2009 rambings

1/25 - Carlsbad HM - 1:29:48
3/15 - St. Patrick's day 8k - 31:55
4/6 - Cherry Blossom 10M - 66:43
4/20 - Boston Marathon - 3:19:01
5/16 - Atoms 5k - 20:23
6/13 - Lawyers Have Heart 10k - 43:36
7/18 - Twilighter 8k - 33:47
9/27 - Dash for Dad 10k - 42:13
10/18 - Home Run 10k - 41:47

Things started out great with a sub-1:30 HM in January, then a 31:55 8k, and finally a 66:43 10 miler in April. The wheels were starting to come off then and I had a somewhat disappointing 3:19 at Boston (note that the 10-miler was my goal race, so I wasn't that disappointed). I took a very luxurious recovery time after Boston and then set my sights on a sub-40 10k for the fall, which I thought was doable based on my 10-mile time.

I picked up an injury at the beginning of July that I never quite shook. I ran my scheduled mileage up until November when I finally cried uncle and tried to heal. (Note that the November bar would be about twice as big if this were time instead of miles because of XT.)

What would I do differently? Well, instead of resting a lot I think I'd substitute a lot of jogging after Boston in my recovery. When I encounter my injury in July, I should have just taken a solid week off and done a lot more foam rollering than I did. Mainly I should listen to my body better. I also have to say that I'd have run more "junk" miles. I just think I thrive on mileage. Part of that is just weight management. I was probably ~4 lbs heavier in the fall, but I think it's more than that. There's also the fact that I just like to run.

Yearly mileage totals and races since I started running for good on 2 Jan 2005. Months are in parentheses.

2005 - 1224
10M - 1:24:49 (4), 20M - 3:06:27 (9), M - 4:49:21 (10), 10k - 50:17 (11), 5M - 38:56 (11)
2006 - 2589
M - 4:17:03 (3), 10M - 1:19:25 (4), M - 4:00:03 (5), HM - 1:40:08 (10), M - 3:56:14 (10), M - 3:43:16 (11), 5k - 21:23 (12)
2007 - 2640
5M - 34:20 (1), 1:09:49 (4), M - 3:24:15 (5), 5k - 20:32 (5), HM - 1:33:29 (9), M - 3:27:34 (10), 5k - 20:35 (12)
2008 - 3180
8k - 32:45 (3), 10M - 1:08:49 (4), M - 3:21:50 (5), 5k - 19:49 (5), M - 3:15:22 (11), 5k - 20:15 (12)
2009 - 2303 + 41h59' XT * HM - 1:29:48 (1), 8k - 31:55 (3), 10M - 1:06:43 (4), M - 3:19:01 (4), 10k - 41:47 (10)

I've also added a chart for my weight above. I gained weight all year. Lost a good bit in November (aided by stress and lunch time workouts) and then gained a lot of it back in December (aided by holiday candy). I'm hoping that recent point (first since getting back form Christmas) is just an outlier.

Goals for 2010? Who knows. I want to run more because I like running so that means listening to my body and not getting injured. I hope to set more PRs. I crossed a lot off what I thought were reasonable lifetime goals (sub-20 5k, BQ, sub-1:30 HM), but I still want to break 40 by 40, so that gives me 18 months. I don't have any 10ks picked out though and it will probably stay that way. I think this could be the year an ultra. I also think I should be doubling more -- gets in the mileage and doesn't tear you up.

Here are some concrete goals: 2800 miles, 365 runs, run a new distance, and PR at a distance I've run before.

week of 21 December

Mo - "Rest" (drove to Atlanta for xmas)
Tu - 9.64, 1:34:41, 9:49
We - 10.00, 1:43:07, 10:19
Th am - 9.81, 1:33:48, 9:33
Th pm - 3.11, 32:20, 10:23
Fr - 3.22, 30:35, 9:30; Snuck in between unwrapping and lunch. Victory!
Sa - 8.75 1:21:50 9:21; hilly road. Felt faster today.
Su - 8.10, 1:20:00, 9:53; Time (and pace) a guess. Garmin out of juice and no watch.

Total - 52.65, 8:36:21, 9:48

Short, slow strides and picking it up -- At the end of all the runs I ran 3 or 4 strides. These were barely strides though. I just picked it up over 30 meters or so (sometimes longer). By mid-week that turned into running the last half-mile or so faster. I think this was good to get me out of the shuffling funk and I think had something to do with running faster on Saturday. I did notice that my shins were getting tight by the end of the week and I believe that was because of the strides. On Monday I didn't do any.

I'm curious to see how far I can get on slow running combined with strides and a sprinkling of fartlek. My guess is "pretty far."

My injury still lingers. My piriformis was considerably better but creeped back up when I stopped rolling my butt on the ball. I'm back on that and it's under control. The groin is the big trouble now. The knee is its usual self. I'm wondering if that has some structural problem that can only be overcome by a surgeon. I hope not.

I think I've made progress, but I realize that if I went back to the volumne and intensity that I had been doing I wouldn't be any better off, so am I better or just avoiding what hurts? In any case, I'm running now, which is good. The pain can linger if it wants as long as I'm not doing further damage.

Cherry Blossom 2010

I was very happy to get in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, which had a lottery for the first time this year. I've run an April ten miler every year since I started running in 2005 (GW parkway 10 miler in '05 and CB since), so it's been my annual fitness test. The results? 1:24:49, 1:19:25, 1:09:49, 1:08:49, and 1:06:43. Even getting below 70 minuts isn't going to be easy for me this year. The basic plan is to rebuild mileage and stay healthy.

week of 14 December

Mo - 79' running (7.5 miles); 40' out and 39' back
Tu - 78' run 8-mile work loop
We - 76' run 8-mile work loop
Th - 76' run 8-mile work loop; just a little fatigued last mile
Fr - 51' run 5.3-mile work loop mid-day; tired. very easy. 3 x ~30m a little faster w/equal rest
Sa - 41' treadmill 4.0
Su - 26' treadmill 2.5

Total 7h08' with 43.3 miles

ART on Mon and Wed.

