Mileage reporting 26th week of 2014

Holy crap scedastic. That would have been a massive scare, hope all's OK. Maybe there's a confidence booster in there - you should tell everybody that the driver was too busy looking at your feet, or at you in general, and ran off the road. :)
 
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Double post, but oh well. I brought my gear into work to do the lunchtime run thing, but all the usual guys pulled out and I was left on my own. I didn't really have any plans for the run, but I started out a little fast because it was cold and after a km or so decided to keep going at a reasonable speed and see what my 5km time looked like. I don't really know how to run a fast time because I rarely do tempo stuff, but I tried to keep a pace where I was aware that I was making an effort, but I wasn't putting myself into the red. I'm not sure if I did that, to be honest, because I was puffing pretty hard by the end. On the bright side, I passed a guy who said "Barefoot eh?", and I knocked a minute or so off my strava 5km PB, so that was fun.

The irony about this is that yesterday I posted on another thread about how I never bother with speed work. I think the honest truth is that I don't really have much control over what my head decides to do once I start running. :)
 
Oh, also got hit by a van. No kidding. Sunday. Car drifted into the ditch on the country road. Leaped out of the way just in time, but my back caught her mirror. She said "don't worry about the mirror." Sigh. Saw my little life flash before my eyes and all that. Another second, and deciding who on earth would raise my kids. Ugh.

Wed: 2 short hikes, in minimal shoes (forgot my sandals), about 3/4 mile bf on gorgeous sidewalk, some gym stuff, weights. Shoulder and back feeling much much better considering, but now fighting off some summer virus my son gave me.

You are reinforcing my more regular choice of running on "greenbelt" paths. "Don't worry about the mirror?!"
 
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8 "easy" barefoot miles on rough pavement in the AM. A little over 2 hours keeping up with 2 year old grandson and his almost 1 year old sister in the afternoon. First time she has been willing to stay alone with me, but wanted to be held the whole time. Of course, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
 
Took a rest day...was feeling a bit beat up from yesterday.

Did about 2 miles of fartlek running, just to get a sweat going and to try out the new shoes.

With my favorite path up the mountain recently churned up by the Bobcats (a kind of mini-bulldozer) and all the sharp rocks, it's not really runable without some kinda shoe...I got bruises all over the soles of both feet from yesterday.

I don't want to stop running while they heal so I decided to go try out some minimalist shoes and see if I could bear wearing them.


I tried out two Merrells: The Vapor Glove and the Trail Glove, and the Bikili Evo five toe shoes, the New Balance Minimus 10v2, and on a wim, the Topo M-ST.

The five toe Bikili's were okay, and the Merrells felt okay, the New Balance were horrible compared to the rest, but the revelation was those Topo's....wow, I can actually wear those...my job is such that I don't have to wear closed toed shoes very often, and I'd say I have only worn shoes of any type for an average of about 4 hours a week over the last two months or so...I kinda adopted a largely barefoot lifestyle, I my feet just can't be in shoes for very long without being very uncomfortable...but those Topo M-ST are like putting your feet into warm butter lol

I'll do a long run in them tomorrow but the bit of running I did in them today tells me that I may be able to run in them a few times a week when my feet get so tired and abused that they keep me from running...

I'll post a review in the gear section.

They are not as good as barefooten, but they are wearable for the harshest surfaces, (which I can't avoid if I wanna keep going up my mountain a few times a week.) And they are good for days when I want to run but need to rest my feet.

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Cars scare me a lot, especially these days of too many freaking drivers trying to drive and use a cellphone at the same time. Except for a rare few, human beings can't actually multi-task, and the really scary thing is that often people who believe that they can multi-task are the worst at it. It's a recipe for disaster, and there needs to be a lot more education of the public not to use cellphones while driving and I think much more draconian punishment for violators. Make people realize that it's as reprehensible as driving drunk.

9.3 miles this morning drenched and basted in sweat, lots of it. 6.1 of them were done barefoot. Yesterday's recovery pace served me really well, I'm really developing respect for the concept of recovery pace runs. They aren't speed-builders, but they build cardio fitness and let the legs recover so you can do more running and every now and then do some hard running to help build speed.

Now to have some breakfast, get cleaned up and hope that the United States draws Germany or beats them.
 
4 early, early miles this morning, 3:30 am and still night out. I was not surprised by debris big enough to require a cuss, but my brave dog just lifted a eyebrow this morning as if to say have fun out there and he stayed in his bed. He does not want to run in the dark anymore. A few years ago I had a few incidents of cars playing chicken with me me while I was running on the side of the road and had my shouler brushed a few times with a mirror. I found up adjusting my running routes to stay away from those raods and luckily enough it has not happened again On a side note, not even 2 months after that a runner was hit and critically hurt by a vehicle doing the same thing. Scary, glad to hear you are alright Sced.
 
