Well, as a would-be linguist, I love subcategorization and tree charts.Lee,
After giving your post more thought I have determined you are just a RUNNER ;-) No need to label yourself anything else
Recreational Runner, and proud of it
- Thread starter Bare Lee
- Start date
Getting to our potential takes a fearless yet calculately mentatlity. When it is done with smartl, skillful and purposeful training believe it can be done with great pleasure and happiness throughtout the process. Sacrifice and a bit of selfishiness is a given regardless of elite or recreational status.
I also wonder, increasing the length of my runs by only a little bit when bare or minshod seems to be a way bigger deal than back when I was wearing heavily cushioned shoes. It seemed then I was just worried about joints and aerobic feelings. Now, after increasing distance by what seems reasonable to me (2 extra miles on the long run since last week), it's like a whole new adventure for my body.
I wonder if even that need to be extremely gradual has more to do with continuing transition issues than anything (like age. please say it's not age), even several months or even a year into this.
On that note, a shod friend of mine who runs only about 15 miles/wk and who just started running this spring recently pulled out a 15 miler at 9min pace (previous maximum run of I'm guessing 6 miles) and was 'tired' the next morning, but had no other issues and went for a run. Shall we seethe together at those who find it just too too effortless????
I wonder if even that need to be extremely gradual has more to do with continuing transition issues than anything (like age. please say it's not age), even several months or even a year into this.
On that note, a shod friend of mine who runs only about 15 miles/wk and who just started running this spring recently pulled out a 15 miler at 9min pace (previous maximum run of I'm guessing 6 miles) and was 'tired' the next morning, but had no other issues and went for a run. Shall we seethe together at those who find it just too too effortless????
NickW
Guest
This is how I've been the last year. I've never really had much for injuries prior to... I really think the 4+ years of me dealing with my back and surgeries really made me weak. Hoping I will come out of it though. Hope you do to. I think you have the right approach and I hope I do now...
Yah, I dunno. I still can't figure it out, could be in-group variances, but I think you're right, that part of it is transitioning, but also, at least for me, part of it might be age. Nonetheless, I did jump from 5 miles to 8 miles within two weeks without any problem, and ran the 8 with a semi-decent (for me, at this point) 10mm pace. But my weekly mileage has increased at least 50% in that time too, so I do think it might be a case of over-training. Nonetheless-also, my knee felt fine yesterday, although the front of my left ankle definitely has a little twinge to it. But it doesn't feel like the metatarsal stuff I went through, which was new to me since starting barefoot running again. It feels more like a slight tweak like I used to get in hs football. So I'm not too worried about it. Overall, I felt great after the run--didn't take me too much time to recover at all--and I got a really pleasurable post-run tingle in my soles.
But moreover-also, I ran barefoot 20 years ago without any problem whatsoever, so I do think part of my difficulty in getting back into shape as rapidly as I would like has been age, unfortunately, as tough as it is to admit that. I can feel father time a bit in the joints and ligaments--a subtle creakiness creeping in. Never used to feel anything like that, so I need to be a bit more careful, and let youthful arrogance die while keeping a young man's exuberance alive.
Still, I'm chomping at the bit to run that 10 miles. It's become my barefoot moby dick. I've even tweaked the route I ran on Google Maps, and ran it through 3D. It's a nice little journey--the fairgrounds, a bit of peaceful surburbia, a patch of nature reserve, a lake, a tidy blue-collar neighborhood--with varied surfaces--nice asphalt, sidewalks, some chipseal, and nature debris. Actually, 10 miles feels kind of like the perfect running distance right now. My legs feel a little more tired when I get up in the 7-9 mile range, but I don't seem to get drowsy later in the day like I do with runs of lesser distance. The longer runs kind of pep me up for the whole day. And then I sleep like a corpse at night. Very nice. Plus, longer runs recall a bit my former life of travel and urban hiking/exploration; it's like taking a break from my life and going on a little journey. Shorter runs make me physically fresh but the longer ones floss my mind as well.
