FIT:
Originally went to do a base run on the EHS trail, but they blocked off key parts of it! I think it'll be open again for XC season, b/c that's their course, but nooo! So I managed to finish a mile by jumping a fence (this time w/o cutting up my hamstring) and then decided to drive to downtown after all. I had wanted to change up the course to keep my body on its toes, and to take advantage of a closer driving distance. Ah well.
I ended up stopping by TJX to get some dark chocolate before heading downtown. It threatened to rain, but it just barely drizzed a couple of times. OH yes, the purpose of this run was to test out a lot of my planned gear for the CM half. I wore the 4-pocket shorts, soccer sox w/ a good fit, no visor (feared wind resistance, but I'm still considering it, because the sun blocking would be good, and in the case of rain, it would be very good), shades, pton nike bra, 1224's w/ arches (b/c they're lighter and they've been working pretty well), cell phone in the back shorts pocket (ended up bouncing a lot, maybe not worth it to bring, especially if I can accurately predict when I'll be at photo op points where my dad will be), Gu in rt shorts pocket (was good, had 1/2 of it a/b 40 min in - very digestable, delicious, but makes your mouth dry, and all 3 water fountains I tried did not work!!! what's up, city?), race number belt (haha, no number on it, nothing on it... just wanted to make sure chafing wouldn't be an issue), and iPod (won't wear race day b/c there'll be many bands... may wear earplugs, though). Oh yeah... I may want to lubricate my upper arms... chafing... not noticeable during the run, but it burns a little post-run. Can't hurt, I think. If anything, it'll reduce friction/required energy for arm movements. 58 degrees, maybe 7 degrees cooler than expected race day weather.
Splits> 9:05 1-mi trail warmup then drive and shopping break, 8:15 b, 5:56 p, 7:22 c, 7:24 p, 6:04 b, 7:26 p, 7:28 c, 7:39 p (on the phone part of the time, explains slowness), 6:16 b, 8:57 c. So 1:21:58 including warmup, 1:12:53 without. Only about 15-30s slower than the past 2 times. Part of the reason: the long bike session 2 days ago. Caught up on sleep this morning (6 + 6 hours, with doing dishes and watching some tv and internet in between from about 1:30-5am). But I think an important takeaway here... don't do a taxing warmup on race-day, because just having the energy to finish 13.1 will be difficult. Usually, there's a warmup effect where my first mile is slow, but I think my knees (and probably my energy stores/endurance) are too fragile to afford a warmup.
My old iPod shuffle headphones got pretty frayed recently - still working the last time I checked, but I replaced them, just in case. My dad brought me 3 cheap headhpones from home... and they proved to be cheap. After only 3 runs (vs. who knows how many w/ the old iPod ones), the wire snapped right off. So while with some products, cheaper versions work just as well, with others, it's worth is to pay a little more to get a durable product. Any recommendations? Skullcandy seems popular and high-end. Maybe I'll go with those.
Ave pace for the 8.6 - 8:28/mi.
About 1/2way through the run, I had to massage out some small pain in my outer rt knee. Strange that that part hurts, since only a couple days ago, the insides of my knees were burning. Anyway, the massage seems to helped - I've had to do it in the past 2 LR's on mixed surfaces, about halfway through the 8.6 milers. It was probably a minute of massaging. Hopefully, I won't need to stop during the race to do it, but if I do, no biggie... doesn't take too long, and it seems to work.
My right leg is more aligned now - no nagging hamstring/ankle/knee pain - just the bit of outer knee pain, which still exists and kind of got worse post-run. Eh, we'll see.
Had protein shake postrun - tastes kind of nasty. It's funny... I instinctively say "that's gross" after drinking it most times. Haha. I think it does me good, though, and it fills me up.
I had considered doing another 2 mi to finish the double loop, but my knees were too iffy, and I had already surpassed my 2010 LR record with the added (albeit not connected) 1 mi warmup. And I may be playing ulty tomorrow - need to save something for it. If there is no ulty, I think I'll just do a strength session.