I am about to stoop to the same level of "non-mileage/mileage reporting" as Mikey. Yesterday I did some personal writing for THREE hours straight! That burned a crapload of calories, I can assure you.

Seriously, I have been sticking with a lot of yoga and floor exercises, interspersed with bout of weights primarily for my upper body. My hips are REALLY straightening out, and staying straight more and more. From what I can tell, the key exercises for my hips are the "side-ups" and cat/cow. The key exercises for my PF are negative calf raises, regular calf raises, and this weird side to side thing I do with my feet, and backwards walking (which was recommended by Dr. Splichal. I am almost going 3 whole days without ANY PF flare-up. Once that goes away and stays away, that will be my indicator that my hips are staying where they should be, more often than not, and I can then feel free to start running again.
 
4.5 miles at work on a nature trail I use to run a while back very nice.
77 deg f. 79 %rh.
 
Haven't posted this week, but it does not mean I did not run ! ;)

Wednesday I had a slow 11.3km/6.8mi, not sure why, but this time it was slow and my HR was abnormally high. Probably one of these days...

Today I went for a bit longer 12.2km/7.6mi, and wanted to work on hills, so I went close to Coogee beach where they have a 300m (a bit less than 1/4mi) steep (about 20% incline) stairway, and I did it twice...Oh boy my HR went up the roof ! Funnily second time was easier than first time

Next week I'll try this 3 times !
 
5 miles around the neighborhood...ran shod in the new Topo's, partly to try them out, but also to give the soles of my feet a rest for a few days, I've been fairly abusive to them them for the last 10 days or so.

The shoes worked out okay, and rather surprisingly did not engender bad running form as every other shoe that I have tried to run in has.

I ran the first 3 miles at a slow and easy 11:30-ish mm pace...but the fourth mile I gave it a proper go and surprised myself with a an 8:09 4th mile split...the last mile I did around 11:09 mm pace.


Its a marked improvement, a bit over two months ago I was running "slow and easy" pace at around 13:30 mm...so I'm about two minutes a mile faster now.

My wife is out of town with her family, so I don't have anyone to throw me an odd look for funny behavior lol...so I also got in about 30 minutes of dancing around the house in my underwear like no one was watching to that Maroon 5 song: "Moves Like Jagger".

Haha...great aerobic fun lol




I need a proper rest though, the legs and core muscles have taken it on the chin lately between the mountain trail runs and some long runs and today.

I hate to miss running even for one day though, so its hard to take a day off with no running at all.

I think tomorrow I'll just do some Pilates or something.






What a fun song :)
 
Early this morning a very slow 2 miles at a MAF pace. I was able to do the whole 2 miles with nose breathing, that's a first for me and that's how I knew that was what was considered a MAF pace. Did not even work up a sweat even with the humidity. This afternoon it will be a 4 mille walk or so chasing a little white ball all over a golf course, and keeping hydryated with barley infused liquids. ;)
 
Haven't checked in for a while. Good to see everyone doing so well!

Been getting back to it for the last several weeks now that my left toe met is pretty much OK.

Basically, I've fallen back into my Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday running schedule, interspersed with strength-training on Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Both are going well.

For running, on Tuesday and Thursday I run between 8-9mm pace (no Garmin, that's just an estimate). When I can't take it anymore, I walk, and then hit it again for however long I can. After a few weeks of struggle, my running fitness is starting to come back quickly now. Next week I'll work in some hills, sprints and maybe some tire pulling, using a harness, an old tire, and some dumbbells inside the tire. On Saturday or Sunday, I do my 'long' run, which is still pretty short. I'm running it more like tempo pace, waiting for my aerobic capacity to catch up. Once it does, I'll start adding mileage. On the non-running days, I still do my easy pace, one-mile run-commutes on the days I don't have to drop off the kids. Not sure if one mile is enough to help build aerobic capacity, but I'm pretty sure it helps keep my legs loose and may help with recovery. It's also a good warm-up right before ST.

Basically, I've adopted a Kenyan, or what I may be misunderstanding as a Kenyan, 'fast first' protocol, taking advantage of my time off to try to rebuild myself as a faster runner. This corresponds to a renewed emphasis on heavy weight/low rep strength training. The basic idea in both approaches is to develop strength before endurance. We'll see how it goes, but I know people like BRS's own ultramiler Zapmamak have had success with it, and it feels like it could be the right approach for me. Nick and I first talked about this about two years ago. Time to put my money where my mouth is.

