Still Running Over Here

But not so much on the blog these days. You will find me on Facebook posting about runs, rants and the other junk you've all come to expect from me.

Racking Up the Miles

Hey kids! June was a good month - 65 miles - and July is off to a good start. I ran 14 miles on July 4th when we were in Massena, the dullest out-and-back you can imagine! OK, the scenery was decent, and it was overcast so not too hot, and nutrition and hydration were fine, and I love my new Garmin HR monitor, but it was a tough 2+ hours and I got badly chafed in two not-entirely-unexpected places. On the way out, I wanted to keep my HR below 170 and needed some walk breaks, and the way back was into the wind while I wanted to negative split - so more walk breaks.

Mileage update: June - 65 miles; YTD through July 4 - 407 miles.

Public Track Rant

You've probably heard these rants before, perhaps in Runner's World or some such:

• Walkers, stay out of the inside lane. (Surprisingly, I did not have a problem with this tonight, as a brisk "Inside lane, please!" did the trick 2-3 times.)
• Toddlers, go ply your Razor scooter elsewhere.
• Teens, get your damn bike off the track.
• High school lacrosse players, look to see if anyone's coming before blindly moseying into my lane.
• Power walkers, lose the earbuds once in a while and effing pay attention to the world around you. I hate always feeling like I'm sneaking up on people.
  

That is all.

Intervals and Gadget Geekery

Output from my new toy:

Now I can be like those cyclists that post charts of watts, HR, distance, elevation, etc., etc... This is a heart rate plot against time for a 7x400 workout totaling 4 miles. After a 1 mile warmup, I ran 400 and walked/jogged 200 seven times. The long rest between laps 4 and 5 was a water break. I'm not sure how accurate the HR monitor is, since my maximum is supposed to be 185. What happens when you go over??

Here are my 400 splits:

1. 1:35
2. 1:40
3. 1:43
4. 1:42
5. 1:44
6. 1:44
7. 1:42

for an average of 1:41. Yes, I started out too fast, but I almost never do intervals on the track so of course my pace was off. But not too bad for an old man.

Latest Developments and New Vestal XX Logo

The left hip pain I developed about three weeks ago is gone. The muscle strain was worse than I thought, or there was something else going on. I was able to run 15 miles in Massena on May 23, but then the hip hurt until last Thursday. My mom says I should try pilates.

So Friday I did a little walk/jog/run on the treadmill and felt OK. Saturday was spent building a gate to fix the smashed fence, shopping, and getting ready to make my famous All-Day Ribs yesterday.

Yesterday morning I ran 4.15 miles on the Vestal XX course with some of the TCRC guys. I am going to design a new logo for this race featuring a guy puking - that race course is definitely barf-tastic. A couple hours later, my plantar fasciitis flared up in my right foot, so aarrgghhh!

Shinsplints, groin pull, muscle strain, and plantar fasciitis. Ta-da!

Running Cures Muscle Strains

I'm not a doctor, but no, not really.

So running through pain has gotten me in trouble in the past - remember the shinsplints from last year? With my left hip soreness much decreased from Sunday's 14+ miles, I ran a moderately easy 3 miles yesterday (on the treadmill) and busted out a 5 mile run today with 3.5 tempo at 7.5 mph (8:00 pace). I thought "This will either fix the hip or kill me once and for all." Fortunately, the hip pain was mostly lactic acid and the run went fine. I feel better than I have all week!

Calcium Cures Shinsplints

Last year my GI doctor told me to take 2x600 mg calcium with D twice a day because the acid reducers I'm on (permanently - thanks, 1997 surgery?) can reduce calcium uptake. I didn't have shinsplints when I ran years ago, and I probably pronated just as much then as I do now. In The Lore of Running, Tim Noakes suggests that shin pain can be caused by muscle tension on weak bones due to low blood calcium. Yes, it took some outdated running encyclopedia to save me from three years of pain. How's that for sad?

Running has been going so well, I hurt myself. Don't take that the wrong way - it had nothing to do with my shins. I strained a hip flexor (there are about six of them - take your pick) two weeks ago yesterday and took almost a week off. But yesterday I ran 14 miles!! The training chart above covers through today with the weekly and monthly totals, so I think we're covered for a mileage update. Below is the 14 mile route around Binghamton. Any local runners will know how hard the south side section is east of the University Plaza!


Technical question: Who can tell me how accurate Google Maps is when calculating mileages? I've done routes in ESRI ArcMap and they seem to be about 3.5% longer than GMaps. I'd trust ArcMap for geeky projection accuracy reasons, but I'd like to know for sure.

Updates and Stuff

OK, maybe just a mileage update...

Thursday, March 12: 4.5 easy miles on the treadmill

Saturday, March 14: I do believe that I have already mentioned the 10.32 miles I ran that day, oh yes I did. Average pace 9:05/mi.

Sunday, March 15: walk/jog/run recovery 2.9 miles

Mileage update: week 21.47 (18 planned); March to date 38.37; YTD 150.73

Today: 4.0 on the treadmill with some bursts around 7.0 mph to try a quick turnover drill (> 180 steps/min). Note to self: old thick cotton socks too tight with old 858's. Those SofSock people have turned me after all.

Second note to self: NO SPEED WORK ON EASY DAYS. I KNOW 9:22/mi PACE IS BOOORRRING BUT IT KEEPS YOU FROM HURTING YOURSELF. AND THAT'S FROM www.runbayou.com. So there.

Long Run Yesterday

Yesterday's long run was 10.3 miles - I'm sure there's some guideline about having your long run be no more than some percentage of the week's total. Is 50% too much? Back soon with a decent update. I am sore today but it's mostly the large muscles, not the shinsplints. (Yay!)

Race Results: Shamrock Run

OK gang, this turned out better than I thought. It seems there were more fun-runners this year, and the women's field was especially shallow. My official time Saturday was 6:55, which seems even better than I thought they might have adjusted for the confusing start. Hey race organizers, tell the field exactly how you will start the race! Does one horn blast mean "one minute!", or "on your mark," or "run like hell!", or "does this horn work?"? Better luck next year. I placed 20th out of 72, which is 72nd percentile and much better than I thought. I was hoping for maybe 55th percentile, just above the middle, which is about my regular performance.

Now here are last week's runs:

Tuesday, March 3: 5.5 miles total, 4.0 miles tempo at 7.4 mph. One walk/stretch break for tight left tib. anterior.

Thursday, March 5: 2.65 miles run/jog/walk

Friday, March 6: 2.6 miles run/jog/walk

Saturday, March 7: Shamrock Run, 1 mile in 6:55

Sunday, March 8: walk 2.5 miles

Mileage update: 14.5 for the week, including the walk; 16.9 March to date, 129.26 YTD

Today: an easy treadmill run, 3.75 total with 2.5 miles at 6.4 mph (9:40 pace) including two faster 400's. My left PTT feels pretty shredded right now. :-(