Nice Long Run

After feeling so off in the knee(s) as a result of the intervals that I put myself through this past Wednesday it was nice to actually do a long run without having to grimace with every step. The weather this morning was perfect when I left at 7:30am - 21C, mostly cloudy, and no humidity.

I wasn't sure what to expect after my knees were so tight on Friday's run. All I knew was that I needed to run long and the speed didn't really matter all that much. Last weekend I ran 18k and I wanted to go past this if at all possible. I started off really slow and it took a few kilometres to get into any sort of groove. But once I did I was able to maintain a pretty steady pace for the majority of the run.

I managed 20km in 1:51:02 for an average pace of 5:33/km (8:56/mile). After the first three kilometres all of my splits were in the 5:20's or 5:30's except for the last one, which was 5:18. It felt especially good to be able to hold this pacing for the last 5k of the run given that a lot of it was uphill. The average heart rate ended up at 144bpm. In short, I am very pleased with how this all turned out. The knees feel a bit tight now, and hour and a half after the run, but I think more icing and foam rolling will help. Tomorrow we are off to Ottawa for a few days and then we'll be spending a week at a friend's cottage in Prince Edward County. Should be a lot of fun to take these two weeks to hang out with the family, play at the beach, and hopeful get some rest. I will continue to do my training, though blogging may be difficult on account of no Internet access at the cottage.

Also, this week was another milestone as I completed 45km, 4k more than any other week. I may actually dial things back this coming week a little bit before picking it up the week after, but we'll see.

Garmin don't lie.

What The Hell Was That?

This was one of the weirdest runs I've ever been on, that's for sure. All of yesterday my knees hurt. I'm guessing those intervals were tougher on my body than I thought they would be. I took an ice pack with me to work both yesterday and today, icing periodically throughout the day. This morning the knees felt better, but there was definitely lingering pain in the right one going back to that scare I had a week ago when crossing the street and hearing/feeling something pop. So, you can see why I was a bit worried that tonight's tempo run might not go so well.

With all that being said, I was determined to get the run at least started and took off at an easy pace. The original plan was to run 2k as a warm up, then run between 6 and 8k at tempo pace (4:40-4:48/km, of 7:30-7:43/mile), and finish up the rest of the 10-12k run nice and easy. Within the first few minutes of running I was worried about just being able to complete the run itself at any pace. The right knee, which was bothering me more than the left, felt OK, but the left one was really tight and hurt like crazy. It felt as bad as it did during my short run on Monday when I had to stop every kilometre to stretch just to get through the first few splits of the 5k run. This time I also stopped after struggling through 1k and stretched. As I stood there wondering if I should try and continue or just walk home I had little hope of doing anything resembling a tempo pace.

After a couple of minutes I decided to try it and set off once more. My knee seemed to have responded to the short rest and it started to feel better, though not exactly great. I kept running until I had to stop at a red light, where I once again stretched for a bit. Upon starting up again I was surprised to find my knees warming up enough to allow a slight pickup of pace. I ran down towards the Queen Street entrance to the Don Valley trails, which brought me to almost 5k. Once on the trails I decided to try and go for it and picked up the pace to the desired tempo pace.
I was hoping to run for 6k at tempo pace, but told myself right away that I'd be pleased with making it through five. Let me tell you that by the time I hit 2k of the tempo portion of the run I was wondering if even 5k was going to be possible. As I continued down the trail I was dreading this one hill that I knew was coming up somewhere around the middle of the tempo part, but in the end I was able to crest it OK without dropping my pace out of the desired zone. After I completed the 5k tempo run I stopped running and decided to walk up the hill that is Beachwood Avenue given the knee issues. At the top I started jogging again to do the cool down portion of the run, and the knees once more seized up tighter than piano strings. It was not a pleasant end to the run, but I managed to complete the 12km run in 1:04:34 for an average pace of 5:22/km. The splits for the tempo portion were right on target:

1. 4:46 (7:41/mile)
2. 4:47 (7:42/mile)
3. 4:42 (7:34/mile)
4. 4:45 (7:38/mile)
5. 4:35 (7:23/mile)

In the end, as painful as it was, I consider this a successful run. I just hope that my knees loosen up for my long run on Sunday.

Garmin don't lie.

