I haven't run much since Wednesday. LOL
We went south this past weekend. The nice thing about snow is that it's relatively aloof in some ways, compared to rain. Snow gets on you, maybe melts a bit, and then is easily brushed off. Rain soaks through to your bones, especially that dank obstinate rain hovering around the freezing mark.
There was a fair bit of cold rain this weekend.
Admittedly, I didn't run because I spent too many pretzel hours in the car, but the rain was an added deterrent.
Once again, I find myself pondering the possibility of this winter marathon in Feb. I've done several 2-3hr runs already; all I need is some 3+ hr runs and I could probably complete it. But I feel like I really need to be running more than 2X a week, but it feels uncomfortable and useless. And my dog is not keen on running in this weather. He ran with me a lot during winter last year, but this year he fades more quickly. I still walk with him, and that what my runs have turned into. Maybe after my killer exam in a few days, I'll feel more agreeable to running.
Meanwhile, I'm still doing core work. It actually isn't so bad recovery-wise. I'm trying to continue yoga, too, but just yin and gentle. Stuff that works muscle without too much damage. Too much damage: pain keeps me awake and I get night sweats. One night, I actually had night sweats while I was awake (I couldn't sleep because of soreness). It was the weirdest feeling; it felt like there was a good jolt of adrenaline.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
speedwork! (relatively)
After a couple of days of walking, I figured I was fit enough for speedwork. I had planned to go to run club, but then I took the leftover capon, made broth and then made soup, and then figured that I could have soup after my run two hours earlier AND run in daylight if I went at 4 instead of 6. So I was on my own.
I think I would have been on my own anyway. It was a blizzard out there. I don't think I would have heard the coach's whistle. I barely heard my Garmin beep: I programmed the workout: 3-5 X 4 min fast, 2 min recovery.
I did 4 repeats at about 9:40-10:00/mile. Yes, that was fast. A few inches of snow and strong winds more of it into my eyes bogged me down. But I kept pushing and kept my breathing up and it was strangely satisfying to push against something else other than myself. It seems that my muscles are usually too inflamed to maintain an elevated aerobic effort for long, but with the added resistance of the snow, I somehow got a good workout. It felt comfortable to run in the snow, too. After a while, of course, I got tired of sliding sideways, but I was expecting it to be a lot harder.
Looking at my log, I see that in January, I was doing 800M at about 2 min/mile faster in blizzard like conditions (mysteriously, blizzards happened quite a few time on run club day), but that was on the Hill with some/most of it plowed. The club usually does speedwork there because it's one of the first--if not the first--to get plowed, and they keep the plows going there. Today, I was totally 100% on unplowed stuff.
I'm definitely feeling more optimistic about training. It'll be a very good sign if I don't feel too beat up tomorrow.
I'm still not at the point of running every day, and that might not happen for a while. I've resumed core work and yoga after last week's illness/break.
I think I would have been on my own anyway. It was a blizzard out there. I don't think I would have heard the coach's whistle. I barely heard my Garmin beep: I programmed the workout: 3-5 X 4 min fast, 2 min recovery.
I did 4 repeats at about 9:40-10:00/mile. Yes, that was fast. A few inches of snow and strong winds more of it into my eyes bogged me down. But I kept pushing and kept my breathing up and it was strangely satisfying to push against something else other than myself. It seems that my muscles are usually too inflamed to maintain an elevated aerobic effort for long, but with the added resistance of the snow, I somehow got a good workout. It felt comfortable to run in the snow, too. After a while, of course, I got tired of sliding sideways, but I was expecting it to be a lot harder.
Looking at my log, I see that in January, I was doing 800M at about 2 min/mile faster in blizzard like conditions (mysteriously, blizzards happened quite a few time on run club day), but that was on the Hill with some/most of it plowed. The club usually does speedwork there because it's one of the first--if not the first--to get plowed, and they keep the plows going there. Today, I was totally 100% on unplowed stuff.
I'm definitely feeling more optimistic about training. It'll be a very good sign if I don't feel too beat up tomorrow.
I'm still not at the point of running every day, and that might not happen for a while. I've resumed core work and yoga after last week's illness/break.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
a good start to a rough week
Well, turns out that I had indeed pushed myself too far. I went to the clinic on Tuesday and was prescribed antibiotics. So, I got more inflamed, more sleepless at night, etc, etc...I tried running on Friday but after ten minutes, it seemed pointless to continue to be miserable.
