Mileage Reporting 45th week of 2012

[happysongbird]

Worked ALL day yesterday (13.5 hours) at a polling precinct. You know, those people who help you register, give you a ballot, etc. Only a few minutes for eating and drinking. One of the crew that helped came in about half way through the day and worked with me. She chatted with me for a while, then gave me this funny look and said, "Are you a runner? It must be really hard for you to be cooped up in here." Ha ha! I didn't know I "looked" like a cooped up runner! Must have shown on my face. oops.

 

[NickW]

I'm starting to do serious stretching again, and I think it helps as much or more as massaging. Despite my constant criticism of it, I think Soc Doc's Bozo campaign was messing with my head, subconsciously keeping me from stretching as much as used to do. Now I'm unapologetically aiming to do the splits again within six months.

Great to hear the stupid PF is passing, hopefully once and for all.

How's the knee niggle?

During yesterdays run it was great, but about 4 miles in yesterday my opposite knee (right) got really tight. Kinda worried me so I stopped and stretched a little and then within a half mile it was right as rain again. Not sure what that was about though, must have been doing something with my form... Otherwise it feels pretty good. There may be a slight niggle this morning in the left knee, but hard to tell as I haven't walked down any stairs yet for the day (just barely woke up 45 minutes ago). My left foot is more tender this morning where the slight worn spot is. Funny, ran a little over 5 miles in the park on paved paths and there was no worn spots, nor even a mark(yes I checked my feet because I knew there was a 100 foot stretch of horrible meat tenderizing rough pavement coming up), but a mile barefoot on the worn sidewalks back uphill to the house made a worn spot on that left foot.

 

[Bare Lee]

Worked ALL day yesterday (13.5 hours) at a polling precinct. You know, those people who help you register, give you a ballot, etc. Only a few minutes for eating and drinking. One of the crew that helped came in about half way through the day and worked with me. She chatted with me for a while, then gave me this funny look and said, "Are you a runner? It must be really hard for you to be cooped up in here." Ha ha! I didn't know I "looked" like a cooped up runner! Must have shown on my face. oops.

Add on your swimming and cycling and it's like they had three different gauges of chicken wire wrapped around your coop.

 

[Bare Lee]

During yesterdays run it was great, but about 4 miles in yesterday my opposite knee (right) got really tight. Kinda worried me so I stopped and stretched a little and then within a half mile it was right as rain again. Not sure what that was about though, must have been doing something with my form... Otherwise it feels pretty good. There may be a slight niggle this morning in the left knee, but hard to tell as I haven't walked down any stairs yet for the day (just barely woke up 45 minutes ago). My left foot is more tender this morning where the slight worn spot is. Funny, ran a little over 5 miles in the park on paved paths and there was no worn spots, nor even a mark(yes I checked my feet because I knew there was a 100 foot stretch of horrible meat tenderizing rough pavement coming up), but a mile barefoot on the worn sidewalks back uphill to the house made a worn spot on that left foot.

Yah, I like that method of stopping and stretching/massaging at the first sign of trouble. That's what I was doing on my longer runs right before my knee-tweak, to prevent the lower leg from getting too tight. Now it'll have to apply it to whole leg.

Re: sidewalks, I find certain kinds of cement are more abrasive than a lot of asphalt.

 

[NickW]

Re: sidewalks, I find certain kinds of cement are more abrasive than a lot of asphalt.

Ya, this stuff has the little pebbles all at the surface and is almost like running on course sandpaper. You really have to be very careful with zero twist of the foot in any phase of the foot being on the ground. Unfortunately, with a stroller going uphill I do sometimes still get a slight twist in that left foot. Oh, yesterday I ran on this stretch of blacktop that was horrible. I forgot all about that. It felt like I was running on a meat tenderizer. After about 500 feet of that stuff my feet hurt for about 10 minutes afterward. The soles were fine with zero wear spots, just were really sore. That is exactly what I don't like from barefoot running. I love everything else about it but having a fear of certain stretches of road or sidewalk is not my idea of fun. My Softstar Dash Lites should be here this afternoon, so hopefully they fit right and I can test them out tomorrow with a decent run. I really would like to be able to open up my routes to some of the less fun bf areas.

 

[Bare Lee]

4.5 miles/7.24 kilometers, 9:30 mm pace, walked last .6 miles after a slight niggle on last section where I was running 8:15 mm pace, so the total run was a little less than four miles. 41 F, perfect running temp.

I ran the same route I ran on Sunday. After warming up for the first .4 mile, I started pushing it a bit, concentrating on my left foot's landing and not thinking about much else. I really hate having to think about form. It takes away the meditative aspect of running. I had also left my MP3 field recordings at home so I wouldn't get distracted from today's mission.

