60 minutes on the spinning bike, and kneading a 4 loaf batch of bread, but a relatively quiet day other than that. I think I needed to slow down a little today.
Tuesday afternoon
7.46 mi / 12 km
Como Lake out-n-back
Didn't have to pick up the kids so I decided to do an out-n-back to Como Lake. Hadn't done one of those in a long while. It went well. My legs were a little stiff from yesterday's 'bottom' st workout, but not that bad, and I ran a comfortable aerobic pace of 9:40 mm overall, with lots of variation in effort. It was perfect running weather, in the 60s, cool after a day of rain. A very satisfying run, with a nice tame variety of surface textures, from cement, to smooth asphalt, to mild chipseal, to mild debris.
7.46 mi / 12 km
Como Lake out-n-back
Didn't have to pick up the kids so I decided to do an out-n-back to Como Lake. Hadn't done one of those in a long while. It went well. My legs were a little stiff from yesterday's 'bottom' st workout, but not that bad, and I ran a comfortable aerobic pace of 9:40 mm overall, with lots of variation in effort. It was perfect running weather, in the 60s, cool after a day of rain. A very satisfying run, with a nice tame variety of surface textures, from cement, to smooth asphalt, to mild chipseal, to mild debris.
Your slowing down is my speeding up! You seem like a blur of activity most days.
Yeah, my husband says I have 2 speeds: fast and sleeping
Your running surfaces sound very similar to mine BUT we had lots of debris due to super heavy winds the prvious two nights and there's more of the same coming today. Oh my route has bricks also
.Nice mileage BTW.
Ok, I just need to ask you this because you seem to have lots of "free" time. Do you work outside of the house? and by that I don't mean gardening-there! whew!
Yah, mild chipseal and the sandy gravel/gravelly sand of the nearby junior high school track are about the most aggressive surfaces around here. Although I did discover a mile-long stretch of good gravel recently, and there's always the railroad track rocks a block away if I ever get that hardcore. But mostly I like these pedestrian surfaces, so to speak. No bricks unfortunately.Your running surfaces sound very similar to mine BUT we had lots of debris due to super heavy winds the prvious two nights and there's more of the same coming today. Oh my route has bricks also
Nice mileage BTW.
We have a lot of tree debris from the recent storms too, and still have some debris from winter plowing, even on sidewalks. I think small debris like asphalt sprinkles on sidewalks can sometimes be worse than more abrasive surfaces, don't you think? And I rarely get through a run without stepping on one or two rocks, but I kinda like just powering through that crap. This year I'm especially excited about building up my sole conditioning more on the jhs track and working on pace a bit more down there too. If I could consistently run 8mm pace, I'd be in heaven. I know that's slow for a lot of folks, but in my mind, I'd be flying. My pace continues to come down gradually, so it might be possible. Then if I could run 8mm pace on gravel, I'd be in heaven.
As for mileage, I guess my runs seem to naturally settle in the 6-8 mile range, basically around an hour or so. It doesn't take that much effort to work up to that range, and running much less than an hour doesn't feel satisfying anymore. But getting much beyond 90 minutes hasn't been easy so far. That's OK though. I've always felt ambivalent about high mileage, and now with my wife prohibiting me from running in August's half, I've kinda let go of the goal of running much more than 10-11 miles at a time, for the time being. It's a lot of time away from work and fam, and I'm not sure that my heavier build is meant to run much farther anyway--it's lot of pounding on the knees. My ideal schedule would be 6-8 miles on my two weekday runs, and 8-12 miles on my weekend run. I'm close to that now.
NickW
Guest
2.35 miles barefoot in a torrential downpour doing hills. Man was this a great run. I slightly altered my route and got rid of the easier hill at the end and added a bigger hill instead. Averaged a 12:43 pace while pushing the stroller so I am pretty ok with that. I love how smooth my soles get after running in the rain. Not sure exactly why they get polished more smoothly when it's wet out. Also did some ST of shoulders and biceps. Watched some motivating running videos this morning of the warrior dash that I am signed up for in September and then also of a spartan race that some wounded veterans had raced in Virginia. Even missing limbs these guys were able to do it. Inspirational if you ask me. Makes me wonder why I'm complaining about my peroneal tendon problem.
Agreed, running on winter's small debris leftover is more uncomfortable than gravel if you ask me. Your ideal schedule sounds very reasonable to me and a good one. One question though why there will be pounding on the knees?
I feel really bad about this but I think I am going to bail out of the half with Dutchie(where the hell is he anyways?) I am not sure if I'll be up tp the distance by then since I just started to come back to running-will see.
