Mileage Reporting 29th Week of 2013
- Thread starter otoole4info
- Start date
NickW
Guest
Couldn't believe I almost missed them Mike. If my wife hadn't spotted a clearance rack I would have gone home empty handed because I am too cheap to pay $30-32 for a pair of running shorts. Funny thing was, the shorts that I had just been eyeballing on their display that was full price, turned out to be on the clearance rack AND in my size. My lucky day I guess!
I also did 45 minutes in the gym today. I am now going to post some totally boring videos -the point of which is to show how I try to use movement to add a wider range of muscle use to my workouts. One is in there to show you how I have to even do my upper body exercises, only one side at a time to help keep my hips where they should be. Oh, one is in there to show you how I exercise my upper glutes and how I am convinced that is the KEY EXERCISE FOR HELPING TO STRAIGHTEN OUT VERTICALLY/HORIZONTALLY twisted/flared hips. Not sure these are hyperlinked automatically you may have to copy and paste cuz I'm lazy tonight. You're welcome.
Hahaha! My spousal unit, Brine Shrimp, was nice enough to drop me off at the top of a slight downgrade (about 20%) and pick me up at the bottom.
I wanted to save some time, not so much cuz I'm lazy. 
Darkand
Chapter Presidents
Darkand
Chapter Presidents
Love that you rolled and just got up like nothing happened!
I do exactly the same thing, probably do another one straight after and a few press ups like I was training for something. Lol.
Friday afternoon
6-7 miles cycling, picking up the kids.
Saturday morning
7.49 mi / 12 km running
8.22 mi / 13.2 km total
I woke up and had a cup of coffee and a banana. I don't normally have anything in the morning before I head out, but I wasn't sure whether to run a regular 6-mile mezzo run, or try a longer, 10-to-12-mile run. If I ended up running longer, I thought I might need a little extra fuel. The reason I wasn't sure about doing a longer run is because my calves had been a bit tight after Wednesday's run, the fourth day in a row I had run. They felt fine after two days' rest, but still, I wanted to keep within my limits of higher frequency running and not risk a bone fide overuse injury.
So I was leaning towards just a mezzo run, to stay on the safe side, but right from the start I found myself running much faster than I normally do. It was strange, because the effort level felt purely aerobic. I kept looking down at the Garmin and it was always in the 8-9 mm range, so after a couple miles, I gave myself a clean bill of health and decided to run a bit farther than I do on my normal weekday mezzo runs.
Three, four, five miles went by. I kept waiting for the pace to slow down, but I kept humming along. I slowed a touch when I got to Como Lake's mild chipseal, but overall, I was going almost 90 seconds per mile faster than on Wednesday's run.
After almost six miles, I finally began to slow down a bit, just before one of my favorite Bozo locales, a nice pedestrian bridge over a park path with a handrail about chest-high--perfect for hammie and calf stretches. So I decided to stop and do some lengthening. My legs felt nice and loose still, but the day's sudden jump up in pace made me uneasy about overdoing it, even though I wasn't trying to run faster at all.
I clowned around for a good 10 minutes. That bought me another mile and a half of fresh legs. When I started to slow down again, about a half-mile or so from home, I decided to call it a day and walked the last bit home. It seemed to make sense to cap the run at my (hopefully) new aerobic pace, which turned out to be 8:54 mm on the day. That's about 2mm faster than I ran 10 days earlier on my first longish early morning run, and more than a mile longer.
OK, I realize this is still extremely slow for a serious runner, but I was extremely happy to be running below 9mm pace at an easy effort level. I had been waiting for this day for a long time. I certainly didn't expect such an immediate improvement just two weeks after taking up Nick's suggestion to try running more frequently, nor to adapt so fast to early morning running.
When I got home, our toddler was already awake, so we went out for a barefoot walk while mom and sister got their beauty sleep. Then we spent a nice day at the beach, watching large bodies in water.
6-7 miles cycling, picking up the kids.
