Its August! - all about days off...

...and I haven't been keeping up very well with me bloggin' Anyway, last week was a fine bit of learning experience. I pretty much trashed my legs early in the week and had to take a day off (DUNT DUNT DUNNN!!) I have a real mental block with days off in general, but after what I know it did for me I can't really argue with the results. After an early week thrashing with Saturday on the hills with the jogstroller in jogstroller record time (strike 1) then NOT taking a day off (strike 2) then running long in the hills Monday and hammering out the dam run on tue (strike 3) then having the audacity to attempt a decent track workout on the same day, abandoning that but doubling the next day with 9 miles 4 am 5pm (strike....., ahh whatever) I was left with but one option, a DAY OFF! The horror. Anyway, long story short, I had a great 12 miles on Saturday as a result with friend Craig who ran for Berkeley and it pretty damn fit, then today I ran a workout he did this past week which went like this:

Warm up to Willow Glen HS, 2 laps of build ups, then:

1000 meters in 3:12

2min rest

300 meters in 50

4min rest

800 meters in 2:27

2min rest

300 meters in 50

4min rest

600 meters in 1:47

2min rest

300 meters in 49

3min rest

400 meters in 67

2min rest

300 meters in 49

3min rest

200 meters in 30

Total meters quality 4200

Warm it down. felt pretty strong and in control.

Week's total estimated mileage:

mon8

tue6

wed9

thurs1

fri0

Sat12

sun6

Total 42 miles.

It's been a while...

Sooooo, let me essplain, no there is too much, let me sum up: Since the celebration of my Aunt's life which was the weekend of the 25th, I have been vegetarian, at least to the best of my knowledge. It is possible, however unlikely, that I might be eating steaks in my sleep. Unlikely because I have been wandering the streets of the San Jose, searching for something to eat, but I cannot put my finger on what it is that I am looking for. I feel a little like Alex the Lion from Madagascar.

On the up side however I have been feeling lighter and generally "better", but for all I know that could just be psychosomatic. My mileage has gone up a substantial amount, with last week hovering around 40 miles. this week I am hoping to take another jump up, shooting for whatever I can get. Today I ran around(wait checking map my run...) 10 miles total, with 7 in the hills this morning and 3 this evening. Today marks my first double day, something I have not done in quite a while. I suppose it is justifiable considering that I ran so slow this morning that one of the high school girls I used to coach was not too far back on the uphill.

In other news the toe shoes are going to get shelved for a bit while I rest my thoroughly bruised feet in some good old foot coffins. The rocks at QS and LG murdered them last week so now its time to rest the hamburger before I do something real dumb. On top of that, dodging every tiny rock both up and down hill is seriously impacting my speed and enjoyment of the run.

This week in running

Monday: Randall trail = 7.5 miles ish

Tuesday: Manzanita in toe shoes, 6.5 Miles

Wednesday: Willow = 5.5 Miles

Thursday: Manzanita + 2 laps build ups = 7 miles in toe shoes

Friday: PHS 6 miles

Week so far: 32.5 miles

Is it July

Between discarding my watch, going to class every day, and simply running farther and lighter than ever, this blog is officially on hold! To sum up, I am running every chance I get, which is fortunately every morning.

4 mile Friday

Ran the 4 mile with Maddie Cooper and kept the pace nice and controlled. Legs felt good after the first mile.

4 miles

No time.

Toe shoes on Allison slow slow slow

Ran Allison loop in the toe shoes plus 4 laps build ups in toe shoes. Achilles were feeling it in the toe shoes on the track and the rocks were really coming through them on the trail. I am coming back around to what I know about life in general which is, don't do anything extreme for extended periods of time. The toe shoes are great in doses, but not necessarily after a harder longer run. I need to do a little better planning on usage. In order to keep things from getting too harmful I kept the pace very controlled/slow.

Eat: Cheerios, Bagel, Pizza, Chocolate milk and crackers

Sleep: about 7 hours

Run: Allison + 4 laps of build-ups

Mid week mayhem...not really

Tue: Allison loop at a great pace and 4 x 1 lap build-ups

Wed: 6 mile loop at a great pace in 39:18 effort 7/8

Tue Diet:

AM: Shredded Wheat

Noon: Loco Moco

Dinner: Wendy's

Wed Diet:

B: Shredded Wheat

L: Tuscan pannini, Chips, Superfood, Avocado Rolls

Monday Monday

I do not like running alone. Not sure when exactly that happened, as I used to do it quite often when I was competing in high school and college. It seems without the compelling competition factor in place I have become a social runner, or rather, someone who likes to run with a pack. Perhaps I am part wolf. At any rate I ran alone for 45 minutes this morning, and of course after the fact I never regret it, as it serves as a great anti-depressant. Maybe it is more accurate to say that I don't like running alone slowly. I felt pretty blah, in spite of the day off yesterday. Overall the run wasn't terrible, just slow. I may need to start infusing some fartleks into the regimen soon to get some pep in the old step.