I started eating chips again the past two days. While delicious, though, kind of makes me feel blah afterwards... may be a good thing. Stick to whole foods.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mar 11
FIT:
1:40 on a recumbent bike. 24.0 mi, 800 Cal - 2.0 mi and 50 Cal more than last time. A nice, low-impact way to build up endurance. 5-mi splits> 21:49, 21:09, 20:48, 20:10 - sweet! My rt butt will probably have a big knot in it soon. My medial knees were a bit burny pre-bike, but they seem ok now. Had a/b 1/4 of a pack of Jelly Belly SportBeans spread over the 1:40 and a bit of water at the halfway point (from a fountain, so not much). I sweat soooooo much. Also, I realized that the recumbent bike doesn't work your flexors very much - it felt like a lot of exertion to lift them when walking afterwards... maybe that's more from a range of motion thing, or a lack of force going any direction but outwards. Eh, no matter.
Yesterday, the Step CD. Today, my quads and calves looked bigger - probably some inflammation, not necessarily increased muscle. Calves have been sore, probably from 2 forefoot-focused runs recently.
1:40 on a recumbent bike. 24.0 mi, 800 Cal - 2.0 mi and 50 Cal more than last time. A nice, low-impact way to build up endurance. 5-mi splits> 21:49, 21:09, 20:48, 20:10 - sweet! My rt butt will probably have a big knot in it soon. My medial knees were a bit burny pre-bike, but they seem ok now. Had a/b 1/4 of a pack of Jelly Belly SportBeans spread over the 1:40 and a bit of water at the halfway point (from a fountain, so not much). I sweat soooooo much. Also, I realized that the recumbent bike doesn't work your flexors very much - it felt like a lot of exertion to lift them when walking afterwards... maybe that's more from a range of motion thing, or a lack of force going any direction but outwards. Eh, no matter.
Yesterday, the Step CD. Today, my quads and calves looked bigger - probably some inflammation, not necessarily increased muscle. Calves have been sore, probably from 2 forefoot-focused runs recently.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Mar 9
FIT:
3.1 in 22:54, 7:23 ave. Treadmill @ 1 degree. Post a night of 1 hr sleep, then 3 hr nap later. Needed energy release from mental drain/fuzziness. Wore 8's w/ arches, light shoes. Rt hamstring still off, but better than the worst parts of yesterday. Splits> 7:26, 7:24, 7:21, 0:41. Felt good. Stretched pre (quads sore from yesterday, IT loose, though), ice bath post. Rt ankle has trouble/lack of strength in stepping. Butt probably got re-injured when I was moving heavy stuff on stairs 2 days ago. Nooooooo... not as bad this time... I can walk ok, gait's thrown off even walking but it's not a crippling pain. I hope it's nothing serious and that it'll just fix itself.
Oh yeah... that silliness from the last post about being excited about the prospects of an all-nighter... how soon we forget. I thought I could re-live the adrenaline rush of college days, but I forgot that it's not very comfortable. By the next day, I could tell my immune system was down, and trying to think when your head is fuzzy is hard. Work is slow. And you have to do everything you can to wake yourself up after a short nap.
3.1 in 22:54, 7:23 ave. Treadmill @ 1 degree. Post a night of 1 hr sleep, then 3 hr nap later. Needed energy release from mental drain/fuzziness. Wore 8's w/ arches, light shoes. Rt hamstring still off, but better than the worst parts of yesterday. Splits> 7:26, 7:24, 7:21, 0:41. Felt good. Stretched pre (quads sore from yesterday, IT loose, though), ice bath post. Rt ankle has trouble/lack of strength in stepping. Butt probably got re-injured when I was moving heavy stuff on stairs 2 days ago. Nooooooo... not as bad this time... I can walk ok, gait's thrown off even walking but it's not a crippling pain. I hope it's nothing serious and that it'll just fix itself.