Getting up to 15 miles per week within a few months is impressive, but getting up to 15 miles per run within just a few months, shod or bare, is amazing. Had your friend been doing something else aerobic beforehand? That really would be too effortless otherwise, and merits some seething I'm agreeing. I know when I came back from traveling by bicycle (about eight hours a day over close to two years), I went out and ran 5-7 miles rather effortlessly a week or two later. That was when I was 33. I kick myself for not having kept at it back then. I wonder what kind of runner I'd be now ...
Yah, your back is the foundation/platform for everything you do, so that's probably been the source of your problems. We're kind of been living parallel barefoot running lives over the last year or so. Let's hope this stage we're in now continues going well.
Great. Now i'm picturing a giant sperm whale running down the street on his tail fin, like a giant Jabberjaw.
Great post Lee. I wouldn't label yourself as a recreational runner. I don't believe in adding an adjective to "runner". It just makes it so confusing and often interferes with your goals. A runner is a runner is a runner.
Interesting recap on where you are in your running right now. More people on here should do that. Adds kind of a personal aspect. I know about the blog section on here, been thinking about adding something to mine. I think is is a blank page right now, but some people might be interested in how a lower mileage injured runner gets to the marathon level.
Interesting recap on where you are in your running right now. More people on here should do that. Adds kind of a personal aspect. I know about the blog section on here, been thinking about adding something to mine. I think is is a blank page right now, but some people might be interested in how a lower mileage injured runner gets to the marathon level.
Thanks Rick! I guess now that I have contracted some form of runner's knee I could consider myself just a runner. But I kind of like the adjectives and noun compounding in 'recreational runner' or 'barefoot runner,' although in the past I have resisted them. I guess I kind of like 'owning' the label recreational runner because it's kind of a put-down among competitive runners. And I really like the idea of someday being able to recreationally run 20 miles, just for fun, not as part of any particular training goal.
And ya, I thought about the blog section, especially with these longer posts, but I like the interactive aspect of the forum post. Plus, I try to limit myself to just this forum, although lately I've been branching out to some of the others. But you're right, it would be good for newcomers or the bare-curious to follow some of our narratives. Come to think of it, it would be good for me to follow a lot of people's narratives, newbie or advanced, in a more coherent format than the little snippets of background information we get over time on these threads. I guess I could start by filling in the personal information section of my account, but I'm terrified of what would happen when everyone finds out I'm actually just a fast-typing chipmunk.
NickW
Guest
Only made it a mile and half on this morning's run before the left knee started acting up. I ran another mile then walked home. Just as well I guess. I tried a new route, one that goes down to the Mississippi. I've been wanting to try it for a while, but have doubted it's feasibility, because you have to go through a light industrial area and over a freeway to get there. Lots of stops and starts and twists and turns and a higher potential for sharp/pointy objects along the way. Not very pleasant. Oh well. I'll take a rest and focus on weights and rowing for two days and see how it feels on Monday. Very frustrating. Running had really been going well and then I overdid it again. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh how I yearn for a good 90-to-120-minute run at a decent pace.
NickW
Guest
Well I shocked myself this morning BL. Ran 5.5 miles at a 10:10 avg pace! Working on getting to a decent pace and all these hills I'm running are paying off! Felt good and strong today too which was good cause yesterday I struggled to keep a 10:49 pace just over a 1.65 miles. That shows me diet really plays a big factor in running too, not just for losing weight.
That's great Nick! Perhaps I've erred in my ways the last few weeks by reducing my hills and speedwork to next-to-nothing while focusing on increasing my distance at slower paces. I'm ignoring my own stay-free-of-injury plan. Don't do the same. Keep doing what you're doing, because it's working!
I like the deep zen-zones that longer runs stimulate, the sense of having gone on a little journey, or several, in the midst of my weekly routine, and getting out in the elements for a more extended period. Of course, on a treadmill even five minutes is unbearable.
Keep persevering and once you are able to get to those runs you will enjoy them even more
Thanks for the words of encouragement B&A. Just gotta learn to be more patient, and obey my own plan. But I keep letting past accomplishments cloud my view of present abilities.Keep persevering and once you are able to get to those runs you will enjoy them even more
