After three days off I ran today, 10k. My feet felt frozen for most of the run, but I made it through it. Acupuncture tomorrow! Also my calves felt really tight on the run, no idea why… Accu canceled…
Crummy run
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Category Archives: 10k
Two base runs in a row
I shouldn’t have been running as the air quality has been awful due to firs in Sisters, OR. But I ran both runs in a light haze. Tomorrow is the start of the clear out, but more than likely still bad. But I’ll probably throw caution to the coming winds and run anyway (I hope). So the last two days have both been my 10k base runs. I ran them both slowly and my feet are feeling the recent increase in miles of late.
The foot discomfort really has been making the long mile runs a thing of the past. It seems to be mostly in the balls of my feet and feels as if my shoes are too small. Often I get a slight numbing as well. I do like the zero-drop shoes and how my feet have felt these last two weeks. I have to say that overall I like the flat approach to shoe design. and I love the extra room in the fronts of my Altra Instincts. I have been concentrating on my feet spreading out and flattening on the roads. That seems to help a little. Maybe it is just an acceptance of the discomfort.
Another break, but today four in a row
As my writing here slows, so usually does my running. About 2 weeks ago my work and music life got a lot busier, both good but time consuming. All it takes is about a week of not running to start me obsessing about my weight as well as a reduction in the fitness benefits I am amassing in regards to treating ms. The weight thing has been building all summer and I have put on 10 or so pounds since winter, the exact oposite of what my usual seasonal patterns have been. I have enjoyed the extra fat for injections though. So while I can’t really say I have stopped my running malaise this year, today I did the fourth run in four days which I have always felt is a good restart. I think if gives me a sense of pattern acceptance in my workouts. I’ve also been pretty successful with not eating at night. So in general I feel pretty good with the exception of my tingly feet.
Sp today’s run was not only the fourth in a row, but I ended with a quality long slow distance run. It’s the first one in quite a while. It feels good to be exhausted. And I have been refueling/rehydrating pretty well this evening, and more food on the way! It was one of those runs where I had no real plan. But as I kept making route decisions leading me further along, I knew what it would be a good day for an lsd run. Actually I didn’t keep my heart rate low enough to be a good lsd run, more of a base run pace. I had several points where I started to fade and then pushed hard through them. I thought that was a good success, almost as good as getting home. It felt really good to finish.
The other three runs were two back-to-back base 10k runs and a short recovery run. I ran the two base runs pretty fast, I think the break was probably good for me. They were pretty boring but one weird thing did happen. I ran into the same dreadlocked reed student running in the canyon at exactly the same spot along the north trail. The recovery run felt good, really more of a slowish 5 miles than recovery. But I think the effects were pretty similar considering how well today’s long run went.
Running well these days
So again coming back into running. I have actually run a lot lately and just didn’t write about it. I kept thinking I should and even thought about topics to write about. But just never got to it. So runs this week were a couple of base runs after a long cold/flu. They were hard but I pushed through them. Both runs I took walking breaks which were needed. But the last two runs (yes, four runs since I wrote) have been really good, a recovery run and a tempo(ish) run.
Yesterday I did a great recovery run. 10k and kept my heart rate below my recovery ceiling (HR less than 144 for me) for probably 95+% of the run. I had my first slip up when a woman was running in the opposite direction of me. We both hit the end of the East Moreland Reedway blocks (or whatever it is called) looping back towards reed, her going with traffic and me across the park blocks between us, going against. I noticed she was barefoot and we chatted a bit about barefoot running, she was training for a barefoot Hood to Coast team. I was pushing it to keep up with her when I remembered that I was trying for 144 and my HR was 160! So I said so long and went slowly on my way in a different direction. It actually didn’t take me too long to get my HR down and I continued through reed and the canyon all under. I knew the hills were coming up and as I got closer I tried to bring my HR down as much as possible to get ready for the slow climb. The first set of smaller hills through campus went fine, all under. But the final stretch is significantly steeper and I had to really slow down. There was nobody around so I didn’t mind appearing to run as slowly as possible! I almost made it, but I crept up to 146 for parts of it. Still pretty darn good. The last hill went fine. I had brought my HR down to about 129 before I started and made it to the top under 144. Then crossing the street at the top of the hill I was up to 150. I didn’t sprint across the street or anything, but maybe my dislike of cars… All in all a great recovery run with an average pace of 12-13 min miles.
Today was a different story. I started pretty cool with some clouds that quickly gave way to sunshine and some warmth. I hadn’t decided what to do on this run. I found myself doing a steady brisk pace with ease and decided to push the pace throughout the run. Today’s now decided goal was sub 10 min miles for 10K. I kept strong for the first three + miles and then bonked a bit coming out of the canyon and up the hills. I slowed down for the hills but kept pushing. At the top I was still under 10 min mile pace so I pushed again. I think I even needed a last burst of energy to get me through the final four blocks. In the end, under 10 min miles easy.
