Well, as a would-be linguist, I love subcategorization and tree charts.Lee,
After giving your post more thought I have determined you are just a RUNNER ;-) No need to label yourself anything else
Well, as a would-be linguist, I love subcategorization and tree charts.Lee,
After giving your post more thought I have determined you are just a RUNNER ;-) No need to label yourself anything else
It's hard to say Sid, because I'm not sure someone my age would improve much faster by pushing it. My attempt at 10 miles was simply premature. I'm sure I'll get there in a month or two, maybe longer, but I want to do it comfortably, without strain. It might have just been an off-day, as you suggest, because the week prior I ran 8 miles at 10mm pace without any strain at all. But with a more gradualist approach, it won't have been an issue. If I stay in the 6-to-8-mile range until it's absolutely comfortably, and I can maintain a 9-10 pace with some effort but no real strain, then even if I have a bad day, it probably won't hit until the end of the run, where walking home isn't a problem. Yesterday the strain hit just after the midpoint of the run, when I was farthest out, so I either had to wake up my wife and have her and the kids come out to rescue me, walk something like five miles, or tough it out and run it, risking minor injury for no real benefit and with the potential to ruin my running for the next week or two (thankfully I feel OK today, but the top of left foot near the ankle is a little achy--I'll probably take an extra day of rest tomorrow and do 4-5 miles of hills on Saturday).
Where I think recreational running and more performance-oriented running, elite or not, differ, is in trying to squeeze out that last 10-30 percent of one's potential. With my approach, I'll never realize that last bit of potential, because it involves real sacrifice, training plans, pushing through when your legs tell you to stop, and so on. I still think one day I'll be able to run 20 miles once or twice a month, it's just going to take a while to get there.
Yah, staying healthy is my number one concern. I just passed through a year of three nagging injuries, and I've never had anything like that before in my life. In the past I may have pulled muscle here and there, but nothing that took months to go away. I don't ever want to repeat that experience. I'm fine with some ups and downs in terms of feeling tired, or having heavy legs, but yesterday I felt real strain on the outside of my left knee, and I began to think of all those reports of runner's injuries, the Latinate medical terms and initialisms I've never bothered understanding, like ITBS, and wondered if I was doing something really stupid with short-to-medium consequences. It's just not worth it, because all I want to do is recreate. If a run prejudices that ability, then it's pointless.
This is how I've been the last year. I've never really had much for injuries prior to... I really think the 4+ years of me dealing with my back and surgeries really made me weak. Hoping I will come out of it though. Hope you do to. I think you have the right approach and I hope I do now...Yah, staying healthy is my number one concern. I just passed through a year of three nagging injuries, and I've never had anything like that before in my life. In the past I may have pulled muscle here and there, but nothing that took months to go away.
Yah, I dunno. I still can't figure it out, could be in-group variances, but I think you're right, that part of it is transitioning, but also, at least for me, part of it might be age. Nonetheless, I did jump from 5 miles to 8 miles within two weeks without any problem, and ran the 8 with a semi-decent (for me, at this point) 10mm pace. But my weekly mileage has increased at least 50% in that time too, so I do think it might be a case of over-training. Nonetheless-also, my knee felt fine yesterday, although the front of my left ankle definitely has a little twinge to it. But it doesn't feel like the metatarsal stuff I went through, which was new to me since starting barefoot running again. It feels more like a slight tweak like I used to get in hs football. So I'm not too worried about it. Overall, I felt great after the run--didn't take me too much time to recover at all--and I got a really pleasurable post-run tingle in my soles.I also wonder, increasing the length of my runs by only a little bit when bare or minshod seems to be a way bigger deal than back when I was wearing heavily cushioned shoes. It seemed then I was just worried about joints and aerobic feelings. Now, after increasing distance by what seems reasonable to me (2 extra miles on the long run since last week), it's like a whole new adventure for my body.
I wonder if even that need to be extremely gradual has more to do with continuing transition issues than anything (like age. please say it's not age), even several months or even a year into this.
