At the urging of John, we all showed up in on Wednesday's clinic with racing flats. Amanda, Walter, and I actually had the same pair of Mizunos.
We ran 2x2mi. I found myself slipping in and out of landing on my heels vs balls of my feet. When I remembered, I danced across the seawall, other times, I felt myself plodding along as normal. It felt a bit awkward but I was running great and hit my target pace of 7 min/mile. First time in nearly 2 months.
But afterwards, driving home, both my calves seized up, anyone watching me making the short walk from the car to my home must have thought I was twice my age.
Friday came and my calves were even more sore. I was supposed to go for my tempo, but knew that I'd be upset if I didn't meet the pace target and would probably use my calves as the excuse. Saturday, they were still sore, bearable but sore. I elected to give myself one more day off.
Sunday, I ran my tempo. 11 miles at 8 min/mile. Happy I hit it and I'm once again feeling more positive about Victoria. I'd like to get my tempo pace down to 7:45/mile... that'd make me feel I have a fighting chance of BQing.
I won't be running for a week, but thankfully I'll still be having a very good cardio workout while I backpack the West Coast Trails.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Drinking Kool-Aid?
Everything familiar has disappeared. Once in awhile, I'm thrown for a loop.
Nearly every Sunday I go out for a long run. When the mileage starts getting longer, I start packing some Gu. For 16k and longer, I liked to start consuming them at the rate of 1 every 5 miles. I felt stronger for having taken them, so I was pretty sure I was on the right track.
But a few weeks ago, I'm out for a 18 miler. Sue had come out with me, and I remarked that she wasn't packing any gels, but I would give her one of mine. She responded a bit hesitantly, but said, if she needed it, she'd let me know. By the end of the run, she hadn't. So I asked her why she's not taking any. She said, John had told her that for our LSD runs, we shouldn't be needing them. This was confirmed by him later. He said, by taking them, we stand a good chance of upsetting our stomachs etc. Although he did agree, we need them for racing.
Now at our last clinic run, he wants us running more efficiently. He said we should all get some "lightweight racing flats" He said they offer minimal support and promote landing on the mid or ball of our feet. He spoke about running with our normal shoes we are braking every time we strike with our heels and further, the motion control weakens our natural gait.
Sharon and I went to Forerunners to look for some racing flats. They had a bunch of Nike, 2 Asics, and 2 Mizunos. Price range was $110-150... not exactly "cheap". I really liked the look of the Nike... neon green, but they didn't feel nice. The Asics felt great, but looked too similar to my normal running shoes. I ended up buying some flashy Mizunos for $109 (or 119??). They fit nearly as well as the Asics but looked cooler... and as you know, I'm all about image.
Last week's 20 miler, I took in 2 gels, down from my regular of 4. I'll be doing another 20 miles tomorrow. I'm not nervous about dropping down to 1. What has me a little anxious is converting to the new running style. While I heard of Chi running, I just took that the heel strike was better at reducing injury. It gives me an unsettling feeling that what I thought was right... wasn't.
"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Nearly every Sunday I go out for a long run. When the mileage starts getting longer, I start packing some Gu. For 16k and longer, I liked to start consuming them at the rate of 1 every 5 miles. I felt stronger for having taken them, so I was pretty sure I was on the right track.
But a few weeks ago, I'm out for a 18 miler. Sue had come out with me, and I remarked that she wasn't packing any gels, but I would give her one of mine. She responded a bit hesitantly, but said, if she needed it, she'd let me know. By the end of the run, she hadn't. So I asked her why she's not taking any. She said, John had told her that for our LSD runs, we shouldn't be needing them. This was confirmed by him later. He said, by taking them, we stand a good chance of upsetting our stomachs etc. Although he did agree, we need them for racing.
Now at our last clinic run, he wants us running more efficiently. He said we should all get some "lightweight racing flats" He said they offer minimal support and promote landing on the mid or ball of our feet. He spoke about running with our normal shoes we are braking every time we strike with our heels and further, the motion control weakens our natural gait.