Discovered that if I swing my leg from 1:00 to 7:00 (on a clock face) at stop lights I can stretch my groin and piriformis and stop the painful, knee-tweaking transition from walking to running after I stop.

I sped up over Tu through Th over the same course without trying. I really didn't even look at my watch until I was done.

Interesting to see how fatigue accumulated over 4 days at the same distance. I cut back on the Friday to recover. Maybe I should have taken even more rest? I'm enjoying this feeling my way through things. On my run Friday, I thought about what the base of the training pyramid should be. Obviously there's easy mileage, but (now this sounds cliche) recovery and injury prevention (stretching, core strength) is below that -- can't run if you're hurt. On top of easy mileage I'd put drills and strides (and maybe hills -- could be considered core strength also). For a creaky old guy like me, it's important to get those legs used to turning over. Only after all of that I would just start to consider tempo pace and then faster stuff (e.g., 5k intervals).

I spent hours and hours (seriously) shoveling snow on Saturday and Sunday. My back hurt, my head hurt, and I didn't much feel like running plus I was afraid I'd mess myself up running with my sore back.

week of 7 December

Mo - 40' run/walk am (125 AHR), 40' elliptical mid-day; 4' @ 5.5, 1' @ 3.0. The old knee problem is coming back. One hoped-for fringe benefit of this injury isn't coming to pass.

Tu - 40' run/walk am (129 AHR), 40' elliptical mid-day; 5.5 mph like monday but only ~5 x 1' walking.

We - 40' elliptical + 40' run/walk (129 AHR) am; 5.5 mph with ~4 x 1' walk breaks. Walks were faster. 3.9 mph

Th - 42' run (10:20) am, 39' elliptical mid-day

Fr -51' run (9:40 pace, 5.3-mile work loop) + 30' elliptical; ran outside and felt pretty good. elliptical'd immediately after running

Sa - 84' run; good old lake route for 8.5 miles. Minimal damage.

Su - 60' elliptical + 20' treadmill; 5.7 mph was ~137bpm

Total: 5h18' running (30.3 miles, 10:28 avg pace, 136 bpm AHR) + 4h09' elliptical (133 bpm AHR)

Notes

Since the 5k on Saturday, I've had a hamstring/adductor strain (kinda in between). It's more of a muscle strain and not the dull, deep ache along my inner thigh that I associate with the osteitis pubis. Starting Monday and definitely on Tuesday I had less of the tightness/pain between my abs and quad to the left of the pubic bone. Butt/hip pain is more confined. The pain seems to be retreating along the path it came in.

ART on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I haven't mentioned it, but all the ellipticals have include 4-5 x 1' in reverse. This was pretty hard at first, but has become quite easy. Hopefully I've strengthened something that needed strengthening.

I've been doing lat pulls and pushups as well as brief static stretching after ellipticalling. I'm working my way up to 1 pullup! I started at 3-4 x 130# and did 9 x 130# on Monday. I upped the weight to 145 on Tuesday and did 5 x 145.

I'm pretty bummed by knee problem has come back. I think my knee might just be defective. My other thought is that maybe I need to work on massaging/stretching my quads. My trigger point stuff came on Tuesday. Not sure whether it's helpful or quackery. I'm leaning towards helpful, but the DVD tries its best to make it look like quackery.

stop sending me race pictures, please

All the race photo holiday spam didn't bother me as much when I was running.

I kinda like this picture because I'm ahead of the guy in the Boston shirt. I actually ran this as a workout. No, I seriously did. (5 @ MP + alternate miles at 10M and MP.) Finished in 1:32 something. Ah, the old days.

week of 30 Nov

361' elliptical + 75' stationary bike + 69' running = 8h25' total

Mo - 65' elliptical + 15' stationary bike; Had to get up to 77 rpm on elliptical to hit 140bpm. ART at lunchtime.

Tu - 55' elliptical + 10' run on tm @ 6mph + 15' bike; butt hurt badly on run, between ab and leg (left of pubic bone) hurt but didn't run down inner thigh (improvement?); Hit 156bpm at end of run. Ugh I'm out of shape (~30 bpm too high!); elliptical rpms back post-run routine from Pete MacGill's blog -- static stretching, Clif bar, and ice. Because of logistics, my clif bar and ice comes after a shower, so not within 15 minutes. I've did the lunge matrix probably 5 times and the myrtle girdle probably 3. I also had 3 ART sessions.

Saturday's business (5k, new dog, pick up basketball equipment, take daughter to music lessons, ...) sunk my plans for 10 hours.

I noticed a pattern over the week. My elliptical hr was better on Monday. I think the poolrunning was easy over the weekend and I was rested. My hr then degraded until Friday after I cut back on Th and improved again on Sunday after the light day on Saturday.

It's a serious bummer that my run/walk program is what I told my 11 year old boy to do when he wanted to practice for the 5k. One foot in front of the other...

one mile, slow

55' elliptical
10' running at 6mph on treadmill
15' stationary bike

Butt still hurts like hell, but it isn't radiating down my inner thigh anymore, so improvement I guess. Saw the chiro yesterday. Her theory is that tight adductors are puling on my pelvis (pubic bone area) and causing the problem. Not having the adductors involved today might be a good sign. It's amazing how hard 10min/mi was. I've been XTing pretty seriously, but my heart rate was 156 bpm! I should be about 30 beats less at that pace. It's amazing how quickly you lose it. The good news is that I've kept my weight in check.