recovery run

Just 20 minutes jogging today, and some walking later on--I'm pretty stiff, surprise, surprise. But at least it's because I actually had a decent workout yesterday.

Tues/Wed

Tues: easy 35 min run. Stiff and sluggish, but ok. I've noticed that sometimes it's as if a switch is flipped after about 20 minutes: the stiffness stays but it becomes more comfortable somehow. I coasted a bit after that, but tried to keep it short.

Wed: I rejoined run club! 6X 3min tempo, 1.5 min recovery. I jogged all the recovery periods, average speed 11:30-12:00/mile, lol, but that's ok. I still get the triggers for the arrythmia sometimes when starting or stopping quickly; these are impossible to remove and not such a big deal but still kind of annoying. It's better for me to continue to jog than walk or stop. The tempo portions were consistent until the last one: 7:44-7:50 mile. The last one was 8:03/mile--I was definitely getting tired. Not counting that one, I'm pleased with the consistency. The pace was slow but I was expecting that. These days, I'm slower than I used to be. At least the effort was honest and I didn't wilt too badly. Total: 6.91 miles.

This workout is a big boost to my confidence: I can do speedwork, and I can manage being with the group. Helped that we were doing timed intervals around a loop, lol...I was running alone, but that was fine. I didn't feel too out of shape.

Perhaps the real test will be how I feel tomorrow!

Ironically, run club is going into an easy month--this is good. I can work on tempo run endurance on my own.

uh-oh

I was mistaken, only 17 more weeks to go.

My run today turned out ok. I got up early and set out with my husband, left him after a mile and a half or so (he was going to work) and continued with the dog. Dawn was breaking then and though it wasn't the most spectacular showing, it was definitely above average. There were very few people out; we had the scene to ourselves. After another mile or so, I decided that, yeah, maybe I could go a little faster, so I did a 15 min 'tempo' effort. I hesitate to claim the pace as tempo but, unless my dog has gotten considerably faster, the fact that he was able to keep up without breaking into another gait shows that I've gotten slower. I'd stopped taking him on tempo runs because it wasn't a comfortable pace for him, but now it is! Ah, well. I'm amazed that I could hold it for fifteen minutes. The last time I tried a tempo run, it was about three weeks ago: I went for ten minutes and my heart felt a little raw afterwards. This time it was fine. My legs were a bit sore, but the novelty and excitement of running fast(er) was compensation enough.

I'd thought I ran for about 75 minutes. But I think it might have been closer to 65...I checked when we left the house, but we walked for a bit and I forgot to check at the beginning of the run. Actually, I think I checked when we were about to leave, and then we had to put on shoes, get the dog ready, etc, etc, etc....LOL

We also ran a bit on those semi-derelict roads near the War Museum. I don't know why I like running through places that look abandoned! the thrill? Am I tapping into some exploration urge? It's weird, I get so worked up when I see someone inching onto the wrong side of the path, but neglect a road for a few decades, leave a bunch of rusting fencing/barbed wire/vehicles/who knows what strewn all over the place, and I'll blithely pick my way around that. Maybe I have some sort of post-apocalyptic gene waiting to be activated. The area around LeBreton flats isn't as junked up as other areas I've run through, but it's still deserted and strangely attractive. I also like seeing the fields (lawns?) gone to seed. Anything abandoned. And, yeah, I've got a somewhat mean-looking dog with me, but I went through stuff like that alone, before I got him. I don't know why running in this sort of terrain feeds my soul, but it does.

Resolution #546: post-recovery drink. I took an iron pill too, but the drink is something that I concocted and consumed for the first time this weekend: milk, whey powder, and molasses. It tastes surprisingly good. And it's pretty cheap; I got the whey powder from a bulk bin at a health food store. It's just whey powder, not a fancy mix with added flavours and sugar or whatever, so I was trying to dress it up with vanilla, almond extract, etc...molasses works far better. And it has some iron in it too.

