Team McAlister

Where does one begin to tell the story of how great a love can be….oops…wrong beginning….but where to begin the story of the weirdness of the last couple of weeks?

I’m still paying for that little practice tri from a couple of Saturdays ago. The nagging tightness in the MCL and some other pain in the knee area are hugely annoying. Discouraging. Not to mention taking a toll on other training. I’m not throwing in the towel on running yet, but I am really, really close. I’ve received some swim coaching, but still need lots of technique work to master what I’m learning.

But get this. I’ve been thinking about a new bike and while simply moving the wheels from my bike to a test bike yesterday, the guys at the bike shop discovered that my bike frame is broken! I’ve been riding that bike quite a bit lately and doing a lot of hill climbing and DESCENDING on a frame with a broken chain stay! I’ve had a sixth sense about something being wrong, but I certainly didn’t think that.

One positive note is that the test bike is a 3/2.5 titanium in a standard configuration and geometry. With my wheels (but none of my other components), it is a fine, fast, stiff ride. Very responsive. Very strong. Gonna have to work on fit now and get my stuff off of the old frame. Not sure yet exactly what ti frame I’ll get, but even if it’s the one I rode today, it’d be a significant step forward.

Another exciting development is that I’m building a strong consensus for creating a signature road ride locally that I hope will be as fine an event as any in the country. Still, just a dream, but sneaking up on being a goal.

Tags: bikes, cycling, running, Training

The date is set for October 10. A sprint tri of 500 yd. swim, 13.5 mi. ride, and 3.4 mi. run. As a budding triFAThlete, I’m approaching this with some trepidation. Last Saturday, I went to the athletic club to work out and put together a small practice tri. It was about 100,000,000 degrees outside, so except for the swim, everything was indoors. Hit the pool for the swim – no problemo. Transitioned in the locker room….very clumsy. Had to fix a water bottle and adjust a spin bike. Rode like mad for 30 minutes at between 95-100 rpms and about 270 watts. The bike said 13.5 miles, but I was told later that was not accurate. Oh well. Anyway, had to wipe down the bike, fix another water bottle, and go back to the locker room for another transition. Then hit the track. Of course, track running is easy and simple, but all running is hard for me. I got my tunes cranked up and a running program that helps me decide when to alternate walking and running. Polished off the 3.4 miles in about 40 minutes. The entire workout, start to finish including transitions, water bottles, bike adjustments and all, took 1:50. I was happy with that. Naturally, since running was involved, I couldn’t walk afterwards for two days – cranky right knee. But I woke up this morning pain free and can walk normally. It takes a lot of massage to loosen up the muscles that control some of those knee ligaments.

So, no more running between now and the big day. Just lots of swimming and cycling. I think I’m beginning to look forward to this.

Tags: cycling, running, swimming, Training, triathlon

In spite of yesterday’s small Cyclemeter meltdown, the ride itself was fine and fun.  The icing on the cake though was hitting the Vibraflex, post-ride.  You have to find a club or gym that has one of these things!  The benefits are exactly (at least for me) as touted on their web site.  The Physical Therapist at our club oversees its use and gives tips about how to maximize its use.  As good as it is, apparently, you can get too much of a good thing with it.  Like any other piece of equipment, it can be misused to your detriment.

Here it is Wednesday and, as bummed out as I was on Monday about MCL pain, today I feel like I can run forever.  Not gonna actually try that, understand.  Just sayin’…

I have a late meeting today, so a ride is out.  I’m gonna try jumping rope today and see how the MCL holds up.  No running today, but look out for the weekend!  :-)

And, lest anyone, including the fine folks at Cyclemeter, think I’m just ranting about the app, my guess is that the app works as well as it can, but the iPhone’s GPS is the limiting factor.  Of course, I’m no engineer – software, hardware, or civil – but based on the way some other location-based apps seem to work, my guess is that iPhone’s GPS model is less robust than is needed.

Tags: cyclemeter, MCL, running, Training, Vibraflex 550

Tomorrow I should drag my fat, lazy old man butt out of the sack and hit the Carve ride at 7:00 am or maybe 7:30, if I just want the 30 mile option.  See, there are 2 starting options and two routes so you can go 30, 40, 50, 0r 60 miles on this fun-filled hammer-fest of a ride.  These guys usually don’t race until they’ve been riding for about 2 miles…..and then it’s a balls to the wall, take-no-prisoners sort of deal.  I need the ride and the training and the pace.  And, if not that ride, then what ride?