Breakdown:

Eat: Cheerios before

Sleep: 6.5 hours or so

Run: 44 minutes/6.15 miles /7:20ish pace

Fri Sat Sun

Friday aqua jog, which doesn't hit the heart rate right.

Sat Dam run with double jog stroller. Definitely nothing like hills with the double jog.

Sunday rest day. Won't be able to get to practice on time tomorrow, so here is a test of getting the run in outside of organized practice. I hate running on my own...

Summary:

Friday: 30 minute effort = 3 miles

Saturday: 4.5 miles, Dam run with kids

Sun: Nada

Rolling along

Good run at Los Gatos today. The back was a little better, but still pretty tight and uncooperative. Last night we had a great send off party at my assistant coaches house. I don't really think it has set in that I am leaving next year. After 21 years of coaching or being a member of a team it will be strange to not have that part of my time taken up each day.

Summary:

Eat: Nothing before, cake after

Sleep: more than the last few nights

Run: Allison loop at Los Gatos, 3 miles, no time

Ran it anyway

Post back-spasm from yesterday I decided to run with a little bit of pain today. I had to give myself strict instructions not to try and run too fast, so I used the high school kids to keep my pace nice and steady. I only felt a twinge if I rotated too far in either direction. I am glad this won't require time off as my legs and connective tissue are really cooperating at this mileage level, and I think I'll be ready to move it up a bit next week. I took 600mg of ibuprofen last night against my usual no drug policy and I don't regret it, as it made the condition much more manageable.

It is still funny to me that for a serious runner the real issue is never doing too little its always too much, whether you are talking about mileage or effort or both. Maybe it is because here in the US we are populated by so many sedentary couch dwellers. I have been fortunate to surround myself with active people for most of my life.

Moderation always comes back as a the universal truth. More accurately, in distance training it seems to me that using progressive moderation is a wobbly spiral upward including periodization, helping the athlete to reach higher and higher goals. If you were to draw the function curve you would need some calculus factoring in age, brain, and ability.

Summary:

Eat: Went quite a while without food through the morning

Sleep: Went to bed around 1 after a mid-evening nap

Run: Ran on the roads from PHS, 4 mile loop

Time: NT

Feelings: Legs felt great, back felt very tight and it hurt to breath in deeply

Variables: Back pain manageable. Certainly not bad enough to stop running.

Ergonomics and Dogs and more Legos

The human body isn't all that complicated. It has one pretty simple rule: don't be stupid. While it is true that there are millions or arguably billions of subsets of stupid, it is often easy to spot any given version when you see it.

After another marathon building and sorting session last night with my latest obsession, Legos, I managed to put my back out during a dog wrestling session, A.K.A. morning run. A friend of mine brought her dog along to practice today and I decided to give the dog a break from running with her, as she is in the middle of her second trimester. When unfertilized, she is a formidable runner, but her current condition has left her canine companion's training regimen lacking. To her credit, she continues to run even though most people these days seem to think that women should be bed-ridden the moment they find out they are pregnant, so running 6 days a week is a pretty admirable middle finger to all the helicopter-parent mentality floating around out there, which seems to start in utero.

To sum up my issue, last night I spent about 4 hours on my feet in "the shed", read : man cave. Between the bending over and lifting of boxes full of Legos spanning 2 generations I set myself up for a nice fat back spasm. I began the run feeling great after implementing some useful warm-up drills and took the dog out for a nice quick start. About 800 meters in I was wrestling the dog's leash away from its mouth as it was trying to play a game of tug of war at about six minutes per mile pace. After lifting the leash in an upward and unnatural position my whole mid-back spasmed, or went out. I wound up walking it off for about 100 yards then picked up running again and finished the run. I am not sure if continuing helped or hindered my current condition, but I am in all kinds of pain when I do anything besides sit still. I have not taken anything or iced/heated/applied horse liniment.