Resolution #547: whole wheat. Yeah, man...I also realized today that maybe I'm feeling a bit better because somehow I'm not hitting the mini-wheats anymore. Once again, I've drifted off them. I think it happened before the weekend. How hard is it to pour a bowl and eat it? Well, a few times, it's been tough: I pour a bowl, lose my appetite, and then come the next morning, I see that there's plenty of fruit around and I eat that instead because I totally forget about the mini-wheats. A few days later, I feel better, and then remember. It's temporary, very selective amnesia. This is a good time to confess that this applies to my new food log too. Another confession: if I dump a bunch of fruit on top of the mini-wheats, that makes it a whole lot better. I have to hide them. It's not a taste thing, it's a visual thing. I think looking at them stresses me out. It's at times like this that I remember that I was a very picky eater as a child. LOL

Back to the food log--I see that I inadvertantly quit the mini-wheats on Thurs. I've been eating wheat in other things, so that's not so bad.

Maybe I don't need to eat whole wheat every day. The tests are still a long way off; I was told to eat wheat, but I don't think my NP is expecting me to royally trash myself over it. I'll eat a bowl today and have an easier run tomorrow, and then lay off the stuff tomorrow in prep for a harder run on Wednesday. I'll see if that works. At the very least, I have to stick to the hard-easy principle. My last three runs have been 5-6-6.5ish miles. 25 min is just not fun! I can't get anywhere interesting with that.

Well, I've proscrastinated enough. Back to chemistry.

Another blah run

I jogged around for an hour. It was sunny and the temperature was nice and crisp with just the right amount of breeze. Wonderful running conditions, but I couldn't make good use of it because my legs were leaden and sore as usual. I got pretty down about this because I wanted to go further, I miss going further, and especially I miss coasting further. I miss those runs where I soak in the atmos and environment that it feels like I'm fully integrated, or hollow, or a collection of atoms moving through another collection of atoms, and then an hour or so later I come out of the daze and realize that I've been running for an hour, just existing. I can't coast like that anymore, I pay for each step.

So, man, I got into the dumps about this a bit and then mulled over the Winterman. Yeah, that's still under my skin. I decided on two new resolutions: I will resume taking iron supplements, and I will allow myself a wheat-free week before the Winterman. Heck, maybe even two weeks. And then I'll gorge myself on whole wheat and wreak renewed havoc (assuming that wheat is the culprit--at this point, after umpteen years of tests and trials, it seems to be, but I'm still bracing for some totally random variable to claim the damages). The prospect of a wheat free week is very encouraging. Remember that time when, oh, starting run actually felt like it was the start of the run, and not the end? Remember what that was like? LOL

So I registered for the full. Nineteen-ish weeks to go.

a goal

Yesterday, I jogged for 25 min. Maybe I failed, though--not at jogging for 25 min, which was what I'd expected to do, but by doing the proper workout. I felt ok throughout, just the usual general stiffness/inflammation, but around 18-19 minutes, I felt a different twinge. For the past month or so, ever since I got off the restriction diet, I've had little twinges crop up around my knees, rarely the same one two days in a row, but mostly around my right knee. I think it's fatigue affecting alignment. Same thing like that old ITBS (old=gone=knock wood!) So I felt this twinge and decided to shake it out a bit, and I did, but then I kept going. Maybe that was a sign: that was the last thing that needed doing and then I should have stopped. My reason for cutting back my easy runs is to go by what my body wants, not by numbers, but I still seem to be stuck on numbers. Part of the problem is wanting to get back quickly, or at least not spending an extra ten minutes walking home. Maybe I need to run around the block so that I can stop exactly when I need to. LOL

There's one woman who used to run on a particular short stretch by the Canal over and over again. Now maybe I understand that better.

Anyway, yesterday, I decided to see how long a particular loop is--I'd run it many times, but not from my new house. I went down the Canal to the river, over one bridge and then back over another--well, there are more than two bridges to choose from, but the ones I chose were the ones closest to downtown: "The Bridges". A popular lunchtime running route for office workers. Usually it's about 5K. I'm a bit further off, plus going to the Canal and then the bike path by the river and then back to the Canal is a bit of a detour, so it was nearly 5 miles for me. I think I would like to run this route often because it's got considerable inclines and, though I won't be able to hit the river bike trails during winter, I can go on the sidewalks above, and all of it is plowed regularly. It would be a great route to run everyday; until I'm there, I think I can manage two times a week. And, when that becomes easy, I can extend to a farther bridge, or do the loop twic, or make it an out and back....there are possibilities.