Saturday morning
7.49 mi / 12 km running
8.22 mi / 13.2 km total
I woke up and had a cup of coffee and a banana. I don't normally have anything in the morning before I head out, but I wasn't sure whether to run a regular 6-mile mezzo run, or try a longer, 10-to-12-mile run. If I ended up running longer, I thought I might need a little extra fuel. The reason I wasn't sure about doing a longer run is because my calves had been a bit tight after Wednesday's run, the fourth day in a row I had run. They felt fine after two days' rest, but still, I wanted to keep within my limits of higher frequency running and not risk a bone fide overuse injury.
So I was leaning towards just a mezzo run, to stay on the safe side, but right from the start I found myself running much faster than I normally do. It was strange, because the effort level felt purely aerobic. I kept looking down at the Garmin and it was always in the 8-9 mm range, so after a couple miles, I gave myself a clean bill of health and decided to run a bit farther than I do on my normal weekday mezzo runs.
Three, four, five miles went by. I kept waiting for the pace to slow down, but I kept humming along. I slowed a touch when I got to Como Lake's mild chipseal, but overall, I was going almost 90 seconds per mile faster than on Wednesday's run.
After almost six miles, I finally began to slow down a bit, just before one of my favorite Bozo locales, a nice pedestrian bridge over a park path with a handrail about chest-high--perfect for hammie and calf stretches. So I decided to stop and do some lengthening. My legs felt nice and loose still, but the day's sudden jump up in pace made me uneasy about overdoing it, even though I wasn't trying to run faster at all.
I clowned around for a good 10 minutes. That bought me another mile and a half of fresh legs. When I started to slow down again, about a half-mile or so from home, I decided to call it a day and walked the last bit home. It seemed to make sense to cap the run at my (hopefully) new aerobic pace, which turned out to be 8:54 mm on the day. That's about 2mm faster than I ran 10 days earlier on my first longish early morning run, and more than a mile longer.
OK, I realize this is still extremely slow for a serious runner, but I was extremely happy to be running below 9mm pace at an easy effort level. I had been waiting for this day for a long time. I certainly didn't expect such an immediate improvement just two weeks after taking up Nick's suggestion to try running more frequently, nor to adapt so fast to early morning running.
When I got home, our toddler was already awake, so we went out for a barefoot walk while mom and sister got their beauty sleep. Then we spent a nice day at the beach, watching large bodies in water.
Keep working, you might succeed one day.Lee, i worked too hard and long to piss you off with my Mafisms. no way am i changing that line.
"atleast i'm never injured"
just saying . . .
Enough planning...your a regular barefoot runner...you can run with no plan without worry.
Yeah...you figured out your still an actual barefoot runner...still no worries.
Your almost warmed up now...
Now your warmed up enough to stretch...
Forget the timing...the clowning around is the secret here!
Nice...an altogether perfect run.... Congrats!
Ha! Funny, but unfortunately, I do need a plan, albeit a very general, easy-to-adjust plan--nothing formal like the Maffetone plan or anything like that
. Previously I had always just done what I pleased (including running barefoot 20 years ago, cycling across Africa with no long-distance cycling experience, etc.). Then when I started getting back into running a few years ago, after spending several years without exercising at all while doing field research in Mozambique, I started getting a bunch of injuries--TOFP, MCL strain, ITBS, and a calf cramp. At first I insisted that I could keep running without a plan, but then I wised up and rethunk things a bit, and now everything is proceeding swimmingly.The current "plan", beginning two weeks ago, is (1) to try to run more frequently, and (2) first thing in the morning when possible. In order to avoid overuse injuries, I'm trying (3) to limit myself even when I feel like I can do more. So I (4) stop a run and/or take a rest day at the first sign of trouble, as I did last week when my calves felt a little tight. I'm also (5) trying to avoid increasing weekly mileage by too much, and (6), playing around with the idea of never running below a certain pace.
