Mileage reporting 16th week 2014

Larry

Barefooters
Sep 13, 2012
591
1,796
93
Happy Monday everybody!

11km on the beach this morning, but my GPS had a hissy fit mid-run and borked the data. Oh well, I guess I won't get any strava brag value out of that one. First world problems.

It's now 9:30 and I'm seriously considering demolishing a big slice of rainbow cake that I made with my daughter a couple of days ago. It's got enough food dye in it to paint a whole house, but I'm sure that stuff is good for you, right?
 
I set out to run the 17 mile southern perimeter of Manhattan this afternoon but bailed after 14 as there were so many people on the path I couldn't find any kind of rhythm or enjoyment for the last 6 miles. It was a beautiful afternoon so I guess I'll forgive the hordes :D
The bus ride home felt great!
 
3.4 miles this morning before getting ready for work. First before-work run that I've done since last fall sometime. Felt almost freakishly warm and humid this morning, I'm so used to it being bone-chilling cold.
 
1.5 miles in temps of -16C with wind chill. The air temp was -7C today, YOW you ended the Winter Challenge to early, we are looking at minus temps for highs until the weekend. But still able to do my runs STG, the radiant heating of the roads works well, running through snow melt puddles don't work so well. All in all, a good run for the short distance that it was.
 
It's been a rough weekend for my bare feet. For some reason, they just seemed extra sensitive to EVERYTHING. Plus, Saturday afternoon I went and backed into a log in the garden and it took a divot out of the upper part of my heel. The cold, gusty wind yesterday was incongruent with the sunshine and I got cold trying to work outside, so put my RunAMocs on. Today, Monday, I decided to brave the wind and go for my long run anyway, but on my smooth pond loop, due to the aforementioned issues. I double checked that trouble spot carefully and all seemed intact. It was just barely tender when I pushed on it, but the skin over it was leathery. So, I ran, but after about 7 miles, I stepped on something RIGHT THERE and drew blood. Not enough to leave on the pavement, thankfully. You know how folks talk. I still felt pretty good about running, though, so continued, even though I slowed down considerably the last couple of miles. I was thinking what a miserable example of barefoot running I am, but then I realized I was finishing mile 12 and that was something. Made it 13.2 miles total again. Then, I came home and ever so gently caught the end of one toenail on a pot in the greenhouse and the toenail split and bled. Don't tell the naysayers. Let it be known that I STILL prefer running barefoot!
 
Sunday - Went to Suwanee Creek greenway...first 1.5 hours was a gentle run/walk with a friend from work then a 35 minute mid-speed run with barefoot runner Gerry from the
Georgia chapter.

Monday - 30 minutes yard work then 30 minutes easy trail running in the local woods...these are my new recovery runs in place of some off days.

Today - good amount of rain last nite...this has washed the pollen out of the air...it is really windy so went for another local trail run with a bit of walking here and
there....45 minutes about 50F, muddy, nice and relaxing.
 
Cool 5 mile run at 4:45 am 39 deg.f. no wind. Big ole Moon.
Lot of rabbits.
 
t-lifted. talked with a class mate who's an Olympic style lifter. told him i used short foot and contracted my glutes and it made my squat easier. he was like "ya". told him about Xiong and his book. said he wished he would've known and made a book.
 
I have been told I should participate in this thread, so here is a reposting of a run report from another thread yesterday. Enjoy

I had a wonderful run last Sunday. I started out on a quite rough stony track which became gradually more covered in slightly damp soil as I got further into the wood. The path then got narrower and was covered in soft pine needles before opening out into an area of sand dunes where the path was dry and warm from the sun. Midway across the dunes I waded a sandy-bottomed cool freshwater stream, and after the dunes came to a closely cropped grass field full of wild flowers. I remember feeling that my feet, heart and soul were all soaring.

ahadehe6.jpg
 
Beautiful blood moon yesterday morning in a crystal-clear sky at 3:30am, 23/13F windchill. Like a blood drop low in the sky. Took me a sec to realize what I was seeing. I had seen a headline about the eclipse, but didn't read the article.

On this morning's 5K the moon was obscured by clouds. We're supposed to get an inch or two of snow today. Further north in Duluth, 6-10 inches! Aye Caramba! Temp this morning was 31F/18F windchill. Like Dutchie says, we're still racking up Winter Challenge miles.

