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
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Week of 12/30/2007 - 01/05/2008 (Pre-Base Week 8)
Tips for the New Year:
Megumi (and Kangway) recommend UA Cold Gear--warm and lightweight, kept my legs the optimal temperature, then at the end of the run, all of the nasty mud spatters crumbled cleanly off of the outside and hadn't soaked through the fabric. Nice!
Megumi does NOT recommend macaroni and cheese from the year 1998. However, if you DO happen to consume some by accident, you may still live to tell the tale. Apparently.
Sunday 12/30: 44:05, a shortened river path to avoid the roads without shoulders. Back up the big hill. Ah, finally the effects of last week have started to manifest... Shin splints on the left side only, due to running on banked road sides for the past week. People ruin their legs forever running marathons on banked roads. This is not good... Knees feeling pretty balky as well, heels sore. Gah, I guess when one thing goes, it all goes. Probably going to program in 2 rest days this week as a down week, and hopefully I won't be crippled again before I can get back to the trails.
On a brighter note, I mapped out the routes I've been running here, and the old cemetary loop is 4.8 and the river path loop is 5.2, so I've been going a fairly steady 8:45 pace all of last week, for just about 29 miles. Amazing, that's almost like a JV highschool training week... woo hoo! I guess I'm about halfway at this point between the starting point (3 miles per day at 10 min/mile pace) and the goal point (7 miles per day at 8 min/mile pace).
Monday 12/31: Off. Shins still feel inflamed, knees hurt... running on the east coast sucks. Probably going to take a few days off until I get back to Pasadena, so I can start the third microcycle in one piece. I guess it will just be a super super down week.
Tuesday 01/01: Resolutions. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening.
Happy New Year everybody!!!!
Wednesday 01/02: Already starting to become mentally unstable after 3 days of not running. Argh... My feet have developed some strange aches, though the shins and knees feel better after a few days off. Meanwhile, snowflakes the size of quarters are falling relentlessly outside. Tried to take a picture but it didn't come out very well. On the plus side, scouted out the golf course... it looks like it could be a good non concrete running loop for when there's not 3 feet of snow everywhere. There's kind of an outer perimeter where one of the longer sides is a pretty decent incline, will check that out the next time I am here.
Thursday 01/03: 42:45, Monterrey to bridge loop. Normalcy returns, sort of. Flew back to L.A. today, happy to run on the trails again. Breathing felt a bit off, but that's pretty normal after a few days off. Wish it wasn't so cloudy and dreary... also that I wasn't as morbidly obese. I sat next to fat person on the plane today, and the row was DEFINITELY not big enough for the both of us :(. Discovered this break that my scale has somehow become incorrectly calibrated so that I'm actually 5 lb MORE than what it says! Horrors upon horrors, I guess that's what happens when you buy a scale for $10 at Target. This would also explain why I am having trouble fitting into my fat pants. Gah...
Friday 01/04: 42:36, Monterrey out and back to the second bridge, due to some annoying construction that was blocking up the other side. Feet feeling a lot better with the resumption of daily PT. Took it really nice and easy today, realized that I was running a lot faster than usual in Boston. For some reason it feels disproportionately harder (muscularly) to run on the trails than not. Felt kind of crappy this morning, but glad I forced myself to go run before it started to rain!
Saturday 01/05: 43:03, Monterrey to bridge loop in the aftermath of torrential downpour. Definitely an adventure negotiating all of the wash-out, mud pits and stranded boulders, but not really the type of adventure that I hope and wish for. The run had two redeeming qualities, however: I finally got to park in the 3rd parking spot, and it was also a completely pain free, easy breathing, fantastic feeling run.
First core strengthening in over a week at the gym with Peter. Was really painful. I guess the time off was bad. Tried some horrendous new hamstring/hip exercises. Hard. Good to get back into the habit of doing this though. Not a ton of training this week, but its a down week, so I guess its okay. I think the ill-effects of the 3 days off are pretty much gone now, and I'm solidly into the 40+ minute run range, so I'm feeling pretty good about the next microcycle.
