Mileage Reporting 40th week of 2014

Too tired to give too many details. 46 shod miles today. It was the big local marathon this Saturday and I found out earlier in the week that several friends were doing a double (running finish to start and then doing the regular marathon. I joined them for the first section since I was not registered for the marathon. It went well, nice and slow. Great night/early morning training. I then drove to a mountain area 20 minutes from the craziness of 7000 people. Did 20 rugged trail miles with loads of elevation change. Had the place completely to myself.

If I do my math correctly, that makes 108 for this week. This was a one time push for a 100 mile week. It will not happen again until my race in November. Enjoyed the miles, but looking forward to a long taper.
 
A whole 12 miles this week! 7 on Sunday and 5 on Monday morning with nothing since as my back froze on me at lunchtime on Monday.
I had a physically active week but running was just too uncomfortable :(

Nice distance Rick - rest well!
 
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Sweet 11.6 mile run.
I got a late start this morning.
I saw lots of stars and saw a nice sunrise.
I saw one small toad. when I was almost complete I saw a flock of parrots sitting on power wires.
Last run of the week for me. Total miles 22.9.
 
End of my second big week, and my 2 week vacation. Last long run achieved (prior to my marathon attempt weekend after next). 24.2 miles in today, and an easy 3mi yesterday evening. I was a bit sore from all the hard work and running these past two weeks but didn't feel to bad this morning. However it was cold and gloomy, damp, and windy. Took some determination just to get out there.

Was the only vehicle in the lot at the trailhead which is rare for a Sunday morning:
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Thats fine less people, bikes, and dogs to dodge lol. There are a couple other lots (the trail is about 14 miles long), and I did come across a couple other runners, a couple walkers, and a few bikes, but probably less than 10 people in the 3+ hrs I was on the trail!

It started out mid 30's but by the time I was on the trail it was about 40F and finished around 50F. But the gusty wind really made it chilly right up to the last 2-3 miles when the sun finally started peaking through. First run this season with a long sleeved shirt! I was so worried about the cold I packed my hat, gloves, and jacket in my pack but ended up not using any of them.

Run went pretty well, about 5 miles in I started getting a pain in my left foot where I stepped off my trailer after I was unloaded it the other day and landed on a rock right on the outer edge of my foot about in the middle. :facepalm: That metatarsal or whatever its called had bothered me a little ever since I did that 2 days ago. If I land on something on my forefoot or heel I can often shift the weight but in the middle I can't do much to cushion it, and I had the extra momentum of stepping down off the trailer, which is low but still a good step high. Luckily after about 3 more miles it faded. Everything was going well, and after a few miles of warmup I settled in at around 8:30 pace for several miles, a little faster than I thought I could do a long run but felt right so went with it. And with the cool temps I didn't even hit my MAF HR until after I turned around... wasn’t until 13 miles I hit ~145. It was very slightly uphill on the return half, about 300' across 12 miles and also the wind was now in my face. I did manage a few more miles in the 8's but the return trip slowly slid over 9m/m. I would be thrilled if I could hold 8:30 for the whole marathon but doubt its going to happen. I did really start getting some fatigue a bit after 20 miles, some soreness like I struggled with so much earlier this year in my lower right calve/achilles. Also started getting some straining under the toes in that foot, not the big toe but the next two. Might have been from the pains in my left foot earlier IDK. But thus concludes my marathon training with this week at 46.25 mi and last at 45.88. I hope that’s enough to get me through. Sadly most of my weeks this summer have been in the 20ish range with only a few hitting 30. :( Worse than last year, and the marathon hurt then! But I feel a little redeemed with these last 2 weeks and better off than I was last year.

This coming week I go back to work on nightshift. At least on nights I can get up and move around a bit more without management in. I like to do stairs ever couple hours... will challenge myself this week on breaking some stair records. :)
 
Too tired to give too many details. 46 shod miles today. It was the big local marathon this Saturday and I found out earlier in the week that several friends were doing a double (running finish to start and then doing the regular marathon. I joined them for the first section since I was not registered for the marathon. It went well, nice and slow. Great night/early morning training. I then drove to a mountain area 20 minutes from the craziness of 7000 people. Did 20 rugged trail miles with loads of elevation change. Had the place completely to myself.

If I do my math correctly, that makes 108 for this week. This was a one time push for a 100 mile week. It will not happen again until my race in November. Enjoyed the miles, but looking forward to a long taper.

108 in a week... geeze I just made a monthly PR of about that! Great job though, your mileage, DNEchris(btw hope your feeling better soon and back at it!) and others are very inspiring. I really hoped to do an ultra in 3-4 years but I don't think its going to happen (maybe ever). At least not with my current job, or family situation, just a huge struggle to get many miles in on working weeks. And too long sitting in chairs hurts my training too. Can't believe you basically did a marathon and then drove somewhere else in the same day and did 20 more miles! Your are quite the ultra runner lately. And you seem to be able to go between shoes and barefoot at will which is a great advantage. My first year I could switch back and forth but seems these last two I can't very well. We'll see how winter goes this year...
 
