Lunar Obverse

I promised to outline my running for the week before actually, y’know, running. OK, maybe not here in public on my blob, but to myself. I like to know, before I head out, what my goal is for the run and how it fits into my overall plan.

That’s what this post is about. Starting to set some goals for the week, and getting me started towards planning a longer-term strategy for the spring season.

But that’s a ways off, and I want to just focus on this week, so here goes my plan:

• Monday: – Run 30 minutes
• Tuesday: – Run 40 minutes + strength training
• Wednesday: – Speedwork – 4 x 4:00 fast/2:00 slow
• Thursday: – Rest day + strength training
• Friday: – Run 35 minutes
• Saturday: – Run 60 minutes + strength training
• Sunday: – Rest day

Notice the focus on time, not distance. That’s how I’m approaching the next couple of weeks, I think, until I’m back up to speed.

Yay! I got to run outside again yesterday. Spring is on its way, although I don’t think winter is quite done with Portland yet.

It was raining when I left the house, and had been all morning, so I was resigned to running at the gym. I planned on about 4 miles, maybe more if I could, which was going to be boring running on a treadmill. Ugh. But after I’d changed into running clothes, I looked outside and saw actual blue sky and sun. I decided to go outside and run my crazy figure-eight loop, where I cross over the Morrison Bridge twice, which, I think, is about 3.5 miles or so.

Luckily, because I originally planned on running on the treadmill, I didn’t take my watch, so I don’t have any idea how fast I ran. It felt good, though. Legs felt strong, my ankles and heel felt fine. Breathing… was normal. Ugh. I’d had a hard time getting some pseudephedrine earlier that day to clear out my sinuses, but I did get some. Hopefully it was just the humidity.

It was also tough going up and over the bridge twice. That’s a fairly steep ramp. I did make it about halfway round the entire loop before having to stop and walk, though. I’ll get back up to speed soon enough.

Once back to the gym, I stretched out and then went through my normal strength exercises. It, also, felt good.

Hit the gym tonight. Only intended to do my strength training, but when I got there, there was a treadmill open, and I needed to do some aerobics to warm up, so… I did a quick mile. Inspired by my youngest nephew, I aimed for a 9:00 pace, but ended up finishing the mile in 9:24. Cooled down, stretched out, and hit the weights.

I think I’ll take tomorrow off, then try a longish run on Saturday, and more strength training.

Ran last night. Stupid rain was back, so it was back to the gym.

I got on the treadmill after having made the cardinal mistake: starting a land war in Asia going up against a Sicilian when death was on the line not deciding in advance what my goal was.

I had run just under 3 miles on Monday. I want to build my miles back up to over 20 a week by the spring. I also want to build my speed back up. All of these aspirations were floating through my mind but hadn’t coalesced into a daily goal, the goal of that specific session on the treadmill. Those aspirations colided with my stuffy sinuses and overall blah-i-ness.

As I finished my quarter mile walking warmup, I thought, 3 miles? 3.5 miles? 4 miles? 30 minutes, no matter the milage? What, man? What’s the goal?

Again, as I plowed through the first mile, my legs felt strong. I set the pace at a nice 10:10. I did increase the incline to a 1% grade, despite the pain that had caused me previously. Where before my break, I would have heel pain in my right foot and some ankle soreness in the left, there was little to no pain at all unless I lengthened my stride to far and leaned too far forward. Standing tall, and keeping my stride fairly short but quick, produced no pain. However, if I started to lean forward, or I started to run toes-outward even a bit – and there were little pricks of pain. I have to work on my form, then. The strength training will help here.

However, after the first mile and a quarter, my throat became ever-so-slightly constricted, even at this fairly slow pace. I slowed a bit, to a 10:30 pace, and just kept pushing for another quarter-mile at a time. 1.50 miles came and went. 1.75 miles… and I had to slow to a walk. I walked for about a minute and a half, and then picked up the pace again. 2.0 miles came… 2.1 miles… and I had to stop again. Dammit. Is that enough, I asked myself, as I kept walking and my breathing returned to normal. No, I said to myself, that is not enough. I increased to a 9:50 pace and aimed for 2.5 miles.

