Saturday, July 5, 2008

Trinity University, San Antonio

OBJECTIVE
5-7 mi. EZ

ACHIEVED
2.02 mi.@ 7:55/mi.

6:51 AM

Got up at 3 AM to drive over to San Antonio and pick up Cameron and his friend from camp. They were supposed to check out at 7 AM. After finding the campus and a place to park, I sent Cameron a text message that I was running and where he could find the car. I changed clothes in the car and took off. I figured I'd loop around campus then decide where to go from there. I ended up on the track, did a few laps then started worrying about Cam not getting my text, not finding the car, wondering where I was, etc. so I went back to the car. What I failed to factor in is that Cameron hates to get up in the morning and his friend is typically late everywhere he goes. While the other kids were breaking camp, they were no where to be found. Ultimately they showed up around 7:30-40. I could have kept running for thirty minutes and come closer to my 6-7 miles. We drove back home and I ended up busy and napping in the afternoon so I failed to get the other miles today. I'm calling it extra rest for next week.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
SlimFast

Friday, July 4, 2008

OBJECTIVE
11 mi. w/last 3 mi.@ 7:55/mi.

ACHIEVED
10.07 mi.@ 8:21/mi. including last 2 miles 7:44/7:41

5:41 AM

It was a good run today. My thought is that it's attributable to slowing down during the recovery runs earlier this week. I need to remember the key purpose of the recovery runs is ... to give my body a chance to recover from prior runs AND prepare for upcoming ones.

I started a little late from Spring Cypress and headed down the bayou trail. I didn't make it to the YMCA before I met Bob, Stan, and Brad. They were a little over a mile from the Y. The pace picked up slightly with them. They were running 8 miles so a stayed with them after the turn at their 4 mile mark. I went back with them to the end of the bayou path then turned back to run the path for the fourth time this morning. This worked out well because it was time for my pickup. I pushed the pace and felt pretty good. I tried to hold a constant effort and pace. I could see I was well under my 7:55/mi. plan but felt good so I just went with it, reminding myself that I needed to maintain the pace to the end. I made the decision not to tack on the extra mile since I would get back to the car right at 10 miles and felt I could still call it a good run.

I REALLY wanted to run the Run Wild 5K this morning. I had a great run there last year. I wanted to run for several reasons including my desire to test my IT band under race conditions, I want to see if running every day (even with marathon-specific training) could yield a PR, I really liked the race last year and the post race band, and several of my friends are running this morning. But, in the end, I realized all of these reasons are shallow and disregard my true goal of a strong marathon on October 4. What if I went out and caused a setback? It wouldn't have been worth it. So what if it cost me a PR today. There will be other opportunities when the risk isn't as great.

PRE RUN
FRS

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later-water, multivitamin & chocolate milk
Later than that-steel cut oats w/flax, turbinado & skim milk

Thursday, July 3, 2008

True "Recovery" Run

OBJECTIVE
3 - 4 mi. SLOW

ACHIEVED
4.02 mi.@ 9:07/mi.

5:24 AM

Between yesterday's run and physical therapy, I was feeling pretty beat up before I even started this morning. There was muscle soreness in my hip flexors, abs, and legs. Over the first half mile, I was wondering if I could make it based on how my abs were feeling. Apparently, I must be shifting the weight in one of the PT exercises off of my quads and glutes over to my abs. I suppose this is a form of cheating. I don't notice that I'm doing it but I don't think my abs should be feeling like they do today. I had the same thing but to a lesser degree on Tuesday.

I rolled out the 4 miles at a pedestrian pace. Somehow I've convinced myself that if I never run slower than 9:17/mile that the miles are still "good". I think I've read something about that before but may have misinterpreted what I was reading. I then coupled my reading with the recovery pace found at runbayou.com to determine I can avoid junk miles if I'm under 9:17.

I think I solved a mystery while running this morning. My initial right IT band problem last November subsided after a couple weeks rest. But later the left IT band became the problem and is now a much bigger issue than the right ever was. This has always baffled me. I didn't even tell Dr. Cianca about my right because that isn't what I was there for and it was no longer a problem. I thought it would just cloud the picture. I mentioned it to Dani in my initial PT evaluation but I under emphasized it and she didn't seem to give it much consideration. Since then, I've tried to listen closely to Cianca and Dani to see if something they said could offer an explanation. Of course, I looked for my own explanation and also skimmed around the internet looking for a reason.

I think I've got it now thanks to something Dani said yesterday. I've somewhat been in denial about this "muscle weakness" and even Cianca and Dani were surprised that I could "even run a marathon". So something about their separate diagnosis just didn't sync up with my experience. Being in denial about the muscle weakness, I harbored some kind of weird hope that ... I wasn't weak. I didn't feel weak, did I? Through PT, Dani has repeatedly put me in positions where I feel incredibly weak. At first I think I subconsciously believed this was some kind of trick. Of course she knows which muscles are naturally weaker and could put anyone in a "comprising" position of weakness. But yesterday Dani commented that she sees people with IT band problems all the time. What I have isn't any different than the typical cases. However, she said a compounding issue for me is that my ankles are weak. Okay, she's alluded to this before but I haven't considered it. I thought Cianca said it was my glutes and that my knees and ankles looked good. I think Dani even said in my initial with her that it was my glutes. So that's where I've been focused. Whatever she said about my ankles to this point didn't hold much stock with me. Even yesterday when she said it, I passed it off but it least we openly discussed it this time.