Intervals Again

On the hottest day of the year I went out and did something that's been rare in the past year of running: intervals. After an off day yesterday it was time to hit the track. (I did not swim because I am waiting for the UofT office of convocation to update the student records system so that the Athletic Centre can see that I am indeed a first year alum and, therefore, eligible for a decent discount on a membership. Tomorrow I will see if that is all doable and maybe get back to swimming again.)

Anyway, after biking home in the +31C (90F) plus humidity weather I was already pretty tired, but had been looking forward to doing some speed work for the first time in quite a while. I got ready and biked over to the track with a bottle of water and another of Gatorade as well as some apprehension over what I would be putting my body through. The plan was to run a warm up and then do 12X400m intervals with 90 seconds rest in between. I found a shady spot next to a small utility type building and parked my bike. This would prove to be a great resting place between each interval since the sun was still pretty strong in the early evening and it was definitely hot. I like the heat, but haven't had a chance to get used to it just yet. Workouts like this one should help in that department.

I ended up running only ten intervals because I felt a twinge in my right knee on the ninth one, but I still consider the whole workout a success. I was trying to stay at 4:00/km pace or faster (6:25/mile or so), which meant 1:37 per 400m. Here's how it all went down:

1. 1:33.90 (3:51/km)
2. 1:32.80 (3:48/km)
3. 1:31.80 (3:46/km)
4. 1:32.97 (3:49/km)
5. 1:34.52 (3:54/km)
6. 1:33.84 (3:50/km)
7. 1:31.65 (3:49/km)
8. 1:32.85 (3:51/km)
9. 1:35.92 (3:57/km)
10. 1:34.17 (3:53/km)

The average pace for for these intervals is somewhere around 3:50/km, or 6:11/mile, so it was definitely right on target and perhaps a bit too fast. I tended to start out each rep a little fast and then had to hang on as I came around the last bend and ran straight into a headwind. This was not an easy workout and I definitely felt a bit sick to my stomach towards the end, but that was partly due to the huge lunch I'd eaten and all the Gatorade and water that I had been drinking to try and stay cool. I think next time, heat or no heat, I will save the drinks for later in the workout so that it doesn't all slosh around inside my stomach so much. Also, my max heart rate ended up being 177bpm so I don't think I pushed myself to the absolute limit, which was good.

After the intervals I ran another 6 laps to complete the workout for a total of 8km, which was the distance planned for today. (I warmed up with 4 laps, or 1.6km and then ran 4km worth of intervals with those stationary rest periods.) In summary, a great workout. The knees are feeling it a bit tonight, but I've already iced and foam rolled a bit so I am hopeful that they recover for my Friday run.

Garmin don't lie.

Rhymes with Recovery

A short recovery run that was more of a struggle than it should ever have been. The knees both felt tight, but the left one was definitely the tighter one. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch, and slowed down even more from my already slow slow pace. Then things started feeling a bit better, though not perfect by any means.

I ran 5km in a slowest ever for me 33:01:44 for an average pace of 6:36/km (10:37/mile). The heart rate averaged out to 128bpm - like I said, it was slow and easy. But one wise man once wrote that there is no such thing as going too slow on a recovery run.

Garmin don't lie.

Crazy Busy Baseball Day

Alright, based on the zero comments left on my last post I'm guessing that I may be the only runner out there shaving just one knee for taping purposes, and perhaps most or all of you find this somewhat objectionable. If so, I apologize, but this is a running blog and, good or bad, what comes from running gets posted on here.

That being said, here is a recap of my weekend:

Saturday: Rain Rain Rain, and so no baseball. No running either, but that's only because I wasn't planning to run anyway!

Sunday: Oh man, where to begin... I think bullets are in order:

