Lunar Obverse

Quick running update.

Wore the Asics, at the gym, planned 4 miles or 40 minutes whichever came first.

Music was Green Day’s “American Idiot”.

Only goal was to complete the distance, didn’t worry about pace. Had been tired and hungover all day (made a couple of vodka martinis last night while watching the “Firefly” DVD set. Good show. More on that later) so wasn’t sure how well I’d be running.

I set the pace at a steady 10:00 mile, and just started running. Tried to just float and not think about the distance or the time, and in retrospect, I’d say I got about 60-65% of the way there. The negative voice was there in the back of my head, as usual, and my legs were stiff for about the first mile and a half. After that, I started loosening up. Around mile 3 I started to breathe heavier, but I focused on tightening up my form and lifting my knees more, and it got better. The negative voice told me around then that I could stop at 3.5 miles, I’d proved my point, but I ignored it and continued on to the finish.

As I approached 37:00 total, I grew bored with the steady pace, and cranked the speed up to 7.0 miles per hour, or an 8:34 pace. I wanted to push through to the end, and something something ‘lactic threshold‘ blah blah blah. Basically I wanted to give a wake-up call to my body. It worked, I kept up the faster pace until 40:00 even rolled around on the indicated, and I had travelled 4.04 miles. It wasn’t enough to much change my average pace over the entire distance, but it did get my blood and brain and body moving a bit faster. Felt good.

OK, today was my fourth day in a row running. Planned on 7.5 miles total, at the gym, didn’t care what pace as long as the miles were covered.

Wore the Adidas. At the gym I decided to split the total into two 3.75 mile segments, with lots of water in-between. Music for the first segment was Gorillaz “Demon Days”, music for the second was Bad Religion “All Ages” (and boy-oh-boy did I need the energy and encouragement from those old punkers).

Like I said, I didn’t care about the pace. I did manage to pull off the first segment without slowing down to a walk. I averaged about a 10:00 pace, did some faster stuff in there but balanced it out with some 10:30 pace. The negative voice was talking to me for the first two miles but I managed to just push on regardless. Around two miles in I started to feel my pace. But the last half-mile was difficult.

Was extremely thirsty going into the second segment, so instead of water I drank some PowerAde out of the vending machine. Had to stop a couple of times during the last half to drink, and to walk a bit. I estimate I spent about 5 minutes at a walking pace. Maybe only 4. Hard to say. But I did finish at a brisk pace – I cranked it up to a 9:13 pace (which seems slow but feels fast at the tail end of 7.5 miles of running, I can assure you, at least to me) for the last quarter mile, to try to push through my lactic threshold.

Stretching? Yeah, also hard. I was really tight after those sets of runs. Still am. But I will have all day Sunday, plus most of Monday to recover. I might even not run until Tuesday. Yeah, like that will happen… me going that long without running.

Did my 5-mile run today, as planned. In the gym, wore my Asics. Used two puffs of my inhaler. Music was Green Day’s “American Idiot”.

I wanted to test my speed, so after a mile warmup, I cranked the pace up to an indicated 9:05 and held at that for 2.25 miles. I did 2 miles last week and about 10 seconds faster, so I wanted to do at least another quarter-mile farther today. And I did. Yay, me. I rock! After that, I had to walk for about 2 minutes, then finished the remaining distance at between a 10:00-10:30 pace.

Still haven’t decided if I’m going to do my long run tomorrow or Sunday. Stay tuned.

I realized at some point that, by not running on Tuesday, but still wanting to run 24 miles this week, that would mean I would probably have to run 4 days in a row: Wednesday (speed work), Thursday (3.5 miles), Friday (5 miles), and Saturday (7.5 miles). I could either take Friday as a rest day and run those miles on Sunday, or I could move my long run to Sunday. Oh, I suppose there are several possible combinations. But, dammit, I don’t want to run on Sunday because that throws off the whole rest of the week. I’ll play it by ear.

