Back to the Woods

This morning was the first time I hit the trails in quite a while. A lot of excuses have kept me staying with the convenience of road running pretty much a winter. I was reminded of what I had missed out on and how awesome it is to cruise through the woods just after dawn.
I ran 21 miles total this morning, but did the first 12 on the roads, timing my arrival at the trails with sunrise so I didn't have to mess with a headlamp. It snowed just enough this morning to coat the trails themselves with a white film - highlighting the singletrack as it snaked through the trees - it looked very cool (wish I had brought a camera). Obviously, my pace slowed down when I hit the trails, and even though my legs could tell they hadn't been off pavement for a couple months, I still felt good through the entire run, including my last and fastest miles back to my car which was parked 3 miles away from the trails.
It was only 16 degrees this morning, but the wind was relatively light so I was very comfortable the whole time. I wore tights with shorts over, a fitted long sleeve shirt, tech t-shirt, and my Reebok running jacket. I wore a face mask and double gloves with hand warmers in them.
Great morning overall. Looking forward to hitting the trails more often.

Topeka to Auburn

Yesterday was the Topeka to Auburn 1/2 Marathon. Brad invited me out to do it with him, he has done it a few times in years past. It turned out to be a great event all around. Aside from some strong winds at time, the weather warmed up into the upper 30's and was sunny - perfect.
The race is a one-way course from Topeka to the small town of Auburn, KS. We parked at the finish, and rode a bus to the start - a van took our gear bags back to Auburn for us to pick up at the finish.
We lined up about mid-pack at the starting line, and held a pace in the upper 7:00's for the majority of the first half. About mile 6 or 7, we sped up and maintained a pace in the low 7:00's for the next for miles. Around mile 10, I was still feeling pretty good, so I turned up the tempo just a bit more logging a sub 7:00 mile and holding through a sprint to the finish. I had just passed a girl right before the finish when I heard my name announced, then the girls name along with a notation that she was the first female to finish. So...at least I beat all the female participants. Final time was 1:39:50, 57th out of 270 runners.

Sun Rise

I need to get my butt moving faster in the morning. I woke up at 4:00 so I would have plenty of time to get 24 miles in before church yesterday, but still ended up getting started about 15 minutes later than planned and only got 22 miles in before time to go to church. Oh well, it was still a good run and my last couple miles were pacing in the low 7s - not bad for me after 20 miles. I felt extremely fresh still when we arrived at the finish, and once again wanted to keep going if not for time constraints. Brad met me after the first 4 miles so I had him as company for the majority of the run. I normally like to run solo so I can do my own thing, but it's nice to have someone to talk to every once in a while, plus, Brad and I run at about the same pace.

Although it's sometimes hard to get out the door in the wee hours of the morning, it sure is nice to be running when the sun comes up. I love the feeling of accomplishment knowing that I have ran further than most people ever will - all before they even got out of bed for the day. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from it that I can't really describe. It's not an "I'm better than you" type of thing, but more just a secure sense of self confidence. A rush that keeps me feeling good all day.

Hurricanes

Since the pain in my achilles area still hadn't gone away, but had instead spread to my right leg as well, I decided it was time to possibly try a different shoe style. I have been wearing Mizuno Wave Creations for quite awhile, and have always liked the firmness of them, but a little reflection helped me realize that maybe this was the problem - especially considering the weekly mileage that I have been averaging.
I went to the store last night in search of something with a little more cushion and some moderate pronation control (I slightly overpronate at best, but figured a little support in this area might help the pains I've been having). I came out with a pair of Saucony Hurricane 10's. I already put 20 miles on them this morning and couldn't be happier with my decision to switch to them - I didn't know what I had been missing all this time. I felt great the entire 20 miles, finishing stronger and faster than at any other point during the run, and had none of the achilles area pains that I had recently been experiencing even on shorter runs. The area is a little tight right now, but nothing like before and no more than what I would normally expect after 20 miles. If the family weren't waiting for me a tome to get to church, I would have liked to have kept going longer today - the extra cushioning in these shoes compared to what I was used to really helped keep my legs fresh.

Next week I'll get an extra early morning start and go for 24-26 miles, then I'll probably go down in mileage for a rest week before building the mileage back up again.

Running is an all-weather sport

I logged 18 miles yesterday in single digit temperatures, and during the 2.5+ hours that I was running, I had plenty of time to contemplate my sanity. Not sure that I came to any definite conclusions, but I knew that I was happy to be running despite the icicles forming from my eyelashes.