Saturday afternoon/eating was mostly dedicated to eating: cheeses and crackers and duck rillettes, fig and goat cheese appetizers, capon, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, bread pudding, chocolate cake, ice cream, plus candy at the movie theatre and a bag of chips in the evening. I'd lost some weight plus my appetite, but fortunately both returned. Actually, I'm still heavier than normal these days, but there are right ways and wrong ways to lose (and gain) weight, and my critical eye drifts towards cellulite rather than numbers when it comes down to aesthetics. I've been heavier and more toned before--I'd prefer that!
At any rate, after downing 30000000 calories, I felt like less of a wimp this morning. Jogged for 2 hrs stiffly but comfortably enough. Just 11.2ish miles, but that's about normal these days and part of it was on trail.
So, once again, I'm feeling optimistic.
Saturday afternoon/eating was mostly dedicated to eating: cheeses and crackers and duck rillettes, fig and goat cheese appetizers, capon, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, bread pudding, chocolate cake, ice cream, plus candy at the movie theatre and a bag of chips in the evening. I'd lost some weight plus my appetite, but fortunately both returned. Actually, I'm still heavier than normal these days, but there are right ways and wrong ways to lose (and gain) weight, and my critical eye drifts towards cellulite rather than numbers when it comes down to aesthetics. I've been heavier and more toned before--I'd prefer that!
At any rate, after downing 30000000 calories, I felt like less of a wimp this morning. Jogged for 2 hrs stiffly but comfortably enough. Just 11.2ish miles, but that's about normal these days and part of it was on trail.
So, once again, I'm feeling optimistic.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Long run
I didn't run Thurs-Saturday because it was American Thanksgiving and we were either eating, sleeping, or in the car (over 24 hrs total for that--yikes). The break was good, though.
Yesterday, Sunday, Gaz and I decided to do the run together. Fortunately she was accepting of my slower pace and we had a good run. Near the end, we stopped for expresso and I also went to the juice bar. My drink of choice was 'Pumping Iron': beets, carrots, ginger, and something else. It sounds a bit vile but goes down surprisingly smoothly mid-run, although I think I'll have to stress the 'not too much ginger' next time.
After about 1:48 for me, not including the 1/2 mile or so it took me to remember to restart my Garmin (Gaz had already racked up a couple of miles or so before joining me) we walked the rest of the way back to the start and parted. I jogged home, got there at 1:59:xx, had a quick glass of milk, and then set out. My goal was to do at least 2:30, and hopefully 2:45.
I went out until about 2:22 and turned back. There was construction on the path so I couldn't do 2:23 or whatever to be on the safe side.
Around 2:30 I was revisited by gut problems and I couldn't tell the extent of the damage, if any, because I was pretty sweaty. Fortunately, this resulted in a good shot of adrenaline and so my last mile was the fastest despite the internal turmoil. I made it home in 2:43. (Later on, I remembered the half mile unrecorded by Garmin so figured that I probably ran 2:49...that was a nice realization).
I got home and found nothing amiss, thank goodness, until the effects of the beet juice hit the porcelain. I'd momentarily forgot about drinking that, and wouldn't have guessed that it would take less than 1.5 hrs for the stuff to make it through my system anyway, so there was a few seconds of unease. LOL.
I'm glad I got that run in, but it did take a lot out of me and perhaps I should have stuck to 2:30. I didn't feel so good the rest of the day. In general, increasing these long runs feels like I'm starting from scratch, except that I feel pretty much the same throughout the runs. I get a bit more tired, but it's not as dramatic as the first time I started increasing long runs a few years ago. Since my muscles are constantly inflamed and/or depleted of glycogen, there isn't the same accumulation of fatigue during the run. I pay more afterward, but things are pretty level during.
Anyway, in 2:43, I covered 15.5 miles--so I guess I did 16 total. I would like to get to 18 by the end of Dec, which seems really possible.
Yesterday, Sunday, Gaz and I decided to do the run together. Fortunately she was accepting of my slower pace and we had a good run. Near the end, we stopped for expresso and I also went to the juice bar. My drink of choice was 'Pumping Iron': beets, carrots, ginger, and something else. It sounds a bit vile but goes down surprisingly smoothly mid-run, although I think I'll have to stress the 'not too much ginger' next time.