Amen!
Awesome run btw
this morning: 10 mi bike ride, wet pavement but no rain. air redolent of lilacs and other blooms. at home, a few sit ups.
lunch: about an hour, maybe a little less, in the pool, tried to keep it easy on my arms since yesterday's effort.
tonight: take kids to swim club. while they are doing laps, it's pouring rain, so i doubt i'll run around the hs track again. oh well.
lunch: about an hour, maybe a little less, in the pool, tried to keep it easy on my arms since yesterday's effort.
tonight: take kids to swim club. while they are doing laps, it's pouring rain, so i doubt i'll run around the hs track again. oh well.
Wednesday afternoon
Middle ST workout
Good Pump. I think I’ve finally figured out the technique for barbell hip thrusts. And I’m loving how back extensions on the (in)stability ball segue into pikes with the suspension straps.
Sometimes after a longer run my MCL feels a little sore. It’s getting better (last night I felt it a bit but today next to nothing), and had been gone completely until I kneeled in a meditation pose several months ago. So it might just be a matter of adaptation, but I’ve learned to take these kinds of niggles seriously.
I have several friends now who’ve already had knee-replacement surgery (OK, that was from skiing and football, not running) and my older brother has hammie and shoulder issues, and so doesn’t run much anymore, so I’m trying to be very gradual and cautious about this, especially after last fall’s spat of minor injuries.
I count myself lucky that I’ve made it this far intact and don’t want to blow it! Running between an hour and an hour and a half three times a week is already great, I don’t want to get greedy. Of course, when the MCL or knee soreness is gone completely, I might try boosting the distance some more, especially if I can do it at a reasonable pace. It would also help to get rid of the lingering belly fat too--that’s about 20 pounds right there of extra stress on the knees.
Middle ST workout
Good Pump. I think I’ve finally figured out the technique for barbell hip thrusts. And I’m loving how back extensions on the (in)stability ball segue into pikes with the suspension straps.
Well, (1) running involves a lot of repetitive stress, especially if you run on even terrain like us urban runners do. And (2) I think middle-aged runners have a harder time with that and need more recovery time. Throw on top of that (3) the fact that I weigh 50-60 pounds more than a typical serious runner my height, and I’m a bit wary about putting too much stress on the old knees. Plus (4) the farther I run, the slower the pace, which also seems to be harder on the knees.
Sometimes after a longer run my MCL feels a little sore. It’s getting better (last night I felt it a bit but today next to nothing), and had been gone completely until I kneeled in a meditation pose several months ago. So it might just be a matter of adaptation, but I’ve learned to take these kinds of niggles seriously.
I have several friends now who’ve already had knee-replacement surgery (OK, that was from skiing and football, not running) and my older brother has hammie and shoulder issues, and so doesn’t run much anymore, so I’m trying to be very gradual and cautious about this, especially after last fall’s spat of minor injuries.
I count myself lucky that I’ve made it this far intact and don’t want to blow it! Running between an hour and an hour and a half three times a week is already great, I don’t want to get greedy. Of course, when the MCL or knee soreness is gone completely, I might try boosting the distance some more, especially if I can do it at a reasonable pace. It would also help to get rid of the lingering belly fat too--that’s about 20 pounds right there of extra stress on the knees.
6.3 miles barefoot. Legs felt pretty good today.
Wednesday - 5.3km in shoes, lacking motivation and felt generally flat after a fast-ish start.
Today - 5.6km barefoot. Started out in semi-dark with just the occasional street light, and I discovered that you really can't tell the difference between a gnarly gravel driveway and a more friendly surface until your foot hits it in the dark. Made myself laugh a couple of times.
My biggest problem (don't scoff at me, snow-runners) was the cold. Winter is approaching down here. It's probably only 8 degrees C (or 45 F - I think), but I seem to have reached the tipping point where it is starting to feel 'cold' to my feet. My first case of numb toes for the year, and running first thing in the morning means that the wet grass is a little frostier than the air, and wet enough to make my feet a little softer. Today was also the first day I've had any sort of problems with my soles - I went pretty close to a blister today, on the ball of the foot near the base of the big toe.
What's that? I'm moaning? OK, more upbeat. I'm sure my soles will be better for it, and I'll just have to harden up, temperature-wise. I'm assuming resistance to cold is something that can be improved withtorture practice?
Now, the positive bit. I've been alternating between short BF runs and longer shod runs since the start of the year, and this week I finally reached the point where my BF run was longer than the previous shod run. That felt good.
