run, as I think it means that I am not completely devoid of fitness, even after 2 months! Yay?
Monday 10/31/2011: Happy Halloween! Woke up with no PF pain, what a relief... AM: PT with Andre, core strengthening stuff, drills and the like. PM: 4000 yards swimming. Still snailing along in the pool, not really sure why... but somehow rallied to log some non awful 200y intervals at the end.
Tuesday 11/01/2011: Arroyo 3 mile loop, 20:54 (6:58 pace), woke up and arghhhh... the outsides of my feet were sort of sore... can't imagine why... but it worked itself out nicely by the time the evening rolled around, so went for my next scheduled run. Really, really thought that I did a good job of dialing it back today, but apparently I failed! It just feels so good to run fast... I guess I will just have to try harder to snail along on Thursday. Then jumped in the pool for 4550 yards swimming. It still feels exhausting and bad, but I think I felt inspired to snail a little less today. Not a bad day for exercise.
Wednesday 11/02/2011: 4600 yards in the pool. Feeling sort of beat up, shoulders are sort of accumulating this dull fatigued ache... plus the outsides of BOTH feet are still sore. Argh. Don't think its PF related, maybe the shoes?
Thursday 11/03/2011: Arroyo 3 mile loop, 21:04 (7:01 pace), feet significantly less sore today, but lost the battle against coffee... didn't feel all that great, but oddly enough, ran about the same! Legs kinda just seem to do their own thing, like they have their own rhythm... I'm pleased at how strong and good they feel, maybe there's something to all of those weird PT exercises. 3600 yards swimming afterwards. There was above average amount of dawdling today, so the yardage suffered, but given the amount of soreness in my shoulders, maybe this was for the best.
Friday 11/04/2011: Completely off. Allergy shots, travel, so on so forth. Free food abounds! Not a good combo, though managed to stick with going cold turkey on candy, chocolate and desserts. Word on the street was that the free desserts were super delicious... :'(
Saturday 11/05/2011: 1 x Washington Park Loop (3.6 miles, Denver), 26:46 (7:26 pace), Hmmmm, I don't know about this one guys. The altitude sort of makes you feel like you're running through molasses... it felt like I was going super slow, but finished the loop in 19 minutes, which is unusually fast. Saw some other fellow Newton-ites :) I think I've lost the ability to snail... maybe tomorrow.
Week #1 Total: 12.6 miles, but all of high quality.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
evolution / non sequitor...
In this year 2011, after many years of being kicked around the running/track scene, I learned something new about myself as a runner. But upon further reflection, I decided that it was less that I discovered something new about myself, and more that I have evolved both physically and mentally as a runner.
As of this year, I, of "how can anyone be so slow over 400m???" fame (see below), actually enjoy running fast. To be clear, by "fast" I mean, 6-7 minute miles, not sprinting or racing fast, and by "enjoy" I literally mean, I enjoy the physical process of doing, rather than "its sucky while I'm doing it, but I feel so good afterwards".
 |
| How to tell if you're not a sprinter: What, what??? Me run 66.93, yeah, when pigs fly... I ran 76.93 that day, and someone took it upon themselves to manually correct the fully automatic timing system results... because, well who could possibly, possibly be so slow? Note: the subtraction of 10 seconds still makes me last. Sad :( |
It probably all started with the whole barefoot running dealio... which naturally forces one to land on ones forefoot, thus transforming my running style from a "cockroach mashing" midfoot strike to a spritely toe-strike. For the first time, I started hearing people say "wow your form is so amazing!" instead of "wow, its... so loud every time your feet land!" Anyways, there is something about my new stride that makes running faster feel like the way running was meant to be.
Suddenly, picking up the pace has gone from stressful and taxing, to satisfying and delightful. I so love the sound of even breathing, the pumping of arms, the picking up of knees and a smooth, quick, kick-back. It feels like freedom and joy... something sublime that I don't really remember being there in the endless hours of my past training. Part of the reason why its taken me so long to increase my running mileage is because I've been loathe to add volume if it meant decreasing speed. The logs from January to August of this year can be found here:
Some quick notes:
- I was super lazy about running in December, which accounts for some of the slow runs in January
- Footware are mostly vibrams, G = green bikilas, R = red sprints, S = normal shoe (lightweight trainer from 2004), N = Newtons!