So two solid runs back to back and both training runs of sorts. Ones I can at least categorize in my running log. well, tempo(ish).
Coming back from a cold
Cold, flu, whatever it was is still in my lungs a bit, but I am coughing less. I have been meaning to write after taking a week off. I have run through illnesses before but this one was particularly nasty. So my first run back went pretty well, that was four days ago. 10K slow, I felt pretty good through the run. It was hard and I had to push myself along at times. But I made it through it and even ran again the following day. This run was tough and I walked a couple of times, but I got through 5 miles +. I followed this up with a couple days off mostly to perform better (actually played really poorly, kept forgetting my notes…)
Which brings me to today. I started out with some overcast but that quickly burned off and got warm. I didn’t bring water and that was a mistake. But I was going by water fountains on the run and I did ok, still should have had it with me. My pace was fast right from the start. I stayed conscious of my pace trough most of the run and pushed myself several times. For the last mile or so I knew I would make it averaging under 10 min miles. I finished my 10k distance just over 60 minutes and ended with a 9:46 pace, I was happy with that. I felt pretty beat and a shower flet great but I recovered throughout the day pretty well.
My feet have been bugging me a bit lately and today was no exception. Yesterday I had to play a show standing on audio cables which felt really uncomfortable on the bottoms of my feet. Today on the run I was feeling it. Weird feet!
Third 6 miler in three days
Today I cranked out another 10k run. Still felt really slow and I was still a tad sore, but not nearly as sore as yesterday. It feels pretty good knowing that I have been running for three days now and avoiding the lazies. It doesn’t hurt that I haven’t been nearly as busy these last couple of days other than work stuff which I can do just fine while running, no foggy brain like what happens with music. The other good news is that I haven’t had any relapse of the symptoms I was feeling on my first run three days ago. So that must have just been a fluke thing (I hope.) I decided to bring water with me even though it seemed deceptively cool with the cloud cover, the humidity however was still pretty thick and I think the sips of water helped out immensely. I guess I have to face the fact that it is water bottle season again! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I didn’t stop at all on this run. Yesterday I was exhausted and really feeling like I needed some short walks to recover. But today it was back to normalcy with no stopping.
Couple of 10k runs
Being that I have been way too lax in the running dept. I am extremely glad I got two six milers in during the last two days. I hadn’t run in over a week and it felt like I was getting into bad patterns exercise wise. Hopefully I will be able to get in as many as possible this summer, but I am gonna be busy with the music. We played at the coast this weekend and I almost brought my shoes, but I wimped out. I still have yet to run on the beach, bucket list.
Yesterday’s first run of the two was hard, but doable. I felt like I was going really slow, but that’s ok. I felt like the last half required a good amount of pushing myself to keep going, but I felt pretty strong dealing with energy drain for the most part. Around the middle of the run I noticed a weakness in my right leg, very slight but noticeable. It only seemed to really happen for a minute or two though I sort fo felt a lingering hangover sort of speak for 15 minutes or so, then I don’t remember it being an issue. But the feeling did have sort of a similar feeling to the spells I had. Also I had some limpness during that whole flare up. And on today’s run it wasn’t there at all.
Today’s run was really hard. My legs were a bit sore from yesterday and doing leg lifts (even though I wasn’t running, I have been doing some leg lifts…) it was something and I was feeling it in my core at the start (sort of faded away as I warmed up after a couple of miles). The last half was brutal and it was really muggy. Running through the canyon just saps it out of me. Sort of like a sweat house. Hmm, maybe I have stumbled onto the next running fad…hot running. I had to stop and walk coming up the hill out of reed. Then I continued on a bit further and walked at the next little hill. I started up again for the last mile home and made it to the house and even did a little add on to reach six miles with my dog watching and wagging her tail.
With all the long breaks I have been taking recently I have been really concerned that I was stopping the running. I have gone through streaks in my life of not running and I don’t want to stop doing it. My grande ms experiment cannot come to an end! So it won’t. I just have to get back nto making it a regular thing. And I will.
Still running, I swear
Yeah I am still running, despite having little time for blogging. The last couple weeks have been full with music performances and I have dedicated my energies to that. Today I just have a rehearsal tonight, but I decided I would stop using music as an excuse to not run. So for at least a day I am not gonna be lazy! This time of year is almost perfect for running. The dyas are coolish with a bit of warmth thrown in and enough sun to really make me want to run. Today’s run was actually really humid, I sweated a lot. Its almost time for a water bottle requirement. I should be bringing one anyway just to get in the habit plus it is so good to stay hydrated.