Really enjoying the early morning 5Ks, the constancy, getting used to stepping on rocks again, the peace and quiet, the energy boost the rest of the day.

This week in continued pursuit of my recent distilling towards ST minimalism, I've reduced workouts to three heavy lifts per session, six heavy lifts total, which means I now have just two basic workouts: (1) one lower-body push (squats) and two mid-body push/pull (Bench Press & Rows), alternating with (2) one lower-body pull (deadlifts) and two upper-body push/pull (Military Press/Thrusters & Pulldowns).

Done three times per week, this results in a two-week cycle.

................Mon.....Wed......Fri
Week 1.....(1).........(2)........(1)
Week 2.....(2)........(1)........(2)

Then each of those two workouts is paired with two different sets of assistance exercises, a & b, which stretches the thing out into a four-week cycle:

..................Mon.....Wed.......Fri
Week 1 .....(1)a.......(2)a.......(1)b
Week 2 ....(2)b.......(1)a.......(2)a
Week 3 ....(1)b.......(2)b.......(1)a
Week 4 ....(2)a.......(1)b.......(2)b

On the ST off-days, Tuesday and Thursday, and hopefully once on the weekend, I'm doing a 30-to-40-minute plyometrics, core & mobility workout. Let's call it the PCM workout. Yesterday afternoon I was able to get through about 80% of it.

So far, so good, seems like a pretty good mix. I'm also trying to do more flexibility work each day--stretches and a misinterpretation of yoga.

Finally, I'll try to get in one long run on Saturday. For the moment, I'm hold the running fairly steady at daily 5Ks while I give my body time to adapt to the push in ST and plyo. Eventually, I would like to get back up to 10-15 miles on the weekend long run, and make Tuesday and Thursday's early morning 5Ks some version of fartleks, tempo, hills, or intervals.

I have been told I should participate in this thread, so here is a reposting of a run report from another thread yesterday.
Great to have you on board Paul!
 
2.2 miles today, with the temperature about 35 degrees colder than when I ran the same time yesterday morning. That'll put some zip in the pace.
 
50 minute run in my luna originals on the treadmill. I had to run a little extra because I know where I am eating dinner tonight. ;-) I'm going to try to be really good at Olive Garden, but I may want an extra breadstick... Oh, and I am down about 7.5 lbs now! Lightest I have been since before my last back surgery 5'ish years ago.
 
50 minute run in my luna originals on the treadmill. I had to run a little extra because I know where I am eating dinner tonight. ;-) I'm going to try to be really good at Olive Garden, but I may want an extra breadstick... Oh, and I am down about 7.5 lbs now! Lightest I have been since before my last back surgery 5'ish years ago.
Congrats Nick! But convert the breadstick into its liquid, analgesic form. Same calories but more soothing.

One inch of snow here! Had to don the Sockwa G4s for this morning's 5K. Some slick spots, but otherwise enjoyable. Great ST yesterday afternoon. I'm sold on the full body workouts, just six lifts in two alternating sessions. So simple and elegant conceptually:

Floor push, horizontal push & pull (squats, bench press, rows)
Floor pull, vertical push & pull (deadlift, shoulder press, pull-up/-down)

Going to do some pseudo yoga now, then my PCM (plyometrics, core, mobility) workout in the afternoon. (yes Sced, I'm using the word 'core' again. Abide asked me where I was doing my abdominal stuff, so I thought I should make it more explicit in the workout's name.)

I'm thinking of adding some agility drills to the PCM workout, so that I can slip a vowel into the initialism and make it into a full-fledged acronym: PACM, or better CAMP.

In any case, now I have four different fitness components:

BFR, ST, CAMP, & FLEX (stretching and yoga).
 
2.4 miles in the early light and chill. All these early morning runs have been feeling progressively better and I think that's because the last lingering effects from the last virus are dwindling. This morning I realized it had been a while since I had been running and felt a good sense of freedom and exhilaration, that had been clamped down on by the viruses of late March and early April. But this morning the legs felt light and good and free, I felt like I was running again at my potential and there wasn't some great weight hanging from my legs and slowing me down.