Sharon and I went to Forerunners to look for some racing flats. They had a bunch of Nike, 2 Asics, and 2 Mizunos. Price range was $110-150... not exactly "cheap". I really liked the look of the Nike... neon green, but they didn't feel nice. The Asics felt great, but looked too similar to my normal running shoes. I ended up buying some flashy Mizunos for $109 (or 119??). They fit nearly as well as the Asics but looked cooler... and as you know, I'm all about image.
Last week's 20 miler, I took in 2 gels, down from my regular of 4. I'll be doing another 20 miles tomorrow. I'm not nervous about dropping down to 1. What has me a little anxious is converting to the new running style. While I heard of Chi running, I just took that the heel strike was better at reducing injury. It gives me an unsettling feeling that what I thought was right... wasn't.
"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Thursday, August 19, 2010
You've Got Some 'Splainin'
I'm at a loss.
About a month ago, I came back from my Eastern Canada road trip. While I was there, a heat wave going on and the running was extremely hard. I attempted all of my scheduled runs, but found I could not complete them at the targeted pace. I accepted that.
My first week back, I nailed the tempo. All was good. Or so I thought.
Since that time, 4 weeks, I haven't been able to hit my targets, finishing up 15-25 secs/mile off... instead of a 7:45, I'm now hitting a 8:10/mile.
I'm looking back at the last few months wondering what happened. I'm not sure what changed. My diet was interrupted during the trip, but has returned to mostly the same. The temperature has been warm, but others in the clinic are hitting or getting close to their targets. I don't feel my level of effort has changed and I continue to push through each of the runs.
After VIM I felt so confident I'd get my BQ for Victoria. Following my return from Peru, I was nailing my tempo runs and PB'ing some of my speed workouts. But, these last few weeks have been very difficult for me mentally.
Tomorrow, I'm changing up my venue for my tempo. I'm doing a beach run instead of the regular UBC area. I'm targeting a 8:05... not great, but better than I've done in a month.
About a month ago, I came back from my Eastern Canada road trip. While I was there, a heat wave going on and the running was extremely hard. I attempted all of my scheduled runs, but found I could not complete them at the targeted pace. I accepted that.
My first week back, I nailed the tempo. All was good. Or so I thought.
Since that time, 4 weeks, I haven't been able to hit my targets, finishing up 15-25 secs/mile off... instead of a 7:45, I'm now hitting a 8:10/mile.
I'm looking back at the last few months wondering what happened. I'm not sure what changed. My diet was interrupted during the trip, but has returned to mostly the same. The temperature has been warm, but others in the clinic are hitting or getting close to their targets. I don't feel my level of effort has changed and I continue to push through each of the runs.
After VIM I felt so confident I'd get my BQ for Victoria. Following my return from Peru, I was nailing my tempo runs and PB'ing some of my speed workouts. But, these last few weeks have been very difficult for me mentally.
Tomorrow, I'm changing up my venue for my tempo. I'm doing a beach run instead of the regular UBC area. I'm targeting a 8:05... not great, but better than I've done in a month.
Finally, I've been reluctant to blog, as the impetus was to be an inspiration. I didn't see my current performance to be at all inspirational. But after speaking to a reader about this capturing the ups and downs, I decided to pen this entry.
Note: I'm planning to do a quick update after my tempo run.
Update: I did my 10 mile tempo run. Went down to Jericho/Kits area, nice cool-ish day. I ended up with 8:00. I'm pretty happy. I have some ways to go, but at least it's an improvement from my previous efforts.
Note: I'm planning to do a quick update after my tempo run.
Update: I did my 10 mile tempo run. Went down to Jericho/Kits area, nice cool-ish day. I ended up with 8:00. I'm pretty happy. I have some ways to go, but at least it's an improvement from my previous efforts.
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