High Achievements / Major Difficulty

13 Sep12 – 20 Sep 12 High Achievements/Major Difficulty     

WHEN           

School is in, so when I don’t finish my run before 3:30, I conflict with school sports.  JV Football on some Thursdays, Varsity on some Fridays.  I even ran a couple of times along with the cross country training, and another group that looked like some kind of after hours gym class.  Three days ago, I ended up running as late as 7:00, but as I ran seven miles, and the days are shorter, most of that run was in the dark, illuminated by lights from the adjacent soccer field.

TEMP

Temperature are way down.  I have faced my first days in which I wonder if I am dressed warmly enough.  So far, the heat of a run is enough to run in t-shirt and shorts.

CONDITIONS

The dog days of summer are gone for good, and there have actually been a couple of rain days.  I don’t necessarily mind a little summer shower in hot weather, if I’m already running, but I won’t start a run in the rain (especially a storm), and now the rain is to be avoided, as it should be way too cold.

AIR CONDITION

Same as the weather; there should be few to no stuffy or high ozone days until next summer.

RUN                                       

TENS!  I ran ten miles twice in this period.  I don’t know that I’ve run a full ten miles since the kids were toddlers.  The Pace is just a little off, being that the ten miles was run 1:45, or 10:30.  Oh, well, I’m just happy about the distance. 

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR EIGHT DAYS:      39 MILES

TIME                                       range

RATE                                      est. 9.8 – 10.5

WEIGHT                                 189 lbs  (86 Kilo)

HEART RATE             Resting around 78 bpm

INJURY THREATS

The shin splints set in with a bite.  It took longer and longer for the pain to ease on my runs.  By the first ten mile run, I stumped for six miles before it felt better.  I popped back into Striders for the shoe inserts the kid was showing me.  They cost forty dollars, but they are a lot like the inserts the podiatrist made for me in the seventies.  After one day of wearing them in my street shoes (the kid says don’t run in them), I was able to run seven miles easily.  (I would have run more, but that was the dark day).  Then, the following day I was too sore to run and limped around for hours, until late.  I don’t remember how long it took back in school to adjust, but it is true that all of my good running was done on those inserts back when.  Once adjusted, I expect I’ll be much better off.

MILEAGE YTD                      379 (606 K)

COMMENTS

On that day in the dark, never mind the scent of a skunk I could not see but assumed would not venture out onto the track, I picked up a sensation that I haven’t felt in decades.  For two miles near the end of the run, my pace altered naturally, with my knees coming up higher and my foot finding my next step farther forward.  When this happens automatically, it is like shifting a car into overdrive on the highway.  The effects are not only greater steps per minute, but more inches per stride, and all with less energy expended.  I have great hopes for the coming months. 

On that note, the coming months should provide at least two months of good running.  Although we have had blizzards as early as mid-November, last year didn’t bring any significant snowfall in my book.  If we have another year like last, then I will be able to capitalize to the max.

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.

BEARCLAW

25 AUG12 – 27AUG12                     Bearclaw:  Some Heavy Footed Running          

WHEN                                     Late morning to Midday

TEMP                                      85 - 89

CONDITIONS                       Mostly Sunny

AIR CONDITION                 Heavy air; NWS ozone warning

RUN                                       3.0 / 4.0 / 3.0

TIME                                      32 / 41 / 27:30

RATE                                      10.7 / 10.25 / 9:10 mpm

WEIGHT                                193 lbs

HEART RATE                        1 min post run:            132 bpm

                                               Midday resting:           68 bpm

INJURY THREATS

Lost one toenail, others going.  (ignore)

Cranky crabby legs first two laps (assume recovery period)

MILEAGE YTD                    274 mi (438 K)

COMMENTS

These last three days were tough, at best.  It’s probably just that hotter, heavier air moved back in.  I was progressing during the Dragon Run period to five miles in ninety-five degree weather.  I think I was totally spoiled with the low seventies.  Back up to only ninety, and I couldn’t get past three or four.  On these same days I sweated off the same as I did running twice the distance on cooler days.  Best not push it out of pride when I still weigh over 190 lbs; that will change soon enough. 

That third day at almost nine minute miles felt nice, and was unplanned.  I can tell that my legs still cannot sustain that open stride for three miles, but for longer and longer stretches within that distance.  I guess when I am strong enough to maintain that stride for three, I’ll probably be somewhere near eight minutes per mile.  That would be nice.

SIX SIX EIGHT

22 AUG12 – 24AUG12                       SIX-SIX-EIGHT        

WHEN                                     Early PM / Late PM / Morning

TEMP                                      74 – 79 F

CONDITIONS                        Mostly Sunny

AIR CONDITION                  Heavy air; NWS ozone warning

RUN                                        6.0 / 6.0 / 8.0

TIME                                       61.0 / 63.5 / 82.5

RATE                                      10:10 / 10:35 / 10:18 mpm

WEIGHT                                 191 lbs

HEART RATE                          1 min post run:        124 bpm

                                                Midday resting:       68 – 76 bpm

INJURY THREATS

Losing toenails (ignore)

Left heel sore in morning, but not during run

MILEAGE YTD                      264 mi (422 K)

COMMENTS

These last three days have been interesting.  I haven’t been energetic, but my ability to go the distance is there in spite of how I feel.  Even though I feel heavy, my times have been only slightly slower.  Two days ago, however, there was compatible competition on the track.  In my third mile a young guy started running.  I held him off, but he overtook me before two more miles.  I worked it and took him over in the next mile then buried him before I finished my run at six miles.  I expected that my time would be significantly faster, but it wasn’t even under a ten minute average.  This was very disappointing, but again I felt good that my ability to do the distance is without question. 

With that in mind, today I set out to run a little farther.  And so I did, in spite of feeling fatigue and heavy ozone-laden air.  I took split times and found that my first three miles were at a 10:40 average, the second three at 10:20, but I finished eight miles in 1:22:33.  So, that means my last two miles must have averaged 9:45.  Now this is what I would expect when I get in shape, that I can turn out decreasing times as a run progresses.  This is how I ran when I was young.  I would line up I races back in the pack, and warm up in the first two miles.

A word on sweating.  When I was first trying to get into shape, there is no surprise that I sweat heavily from the first lap.  By the time I was running a minimum of three miles, I didn’t reach full sweat until the end of the first two or three laps.  Now, however, I hardly sweat the first couple of laps and don’t reach full sweat until the third or even fourth mile.  I take this to be a good sign of metabolic efficiency.  I read somewhere that runners sweat sooner than non-athletes, but on a micro-level, and so they stay cooler longer.

Today and yesterday I should say I pushed to a near limit.  Both days, I had a couple of waves of nausea after the run, nothing major, no dry heaves, but a warning to avoid going too far, too fast.  Strangely, two times this week I had serious hunger pangs while running.  This is not something I remember ever really happening.  I hope it’s the last complaints of my gut before it disappears.