Oh yeah... that silliness from the last post about being excited about the prospects of an all-nighter... how soon we forget. I thought I could re-live the adrenaline rush of college days, but I forgot that it's not very comfortable. By the next day, I could tell my immune system was down, and trying to think when your head is fuzzy is hard. Work is slow. And you have to do everything you can to wake yourself up after a short nap.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Mar 8
FIT:
A funny feeling, when you just did a decent workout but you hardly feel any effects of it. I think my heart's getting stronger - maybe it was the sprinting from the ulty game. 8mi in 1:04:27, 8:03 ave. Splits> 8:18, 8:13, 8:12, 8:11, 8:12, 8:07, 8:02, 7:08. All at 1 degree!
I started going, right after a meal of 1/2 an orange, milk, and ww pasta w/ tomato sauce, to hit the gym for some much-needed release of energy (work stress makes you crave it) before the fitness room got crowded and before I bunkered down for a potential all-nighter... or all 3:00amer, which is when I'll need to wake up to work EU hours to conduct a training and testing session.
So I wore new 3's with Stab - had to do some tightening of the laces to make it feel right... still loose, though, and not a perfect fit. In time. Anyway, things started ok. No TV or iPod, but looked at (and even managed to bumpily read) a Runner's World magazine. My rt hamstring was acting up, then rt ankle, rt knee... bearable, though. I focused the whole time on forefoot landings. Ironically, though, pronating and heel striking on the rt foot seemed to ease the pain. Maybe the combo of Stability insoles and 3's overcompensate for my overpronation? I'll try going to Arch insoles next time.
Anyway, hoped to do some high mileage, but with my right leg problems like that, I decided, "best to live to run another day... or maybe bike tomorrow". But at 7.0mi, I decided to ramp it up and maybe get a couple tenths of miles. But going down to 7:15/mi pace felt really easy, and the tenths clicked away. Picked it up a bit at the very end of the mile it lasted. Felt great, and things hurt less at this pace, I guess because of less time touching the ground (although more impact), but it felt good. Cardiovascularly, things were great, too. It felt easy, which is an amazing feeling when you're at your body's usual limit. There was still gas left in the tank at the end, but I didn't want to push my luck.
Good run.
Iced bathed afterwards, although it's so warm now that it felt more like cold shower than ice bath. And I refueld w/ an Acai and Whey drink, a carrot, the other half of the orange, and more pasta. The Whey worked wonders last time. Maybe it was really some other factor other than the whey, but I'll run with what seems to work.
Also, I realized yesterday that I've been neglecting my elastic band exercises. Maybe that's why I had knee issues recently. So I incorporated it into my strength session last night. Hadn't done it in 2 weeks! I gotta be diligent, though. I feel a knot coming on in my butt... gotta work it out.
A funny feeling, when you just did a decent workout but you hardly feel any effects of it. I think my heart's getting stronger - maybe it was the sprinting from the ulty game. 8mi in 1:04:27, 8:03 ave. Splits> 8:18, 8:13, 8:12, 8:11, 8:12, 8:07, 8:02, 7:08. All at 1 degree!
I started going, right after a meal of 1/2 an orange, milk, and ww pasta w/ tomato sauce, to hit the gym for some much-needed release of energy (work stress makes you crave it) before the fitness room got crowded and before I bunkered down for a potential all-nighter... or all 3:00amer, which is when I'll need to wake up to work EU hours to conduct a training and testing session.
So I wore new 3's with Stab - had to do some tightening of the laces to make it feel right... still loose, though, and not a perfect fit. In time. Anyway, things started ok. No TV or iPod, but looked at (and even managed to bumpily read) a Runner's World magazine. My rt hamstring was acting up, then rt ankle, rt knee... bearable, though. I focused the whole time on forefoot landings. Ironically, though, pronating and heel striking on the rt foot seemed to ease the pain. Maybe the combo of Stability insoles and 3's overcompensate for my overpronation? I'll try going to Arch insoles next time.
