Pleasant Arroyo Jogs Continue (hopefully)
Last week was say 2.5 hours on 5 runs, which I'm feeling pretty good about given that 3 hours was a relatively arbitrary goal for a first week. I'd like to get to 3 hours on 6 runs this week, keeping the ~30 minutes per day rule. For some reason I've decided that I value the consistency in training right now over increasing time/miles per day. Its sort of like, I would rather condition my body to accept running on a daily basis even if it has to be in small doses, than to be able to run say 5-6 miles in one go ASAP.
For some reason I'm thinking right now that this approach is less taxing on one's body than last summer's strategy of running 5 miles 3 times a week for my first week back (discounting the debacle where I ran an "easy 8.5" on my first attempt and couldn't walk for the next 3 days due to soreness...).
Sunday 09/23: 33:32 from California entrance to the Arroyo to the Rose Bowl and back. I've noticed a tendency to feel choppy and tight the day after an off day, which plagued the first 5-10 minutes of this run, but settled in nicely after that. Went back to the Free 5.0's, for some reason I've been feeling lately that a person's foot naturally lands in such a way to reduce impact and injury and the more "stabilizing" a shoe is, the more weird pressure points accumulate.
Ground a bit mushy from yesterday's rain but overall, pleasant conditions. Lots of folks out, mostly dog walkers and strollers, but there was some odd race thing going on near the RB. There were even some folks who were running slower than me... now THAT hasn't happened in a long time :).
Monday 09/24: 29:59 Improvement! First time to the woodchips in under 15 minutes, consequently, the route was a bit short, time-wise, but supposing its okay since yesterday's was a bit long. Felt pretty good, wanted to go longer, but trying to keep in mind that the feet are disproportionately stressed by the 30 minutes than any other body part.
Tuesday 09/25: 30:04 same as yesterday, didn't have time for anything fancy. Had to squeeze in a run during the daylight hours to prevent tripping and falling in the Arroyo. Felt like I was going slower, but somehow managed to end up at about the same pace as yesterday. Feeling stressed and irritable about work today, but felt much better after running.
Wednesday 09/26: 29:15, the weekly check-in. 2 x Arroyo Tempo loops 27:43 in 13:54, 13:49. Just squeaked under the 9 min/mile mark at 8:56 pace. Pleased with progress, but considering scrapping this run for the next few weeks. I really don't like knowing how long something is right now, I noticed that I just felt stressed on this run--not physically, but emotionally. I knew I would be sad if it were slower than last week's, but at the same time I was worrying about running too hard because I was thinking about time and improvement.
All in all, maybe the effort was a little bit higher than last week's, but I did maintain my default anti-pushing the pace rule of "if its uncomfortable to breathe through your nose, slow down". This is this weird thing that Andrea Vasconcellos ingrained in me during my first year of running--that one should do one's easy runs breathing solely through your nose, apparently this helped her make sure she actually ran easy on easy days. Everyone else has subsequently has told me that this is weird and artificial and that most people manage to keep a relaxed pace while breathing through their mouth, etc. etc. but for some reason I just can't break the habit at this point.
There were also a lot of folks out, and on the last stretch back to the start, there was a little group of 3 runners, 2 guys and 1 girl, and it really irritated me that I wasn't catching up to them.
Thursday 09/27: 34:22 same run as sunday to the RB and back, but had to park a bit farther away this time. Ran at a relaxed zoned out pace and felt slow, but good. Also, tried running in trainers today. Picked a pair with a pretty flexible sole so as to be closer to the Frees. Bleh, I'm caught between the dilemma of competing potential injuries... the trainers really made my heel feel better... but now my R ankle is a bit sore. For some reason the Frees help with my L toe and R ankle, but the trainers help with my R heel and my L ankle. Goodness only knows WHY... but that's the way it is. Or maybe the aches and pains come and go since I haven't run in so long, and I'm just assigning causation where there isn't any.
Anyways, I need to learn to be able to wear trainers anyways, cuz there's nothing but pavement available in Boston where I'll be next weekend, and also, I'd like to race again some day, and I'll need to be able to wear something other than Frees for that.
Friday 09/28: Off day, whoopie-doo. Ironically, my feet were feeling fantastic all day. Kinda wanted to go out and run, but didn't have a ton of time, and I knew that I needed to take a day off pretty soon. So, stuck to original plan.
Saturday 09/29: 28:44 to woodchips with Peter (in his VERY first pair of Nike Free's :-D). A bit short, but I've managed to safely reach my goal training time of 3 hours! Feel self conscious to run with company... definitely not presentable yet. I do feel encouraged by the progress though, I know I shouldn't think about distance and speed, but I've shaved 3 minutes off of this woodchip pile route, or say ~10%. Which means that potentially I'm running closer to 9 minute miles at this point. Never thought I'd see a day when that was a cause for celebration, but that day is today.
Weekly Goal: 3 hours
Training to date: 3:05:56 hours
6 comments:
significant figures on your run times?
Great! This is such great news. I'm so relieved to see these updates. Baby steps though.
Can you talk a little bit about your feet? How are they feeling now that you're running again? What's your current positions on shoes? Surfaces?
Dear The Brain,
minutes and seconds may not matter when your runs are > 50 minutes in length, but when you're dealing with quantities that are sometimes sub-30... every little bit helps!
Dear KB,
I still can't quite believe I'm almost through 2 whole weeks of training :). Fingers crossed on this holding up. My feet are coping with their little stresses, like some days are better than others, but so far, no show stoppers. To be super cautious, I drive to the Arroyo every day so as to avoid concrete. I've worn my Nike Frees on every run, because for some reason, normal shoes kinda tweak out the top of my feet lately--it actually bothers me, even to walk in them so I literally have to wear the Frees all of the time.
I may try to phase in a pair of trainers with a really flexible sole though, cuz eventually I'll need to be able to run on pavement again and the Frees just don't have enough cushioning for me. For now I like the Arroyo cuz the rocks and stuff force me to watch what I'm doing with my feet and build ankle strength.
I ice twice a day and stretch and massage to keep the feet and ankles in runnable shape. The toe is holding up fine, L ankle feels a bit tweaked on and off, but never hurts while I'm actually running. Also need to keep an eye on R heel feels kinda sore, which I think is caused by the Frees, cuz of the lack of cushioning and since I run so slow there's a lot of heelstrike. Again, its not feasible in the long run to drive to the arroyo every day anyways, so I think that will improve when I can wear trainers again--like its the same feeling I used to get when I tried to squeeze too many miles out of an old pair of shoes and towards the end my heels would hurt cuz the cushioning was all worn out.
Aaaaanyways, I shall see you on Saturday at Riverside :)
I forgot to say: hooray that you're running again! This makes me happy. You think the Free7s aren't cushy enough? I find them very cushy, but the lack of stability makes them feel totally different than a cushy trainer. Also: don't you think it's more stress on your feet running on trails in Frees vs. running in trainers on the nice flat concrete?
so, for some reason the frees feel comfy and soft but... they don't absorb shock as well as the foam based trainers--or at least that's how i perceive it. its like the heels on the frees are too rubbery, like a bouncy ball so they make my heels sore.
in the beginning my feet really had trouble with trainers, so i ended up running only on trails cuz of the issue with the heel soreness and the frees. i managed a run in trainers today though, so i may try phasing in a little bit of city running to see how that holds up.
city running! It's been more than two months since i've run on the roads - I kind of miss it.
Cheer on the Beavers for me at Riverside, I'll give you Stanford updates - hopefully including a confrontation with Mr. Race Director.
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