- "Washington Park" indicates Peter's place in Denver, at altitude --> slow, and "Bailey Canyon" is a significant, steep hill climb --> even slower!
The comments are not always useful, but hey, this is a direct upload from my own personal log. I won't be updating this google docs in the future, as I greatly prefer the additional functionality of my Excel file... mostly its just out there to cover the January - August time frame so I don't have to write specific posts about that :).
Thursday, August 25, 2011
oh, hi there bloggity blog!
Its been some time, hasn't it?
On one hand, I really no longer have time to chronicle my athletic pursuits (or lack thereof), but then I was thinking about it the other day and I've kept this training log since 2006... so it seems a shame to lose a record of some of the more physiologically interesting (if not competitively fruitful) training that I've had in the year or so that I've been away. So, I will make a renewed attempt to post... some stuff... sometimes. Deal? Deal.
Okay, well lets start with the reallllly old stuff. After femoral neck stress fracture (diagnosed May 2010), I lolled around in my misery for a while until I went, kicking and screaming to the pool around July. Started running in Vibrams on grass with 385m of infield every other day sometime towards the end of August. Both of these enterprises can be seen chronicled through the end of 2010 here:
2010 Injury Training Log
I was actually just perusing this file with some amusement a few days ago. Quick thoughts:
On one hand, I really no longer have time to chronicle my athletic pursuits (or lack thereof), but then I was thinking about it the other day and I've kept this training log since 2006... so it seems a shame to lose a record of some of the more physiologically interesting (if not competitively fruitful) training that I've had in the year or so that I've been away. So, I will make a renewed attempt to post... some stuff... sometimes. Deal? Deal.
Okay, well lets start with the reallllly old stuff. After femoral neck stress fracture (diagnosed May 2010), I lolled around in my misery for a while until I went, kicking and screaming to the pool around July. Started running in Vibrams on grass with 385m of infield every other day sometime towards the end of August. Both of these enterprises can be seen chronicled through the end of 2010 here:
2010 Injury Training Log
I was actually just perusing this file with some amusement a few days ago. Quick thoughts:
- Running: Hey, actually I was kind of a trooper to stick to those paces despite my extreme lack of fitness and extreme abundance of mass. (Pats self on back).
- Swimming: Some of those earlier entries are so adorably slow! Its kind of a good feeling to be new at something and hence still have the ability to improve rapidly.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Signs of Life (May - August)
So, its been a while...
From that you can extrapolate that the injury situation played out closer to the "worst case scenario" side of things. It turns out that I did manage to give myself a mild stress fracture of the R femoral neck, another one of those obscure injuries only seen in elite athletes and the extremely extremely stupid/unlucky. I'll let you guess which bucket I'm in. Anyways, welcome to "you may never run again... " take two.
I've generally found motivation to be much lower than last year. Last year I was extremely motivated to keep up my fitness and pursue a super conservative transition plan to running... but since that lead to... this... well, let's just say I'm feeling a little bit more on the "fuck this" sort of mindset. Nevertheless, the worst of it has all come and gone (fingers crossed) so I'll report on what's been going on:
May: Hmmmm... a whole lot of nothing. Really, literally... lots of sitting around, eating, fattening and disgruntle-ating. I tried to use crutches for a while, but gave up because it was so painful, I don't really know how I endured this for 6 weeks last year. Instead, I tried to stand on my left foot a lot, and avoid walking places. The rate of healing slowed a lot after I got back from Japan. I blame stress, sleep deprivation and unhappiness. Oh yeah, there was a heck of a lot of insomnia in there too. I wasn't built for the sedentary lifestyle.
June: Some PT, half hearted attempts at exercise. I learned from the PT that I run leaning too far back so that my center of mass is braking into every step... I guess its sorta nice to know that my slowness AND stress fractures are being caused by the same basic problem... but on the down side, the 3 minutes of running on the treadmill to ascertain this fact made my hip hurt :-/. Tried to do some light biking and swimming a couple of times a week but mostly failing. Discouraged by residual aches and pains.
