You're ahead of me. I usually have to be out by no later than 5am.35 minutes outside in the dark (4 am). Was not doing a treadmill 3 days in a row.
It's a nice quiet time, though, right?
You're ahead of me. I usually have to be out by no later than 5am.35 minutes outside in the dark (4 am). Was not doing a treadmill 3 days in a row.
Yah, pretty much perfect. I've even invited a dear friend over for dinner out on our deck despite the fact that he has a kid-hating wife who likes to correct everything we report about life in Africa (sample: "I don't think there's any more crime in Johannesburg than in St. Paul"), which drives both my wife (who's from Mozambique) and me up the wall. But the weather is just too perfect not to invite friends over for dinner out on the deck. Damn weather, now we have to put up her. At least they always bring over very good wine.Gorgeous weather in the midwest lately, right?
Glad you're getting out to enjoy it.
Early color change is my favorite time of the year.
Man, I admire you guys. As much as I promise myself I'm going to do it the night before, I almost always fail to exercise first thing in the morning. And now with the falling temps, pretty soon the only time to run barefoot will be later in the day when the sun has warmed things up a bit.You're ahead of me. I usually have to be out by no later than 5am.
It's a nice quiet time, though, right?
What's "tots"? Did I break my cover too?Wait, teenagers don't say 'fanpage' anymore do they? or tots? huh. broke my cover.
Everybody's different yada yada, but let me give you the warning I didn't think about.2.89 miles, at 8:55 mm pace. Another day of feeling rundown, this time with a mild headache. Man, I got to catch up on my rest. My calves felt a little sorer than usual, probably due to the greater paces I've been running all this week. So today I intended to do an easy six-miler, twice around a lake located in the middle of St. Paul, Lake Phalen, which is almost exactly three miles in circumference. But then a family friend called to ask for help getting her air conditioner out of the window, so I cut the run to one lap and ran at a (relatively) faster pace again. I'm only supposed to allow myself one day of speedwork per week, to ensure that I don't overdo it, and also to make sure I keep building up my aerobic base on longer runs, but so far this week I've had three speedwork days. Definitely have to do a long and slow run on my next run day, this Saturday. I kind of miss it.
I'm enjoying the Garmin 210 I bought in June. It's helping get a feel for paces, so now I have an idea of what different pace-based training protocols mean. It's amazing how different just a minute or a minute and a half per mile change in pace can be. At 10 mm pace, I feel like I can run forever (although my actual, self-imposed limit for September is 8 miles, which I'll boost to 9 miles in October--one mile increase per month to avoid TMTS is the plan), but at 9 mm pace, about five miles feels like the limit. 8:30 mm pace for three miles is what I did on Tuesday, and it seems I can sustain 8mm pace for just a mile, and a little over 7mm pace for 1/4 mile. Hopefully with my anti-Maff method (three to four runs per week: one tempo run [5-6 miles], one speedwork run [intervals and hills, building up to 5-6 miles], and one or two LS run [currently 7-8 mile range]), I'll continue to see rapid improvement. Still dreaming of the day when 8mm pace feels easy . . .
7.89 miles through the fall leaves in the park yesterday. Slower pace to start then picked up to a supersonic (for me) 7:30 min/mile pace for the last 5 km. I even tore by some runners who were slightly confused by my 'shod'lessness as they slowly made their way through some gravel patches that I just flew over.
7.89 miles through the fall leaves in the park yesterday.
Isn't it risky to run in leaves? Or were they not obscuring your view of where to put your feet? I'm just asking because that's basically how I too that large piece of flesh off my foot mid August....
Yah, I hear you. I was a little concerned yesterday when the calf was feeling noticeably sore, but today it feels pretty good. After my long struggle with top-of-the-foot-pain, I'm trying to be as vigilante as possible about TMTS and making sure to massage and stretch several times a day. I have half of my massage toys up in my office so I can get in a session when I'm reading emails and stuff. Thanks for keeping on top of me though, that's the initial reason I joined this forum. Although now I mostly enjoy hearing about other people's runs, the descriptions and feelings (loved your last entry btw), as well as the opportunity to scratch my diarist itch. This week's consecutive speed work was coincidence. Although I'm not a Maff adherent, I'm convinced of the value of long steady runs, and think the Tempo/intervals&hills/1-2 LS weekly combo is going to work well for me. It's kind of an experiment to see how much my pace can improve over the year, with the initial goal of doing 10 miles at 8mm pace, or 7.5 miles in an hour. I've also broken up my weight routine into three sets instead of two so that I can concentrate a bit more on improving my bench, lift, and press strength. Little tactics to keep this all amusing.Everybody's different yada yada, but let me give you the warning I didn't think about.
The week or two before I ran a half marathon (last two weeks of August, I cut down my miles (from about 40-45 down to 25-30), and felt like I wasn't "doing" enough, so started picking up the pace as much as possible on ALL my runs and doing lots more hills. Started getting sore, then sorer, and now I have shin splints (I also had never had them so didn't recognize what the 'tightness' was until it was too late). I was doing so many fewer miles, it didn't dawn on me what in the world I could be so sore about.
I attribute it to suddenly knocking 1-1.5 min/mile or more off of all my runs. Yeah, kinda silly, but it was fun while it lasted.
Just be careful with speed work.
Nice! Great to see I'm not the only recreational barefoot who's giving speedwork a try. I look forward to hearing how it goes for you. Now that I'm getting used to it, I couldn't imagine a week without at least one run where I'm pushing it a bit, laughing all the while at how slow my push still is. Did you know that elite runners use speedwork not only to recruit more muscle fiber for their endurance runs, but also to fine tune their biomechanics, that is, to work on their form? Think about it. It's just about impossible to heel strike, for example, once you reach a certain velocity.Here's my workout report for yesterday: http://dailyimprovisations.com/need-for-speed-nampa-barefoot-lady-style/
I think that is one reason it is so fun! My husband really helped me with speed work beginning last spring and I saw great benefits from it. I ran in a mile race and was able to do it in just over 7 minutes. I was pretty stoked! Now, I just need to be patient with it again after injury...Did you know that elite runners use speedwork not only to recruit more muscle fiber for their endurance runs, but also to fine tune their biomechanics, that is, to work on their form? Think about it. It's just about impossible to heel strike, for example, once you reach a certain velocity.
For me it came as a kind of revelation. I had just assumed recreational running was all about running a steady pace for as long as you could. It finally occurred to me that I could run fast once in a while, I think two winters ago when I finished a few of my runs with a 100 yard sprint, then I accidentally did a fartlek run late last spring when I just found myself starting a run at an unsustainable pace. It felt good so I kept going for about a mile until I needed to stop, then I keep trying to maintain that pace for as long as I could before stopping again several times until the run was done. That's when I began looking into different training protocols--the first time I had thought about this stuff--and settled on my current (idealized) weekly routine. Besides the fitness benefits, like you say, it's just plain fun to get our half-century-old bodies to open up a bit, clean out the carburetor once in a while and knock some of the rust off.I think that is one reason it is so fun! My husband really helped me with speed work beginning last spring and I saw great benefits from it. I ran in a mile race and was able to do it in just over 7 minutes. I was pretty stoked! Now, I just need to be patient with it again after injury...