Target training this week: 3 hours ... with only 4 days, what're you gonna do?
Actual training: 2:52:29
Megumi (and Kangway) recommend UA Cold Gear--warm and lightweight, kept my legs the optimal temperature, then at the end of the run, all of the nasty mud spatters crumbled cleanly off of the outside and hadn't soaked through the fabric. Nice!
Megumi does NOT recommend macaroni and cheese from the year 1998. However, if you DO happen to consume some by accident, you may still live to tell the tale. Apparently.
Sunday 12/30: 44:05, a shortened river path to avoid the roads without shoulders. Back up the big hill. Ah, finally the effects of last week have started to manifest... Shin splints on the left side only, due to running on banked road sides for the past week. People ruin their legs forever running marathons on banked roads. This is not good... Knees feeling pretty balky as well, heels sore. Gah, I guess when one thing goes, it all goes. Probably going to program in 2 rest days this week as a down week, and hopefully I won't be crippled again before I can get back to the trails.
On a brighter note, I mapped out the routes I've been running here, and the old cemetary loop is 4.8 and the river path loop is 5.2, so I've been going a fairly steady 8:45 pace all of last week, for just about 29 miles. Amazing, that's almost like a JV highschool training week... woo hoo! I guess I'm about halfway at this point between the starting point (3 miles per day at 10 min/mile pace) and the goal point (7 miles per day at 8 min/mile pace).
Monday 12/31: Off. Shins still feel inflamed, knees hurt... running on the east coast sucks. Probably going to take a few days off until I get back to Pasadena, so I can start the third microcycle in one piece. I guess it will just be a super super down week.
Tuesday 01/01: Resolutions. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening. I will not shirk PT and core strengthening.
Happy New Year everybody!!!!
Wednesday 01/02: Already starting to become mentally unstable after 3 days of not running. Argh... My feet have developed some strange aches, though the shins and knees feel better after a few days off. Meanwhile, snowflakes the size of quarters are falling relentlessly outside. Tried to take a picture but it didn't come out very well. On the plus side, scouted out the golf course... it looks like it could be a good non concrete running loop for when there's not 3 feet of snow everywhere. There's kind of an outer perimeter where one of the longer sides is a pretty decent incline, will check that out the next time I am here.
Thursday 01/03: 42:45, Monterrey to bridge loop. Normalcy returns, sort of. Flew back to L.A. today, happy to run on the trails again. Breathing felt a bit off, but that's pretty normal after a few days off. Wish it wasn't so cloudy and dreary... also that I wasn't as morbidly obese. I sat next to fat person on the plane today, and the row was DEFINITELY not big enough for the both of us :(. Discovered this break that my scale has somehow become incorrectly calibrated so that I'm actually 5 lb MORE than what it says! Horrors upon horrors, I guess that's what happens when you buy a scale for $10 at Target. This would also explain why I am having trouble fitting into my fat pants. Gah...
Friday 01/04: 42:36, Monterrey out and back to the second bridge, due to some annoying construction that was blocking up the other side. Feet feeling a lot better with the resumption of daily PT. Took it really nice and easy today, realized that I was running a lot faster than usual in Boston. For some reason it feels disproportionately harder (muscularly) to run on the trails than not. Felt kind of crappy this morning, but glad I forced myself to go run before it started to rain!
Saturday 01/05: 43:03, Monterrey to bridge loop in the aftermath of torrential downpour. Definitely an adventure negotiating all of the wash-out, mud pits and stranded boulders, but not really the type of adventure that I hope and wish for. The run had two redeeming qualities, however: I finally got to park in the 3rd parking spot, and it was also a completely pain free, easy breathing, fantastic feeling run.
First core strengthening in over a week at the gym with Peter. Was really painful. I guess the time off was bad. Tried some horrendous new hamstring/hip exercises. Hard. Good to get back into the habit of doing this though. Not a ton of training this week, but its a down week, so I guess its okay. I think the ill-effects of the 3 days off are pretty much gone now, and I'm solidly into the 40+ minute run range, so I'm feeling pretty good about the next microcycle.