After two days of over-thinking and fretting over my next run, I had decided to set the pace alert at 10mm, as the 'tempo' on this tempo run. I wanted to see if I could shave off a few seconds from my average pace of 10:16 mm on Sunday's run. Well, I ended up slicing off 45 seconds per mile. On the next run, on Friday, assuming my knee doesn't make any noise later on today or tomorrow, I'll set the pace alert to 9:50 mm, then take another 10 seconds per mile off the next run, and so on.

I'm still trying to get an idea of how much I can push the knee while in active recovery. If it feels sorer than it did after Sunday's run, I may have to reduce distance or pace. If it feels about the same, I'll keep running this way for a bit, running the same route and trying to gradually get my pace down to around 8mm. At that point, or perhaps a little sooner, I'll add in my LSD and speed work again. These are the missing "extremes to specificity" (Steve Magness) components of my current routine. The idea here is to work on the distance and pace extremes on either side of the tempo run's distance and pace. On the LSD I'll run farther than my tempo run's 4.5-mile route, but at a slower pace. In my speedwork I'll do shorter, 440- and mile-intervals at faster paces. Before my knee tweak I was building up to using my 7.4-mile Como Lake out-n-back route as the standard for my tempo run, but it seems best to choose an easier, more immediately accessible distance while I work on my target pace and continue to rehab the knee.

blah, blah, blah

 

[NickW]

4.5 miles/7.24 kilometers, 9:30 mm pace, walked last .6 miles after a slight niggle on last section where I was running 8:15 mm pace, so the total run was a little less than four miles. 41 F, perfect running temp.

I ran the same route I ran on Sunday. After warming up for the first .4 mile, I started pushing it a bit, concentrating on my left foot's landing and not thinking about much else. I really hate having to think about form. It takes away the meditative aspect of running. I had also left my MP3 field recordings at home so I wouldn't get distracted from today's mission.

After two days of over-thinking and fretting over my next run, I had decided to set the pace alert at 10mm, as the 'tempo' on this tempo run. I wanted to see if I could shave off a few seconds from my average pace of 10:16 mm on Sunday's run. Well, I ended up slicing off 45 seconds per mile. On the next run, on Friday, assuming my knee doesn't make any noise later on today or tomorrow, I'll set the pace alert to 9:50 mm, then take another 10 seconds per mile off the next run, and so on.

I'm still trying to get an idea of how much I can push the knee while in active recovery. If it feels sorer than it did after Sunday's run, I may have to reduce distance or pace. If it feels about the same, I'll keep running this way for a bit, running the same route and trying to gradually get my pace down to around 8mm. At that point, or perhaps a little sooner, I'll add in my LSD and speed work again. These are the missing "extremes to specificity" components of my current routine. The idea here is to work on the distance and pace extremes on either side of the tempo run's distance and pace. On the LSD I'll run farther than my tempo run's 4.5-mile route, but at a slower pace. In my speedwork I'll do 440 and mile intervals at faster paces. Before my knee tweak I was building up to using my 7.4-mile lake route as the standard for my tempo run, but it seems best to choose an easier, more immediately accessible distance while I work on my target pace and continue to rehab the knee.

blah, blah, blah

Glad it sounds like you're doing pretty good Lee. Just remember to not rush things and to listen to your body and I think you will keep getting better.

 

[NickW]

Walked with my son to the park and back, shod. Was about a mile and a half. Felt good to just walk and get the legs moving. Still waiting for mail to get here so I can try on my new Softstars! Man, I am so impatient!

 

[Bare Lee]

Glad it sounds like you're doing pretty good Lee. Just remember to not rush things and to listen to your body and I think you will keep getting better.

Yah, today I stopped at the slightest of niggles. Post run, the knee still feels good. Still, just to be sure, I iced it while I was writing the above, then put some of Dama's lotion potion on it, and have popped two of Damian's histological fountain of youth, fart-provoking capsules so far today--first thing in the morning, and just a bit ago.

Gotta keep the good mojo flowing.

I think the key is to limit distance, not pace, but only time will tell. I'm doing my best to apply what I've learned from my readings, and apparently training volume is a better predictor of injury risk than velocity. That, and our oft-discussed sense that our form comes together at faster paces, is what has recommended my current approach. I hope when you're finally running free of your stroller you'll join me in trying something similar. It would be fun to compare notes/progress.

And note that I took an extra day off between runs, just to be safe, because my knee feels just a tinsy bit sore when laterally stressed, ever so lightly, while sitting cross-legged, figure-four style at my desk. I'm doing my best to avoid suffering any more setbacks. I gotta run.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I made sure to stretch, roll, and massage good before and after the run. I think that helps a lot. More and more I'm convinced the tweak came from not being warmed-up properly, and having a stiff joint from sitting in the car beforehand.

