Mileage reporting week 4 of 2015

This new training week in my shift rotation allowed me to at least get in one run after work, Thursday. I was really pressed for daylight hours so went to a metro park in the city to avoid an extra 30 minutes getting to my normal trail. This park was one I run the most early on, was nice to be back. Got 8.15 miles and back to the truck just as it was getting dark. A few observations: After running out in the country almost exclusively for over a year I forgot how the city folks aren't as friendly. :meh: After the 4th person in a row seemed to ignore my passing hello I remembered that few say anything here. And a pair of girls in perhaps their 20's that were walking laughed when I went by. Not like a joking kind of way, there were no words spoken, but more snickering kind of way. Might have just been the way I took it. I'm sure its probably the first time they saw a winter barefoot runner but snickering like that just makes me want to get the logging chains out of my super duty and re-park their car way over in the middle of the field lol. If I knew which one was there car.

Also got an actual lunch hour for a change, and got three 2mi walks in this week, along with some stairs each day.

Today got 6.5mi run in on my regular trail (everyone said hello when I passed by, btw). Today was 31F feels like 22F. Trail is mostly snow free now, but still a few hundred feet of snow here and there, with the longest stretch about .2mi. But probably 90% open. And the forecast for tomorrow is 3-5". :mad: I might try and get a morning run in ahead of the snow tomorrow.

I had sciatic nerve issues with one pregnancy that sent me into flamingo mode at the most embarrassing moments! I'd be standing in the grocery aisle, have that sharp pain, and intuitively lift my knee clear to my chin. Not an easy or necessarily pretty movement with a big belly!
and then I've found the most effective stretch is to jut my butt out at an angle while bending towards the opposite side, like a freeze-frame from an exaggerated twerk by a drunk sorority girl. It ain't pretty, but it brings some relief. .
Hmm flamingo gal vs twerking dude. Bare Lee for the win! :eek::D
Seriously though, hope its nothing major and goes away quickly.
 
A nice and warm 19km/11.8mi this morning. Still trying to sync my Garmin with garmin connect, but they seem to have problems these days. I think it was a reasonable pace, given the heat. I was out for 2hrs. About one third of it was light trail
 
a pair of girls in perhaps their 20's that were walking laughed when I went by. Not like a joking kind of way, there were no words spoken, but more snickering kind of way.
Just remember that these unfortunate souls will suffer endless foot pain in coming years, due to their ignorance of the the damaging effects of shoes. You, sir, are serving as a fine example, which they are sadly choosing to mock. Ignorance is bliss, eh?
 
We had snow on the forecast for today, some saying up to 5 or 6". So I wanted to get another barefoot run in before the trail turns un-runnable. But since this week was already my highest mileage this winter (I think) I didn't go crazy and also a pretty modest pace.

Today: 5.35mi (all barefoot)
Snow: ~.3mi
Temp: 34F
Feels Like: 31F

Week in total: 30.5mi all barefoot (most I have ever done in a winter week!)
Plus 6mi walking during lunch breaks (in SoftStars)
Plus 184 flights of stairs up and down

Sunday - ran the Carlsbad Marathon shod... I think I paced very well and ended up with a time of 3:39:26. A new PR by 50 minutes.

I forgot to congratulate you earlier this week... that's great Rick! And wow that is a huge improvement! Hope the pains aren't anything serious and you heal up quick. I'm crossing my fingers my achilles issue has subsided, this week is the first week I have not really felt it - though I also have done more miles this week so hope it doesn't flare back up. Calves both still have a slight bit of pain and tightness when I roll them - on the outside edge up high in the calf. Trying to be more consistent with the rolling and stretching, especially this past week.
 
12.2 miles today to give me 28.4 for the week. The runs earlier this week were plodders, it felt like that rhinovirus was still putting a squeeze on me. And I'm still having to blow out congestion in the mornings and a few times a day. But today the weather was fairly decent and around the 4th mile or so, I started feeling good and just kept running until the watch said 2 hours had gone by.

I don't know what the coming week will bring, the forecast is quite iffy. Hopefully I can get back to at least 30 miles, but I'll settle for 20 if that's all that I can find.
 