Target training this week: 3 hours ... with only 4 days, what're you gonna do?
Actual training: 2:52:29
Monday, December 24, 2007
Week of 12/23/2007 - 12/29/2007 (Pre-Base Week 7)
I arrived at the airport in Boston sweating through my 3 layers, because it was an unseasonably warm 40 degrees out. Fantastic, I say, until I push through the sliding doors and find a snow covered landscape... preserved faithfully by the not-sufficiently-above-freezing weather. ARGHHHHH... snow and ice on the ground, is by FAR worse than cold.
Running in Boston is... un-ideal. Its okay during the spring and the fall if you're able to take a lot of pavement miles, you can venture a lot of towns out into the hills and the nice little back country lanes... cuz everything's so small... but in the winter, its a nightmare. I don't even live near the trying-not-to-get-blown-into-the-river-by-gale-force-winds running path any more. Sidewalks are covered by a foot of crusted over snowdrift and probably a few weeks worth of preserved dog poo...
If you can get used to the vehicles whizzing around you, its maybe 50% tenable to run in the streets, but on larger streets, the cars splatter you with slush, or there's no room to avoid both the car AND the large puddle.... turning corners you have to take it really easy in case there's hidden ice. Its kind of an adventure, but more in the "I slightly fear for my life and can't ever get into a decent stride" sort of way, rather than the enjoyable sort of way. This is going to be... interesting.
Sunday 12/23: Off. Whole day shot due to being booted from my flight and not getting another one until 16 hours later. At least first class was enjoyable--mmmmmm ice cream sundae...
Monday 12/24: 42:00, First Boston run, to the old cemetary and back in a square. Same route as last time I was here, except with many, many detours to avoid traffic and weather phenomena. 45 and sunny is actually a lot more pleasant than 50 and dark, apparently. Was pleasant, except for the lack of ability to get any sort of rhythm at all bc of the constant zig zagging, back tracking, last minute swerving, almost getting hit by cars. Feet did not enjoy the pavement. I've also been slacking on PT and core strengthening, so maybe that has a little to do with it. Just so busy, so busy, so busy...
This week may end up being about damage control. Its hard to do all of the prep work away from home, the daily PT routine, the core strengthening, the gym is all far, far away. I'm also feeling less optimistic about the pavement running than before. Feet and also knees not liking this. Maybe will try for fewer longer runs to give the extra recovery time. Or, just take the down week now and build back up end of next week when I'm back in the land of trails and no snow.
Tuesday 12/25: 41:55, same loop as yesterday. Merry Christmas everyone!!! As a christmas present from the world to me, there were not many cars on the road today, and slightly less ice, making for a much more pleasant run. Knees and ankles also feeling better, managed to get in some PT and core strengthening as well. A nice day. Made a lot of food.
Wednesday 12/26: 45:13, did some adventuring to try to find my way back to the river path. Do not think I'll do that again. Between getting stopped for a really long time at a monsterously complex traffic intersection that only the east coast could have dreamed up, and realizing that the river path is mostly under 3 feet of snow, this was highly unpleasant. Got my first honk for being in the middle of a busy street--felt annoyed but then realized that that guy must have been from out of state, and/or the only sane one here, unaccustomed to the frequency of outrageous traffic phenomena. However, as "in a lane of traffic" is the only running space available here, I have no choice but to persist in consterning motorists with my presence....
A nice half mile hill on the way home, definitely not used to topographical features anymore... Wasn't as bas as I thought it would be. Wondered when I could add back the Bailey Canyon route again...
Thursday 12/27: 41:28, the cemetary loop again, in the cold and drizzle. Not a pleasant experience... outer layers soaked, could not see anything. Thankfully wasn't too too cold and not too many cars, could have been worse... but rain makes me grouchy. Felt a bit tired on the uphills due to yesterday's hill, but good on the flats. These runs are bad because I end up probably running faster and faster as I become more cold and uncomfortable and I don't even register it. Nothing alarming, but I'd prefer to keep a nice mellow intensity level for these first few weeks of getting used to the 40+ minute runs.