Speaking of strollers, I may head out with ours to pick up the kids later. I can't really afford the time, but it'd probably be therapeutic to loosen up the legs a bit.

P.S., I hope you guys smash the Jets this Sunday.

 

[NickW]

Lee, here is a picture of the paved trails that I hate that I was talking about earlier. It's like a meat tenderizer and doesn't typically wear holes or anything but just makes the soles really tender. Maybe I'm just a wussyfoot.

 

[Bare Lee]

Lee, here is a picture of the paved trails that I hate that I was talking about earlier. It's like a meat tenderizer and doesn't typically wear holes or anything but just makes the soles really tender. Maybe I'm just a wussyfoot.
View attachment 1119

Looks pretty harsh. I could see how you'd want to do that in limited doses. It's kind of halfway between mild chipseal and full-on gravel.

We should start taking and sharing more pics of our routes and surfaces, like Agnesd did above.

 

[NickW]

This stuff has really limited my running area when barefoot. Most of the paved trails are great with a few patches like this that are just miserable. By avoiding these I also miss out on miles of beautiful and quiet paved trail. Hopefully the Soft Star Dashes will fit well, then my running areas can really get opened up again. If they don't, then I guess I will have to wait and see if the Pah Tempes work when they come in (not sure when they'll be here, maybe another week or two).

 

[dutchie53]

2 miles, 1/2 mile cooldown by running backwards. Still working on higher cadence. Don't know about pace and other stats as I am unplugged until the weekend when I will see where I am at.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Just a tad over 1100 up steps at lunch time and some floor exercises.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Lee, here is a picture of the paved trails that I hate that I was talking about earlier. It's like a meat tenderizer and doesn't typically wear holes or anything but just makes the soles really tender. Maybe I'm just a wussyfoot. You just took the words out of my mouth
View attachment 1119

The more you run on it the better you get and the faster your feet condition. So now get to it!

 

[Bare Lee]

The more you run on it the better you get and the faster your feet condition. So now get to it!

I dunno Dama, sometimes I seek out that kind of challenge, sometimes I'd rather not deal with it. At the moment I'm working on pace, so I'm taking a haitus on anything harsher than mild chipseal.

Still, I miss the sandy gravel of the nearby hs track sometimes, and the post-run tingle it inspires.

 

[NickW]

The more you run on it the better you get and the faster your feet condition. So now get to it!

Dama, I used to believe that, but with experience as my guide, it's been proven to me that my feet just get more and more tender the more I put them on this stuff. It got so bad that for the longest time I would push the stroller on the pavement but my feet were actually on the grass next to it. I've also found that as a mostly sidewalk and paved trail runner that my feet get beaten up much much more than when running on our local trails. The local trails for the most part leave my feet in great condition (except the spots where trail maintenance has laid down crushed gravel and rock). On trails usually all I have to worry about are the occasional cut, on the paved trails and sidewalks there is much more constant abrasion which wears the soles down. It may be weird, but my soles seem to have gotten more sensitive, more alive if you will.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

I dunno Dama, sometimes I seek out that kind of challenge, sometimes I'd rather not deal with it. At the moment I'm working on pace, so I'm taking a haitus on anything harsher than mild chipseal.

Still, I miss the sandy gravel of the nearby hs track sometimes, and the post-run tingle it inspires.

I know how it goes Lee, you do it in very, very small doses and increase your time on it as you see it feet--I mean fit until you conquer the surface. The type of surfaces really teaches you how to lift the feet.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Dama, I used to believe that, but with experience as my guide, it's been proven to me that my feet just get more and more tender the more I put them on this stuff. It got so bad that for the longest time I would push the stroller on the pavement but my feet were actually on the grass next to it. I've also found that as a mostly sidewalk and paved trail runner that my feet get beaten up much much more than when running on our local trails. The local trails for the most part leave my feet in great condition (except the spots where trail maintenance has laid down crushed gravel and rock). On trails usually all I have to worry about are the occasional cut, on the paved trails and sidewalks there is much more constant abrasion which wears the soles down. It may be weird, but my soles seem to have gotten more sensitive, more alive if you will.

Maybe once you're done pusshing the stroller you could give that surface another try.
I am sure the stroller pushing makes more dificult.

 

[NickW]

Maybe it does Dama, not sure. I know the longer I've gone barefoot on mostly urban surfaces, the more sensitive my feet have gotten. They don't ever bother me like this on the trails, except in the few spots of crushed gravel. I try to avoid those if possible. I don't really dig the pain thing. Way back before the PF got really bad I was barefoot nearly all the time, up to half mary distance, and those sections still really really hurt, and felt like they were hurting more each time. I could run on it without any sort of abrasions or anything, it's just the pain of running on it. Kind of reminds me of the meat tenderizer hammer I have.