But, in the meantime, I had a simple goal tonight: 3.5 miles, not pushing the pace. Easy-peasy. Did it at the gym, wore the Adidas. Music was The Decemberists, “Picaresque“. Did not use the inhaler. And, I did the miles only slightly slower than a 10:00 pace. I didn’t keep track of the exact time.

The first mile felt fine. During the second mile my negative inner voice chimed in, and worked to convince me that I only needed to do 2 miles, or only 3 miles, or only 30 minutes, or only 35 minutes. I just kept going. I did slow the pace down a bit, but never broke stride into a walk at all. I did sweat a lot, but regular readers know that that’s normal for me. I did have some heel pain, but concentrated on lifting my knees and pointing my toes, which helped shorten my stride and increase my turnover (pace of my feet hitting the ground), which was good. Also tried to focus on “running tall” and keeping my head and shoulders up, although I didn’t do so well with that. Overall, it was a good, steady run, and hopefully it will pay off with an increase in my aerobic capacity, which is why I do the slower runs, after all.

…and, afterward, after I stretched out, I spotted a cute busty blonde on the treadmill, that I had seen in the gym a lot recently. I had made eye contact in the past but hadn’t gotten any acknowledgment back from her. This time, still up on the rush that follows a good strong run, I thought I’d “test” her to see if I could make her smile. I walked slowly in front of her on the treadmill, caught her eye, and, smiling, briefly stuck my tongue out at her. This very nearly used up all my bravery, so I kept walking and looked away, but as I did, I saw a smile form on her face! I count this as a successful test, and I will smile and say “hi” the next time I see her, to take the next step.

Tonight was speedwork. At the gym. The plan was the usual, you know the drill: 1 mile warmup/cooldown, and in-between those, four alternating sets of 4:00 at a fast pace, and 2:00 at a slower pace.

Last week, I had troubles involving not being able to stay on one of the “good” treadmills; well, this week, I had the luxury of being able to keep one machine for the entire workout (except for one brief panic when I went to get some water but left my gym key and cell phone on it, and when I came back, some guy in a trucker hat was stretching on it, and doing his best to not look me in the eye or hear me, until I finally practically shouted at him (he was not wearing headphones, by the way) that I was not finished with this machine and could I have it back? “Oh, you’re not done?” he said, and sheepishly stepped down).

I wore my Asics, and the usual shorts and long-sleeved shirt. I forgot my hat, so sweat was running down my forehead as if it was Multnomah freakin’ Falls, but I lived. Music was Bad Religion (needed the punk rock to help me kick it into high gear). I did use two puffs of my albuterol inhaler (although it must surely be used up by now; maybe I don’t really need it? Is it now a psychological crutch?)

And… in my 24:00 of speedwork, I went 2.59 miles, for an average pace of 9:15.9, which is pretty decent speed and distance. I had a little less trouble keeping the pace this time, although, as mentioned, I do get dehydrated and thirsty. Don’t get me wrong, I’m working hard by the third fast section, but when it was done and I was back to the slow pace, I didn’t have to slow down as much.

Basically, I run at between an 8:27-8:41 pace during the fast sections, and no slower than a 10:30 pace on the recovery sections. I did walk for about a minute after the last fast section, though. I’m going to keep doing this drill every week until I can finish it without walking or stopping at all. It’s a good drill to get me through the winter, I think. Maybe if I’m bored of it by December I’ll come up with something else.

Also, my breathing has gotten, I don’t know, easier or something – I’m not fighting to keep a steady breathing rate, I just breathe normally and don’t try to suck in huge amounts of oxygen. Also also, my Asics started to give me a blister on my right heel. Ugh. Guess I’ll need to wear the ankle socks, instead of the low socks. How annoying.

Did a nice easy run at the gym tonight. I was aiming for a “tempo” run – easy to moderate. I set my goal beforehand at 40 minutes or 3.5 miles, whichever came first.