July: More of the same, but started to get serious about swimming every day about halfway through July. Swam after work at the Caltech pool, something between 40 -60 minutes, maybe 5-6 days a week. Hard to get out of work early enough to make it to the pool by 6 pm (get kicked out at 7 pm). Started with 15 x 100 yards, on 2:30 cycles. Felt pretty crappy. Tried to incorporate some drills from Peter, with limited success.
August: Just as I was losing focus on this swimming thing, got opportunely "adopted" by the Caltech Masters swim club and their awesome coaches. Organized workouts make all of the difference. Practice is Mon-Thurs 7 - 8:30 pm and Sat 7 - 8:30 am. At first the 90 minute blocks were a stretch for me, so I only went a few times a week, but gradually committed to going every available day, and swimming easy on my own for 40 minutes on the off days. Also started adding in some cycling on the weekends, at first just long-ish commuting rides to/from errands, maybe 15-20 miles total. Did a few "real"-ish rides, including 7 laps of the RB at 10:10 - 10:25 per lap, which is actually a decent pace.
Started my running recovery regimen too, starting with 1 lap of the south field. Had some inordinate trouble with my calves in the pool which made things go a little bit more slowly than I'd like, but plugging along. Also got sick somewhere in there. Implemented weight loss plan super extreme to ease the transition to running. I was 107 immediately before the hip injury and back up to 120+ within a few months of immobility. Battled it back down to 110, which means that I think I'm in relatively good shape to ambulate in a manner that does not resemble the Michelin Man. Awesome!
From that you can extrapolate that the injury situation played out closer to the "worst case scenario" side of things. It turns out that I did manage to give myself a mild stress fracture of the R femoral neck, another one of those obscure injuries only seen in elite athletes and the extremely extremely stupid/unlucky. I'll let you guess which bucket I'm in. Anyways, welcome to "you may never run again... " take two.
I've generally found motivation to be much lower than last year. Last year I was extremely motivated to keep up my fitness and pursue a super conservative transition plan to running... but since that lead to... this... well, let's just say I'm feeling a little bit more on the "fuck this" sort of mindset. Nevertheless, the worst of it has all come and gone (fingers crossed) so I'll report on what's been going on:
May: Hmmmm... a whole lot of nothing. Really, literally... lots of sitting around, eating, fattening and disgruntle-ating. I tried to use crutches for a while, but gave up because it was so painful, I don't really know how I endured this for 6 weeks last year. Instead, I tried to stand on my left foot a lot, and avoid walking places. The rate of healing slowed a lot after I got back from Japan. I blame stress, sleep deprivation and unhappiness. Oh yeah, there was a heck of a lot of insomnia in there too. I wasn't built for the sedentary lifestyle.
June: Some PT, half hearted attempts at exercise. I learned from the PT that I run leaning too far back so that my center of mass is braking into every step... I guess its sorta nice to know that my slowness AND stress fractures are being caused by the same basic problem... but on the down side, the 3 minutes of running on the treadmill to ascertain this fact made my hip hurt :-/. Tried to do some light biking and swimming a couple of times a week but mostly failing. Discouraged by residual aches and pains.
July: More of the same, but started to get serious about swimming every day about halfway through July. Swam after work at the Caltech pool, something between 40 -60 minutes, maybe 5-6 days a week. Hard to get out of work early enough to make it to the pool by 6 pm (get kicked out at 7 pm). Started with 15 x 100 yards, on 2:30 cycles. Felt pretty crappy. Tried to incorporate some drills from Peter, with limited success.
August: Just as I was losing focus on this swimming thing, got opportunely "adopted" by the Caltech Masters swim club and their awesome coaches. Organized workouts make all of the difference. Practice is Mon-Thurs 7 - 8:30 pm and Sat 7 - 8:30 am. At first the 90 minute blocks were a stretch for me, so I only went a few times a week, but gradually committed to going every available day, and swimming easy on my own for 40 minutes on the off days. Also started adding in some cycling on the weekends, at first just long-ish commuting rides to/from errands, maybe 15-20 miles total. Did a few "real"-ish rides, including 7 laps of the RB at 10:10 - 10:25 per lap, which is actually a decent pace.