Friday 12/28: 41:00, same loop... not much room for creativity here. If I can find a relatively car and snow free route, its just not worth it to risk trying other streets. Realized that there's something about the cold and the cars that makes me subconsciously hurry. Each of these loops have gone faster than the previous one, but every day somehow during the run I've just rationalized away that well, I *think* my feet are moving about as fast as they were yesterday... I never thought the Arroyo was particularly exciting, but I think I'll appreciate traffic-less, snow-less, pavement-less running a lot more after this.
Saturday 12/29: 41:22, slightly more slowly this time. Yayyy! I have survived a week here, without an egregious drop in training time and so far, a lot of blisters but no stress fracture. I'll consider that a success. Pleasantly warm today, but did not have time to do the longer route, per being late for meeting my high school chemistry teacher for coffee. Everyone this break seems totally fascinated with the whole charter school thing. Interesting to hear how the systems are different in MA. Learned that I am inept at utilizing public transportation. I didn't think trying to use the pass card like a prox card was THAT illogical that the bus driver had to employ as much eye rolling as he did. *shrug*
Target training this week: 3:30 - 4:00
Actual training: 4:12:58
Running in Boston is... un-ideal. Its okay during the spring and the fall if you're able to take a lot of pavement miles, you can venture a lot of towns out into the hills and the nice little back country lanes... cuz everything's so small... but in the winter, its a nightmare. I don't even live near the trying-not-to-get-blown-into-the-river-by-gale-force-winds running path any more. Sidewalks are covered by a foot of crusted over snowdrift and probably a few weeks worth of preserved dog poo...
If you can get used to the vehicles whizzing around you, its maybe 50% tenable to run in the streets, but on larger streets, the cars splatter you with slush, or there's no room to avoid both the car AND the large puddle.... turning corners you have to take it really easy in case there's hidden ice. Its kind of an adventure, but more in the "I slightly fear for my life and can't ever get into a decent stride" sort of way, rather than the enjoyable sort of way. This is going to be... interesting.
Sunday 12/23: Off. Whole day shot due to being booted from my flight and not getting another one until 16 hours later. At least first class was enjoyable--mmmmmm ice cream sundae...
Monday 12/24: 42:00, First Boston run, to the old cemetary and back in a square. Same route as last time I was here, except with many, many detours to avoid traffic and weather phenomena. 45 and sunny is actually a lot more pleasant than 50 and dark, apparently. Was pleasant, except for the lack of ability to get any sort of rhythm at all bc of the constant zig zagging, back tracking, last minute swerving, almost getting hit by cars. Feet did not enjoy the pavement. I've also been slacking on PT and core strengthening, so maybe that has a little to do with it. Just so busy, so busy, so busy...
This week may end up being about damage control. Its hard to do all of the prep work away from home, the daily PT routine, the core strengthening, the gym is all far, far away. I'm also feeling less optimistic about the pavement running than before. Feet and also knees not liking this. Maybe will try for fewer longer runs to give the extra recovery time. Or, just take the down week now and build back up end of next week when I'm back in the land of trails and no snow.
Tuesday 12/25: 41:55, same loop as yesterday. Merry Christmas everyone!!! As a christmas present from the world to me, there were not many cars on the road today, and slightly less ice, making for a much more pleasant run. Knees and ankles also feeling better, managed to get in some PT and core strengthening as well. A nice day. Made a lot of food.
Wednesday 12/26: 45:13, did some adventuring to try to find my way back to the river path. Do not think I'll do that again. Between getting stopped for a really long time at a monsterously complex traffic intersection that only the east coast could have dreamed up, and realizing that the river path is mostly under 3 feet of snow, this was highly unpleasant. Got my first honk for being in the middle of a busy street--felt annoyed but then realized that that guy must have been from out of state, and/or the only sane one here, unaccustomed to the frequency of outrageous traffic phenomena. However, as "in a lane of traffic" is the only running space available here, I have no choice but to persist in consterning motorists with my presence....
