uh oh -- weight creeping up

I'm about 1.5 up and only 4 pounds less than when I ran 40:22 in warm conditions. The whole "I'll run less but weigh less" strategy is slowly going out the window. Must. Stop. Eating. Man I wish I'd run 5 seconds faster in April.

week of 17 October

18 7.86 mi - 1:07:31 19 0 mi - 0:00:00 20 7.85 mi - 1:09:00 21 7.84 mi - 1:09:44 22 3.19 mi - 0:28:49 23 10.03 mi - 1:25:34 24 6.9 mi - 1:02:49 43.68mi - 6.3hrs

Not enough sleep on the 18th and slept in on the 19th. My foot is behind me I think because I had some groin pain that was worse :-) I think it's the after effect of a small pull/strain I got picking some of the kids stuff off the floor. Man, I feel old. Anyway, my hip flexors (psoas I think) were kind of sore after Thursday, so I took it really easy Friday morning. I think I was sore because I've changed my form with the quicker turnover. Sat was a really nice 10 miler around the lake and I explored a new trail a bit. That's the longest I've run since the injury. It was 8:32/mile and it felt good. Avg HR 147. I really felt like I had the correct, very slight forward lean. If had video tape of it, of course, I probably looked like hell. Sunday morning was a run around the lake with the weekend coffee crew.

I have thoughts of going to the track to see where I am, so expect an injury report soon. I might hold off a while though. I'm thinking of doing a 10k on 20 Nov, but if I can't run even 800s at 4'/k pace, then there's no point in signing up (might do the 5k instead).

week of 10 October

Here's the week of 10 October cut and pasted from runsaturday.

11 6.16 mi - 0:57:17

12 7.86 mi - 1:13:15

14 7.87 mi - 1:15:32

15 7.86 mi - 1:12:46

16 4.55 mi - 0:43:15

17 7.86 mi - 1:11:13

42.16mi - 6.5hrs

Monday was a run in the neighborhood and Saturday was with friends around the lake and the rest were my standard 7.9 mile out and back that I've done about a million times. I did it as a run/walk just to be safe. I did about 3 1-minute walk breaks on Tues and then 7 breaks (one minute at the beginning of each mile) the rest of the week. My paces weren't too bad: 9:00 - 9:30. I've kept up the 180 steps/minute and have learned to run an easy pace with that stride. Feels right. I've also done lots of foam rollering, stretching, and icing. These seem to be coming along nicely.

I did a continuous run yesterday and actually ran 8:35 pace with an easy effort. I've done this route so many times I looked up my runs this year at roughly that pace.

• 23 Feb 2010, 1:06:38 (8:30), 37 deg, HRs: 166, 136, 142, 136, 148, 139, 146, 149, AHR: 142 (excluding 1st mile)
• 5 May 2010, 1:08:07 (8:39), 50 deg, HRs: 99, 135, 142, 137, 144, 137, 145, 142, AHR: 140
• 17 June 2010, 1:08:10 (8:39), 65 deg/65 dp, HRs: 154, 134, 142, 141, 148, 144, 146, 149, AHR: 143
• 18 Oct 2010, 1:07:30 (8:35), 46 deg, 147, 140, 142, 143, 145, 143, 144, 142, AHR: 143

I'm closer to the neighborhood than I'd expect. I ran what's probably my best race (40:21 in 65-69 degrees and fairly hilly) on 17 May. My AHRs were very even and this is a *very* hilly route. I wonder if my higher stride rate is letting me do better on the hills.

I need to get some miles in. I slept in today because I spent three hours doing homework with my son and then futzed on the computer, ending up going to bed at midnight. An off day a week isn't bad, but without being able to do doubles with my new work situation, getting to 60 mpw is going to require running every single day.

I've got my eye on a 10k on 20 Nov and 18 December. Course is super flat. It's not technically certified as a 10k, but it's two laps of a certified 5k course, so I guess I can count that. 20 Nov seems a little early for trying a 10k, but the December race was snowed out last year.

week of 3 October - 180 steps per minute

• Mo - Treadmill Run/Walk 6.50 @ 10:26
• Tu - Easy/Moderate 6.10 @ 8:44 - first continuous run outside. A little enthusiastic. HRs were XX (bad data), 141, 141, 145, 149, 153, 150. Getting outside seems to be really important to getting running coordination back.
  
• We - Easy 6.11 @ 9:34
• Th Run/Walk 1.66 @ 15:06 -- ran less than a mile. Foot hurt and I walked home.
  
• Fr Run/Walk 6.10 @ 9:25 -- Felt like my foot hurt less when I concentrated on increase my stride frequency
  
• Sa - Moderate 6.17 @ 8:21 - Same route as Tue, Fri. Concentrated on turnover and ran faster than I probably should have. Felt good though. HRs were XX, 148, 138, 155, 155, 155. First mile pace was 9:05. Then 8:14, :17, :14, :06, :06, and :09.
  
• Su - Run/Walk 6.21 @ 8:25 - same route. Not sure why 6.2 Fr/Sa and 6.1 on Tu/We. Did the 180 steps per minute thing again. Started off miles 2, 4, and 5 with a 1-minute walk. Still ran 8:25 pace. Splits were XXX/8:51, XXX/8:32 (walk 60'), 153/7:54(!), 151/8:36 (walked 60'), 8:32/152 (walked 60'), 154/8:13.
  
• This Week - 38.84 @ 9:25

I experimented with running with a higher turnover, trying to get in 15-16 right footfalls every 10 seconds. It seemed to work well. My foot felt better, but it was hard to run slow enough for it to really be an easy run.

week of 27 September -- slow but still skinny

I finally got out the door. Poolrunning lead to treadmill run/walking, which lead to 3 miles outside with 1 min walk between each mile.

My foot/ankle is doing OK. I feel it some, but not too much. I'm trying to be patient, just looking to improve each day and not send myself in the other direction. After my run today, I'm thinking getting under 40 this year probably isn't going to happen. I wasn't in nearly this bad a shape after the hip thing and it took me a good 3 months to get back in PR shape.

The one thing I have going for me is that I haven't put any of the weight back on. (If anything I've lost a pound.) As a result, it shouldn't take as much training to get sub-40 when I'm a good 8 pounds lighter.

Week of 27 Sept 10
Mo - poolrun 70'
Tu - TM run/walk 3 miles in 39'
We - TM run/walk 6 miles in 64' (10:36)
Th - TM run/walk 6 mile in 63' (10:33)
Fr - poolrun 70'
Sa - TM run/Walk 6.50 1:07:31 10:23
Su - Nbhrd run/walk 3.04 @ 9:32
This Week - 24.54 6:42:45 10:43 124