Started my running recovery regimen too, starting with 1 lap of the south field. Had some inordinate trouble with my calves in the pool which made things go a little bit more slowly than I'd like, but plugging along. Also got sick somewhere in there. Implemented weight loss plan super extreme to ease the transition to running. I was 107 immediately before the hip injury and back up to 120+ within a few months of immobility. Battled it back down to 110, which means that I think I'm in relatively good shape to ambulate in a manner that does not resemble the Michelin Man. Awesome!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The in-between space
03/28/2010 - 04/03/2010
The in-between space is where you go before you know whether it's going to be 3 days off, or 3 weeks... or 3 months. It's really very rare for me to have muscular injuries, so I'm not really sure what to expect. Though, it's still kicking around the back of my mind that backing off my calcium regimen has caused a stress fracture of the femural head. It's actually not THAT crazy, given the diffuse hip pain and painful ambulation.
I've been resting vigilantly with minimal movement in hopes of being able to run a little bit while in Japan for the next two weeks, but so far it isn't looking good. This week produced little improvement in the general state, with new pains emerging every so often. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what the issue is, other than that it affects my ability to lift my R leg. Iliopsoas strain is likely with some groin involvement. According to the internet, recovery is about 2 weeks. Grrrrr... arghhh...
04/04/2010 - 04/10/2010
Flew out on Sunday, which was coincidentally the first day that I could almost kind of walk normally. Monday was sort of lost due to the time difference, but I decided to make the most of my new found semi-mobility by going on a 60-90 minute walk on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wow, it feels good to be mobile.
Thankfully, the walks did not produce new pain, so I decided to embark on the planned upon short hike with my cousins on Thursday. Climbing for about 90 minutes felt really good, but a steep-ish decent on the other side made my hip ache. Uh-oh. Stretched out real good at the hot springs on the way back, felt not horrible after that. Took it easy through the end of the week, and it seems like I haven't done any permanent damage. On the other hand, discovered that anything remotely resembling running is still very bad... as evidenced by when I tried to hurry back to the car, and almost crumpled to the ground. Ouch.
04/11/2010 - 04/17/2010
Didn't have a whole lot of time this week to worry about running, which I guess was good, because my hip continues to make progress only about at a glacial pace. The beginning of the week was devoted to furniture sort and lifting boxes, during which I almost threw out my back. Supposedly you're supposed to lift with your legs... but not so if you're trying to heal a strained... something. I figured my back was more expendable than my legs.
L calf has also started bothering me, not really sure whether it's some sort of compensation for favoring my R leg, or whether my calf strain never completely healed. Gah, you just can't catch a break around here, can you? Had a little bit of play-time left at the end of the week, but most of it was spent seeing long lost relatives, so I wouldn't have had time for my planned day trip to run at Fuji Five Lakes anyways. Started testing out about 10 steps of running on Friday and Saturday and it feels slightly strange but kind of like it might be okay.
Back to the US on Saturday. Gained 16 hours, was awake for about 36 and then was completely exhausted. Trip was actually pretty fun, despite being full of family feuds and furniture sorting. I noticed that simply not having to go to work makes me feel happy and relaxed. While I'm anxious to start running a little bit again, I'm kind of also thinking that running is going to have to take a back seat until I figure out what to do with the career/job situation. Maybe that's good, take the pressure off a little bit.
The in-between space is where you go before you know whether it's going to be 3 days off, or 3 weeks... or 3 months. It's really very rare for me to have muscular injuries, so I'm not really sure what to expect. Though, it's still kicking around the back of my mind that backing off my calcium regimen has caused a stress fracture of the femural head. It's actually not THAT crazy, given the diffuse hip pain and painful ambulation.
I've been resting vigilantly with minimal movement in hopes of being able to run a little bit while in Japan for the next two weeks, but so far it isn't looking good. This week produced little improvement in the general state, with new pains emerging every so often. It's really hard to pinpoint exactly what the issue is, other than that it affects my ability to lift my R leg. Iliopsoas strain is likely with some groin involvement. According to the internet, recovery is about 2 weeks. Grrrrr... arghhh...