Actually, it really wasn't that bad - I was slightly overdressed and working up quite a sweat (an odd sensation when the temps are that cold). For my upper body, I wore a long sleeve tech-T, a long sleeve 1/4 zip heavy tech-T, and my new running jacket with fleece vest liner. For the legs I wore tights with running pants on top, regular running socks with thin dress socks over them (mainly to ensure I had something over my ankles), light gloves inside a pair of my hunting mittens, and a face mask. I put Aquaphor on the exposed portion of skin around my eyes.

Normally, if I overheat, I would just shed a layer, but due to the extreme temps, I was afraid of shedding a layer and then exposing sweat dampened clothing and figured that wouldn't be very good. Fortunately, I was able to get used to the extra clothing and monitored the situation by lowering/raising the zipper on my jacket - it's amazing how much heat can be released or retained by doing this. I was also afraid to pee behind a bush as I normally would from a real fear of a mid-stream freeze possibly leading to even more troubles.

Aside from the shear weight of all the extra clothing, the mask also made for very labored breathing. It has holes in the mouth and nose area, but still obstructed the air from flowing freely. My water bottle froze too (guess I should have been able to predict that), but luckily my route looped back by my car a little past midway where I had another bottle that was still in liquid form.

I didn't really want to be out in the cold yesterday, but not running would have made me very grumpy, and I didn't think I could last that long on a treadmill. As I told Mendy, "I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't get my run in." Oh well, I guess there are worse hang-ups to have.

Back in Action

Finally! After 8 days of virtually no running (1 mile total for the duration) I couldn't take the rest for my ankle any longer and decided to try it out this morning on the treadmill. Despite a dull, but tolerable pain in the trouble area, all went well. I had been nervous that I might start losing my running fitness soon, and I had a ton of anxiety from not running for this long. The anxiety wasn't because I wasn't exercising, I have been doing plenty of other cross training for that aspect, but just from not being able to do something that I so enjoy.
After a few minutes warm-up, I started running at a fairly conservative 8:30 pace. As I realized things were going well, I ended up turning the 5 miles into a progressive run and accelerated a bit every 1/2 mile to an ending pace of 7:20.
Funny thing is, prior to the injury, I had just decided to start working on developing more of a mid-foot strike as opposed to the slight heel strike that I currently have. As I employed some of these techniques this morning, the slight lingering pain that was still there seemed to improve and lessen with the mid-foot strike...all the more reason to keep working on it I guess. It's too early to tell for sure, but as this was the first time I had consciously tried working on this while on a treadmill, I could tell a noticeable difference in the ease of speed when using the mid-foot. It was apparent that I was running slightly faster - without more effort - because I would creep toward the front of the belt clipping the frame with my toes every time I did it for a while.
I've got my new bike set up on a trainer next to treadmill, so I hopped on it after the run for about 10 miles of cycling.
I need to remember to be cautious and take a couple more easy sessions as there was still a little discomfort, but I am thrilled to be back in action.

Itching to Run

I haven't been able to run since last Sunday's 12 mile recovery run after the the Gobbler Grind. Everything felt fine during and even immediately after that day's run, but later in the day I started developing a soreness in the tendons on the back of my left leg below the calf. I don't remember any specific twist, turn, or otherwise damaging event, but the pain developed none-the-less. I've laid off the running all week to give it time to heal as it may simply be from over use, but I'm getting really sick of this. It doesn't hurt anymore to walk around throughout the day, but as soon as I start the running motion is when it kicks in. This past 6 days has been the longest stretch I've gone with zero running in a long time and I really miss it. I'd rather be a little cautious now and let things heal correctly than risk some sort of more serious injury that could have me out for awhile.

This forced week off did help me decide to definitely not run the Fat Ass 50K on January 1st. My early '09 schedule is getting pretty full and I had been debating the merits of trying to squeeze this run in and whether it would be too much to try and be ready for in just a few weeks, and then have time to recover and be ready again for another 50K in February. Without this week for training - the deal is off for that event, which is probably for the better in terms of the long term plan.

I did have some fun this week with some cross training to offset the lack of running. In addition to adding some leg work back into my weight routines, I started swimming. My first day was a total disaster. Kid lessons were being given at the pool so there were a ton of parents (in street clothes) sitting around the pool watching. Needless to say, I felt a bit subconscious walking amongst all the fully clothed people, and even more so as I flailed along the length of pool gasping for air as 10 year olds passed me with ease. My stroke resembled more that of a golden retriever than the dolphin I had anticipated in my mind. The second day went much better - I went early morning so there were no kids and parents, and I was able to gain a little more confidence in my stroke. I am determined more than ever now to become a good swimmer, I'm even going to take a couple of private lessons because I really have no idea how to swim properly. The only down side to going to the pool early morning is the abundance of naked old men in the locker room...