There’s a BBQ cook-off in the middle of the River Park ride route.  And, I’ve been on that too much lately anyway.  There’s the Tour de Rock Training ride which is about 25 – 30 mile no drop deal at paces for every type of rider.  But it had 70 folks on it last week and begins to look like the actual TdeR event itself.  I want to run, but that can be done on Sunday afternoon when the weather is too nasty to ride.

This is that time of year when real cyclists get out of bed, eat their oatmeal, and get those miles and hours in the saddle working.  Why am I reluctant?  It isn’t like I have to get home and mow the lawn or anything like that.  And the recovery should be do-able because that Vibraflex routine is the best thing ever for getting your muscles back to normal.

Okay, I’m gonna organize my stuff to hit the Carve 7:30 am, 30-miler.  Should be done by 9:30-ish which means that I can go vibrate and then hit the Trek/Gary Fisher test ride event being put on by Chainwheel (after some breakfast, of course!).

Tags: bicycle, Carve, Chainwheel, cycling, running, Tour de Rock, Vibraflex 550

Just finished my first run with Cyclemeter. It seems to have been pretty accurate, or at least it’s as accurate as Fitnio ever was. That’s all I really have to go on. Looking at the map of my run, it looks like the GPS doesn’t “check in” as often as maybe it should—I promise I wasn’t zig-zagging down the middle of Polk Street. But all in all, I’d say it compares favorably to any other tracking app I’ve used.

The tweeting feature might be what seals the deal for me. Knowing that it’s sending a link to Facebook makes me feel like I’m really accountable for turning in a good run. It might even make me run more often, if I feel like people might start wondering why I haven’t run lately. Is that a little narcissistic and/or self-obsessed of me to say? Probably. I don’t care though (because I’m awesome).

My running has improved a little, in spite of me not really staying on top of my training. My outdoor runs are a mile longer now but averaging the same speed. That’s pretty encouraging, and in combination with the beautiful weather, Daylight Savings Time, and Cyclemeter, I might even start running more than once a week. Of course, we’ll see about that when the time comes to run on a weekday after work.

Tags: cyclemeter, equipment, iphone, running

Getting old sucks!  And, having creaky, cranky joints sucks!  When you have both, it really sucks!  Back in September when I was in San Francisco hanging out with Colin and Schuyler, the medial collateral ligament (MCL) in my right knee started bugging me so badly that I could hardly walk.  I attributed this new-found pain to the also new running shoes and insoles that had been recently custom-fitted and carefully chosen to prevent injury.  Right….

The pain was nearly debilitating at times.  This “injury” had all the concomitant features – swelling, stiffness, loss of movement.  I could cycle about as much as I wanted without too many ill-effects, but running, swimming, walking were all crossed off my list of activities.  By December, when I couldn’t get over it, I plunged into despair and started considering giving up on the triathlon goal to settle for something more in line with what the elderly do, like a Scrabble tournament.

Sometimes though you just stumble into stuff.  Actually, if experience is any sort of guide, I usually just stumble into stuff.  First, I discovered that unclipping from my bike pedal in a certain way aggravated the problem.  Stopped doing that immediately.  Big help!  Second, I got an app for the iPhone called Muscle Trigger Points.  Massage therapists and physical therapists have taught me a thing or two about how body parts are connected and how a tight muscle here causes a pain over there.  A daily part of any and all of my not-really-routine exercise is to stretch and try to work on tight muscles.  That seems to be ultra-important as I age.

Anyway, about two weeks ago as I was going through my nightly stretching/massage program, I hit a spot in the Vastus Medialis (one of the muscles in the quadraceps group) that literally turned off the pain in the MCL.  It was like flipping a switch. No pain.  Zero.  I almost jumped up and took off running right then and there. Well, not really.

Next day – no pain.  So then, added some activities like jumping rope.  No pain – at least until I had jumped so much that lots of other stuff was hurting also.  Started the massage, hit the spot in Vastus Medialis and Bang!  no pain!  So that’s been going for several days now.

I’m now ready to begin the running conditioning process again.  Yay!  We’ll see if this MCL pain is something that can really be conquered.

More in due course….