So, for ST, I've been focusing on the big lifts--Deadlifts and Squats. I never before appreciated how much these 'lower-body' lifts are really full-body movements. Monday is Deadlift day, with Rows and Pullups following. Wednesday is Squats day, with Bench and Overhead Presses afterwards. Then Friday is a combination of lower weight/higher rep Deadlifts, Squats, High Pulls or Power Cleans, and Hex Bar jumps, followed by more Rows and Pullups. So basically two 'pull' days (Mon & Fri) and one 'push' day (Wed), or two max effort days to start the week (Mon & Wed), and then one dynamic effort day at the end (Fri), right before my long run. Each day also has optional assistance exercises but I usually have a hard time getting around to those.

A few weeks ago I got rid of both my bench (with adjustable posts for squatting and dips) and cable station for one unitary rack with built-in cables and then bought a nice, simple, super-heavy flat bench with no posts. I got the rack for 30 dollars on craigslist, the bench at Play It Again Sports for $40. I'm really happy with both. After a few modifications to the rack--attaching my joist-mounted chin-up bar and building a base for it, making a dip station out plumbing pipe, and buying a set of rubberized Olympic grip plates on craigslist as well, I think I've finally got a fully adequate garage gym. The same guy who was selling the rack sold me an Olympic bar for $30, and then a guy who competes in strongman competitions sold me the used grip plates for 50 cents a pound. They have a few cracks in the hub, but otherwise a great deal. Having just a single rack has really opened up floor space in my garage, which is somehow motivating. It doesn't feel so cramped anymore.

I've been a little remiss with my MAPS (Mobility, Agility, Plyometrics, Stability) workouts (formally known as CAMP--Core, Agility, Mobility, Plyometrics). With my stubbed toe, I stopped doing box jumps, and now that I'm going hard at both the st and running, I don't have a lot left over for anything else, but hopefully within the next few weeks I'll work the MAPS back in, when I'm not quite so sore every day.

In general, I've been trying to train as numberless as possible, but I do have a few long-term goals. One is to deadlift 405 lbs--which is four 45-lb plates on either side of the bar. Right now my 1RM is 325. Once I can do that, I'm going to work on my bringing my squats up, to at least 315 (three 45-lb plates on each side), but hopefully more like 345-365. In the meantime, I'm keeping the squats light, between 135 and 225, and working on really perfecting my form, bar position, and bar speed. For running, I'm trying to get my 5K pace down to a consistent 24mins/8mm pace, and would like to build my long run back up to a nice, two-hour half-marathon standard. Hopefully my weekly mileage will be back up in the 25-30 mpw range within a few weeks.

Been running a little in the afternoon, but still mostly early in the morning. I really love it at 2-4am. So peaceful and quiet, and I even see the occasional deer or raccoon here in the middle of the city at that time of day. Still, some nice eye candy down on the river paths on summer afternoons, and the abundant recreational activity is good motivation.

Yesterday afternoon a cyclist pulled up even to me as we were crossing a bridge over the swollen, cresting Mississippi River. So I took out my ear buds (I was listening to a recent jam) and he asked how long I'd been running barefoot. I said three years now. He asked how I did it. I told him just take it little by little. Seemingly unconvinced, he said, "wow, it's really great you can do that." I repeated: "just take it little by little." "Little by little huh?" he asked. "Yep, little by little," I confirmed. "Alright then," he replied, and then rode off as I went back to listening to my jam. I think his intent was to congratulate me on my amazing achievement, but he left with the burden of knowing he too can do it.

Happy trails everyone!
 
7.9 miles this morning, 5.7 of those were barefoot. Tiny bit cooler and the air was a bit drier, so that was nice. Still ended up all sweaty by the end which meant that I had to do the dreaded tee shirt pull off of me later. I don't know why it is, but I absolutely loathe the sensation of the sweaty tee shirt being pulled over the skin on my back. Gives me the willies.

I was browsing over at the Runners World forums and came across this thread, http://community.runnersworld.com/topic/ugh-the-season-of-the-wet-shoe-has-arrived

I'm almost tempted to register there just to comment on that...
 
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Thursday - 60 minutes on spin bike, 20 minutes of swimming, and a couple hours of good paced weeding
Friday - 2.5 miles sort of with hubby, 1 mile of that at a fun, fast clip. Then, 10 + 20 + 10 minute intervals of swimming
 
7.9 miles this morning, 5.7 of those were barefoot. Tiny bit cooler and the air was a bit drier, so that was nice. Still ended up all sweaty by the end which meant that I had to do the dreaded tee shirt pull off of me later. I don't know why it is, but I absolutely loathe the sensation of the sweaty tee shirt being pulled over the skin on my back. Gives me the willies.

I was browsing over at the Runners World forums and came across this thread, http://community.runnersworld.com/topic/ugh-the-season-of-the-wet-shoe-has-arrived

I'm almost tempted to register there just to comment on that...


Get in the warm shower and take your tee shirt off in there ;-)


Sweaty is good :)

Its something we do better than almost any other animal!