After about 1:48 for me, not including the 1/2 mile or so it took me to remember to restart my Garmin (Gaz had already racked up a couple of miles or so before joining me) we walked the rest of the way back to the start and parted. I jogged home, got there at 1:59:xx, had a quick glass of milk, and then set out. My goal was to do at least 2:30, and hopefully 2:45.
I went out until about 2:22 and turned back. There was construction on the path so I couldn't do 2:23 or whatever to be on the safe side.
Around 2:30 I was revisited by gut problems and I couldn't tell the extent of the damage, if any, because I was pretty sweaty. Fortunately, this resulted in a good shot of adrenaline and so my last mile was the fastest despite the internal turmoil. I made it home in 2:43. (Later on, I remembered the half mile unrecorded by Garmin so figured that I probably ran 2:49...that was a nice realization).
I got home and found nothing amiss, thank goodness, until the effects of the beet juice hit the porcelain. I'd momentarily forgot about drinking that, and wouldn't have guessed that it would take less than 1.5 hrs for the stuff to make it through my system anyway, so there was a few seconds of unease. LOL.
I'm glad I got that run in, but it did take a lot out of me and perhaps I should have stuck to 2:30. I didn't feel so good the rest of the day. In general, increasing these long runs feels like I'm starting from scratch, except that I feel pretty much the same throughout the runs. I get a bit more tired, but it's not as dramatic as the first time I started increasing long runs a few years ago. Since my muscles are constantly inflamed and/or depleted of glycogen, there isn't the same accumulation of fatigue during the run. I pay more afterward, but things are pretty level during.
Anyway, in 2:43, I covered 15.5 miles--so I guess I did 16 total. I would like to get to 18 by the end of Dec, which seems really possible.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
no long run
It was a stiff/sore/iffy gut morning so I didn't feel up to the challenge.
But I stiff felt like trying a run, so I decided to more accurately measure the new loop I'd tried recently. No detours! I tried, at least.
At first I was moving ok, just under 10:00/mile, and then things sort of seized up as they usually do and I started to get even slower....but this time, with the Garmin, I put my foot down. No. It used to be that 9:00/mile was easy, and I've gotten used to 10:00/mile, but enough with 10:30ish--11:00/mile! Yeah, that's where my easy pace is now, and I can usually accept that, but it doesn't really work for me biomechanically somehow and I have been getting bored of it.
So I pushed myself. It was disconcerting to feel how much effort 10:00ish/mile took, and it sort of hurt, like pushing through the wall does (which is pretty much where all my running is these days), but I kept it up and then after about 4.5 miles, I had a three mile stretch of bike path back home so I decided to do a tempo run. Just 15 min of tempo effort, see where I am.
Well! My tempo pace was pretty poor, 8:30-8:40/mile, and I decided to go for ten minutes instead because I was diverted off the bike path by construction--I got back on it, but crossing the street twice and the added hill (the path by the Canal is flat, but across the street is a hill, go figure) sort of blew my concentration. But ten min is still better than five. Maybe next week I can try for 15, or 2X 10 min, or whatever. Or the week after that.
I'm plenty sore now, but during my cool down jog, I realized that I also felt really good. I have been missing the endorphins and the smoothness of running faster.
No stairs today, I'd had enough. I'd considered sprints but then realized that I'd actually done them yesterday all in one go. I'd meant to do this as a separate post, but here goes:
I had to take a two-bus trip to a hospital for a field trip, part of the training program I'm in. The first bus was one of the nice ones that come every 5 minutes or so, the second was not. I don't know the Ottawa bus master plan by heart, but usually a bus comes every 5 minutes, or 30 or more...there aren't too many of an intermediate frequency (in my limited experience). Of course, this meant that when I got to the transit station, the other bus was arriving just as mine was, but on the opposite side of the road, which has a fence in the middle. If I waited for the next one, I would be late and then I'd have to hunt down my class meandering through the bowels of some hospital I'd never been to before.
So I ran, and I saw the second bus pulling towards its stop, and adrenaline kicked in and I got a good lift, and I was sprinting.