This experience has taught me:

a. Don't spend four straight hours standing up without posture-pedic shoes

b. If you ignore a., then don't run with a dog that wants to take YOU for a run

Summary:

Venue: Los Gatos, CA

Route: Allison

Distance: Approx: 3 miles

Time: NT

Eat: Bite of a donut and a banana before

Sleep: Not enough, bed by 1 last night, up at around 7. Lack of sleep is catching up

Feelings: Hurt. Back spasm may or may not prevent running tomorrow, but I am going to give it a shot.

Toe shoes and Gun Control...

Had a run at Quicksilver in Almaden today around the long loop, which according to http://www.mapmyrun.com/ is around 4.6 miles. Used the toe shoes again with mixed results. Somewhere around mile three between some downhill and pretty large rocks my feet began to protest a bit. I am still feeling it this afternoon at work, and I have to ask myself whether to try and tough it out or moderate with some standard running shoes tomorrow. I have been operating on how I feel between my feet ankles and knees from run to run so I will likely stick with that thermometer. The variables in play are that I am 34, not 24, I am just now ramping up my fitness gently, as the kamikaze days of my youth are over, and I am working with little base and zero real speed work. I cruised by REI today and someone saw that I was wearing them (fivefingers/toe shoes/vibrams) and wanted to know what I thought. People always seem shocked when I say things like I just ran 5 miles in the hills with them. I feel the need to be a walking disclaimer and tell anyone who is interested to START EASY. I began by running 1.5 miles in them every other day on a treadmill for the controlled surface. There is nothing more frustrating in life than people who misuse something then blame it on the thing and not the misuse. Gun control anyone?

Day Summary:

Running: 4.5 miles at Quicksilver park, no jog stroller thank god!

Time of day: AM

Time: NT (No watch until there is something worth timing)

Food: No breakfast, which didn't bother me too much but I need to eat if I am going to run as late as 8:40

Sleep: Last night slept more than the night before

A day of rest with Legos

Managed about 4 hours sleep last night and didn't crash too hard all day. Took the day off from running and went to the pool with the kids. We went to the Lego store and built some custom mini-figures. I am in the process of re-finishing the Lego Death Star, which is quite a set. This engineering marvel managed its way into the house thanks to my geek-tolerant wife. Heading to Quicksilver tomorrow with plans for the long loop or the single track

Summary:

Activity: Rest day, no running, swam a bit with the kids

Sleep: Running on fumes after last nights 4 hours, but feel surprisingly good thanks to reduced stress thanks to summer vacation

Diet: Mimi's Cafe for breakfast, PBJ for lunch, Fried steak for dinner

Up the Dam

Took a run up the dam at Los Gatos today pushing two of my progeny in a double jog stroller by B.O.B. The Double B.O.B. has gotten quite heavy over the last year, and my lack of fitness was not helpful either. Thanks to some help from a team dad, and some shameful walking up the fire trail, I made it. According to REI's website (http://www.rei.com/product/750871) the stroller itself weighs in at 33 lbs. The kids combined weight is currently about 70 lbs, with one almost 6 year-old and one almost 3 year-old. The fire trail portion of the dam run is about a 30 plus degree incline. I ran in the Vibram fivefingers KSO toe shoes (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_KSO_m.cfm), which helped in the sense that they were easy to flex my foot in, but the lack of traction in loose gravel up the hill with 100lbs pushing backwards at me was more of a liability than an asset. In the past I have found hill running in the fivefingers to be a tangible boon, feeling a lot more in control of my incline efforts. I am looking into the KSO Trek (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_kso_trek_m.cfm) which has more of what I would have needed on the trail today, including traction and armor plating for pesky rocks.

So to sum up the day:

Distance: Approx 4.5 miles
Time: NT
Variables: Pushing Double jog stroller with 2 skinny boys inside, weigtht 100lbs +
Body talk: Felt less crunchy than earlier in the week. Toe shoes felt great, muscles repsonsive. Felt good overall.

First Week of June 2010

Started logging running again. Feeling older and crunchy, ankles and knees rebelling at a mere 3 miles a day. This activity might require some creative problem solving.

Monday: Ran the quicksilver short loop plus the add-on with the double jog stroller. Took it pretty even paced
Tuesday; Ran the Allison loop from the library. Felt pretty solid
Wednesday: Ran the Post office loop from Pres. Felt a little worn in the joints
Thursday: Ran the Allison loop from the library again. Felt stiff.
Friday: Ran the Post office loop from Pres. Joints and muscles tight.