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Sunday - I made it through the Stawell half marathon largely unscathed - my first half. My sore heel was still worrying me the night before, so I decided that if I could walk the 4km to the start without flaring up I would start the race and see what happened. I did that, and lined up with 26 others for what was quite a small event. I felt a little bit of soreness in the first 500m, but it warmed up and I was OK from there on - I found that making sure that I didn't heel strike was the key to staying happy.

The field sorted itself out by pace fairly quickly, and so I ran most of the race by myself with the occasional spotting of a guy about 500m up the road that I didn't try too hard to catch. The course was a nice trip through the forest, but it was on stony gravel roads for most of the way so barefoot wasn't an option for me. I ran it in merrell road gloves and they were fine, although occasionally I got nailed by a big stone that I didn't see and felt it through the shoe. An old guy passed me at about 9km, and I considered running with him for a while, but I decided against that and opted to keep things gentle and look after myself. I think that was a good decision, because later in the race my legs got very heavy and I struggled on the hilly sections - I didn't really anticipate much in the way of hills, but it was up and down the whole way.

The end was quite funny - I had found my way through the forest trails with no problems, but at the end we entered the streets. The finish was at the local athletics track, and there were about 4 entrance gates. I saw a police car at the end of the street and so I ran towards that, figuring that must have been the right gate. I guess I ran past a sign, because when I made it to the last gate I couldn't see anything. I asked the cop if that was the right gate to which he gave me a cheerful "I dunno mate". So, I ran in, ran around the side of a building and discovered I was already past the finish arch thing, so I had to run back past the finish and duck back through. That earned me a few laughs from the small crowd. :)

Time-wise, I was pretty happy with the time - 1:46:17, which to be honest isn't much slower than what I think I would have done if I wasn't babying my foot a little bit and trying to keep it slow. I finished 16th out of 27 and 6th out of 7 in the 40+ mens group - as I explained to my wife afterwards, you've got no hope against the old blokes in a running event. :)

Fast forward to today, and I'm pretty sore in the legs, but my heel is no worse so it's a victory. Walking down stairs made me look like an old man. If that's a half, I now know that I've got lots of work to do to bump it up to a full marathon next year.
 
Congrats on your first half Larry! I think that's a really good time for your first... faster than my first, and you had hills and babying your ankle working against you too (not to mention some extra time at the end tacked on).

I'm a bit worried after my long run yesterday. I knew I'd be a little stiff and sore - especially this morning. I was stiff and sore when I first got up but 15 minutes of walking around and I didn't feel too bad except for one thing... my right heel. Feels like the tendon or whatever was really strained. I couldn't put any pressure on my foot using my calves or I'd get pretty strong instant pain through the heel. I've been hobbling along all day so far trying to walk with a limp right foot. I can press on the heel, dig around with thumb or knuckles pretty hard and don't feel anything. But when I try to bear weight on my forefoot by flexing the ankle I get a sharp pain. And the marathon is a couple more miles and hoped to average a bit faster pace. Now I'm worried, unless recovering from this builds me back a little stronger in short time. Guess I'll find out over the next few days and hope it goes away quick. Might not be able to do stairs tonight at work after all. :(

I just need more training runs ~20-24 miles. I don't seem to have any issues after several 16-20 mile runs this summer but over 20 is something I've only done once this year and twice last year, and every time its left me hurt afterwards.
 
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DNEchris(btw hope your feeling better soon and back at it!)
Back at it thanks Tristan. Several hours working on my back and neck with a Theracane over the weekend seem to have resolved the problem.
The only problem is that I missed a much anticipated long run with a bunch of friends. I'll have to do it by myself in a couple of weeks!
 
I have been running, just too lazy to post...:) Did 8.5 km tonight, 7.5 km Saturday afternoon, the weather has been holding nicely, 16 c tonight. A bit windy but it called down by the time I got home. The city has added another couple km of asphalt trail, makes a nice change of route.
I was talking to our new receptionist, she stopped running after knee problems, other than some trail running, she sounds like she might be interested in trying barefoot running. I'll have to keep working on her. :)
I did take off a couple of weeks, went to Vegas the beginning of August, I've been dragging my butt trying to get back on track again, but hopefully I'll get some more in before the weather turns. I did notice again, that my technique seems to come back right away, even after an extended hiatus, my feet haven't worn anywhere near what they did when I first started running barefoot.
Rather long winded post this time, but I'm done... :-D
 
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