Tags: iphone, knee pain, massage, MCL, running, triathlon

Yes, it’s been a long time since this thing was updated.  Motivation has been hard to come by.  Too much heat?  Too much work?  Too much humidity?  Too much weight?  Too much junk food?  Too many excuses?  Probably.  The dream is still alive though.  Seeing it may be a little difficult, but it makes appearances from time to time.  I find that getting external sources of inspiration and motivation are much more necessary sometimes than others.

Anyway, I’ve been working on that motivation thing.  Hitting some group rides to find company on the road.  Remembering that sometimes a nice social ride is just the ticket.  Racing around isn’t always necessary.  Getting some good music to help push you along is also good….just gotta be safe with the earbuds and the traffic!  Also, varying the training routine AND (big news) getting back to eating properly for energy during training, recovery from training, and to begin to shake some of this weight.

Just for the record, when I started cycling 3 years ago (and some 9000 miles), I tipped the scales at a svelte 282 lbs (128 k or 21 stone).  Got that down to 229 lbs. and was in pretty good shape – BMI etc – until The Wreck.  Long story short.  The Wreck took me out for long enough that 25 lbs jumped right back on.  Even though I got back into fair riding condition, the weight didn’t come off (poor eating, anyone?) and for good measure I went ahead and added 10 more pounds.  So, now my friendly scales insist on showing me around 264 or so.  Say it ain’t so!

Suffice to say that everything is out of whack at 260 lbs.  Low motivation.  Ill-fitting clothes.  Loss of confidence, hair, teeth, nails.  (Just kidding.)  Seriously, though with that much weight all sense of focus on training and the pain that goes with it are right out the door.  When someone talks about a downward spiral in their behavior, I know exactly what they mean.

It is with a renewed sense of mission that I am taking charge again.  Making a training plan.  Sticking to it.  Making an eating plan. Sticking to it. Taking one step at a time (is this anything like a 12 step program?) on the road to putting together a serious attempt at this triathlon goal.  I figure that for the tri to be achievable, that I must be much, much lighter.  Must have a different body composition.  I don’t think being below 200 lbs is truly practical.  Afterall, that is college track scholarship territory for me.  There was a time in my early 30′s when I did weigh about 205-207, depending on how much ice cream I ate in a week.  I’m thinking that 205-210 is a good place to be, even though it still places me in the clydesdale category.

As of today, I am on Day 2 of a better eating regimen.  More fruits, veggies, lean protein etc.  No choco chips, Oreos, powdered doughnuts, Famous Amos, etc.  More water.  Less coffee.  Fewer bagels.  More oatmeal.  Fewer chips.  More red peppers.  Fewer Cokes.  Ouch!  And the amazing thing?  I swam a half yesterday, cycled for 1.5 hours (with 4 big climbs), and ran for 30 minutes and today I feel great!  I ate correctly yesterday (especially post-workout); importantly, I have eaten correctly today.  Now, I am ready to do some spinning just to loosen up and shake out my legs a little bit.

I’m back!

Tags: cycling, running, swimming, triathlon, weight

It’s finals time, so not a lot of time to train… Just as well, since it’s about as humid as Swamp Thing’s butt-crease right now. I did manage a 3-mile trot today, but not having run for the past week and a half combined with the humidity made it pretty unpleasant. Weather’s supposed to clear up today and be nice into the foreseeable future so hopefully I’ll make time to get out and enjoy it before leaving for Little Rock.

Tags: running, Weather

Running is getting easier! Or at least, its suckitude is on the wane. I’m quickly closing in on a sub-7 minute mile. Friday I did four miles in 38:30, with a best mile of 7:03 and an average of 9:50. The new shoes seemed to have been helping, although I never felt like I hit my stride. My feet were doing all sorts of crazy things trying to reconcile my natural gait and the structure of the shoe. I’m new to running, but this just seemed incredibly wrong to me. Then I saw this article: The Painful Truth About Trainers.

I’ve suspected this ever since I began selling running shoes. They’re just not made to complement the foot’s natural shape or motion. How, exactly, did we run away from bears and lions without $100 Nikes? Pretty well, apparently, judging by our survival as a species. Today I left the Sauconies at home and ran in my Mexico 66′s. These have been my go-to sneakers for some time. They’re thin-soled, lightweight, flexible, durable, and stylin’. And they ARE running shoes—They were first made in 1966, and worn in the ’68 Olympics in Mexico. Hence the name.