• This day started off with me coaching my 5-Pitch Softball team in the league Quarter Final at 8:30am. We'd been rained out on Wednesday night and all day Saturday, so that explains the early start. As the second-last team in the standings we were playing the second best team, one that had only one loss the entire season (and that was to the #1 team, which had no losses at all). First inning we were down 7-4. Second inning the kids played awesome and we ended up tied at 13-13. So, given the tight schedule we were off to extra innings, and therefore setting the whole jammed schedule back even more to the delight of the Convenors. Third inning, we were still tied 21-21! Now the Convenor said, "OK. Play one more inning, but this time it's one-pitch." (This league is 5-Pitch, meaning the kids get five chances to get a hit, and so the kids now had to hit the first offering or go back to the bench.) We ended up scoring 3 runs on a total of 11 pitches (we had 11 kids playing and they all get to bat in each inning), the other team was shut out. We were off to the Semi Finals!
• After this one-hour game that took over two hours to play I jetted off back home to get my long run in. By now it was hot hot hot and I was about to head out at 11am for a 18km run under the full Sun. The notes on this are below.
• The Semi Finals were less dramatic and we romped to another unlikely victory. Owen, my son that is, hit a grand slam home run to power our side right to the Finals!
• The Finals were played right after the Semis and the kids were gassed. We put up a great fight by lost by three runs to the #1 team, which was still undefeated. Congrats to them, and a big congrats to my team of kids. They were amazing to go from second last all the way up to runner up! Lots of great memories for all.
• Then it was off to coach the Rookie Selects team at another park. This league is made up of the best players from the House League and quite competitive. We play 7 innings and the game took us to nearly 8:30pm, finishing my twelve hours of crazy baseball for the day. I finally would get to go home and eat some dinner!

The Run: Like I said, this was a hot run and my body responded accordingly. The beginning was kind of kinky with my legs feeling tight, but after a couple of kilometres I was loose and feeling great. At about 5k I started to drink from the bottle of Gatorade that I'd brought along and would take a few sips every two kilometres. This worked quite well for me and I was cruising along nicely. My heart rate was elevated, up into the 150s and 160s BPM but I was still able to test whether I was running easy by singing the ABCs. Weird how the heart rate was so high and yet I felt easy?! Then, with about 5k to go, I started to really hit the wall. From this point on it was a mental struggle just to keep going. With 4k left I'd taken the last of my Gatorade and stopped off at a washroom for a pee and to fill my bottle with water. As I started back into my run for the last 4k I felt really super gassed. I also kept a keen eye on my watch because the Semi Final game was going to leave me just enough time to shower. I figured I could ice my knees in the car on the way to the game (which I did). By the end of the run I had also finished the entire bottle of water. Like I said, it was HOT out.

In the end I managed 18km in 1:40:42 for an average pace of 5:35/km (8:59/mile). The average heart rate was 159bpm, but this was due more to the heat than the pace, which I kept on the easy side. It was great to get this run in, but I think the heat is something I will have to watch out for. Early morning runs will be the way to go if I can manage them.

Garmin don't lie.

The Things We Do To Run

This may not count as anything all that crazy, in fact I think it's kind of normal, but as I was preparing for my evening run I had this thought that runners do a lot of stuff that the average person would shake their head at and wonder why it's even close to being worth it. What was it that I was doing, you might be wondering? Well...



Thaaaaaat's right! Shaving my knee. Oh yeah! Nothing like a hairless patch on a gimpy limb. Of course, I was doing this because my recent knee pain has lead me back to the good ole taping job that kept me on the road throughout the winter. I guess whatever muscles I had strengthened enough to let me forget about taping for the past two months have once more weakened and I have to get back on that wobble board.

Anyway, here's a weird looking after shot:


And that's another thing that made me laugh. Not only was I shaving my knee, I was also snapping photos of this non-event! And now I share them with you. Feel free to laugh and comment about just how stupid this seems. Or perhaps share something strange that you've done, or currently do, that allows you to keep doing the thing you love: run. I'd love to read about it.

So, yes, hairless knee and tape and I was off on my run. The joint actually held up better than I expected and so I just kept right on running along merrily, all the while thinking just how nice it is to be able to do this. Aches, pains, strains, and all those things are just signposts along the way. Thinking back to the state I was in two years ago, when walking to the corner store was an act of will and painful as all hell, makes me laugh at these ailments. Wouldn't trade this for the world.

Anyway, I managed 12km in a steady 1:06:07 for an average pace of 5:30/km (8:52/mile). The heart rate averaged out at 143bpm, and that felt fine. In fact, the run felt easier than the heart rate indicates, which is likely the result of the humid and relatively warm conditions. As I entered Taylor Creek Park at about the fourth kilometre I was disappointed to find the water fountain located there out of commission. By the time I got home I was totally parched. I also ran a slightly different route on account of the clouds of black flies on the trail and retraced my steps from the very first run I did with the Garmin last year when I got lost in this residential section. I didn't repeat that mistake tonight and got home just fine.