A nice half mile hill on the way home, definitely not used to topographical features anymore... Wasn't as bas as I thought it would be. Wondered when I could add back the Bailey Canyon route again...
Thursday 12/27: 41:28, the cemetary loop again, in the cold and drizzle. Not a pleasant experience... outer layers soaked, could not see anything. Thankfully wasn't too too cold and not too many cars, could have been worse... but rain makes me grouchy. Felt a bit tired on the uphills due to yesterday's hill, but good on the flats. These runs are bad because I end up probably running faster and faster as I become more cold and uncomfortable and I don't even register it. Nothing alarming, but I'd prefer to keep a nice mellow intensity level for these first few weeks of getting used to the 40+ minute runs.
Friday 12/28: 41:00, same loop... not much room for creativity here. If I can find a relatively car and snow free route, its just not worth it to risk trying other streets. Realized that there's something about the cold and the cars that makes me subconsciously hurry. Each of these loops have gone faster than the previous one, but every day somehow during the run I've just rationalized away that well, I *think* my feet are moving about as fast as they were yesterday... I never thought the Arroyo was particularly exciting, but I think I'll appreciate traffic-less, snow-less, pavement-less running a lot more after this.
Saturday 12/29: 41:22, slightly more slowly this time. Yayyy! I have survived a week here, without an egregious drop in training time and so far, a lot of blisters but no stress fracture. I'll consider that a success. Pleasantly warm today, but did not have time to do the longer route, per being late for meeting my high school chemistry teacher for coffee. Everyone this break seems totally fascinated with the whole charter school thing. Interesting to hear how the systems are different in MA. Learned that I am inept at utilizing public transportation. I didn't think trying to use the pass card like a prox card was THAT illogical that the bus driver had to employ as much eye rolling as he did. *shrug*
Target training this week: 3:30 - 4:00
Actual training: 4:12:58
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Week of 12/16/2007 - 12/22/2007 (Pre-Base Week 6)
Death by cold.
Room mate has contracted the plague, which means that it could only be a matter of time... Have been afflicted by a headache-y malaise starting Saturday evening, so prognosis is not looking good. Really want to make it to the 4 training hours this week though, before the respiratory symptoms commence.
If by some miracle, I manage to escape the plague, it will be on to a cold of different nature, as the prodigal child returns home to the frigid artic wasteland that is the east coast in the wintertime. 2 pairs of base layer tights are being delivered to my home as we speak, but one knows all too well, that when it snows and sleets until you're drenched down to the very core, ain't nothing gonna keep you warm at that point...
Sunday 12/16: 43:52, leisurely 3 x Arroyo Tempo Loops (14:08, 14:11, 14:04) plus jog back to car. Felt dull and head-achey all day, but managed to drag myself out to the Arroyo before the daylight ran out. Run was surprisingly comfortable, took it real easy and felt better all around afterwards. Apparently 9:15 pace is here to stay, judging from the recent longer runs. I guess that's okay for now, 40 minutes doesn't seem so long now, and I think 8:45 is just around the corner. Core strengthening afterwards at the gym. These are getting easier too, felt under control today, major concern right now is some tweaks in the L ankle, likely resulting from the sprain last week. They were bothering me during the first loop today, but resolved themselves... really hoping that's on the mend.
Monday 12/17: 34:07, Monterrey to rock. A short run... going to have to modify this route again to make it 2-4 minutes longer. I think I'm okay to graduate the sub 35 minute runs at this point. Felt that faint soreness of the post-core strengthening day again, but it doens't affect my running that much anymore. Vague headache and not sleeping well continues... perhaps the two are at a causal effect to eachother, but not really sure how to exit the cycle.
Tuesday 12/18: Off. Rain... ugh. Was planning to run in the morning, but the rain started earlier than weather.com claimed it would. *shakes fist*. I really do not enjoy the rain. Plus, it kinda packs down all of the dirt in the Arroyo, basically taking away all of the feet-not-killing effect of soft surface training. Disgruntling...
