The Fine Line Between Mental Toughness and Insanity

OBJECTIVE
6 miles : no pace

ACHIEVED
6.02 miles : 50:40 = (8:25 min/mile)

5:51 AM 62° 86% 1.5 mph

It seemed freakishly warm when I walked outside this morning. Maybe just because it's the eve of Christmas Eve with such balmy conditions ....

I drove to the Y to run the bayou trail for today's six-miler. About 1/2 mile in, I had thoughts of shutting it down. My right calf was extremely stiff/tight. It seemed to be changing my stride and footfall. It is extremely rare for me to have the thought of stopping once I'm out on a run. Of course, I have slowed down but I nearly always get the distance. I pressed on hoping it would loosen up as it warmed up.

This led me to thinking about each person's unique pain threshold. There's really no good way to compare one person's to another's (I think there have been scientific studies on this and, maybe there are ways to truly compare people that I'm not aware of yet.) I believe almost all runners from elite and "masters" hacks like myself have reached that precipice where they have to decide whether they're going to push even more, keep it where it's at, or pull back. For many this probably has occurred during a race. During challenging workouts it also happens. There's only one way to answer the question, "what's on the other side of this 'agony'?". However, there's danger in pressing. Will pushing through the barrier lead to euphoria on the other side or will it lead to injury or the inability to properly recover? This is all a very complex conundrum. Is my training partner feeling the same thing on the eighth repeat that I am? I doubt it. Is his pain tolerance higher than mine? How does my diet or sleep impact what I'm feeling today?

None of these questions will be answered today but it did give me something to take my mind off my throbbing right calf. The calf loosened/numbed? slightly over the last half of my run.

I picked up my leisurely, calf-mandated pace over the last mile or two as I passed member of the ChampionsFit group going out for their run. My last mile was 7:58.

The good news of no ITB issues continues. The calf my be a blessing in disguise since it's keeping the intensity of my runs down ....


PRERUN
Kashi GoLean cereal with skim milk, water

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin, oatmeal with flaxseed, brown sugar, and skim milk.

Stiff Calf = Lead Foot

OBJECTIVE
35 minute Tempo : no pace

ACHIEVED
4.11 miles : 35:03 = (8:32 min/mile)

4:22 AM 43° 87% 0 mph

The story of this run once again was my right calf. It started out tight and stayed that way for the whole run. It felt somewhat different than in the past. Today was more of an intense stiffness rather than the deep soreness I've been having. Hopefully that's an indication that it's healing ... ??? ... Or maybe it's an indication it's getting worse ... ???

I finished the timed run. I know that calling it a tempo run with a "no pace" goal doesn't make any sense. Okay, so it was a timed run based on "feel".

I gave myself the day off yesterday. I had the idea of running to make up for the lost day on Tuesday but decided I would be better off resting the right calf.

Good news ... no ITB issues.

Yesterday was our departmental holiday party. Which means we all went to a Mexican restaurant. I REALLY GORGED myself! Not what I planned but it just happened. I'll punish myself for it later. I suppose the sluggishness during today's run was probably a direct result ....

PRE RUN
1/2 Clif bar and water

POST RUN
SlimFast, 800 mg Ibuprofen, multivitamin, Kashi GoLean cereal with skim milk
Later, whole wheat English muffin, poached egg & water

Another 3

OBJECTIVE
3 miles : no pace

ACHIEVED
3 miles : 24:26 = (8:09 min./mile)

approx. 5:15 AM 55° 98% 0 mph


I'm not sure what's wrong with my Garmin but, just like Sunday, the battery was tapped before I even started my run ... even though it had been fully charged. I hope this is not the beginning of the end!

First the good news, my ITB's have not bothered me now for a few days. This is great news and hopefully an indicator that I'm on the road to having this problem completely behind me.

Now the bad news, my right half was trouble from the beginning of this run. It was very tight and painful. I had hoped it would loosen up as I warmed up but it didn't.

I gutted out the run with my trusty IronMan watch. I did look at it a couple times .... Enough to know that my pace today was steady over the miles.

Had a decent post run stretch. Did some ITB-specific and general stretches.


PRE RUN
1/2 Clif bar, multivitamin, 800 mg Ibuprofen and water

POST RUN
oatmeal with flaxseed, brown sugar, and cinnamon; water

Hampered by Right Calf

OBJECTIVE
4 miles : no pace

ACHIEVED
4.00 miles : 33:57 = (8:28 min./mile)

5:21 AM  52° 85% 0 mph

I missed yesterday's run due to pain in my right calf.  The problem flared up during Sunday's run.

I figured I would test it today no matter how it felt.  I resolved to keep the pace slow.  It bothered me the whole run.  My new theory is that I seriously pulled the muscle at the Thanksgiving run.  Over the 10 days off, it was recovering but not all the way back since I still felt it occasionally.  Then I re-injured it Sunday morning in the cold at a faster pace than I probably should have been running.  I'm not exactly sure how to nurse it back to 100% while maintaining my training schedule but that's what I intend to do.

The weather was nice ... warmer than I expected.  I extended the Kleinwood Loop to Stuebner-Airline to add an additional mile.  I truly ran by "feel" today and maintained a virtually constant pace.

Had a decent stretching series back at the house.

PRE RUN
Homemade fudge and water!!!

POST RUN
SlimFast, oatmeal, multivitamin, & water

December 16 - 22 Training Schedule

Sun. - 3 mile
Mon. - 4 mile
Tue. - 4 x Hills
Wed. - 3 mile
Thu. - Rest
Fri. - 35 minute Tempo
Sat. - 6 mile

Still running with no preset pace.

Flatfooted

OBJECTIVE
3 miles : no pace

ACHIEVED
3.00 miles : 23:20 = (7:45 min./mile)

8:16 AM 36° 70% 5 mph

I felt slow and flatfooted for the whole run today. It seemed I never really loosened up and got going. Based on how I was feeling I would have figured that I was around 8:45/mile. I only looked at my watch once - when the 2 mile indicater sounded. I was very surprised to see that I was at 7:48/mile. I suppose this just goes to show that I really can't "feel" my pace very well at all.

My right calf was very, very tight the whole run. It became progressively worse. Interesting to note that the first time I encountered the right calf tightening was in Utah on Thanksgiving Day while racing in similar weather conditions. Somehow the cold seems to be "activating" this problem.

Oh well, I suppose the big science experiment that is my running continues!

I had a very good stretching session after the run. Including regular and side planks; bicycle crunches; ITB and calf stretches.

PRE RUN
1/2 c. oatmeal w/brown sugar and skim milk, water & multivitamin

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, PBJ smoothie & 800 mg Ibuprofen