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!

This Blogging, It Is Dull

(Post title taken from This Fish.)

OK, time for another long update since I haven't been here in a few days.

Sunday, February 15: 7.3 miles total, with 6.0 at 6.4 mph (9:22/mi), including 2 songs' worth at 7 mph (8:34/mi) and last mile at 7 to 9 mph (6:40/mi)

Weekly total: 14.57; February to date 33.87; YTD 82.99 miles

Tuesday, February 17: 3.27 outside in 28:24 (8:41/mi or 6.9 mph). NOTE: Aspercreme, which is 10% menthol, BURNS the next day, to the point you think something is very wrong. BioFreeze does not burn (3.5% menthol).

Wednesday, February 18: 6x400 intervals, 4.0 miles total. 2 at 8 mph (7:30/mi), 2 at 8.4 mph (7:09/mi) and 2 at 9 mph (6:40/mi) with last 1/10 mi at 10 mph (oof!). My abs were sore afterward, not my legs.

Catching Up, Again

Step one in catching up: check own blog to see How Far Back you have to go. In this case, it's Monday, January 26. Oh boy, two weeks... All runs are on the treadmill unless specified otherwise.

Wednesday, January 28: 0.76/2.0/0.24 for 3 easy miles running at 6.4 mph (9:22 pace)

Friday, January 30: 0.76/1.44/0.3 for 2.5 easy miles

Sunday, February 1: The plan was to do 6 total on the treadmill, but I wanted to make up for missing the last January Freeze 10K, so I ran 6.3 miles. w/u was 0.5, then 6.3 in 59:47 (9:29 avg. pace) mostly at 6.3 mph, with 1 mile at 6.4 mph and 1 mile at 6.5 mile and a strong finish. 0.5 c/d totaled 7.3 miles in 76:08.

Mileage update: 14.88 for the week, 49.12 for January, 56.42 YTD.

Monday, February 2: I needed to recover from the Sunday run so I got in 2.0 miles walking and jogging, which felt great.

Wednesday, February 4: 0.75/2 easy/0.25 totaling 3.0 with 0.5 at 7 mph and 0.5 at 7.5 mph. L tib anterior cramped up - I need to stretch everything!

Saturday, February 7: 0.77/1.93/0.3 for 3.0 total, pyramid up +0.1 mph each 0.1 mi from 6.0 to 6.9 mph, 0.1 mi at 8 mph, back down to 6 mph. L tib anterior still crampy.

Sunday, February 8: 0.65/3.0/0.35 for 4.0 total with 1 mi at 6.3 mph, 1 at 7 mph with break for L tib anterior cramp (will I learn? find out!), fast finish with 0.35 mi at 7 mph, 0.3 mi at 8 mph.

Mileage update: 12 for the week, 19.3 February to date, 68.42 YTD

Tuesday, February 10: Ran modified Lee Barta 5K route totaling 3.27 miles in 29:54, averaged 8:11 pace for last 2.18 miles. Felt pretty good running hard, but R tib anterior tight later.

Wednesday, February 11: 0.75/3.0 at 6.4 mph/0.25 for 4.0 total. R tib anterior still sore. L tib posterior tendon sore immediately after but not lasting. Today, I actually took the day off except for walking about a mile to work. The R tib anterior is better but still pretty shredded. It's a shallow, hard, tight muscle that seems to be undergoing some "training effect" - or it would if I'd leave it alone for a few days.

OK, I swear that's it for now. Go read something interesting.

What a coincidence - something interesting. Author Jason Cohen, who inspired the 37signals post on copying commented on the other commenters thusly, in part:

I NEVER SAID you should never copy or not be inspired or totally ignore successes. I said you can’t copy blindly and expect success. I said you need need to filter rules through your own world-view. I said you should think about having a unique path.

Why do people need to explain these things??? WHY???

Two Good Runs

EDIT/UPDATE: I also shoveled snow for at least 20 minutes tonight! It sure felt like exercise.

Another thing I got over New Year's was a cold (thanks, Dad! glad you're feeling better). It put the brakes on one run this week - Thursday, if I wanted to run every other day - and I'm almost over it now. I ran Tuesday when I wasn't feeling too great, and today. Both runs were similar treadmill workouts.

I warmed up with 10 minutes of walking and jogging, then ran for 15 minutes, then cooled down for 5 - a tidy 30 minute workout both days. On the run, I did 5 minutes around 6.3 mph, 5 at 6.5-6.6, and 5 at 7 with 0:30 up to 10 mph, or 5 at up to 8.2 mph. Tuesday I did 2.69 miles, and today I went 2.8 miles. I noticed that the short, intense bursts really felt great and gave me energy for several hours afterwards. The shins are a little touchy today, but I hope they'll be OK tomorrow when I may do a longer, easier run (no sprints! does "sprint" rhyme with "shinsplint" for a reason?).

Today I also did some honest upper body and core stuff. I did 2x10 push-ups and 1 side plank ea. side for 30 seconds. I didn't think that the side plank would be too tough, but every picture I see of the side plank features some 115-pound Olympian - they have half the weight to hold up. No wonder push-ups are harder, too. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day, right? I expect to see progress fairly quickly if I do these every other day.