Since I was running on basically no cushion at all, I opted for an easy mile on the treadmill just to see how it went. 6.8 mph, no incline, easy-peasy. After a mile I was feeling pretty great, so I thought I’d just round it out to 10 minutes. The 10-minute mark came and went. Here’s a brief rundown of the next several decisions I made: “What the heck, let’s do a mile and a half. Still good… maybe 15 minutes. Ok, let’s just do two miles. Still good… I guess I can walk until I hit 20 minutes. Ok, 20 minutes down, let’s just make this a three-miler.” I didn’t get tired until around 2.8 miles, and managed to keep up my pace until I’d done three miles. 27:40… wait a minute, that’s faster than my average from Friday. Granted, it was a mile shorter, but I think I found my new running shoes.

Even using tendons and muscles that have supposedly been weakened through neglect, I felt almost no pain or discomfort during or afer the run. This, for me, was unheard of until today. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow, but for now I’ll be looking for the receipt for those Sauconies…

Tags: equipment, health, running, shoes

Not much to report on today, just a short run and weight routine at the gym. I can consistently do a mile in 7:13 now, although it results in a heart rate of around 191. According to the chart on the treadmill this is heart-exploding territory and not to be sustained, but when was the last time I let a chart tell me what to do?

A couple of interesting articles for you today! This first article is about how coffee (more precisely, caffeine) lessens the pain associated with working out.

Coffee Lessens the Pain of Exercise

And this one is about how there is an ideal running pace for everyone, at which metabolic efficiency is its highest. For men this pace is, on average, 8.3 miles per hour.

Perfect Running Pace Revealed

These two articles would seem to confirm the validity of my preferred workout method, known as the Drink a Lot of Coffee and Then Run Your Butt Off Method.

I have been listening to a lot of Ratatat as my running music lately. Good, good stuff.

Tags: health, running

Today I did the same run as Sunday, but .06 miles longer and almost three minutes faster. I took 42 seconds off my average mile, and 1:14 off my best mile. Somehow I burned 3 fewer calories. Does this mean I’m in better shape now than I was four days ago? So it would seem.

The new shoes are doing well, but I’m going to have to put my Superfeet in them because today I noticed a definite lack of arch support. I don’t know how I missed that when I tried them on, or on my first run.

Tags: running, shoes

Today was my first run on my new running shoes, and MAN does having the right shoes make a difference! I ran (ok, mostly walked) 4.8 miles in 56 minutes. My best mile, I think, was 9:36. I say I think because I used the iPhone app Fitnio to track my run, and I’m not sure exactly what that “9:36 mile” is referring to. Let’s just go with that being my best mile time. The weather is amazing right now, so I’m very glad to have shoes that don’t constrain me to the treadmill.

The shoes are the Saucony Progrid Guide 2. I was pretty set on getting Adidas, since they were my favorites when I sold them, but the Sauconys just fit better. I tried at least one shoe in every brand at Lombardi’s before I made up my mind. Hopefully it was worth the trouble and I’ll be able to run regularly again without fear of injury. Oh, and the best part? My former boss gave me the employee discount. So now I’m sitting on the exercise ball I got with the money I saved!

Tags: equipment, running, shoes, Weather

Never having been a runner, I’m not all that familiar with the attendant injuries. For the past few weeks I’ve been trying to learn to distinguish between all the different sorts of pain that come with this sport. Sure my legs are going to be sore, my calves feel like they’re on fire about 60% of the time now. My upper leg muscles weren’t used to anything more strenuous than walking up a hill or an occasional bike ride. So there’s a certain amount of just shutting up and getting over it that I have to do. But the past few runs have had me worrying. All the info I can find points to shin splints, but fortunately at this point it’s not bad enough to warrant real recovery time.

I’m pretty sure that it’s my shoes’ fault. I’m running on neutral trail shoes when I definitely need at least a stability shoe, more likely a motion control, in the road variety. Maybe this week I’ll hit a few specialty running stores and get gait analyses and shoe advice. Until I can afford new shoes though, I’ll just have to back off on the running and maybe substitute biking. If it would just stop freaking raining all the time I’d put some miles on the ol’ Cannondale, but until that happens I’ll be on the stationary at the gym (ugh). Now’s as good a time as any to start swimming, I suppose, but I want to swim even less than I want to run.