Garmin don't lie.

A Slight Scare

My usual Wednesday evening run has not been posted. Why? Well, that's the subject of this here post...

Yesterday morning started off like any other. Drag myself out of bed twenty minutes later than I'd intended, do the whole morning getting-ready-for-work-herding-kids-off-to-school routine, only to be greeted by said "slight scare" while en route to Owen's school bus. We were walking along, happily chatting and keeping a relatively brisk pace since I didn't want to have to deal with missing that bus. Everything was cool. As we neared the one major intersection that we have to cross on our way I noticed the light had changed to get us across. Given that this particular traffic light takes a long time to let people cross the major street I said, "Owen, let's make this light!" and he started running. I, too, started what I would describe at best as a trot when, on the second or third step, PPPPRRRAAAAANNNNGGGGGG! A pop in the right knee that was NOT good. I hobbled the rest of the way across and wondered what on earth all of this would mean for my marathon training. Sure, I've been dealing with numerous repetitive stress types aches and pains, but this was not one of those. This was what I guess you can call "acute". Nothing "cute" about it though...

So, no Wednesday night run. I did consider it, but then thought better of it. It's week 2 of marathon training! I don't want to miss any time at all, but if I have to I guess the beginning is better than towards the end. I iced and compressed, took some Ibuprofen against my better judgement (I hate taking pain killers), and kept my fingers crossed for the best.

Today, the knee feels way better and I hope that this was nothing more than a scare. I am planning to run tomorrow, though nothing speedy as originally I had wanted to do a tempo like thing.

I did swim today though. Again, I shook things up a bit and did the following:

500m warm up (7:12)
10X100m on 1:40 interval (managed between 17s and 20s rest each time)
500m cool down
total time of workout: 34:00

Not bad. Though a dude in the same lane told me that I should pass "on the outside". I gave him the old raised eyebrow, didn't have time to set him straight since this happened in the middle of my intervals, and kept going. Did he seriously want me to pass on the lane rope side? The words "douche" and "bag" come to mind... (also, "rookie", "novice", and "jackass"). I had no problems with this guy otherwise since he at least swam straight, but I guess he felt the need to edumacate me on the ins and outs of lane etiquette. Just wish he'd looked up the rules first...

Swimming Again

Not really all that much to report, and it's getting a bit late and I'm a bit tired so this will likely be a short post. I went for something a little different at the pool this afternoon since the straight 1500m swims have gotten so boring. I set my watch for 3:30 intervals and did 10X200m for a total of 2000m. After each rep I had between 37 and 45 seconds rest, so that means I was swimming a bit faster than the usual 1:30/100m pace, and that was good. A couple of slow people in the lane were not exactly helping out either and I had a bit of an altercation with this one guy who kept getting passed by yours truly and everyone else in the lane, yet he refused to swallow whatever pride he had (along with the chlorinated water that he seemed to ingest with every attempt at a breath) and move over to a more appropriate lane speed-wise. He also had this rather strange serpentine stroke that took up a good three-quarters of the available space so passing him was always a bit perilous with other swimmers heading the other way straight towards me. On one of these occasions I had to squeeze right beside him and ended up pushing him right against the lane rope in order to not collide with the oncoming traffic. I did manage to leave a long scrape down the side of his leg with my fingernails, and no, I did/do NOT feel bad about it.

Tonight was a bit of a hectic night with yet another baseball game to coach. The kids played great and we pulled out a come from behind win, which was nice. More importantly, some of the kids that have been struggling at the plate got some awesome hits. Others made terrific plays in the field that surprised everyone, especially themselves.

By the time I returned home there wasn't time for much other than grabbing some food and icing my knees. I am pretty much finished that and would like to do some light stretching when they warm up. My knees are both feeling a bit off, likely from all the biking and sitting I've had to do at work, but I hope that tomorrow they feel better. Even though it's closing in on 10pm I'd like to think that some sit ups and push ups may still get done...

Week 2 Starts Off Slow

So, I officially finished Week 1 of my marathon training, and although it did not involve any speed work or real tempo runs I still call it a success. I managed to run 41km, which ended up 9km above what I set as my bare minimum. For the curious I made up the extra distance by completing the "optional" 5km run on the Monday (I don't count these runs into the projected weekly total mileage), being forced to extend a 10km run up by a couple of kilometres in order to get home in time for Mon to leave for work on time, and then running an extra couple of kilometres on my long slow run yesterday since I was feeling alright to do so. I recognize that even this weekly mileage is on the low side as far as marathon training goes, but I am somehow mentally more confident in being able to crack the 40k mark in the first of sixteen weeks. Here's lookin' atcha, 50k!