Wednesday 12/19: 46:06, Huntington back via Virginia in the PM. I'm not really a patient person... sometimes its a wonder that I'm still enrolled in the Meinhold School of Running for Kids who need to Chill the hell out, with its promise of injury prevention and extolling the virtues of delayed gratification... *sigh* sometimes being slow just gets old! I was really hoping for some... non negligible improvement over last week, like there really is NO reason why it should take more than 45 minutes to complete this run... oh, the horror!
Thankfully it wasn't super cold this week, but it was unpleasantly damp, and that dampness seemed to turn into a positively suffocating steam when I went indoors for core strengthening. Felt discouraged and grouchy today. At least my feet felt mostly okay this time.
Thursday 12/20: 42:18, many, many laps around lane 6 on the track. Started to drizzle at the end... did not enjoy that. I guess the rain days are good consistent low HR training days though, bc I end up going to the track. Feet felt relatively okay for the second consecutive day of non trail running. I think 40 minutes is about manageable these days. Woo hoo! L ankle still a bit unsteady. That's really the worst injury concern right now, for better or for worse. I've got two training days left in Pasadena this year, and I've already picked out which two runs I want. Now the only thing left is... Weather, I command you to cooperate!
Friday 12/21: 42:29, Monterrey to bridge loop. GLAHGHAALHGHG... the curse of the parking spot continues! I am very particular about the necessity to park in the third spot from the end of Monterrey next to the little tree. For the most part, there aren't many takers for parking in this area, but every now and again, someone's wayward vehicle finds its way inauspiciously into MY parking space. At first it was merely the convenience of a standardized starting and ending point for every run, but over time I've come to believe that the third parking spot affords some magical protection from injury and consternation, ensuring a pleasant and productive training experience. Every time I do NOT park in this space, something disgruntling always occurs.
Today, a car was parked annoyingly in 3/4 of the third parking space, so I had to park 3/4 in the fourth parking space, and about 3/4 of the way through my run, I rolled my bad ankle again! GAH! It wasn't a bad sprain, but given the amount of damage already done to this ankle from the last sprain (also on a bad parking day) I can't express how consterning this turn of events is. I felt ironically as if today was the first day that the weird pains that percolated from the last sprain were starting to subside... calamity of the world!
Saturday 12/22: 41:44, one trail perimeter of Rose Bowl in the dark. Maybe not the best idea, given the nature of the terrain... had to go slow to pick through the semi-dark obstacles, almost turned my ankle numerous times, but I really wanted to do this one for the last Pasadena run of the year. Cold, cold, cold... but fun. Had to squeeze this in before going to the airport to go home to Boston. Little did I know the horrors that lay in wait...
Got in a good solid training week this week. So much so that my legs were actually feeling less than fresh. Did not do the requisite 3x per week core strengthening... nuts. This is a big increase from the previous week, given the trajectory of the past training cycle, so considering taking an early down week for the 3 week microcycle instead of the 4 week microcycle. We'll see how arctic wasteland goes.
Target training time: 4 hours 5 minutes
Actual training: 4:10:36
Room mate has contracted the plague, which means that it could only be a matter of time... Have been afflicted by a headache-y malaise starting Saturday evening, so prognosis is not looking good. Really want to make it to the 4 training hours this week though, before the respiratory symptoms commence.
If by some miracle, I manage to escape the plague, it will be on to a cold of different nature, as the prodigal child returns home to the frigid artic wasteland that is the east coast in the wintertime. 2 pairs of base layer tights are being delivered to my home as we speak, but one knows all too well, that when it snows and sleets until you're drenched down to the very core, ain't nothing gonna keep you warm at that point...
Sunday 12/16: 43:52, leisurely 3 x Arroyo Tempo Loops (14:08, 14:11, 14:04) plus jog back to car. Felt dull and head-achey all day, but managed to drag myself out to the Arroyo before the daylight ran out. Run was surprisingly comfortable, took it real easy and felt better all around afterwards. Apparently 9:15 pace is here to stay, judging from the recent longer runs. I guess that's okay for now, 40 minutes doesn't seem so long now, and I think 8:45 is just around the corner. Core strengthening afterwards at the gym. These are getting easier too, felt under control today, major concern right now is some tweaks in the L ankle, likely resulting from the sprain last week. They were bothering me during the first loop today, but resolved themselves... really hoping that's on the mend.