04/04/2010 - 04/10/2010
Flew out on Sunday, which was coincidentally the first day that I could almost kind of walk normally. Monday was sort of lost due to the time difference, but I decided to make the most of my new found semi-mobility by going on a 60-90 minute walk on Tuesday and Wednesday. Wow, it feels good to be mobile.
Thankfully, the walks did not produce new pain, so I decided to embark on the planned upon short hike with my cousins on Thursday. Climbing for about 90 minutes felt really good, but a steep-ish decent on the other side made my hip ache. Uh-oh. Stretched out real good at the hot springs on the way back, felt not horrible after that. Took it easy through the end of the week, and it seems like I haven't done any permanent damage. On the other hand, discovered that anything remotely resembling running is still very bad... as evidenced by when I tried to hurry back to the car, and almost crumpled to the ground. Ouch.
04/11/2010 - 04/17/2010
Didn't have a whole lot of time this week to worry about running, which I guess was good, because my hip continues to make progress only about at a glacial pace. The beginning of the week was devoted to furniture sort and lifting boxes, during which I almost threw out my back. Supposedly you're supposed to lift with your legs... but not so if you're trying to heal a strained... something. I figured my back was more expendable than my legs.
L calf has also started bothering me, not really sure whether it's some sort of compensation for favoring my R leg, or whether my calf strain never completely healed. Gah, you just can't catch a break around here, can you? Had a little bit of play-time left at the end of the week, but most of it was spent seeing long lost relatives, so I wouldn't have had time for my planned day trip to run at Fuji Five Lakes anyways. Started testing out about 10 steps of running on Friday and Saturday and it feels slightly strange but kind of like it might be okay.
Back to the US on Saturday. Gained 16 hours, was awake for about 36 and then was completely exhausted. Trip was actually pretty fun, despite being full of family feuds and furniture sorting. I noticed that simply not having to go to work makes me feel happy and relaxed. While I'm anxious to start running a little bit again, I'm kind of also thinking that running is going to have to take a back seat until I figure out what to do with the career/job situation. Maybe that's good, take the pressure off a little bit.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Things fall apart
03/21/2010 - 03/27/2010
As Chinua Achebe says, things fall apart. I guess sometimes you can help the process along too. I got so excited after last week, that I did something stupid. To my credit, I haven't done anything stupid for a good long while. Sometimes though, the one time you don't look before you cross the street is when you get mashed by a car. I think I strained some hip and groin muscles pretty severely. As in, to get out of bed, I have to use my hands to lift up my right leg because my hip flexors have completely stopped functioning. Gah.
Sunday 03/21: 14.3 miles, 2:12:14 (9:15 min/mile) High Line Canal Trail (Denver)
I wasn't feeling awesome after yesterday's run, so I was disinclined to do a long run today, especially if it involved more than 2 laps of the park. So Peter plunked me down at a nice trail head so that I would have the motivation to do a proper long run. Given feeling crappy and being at altitude, the original plan was to do 10 miles, nice and easy. Unfortunately the trail was marked at 0.5 mile intervals, and there's something about demarcations that make me want to say "just one more!". Started out feeling unusually good, despite the fact that there were some pretty rough spots where snow and slush had made the trail a quagmire of shoe sucking mud.
I had to backtrack a little bit after getting lost, but the 5 mile marker came and went pretty happily. I had started to notice some twinges in my R hip, but figured it was a cramp and would work itself out. Then the 6 mile marker was kind of in an unsatisfyingly un-scenic location, so I decided to make it a 14 miler like last week. It was only when I reached the turnaround point, that I realized that I was actually quite tired... but there were 7 miles left to get back. Miles 8 - 11 felt like pulling teeth, but I was hanging on to 9 minute miles... then with ~3 miles to go, I was totally out of gas. It hit almost instantaneously like a ton of bricks... I imagined that this might be what it feels like to "hit the wall" in a marathon, but I was done. I slowed to a shuffle and even so, I had to stop to stretch my hip at every mile, was completely dehydrated and could barely sustain my 10-11 minute mile pace. At last, after 30+ minutes, the car became visible and I have never been so glad, nor so unsure that I would manage the last 50 meters without walking. So, so, so, so, so, tired.
