Headaches can be related to so many things, but if one hairline crack in a single tooth can do what it did to the whole half of my head, I'm certain a tooth issue can be causing your "headaches." Hope you feel better soon!
NickW
Guest
Me too Laura!
2.11 miles, hilly run, all barefooted. Last week I ran the same route and averaged 12:16 per mile pace. This week, wait for it................................. I averaged 11:56 per mile! I even really had to force myself to get out there today because I've just been super tired and dealing with a headache. Glad I forced myself to get out, but I am still tired. Wish I had time for a nap today. School is taking up way too much of my time this term and wiping me out.
2.11 miles, hilly run, all barefooted. Last week I ran the same route and averaged 12:16 per mile pace. This week, wait for it................................. I averaged 11:56 per mile! I even really had to force myself to get out there today because I've just been super tired and dealing with a headache. Glad I forced myself to get out, but I am still tired. Wish I had time for a nap today. School is taking up way too much of my time this term and wiping me out.
Yesterday I did some semi-serious squats. One-legged and two-legged, as well as stepping (up on a curb from all directions), and some other weird hip exercises where I rotate my leg around, ending up looking like I am peeing on a fire-hydrant in slow motion. I have been doing these for about 2 months but have started to really crack down on the depth and reps. Those last exercises (I call them "circumductions", which is based on their kinesiological movement) seem to be even more important in stabilizing my hip muscles, than are squats. I can actually feel significant lactic acid build-up today. Especially in my left hamstring and glute medius -which are always distinctly weaker than my right side (due to how my hips twist - my right quad is weaker than my left quad).
Regarding that hill training question - as long as I keep up with the above exercises, and the more of them I do, the better I can take hills.
I tried to do a 5 mile run today. But yesterday was an incredibly emotionally exhausting day for me in which I spent most of the day pulling my head out of my @$$ and reguiding it to it's proper locale -and it apparently took more out of me when I realized. So I hit the 1.5 mile mark and thought "OMG I've ONLY been running that long!!! Kill me now!!!" and I had to turn around immediately. I ended up walking the last half mile, so 2.5 mile of running and .5 miles of hiking. I did take a break to sit on a log and enjoy the spastic chirping of a chipmunk who was alarmed I was there. I am just about to take a nap, now - and it may end up being an actual sleep the way I'm feeling. Good thing there are not age limits on naps! At least it was enough to work out my sore hams/glutes.
Regarding that hill training question - as long as I keep up with the above exercises, and the more of them I do, the better I can take hills.
I tried to do a 5 mile run today. But yesterday was an incredibly emotionally exhausting day for me in which I spent most of the day pulling my head out of my @$$ and reguiding it to it's proper locale -and it apparently took more out of me when I realized. So I hit the 1.5 mile mark and thought "OMG I've ONLY been running that long!!! Kill me now!!!" and I had to turn around immediately. I ended up walking the last half mile, so 2.5 mile of running and .5 miles of hiking. I did take a break to sit on a log and enjoy the spastic chirping of a chipmunk who was alarmed I was there. I am just about to take a nap, now - and it may end up being an actual sleep the way I'm feeling. Good thing there are not age limits on naps! At least it was enough to work out my sore hams/glutes.
Ran 4 miles in the neighborhood 4:45am, still not to hot (65 deg. F). Great run saw rabbits I love barefoot'n.
6.9km in shoes this morning in the dark, then a pre-work surf in some great waves. Awesome day so far.
I suck at hills, so all this talk of hill reps has me thinking. I have a perfect little stretch near my house where I could do about a 1.5km circuit with a short steep uphill, slightly less steep downhill, and a flat section to recover. I might have a go at that in a week or two and see if I can't teach myself to stop crying like a baby every time I see a hill.
Meanwhile, I just acquired a tutu for the Mothers Day Classic, a fun run down this way to raise money for cancer research. A bunch of guys from work are doing it, so I said I'd dress up for a laugh. Just need to find myself a pair of long pink socks and a pink t-shirt and I'm sorted!
I suck at hills, so all this talk of hill reps has me thinking. I have a perfect little stretch near my house where I could do about a 1.5km circuit with a short steep uphill, slightly less steep downhill, and a flat section to recover. I might have a go at that in a week or two and see if I can't teach myself to stop crying like a baby every time I see a hill.
Meanwhile, I just acquired a tutu for the Mothers Day Classic, a fun run down this way to raise money for cancer research. A bunch of guys from work are doing it, so I said I'd dress up for a laugh. Just need to find myself a pair of long pink socks and a pink t-shirt and I'm sorted!
