Thursday, May 30, 2013

Analysis Paralysis

It's been a rather meek return to running for me this year, I recognize this and am not deluded into thinking that I am actually "in shape", whatever that means. I noticed that my mileage for last week (a mediocre, or pathetic depending on your perspective, 34.5km) is the second highest for 2013. Huh? Seriously? No wonder I'm feeling like things are not moving in the desired direction...

That being said, at least I have been running somewhat injury free since the beginning of January, with the only hiccup being the calf tightness post Pittsburgh Half Marathon, and subsequent common cold issues. I took a week and a half off, and things are just now starting to feel like they're getting back to normal.

Problem is, normal feels far from desirable. I want to qualify for Boston. That's not in question. But like any motivated person this goal comes with a necessary dose of impatience. So as I watch my heart rate while I do my tiddly runs I am hoping to see some movement in the right direction with respect to pace. In short, if I'm running at 6:00/km at 140bpm I need to see some movement in the speed metric towards anything resembling "faster" at the same 140bpm. Lately, that has not been happening.

Which brings me to the one and only conclusion that can possibly be made: my mileage is far to low to expect the longed for improvement.

Therefore, I must find a way to increase my mileage while staying injury-free.

This may not have a happy ending, but what's the point of wallowing in mediocrity? (Assuming qualifying for Boston is something better than that...)

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Monday, May 27, 2013

Onwards

Well, the couple of weeks post Half Marathon have been less than stellar exercise wise, but some of it could not have been avoided. The calf issue was one thing, but then a full week of off-site training (not physical, but work related) and conferences put a damper on most everything this past week. I did manage to do pretty well, however, all things considered:

Monday was a travel day as it was a Holiday so we'd spent the three day weekend out of town.

Tuesday was my first run after I decided to shut it down on account of the calf and subsequent illness. Ran 7km pretty easy, took one minute walk breaks every 2km. I managed to fit in a quick weight training session during the lunch break at the course, but it was not entirely fulfilling.

Wednesday I ran 5km in the morning, once again nice and easy, and I managed another weight training session at a different gym that was the most cramped space I'd every worked out in. Glad it's not my usual spot.

Thursday I just did some light leg weights. Good to keep that up I think, just have to be careful.

Friday morning I was up early again and managed a nice 9km run. Later in the day my calves tightened up a bit as I spent far too much time either sitting or standing still at the conference. At the end of the day I fit in a very good weight training session as the conference ended early(ish).

Saturday I just managed a 3km recovery run, though I felt good enough to put in some pick ups between telephone poles here and there for fun.

Sunday morning I ran 10.5km over a loop course that I hadn't done in a couple of years through Leaside and Rosedale. Just took a one minute walk break at the 5km mark. Felt good for the most part, though I ran very slowly and my heart rate was mostly in the high 130s, and in the very low 140s for the last few kilometres.

And that's where I am now. 20 weeks to go till the Marathon, and still feeling like I am recovering from that slow Half, which is irritating. Oh well, at least I'm running.

This weekend will be a bit of a shock to the system as I am playing in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament for the first time in years. Promises to be more of a party than a competitive atmophere, but that doesn't mean that my legs won't be trashed by the end. A little apprehensive about it, but looking forward to the camping, partying, and playing for sure!

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Monday, May 13, 2013

Bummer

Things don't always go as planned, and I guess that adapting to the ups and downs of life is part of any decent training plan. It pisses me off whenever things get in the way of my schedule, but I have to do my best to let it go and find the bright side of any situation.

Well, here goes...

After the Half Marathon in Pittsburgh my left calf was quite sore as a result of the downhill running and such. I managed a couple of short, very slow runs on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the "race", but then came down with an awful cold on Wednesday evening that really took hold the following day. At first I thought it was just allergies to tree pollen hitting me hard, but when my throat started hurting I knew it was something worse. As such, I have not been able to run since as I've either been tied to my bed (missing work on Friday), or feeling very, very tired and lethargic. The upshot of all that is a few missed runs. That's the down side.

The up side, I suppose, is to take this as a sign that I really could use a break. A few months back, as I was mulling over the Marathon Training plan that I'd hoped to follow, I built in a two week break into one of the incarnations right after the Half in the Steel City. Subsequent plans no longer had that two week break because I am an idiot and can't see the benefit of such a thing when I'm actually feeling healthy, but it seems that my body really could use some time off, no? Therefore, I am trying to be positive about this and not feel like I'm losing fitness while waiting on the sidelines to try and start running again. It will now be a 22 week training plan instead of 24, and I think that's OK. Time to look at the old spreadsheet and re-jig.

The cold is still there and I feel crappy, though at least I'm back at work, and the calf is improving, but there is a hint of stiffness still in there. Also, my left heel feels bruised and it hurts a bit when I first get out of bed, which is the tell tale sign of the dreaded plantar fasciitis that I desperately wish to avoid.

So, marathon training will have to wait until at least next week. I am committing to taking this whole week off EVEN if I miraculously recover and feel 100% in the short term. Think I'll still go to the gym, but mostly to make use of the Sauna. We'll see...