Monday 03/22: 1.25 miles, 9:47 (7:50 min/mile) 4 x North Field Laps (barefoot)
A little shake out after work. Felt completely drained and achey and sore all day, but somehow it all dissipated for the short duration of this wonderful barefoot run. It's sort of like... impossible to run any slower when I'm barefoot!
Tuesday 03/23: 5.3 miles, 47:11 (8:54 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Today was the first indication that something was seriously wrong. Beyond being sore and achey, this run... hurt. Every step on my right side felt like a weird stabbing pain in my R hip. It became somewhat bearable after 10 steps or so, but didn't let up throughout the entire run. Afterwards, R hip hurt doing my exercises, and then I could barely walk the rest of the day. Felt awful.
Wednesday 03/24: Off. Still hard to walk, ergo... no run :(
Thursday 03/25: 5.3 miles, 44:52 (8:28 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Felt significantly better after a day off, so tried another short run. Felt a lot better than Tuesday, but I could definitely feel my R hip with every step. Thought it was getting better, but towards the end of the day things started to clench up and complain loudly basically through the entirety of my R hip/groin/upper thigh area. So painful it really wasn't possible to figure out exactly what was hurting.
Friday 03/26: Off. Pain seems to be getting worse. Can't lift R leg really at all, have to walk funny... like I'm about to do a faceplant with every step. Still can't really pinpoint what exactly is wrong, but it seems like the groin, hip flexors and upper IT band are involved at a minimum. R quads also really sore, that's not helping either.
Saturday 03/27: Off. No improvement from yesterday. Still hard to walk/lift up R leg. Very unhappy.
Week Total: 26.2 miles, I have this bad feeling that a lot of time off is forthcoming...
As Chinua Achebe says, things fall apart. I guess sometimes you can help the process along too. I got so excited after last week, that I did something stupid. To my credit, I haven't done anything stupid for a good long while. Sometimes though, the one time you don't look before you cross the street is when you get mashed by a car. I think I strained some hip and groin muscles pretty severely. As in, to get out of bed, I have to use my hands to lift up my right leg because my hip flexors have completely stopped functioning. Gah.
Sunday 03/21: 14.3 miles, 2:12:14 (9:15 min/mile) High Line Canal Trail (Denver)
I wasn't feeling awesome after yesterday's run, so I was disinclined to do a long run today, especially if it involved more than 2 laps of the park. So Peter plunked me down at a nice trail head so that I would have the motivation to do a proper long run. Given feeling crappy and being at altitude, the original plan was to do 10 miles, nice and easy. Unfortunately the trail was marked at 0.5 mile intervals, and there's something about demarcations that make me want to say "just one more!". Started out feeling unusually good, despite the fact that there were some pretty rough spots where snow and slush had made the trail a quagmire of shoe sucking mud.
I had to backtrack a little bit after getting lost, but the 5 mile marker came and went pretty happily. I had started to notice some twinges in my R hip, but figured it was a cramp and would work itself out. Then the 6 mile marker was kind of in an unsatisfyingly un-scenic location, so I decided to make it a 14 miler like last week. It was only when I reached the turnaround point, that I realized that I was actually quite tired... but there were 7 miles left to get back. Miles 8 - 11 felt like pulling teeth, but I was hanging on to 9 minute miles... then with ~3 miles to go, I was totally out of gas. It hit almost instantaneously like a ton of bricks... I imagined that this might be what it feels like to "hit the wall" in a marathon, but I was done. I slowed to a shuffle and even so, I had to stop to stretch my hip at every mile, was completely dehydrated and could barely sustain my 10-11 minute mile pace. At last, after 30+ minutes, the car became visible and I have never been so glad, nor so unsure that I would manage the last 50 meters without walking. So, so, so, so, so, tired.
Monday 03/22: 1.25 miles, 9:47 (7:50 min/mile) 4 x North Field Laps (barefoot)
A little shake out after work. Felt completely drained and achey and sore all day, but somehow it all dissipated for the short duration of this wonderful barefoot run. It's sort of like... impossible to run any slower when I'm barefoot!
Tuesday 03/23: 5.3 miles, 47:11 (8:54 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Today was the first indication that something was seriously wrong. Beyond being sore and achey, this run... hurt. Every step on my right side felt like a weird stabbing pain in my R hip. It became somewhat bearable after 10 steps or so, but didn't let up throughout the entire run. Afterwards, R hip hurt doing my exercises, and then I could barely walk the rest of the day. Felt awful.