Today - 5.6km barefoot. Started out in semi-dark with just the occasional street light, and I discovered that you really can't tell the difference between a gnarly gravel driveway and a more friendly surface until your foot hits it in the dark. Made myself laugh a couple of times.
My biggest problem (don't scoff at me, snow-runners) was the cold. Winter is approaching down here. It's probably only 8 degrees C (or 45 F - I think), but I seem to have reached the tipping point where it is starting to feel 'cold' to my feet. My first case of numb toes for the year, and running first thing in the morning means that the wet grass is a little frostier than the air, and wet enough to make my feet a little softer. Today was also the first day I've had any sort of problems with my soles - I went pretty close to a blister today, on the ball of the foot near the base of the big toe.
What's that? I'm moaning? OK, more upbeat. I'm sure my soles will be better for it, and I'll just have to harden up, temperature-wise. I'm assuming resistance to cold is something that can be improved with
Now, the positive bit. I've been alternating between short BF runs and longer shod runs since the start of the year, and this week I finally reached the point where my BF run was longer than the previous shod run. That felt good.
That makes sense now that you put it that way. I do agree though that slow running is harder than running at a faster pace just like walking BF is harder than bfr.
About the niggles, it truly amazes me that your body is able to ID all of the niggles even the very minor ones so is up to ourselves wether we want to push or stop-so I learned to pay very close attention as to what my body is telling me. I rather stop running for a day or two than a week or two and GOD forbid a month or two
Sorry for being absent the last few weeks, between coaching, holidays and out of town work I haven't had to much free time. In the last few weeks must have had 5-6 runs of 3 miles or more (no watch or garmin). While out of town town last week I did 50 minutes on a dreadmill at a slow speed. When I checked my HR after 45 minutes on the hand grips it showed a HR of 85. Makes me wonder about the accuracy of the grips, but when I checked my pulse manually it was pretty close to the same rate. Makes me wonder if I do have a MAF pace. But like Dama and Lee I too have noticed that I tend to feel more discomfort at slower paces.
But like Dama and Lee I too have noticed that I tend to feel more discomfort at slower paces.
Ain't that the truth!I rather stop running for a day or two than a week or two and GOD forbid a month or two
Plus, the tiredness after a tempo run feels better than the tiredness after a long run. I don't know how to describe it, but I think I prefer stamina fatigue over endurance fatigue, although the latter has its pleasures as well. Yesterday I did a few of the cable exercises at slightly lower weight, but faster and more reps, to work my stamina a bit more at the expense of strength. I like the variation. I may start alternating higher rep/lower weight with higher weight/lower rep more often.
But speaking of niggles, man, yesterday I really overdid the angle on my suspension strap overhead back extensions.
Don't know if I agree with you that bfw is harder than bfr, but it does develop the heel callus more, that's for sure.
@Dutchie, Good to hear from you!
Edit: OK, I think I do know how to describe the difference: after a tempo run it's my muscles that feel tired; after an endurance run, it's my joints.
Wow Lee those overhead back extensions will put me in the hospital for sure, my bad back won't be able to take it they look tough.
I was referring to power walking not normal walking being more dificult than running.
My therapist told me yesterday to mixed the routine as much and as frequently as possible to keep your brain fooled so that it won't get too comfortable.
I was referring to power walking not normal walking being more dificult than running.
My therapist told me yesterday to mixed the routine as much and as frequently as possible to keep your brain fooled so that it won't get too comfortable.
NickW
Guest
Yah, I'm surprised by how sore my left shoulder is, but the fact that it's only one side leads me to believe that it might've been that exercise plus sleeping on one side too much, with my arm under my pillow. I dunno. I also tend not to do strength training exercises that seem unnatural, outside of the planes of normal body movement and function, and those overhead back extensions don't really have a natural correlate. Still, I'll keep doing them for a few weeks and see how they feel. I would like to have well-developed shoulders--seems like the best way to prevent more niggling in that area.
OH, I've never tried power walking, although I guess I used to be a fast hiker . . .
But yeah, spice is the variety of food, er, something like that. I really like mixing up run types, and mixing up running with strength training. Keep the body guessing. Now if I just had time for some real sports . . .
Yah, definitely not for bad backs, but the nice thing about suspension straps is that you can adjust the angle, so you could try them with very little resistance to begin with (yesterday I was doing them close to the last angle in the video). If you work into it, it may be preventative of further injury. That's what I've found with my shoulder and knees. I took over a year before I was really pushing things with my left shoulder, but it feels pretty good now with heavier weights on the presses and power cleans. I'm still taking it easy on the squats though. I'm going to give those a good six months or a year before I really start pushing it. But in the long run, I think it will be good for my knees.