The second week started today with another "optional" 5km run. I call them optional only so that I don't feel too guilty if I have to miss it on account of being sore after the Sunday long run, but in reality I don't plan on missing these recovery jogs if I can help it. I think they speed up the recovery more than sitting on the couch ever could.

I ran nice and slow and kept the heart rate really low. The 5km took me 29:53 to complete for an average pace of 5:58/km (9:37/mile). The average heart rate ended up at 133bpm, which was good given the fact that it was quite warm out. I generally like the heat of summer and hope that this year is not an exception. A couple of days in real heat spent outside and I acclimatize fairly well. Bring on the heat, I say! All this "below seasonal" stuff cannot end soon enough for me.

The knees still feel tight, but I think they are slowly getting better. I am really hoping to hit the track for some mild speed work this Wednesday, but that will be up to these wonky joints. As far as the ankle goes, I haven't been talking about it at all in a long time because it seems to be holding up quite well. Part of me doesn't want to jinx it and so perhaps that explains the lack of bloggage on that subject. Here's hoping this little aside doesn't kill the plan...

Garmin don't lie.

Puttin' In The Distance

This afternoon has us all at Owen's baseball games. Yes, gameS. He's playing a double header, and yours truly is the bench coach, tasked with the duty of keeping the 7 and 8 year-olds on task. In short, win or ride the pine!

With that being said, I had to get my long run in this morning, and the weather could not have been better. As I took off a little after 7:30am the thermometer at our house read +15C, it was sunny, and no wind to speak of. The plan I came up with for my marathon training called for an easy 14km, but I had a mind to run a bit longer if I felt up to it. After all, I was going to go slow and my body needs to get used to staying out there for long periods of time. Now, I realize that the distance I ended up running is not that long, but one has to start somewhere.

I kept a nice even pace and even let a couple of middle-aged women pass me at one point without letting my ego get the better of me and send me into a faster-than-necessary pace. I also spotted a little bunny rabbit at one point, and at another nearly stomped on a chipmunk that run directly in front of me. Cool!

In the end I managed to run 16km in 1:35:01 for an average pace of 5:56/km (9:33/mile). My average heart rate was 141bpm, though the last five or six kilometres spiked it up a bit as my muscles started running out of glycogen stores. (Ha! Look at me talking the lingo like I have any clue what it all means!) I purposefully did not take any Gatorade with me on this run because I want to train my body to run past the point at which my muscles are completely out of energy reserves. When I start going out for much longer runs this will not be possible, but for now I like the hassle free running that carrying nothing affords.

And on a last note, this run puts me over the 500km mark for the year! Also, I hit 41km for the week, which ties the longest I've ever run in a one week period. This record should be broken many times over the next fifteen weeks as I head toward my first marathon at the end of September.

Garmin don't lie.

Longer Than Planned

Today was a bit of a weird day to say the least. It started off with Malks feeling sick during the night and then a bit better in the morning. Owen was also not feeling himself, but not nearly as bad as Malcolm. I biked with Owen to his school while Mon took Malcolm to his. When I arrived at work there was a message on my voicemail from Mon saying that Malks didn't even make it to school. Poor little guy...

I worked until lunch and then came home to relieve Monica since she had to go to work to get some stuff finished up before the weekend. When I arrived she was in the middle of cooking lunch, was not ready to leave yet, and so I was able to squeeze in my run. The idea was to go for a nice easy 10k. I got ready as fast as I could and then took off at an easy pace.

It was easily the warmest weather I've run in this entire year. By the time I hit the 4k mark the shirt was off and it was nice running under the shady spots on the trail along the Don River. I then realized that the route I'd chosen would leave me a few kilometres away from the house and walking the rest would force Monica to wait a bit too much. So I started picking up the pace a bit, all the while calculating in my head just how far past 10k I was willing to run. As I ran up the hill at Riverdale Park I was really starting to labour. I stopped at Withrow Park for a drink of water and then kept running, the Garmin now telling me that I was past 11k.