Wednesday 03/24: Off. Still hard to walk, ergo... no run :(
Thursday 03/25: 5.3 miles, 44:52 (8:28 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Felt significantly better after a day off, so tried another short run. Felt a lot better than Tuesday, but I could definitely feel my R hip with every step. Thought it was getting better, but towards the end of the day things started to clench up and complain loudly basically through the entirety of my R hip/groin/upper thigh area. So painful it really wasn't possible to figure out exactly what was hurting.
Friday 03/26: Off. Pain seems to be getting worse. Can't lift R leg really at all, have to walk funny... like I'm about to do a faceplant with every step. Still can't really pinpoint what exactly is wrong, but it seems like the groin, hip flexors and upper IT band are involved at a minimum. R quads also really sore, that's not helping either.
Saturday 03/27: Off. No improvement from yesterday. Still hard to walk/lift up R leg. Very unhappy.
Week Total: 26.2 miles, I have this bad feeling that a lot of time off is forthcoming...
Friday, April 9, 2010
The first/last good week
03/14/2010 - 03/20/2010
As such things go, we're due for a meltdown pretty soon... but somehow I've been lulled into a false sense of security. Which is why I figured that it would be a good idea to actually start training now, like REAL training, with different days devoted to different elements, rather than 4-7 days per week of nondescript medium/short runs at a medium/slow pace. This week was pretty neat because it had a real long run, and a tempo run and a barefoot run. I was pretty happy. Little did I know how short lived it would be...
Sunday 03/14: ~14 miles, 2:01:36 (~8:41 min/mile) Cherry Canyon Adventure Run
Happy Pi Day! An auspicious day for an auspicious run: super awesome long run through Other Arroyo/Cherry Canyon with Talia. Maybe I should have taken my first day back from the calf issues a little bit easier, but who could resist a long run with the Ogliores? Arrived a little late, but managed to intercept the group (Ryan, Talia, Ian and Evelyn) a few minutes in. Talia and I took the scenic route through Cherry Canyon along the single track. A few parts towards the top of the hill were too steep and washed out for running, but we arrived at a cute little loop that descended back via the fire road. Headed back to the RB via Other Arroyo and tacked on an extra 20 minutes south towards the Arroyo Tempo Loop to make it 2 hours. Felt surprisingly good and non-tired! Calf hurt a little bit on the steeper uphill parts, but loosened up again after a little stretching at the turnaround. Delicious breakfast at Corner Bakery afterwards with Ian and Evelyn.
Monday 03/15: Off, resting. Calf okay. Phew.
Tuesday 03/16: 5.3 miles, 44:18 (8:22 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Slept in, but felt good. Took it easy, no ill effects from the long run, and calf seems back to normal. Today was the trial run for whether I will attempt a tempo tomorrow, and all signs point to yes.
Wednesday 03/17: 7.6 miles, 1:03:32 (8:22 min/mile) 2 x Arroyo Tempo Loop Workout
A relatively acceptable little tempo. The goal for today was just to not bail on the second loop. Warmed up with one loop in 14:18, then two more at "tempo" pace (11:29/11:17), then a long-ish cooldown around the 3 mile loop in 26:28. Felt surprisingly good, kept a very comfortable, controlled, "breathing out of nose" pace for the first 1.5 of the tempo loops, and pushed a little bit coming back on the downhill. Was glad to see the negative split. Somehow I find it really reassuring when the times match perceived effort. Felt a bit too worn out on the cooldown for striders though. Maybe next time.
Thursday 03/18: AM: 5.3 miles, 45:32 (8:36 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Tired today. Took it easy but thankfully didn't completely blow up. I guess that's okay, calves are still okay, that's the main thing. Looking forwards to testing out a short barefoot segment after work.
PM: 1.25 miles, 9:45 (7:48 min/mile) 4 x North Field Laps
Barefoot after work. NF is nice after dark, felt good, but a little bit less spry than last time... perhaps because I felt a little bit more tired. Nonetheless, calves felt fine, probably okay to add this back in to the weekly routine!