At 2.5 miles, I decided to aim for 2.75 miles. And at that point, I stopped to walk again. I finished my walking warmup and called it a day.

Today, this morning – I wanted to see if my ankle and heel pain would return. Again, in the past, it would be worse in the morning right out of bed – the tendons would tighten up from not carrying any weight during sleep, and then that first few steps out of bed would feel like needles, mainly in the sole of my foot. But, no, nothing. I think, at the very least, that the 3-week break from running has given me enough time to heal up and strengthen up my feet and ankles. So that’s a positive.

I didn’t do any strength training last night. I will go back to the gym tonight to do that, and then run again on Friday or Saturday. This weekend I’ll plan ahead for the next couple of weeks to get my miles back up to where I’d like – but slowly. I’m aiming for a peak in April, then I’ll start planning for the late summer races and maybe (maybe, may-be) try a half-marathon in the fall.

The weather today was wonderful, at least in comparison to the past couple months. It was almost warm, and sunny, and dry. All day. Not very windy, either. And all day, I thought “If it’s like this when I get out of work, I’m going to run outside, not in the gym!”

It’s been a long time since I ran in the sun. Since Christmas Eve, actually, when I went out with my nephew. I did run outside in the streets on New Year’s Day, but that was at night. And even though the days are getting longer, and it was still light outside when I left work at 4:00 PM, I wasn’t sure that there would continue to be light enough for me to run.

In fact, the negative voice in the back of my head tried to talk me out of running outside today. It told me it was too cold, that I hadn’t packed the right gear (shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt), that it was too windy, that it was going to be dark by the time I finished… lots of excuses.

Good thing I ignored them all.

I hopped to the gym to change, and headed out for a run around the Esplanade. It was a training run, after 3 weeks off, so I didn’t expect a fast pace. However, I did want to see if my strength training had an impact.

I started out strong – probably a bit too strong. I did make it to about the 13:00 mark before having to slow to a walk, which was OK. My legs felt great, actually – the reason I had to stop was my lungs. I guess elliptical trainers don’t work the cardio-vascular system quite as well as running, no matter how fast I push those pedals.

But I only had to stop to walk several times (maybe four? I didn’t keep track), and I tried to make up for those short (0:30 – 1:00 each) by throwing in some faster, harder running. So I turned the loop into a fartlek run.

And I noticed that stronger legs mean several positives. First, of course, they don’t tire as fast, and I was able to push myself along the ground better. But the other main improvement was that they provided far better shock absorption and cushioning, and I was able to maintain a better balance and stronger forward-and-back motion – everything felt much better aligned and in the groove than I remember them being in the past. And that was from the waist down. Yes, even my “core” being stronger helped. I will definitely continue the strength training, as the benefit is clear to me.

My breathing, however, was constrained and wheezy, dammit. I’m hoping part of that was the break in training, and another part is the cold weather. We shall see.

My final time for the measured distance (2.87 miles per Google Earth) was 0:30:41, for an average pace of about 10:41. Just about perfect for my first training run of 2006.

After my run, I went back to the gym and did two circuits (upper/core/legs), with a bit stronger weights than I’d been using last time. Then I tried to sit in the steam room but the steam room was absent any steam. Ugh. So I showered and grabbed some dinner (Bourbon chicken at the mall).

Gym yesterday. Same drill as the past three weeks – 30+ minutes of aerobic (my favorite, the elliptical) and then three circuits of strength training. I did toss in an extra leg exercise, just because.

On the elliptical I did manage an indicated 3.21 miles in 30 minutes, before my cooldown, which would be a running pace of 9:20! I set the resistance lower than previously because I wanted to work on leg speed. Starting tomorrow I’m going to be back to running. We’ll see if this cross-training break has had a positive effect on my running. Looking forward to it…