Tags: equipment, injuries, running, Weather

Took a whole minute off my 5k today. 27:24. I did the first mile in 8:03, and the last 3/4 mile at 7:34 pace. I think. Everything was a little blurry at that point. I’ll do some longer distance this week, and then next Thursday try for 26 minutes. I’m pretty confident that I can hit 25 minutes within 3 weeks, but we’ll see how that goes.

I either need to take a little more time between waking up and working out, or I need to just hold off on the coffee until after I’ve run. “Coffee slosh” is brutal when you’re trying to set a personal best.

My weight loss seems to have stalled at 7 pounds (I’m at 203 now). I am, however, losing body fat, which really is just as good. I think the disparity is due to strength training. I can’t seem to find an exact figure anywhere, but I’ve heard that muscle weighs two to three times as much by volume as fat, depending on the specific muscle and the person. If anyone knows better, please speak up in the comments!

I figure I have a couple of options to lose the remaining 13 pounds. Just reducing calorie intake would do it eventually, ditto for increasing cardiovascular exercise. Cutting back on the weight training would do it too, at the cost of muscle mass but with the result of a more compact and efficient body composition. If I were going to focus on running or cycling, I think that would be the way to go. But I’m going to start swimming again at some point, which takes a considerable amount of upper body strength. So the only reasonable path to take seems to involve eating less and running more, which totally sucks. Oh well. At my height and build, 190 pounds is exactly where I need to be if I’m going to be a competitive athlete. Also, being 13 pounds lighter would mean 39 fewer pounds of force every time my foot hits the ground while running, and based on Dad’s knee history that is pretty important to me.

Are there any nutritionists in the audience? I’d love some pointers on how to cut back on calories while still getting all the necessary nutrients. What’s a good protein:carb:fat ratio for someone training for a marathon? How many grams of protein should a 200 pound guy trying to lose weight (but not muscle) have daily?

Tags: goals, running

Laura’s visit threw me off, and then it rained for a solid week, so in the past two weeks I’ve been running twice. Last week I talked about the 5k and my goals. Well, this week I made exactly no progress. 28:30, three seconds slower. I did, however, do my first 8 minute mile today. I’ll take another shot at it tomorrow and see if I can improve.

Today’s workout music was Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals. (Warning, MySpace link!) It is impossible to get bored with that album. Put a Radiohead riff behind Jay-Z, and you can hold my attention for as long as I can stand to be on a treadmill.

I broke down and bought some new workout clothes. I only have two sets of clothes suitable for running, and I got tired of washing them by hand in the sink after every workout. Next month, perhaps, I’ll finally get real running shoes. This is really just a roundabout way of saying, don’t be surprised if you see ads on the site soon.

Tags: equipment, goals, running

…I’m alive, despite what you might think from my lack of posts lately.

Laura (my beautiful, awesome girlfriend) was in town last week, which meant no training, which meant no updates on training. We did, however, walk so much that my feet hurt for two days after she left, so I’m going to pretend I trained a little bit. Touring the city on foot is not only a great way to take in the flavor of the neighborhoods, it’s a great way to wear yourself out.

Today was my first day back at the gym. I did a 5K run (3.1 miles) in 28:27. I held an 8:37 mile pace for the first two miles, a big first for me. Most of the last mile, after a little walking, was a 9:30 pace, about on par for me. My heart rate was 184 for about the first 18 minutes, and for the last six or so minutes… For a little while I thought my heart might explode, messily, and that would suck because they’d probably make me clean the blood off the treadmill. My next goals are to do three miles at 8:37 pace, and then to break 25 minutes for a 5K, then to add distance a half mile at a time. At the same time I’ll stick to my loosely interpreted version of Hal Higdon’s schedule, with a weekly long run and cross training day.

I’m seven pounds in to my 20-pound weight loss goal, so that’s going well. Laura bought me a stovetop espresso pot, so I’m drinking lots of very strong coffee. I mention this because supposedly coffee, being a stimulant, not only suppresses your appetite and lowers your blood sugar but also allows you to exercise harder, longer. I’d drink it anyway though, I looooove my coffee.

I loaded up some different music on my iPod for the run today. Modest Mouse’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank is a surprisingly good running album. I’m to the point now where I don’t have to listen to Dragonforce to distract myself from how hard running is, which I count as progress. Dragonforce is still awesome though. I’m toying with the idea of reviewing albums based on how they help with a workout, so maybe look for that in the coming weeks.