Instead f the 4 to 4.5 mile run planned for this evening decided to run hard and see what kind of time I could do the 3.2 mile stretch I usually run. I began running quite fast at the start, much faster than my usual pace actually but even so my form seemed to hold together quite nicely at this pace. As it turns out I nearly kept this pace for the first half of the loop but did feel my energizers slump some at about the 1.25 mile mark. Being slightly disappointed in the slight decrease in speed I was determined to try retain this slighly slower pace as far as I could. Was able to keep this pace up until about the last .5 miles were the energizers dropped slightly again. I finished the 3.2 miles in 24 min 33 sec. That ended up averaging a 7min 40sec mile. Just wanted to see what I could do as the weather was quite nice this evening at a temp of about 70 F. May be slightly sore tomorrow but too early to tell. Ended up walking about 1 mile after the run for a cool down.
Wife saw the first ruby throated humming bird at our feeder today. Guess the little fellers are migrating north as the weather is warmer and plants are begining to bloom nicely.
Wife saw the first ruby throated humming bird at our feeder today. Guess the little fellers are migrating north as the weather is warmer and plants are begining to bloom nicely.
Having a great week so far, Sunday ran a PB in my half marathon for IBRD at 1:47:54, had to represent the barefooting crew.
Me and the crew prior to the start of the WPS Half Marathon. I almost convinced them to take their shoes off, so close.
Me coming into finish the half off, to the oohs and awes of numerous spectators at the finish line I passed a dozen startled shoad runners as I sprinted in.
Monday was another 7 miles
Tuesday was a cool 6 miles for my birthday
Today was a awesome 16.00 mile treadmill run including a 2.87 mile clip at a 6:04 pace. I was flying.
Me and the crew prior to the start of the WPS Half Marathon. I almost convinced them to take their shoes off, so close.
Me coming into finish the half off, to the oohs and awes of numerous spectators at the finish line I passed a dozen startled shoad runners as I sprinted in.
Monday was another 7 miles
Tuesday was a cool 6 miles for my birthday
Today was a awesome 16.00 mile treadmill run including a 2.87 mile clip at a 6:04 pace. I was flying.
Wednesday afternoon
"Middle" ST workout
Sleep deprivation is starting to build up, and I struggled to stay awake most of the afternoon, but I got in a going-through-the-motions strength training workout nonetheless, and achieved a medium-grade pump. Seems like this week is going to be a consolidating-the-gains sort of week, but I could still have a strong finish and be able to push things a bit. Will probably head down to the jhs track later for today's run and see if my body's up for either a tempo run or one-mile cruise intervals. My sole sensitivity seems to be mostly passed now, and the feet are getting itchy for a little abrading abuse.
(Are those dogs the woman's trainers?)
It's one of the mobility exercises I do at the end of my "Bottom" ST day, all with ankle weights. The others are:
Standing
Leg Swings, Hip Ab-/adduction,
On the floor
Leg lifts: Side & Supine
Iron Cross
Donkey Kicks (with variations)
Dirty Dog/Fire Hydrant
For your hammies/glutes, you could also try deadlifts. I swear by them.
"Middle" ST workout
Sleep deprivation is starting to build up, and I struggled to stay awake most of the afternoon, but I got in a going-through-the-motions strength training workout nonetheless, and achieved a medium-grade pump. Seems like this week is going to be a consolidating-the-gains sort of week, but I could still have a strong finish and be able to push things a bit. Will probably head down to the jhs track later for today's run and see if my body's up for either a tempo run or one-mile cruise intervals. My sole sensitivity seems to be mostly passed now, and the feet are getting itchy for a little abrading abuse.
That's the way I feel Carey. The faster I run, the better my form feels, and since about two or three months ago I've been able to transpose that feeling to slower paces, although on my last LSD run I felt plodding again, mostly, I think, because my soles were sensitive and so I was landing with too much forefoot.
Jen, there's a mobility exercise/dynamic stretch that's actually called 'the fire hydrant' or, alternatively, 'the dirty dog.'
It's one of the mobility exercises I do at the end of my "Bottom" ST day, all with ankle weights. The others are:
Standing
Leg Swings, Hip Ab-/adduction,
On the floor
Leg lifts: Side & Supine
Iron Cross
Donkey Kicks (with variations)
Dirty Dog/Fire Hydrant
For your hammies/glutes, you could also try deadlifts. I swear by them.
Bare Lee; See you and others mention a tempo run occasionally and with me being fairly new to running was just wondering what is a tempo run? Is it when you are listening to some tunes and running to the beat of the music? 
Just kidding on that one! Really what exactly is a tempo run?
Just kidding on that one! Really what exactly is a tempo run?