While running this morning, I was considering all of this. This isn't going to seem like much of a breakthrough ... like a preschool dot-to-dot. But my stubbornness has caused me to miss this for sometime now. Dani is right. My ankles are weak and so are my glutes. I'm sure I have other muscle weaknesses too. My right ITB was caused by this and so is my current left ITB. The difference not running at Memorial Park on a softer, flatter surface.

After St. George last year, I started the Furman training program. I was running more in the morning and a lot more on the track at Klein High. My hard running loops on the track were almost always counterclockwise making my right leg, the "longer" outside leg. Once I stopped running for a couple weeks and came back with no track running, the right ITB problem disappeared.

What about the current left ITB? Well, when I started training for Ogden in December almost all of my running was on roads. Very rarely did I go back to Memorial Park's trail where I did most of my running in preparation for St. George. Almost all roads are crowned and I run against the traffic. This makes my left leg the "longer" of the two. I think this is it. It's why I can't shake the problem with my left. The physical internal cause is my muscle weakness which has always existed. But shifting from Memorial Park where I did almost all of my running last summer, to the track then later to the roads seems to be the external cause of my ITB problems. I really think this is it. I should find softer surfaces and/or get back over to Memorial Park.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, oatmeal w/flax, turbinado & skim milk

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

LOW BATTERY

OBJECTIVE
9 mi. w/7x2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. jog

ACHIEVED
9 mi.@ 8:17/mi. including
3 mi.@ 8:51/mi.
• 2:17 run
• 2:00 jog
• 1:59 run
• 2:01 jog
• 1:59 run
• 2:00 jog
• 1:59 run
• 2:00 jog
• 1:59 run
• 1:59 jog
• 2:00 run
• 1:59 jog
• 2:00 run
• 2:04 jog
No watch so I don’t know the actual split paces but the total is 3.7 mi.@ 7:38/mi.
2.3 mi.@ 8:33/mi.

5:38 AM

Woke up to “LOW BATTERY” on the Garmin. The only day I really need that thing is Wednesday. I tried to make do with my Ironman. Of course that means I had no idea of my pace over the 2 minute intervals. I added 1 mile to this run and two extra intervals.
The objective was to run a 6:40/mile pace for the intervals. My overall pace for the 9 miles was 8:17/mile and I estimate my pace for the total interval set including recovery times was 7:38/mile. I’m usually around 10:00/mile over the recovery period. So who knows what really happened? Maybe I ran the speed sections slower than planned but ran the recovery sections faster. I tried to maintain my usual cadence over the speed sections and I did “feel” slower once I hit the 5, 6, and 7th intervals.

Anyway, I’m walking away from this one very happy. Maybe I should leave my Garmin home all the time … then I can wander around in this blissful, ignorant state more often!

PRE RUN
FRS powdered drink

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, 5-grain hot cereal w/turbinado, flax & skim milk, water, multivitamin, & 2 English muffins (1 honey & 1 cinnamon sugar)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

OBJECTIVE
5 - 7 mi. EZ (8:24-54/mi.)

ACHIEVED
6.17 mi.@ 8:42/mi.

5:17 AM 70° 83% 0 mph

Except for tweaking my right ankle when stepping on the edge of the sidewalk 1/2 mile into this run, it was a good one. It had a nice rhythm to it.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
chocolate milk, multivitamin, & oatmeal w/flax, turbinado & skim milk

Monday, June 30, 2008

Putting the Slow in a Run

OBJECTIVE
3-4 mi. SLOW

ACHIEVED
4.06 mi.@ 8:55/mi.

5:38 AM 73° 89% 0 mph


PRE RUN
water

POST RUN
chocolate milk, multivitamin, water, 5 grain hot cereal w/turbinado, flax seed & skim milk

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Training Schedule

I haven't put this week's workouts in order yet due the the holiday, potential travel, physical therapy, and the possibility of racing ....

3-4 mi. SLOW
5-7 mi. EZ
9 mi. w/7x2 min.@ 6:40/mi. & 2 min. jog
3-4 mi. SLOW
5-7 mi. EZ
11 mi. w/last 3 mi.@ 7:55/mi.

There's a 5K on Friday, July 4 that I am considering. I'm not sure it's the wisest they for me right now given where I'm at with PT. The last thing I need is a setback. Cameron is at camp this week and Paige and I are considering getting away for a couple days. This will need to be a flex week as far as training is concerned but I plan to get it all in.