The reason I write all of this down is because (1) I can type pretty fast, and (2), I know at least a few people on this forum like comparing notes, getting feedback, seeing what works and what doesn't. Feel free to skim or skip!
The clowning/Bozo reference is to the Soc Doc's silly anti-stretching ruse to draw web traffic to his site.
You're right though, that was one of my best runs ever! The plan is working . . .
NickW
Guest
This is what happened to me when I was running 5 days a week. I just all of a sudden had a huge increase in pace. Sounds like you're doing pretty good. This week I think I am going to go back to running everyday during the week, all though I will probably take Friday and just do ST and bike as Saturday I am doing a 7-12 mile hike with my father inlaw, brother inlaw, and sister inlaw. Pretty excited for it as I was out to this place 6-7 years ago and it was an awesome hike and I've really been wanting to go back.
NickW
Guest
Not to mention Lee, he constantly has pain and problems from PF. Not never injured if you ask me...
Just giving you a hard time Mike!
Yah, thanks again for mentioning it! It's funny isn't it? We've been discussing the Kenyan 'pace first, distance second' plan/protocol for a year or more, but I'm only getting around to giving it a fair shot now. And last year I also started a thread asking folks about morning running, and another about consecutive-day running, but just couldn't commit to either at that time. I think you're also right about the cycling helping the running, even if it's just casual commuting like I'm doing.
Anyway, the running plan for this week is:
Su: Intervals, 2-4 miles
M: Hills, 3-4 miles
Tu: Mezzo run, 5-6 miles
W: Easy or hills, 2-4 miles
Th: Mezzo run, 5-6 miles
F: rest
Sa: Macro run, 8-10 miles
I hope you do go back to the five-day-a-week plan, it'll be cool to compare notes.
Man, I could use a good hike about now. Have a good trip! Your photos from your beach outing had me green with envy. I'm so bored with the Midwest.
Probably needs to stretch more!
NickW
Guest
Ya, I think the pace first and then distance isn't as bad as we bfr's have made it out to be. I personally think it might be the better way to do things. A lot harder to increase pace incrementally when your running longer distances already. Easier to add pace first at the short distances and then add distance afterwards. At least to me it is.
Ya I like being able to compare notes and see what works for everyone. I guess it helps that I'm really open minded with my workouts and am willing to try new routines or ideas.
We had a really good time at the coast. We were there for something like 12-13 hours or so yesterday. I was really amazed at how well my son has been running lately. Oh, and I noticed the other day the wear spots on my sons flip flops (has elastic band around the back which works much like a running sandal) and they are very symmetrical and up on the ball of his feet and you can see how his feet roll through their entire motion. It's amazing. I probably ran like a mile of sprints with him with a bunch of cutting and jumping and dipping and what not. Was a lot of fun.
I forgot to add I will get some pictures on the hike next weekend and will upload them too. There's one spot I want to hike up to where you can see three different mountains (volcanoes). It's absolutely a breathtaking view, but I will have to talk my inlaws into hiking up to that point.
Ha! Funny, but unfortunately, I do need a plan, albeit a very general, easy-to-adjust plan--nothing formal like the Maffetone plan or anything like that
The current "plan", beginning two weeks ago, is (1) to try to run more frequently, and (2) first thing in the morning when possible. In order to avoid overuse injuries, I'm trying (3) to limit myself even when I feel like I can do more. So I (4) stop a run and/or take a rest day at the first sign of trouble, as I did last week when my calves felt a little tight. I'm also (5) trying to avoid increasing weekly mileage by too much, and (6), playing around with the idea of never running below a certain pace.
The reason I write all of this down is because (1) I can type pretty fast, and (2), I know at least a few people on this forum like comparing notes, getting feedback, seeing what works and what doesn't. Feel free to skim or skip!
The clowning/Bozo reference is to the Soc Doc's silly anti-stretching ruse to draw web traffic to his site.
You're right though, that was one of my best runs ever! The plan is working . . .