Getting up to 15 miles per week within a few months is impressive, but getting up to 15 miles per run within just a few months, shod or bare, is amazing. Had your friend been doing something else aerobic beforehand? That really would be too effortless otherwise, and merits some seething I'm agreeing. I know when I came back from traveling by bicycle (about eight hours a day over close to two years), I went out and ran 5-7 miles rather effortlessly a week or two later. That was when I was 33. I kick myself for not having kept at it back then. I wonder what kind of runner I'd be now ...On that note, a shod friend of mine who runs only about 15 miles/wk and who just started running this spring recently pulled out a 15 miler at 9min pace (previous maximum run of I'm guessing 6 miles) and was 'tired' the next morning, but had no other issues and went for a run. Shall we seethe together at those who find it just too too effortless????
Yah, your back is the foundation/platform for everything you do, so that's probably been the source of your problems. We're kind of been living parallel barefoot running lives over the last year or so. Let's hope this stage we're in now continues going well.This is how I've been the last year. I've never really had much for injuries prior to... I really think the 4+ years of me dealing with my back and surgeries really made me weak. Hoping I will come out of it though. Hope you do to. I think you have the right approach and I hope I do now...
It's become my barefoot moby dick.
Thanks Rick! I guess now that I have contracted some form of runner's knee I could consider myself just a runner. But I kind of like the adjectives and noun compounding in 'recreational runner' or 'barefoot runner,' although in the past I have resisted them. I guess I kind of like 'owning' the label recreational runner because it's kind of a put-down among competitive runners. And I really like the idea of someday being able to recreationally run 20 miles, just for fun, not as part of any particular training goal.Great post Lee. I wouldn't label yourself as a recreational runner. I don't believe in adding an adjective to "runner". It just makes it so confusing and often interferes with your goals. A runner is a runner is a runner.
Interesting recap on where you are in your running right now. More people on here should do that. Adds kind of a personal aspect. I know about the blog section on here, been thinking about adding something to mine. I think is is a blank page right now, but some people might be interested in how a lower mileage injured runner gets to the marathon level.
Yes, me for one.some people might be interested in how a lower mileage injured runner gets to the marathon level.
Me 2I think is is a blank page right now, but some people might be interested in how a lower mileage injured runner gets to the marathon level.
Oh how I yearn for a good 90-to-120-minute run at a decent pace.
Only made it a mile and half on this morning's run before the left knee started acting up. I ran another mile then walked home. Just as well I guess. I tried a new route, one that goes down to the Mississippi. I've been wanting to try it for a while, but have doubted it's feasibility, because you have to go through a light industrial area and over a freeway to get there. Lots of stops and starts and twists and turns and a higher potential for sharp/pointy objects along the way. Not very pleasant. Oh well. I'll take a rest and focus on weights and rowing for two days and see how it feels on Monday. Very frustrating. Running had really been going well and then I overdid it again. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Oh how I yearn for a good 90-to-120-minute run at a decent pace.
That's great Nick! Perhaps I've erred in my ways the last few weeks by reducing my hills and speedwork to next-to-nothing while focusing on increasing my distance at slower paces. I'm ignoring my own stay-free-of-injury plan. Don't do the same. Keep doing what you're doing, because it's working!Well I shocked myself this morning BL. Ran 5.5 miles at a 10:10 avg pace! Working on getting to a decent pace and all these hills I'm running are paying off! Felt good and strong today too which was good cause yesterday I struggled to keep a 10:49 pace just over a 1.65 miles. That shows me diet really plays a big factor in running too, not just for losing weight.
I like the deep zen-zones that longer runs stimulate, the sense of having gone on a little journey, or several, in the midst of my weekly routine, and getting out in the elements for a more extended period. Of course, on a treadmill even five minutes is unbearable.Don't worry....90-120 minute runs are boring anyways ;-)
I like the deep zen-zones that longer runs stimulate, the sense of having gone on a little journey, or several, in the midst of my weekly routine, and getting out in the elements for a more extended period. Of course, on a treadmill even five minutes is unbearable.
Thanks for the words of encouragement B&A. Just gotta learn to be more patient, and obey my own plan. But I keep letting past accomplishments cloud my view of present abilities.Keep persevering and once you are able to get to those runs you will enjoy them even more