Monday 12/17: 34:07, Monterrey to rock. A short run... going to have to modify this route again to make it 2-4 minutes longer. I think I'm okay to graduate the sub 35 minute runs at this point. Felt that faint soreness of the post-core strengthening day again, but it doens't affect my running that much anymore. Vague headache and not sleeping well continues... perhaps the two are at a causal effect to eachother, but not really sure how to exit the cycle.
Tuesday 12/18: Off. Rain... ugh. Was planning to run in the morning, but the rain started earlier than weather.com claimed it would. *shakes fist*. I really do not enjoy the rain. Plus, it kinda packs down all of the dirt in the Arroyo, basically taking away all of the feet-not-killing effect of soft surface training. Disgruntling...
Wednesday 12/19: 46:06, Huntington back via Virginia in the PM. I'm not really a patient person... sometimes its a wonder that I'm still enrolled in the Meinhold School of Running for Kids who need to Chill the hell out, with its promise of injury prevention and extolling the virtues of delayed gratification... *sigh* sometimes being slow just gets old! I was really hoping for some... non negligible improvement over last week, like there really is NO reason why it should take more than 45 minutes to complete this run... oh, the horror!
Thankfully it wasn't super cold this week, but it was unpleasantly damp, and that dampness seemed to turn into a positively suffocating steam when I went indoors for core strengthening. Felt discouraged and grouchy today. At least my feet felt mostly okay this time.
Thursday 12/20: 42:18, many, many laps around lane 6 on the track. Started to drizzle at the end... did not enjoy that. I guess the rain days are good consistent low HR training days though, bc I end up going to the track. Feet felt relatively okay for the second consecutive day of non trail running. I think 40 minutes is about manageable these days. Woo hoo! L ankle still a bit unsteady. That's really the worst injury concern right now, for better or for worse. I've got two training days left in Pasadena this year, and I've already picked out which two runs I want. Now the only thing left is... Weather, I command you to cooperate!
Friday 12/21: 42:29, Monterrey to bridge loop. GLAHGHAALHGHG... the curse of the parking spot continues! I am very particular about the necessity to park in the third spot from the end of Monterrey next to the little tree. For the most part, there aren't many takers for parking in this area, but every now and again, someone's wayward vehicle finds its way inauspiciously into MY parking space. At first it was merely the convenience of a standardized starting and ending point for every run, but over time I've come to believe that the third parking spot affords some magical protection from injury and consternation, ensuring a pleasant and productive training experience. Every time I do NOT park in this space, something disgruntling always occurs.
Today, a car was parked annoyingly in 3/4 of the third parking space, so I had to park 3/4 in the fourth parking space, and about 3/4 of the way through my run, I rolled my bad ankle again! GAH! It wasn't a bad sprain, but given the amount of damage already done to this ankle from the last sprain (also on a bad parking day) I can't express how consterning this turn of events is. I felt ironically as if today was the first day that the weird pains that percolated from the last sprain were starting to subside... calamity of the world!
Saturday 12/22: 41:44, one trail perimeter of Rose Bowl in the dark. Maybe not the best idea, given the nature of the terrain... had to go slow to pick through the semi-dark obstacles, almost turned my ankle numerous times, but I really wanted to do this one for the last Pasadena run of the year. Cold, cold, cold... but fun. Had to squeeze this in before going to the airport to go home to Boston. Little did I know the horrors that lay in wait...
Got in a good solid training week this week. So much so that my legs were actually feeling less than fresh. Did not do the requisite 3x per week core strengthening... nuts. This is a big increase from the previous week, given the trajectory of the past training cycle, so considering taking an early down week for the 3 week microcycle instead of the 4 week microcycle. We'll see how arctic wasteland goes.
Target training time: 4 hours 5 minutes
Actual training: 4:10:36
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