In the end I ran 12k in 1:04:20 for an average pace of 5:21/km (8:37/mile). The pace contributed to a higher heart rate than I really wanted, but I think the heat had more impact than anything else. The average ended up at 159bpm, so I guess this was more of a tempo run type workout even if the pace was not as fast as I would normally hold for this level of effort. This weekend I will have to definitely go nice and easy.

Garmin don't lie.

Is It Even Worth It?

I wonder, as I drag my sorry ass out of the office and up to the pool, if it's even worth it. Not swimming, that I think is a good thing, but rather posting about it. It certainly is good cross training, though I fear I do too little of it. But since last September my lunch time swims have pretty much been the same - 1:30/100m pace no matter what the distance. Case in point: today I managed 1500m in 22:22. I suppose that's a shade under 1:30 pace, but just a shade. That being said I am not swimming to get faster at swimming. I am swimming to get faster at running.

The other thing that I absolutely have been meaning to do, but never seem to find the right time to start, is strength training. Sure, I will do the occasional sit ups, push ups, and chin ups, but there is no consistency with those workouts. And I have not been able to incorporate any leg strength exercises for a couple of reasons: 1. my legs hurt after running and I need the rest; and 2. my legs hurt after running and I don't think it's wise to kick them while they're down.

How does anybody do leg strength stuff between runs? Or perhaps you do it on the days when you run? If so, do you do it before or after your run? I'd like to start doing some basics like lunges and squats, and I guess I should get back into a daily routine of hip flexor and butt strengthening exercises too. It all just seems too much to handle, and I'm only in the first week of marathon training. Yikes!

Later Than Usual

Although I tend to run in the evening, in general I'm able to fit it in at a reasonable hour and before dinner. However, sometimes this just doesn't work out. Malcolm's T-Ball practice meant that one of us (the other being my wife, of course) would get to run while the other herded both boys to and from the park. I was happy to do it and figured that I'd be out running by 8pm at the latest. So I ate a nice big dinner at 6pm and had a great time watching the little tykes pretend their way around something resembling baseball. After getting home, though, it took me way too long to get out of the house. By the time I did it was likely that I'd be in the dark for at least part of the run. That means it would be pretty late since we are nearing the Summer Solstice and it stays light until 9pm.

Anyway, I finally was off on my planned 8km run at a little past 8:30 and feeling sluggish and slow. The butter chicken was not a particularly well behaved guest in my gut and not too long into the run it invited its friend Mr. Sidestitch to the party. Yay for them, not so much Yay for me... As I progressed things started to feel a bit better and by the time I took the stairs down into Taylor Creek Park I was hitting something resembling a stride, which was really nice after my last number of runs, which were creaky at best. As I kept running through the park and then took the long hill out of it and back into the residential neighbourhood I'd completely abandoned my plan to stay in the low heart rate mode and just ran on feel. Each kilometre was a bit faster than the last. The whole run took me 43:05 for an average pace of 5:23/km (8:40/mile), and that included the slow split that resulted from my walk down those stairs. My fastest split was the last at 4:47 (7:42/mile pace). The average heart rate ended up being 146bpm, and I'm not terribly displeased with that given that I thought it would end up in the 150s. Hopefully I will be able to get at least one run per week during my marathon training at this pace for the entire thing, but it was at least gratifying to be able to coast into this toward the end of a run that started off with so little promise.

Too lazy to talk about the knee, but I have an ice pack on both as I type...

Garmin don't lie.

5k in Stratford

I attended a very intense and packed Canada 3.0 Forum over the past two days in Stratford, Ontario, home of the renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival and it was tiring to say the least. This event brought together a thousand people from all sorts of backgrounds with the purpose of starting the process by which we may define the future of Canada as a leader in digital media. Some heavies were there, such as one of the CEOs of RIM, the Premier of Ontario, and many other talking heads in positions of power. Little old me got to eat lots of treats, drink way too much crappy conference coffee served from those ubiquitous urns that have that oh-so-special flavour, and rub elbows with a lot of over-excited would be entrepreneurs who were there to sell their ideas to anyone who might throw money at them.

In amongst all that, and much more important for the purposes of this tiny space on the web, I managed to go out for a run! I had left so early on Monday morning that I totally neglected to throw my running shoes in the car, but I didn't care and decided that a short easy run in the trail running shoes I had with me would be OK. I wear these as everyday walking shoes, but I figured a test jog was not going to hurt me too much and off I went.

