Running: First Week of March 2010

[skhill]

This morning, I ran a sub 8 minute mile for the very first time (7:58, to be precise)!!!! then I slowed down, and ended up averaging 8:49 over the whole 3.5 miles. That's a new best also, by a long shot.

Now, if spring would just get here for real....

[limewave]

This morning, I ran a sub 8 minute mile for the very first time (7:58, to be precise)!!!! then I slowed down, and ended up averaging 8:49 over the whole 3.5 miles. That's a new best also, by a long shot.

Now, if spring would just get here for real....

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
----------------------
I just did:
1 mile wu
3 x 1600 @ 9:30 m/mile
800's easy between
1 mile cd

I am pooped.

[Bike Chick]

This morning, I ran a sub 8 minute mile for the very first time (7:58, to be precise)!!!! then I slowed down, and ended up averaging 8:49 over the whole 3.5 miles. That's a new best also, by a long shot.

Now, if spring would just get here for real....

Woo Hoo! Good for you!

[WindingRoad]

Well I have been getting bored with the same routine so I mixed it up today. Me and my best friend (who is a walker) went out on the trail together. The scheme was I run out 8 minutes and back 2 minutes while she walks my way. When we meet we do pilates: (roll ups, cork screws, scissors and leg lifts) and repeat. We met 4 times for pilates sessions and did 3 sets of each exercise with 8 reps. I ended up with 5 miles and OMG what a workout. I would have her run for a minute with me very slow to get her some intervals in too. I am so shocked how sore my quads are now. It ended up being a great workout for both of us which is awesome since we enjoy getting together.

[Susan Otcenas]

My 12 mile run became a 10 mile run this a.m. I've run 25 miles in 4 days and I'm pooped. I need a serious nap.

[HillSlugger]

I had a right Achilles problem start back in June, kept running through July, and then shut it down completely. Started PT in September and then started back toward running in October. I've been taking it very slowly and gently. The heel feels OK, but my legs feel dead and running is a huge drag. On Monday at my tri club meeting there was a demo for a new running shoe concept called Somnio Running Shoes. There's a base shoe that has many insert option combinations to account for pronation, arch height, etc. My running is so bad right now that I'm willing to give this a try (with a 30 day money back guarantee). My immediate thoughts were that they feel very different from my motion control New Balance with a custom orthotic; not sure yet if it's good different or bad different. They definitely feel springier than my current shoes but that could mean that my current shoes are dead (even though they only have about 150 miles on them). My first run this week will be Friday. I wore them all day to start getting used to them. They are definitely tweaking my feet and legs in a different way and they have my right knee feeling a little "strained". So, should I run them on Friday?

[OakLeaf]

I have a cold. I keep reading that it's okay to do an easy workout with a not-too-bad-cold, but that just isn't my experience. I thought I was being too much of a wuss and I'd give it a test on Tuesday even though I had the pinpoint scratchiness in the back of my sinus that's the way URIs always start for me. Within two hours of the end of my run, my entire respiratory system was burning, and it's only gotten worse. It's not too awful, but it's bad enough, and I'm just not going to run today. So there.

MD... I would think that if those shoes are a radical adjustment, you're going to need to ease into them just as you would with orthotics or barefoot running. Half a mile to start with... What I've been doing with barefooting is doing a little at the end of some of my shod runs or on active rest days.

[spindizzy]

Treadmill Tabata again.
WU 15 minutes, then some stretches
10% grade, 7 mph
20 sec run, 10sec rest X8 (total of 4 minutes of work)
5 minute easy run
Repeat
Cool down
Then off to CrossFit for a workout.

[HillSlugger]

MD... I would think that if those shoes are a radical adjustment, you're going to need to ease into them just as you would with orthotics or barefoot running. Half a mile to start with... What I've been doing with barefooting is doing a little at the end of some of my shod runs or on active rest days.

So, should I step back from the 2.5 miles I'm doing and start over?

[Bike Chick]

4 miles this evening and I'm sitting in the recliner with ice packs on my legs. Ibuprofen and ice are easing the soreness and inflammation. I go for a massage tomorrow evening and am running a 5K Saturday. I'm halfway through my HM training schedule and the next 6 weeks look grueling. I'm starting to get discouraged and am wondering if I am going to be able to do it or if I'm just too old to be trying this. I'm pretty bummed.

Oak, I hope you get to feeling better.

[WindingRoad]

Bike Chick,

I did go through what you are describing last year. My BF who is also a PT suggested I recuperate for a week and not run. All I did was spinning, swimming and walking for that week. The following week I returned to running, started a little lower in miles from where I had left off. I did help, it wasn't 'perfect' but I felt a whole heck of a lot better. I know now part of the issue was I was running on concrete which beats me up terribly. The other part of the issue was that I was a new runner and my bones and joints hadn't kept up with all the new pressure I was putting on them. They needed some extra healing time. I was icing and using ibuprofen too but sometimes your body needs extra recuperation time. I hope you start feeling better, don't be bummed you are doing great but maybe you should take it easy for a week and heal.

[WindingRoad]

As I up my miles I notice I'm getting super cold lately? The higher my miles get the colder I get. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this too?

[limewave]

As I up my miles I notice I'm getting super cold lately? The higher my miles get the colder I get. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this too?

I have been increasing the intensity of my workouts and my runs. I've noticed I've been getting terrible chills afterwards.

Sometimes its so bad that after I've showered, put on thick socks, 2 heavy shirts, long underwear, drinking hot tea . . . I'll still need to draw a hot steamy bath or run a space heater directly on me.

[Aggie_Ama]

I have had the chills too, I have to draw a hot bath.

I did my first true trail run today, 5 +/- miles at one of local mountain bike spots. It was fun, a bit hard. Some twisty single track, rocky hills, some roots and creeks. But it was also a great change of pace.

[colby]

You gals have had a productive week so far!

I was traveling this week and it was pretty rough. The hotel we stayed at had a co-operative gym membership last year that let us go to an actual gym, but discontinued it sometime since then. That left us with their "fitness center" - 1 treadmill, 1 elliptical, 1 recumbent bike, free weights, weight bench, and weight machine, all in a space the size of a small hotel room. Close quarters, humid, and usually you had to compromise or wait for the equipment you wanted.

I only wore FiveFingers the whole time I was traveling (it was a conference where we were on the expo floor with other software/hardware vendors giving demonstrations of our stuff), except when we went out to our nicer dinners and I'd have got the stinkeye for doing so. I stood in my Sprints all day, and exercised in my KSOs in the mornings. Elliptical the first day (treadmill busy), bike the second day, and treadmill today. Because I'm not used to standing all day and we ate late dinners, I was not able to stick to my normal schedule and just tried to get the time in and be close to the schedule rather than stress about not doing the exact program for 3 days. It was my first time wearing them on the treadmill, which took some adjusting. I was tired and it was a weird treadmill, so I just tried to relax and get the workout in.

Anyway, this weekend is either 12 miles or an easy week re-test of my perceived effort scale, which I will probably run in the VFFs since I only had one other run in them and feel pretty good. In my long run on Sunday (the 28th), I wore shoes for about 11 miles. I am looking forward to being able to run in the FiveFingers almost all the time, especially while I get over whatever it is that bothers my heel so much in shoes.