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Pittsburgh Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

Well, that was interesting.

The plan was to just run this thing as a training run and keep the heart rate in the aerobic zone. For the most part I managed to achieve this goal. I went out slow, had a lot of fun, saw a nice chunk of the City of Pittsburgh, and in general had a great time.

But let's back up...

The weather could not have been better, which was nice, and I got dropped off near PNC Park by my lovely family who awoke a bit before 6am just to drive me close to the Start. I didn't need to wear any clothes to discard to stay warm, though I was a bit worried that I'd be late as they were closing all Corrals at 6:45am (for the 7am start) on account of the heightened security. In the end, I got into the long line just to get into my Corral with a minute to spare and lined up at the very back of the pack. The pre-race speeches were emotional and I saw lots of runners with signs pinned onto their shirts with references to Boston. I wondered how many of the 30 thousand Marathon, Half Marathon, and Relay participants had been at that race?

Anyway, like I said, I didn't have long to wait and the countdown came pretty quick after the singing of the National Anthem and God Bless America. (Kind of wish the singer had been in key, but whatchagonnado...)

Then we were off, and as mentioned above I ran slow. And easy. And kept running slow and easy. I took a 30 second walk break after every 9 1/2 minutes of running, and felt weird to be doing so, especially early in the race. A few comments from the crowd trying to encourage me to "not give up" and "keep running" were a bit embarrassing, but I tried not to let it get to me and just focused on doing what I was supposed to be doing (in case that wasn't clear, that was to run easy!).

As the race progressed I was pleasantly surprised by how easy I found climbing the various smallish hills and bridges. However, I also found the other side of each to be much steeper than I had ever imagined. By the halfway point in the race my calves, especially my left one, were sore and tight. I knew this was going to be more of a struggle than I'd wanted.

Sure enough, by the end of the race, as I ran up the last hill (which is a very long steady climb, but with a spectacular view over the Monongahela River, so high up that I was really surprised to look way down onto the Downtown core from where I had started the race), I knew that I would have to traverse one last descent to get to the Finish Line. The great part was that as I reached the top of the hill and looked down I could see the Finish Line in the distance as the street was dead straight. The bad part was that it was a very, very long descent. I did my best to just flow down the hill, but my calf was screaming for relief. Even the walk breaks were no longer helping, so by the time I reached the flat section just before the end of the race, and my heart rate was not recovering to aerobic levels, I just picked up the pace to finish up as quick as possible. I kept an eye on my watch and was hoping to break two hours, but in the end I came about as close as one can without doing it. Chip Time: 2:00:01.8.

Here are the splits, which show clearly where my heart rate went off track as a result of my lack of experience running hills, especially on the down part. Also, I find the elevation gain and loss less than indicative of how steep some of the descents were. I'm sure they were only steep for me as anyone with experience training on hills would have found this course rather flat (with the possible exception of that last, long climb that was steady for about a mile straight I think).


So, there it is. My first "race" in two years. Now it's time to recover (as I did this morning with a very slow 7.35km run/walk of the 3:1 ratio variety) and get training for the Marathon!!! I would definitely do this race again, and would love to someday do the full marathon in Pittsburgh. I found the whole experience very positive. The race expo, and race day, were both super well organized. And the goody bag stuff was really good. Lots of aid stations along the way, and porta potties, if one needed them, and the crowd support was very consistent throughout, with some sections very, very loud. Good times!

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Stupid Trees...

I'm feeling totally worn out these days, and I think it's because of the stupid trees and their annoying (but clearly necessary) reproductive cycle. For years, I've suffered with allergies to tree pollen, and have been getting immunotherapy shots every Winter for the past five years to help. Even so, sometimes the crap hits me pretty hard. I'm not completely incapacitated like I used to be before the shots, but it makes sleeping difficult and, by extension, I am constantly tired.

Anyway, blah blah blah. Long story short, this affects my running in that I have absolutely no gas (unless I eat too much cauliflower! <rimshot>!!!</rimshot>). Case in point, on Tuesday I ran my usual 5km route, but only manged a snail pace with an average heart rate to match (112bpm). Hardly broke a sweat.

This morning was a bit better, but I definitely started off thinking it would be much the same. In the end I managed an average heart rate of 125bpm, with the last 3km at 128bpm average and the pace just at or under 6:00/km. Not breaking any records, but it is good to see that I can run at that pace with such a low heart rate even when I feel worn out. A while back I was unable to run even this fast and keep my heart rate under 145bpm! This slow running is starting to pay off I think. Perhaps there is hope for some day being able to run a BQ pace and remain in the aerobic zone? Will I still be running when 6:00/km IS my BQ pace several decades from now?

Perhaps...

Here's how the running for April went in summary:


Again, not breaking any land speed records or impressing with the total mileage, but I am proud of that average heart rate. Means I'm staying true to my goal of not pushing it to the point where I have incurred injuries in the past. Running should be enjoyable, blah blah blah. And bleh...

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