Most excellent 6 mile run. slept in and went out at 6:30 am still dark.
Got to see another awesome sunrise (stars and sunrise same run nice).
sawa rabbit and one large hawk up in a tall tree with now leaves.
 
It's been challenging this week.
Tues. 3.6m on the road in VFF El-x. Then my left calf/achilles (which has been the bain of my existance since I started running again) started barking. So I've been icing and I've started doing isometric? heel drops. We'll see.

Sat. 20m on the trails in my Trail Freaks. This was one of those runs. Murphy's Law was in full effect. I missed a decent lunch so I grabbed a 5 layer burrito from Taco Bell on the way to the park. (WRONG!!) Anyway, the first 5 miles were digestion hell. The next 5 went pretty well, but then the sun set and my pace slowed. The final 10 were frustrating because my right IT Band started acting up. IT Band is what turned last April's 50 miler into a 30 mile run/20 mile hike. I thought I had beat this last year. So, it is clear that I have gotten lazy with my exercises and my butt has fallen back to sleep. Time to step it back up. 100 in April is less than 3 months away.

At least I got a nice picture!! The local state park at sundown.SiloamSunset.jpg
 
Do you ever run with other people? Sometimes I find that helps.


I do run with the surfers, but never more than 30 minutes, they run for fitness but dont find it so funny.

I think something that really reduces my mileage are these very little gravels on asphalt. sometimes I come back home with tiny little holes in my soles (that's what happened last week, and the holes are still here !)

when asphalt is "clean", even if "rough", I can make the usual distance. since they changed the asphalt with all these micro-gravels six months ago, I never know what distance I'm gonna manage.
 
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Hmm flamingo gal vs twerking dude. Bare Lee for the win! :eek::D
Seriously though, hope its nothing major and goes away quickly.
Thanks Tristan. It got a lot better over the weekend. Went for a 3.5-mile walk bare Saturday, no pain in the butt at all, although my soles were a little tingly the next day. I was happy to see my plantar callus was still relatively intact after so much time away from barefoot running/walking outside. I'll continue to take advantage of the mid-winter thaw this week. A few more outings should be enough to prevent molting until March. It would be nice to get back in the top 10 rankings too . . . :eek:

Had this song going through my head:

I've been massaging my back/butt with my Homedics back massager three times a day or so, about 30 minutes each time. This has been the biggest help I think. Stretching helps too, but massaging all the tight muscles around the injury seems to help the most in relieving pressure on the nerve. Yesterday I was able to be on my feet a lot while hanging out with the family all day long. I kept waiting for it to get worse, but it never amounted to more than mild discomfort to be on my feet, shuffling or standing. Last night was the first night the mild pain didn't wake me up after 4-5 hours of sleep. So I'm feeling pretty good and relieved today. I'll start adding in a little running towards the end of my walks, build up gradually that way until the whole thing is a run. Sucks to be so out-of-shape.
I thought I had beat this last year. So, it is clear that I have gotten lazy with my exercises and my butt has fallen back to sleep.
That's been the hardest lesson for me to learn--to stay on top of the maintenance stuff. I used to think of my basic fitness routine as running and lifting, or endurance and strength training, but now I see that a mobility/plyometric component is just as vital. I've always treated the latter as frosting on the cake, but I've got to make a better effort at programming it in as part of the weekly routine.

Hope everyone out East stays safe and warm!
 
I forgot to congratulate you earlier this week... that's great Rick! And wow that is a huge improvement! Hope the pains aren't anything serious and you heal up quick. I'm crossing my fingers my achilles issue has subsided, this week is the first week I have not really felt it - though I also have done more miles this week so hope it doesn't flare back up. Calves both still have a slight bit of pain and tightness when I roll them - on the outside edge up high in the calf. Trying to be more consistent with the rolling and stretching, especially this past week.

Thanks Tristan. I hope you are on your way of figuring out the Achilles problem. I think adding the stairs and walking is helping with that.

Time to step it back up. 100 in April is less than 3 months away.

Nice! Which one are you doing? Keep posting on how your training and planning is going.
 
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9 miles today, averaged out at 10.20 pace including a few hill repeats. Came back off road through some barren farmland.
It felt easy today and had no real desire to push hard, it was just nice being out running and enjoying the winter sun.

View attachment 5352

This post has particularly inspired me for my run today.
 
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