I like your posts and your planning seems like you change it up often which is good...I try to run by how I feel as far how many days a week etc. so its different almost every week. I think switching around is good for you health wise as there are benefits to not getting used to doing the same thing week after week....the ever changing plan or no plan is best. Also not having races looming in the background is good too...stress wise.
I don't do stretching for myself but see it as a psychological exercise not a physical thing...I haven't read much about the Soc Doc except here in a few posts but do like his posts none the less.
More clowning less planning!
Yah, I think it's important to acknowledge, as you do, that what works for one person, may not work for someone else. A lot of people have had success with the 'distance first, pace second' approach.
I just cringe whenever someone gives a new member advice in absolute terms, like there's only one way to do it. My only absolute advice to anyone is to do something that they enjoy. If you don't enjoy doing something, try something else! Not necessarily because it's the wrong approach, but simply because if you don't enjoy it you won't keep doing it. Unfortunately, this sometimes gets misconstrued as me telling someone to do one method and not another. I've never done that, although I do enjoy debating the relative merits of one approach over the other.
NickW
Guest
Ya, I am with you here on this. I like debating merits of different approaches too, although I've given up with the Maf subject. Seems as open as people are about bfr, they are not very open about Maf. Either they absolutely love it and can't understand any other way, or we don't really care for it. Not a lot of in between. Makes for heated conversations and that's not fun to me. I like the intellectual conversations, not emotional.
Thanks. Yah, I'm constantly adjusting, trying to find what works best, but also changing just to keep things fresh.
I hear that!
One of my biggest problems last year was letting myself get talked into signing up for a half marathon. So all of a sudden I had to see monthly improvements in my long run. But I'm not a racer by nature, I don't care who's faster or slower than me, I don't like 'training', and I don't like having a set plan. Same with weights--I have no real goals except general improvement. But if someone's into racing or competitive lifting or set training plans, more power to them. Just not my bag. Same with stretching. I get such an enormous benefit from it (no back aches, no pulled muscles, good flexibility, cured my ITBS and helped cure my TOFP, etc.) that it's hard for me to believe it's not good for everyone, but I'm not trying to push it on anyone, or calling them names like "Bozo" if they don't agree with me.
I did like some of the things I saw on the Soc Doc's site last year, but then I concluded he was mostly just trying to cash in on the whole barefoot/primal/paleo/MovNat/functional fitness trend. I haven't read any of that guru stuff for quite a while.
Take a look at Eric Orton's "The Cool Impossible" he certainly supports mixing things up and doing some speedwork early in the training cycle - though he's not talking specifically about StG running.
"Whatever works" for each individual has to be the answer. It'll just take many a good while to find out what that is but keeping it fun has to be a good start!
Friday - 6 mile early morning run on bike trail. Legs were a bit tight the first 3 miles not too bad after that.
Saturday morning - Slept in till 8:00am then ran in the neighborhood only 2.6 miles legs were quite tight.
This morning - Was hoping to do 6-7 miles but legs muscles were tight so only did 2 miles and then walked 2 miles back to car. Was dehydrated from working outside all day yesterday in the heat. Seems as though the more I work late in the heat the tighter the leg muscles are getting. They seem to be the worst toward the end of the day the last few hours I'm outside.
Today going take it easy and rehydrate. May ride the bike tomorrow morning instead of a run. Been working long days out in the heat for the last 4 days. May be starting to wear me down.
Saturday morning - Slept in till 8:00am then ran in the neighborhood only 2.6 miles legs were quite tight.
This morning - Was hoping to do 6-7 miles but legs muscles were tight so only did 2 miles and then walked 2 miles back to car. Was dehydrated from working outside all day yesterday in the heat. Seems as though the more I work late in the heat the tighter the leg muscles are getting. They seem to be the worst toward the end of the day the last few hours I'm outside.
Today going take it easy and rehydrate. May ride the bike tomorrow morning instead of a run. Been working long days out in the heat for the last 4 days. May be starting to wear me down.