Anyway, hoped to do some high mileage, but with my right leg problems like that, I decided, "best to live to run another day... or maybe bike tomorrow". But at 7.0mi, I decided to ramp it up and maybe get a couple tenths of miles. But going down to 7:15/mi pace felt really easy, and the tenths clicked away. Picked it up a bit at the very end of the mile it lasted. Felt great, and things hurt less at this pace, I guess because of less time touching the ground (although more impact), but it felt good. Cardiovascularly, things were great, too. It felt easy, which is an amazing feeling when you're at your body's usual limit. There was still gas left in the tank at the end, but I didn't want to push my luck.
Good run.
Iced bathed afterwards, although it's so warm now that it felt more like cold shower than ice bath. And I refueld w/ an Acai and Whey drink, a carrot, the other half of the orange, and more pasta. The Whey worked wonders last time. Maybe it was really some other factor other than the whey, but I'll run with what seems to work.
Also, I realized yesterday that I've been neglecting my elastic band exercises. Maybe that's why I had knee issues recently. So I incorporated it into my strength session last night. Hadn't done it in 2 weeks! I gotta be diligent, though. I feel a knot coming on in my butt... gotta work it out.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Mar 6
FIT:
Swamp Rabbit Trail 8.6 in 1:12:39 (8:27 pace), but there was a walk break in there to get to a public restroom, but after seeing it, I decided that waiting was better. I had eaten a banana and ots of water right before the drive to downtown. At about 45 min in, I finished the last of my Margarita Shot bloks (finally!), a pack I had been working on for forever. And I felt low, so I had half a pack of Jelly Belly sport beans, too. They were really sugary and left your head feeling too sugared up. Got the job done, though, I suppose. And I guess it may be different if you have water with it.
Wore a sports bra, 1224's w/ Stab (I think I prefer the Arches, at least with this shoe), soccer sox (yay compression - I think it really does help), Shadow Pak again. Right before the bathroom break that didn't happen (at about mile 3.5), my knees were getting kind of strained, the attachments on the upper outsides of the knees to the thigh. Massaging it a tiny bit helped me get through the rest ok, though. Didn't feel good enough to attempt the extra 2 that would make the run 2 laps on the trail, but it was good. Hot, though! 57 degrees at noon, which probably rose.
After the run, I had a nice picnic in Falls Park of Mixed Greens w/ Feta, Wasabi Almonds, and Goldfish, with an Orange a bit later. Then, I did 10 steep uphill sprints, although the hill was kind of too short to get your HR up much. Maybe some other time, I'll do more repeats, when there aren't as many ppl at the park.
Tired...
Swamp Rabbit Trail 8.6 in 1:12:39 (8:27 pace), but there was a walk break in there to get to a public restroom, but after seeing it, I decided that waiting was better. I had eaten a banana and ots of water right before the drive to downtown. At about 45 min in, I finished the last of my Margarita Shot bloks (finally!), a pack I had been working on for forever. And I felt low, so I had half a pack of Jelly Belly sport beans, too. They were really sugary and left your head feeling too sugared up. Got the job done, though, I suppose. And I guess it may be different if you have water with it.
Wore a sports bra, 1224's w/ Stab (I think I prefer the Arches, at least with this shoe), soccer sox (yay compression - I think it really does help), Shadow Pak again. Right before the bathroom break that didn't happen (at about mile 3.5), my knees were getting kind of strained, the attachments on the upper outsides of the knees to the thigh. Massaging it a tiny bit helped me get through the rest ok, though. Didn't feel good enough to attempt the extra 2 that would make the run 2 laps on the trail, but it was good. Hot, though! 57 degrees at noon, which probably rose.
After the run, I had a nice picnic in Falls Park of Mixed Greens w/ Feta, Wasabi Almonds, and Goldfish, with an Orange a bit later. Then, I did 10 steep uphill sprints, although the hill was kind of too short to get your HR up much. Maybe some other time, I'll do more repeats, when there aren't as many ppl at the park.
Tired...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Mar 3
FIT:
Was itching for a run yesterday - felt decent enough for it, but I had a nearly 3 hr dinner with coworkers, so I just squeezed in a strength session.