I ran from the hotel not really having much of a clue about the town of Stratford as a running venue, but it was great! I turned right at the first street I came across and found myself in a nice park which lead down to this great little lake that was home to a large number of swans. Better yet, it had a gravely path on one side and another made of paving stones on the other. It was a wonderful place to clear my head and relax after a long day of information and noise overload.

I managed to complete the planned 5km in 28:28 for an average pace of 5:41/km (9:09/mile) and an average heart rate of 141bpm. My knee on the right side developed a little twinge of pain under the patella, something I dealt with all winter, but I think I can manage to get this under control before it gets worse. In fact, once returning to the hotel I took a soak in the whirlpool for a bit, swam in the swimming pool for another half hour leisurely, and then later iced my knee two times (before and after dinner) for good measure. In summary, it was a successful end to a busy day that started way too early in the morning for my liking. Now, it is great to be home and in time to give the kids goodnight kisses.

Garmin don't lie.

Another Slow Trot in the T-Dot

Short post tonight since it's late and I have to prep for a last minute business trip for which I leave at 5am tomorrow. I managed to fit a run into a rather busy day so the weekly mileage is right on with the plan. I was a little worried about my knee(s) since I was not able to properly stretch or rest this weekend coaching a bunch of baseball and having to run the bases myself during one drill on Saturday morning. I could have used a pinch runner, that's for sure!

Anyway, the weather was perfect this afternoon and I managed to complete 10km in 56:42 for an average pace of 5:40/km (9:07/mile). It was a bit faster than the last few runs and I'm starting to feel better even though my average heart rate ended up a bit higher than I wanted it to be (146bpm). I guess a week totally off from running right after a race is not that good an idea afterall...

Garmin don't lie.

Good Morning, Good Morning

I actually managed a morning run before work! It is a real novelty for me and I have not been good about running in the mornings, but today I knew that I wouldn't be able to run in the evening (dinner plans) so I absolutely had to do it before work if I was going to do it at all. I went to bed pretty late (as usual, and the reason why morning runs are not common for me), but I set my alarm for 5:40am. I figured if I slept through it then I'd be OK with that too. Instead, I woke right up and after about thirty seconds of indecision got up and got ready. I was out the door and running at 5:55am.

The weather was awesome - no wind to speak of and about +10C. I saw a handful of other runners out there and that was cool. The run itself went well and again I was going for the low heart rate thing rather than focusing on speed. I still feel tight in the knees and so keeping things slow and steady for a bit is a good form of active recovery while I build back my mileage during the early weeks of marathon training.

I ran along the Danforth, across the Bloor Viaduct and into Cabbagetown until I entered the Don Valley trails via Riverdale Park West. I then headed back north in the silence of the morning, which was broken only by the traffic noise from the Don Valley Parkway at spots where that highway became visible from the trail. Towards the end of the run I had to climb out using Pottery Road and my heart rate went up quite a bit for a spell, but I was OK with that because it settled back into the mid 130s right after I crested the hill.

In the end I managed 10km in 1:03:40 for an average pace of 6:22/km (10:14/mile). My average heart rate was 133bpm and so I have to call this a successful run. The knees felt stiff the entire way, but it never really got worse so that's a good sign. Given that it was an early morning run the muscle stiffness and such was not exactly unexpected. I iced right afterwards while eating breakfast and stretched throughout the day. Hopefully my knees will feel even better for Sunday's run. Also, the Garmin is once again cooperating, or at least seems to be, though I did hold my breath for a moment when plugging it into my laptop. Yay for stats!

Garmin don't lie.

Hodge Podge of Info

Could this be my first ever bullet list blog post for the sake of brevity?

