Lunar Obverse

I know I planned to do my 7.5 mile loop, but, well, I changed plans in mid-run, and instead took the 7-mile loop, which is a huge disappointment to myself, but there it is. It’s not that much difference, especially because I did a longer run last night than I had originally planned. But, also, because I misremembered the finish line, I ended up only doing about 6.6 miles total, which brings my total for the week to 21.59, which is still more than I had last week so I’m happy about that.

I stopped three times for water, which is included in my overall time, which also makes me feel good, as you’ll see. When I punched the stop button at what I thought was the finish line for 7 miles, it read 1:08:32.8. Sixty-eight minutes? Did I really do a sub-10:00 pace for 7 miles? I kept going over it in my head as I walked back home. It seemed too good to be true, especially considering all the walk-breaks I took during the run. Could I possibly have been going really really fast when I ran, which averaged out the walking? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I must have stopped early. But even if I’d stopped a half-mile early, that was still better time than I thought I’d have. I figured I’d turn in a 12:00 pace. Ugh.

So, it’s a pleasant surprise to me that my final average pace, water and walk breaks included, was 10:23. Not too shabby for being old and out-of-shape for most of my life.

Wanted to run tonight after work. The weather was perfect, the perfect running temperature, the sun was shining. I had been looking forward to it all day, all the dreary long work-a-day work day.

I wanted to stay downtown, so I knew I was running the Waterfront loop. I couldn’t decide how far to run. I had planned on 4 miles, a couple of days ago. I knew that once around, from my starting point at SW Columbia and back to that starting point (I know the exact seam in the sidewalk that is my starting and finish line) was 2.87 miles, as near as I can measure in Google Earth. So I knew that once around was not long enough. I had to extend it somehow.

I knew that tomorrow I would be running my 7.5 mile loop, in my neighborhood. So twice around seemed a bit too long. My crazy double-figure-8 loop was, what, 4.7 miles? That would be good. But, y’know, I’ve already run that loop this week. I could just add the back-and-forth across the Hawthorne Bridge at the end, but that only makes 3.5 miles, give or take.

So. Twice around it was.

Used my inhaler, good ol’ albuterol. Wore short sleeves, shorts, my Adidas, my lucky hat, my watch. Queued up the nano to Foo Fighters, again. Stretched out. And decided I would push myself this time, keep a faster pace. I also set the goal of aiming for a faster second half – negative splits. Hoped I didn’t get interrupted by any bridge openings – that’s the suck.

About a mile into it, I shifted to a stride where I lifted my knees more than I had been. I’d been doing this slow shuffle, hardly lifting my feet at all. But when I tried raising my knees on the up stroke, it felt… easier. Thinking about it, I think that I was using more muscles to do the same work of propelling myself along, which made it seem easier. I kept going fairly brisk (but not race-pace) for a very long time without slowing or breaking stride to walk at all, for the first 44 minutes, which felt amazing to me after having been so slow these past weeks. And after a brief (30 seconds – I timed it) walking recovery, I was able to continue on again at the same pace.

The best part is I started doing that stride because my heel started hurting again, and lifting my knees caused me to strike more towards my forefoot, which seemed to ease the pain of my heel.

My first half I did in 28:17.99 (9:51.6 pace), my second half I did in 29:27.0 (10:15.7 pace), for an average of 10:03.7 pace, which feels pretty good for that distance (5.74 miles total). I know I can do better, but that’s a good recent pace for that distance.

I’ll do the heat/ice treatment tonight, and again in the morning before I run, and definitely afterward, but I’m betting that my new stride will have another positive effect on my heel pain. Here’s hoping.

My right foot, heel, and ankle feel fine this morning. Apparently the alternating hot/cold treatment is working, because I ran hard last night. True, I ran on a treadmill, with all of it’s attendant cushioning. But even in the past, running on a treadmill would aggravate my foot pain – not this time, though. I will continue to apply the hot/cold treatment for another week. Maybe I can heal up entirely.

Tonight was speed work night. I went to my gym after work, changed into my Asics, shorts and a sleeveless shirt, hat, iPod nano queued up to Green Day’s American Idiot, and hit the treadmill.

Quarter-mile walking warmup, then another mile at a 10:00 pace, some stretches and I was off.

4:00 at 8:57 pace, then 2:00 active recovery, repeat four times total. This week I didn’t slow to walking speed at all, in fact my slowest pace during recovery was 10:35, and that was on the very last recovery period. It was a challenge but I just zoned out and tuned out the monkey chatter voice in my head that tries to talk me out of things. I finished this phase with about 2.55 miles but did not notice the elapsed time.

