The Long Haul

28 AUG12 – 12SEP12            The Long Haul 

WHEN                                      Afternoons

TEMP                                      88 – 72 F  (32 – 22 C)

CONDITIONS                        Very Mixed, Sunny and Cloudy Days

AIR CONDITION                  Varying freshness, some humid days

RUN                                        Total 66 miles for 16 days

TIME                                       range

RATE                                      est. 10.2 – 9.1 minutes per mile

WEIGHT                                 193  - 186 lbs

HEART RATE                        1 min. post run around 144 bpm

INJURY THREATS

Rise of the shin splints which plagued my high school years.  Various logic on this one, but the so-called shin splint stretch before running is completely ineffectual.  I visited a podiatrist when I was in high school, who made me resin inserts for my shoes.  Since lost the inserts, haven’t needed for normal life.

There was a young kid in Striders (on Chicago Drive in Grandville) whose graduate studies are relative.  He said inserts are generally not used for running shoes, but for street shoes, while correct person-to-shoe matching is essential for running shoes.  Amazingly, he fixed me at size 13 for running shoes!  My street shoes are generally size 11.  Admittedly, I have lost several toenails in the past two years, and my toes have suffered in size 11(1/2) shoes.  We’ll see how this pans out. 

I selected new Saucony ProGrid Omni, mostly because they felt better than the Asics or Brooks, and exactly the same as a pair of high tech Asics which cost thirty dollars more.  As it was, they got me for a hundred and twenty. . . ouch, and ouch.

MILEAGE YTD                      340 (544 K)

COMMENTS

The regular running year has finally settled in.  This latest period of two-plus weeks has been the settling in time.  It seems that I am capable of running seven miles at any time without strain, although it still costs me something the following day, where I will run four or five.

My overall training Pace has improved to just under 10.0 mpm, interestingly enough, consistently through distances between 3 and 8 miles virtually the same Pace.  When trying to run fast, I can now manage sub-nines over three or four miles.

The Dragon runs are over, and it is time for the Wolf to take over.  

There were three days without a run at all, partly due to the shared use of the track and field on Thursdays for JV football, and my inability to get out early enough on Fridays with home games.  Vital to avoid excuses forward.  The GR Marathon is way too close, and Ted is getting married on the day of the run through Aquinas.  It's just time for me to settle in for the long haul and put in my mileage without much anxiety about times.