I still haven't ditched the possibility of doing the Winterman full, sad to say, and running the bridges a lot last winter was excellent preparation for it. sometimes I ended up doing six bridges, just popping over, going down to the next one, popping back over, etc, etc....admittedly this was usually when I was late to run club and was going about hoping to catch them. LOL

Today, I'm not sure what I'll do. It'll depend on how I feel. An hour would be nice.

A new tack

I've figured out what my problem is, or at least part of it: endorphins.
I didn't run Monday or Tuesday--I was so sore, walking was enough. I did yoga and felt less sore enough to run yesterday. However, I decided to keep it short. I think, I hope it helped loosened me up, but it was still a pretty blah run. Today's run felt marginally better so I went for 25 minutes. And just past 20 min or so, I felt the discomfort melt away, as it sometimes does, though not usually that clearly. I felt like, hey, I could go for longer, see more things--that's a big reason why I run, to see stuff. But I was good and cut it short.

I guess that's been a big part of the problem--I've been trashing myself more than I realize. Most of my runs these past couple of weeks, once I got back into running, have been about 60 minutes. Usually it's no big deal to run that everyday, what with the absence of speedwork. And it's very tempting to stretch a run out when it suddenly gets better after twenty minutes of discomfort. What's the point of doing just the warm up and not the run afterwards which feels better? Unfortunately, I don't have a full tank of gas, and I sailed unaware into debt.

How to get out?

Don't run the same somewhat hilly hr+ route every day! duh!
Go back to the easy-hard principle, even though 'hard' is 'easy'.
Scrap any hopes of training for anything for the time being.

I'd thought about going back on a restriction diet--this wish was renewed when I noticed yesterday that the raw pain was gone and then I realized that the whole wheat mini-wheats I'm trying to eat for breakfast had slipped off the menu sometime before the weekend. I've been eating a bunch of fruits and vegetables, meat and gravy instead. No biggie, except that I'm supposedly going to get tested for gluten intolerance and/or celiac disease, which means I have to consume the stuff so that they can see the damage. I'm raring to get those tests underway because the wheat thing actually makes sense--how is that I can go to Asia and eat raw things and seaweed and hot pepper paste and feel great, and go to Texas and eat beans and hot chilis and so forth and feel great, and then I go to somewhere else where it's bland and bread all the time, and I fall apart? My husband and I pieced it together, and then I talked with my NP and went on that restriction diet and I actually felt normal and it felt so good.

But my consultation isn't until April! Wouldn't I have time to go on and off another restriction diet? Wouldn't that help diagnosis? But perhaps not as much as royally trashing my digestive system--get a good brew of antibodies cooking for several months. I'm crossing my fingers that my appointment will get bumped up, though. Meanwhile, I'm trying to look at the positive side: I'm in a technician certificate course which will end with a 2-week clinical in April, after which I will get a new better job--with new better intestines too, hopefully. That coinciding improvement and the anticipation will make my rebirth all the more satisfying and complete. It'll be a whole new chapter in my life. Perhaps.

Update

reason #38 why I adore the internet:

Seems that whenever I post a pressing concern online, be it on a blog or message board or whatever, it gets resolved quickly. Kind of reminds me of that self-help suggestion of writing down your goals or whatever it is. I used to think that writing things down helped spur subconscious commitment somehow, but maybe it's really just cosmic. The words have to exist in some sort of visual form for the stars to be favourably aligned.

Anyway, shortly after typing my previous entry, I got a letter about my consultation with a GI specialist. I have an appointment. Unfortunately, it's not until April, so I have to decide if I'll take the opportunity to go on another elimination diet/food journal escapade to give myself a bit of a break, or what, but, FORTUNATELY, judging by what Google dug up, this doctor believes in managing conditions through diet and exercise--to what extent, I don't know, but it seems promising. That's the approach I'm hoping for. Not just pills. I've sought medical help for my gut issue in the two other countries I've lived in: my Korean doctor ran some enzyme tests and put me on a better diet which has helped a LOT (I'm no longer dropping 20 or so pounds when things get bad, or falling asleep while standing); my American doctor tried to dismiss me but after some begging and rather graphic descriptions on my part, she gave me pills. To be honest, they were quite effective in removing a rather disgusting symptom but they were no cure.

So maybe the third time's the charm.