Mileage reporting 9th week 2014

Yeah, do that. It would be a good idea to set up your sawhorses so you have an out in case you ever go down into the bottom of the squat and find you can't get back up. I've never done much squatting and running together, but I do think that squatting helped to build some strength into my legs, and I suspect that squatting can be very helpful for the shorter distances, half-marathons and under. Of course, sprinters squat and it's very important to help them build speed.

Overall, I think it was beneficial that I've done some squatting. Can't say exactly how much it may have helped with running, but I think it has helped with helping the meager amount of overall athleticism I possess. I think that's important some, like that part in Born to Run where McDougall describes his training program that his coach devised and how it wasn't just about running, but also having him do an array of exercises to help bolster his all-around athleticism.
 
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Yeah, do that. It would be a good idea to set up your sawhorses so you have an out in case you ever go down into the bottom of the squat and find you can't get back up. I've never done much squatting and running together, but I do think that squatting helped to build some strength into my legs, and I suspect that squatting can be very helpful for the shorter distances, half-marathons and under. Of course, sprinters squat and it's very important to help them build speed.

Overall, I think it was beneficial that I've done some squatting. Can't say exactly how much it may have helped with running, but I think it has helped with helping the meager amount of overall athleticism I possess. I think that's important some, like that part in Born to Run where McDougall describes his training program that his coach devised and how it wasn't just about running, but also having him do an array of exercises to help bolster his all-around athleticism.
Thanks for the feedback Scratch.

Yeah, the sawhorses should be just about the right height. I feel the greatest strain somewhere in the middle of the movement, so if I stall, I can always come back down and drop out and rest the bar on the sawhorses. I'll practice a few times with just the bar at low weight in order to get a little confidence in the fail-to-bail maneuver.

I had ITBS issues fall of 2012 into February of last year, but none since. I think getting a little more serious about squats and deadlifts has been part of the success I've had in preventing its recurrence. But it's hard to be sure--could just be that I gained more running fitness, and I've also learned to do more stretching and massaging whenever my legs feel tight.

In any case, I do feel like I run better now--in terms of form and relaxation--with a stronger lower body. According to the ExRx.net, my lower body strength is still disproportionately weaker than my upper body strength. And I'm a bit top-heavy for a runner, so I'm sure it helps to have a stronger base to balance all that ballast hanging over the legs. I'm still hoping to shed 20-30 pounds of upper body flab by summer, now that I'm back up on the daily running/lifting exercise bandwagon, so that will help too.

Anyhow, just focusing on heavy lifts and keeping the workouts 30 minutes or less is really feeling good. I read somewhere that after 30-40 minutes, you can actually undermine your progress as the body releases stress hormones that eat into the muscle or maybe prevent its recovery, I can't really remember, but something to the effect that longer sessions can be counterproductive. After just a few weeks of doing short buy daily workouts focusing on a few basic, heavy lifts, that's my sense too. I seem to be making faster progress now.
 
A quick report, 2 miles in -40C temps this morning. This has been a loooooooooong and coooooooold winter. I was so desperate for barefoot stimulation that I went out this morning before my run and ran for about 3-5 minutes in fresh snow before my feet got the feeling if they were out for any longer it would not be good. The wind had picked up while I was inside having a coffee and warming up my feet so the -40C was with the windchill. I wore the KIGO's for my 2 mile run during which I wound up having to run with a second dog as one of my neighbors dog had gotten loose and was chasing my dog. She still had her leash (a rope) attached to her so I was able grab her and drop her off home after my run. This winter has severely derailed my usual winter LSD used for building up to a summer 1/2. Not much in sight for relief from the cold and snow either in the next week or 2. :coldfeet::(
 
thurs evening: 25 min swim, or so. not a good one. toes cramped like crazy. I think it's from these big ole boots I've been wearing scrunching up my toes all day. Last winter I hardly wore anything but my sandals or soft stars.

friday: hour swim. mostly intervals. took it easy for the most part.
about to head to gym for some abs and maybe a bit more on the legs.

Outside is awful. The bitter cold is one thing, but 10-20mph+ winds are insulting. I miss when being outside was nice all winter. Ah, 20F, light winds, how I fantasize about you.
 
Learned that the downhill runner has the right of way -more momentum. Makes sense.

pisses me off when people won't move and i'm flying downhill. don't they know it's the only i can run fast?

6 m today on trails, bf!!! first time out there since dec 23. been wearing shoes every other time. saw a girl from school. once i passed her going out i took off my shirt. freaked out two young girls and some guy. :p

lifted today too. squatted my weight. couple weeks here and i will add more.
 
pisses me off when people won't move and i'm flying downhill. don't they know it's the only i can run fast?

6 m today on trails, bf!!! first time out there since dec 23. been wearing shoes every other time. saw a girl from school. once i passed her going out i took off my shirt. freaked out two young girls and some guy. :p

lifted today too. squatted my weight. couple weeks here and i will add more.

You should look into starting strength. A lot of good information on squating. I was doing a similar program before the doc said no more heavy lifting or a shoulder replacement is in the near future.