• Yes.
• I swam this afternoon at lunch: 1500m, 22:20.
• I upgraded both the Garmin Training Centre software and the firmware on the Forerunner 305. Hopefully this will eliminate the issue of disappearing workouts. Thanks to all who left tips in the comments section! (This all will be tested on tomorrow's run. Keep your fingers crossed!)
• The knee is feeling better and better as I continue to ice it regularly and stretch the hamstrings and ITBs. I think my lack of a cooldown after the 5K race is to blame for the tightness.
• Marcy has left the building. (Please join me in a collective "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!", or for those of European background please feel free to whistle.)
• My slow 8K run (yeah, the one that my watch pooed out without warning) has opened my eyes to heart rate training and I am curious to know what others think of the concept that precludes doing any training in Zone 3, roughly 140-160bpm. That's where I've been doing most of my training, and perhaps it explains why I've seemingly been bouncing from one injury to another.
• With that in mind I've been doing some research and found a good website that can help me figure out my target heart rate zones, VO2 Max threshold, and appropriate training paces. Check it out here, though it may come as no surprise to many "in the know". It was pretty cool to see that my VO2 Max, predicted based on my recent 5K result (where I ran pretty much as hard as I could), generated training paces that seem right on for how I've been training.
• And lastly, I've been running in my new Asics GT2140s and have found them to be quite good. Way more cushioning than either of the Mizunos that I've been using all year, and the arch support seems to be better as well. It is early in the game, but I really hope that these shoes are "the ones" since my foot seems to be getting better. In fact, I totally expected my foot to stiffen up something fierce after the 5K race, but instead it has continued to improve. I'm thinking it's the shoes until I find otherwise.
• And lastly lastly, for real this time, I have also modified my training plan to something that seems more doable than the FIRST plan upon which I had based my previous summer running goals. I am not accomplished enough to attempt the FIRST plan yet and must focus a bit more on building mileage rather than speed. Perhaps someday I will be able to take a shot at a target time (read "BQ"), but for now I just have to be satisfied with finishing. Strong though, not "just" finishing. I don't want to crawl across the finish line simply for the privilege of calling myself a marathoner.

Lost

This has never happened to me before, but recently my Garmin has given me errors when I've plugged it into my computer. Tonight I received the same error message, but upon attempting to sync up the run that I had just completed mysteriously disappeared. Checking the watch produced the same miserable result, even though after finishing my run I checked out the final pace and time, and I sure as hell know I ran. Anyway, I hope that this doesn't become an ongoing problem because I like my stats...

The run, without any proof, was nice and slow. I wanted to protect the knee, which was still feeling a bit off, and I also figured I'd try to run in the low heart rate range after reading somewhere that my typical Zone 3 workout (140-160bpm) was not only to be avoided, but to be avoided ALWAYS. I have to do more reading on this, but for tonight it was good to stay below 140bpm the entire way. In fact it was a good source of motivation and I really didn't care about my pace at all. Whenever my heart rate would trickle up to 140bpm I would immediately slow it down a bit.

In the end I managed 8km in (what I remember from the watch) 49:27 for an average pace of 6:10/km (9:55/mile). I definitely held the heart rate in the mid 130s, and the knee was tight but felt better than two days ago. My worries are now transferred from my knee to my Garmin...

Cement Knees

I've been busy and unable to really update as much as I would like, so here I am writing about a run the day after it has happened. After more than a full week off following the Ottawa 5k, partly due to the pain in my left knee that seems to be ITB related, I made it out for what was the first in a long series of training runs leading up (hopefully) to my first marathon at the end of the summer.

Lets just say this was NOT what I expected to feel like after all that rest. As I started out at a slow jog it felt like someone, somehow, had injected both of my knees with contact cement.

In short: Not. Good.

Perhaps timely is this article from today's New York Times that preaches the benefits of the run/walk method in training, leading to not only injury free running, but also PRs among seasoned marathoners. Hmmmm. Perhaps there's something to this, though I would have to beat my competitive brain into submission in order to even contemplate such an approach. That being said, maybe if I at least incorporate short walk breaks on what will be those long training runs in the 30K+ range I may give myself a better chance to arrive at the starting line on September 27th ready to do the whole thing without walking at all. The weird thing about the article though is that it seems these people with their new PRs are taking walk breaks during the race itself. Anybody out there training using this method? I haven't read any running bloggers who use this and am curious to know what traction this run/walk method has among serious and seasoned marathoners.

Anyway, the run was painful and the knee was not cooperating. More rest may help it, sure, but at this point I think a trip to the massage therapist to release the ITB and associated bits and pieces may be in order. I managed to maintain a really slow and steady pace over the whole 5k, completing it in 30:00 at 6:00/km pace (9:39/mile). I hope my body decides to wake up soon and lets me run properly again. At least the foot isn't any worse off from the race or the rest...

Garmin don't lie.