I love sprinting. I'm more of a fast-twitch person anyway. Why I signed up for yet another marathon is pure obstinacy. Unfortunately, my muscle recovery is so poor that I have cut out sprinting and replaced them with stairs, but yesterday I had no choice. But it was so simple, so elemental. I had no timer. It didn't matter. All I had to do was catch that bus. Because it wasn't a class day, I had no books to carry--I was unencumbered. I could keep my back straight and balanced, smash down with each step and bounce off, floating---when I move like this, it seems like I'm a foot taller, so little time gets spent on the ground. I got to the end of the barrier and saw the bus at the stop--no, I couldn't catch it, but there were other people still boarding it, so I lifted off again, and I got there. It was freakish. Everybody was moving so slowly. I was barely breathing hard when I got to the bus. I think I went about 200-250 metres. I have no idea how long it took. Probably a good thing but it is in the back of my head that, wow, what if I'd busted 30 seconds for 200M? This is a longtime always out of reach goal. I never did sprinting events per se, but whenever I had 200 repeats on my own, I'd try to smash the very last repeat and try to get under 30 seconds. Never happened! always 31 or 32. Someday, someday....
I probably was a lot slower yesterday, anyway. But maybe not. The other remarkable thing was that I didn't hurt. It was hard, sure, but it was such a serious hit of neurotransmitters that I was without discomfort for once, for the first time since my last good run in August, so I could totally throw down. man, I sure enjoyed whacking so much weight into the ground and tearing up a good chunk of muscle fibers. I miss that! I really do! As sore as my body is nowadays, it's a wimpy sort of soreness. It's degenerative, not progressive. I miss working harder.
OF course, this is maybe why the long run today didn't happen, but it was worth it.
But I stiff felt like trying a run, so I decided to more accurately measure the new loop I'd tried recently. No detours! I tried, at least.
At first I was moving ok, just under 10:00/mile, and then things sort of seized up as they usually do and I started to get even slower....but this time, with the Garmin, I put my foot down. No. It used to be that 9:00/mile was easy, and I've gotten used to 10:00/mile, but enough with 10:30ish--11:00/mile! Yeah, that's where my easy pace is now, and I can usually accept that, but it doesn't really work for me biomechanically somehow and I have been getting bored of it.
So I pushed myself. It was disconcerting to feel how much effort 10:00ish/mile took, and it sort of hurt, like pushing through the wall does (which is pretty much where all my running is these days), but I kept it up and then after about 4.5 miles, I had a three mile stretch of bike path back home so I decided to do a tempo run. Just 15 min of tempo effort, see where I am.
Well! My tempo pace was pretty poor, 8:30-8:40/mile, and I decided to go for ten minutes instead because I was diverted off the bike path by construction--I got back on it, but crossing the street twice and the added hill (the path by the Canal is flat, but across the street is a hill, go figure) sort of blew my concentration. But ten min is still better than five. Maybe next week I can try for 15, or 2X 10 min, or whatever. Or the week after that.
I'm plenty sore now, but during my cool down jog, I realized that I also felt really good. I have been missing the endorphins and the smoothness of running faster.
No stairs today, I'd had enough. I'd considered sprints but then realized that I'd actually done them yesterday all in one go. I'd meant to do this as a separate post, but here goes:
I had to take a two-bus trip to a hospital for a field trip, part of the training program I'm in. The first bus was one of the nice ones that come every 5 minutes or so, the second was not. I don't know the Ottawa bus master plan by heart, but usually a bus comes every 5 minutes, or 30 or more...there aren't too many of an intermediate frequency (in my limited experience). Of course, this meant that when I got to the transit station, the other bus was arriving just as mine was, but on the opposite side of the road, which has a fence in the middle. If I waited for the next one, I would be late and then I'd have to hunt down my class meandering through the bowels of some hospital I'd never been to before.
So I ran, and I saw the second bus pulling towards its stop, and adrenaline kicked in and I got a good lift, and I was sprinting.
I love sprinting. I'm more of a fast-twitch person anyway. Why I signed up for yet another marathon is pure obstinacy. Unfortunately, my muscle recovery is so poor that I have cut out sprinting and replaced them with stairs, but yesterday I had no choice. But it was so simple, so elemental. I had no timer. It didn't matter. All I had to do was catch that bus. Because it wasn't a class day, I had no books to carry--I was unencumbered. I could keep my back straight and balanced, smash down with each step and bounce off, floating---when I move like this, it seems like I'm a foot taller, so little time gets spent on the ground. I got to the end of the barrier and saw the bus at the stop--no, I couldn't catch it, but there were other people still boarding it, so I lifted off again, and I got there. It was freakish. Everybody was moving so slowly. I was barely breathing hard when I got to the bus. I think I went about 200-250 metres. I have no idea how long it took. Probably a good thing but it is in the back of my head that, wow, what if I'd busted 30 seconds for 200M? This is a longtime always out of reach goal. I never did sprinting events per se, but whenever I had 200 repeats on my own, I'd try to smash the very last repeat and try to get under 30 seconds. Never happened! always 31 or 32. Someday, someday....