I just learned about this stuff last year. Before that I just ran a constant pace with no variation. Now, based on what I've read (and my reading has been pretty superficial, but the basics seem about the same for every author/trainer/researcher), there are three kinds of runs.Bare Lee; See you and others mention a tempo run occasionally and with me being fairly new to running was just wondering what is a tempo run? Is it when you are listening to some tunes and running to the beat of the music?
1.) You can run at an aerobic pace, which translates as a endurance or LSD (Long Slow Distance) run, or a 'recovery' run, or an easy run;
2.) You can run at or around your lactate threshold, which translates as a stamina or 'tempo' run. This should feel like you're pushing the pace a bit, but still able to sustain it for 50-60 percent of your LSD run's distance. So, for example, if I can run 9-10 miles at an aerobic pace, I should be able to run 4-6 miles at threshold pace. I find that my tempo pace is about 1 minute per mile faster than my endurance pace. My goal for this year is to be able to run 8mm pace at threshold for about an hour. That's slow for a lot of people, but would be pretty good for me. If I can do that, then my aerobic pace will probably come down to about 9mm, which is about the point at which my form really starts to feel good. So it would be nice to be able to run at that pace on my long runs.
3.) You can run below your lactate threshold, or anaerobically, which means at some point your legs will tell you to stop or slow down in order to get rid of the lactate that's building up (I think). This is what happens when your run intervals or hills or sprints or (edit) fartleks.
There are ways to measure the physiological changes associated with these different kinds of effort level, but I just go by feel. Also, aerobic and anaerobic are relative terms. Even walking is somewhat anaerobic I think, and only an all-out sprint of 100 meters or less is purely anaerobic.
Most trainers seem to agree that one should incorporate all three kinds of runs into one's weekly, monthly, or seasonal schedule, although opinions vary widely about the timing and ratios. Maffetone advocates will run many months at an aerobic or sub-aerobic pace. The Kenyans run up to 35-40 percent of the time at threshold pace. As I understand it, the trend among the elite distance runners is to emulate the Kenyans more, so folks like Ryan Hall are cutting down on volume a bit and running faster more of the time. It's a quality versus quantity issue. But it's important to note that a lot of those high-volume, 100-120 mpw guys do a lot of aerobic running simply because their bodies aren't capable of running faster more than 20-40 percent of the time--they need time to recover. So there's no reason for us lower-volume recreational runners to run long and slow as much of the time as the elites do, since our time running faster paces will still be less, and we have more time to recover.
I aim for about 40-50 percent aerobic, and run the rest at higher effort levels. But if I only run four hours a week, that's only two hours at faster-than-aerobic paces. That's not going to kill me (I hope). So I'm experimenting with running all three kinds of runs--endurance, stamina, power/speed--on my three weekly runs. If that proves too much, I'll try running two aerobic-paced runs per week, and switch between tempo pace and intervals or hills for the other weekly run. I like the variety of running all three types of runs per week, especially since I'm not one of those runners who find easy runs all that easy. When I run long and slow, I seem to feel it in my knees more than when I run faster. Right now my schedule is to run about 5-7 miles of hills on Tuesday, and 5-7 miles of tempo or intervals (440, 880, and one-mile) on Thursdays, and then run 8-10 miles on the weekend. I combine this with a 'bottom' or heavy legs and lower body st workout on Monday, a 'middle' or back st workout on Wednesday, and then a 'top' or chest and shoulders st workout on Friday, before the weekend long run, so that my legs are relatively fresh. It seems like a good schedule, but I've only been able to implement it fully for a couple of weeks now, so only time will tell.
I recommend
Hutchinson, Alex, 2011 "Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights?: Fitness Myths, Training Truths, and Other Surprising Discoveries from the Science of Exercise."
Also, check out McMillan's site:
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/page/21
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/articlePages/page/8
Note he further divides the third kind of run into speed and sprint.
Bare Lee; See you and others mention a tempo run occasionally and with me being fairly new to running was just wondering what is a tempo run? Is it when you are listening to some tunes and running to the beat of the music?
The shorter version.
Slow run...a pace where you can talk comforable and can mantain the pace for the duaration of the run.
Tempo run...a pace where you could still talk but in chopped up sentences as in you rather don't talk but still be able to maitain the pace for the duration of the run.
Farlek...speed play which basically means that when running at your comfortable pace you pick up the pace like sprinting for very short distances here and there during your run.
Speed intervals...well you know what those are.
NickW
Guest
Good well defined breakdown Lee. I also hurt more and have more problems at the slower speeds (my slower speeds that is). My run on Monday was a slow run and it really hurt my calves for a couple days afterwards. Yesterdays hilly run really broke my legs free from the tightness and pain that came from the slow run earlier in the week. Not sure why exactly, but it is much harder for me to run slow than when I run at my normal pace or a fast pace. Seems to really make my muscles burn a lot more. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I really have to think and force myself to stay slow and I can't just fully relax and get into the groove because it is too slow (Maf pace).