The big thing is you have to go parallel at least to really work the gluts.
 
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Friday pm: one-mile run-commute bare, 14F/6F windchill. It was just about too much, as there's very little dry pavement between my office and my home, and most of it is used by cars at that time of day. Then various pull downs and seated rows in the garage. My toes were a little painful after showering, but today they're just a bit crispy. I know you too well mr. frostnip. It's hard to get the better of me now.

Sat am: 3.5 miles, -6F/-28F windchill (-21C/-33C), shod in Sockwas, as per usual. Was going to do five miles, but once I got up to the fairgrounds a cold wind from Valhalla bit deep down into my mortal soul and filled me with existential terror, so I fled as quick as I could to the warm safety of human enclosure and carbon-based comfort. Not liking my pathetic Viking.

25.8 miles on the week, eight bare. 90.5 miles on the month (thanks Scratch, for introducing another mileage category to obsess over in numerological angst).

Two more days of bitter cold, and then we're supposed to start warming up. I'm placing my blind faith in the meteorological monkeys' models. Lead us to the promised land dapper monkey, I trust your fast-talk and weather gestures!
The big thing is you have to go parallel at least to really work the gluts.
I read parallel places a lot of stress on the knees. Gotta go ass-to-the-grass, as the big boys say. Plus it's good for runners' mobility to really open up the hips.
squatted my weight.
Mike: BW squat, I just did the same yesterday. Congrats to us! We're officially novices now.
 
I was having a good run home last night when it got even better! A couple of miles from home I came up on a guy running with two huskies in harness. We chatted, the dogs trotted, I was subconsciously emulating their lope and suddenly I was home - even more relaxed than usual. He normally runs the dogs on the Bridle trail but that is un-walkable right now, because of pock-marked ice, so he was on the road. The only problem was that his lead dog stuck to the left gutter and caught some of the few pedestrians by surprise as she barged through.
 
Ran about 3.6 miles last evening to put me up over 100 miles in February. Plan to run some today and tomorrow, and then after that, I might not get to run again til Thursday because of this horrible winter. I'm so sick of winter. I'm so sick of saying I'm so sick of it. High and low temps on Monday and Tuesday will probably be about 25 degrees below normal.
 
Finally dug out my old luna pacers today to get them cleaned up for todays run. Wow. They were nasty. I haven't worn them since the Warrior Dash probably 6 months ago because I was too lazy to wash them. Man, I think the laces are going to permenantly have a reddish tinge to them from the mud they were coated in. I would just use my mono's for todays run but it's a long run and the mgt footbed tends to blister my soles. Gonna try to sneak my laces from the pacers into the dryer without the wife knowing and pray that they dont stain the dryer..... I really need to get these pacers sent in to get them laced with the ats laces. Looking forward to my long run in a little bit.
 
7 miles in my monos. It was raining to beat hell and I didnt want to fight with my other laces on the pacers contracting mid run on me. I forgot how easy running is in sandals and barefoot. Oh, and I ran barefoot for first time in a long time. Only did about half mile as I came up to a gravel patch and I'm a pansy with pain. Loved running through all the puddles. Weird how running in shoes puddles suck, but barefoot and sandals puddles are a friggen blast. I know I was the crazy loon of my town today judging from all the stares I got! Haha!
 
Yesterday, I swam 20 minutes.

Today, my feet feel a bit swollen on the bottom after 6.2 miles, about 3 of which was on sharp asphalt. 44°F with constant rain. 3 monster hills. Got kind of chilled overall, but not my feet. At least not that I felt while I was running. Was trying out a course for a "race" in 2 weeks,, which I will be approaching as a training run, keeping it comfortable aerobically. Hope I haven't set myself back...
 
1/2 mile warmup walk then 58 minute run to Harbins park and back then 1/2 mile cool down walk. Cloudy overcast but warmed up today waited till afternoon for the low 50'sF (Bare Lee heat training temp) easy aerobic run with a couple 50 yard all out sprints in the last couple miles.
 
17.7km/11mi today, longest run for some time. About a third was very light trail. It feels good.

A small group of NSW runners are doing the Manly Dam run, which is apparently quite hard. 10.2km of trail.

One of us will surely bring a camera and get some nice pictures, I hear the trail is absolutely wonderful. I am really looking forward to that run

Next run will most likely be the half marathon in May, City2Surf in August and another half marathon in September. All for fun, without any time goal ! :)
 
Excellent 13 mile run at 6:00 am., 54 deg. f.. Some of my favorite creek crossing lots of water fowl.
Last run of the week. Total miles 26
Love running barefoot!
 
No barefoot this week really, apart from walking around at home.
Yesterday we did a 30km (about 25 miles?) hike. It was very steep, lots of ups and downs, 7 hours of solid hiking with the first 5 hrs in torrential rain after which it eased up a bit. I wore my big heavy hiking boots for the first time in a while and they quickly absorbed a lot of water and doubled in weight. I was reminded how much I love being barefoot or wearing my trail gloves.