I probably was a lot slower yesterday, anyway. But maybe not. The other remarkable thing was that I didn't hurt. It was hard, sure, but it was such a serious hit of neurotransmitters that I was without discomfort for once, for the first time since my last good run in August, so I could totally throw down. man, I sure enjoyed whacking so much weight into the ground and tearing up a good chunk of muscle fibers. I miss that! I really do! As sore as my body is nowadays, it's a wimpy sort of soreness. It's degenerative, not progressive. I miss working harder.
OF course, this is maybe why the long run today didn't happen, but it was worth it.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
stairs
Sat: walking
Sunday: 1.5hrs jogging (with some walking up grassy knolls, lol)
Monday: walking (5ish miles) and stairs)
Tues: walking (5ish miles)
And yoga almost every day, admittedly only 20-30 min, but that's a start.
I'm still being strict about not eating 2-3 hrs before bed, and I am sleeping better and am a bit less stiff and sore. When I started my run on Sunday, it almost felt like I hadn't already been running for eons. lol. That near-fresh feeling lasted only about a mile, but it was promising. It was almost like old times.
It was a fun run too, a new route which turned out better than I'd thought it would. Because I was trying to see how long it was, of course I had to take a detour and muck up the mileage count.
I did 4 stair repeats yesterday. I may or may not do them tomorrow--I'm hoping to do a longer run. Will see how I feel and what I can get done. I will be alone, sans dog (he's getting dropped off at the kennel tonight, and we'll leave for the US tomorrow noon-ish), and so I can duck into stores and buy what piques my appetite. It's been a while since I've had a true grazing run and I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to incorporate two stops.
Sunday: 1.5hrs jogging (with some walking up grassy knolls, lol)
Monday: walking (5ish miles) and stairs)
Tues: walking (5ish miles)
And yoga almost every day, admittedly only 20-30 min, but that's a start.
I'm still being strict about not eating 2-3 hrs before bed, and I am sleeping better and am a bit less stiff and sore. When I started my run on Sunday, it almost felt like I hadn't already been running for eons. lol. That near-fresh feeling lasted only about a mile, but it was promising. It was almost like old times.
It was a fun run too, a new route which turned out better than I'd thought it would. Because I was trying to see how long it was, of course I had to take a detour and muck up the mileage count.
I did 4 stair repeats yesterday. I may or may not do them tomorrow--I'm hoping to do a longer run. Will see how I feel and what I can get done. I will be alone, sans dog (he's getting dropped off at the kennel tonight, and we'll leave for the US tomorrow noon-ish), and so I can duck into stores and buy what piques my appetite. It's been a while since I've had a true grazing run and I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to incorporate two stops.
Friday, November 20, 2009
an ok run
Things hurt this morning, but no more than usual. Seems like quitting the trough at least two hours before bed is helpful.
I decided to run today and the aesthetics weren't what I was hoping for. I was expecting to run into the pink of dawn, something like that, but it was drizzly instead. However, I was pleasantly surprised: I was hoping for 30 min at least but it ended up being 60 min. I threw in some faster intervals: I picked up the pace for about a min, and then coasted back, and then picked it up again when my breathing calmed down. I think I did five such intervals. My muscles were sore, but it was good to move a bit faster. Faster being relative: total distance covered was about 5.85 miles. LOL.
Still, I'm feeling more optimistic--more resigned to not running every day, yes, but also more optimistic that the overall quality of my runs will go up.
I decided to run today and the aesthetics weren't what I was hoping for. I was expecting to run into the pink of dawn, something like that, but it was drizzly instead. However, I was pleasantly surprised: I was hoping for 30 min at least but it ended up being 60 min. I threw in some faster intervals: I picked up the pace for about a min, and then coasted back, and then picked it up again when my breathing calmed down. I think I did five such intervals. My muscles were sore, but it was good to move a bit faster. Faster being relative: total distance covered was about 5.85 miles. LOL.
Still, I'm feeling more optimistic--more resigned to not running every day, yes, but also more optimistic that the overall quality of my runs will go up.
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