Today I started out with plans to just run for three miles to get me out and running. That quickly turned into 5 miles and then I thought what the heck, I’ll do my base 10k. And considering a friend of mine who is training for his first marathon this fall just did his first 10k run, I figured I had better join him. I actually couldn’t do my full 10k, well I suppose I could have gone further, but reed college is doing its annual neighborhood exclusion they call renn festival. I see it as more of a class war against the perceived riff-raff of Portland or the neighbors of Woodstock and East Moreland. Every year they force all the neighbors to stay off the campus while the children run around and get wasted. I am sure they consider it more than that, but I certainly don’t. I just feel excluded. Anyway, enough anti-reed words for now.
I have been feeling really worn out after running lately. Makes me think this is what they are talking about with ms fatigue. Either that or I have let my base lag and I am not in as good a shape as I used to be. Either way I am positive I will be able to beat it back. I’ll either get in better shape or learn to live with the fatigue or better yet, both. The plan this week is to get more running in and since I won’t have as much music performance going on I’ll have less excuse to be lazy. Now I’ll have to blame work. Nah, I’ll just do it.
A week off
I really seem to be having some trouble with keeping up with my running lately. I blame the weather and an increasing work schedule but in all honesty there is a bit of laziness at fault as well. Still, I have been putting in the hours for work and have had a number of performances to squeeze in as well. But the good news is that yesterday I broke the week long string of no runs. I even managed to get in in between rain storms. I didn’t start until I was home for about 5 minutes. Whooo hoo!
My speed has really been suffering. Yesterday I did my 10k at 10:10. It felt even slower. I know this is something that will pick up to more regular I get about running. My running partner who is just getting back into running after an injury has been doing a lot of cross-training work and it really shows. While she can’t run for long distances yet, she has really picked up her pace. We have been meeting once a week for 2.5 mile runs and she kicks my butt! In my defense I have been running 5 miles before our short fast runs. Still the parts with her have been great workouts. I suppose I would really benefit from some track work, but I don’t think I am ready for it yet. Soon, but not yet.
I was also thinking the other day how long it has been since I have done a good solid hill workout. Not that I feel an overwhelming desire to do one, but it has been a long time (18 months?) Going to have to work them in eventually too.
My diet has gotten a lot better in the past month or so. I have returned to drinking my green drinks which consist of a spinach, banana and yoghurt base with other fruits added in: strawberries, apples, pears, mangos and blueberries. They are actually really tasty and I feel like I have a lot more energy as well. I have been adding soy protein powder to them after runs to give myself a little bit of a recovery bounce. Good stuff!
Fastest run yet (well in recent days anyway…)
Today I headed out on my typical 10k course, basically the same route I have been doing a lot lately. Since I rededicated myself to running regularly about three weeks ago I think I have run this route every time but once. One nice thing about doing your running in this manner is it really allows you to judge improvements. So my mini-goal as of late has been to speed up my times. I have been fighting a cold/flu for the last week or so but I have still been able to keep up with running albeit slow runs of greater than 10 min miles. So my mini-goal should be attainable! Not only have I increased my general fitness, but I have also beaten this bug. So on Thursday when I finally topped the 10 min mile mark for an average pace I was pretty excited and figured I was on my way. But then the next day (yesterday) I was back over 10 min miles, my excuse de jour is that I rolled my ankle in the middle of the run. The rolled ankle was not bad enough that I had to hobble home, my rubber ankle rebounded pretty quickly and I was able to walk it off. But I do think that slowed me down a bit as I was trying to be careful.
As a side note I have been experiencing what I think is probably an over-training issue with my foot. Could also have something to do with the new shoes (more than likely a combo). I have some pain on the top of my foot right in the area of the top of my shoe tongue. I really only feel it when I first get started and then it seems to go away. I loosened my laces a bit today and I think that might have actually helped but I still felt the ache for the first mile or so. It seems to be lessened if I focus on a mid-strike and more pronounced if I am hitting with ball of my foot. Hills also seem to irritate this pain a bit. But like I said after a mile or so the pain seems to be gone.
So today I struck out for run #3 in a row. What was different today? I didn’t have the ankle as an excuse, it felt fine (not even a twinge). The top of my foot still experienced pain for the first mile, but that went away as I got going. So, back to the difference (enough whining), I decided early in my run to start pushing myself. It wasn’t quite a tempo run, but I refused to let myself take it easy. My runs have been coming easier and easier which is nice, but today I pushed myself back into that point of exertion similar to how things felt when I was starting out again. I kept reminding myself to go and not take it easy. Again, this was by no means a race pace, but I felt myself working hard throughout the run. And that was the difference. These past three weeks I was just happy to be running regularly again. Today I got passed that and into a training mindset. Well not completely, but I wanted to work today and it paid off. After four miles I was pretty sure I was going to break a 10 min mile average as I was three mins up. I kept pushing and was soon four mins ahead. By the time I finished my average pace was 9:17. Pretty happy with that! Hopefully I will keep that work ethic up or at least on quality run days.
My PR for a 10k is 49:00, today I hit 10k at around 56 mins. Not to bad and plenty of room for improvement.