Today, quads were still sore, but besides that, things are mostly ok - still sore, but not really noticeable. Did a 4miler at 1 degree in 30:00 exactly. I went fast b/c someone was waiting for the treadmill. Right knee felt somewhat unstable, but nothing too bad. Muscles feel very hard... don't know what causes it. My guesses: 1) they're stuck in a contracted position, 2) they're full of more blood than usual for good reasons (increased capillarization), 3) they're full of more blood for bad reasons (need for repairs, swelling), 4) they're full of new cells and/or bigger cells, or 5) they're full of fuel.
Ok, just googled it. http://www.active.com/mountainbiking/Articles/It_s_not_about_the_lactic_acid__Why_you_re_still_sore_after_yesterday_s_ride.htm
It's #3. Makes sense - if it's harder to work when they're stiff, there's probably something not good (in the short term) going on. And since it loosens up after a few days of rest or after some light exercise or stretching, it's probably not 2, 4, or 5.
Anyway, wore no soccer sox (I think I still want to wear them in the race), wore 1224's w/ Stab - first time with that combo, but the soreness/stiffness made me not able to really feel out the combo.
Splits> 7:59, 7:43, 7:18, 6:59 - ave 7:30 flat - good for a 1 degree and good considering the stiffness. It was hard holding it for the last 0.5mi. Ice bathed afterwards. Still stiff. Fueled up well post-run. Pre-run, fueled up a lot too - maybe too much even for immediately (minutes) before a run. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Ideally, an LR, but we'll see if my stiff body cooperates and me knee gets a little better.
Was itching for a run yesterday - felt decent enough for it, but I had a nearly 3 hr dinner with coworkers, so I just squeezed in a strength session.
Today, quads were still sore, but besides that, things are mostly ok - still sore, but not really noticeable. Did a 4miler at 1 degree in 30:00 exactly. I went fast b/c someone was waiting for the treadmill. Right knee felt somewhat unstable, but nothing too bad. Muscles feel very hard... don't know what causes it. My guesses: 1) they're stuck in a contracted position, 2) they're full of more blood than usual for good reasons (increased capillarization), 3) they're full of more blood for bad reasons (need for repairs, swelling), 4) they're full of new cells and/or bigger cells, or 5) they're full of fuel.
Ok, just googled it. http://www.active.com/mountainbiking/Articles/It_s_not_about_the_lactic_acid__Why_you_re_still_sore_after_yesterday_s_ride.htm
It's #3. Makes sense - if it's harder to work when they're stiff, there's probably something not good (in the short term) going on. And since it loosens up after a few days of rest or after some light exercise or stretching, it's probably not 2, 4, or 5.
Anyway, wore no soccer sox (I think I still want to wear them in the race), wore 1224's w/ Stab - first time with that combo, but the soreness/stiffness made me not able to really feel out the combo.
Splits> 7:59, 7:43, 7:18, 6:59 - ave 7:30 flat - good for a 1 degree and good considering the stiffness. It was hard holding it for the last 0.5mi. Ice bathed afterwards. Still stiff. Fueled up well post-run. Pre-run, fueled up a lot too - maybe too much even for immediately (minutes) before a run. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Ideally, an LR, but we'll see if my stiff body cooperates and me knee gets a little better.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Highs and Lows
Originally, this was going to be a post on highs, but you know how life goes - roller coaster... hormones... whatever.
High: Pastor C was talking about how wonderful it is to know people who, just by being who they are, make you want to be more loving, more holy, more forgiving - almost made me cry. So true. I'm so freaking lucky to know people like that. And to just think... that they're just shadows of the real thing, I can't comprehend.
Low: Missing a friend, not knowing what's wrong or how to help. I guess God knows and cares even more than I do and can help, and I can pray.