Tried to keep a steady pace. Did almost the first mile at a 10:10 pace to warm up, then the next mile and a half at about a 9:50 pace – just until I was averaging a 10:00 pace. Then just tried to zone out and not think about anything for the next mile and a half. As I approached 3.5 miles, I negotiated with myself, realized I was a little tired but could still manage the remaining distance to 4 miles and 40 minutes.

Just to finish strong, I pushed the pace up to 8:00 for the last 0.1 mile. Felt good. When 4 miles came up, I felt like I could have gone farther, which is exactly what I was aiming for – leaving a little something on the machine.

Music was The Long Winters’ first album. Wore the Asics. Did not use the inhaler, even though I felt a bit stuffed up all day. But whatever was wrong with my sinuses did not affect my run much. Once I got going, I breathed easily and steadily. My heart rate felt nice and strong but not overworked.

My stride, though… was weird. It felt like my right leg was going farther than my left leg, so I had to consciously pull back with my right to keep from falling off the treadmill. Other than that, my muscles and joints, from my hips down to my feet, were fine once I was warmed up.

Plans for the week – either Tuesday or Thursday are optional; I’ll do one or the other. Wednesday is speed day (my normal treadmill intervals), Friday is a moderately long but easy day (aiming for 5 miles), then Saturday is my long day (at least 7.5 miles). Sunday is a rest day.

It’s nice, this week I have Friday off. Three-day weekends are the bestest.

When last we heard from Brian the Runner, I had finished my speedwork Thursday night and, although I had lost track somewhat of my distance and time, was fairly sure that I was, in some ways, faster than I used to be. I intended to test this theory during my long run.

Today was my long run. I ran on well-rested legs (didn’t run yesterday), I did use my albuterol inhaler, I ran in my Adidas, shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. My nanoPod served up Radiohead, “Hail to the Thief” (great running music, by the way) to start me off.

I was running at the gym, of course. It’s been way too cold and rainy to run outside, at least for me. Luckily, Saturdays are not busy at my gym, so I had my choice of all the good treadmills today. And with the gym being so empty, I didn’t have to worry about getting kicked off during my run.

So, with all that aside, and after walking for a quarter-mile, I started my warmup – 2 miles at what felt like a fairly easy 9:50 pace. I felt sure I could go faster, but wanted to save my legs for the next phase.

The next phase being my test: how far could I go at a 9:00 pace? I hoped for at least 2 miles. I knew it would be challenging for me, and worried about being able to keep up. I also worried that my warmup might have sapped my strength. I needn’t have worried, however.

It was challenging, but I did manage to complete 2 miles at that pace! Due to the limitations of the machine, I had to set an indicated 8:57 pace (the next slowest speed was 9:05), but when 4.00 miles came up (that includes my warmup, remember) the clock showed 37:53 elapsed time. Subtracting 20:00 and 2.0 miles, that means my pace for that last two miles was 8:56.5. Which is a new personal record; my fastest-ever 2 miles. I wish I could bronze those two miles for a permanent record. I guess this blog entry is the best I can do.

After that, I needed to take a bathroom break. Then I went back on the treadmill for another 3.25 miles at an easy pace, since I still wanted to do at least 7 miles today. I didn’t keep track of the pace for that final stretch, but I set the pace on the machine around 10:00, with two walk breaks of less than a minute and some other fooling around with the pace.

So, it seems that there’s still improvement to be had for me in terms of speed. If I can do 2 miles at that speed, I can do 3 miles… eventually. And maybe even 6 miles… eventually. That’s as far as I’ll hope for now. I am over 40, after all. Time and biology are against me, but I’m not going down without a fight, that’s for sure.

I’ll continue with my speedwork and long runs, and make sure I give myself plenty of rest, and, come next Spring, I should be able to turn in some personal bests, after just over 2 years of running. Such a good feeling to overcome mental and physical obstacles. If only I can apply that feeling to other areas of my life…