Yah, in your case, if you're consciously trying to run slower than normal, your form could get off. Even when I run my normal, unselfconscious easy pace, I know my form isn't as good, which probably explains why it's more taxing on my joints, tendons, and ligaments. When one runs faster, one's running economy is forced to improve, which translates into better form. When I run tempo or intervals, I usually only feel muscle soreness afterwards--my joints are fine. I'm halfway tempted to eliminate my aerobic-paced runs altogether, but I'm worried about over-training. Plus, as McMillan explains in those links I posted, each type of running brings unique benefits and contributes to one's overall running fitness. For the time being, I'm sticking with the plan of improving my paces in all three kinds of running, counting on their synergy, on the assumption that once my aerobic pace drops a bit more, my post-LSD soreness will diminish or be eliminated.
My regular 5 mile run to work, at my regular pace - I guess the 5 stitches in my toe aren't going to impede my pace over the next week till they come out!
NickW
Guest
Not gonna have enough time for a run this morning, my son slept in so now I've got to hurry up and get him fed and ready for the day as my wife will be here in an hour and a half or so to pick me up to take me for the oral surgery to remove the remainder of that tooth. ugh!
A couple of short runs this week. While at hotel this week I made a point of walking up 16 flights of stairs at least once every day. Yesterday my youngest daughter joined me for her first barefoot run. Usually she runs in vff's but had forgot them at home. We had short run from hotel to track where she would run 1 lap walk till I caught up to her again and then run another lap. she wound up running about 1.5 miles in total. She was in total wonder as to the feeling she was experiencing with her feet. Things like, "dad, when you run on the white line it feels smoother and cooler on your feet" also "dad, the grass feels damp, and the pavement is tickling my feet". It is likes she discovered a whole new world.
That's so fun. Yes, S2G is different!A couple of short runs this week. While at hotel this week I made a point of walking up 16 flights of stairs at least once every day. Yesterday my youngest daughter joined me for her first barefoot run. Usually she runs in vff's but had forgot them at home. We had short run from hotel to track where she would run 1 lap walk till I caught up to her again and then run another lap. she wound up running about 1.5 miles in total. She was in total wonder as to the feeling she was experiencing with her feet. Things like, "dad, when you run on the white line it feels smoother and cooler on your feet" also "dad, the grass feels damp, and the pavement is tickling my feet". It is likes she discovered a whole new world.
So, wasn't able to do any exercise yesterday other than walking up and down parking garage stairways and through down town a bit to p/u tax documents. bleh. Was a day of intense emotions for other reasons which I am not free to elaborate on now, but suffice to say that my run today was cathartic, but I did NOT hurt myself. Refreshing combination. Hubby suggested I run 4-6 miles pretty fast. I ran 4. Here's the breakdown:
7:50
8:11 (included crossing one street with a flag and slight wait for traffic)
8:24 (included crossing same street twice, only a minimal slow down first time, but had to wait a few seconds the second time)
7:57
I ran all barefoot, through a greenbelt where there is some rough pavement, so I am proud of that effort, too.
Now for hours of yard work on this nice sunny day. Will be making a concerted effort not to hurt myself during that either. Maybe singing will help.
7:50
8:11 (included crossing one street with a flag and slight wait for traffic)
8:24 (included crossing same street twice, only a minimal slow down first time, but had to wait a few seconds the second time)
7:57
I ran all barefoot, through a greenbelt where there is some rough pavement, so I am proud of that effort, too.
Now for hours of yard work on this nice sunny day. Will be making a concerted effort not to hurt myself during that either. Maybe singing will help.
Roughly 9km (6 mi) this afternoon. Down to the river and back. Really enjoying the 2-3 steady clubs up and over some bridges en route. Just shy of home got a vicious little twitch in my right lower calf which put a stop to it. A lovely plate of falafel and hummus helped me get over that.
Listened to music today and realise I really don't like doing that anymore. Was happy with how well I could judge my MAF pace but less happy with my form. I think I should just cap my weekday runs at 45 minutes.
Listened to music today and realise I really don't like doing that anymore. Was happy with how well I could judge my MAF pace but less happy with my form. I think I should just cap my weekday runs at 45 minutes.
Snuck out of work to run 3 miles at a residential area in Richardson Texas. There is some spicy asphalt streets that keep my form in line. Just beat the rain (not that I mind running in the rain, just hard to change clothes). Another great run. I signed up for the wounded warrior 1/2. I can't wait!