High: Rekindling excitement about learning, especially after you go for a while in real life not using too much of what you slaved away at and didn't necessarily always enjoy at school (the not enjoying part was probably because of having too much to try to cram in and not enough time to do it, or too many competing demands, resulting in some stressful situations). Anyway, finding ways to apply what seems to be obscure is such an awesome feeling. I need to re-learn linear programming for work, and I stumbled upon the old diet problem - the website made LP so cool ( http://www-neos.mcs.anl.gov/CaseStudies/dietpy/WebForms/table.html)! Find the min cost solution that meets constraints for various nutrients, where the solution is some combo of foods you wouldn't mind eating in optimal serving sizes. If you can't stand eating more than eating 3 servings of PB/day, set it as a constraint. If you need at least 2000Cal to fuel your run but less than 2500 for maintenance, set it as a constraint. If you want at least 1500mg Calcium, set it as a constraint. So cool. And the dual variables make sense now - if it's $X for tuna, then if you're willing to increase your bound on tuna by 1 unit, then you can decrease the cost of your daily food by $X.
High: From yesterday, an awesome game of ulty!!! It was so nice playing again, and it was some intense playing, too! Some solid cutting, positioning, and catching out there, even by those who haven't played much or at all before - I was impressed. It was great. So sore today, though. I haven't run like that in forever, sprints and lateral movements and all. I ended up just dragging my feet into position to push the gas pedal or used my arms to lift my legs up because my flexors are so trashed. My arms had to push off the ground a lot after layout attempts, so even they got worked. A close game, too - keeps things exciting. It was fun just hanging out with brothers and sisters and just enjoying the feeling of playing hard and just loving life. Anyway, I am glad to have two days off from running to recover - sweet rest.
Low: Olympics withdrawal, going from having it on whenever I was at home and feeling bad if I had to take nap and miss some, to being stuck once again with generally unappealing tv, save Lost, the Office, and Biggest Loser. What am I going to do now? Sleep, as unfulfilling as it can feel, is probably good.
High: Pastor C was talking about how wonderful it is to know people who, just by being who they are, make you want to be more loving, more holy, more forgiving - almost made me cry. So true. I'm so freaking lucky to know people like that. And to just think... that they're just shadows of the real thing, I can't comprehend.
Low: Missing a friend, not knowing what's wrong or how to help. I guess God knows and cares even more than I do and can help, and I can pray.
High: Rekindling excitement about learning, especially after you go for a while in real life not using too much of what you slaved away at and didn't necessarily always enjoy at school (the not enjoying part was probably because of having too much to try to cram in and not enough time to do it, or too many competing demands, resulting in some stressful situations). Anyway, finding ways to apply what seems to be obscure is such an awesome feeling. I need to re-learn linear programming for work, and I stumbled upon the old diet problem - the website made LP so cool ( http://www-neos.mcs.anl.gov/CaseStudies/dietpy/WebForms/table.html)! Find the min cost solution that meets constraints for various nutrients, where the solution is some combo of foods you wouldn't mind eating in optimal serving sizes. If you can't stand eating more than eating 3 servings of PB/day, set it as a constraint. If you need at least 2000Cal to fuel your run but less than 2500 for maintenance, set it as a constraint. If you want at least 1500mg Calcium, set it as a constraint. So cool. And the dual variables make sense now - if it's $X for tuna, then if you're willing to increase your bound on tuna by 1 unit, then you can decrease the cost of your daily food by $X.
High: From yesterday, an awesome game of ulty!!! It was so nice playing again, and it was some intense playing, too! Some solid cutting, positioning, and catching out there, even by those who haven't played much or at all before - I was impressed. It was great. So sore today, though. I haven't run like that in forever, sprints and lateral movements and all. I ended up just dragging my feet into position to push the gas pedal or used my arms to lift my legs up because my flexors are so trashed. My arms had to push off the ground a lot after layout attempts, so even they got worked. A close game, too - keeps things exciting. It was fun just hanging out with brothers and sisters and just enjoying the feeling of playing hard and just loving life. Anyway, I am glad to have two days off from running to recover - sweet rest.
Low: Olympics withdrawal, going from having it on whenever I was at home and feeling bad if I had to take nap and miss some, to being stuck once again with generally unappealing tv, save Lost, the Office, and Biggest Loser. What am I going to do now? Sleep, as unfulfilling as it can feel, is probably good.
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