During my last recovery period I felt a chill sweep over me, like the temperature dropped in the gym. I immediately took notice, since normally I’m pretty over-heated even through my sweat. When I picked up the pace a little bit for my last mile of cooldown running (does it make sense to speed up for a cooldown run? I don’t know but I still have the “gotta go fast” hang-up) I warmed up a little but then when I walked my absolute final quarter-mile the chill came back.

Not sure what my goal for next week will be – longer fast intervals (5:00 at 9:00 pace)? Faster intervals (4:00 at ~8:30)? More intervals (5 cycles of fast/recovery)? Not sure… I’d like to work on my turnover, so maybe the faster intervals would be a good choice. I’ll decide… later.

Total miles this week: 9.28 so far (does not include the half-mile walking bookending my running tonight).

I’ve felt like a cold is coming on all day, maybe for more than a day, and I’ve been around sick people, so maybe I’m due for a cold. Bleah. I didn’t like the cold feeling after my workout at all and hope it’s not a fever. Maybe it was just cold in the gym. Maybe it was just because I was wearing shorts and the sleeveless shirt. Maybe… Damn, I hope so.

Did I mention the heat/ice therapy for my foot? Oh, right, yeah, I did. Well, I did two separate treatments last night. The guy I’d talked to on Sunday suggested a 3:1 ratio of time for warmth vs. ice, so I did 45 minutes with the heating pad, and 15 minutes with the ice, then an hour or so later, I did 30 minutes warm and 10 minutes ice. And my heel, though a bit tender during the day, did not feel bad at all after my run. Of course, it’s worse in the morning, so I’ll watch it tomorrow and see how it feels. I’m going to do at least one more treatment tonight before I go to bed.

Next run will be Friday, probably at least 4 miles, then a long run, 7.5 miles on Saturday. Aiming for a total of 20+. If I also work in a short run Thursday or Sunday, I could have 24 miles, which would be my longest week ever. I think. I’d have to go back and check but that seems correct to me now.

I used Google Earth to measure my running route from last night, the one I’m now officially calling the “Crazy Double-Figure-8 Loop”, and it turns out to be 4.73 miles.

Which makes my average pace a bit better: 10:54. Whew! If I had actually be as slow as I thought last night, I’d have to go out and shoot myself. It was still slow (too slow for eggnog) but I can live with that better.

Been feeling slow and fat lately, so I wanted a hard workout. I figured if I could be speedy and go the distance, I’d earn a tasty eggnog milkshake for dinner from Mike’s Drive-In. But I’d have to really earn it.

I decided on my crazy double-figure-8 loop modification of my normal Waterfront/Esplanade loop, which I guesstimate at 4.2 miles, give-or-take (I’ll check the actual distance and post it later). The weather was good, not too warm not too cold, overcast but not cloudy and definitely not raining. Wore my Adidas, shorts and a sleeveless shirt and my lucky Adidas hat. Running music was Foo Fighters.

And… I kept a steady pace, never significantly broke stride (I had to stop very briefly twice to cross Front Ave., and once right around the 3.5 mile mark I accidentally stopped to walk for about 10 steps before going back to a jog). I felt like I could maintain that pace forever, and, truthfully, I probably can, but it wasn’t the hard race-pace workout that I intended.

I finished in 51:34, though, which is definitely more towards the slow-but-steady and not in the hard-workout area. So my pace was a turtle-ish 12:16. Argh. So sad, I’m so sad, and not just because that means I didn’t really earn the eggnog milkshake. I really want to be faster. I’m not sure what’s holding me back.

So, a salad and some soy milk for dinner tonight. Yay. Tomorrow I’ll rest and then Wednesday I’m going to find some speed drills to work on.

In other news, I felt a sharp pain in my right foot stepping off the bus onto the edge of a curb. That’s the foot that’s been sore. At the race yesterday, I was talking about my heel pain (plantar fasciitis?) with a therapist and he suggested hydrotherapy. I expected on some numbness this morning, caused by all the hills I ran yesterday, but it wasn’t there. Oh, and I’m now wearing slippers with a fairly supportive sole; I read that it helps heal plantar fasciitis if you make sure to give the foot support in the morning right out of bed until it’s warmed up. So maybe that helped me. We’ll see. But then I stretched it out, painfully so, tonight getting off the bus. Argh. Again, rotten luck lately.