Friday 03/19: Off, shots and travel to Colorado.
Saturday 03/20: 6.2 miles, 53:01 (8:33 min/mile) 2 x Washington Park Loops
First time from new house, which is conveniently exactly 0.5 miles from the park! Felt not so good though... part of it was because there was a lot of snow/slush and the trail was really slippery, but I guess I'm also not used to the altitude anymore after a few months away. Just kept getting slower and slower, so made a conscious effort to run a little bit harder the last half mile back home.
Week Total: 39.7 miles, not bad for 2 days off. Overall pleased with this week!
As such things go, we're due for a meltdown pretty soon... but somehow I've been lulled into a false sense of security. Which is why I figured that it would be a good idea to actually start training now, like REAL training, with different days devoted to different elements, rather than 4-7 days per week of nondescript medium/short runs at a medium/slow pace. This week was pretty neat because it had a real long run, and a tempo run and a barefoot run. I was pretty happy. Little did I know how short lived it would be...
Sunday 03/14: ~14 miles, 2:01:36 (~8:41 min/mile) Cherry Canyon Adventure Run
Happy Pi Day! An auspicious day for an auspicious run: super awesome long run through Other Arroyo/Cherry Canyon with Talia. Maybe I should have taken my first day back from the calf issues a little bit easier, but who could resist a long run with the Ogliores? Arrived a little late, but managed to intercept the group (Ryan, Talia, Ian and Evelyn) a few minutes in. Talia and I took the scenic route through Cherry Canyon along the single track. A few parts towards the top of the hill were too steep and washed out for running, but we arrived at a cute little loop that descended back via the fire road. Headed back to the RB via Other Arroyo and tacked on an extra 20 minutes south towards the Arroyo Tempo Loop to make it 2 hours. Felt surprisingly good and non-tired! Calf hurt a little bit on the steeper uphill parts, but loosened up again after a little stretching at the turnaround. Delicious breakfast at Corner Bakery afterwards with Ian and Evelyn.
Monday 03/15: Off, resting. Calf okay. Phew.
Tuesday 03/16: 5.3 miles, 44:18 (8:22 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Slept in, but felt good. Took it easy, no ill effects from the long run, and calf seems back to normal. Today was the trial run for whether I will attempt a tempo tomorrow, and all signs point to yes.
Wednesday 03/17: 7.6 miles, 1:03:32 (8:22 min/mile) 2 x Arroyo Tempo Loop Workout
A relatively acceptable little tempo. The goal for today was just to not bail on the second loop. Warmed up with one loop in 14:18, then two more at "tempo" pace (11:29/11:17), then a long-ish cooldown around the 3 mile loop in 26:28. Felt surprisingly good, kept a very comfortable, controlled, "breathing out of nose" pace for the first 1.5 of the tempo loops, and pushed a little bit coming back on the downhill. Was glad to see the negative split. Somehow I find it really reassuring when the times match perceived effort. Felt a bit too worn out on the cooldown for striders though. Maybe next time.
Thursday 03/18: AM: 5.3 miles, 45:32 (8:36 min/mile) Monterrey to Third Bridge
Tired today. Took it easy but thankfully didn't completely blow up. I guess that's okay, calves are still okay, that's the main thing. Looking forwards to testing out a short barefoot segment after work.
PM: 1.25 miles, 9:45 (7:48 min/mile) 4 x North Field Laps
Barefoot after work. NF is nice after dark, felt good, but a little bit less spry than last time... perhaps because I felt a little bit more tired. Nonetheless, calves felt fine, probably okay to add this back in to the weekly routine!
Friday 03/19: Off, shots and travel to Colorado.
Saturday 03/20: 6.2 miles, 53:01 (8:33 min/mile) 2 x Washington Park Loops
First time from new house, which is conveniently exactly 0.5 miles from the park! Felt not so good though... part of it was because there was a lot of snow/slush and the trail was really slippery, but I guess I'm also not used to the altitude anymore after a few months away. Just kept getting slower and slower, so made a conscious effort to run a little bit harder the last half mile back home.
Week Total: 39.7 miles, not bad for 2 days off. Overall pleased with this week!
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