Overall I’m pretty happy with how training is going. After a week off I was still able to accomplish a personal best, and each goal I set I accomplish fairly painlessly. Maybe I should be setting the bar a little higher, but I like feeling like it’s easy to be awesome.

Tags: health, music, running, san francisco

…my name might be Gimpy.

A day after completing this ridiculous 20-mile run, I’m still a bit stiff and sore.  I’ve got some tightness in my left hip flexor, and my left ankle isn’t feeling too grand either.  Interestingly, both knees are fine, as is the right ankle, which earlier had been giving me trouble.

So, 20 miles.  We’re having this heat wave up here:  55 degrees on Saturday, 56 today, 63 tomorrow!  But yesterday there was a bit of a break in the warmth–it was about 35 degrees with a stiff south wind.  I set out at approximately 2:00 p.m., headed east to the lake, turned north for about three miles, then went back south.  I did this because there’s only one water fountain along the lakefront path that stays on through the winter, and I wanted to hit it about midway through the run to refill my water bottles.  Going south, I reached said fountain at about the eighth mile, and continued south to the Museum Campus, where I turned around and went home.  This divided up the run into four somewhat equal phases.  Map of the run here.

Phase One:  Home to Foster Avenue
Mild stiffness in the left ankle to begin the run.  A slight fear that I’m not wearing enough clothing.  I wear UnderArmor tights, running shorts, a long-sleeved microfiber shirt, running gloves, and my new technical fleece hat.  (This new hat is much, much warmer than the one I lost in Arkansas.)  Also my long-run socks and the new pair of shoes.  Running into the wind without an UnderArmor top, this ensemble is a little chilly.  Some mud on the path at the lakefront, but heading north, the path is mostly clear.  The south wind, at my back, makes this part of the run very easy.  Belmont Harbor is still frozen over, which makes it a little like an air conditioner.  Phases two through four after the jump. Continue Reading »

Tags: Chicago, clothing, equipment, gu, hydration, long run, running, Weather

something valuable – power, wisdom, Ding Dongs? Well, whatever else may accrue to me, I’ve learned that running as a recreational activity is not in my future. Here’s the deal: I know I can make a half-marathon distance at a 14 minute or slightly better pace. I also know that a shorter, faster run jacks up one knee pretty badly, at least right now. So, the plan now is to continue training on a very moderate program. “Real running” will only occur as an element of an actual competition. I need to have a much deeper running base and a lot less weight to stay serious about this. Today was a nice, short little ride that helped recover some athletic motion in the bad knee. About 18 miles. EZ pace. Nothing spectacular, but it was better than sitting on the sofa.

Tags: cycling, health, injuries, running

but it’s for the best. Afterall, when one’s race pace amounts to a 13:06 mile, humility is an easy virtue to cultivate. Today’s scheduled run was 4 miles at pace. A nice warm-up was followed by 2 miles of actual running, 1 mile of walking, and a final running mile. Several observations include a definite absence of sore calf muscles, a longer stride, a more confident foot-strike, and better overall looseness. However, the knees are organizing a revolt. A coup d’ patella is brewing on the horizon. (Probably at the behest of free radicals lurking the neighborhood.) I intend to win the hearts and minds of my rebellious body parts with generous applications of ice and Aleve, stretching, and recovery time (thank you bicycle!).

Tags: health, injuries, running

Well, I did it. It took me 1 hour and 47 minutes for a blazing 5.05 mph average. I walked a pretty significant chunk of it, because it turns out that running on pavement hurts. I also stopped twice to stretch, for the same reason. This would seem to indicate that I have no idea how fast I’m running or how to pace myself, because if you factor in the walking and the stops I beat the pants off my usual treadmill average. I think I made it through with no injuries, save the beginning of a blister on my big toe. I will definitely have to get new shoes if this is going to be a regular thing. Suggestions are more than welcome!

The route I took is beautiful. I should have taken my camera, maybe I’ll do that next week when I repeat this insanity.

Tags: running, shoes

Last weekend was abysmal.  There were weather issues, there were health issues, there were injury issues, there was all kinds of work-related busy-ness issues.  The long and short of it — short, really — is that I missed both my weekend runs, one of which was an 18-miler.  Now, given that I’ve got two 20-milers scheduled for the rest of this cycle, I’m not too worried about it.

This week was a “step-back” week, meaning the long run is shorter, as are some of the mid-week runs.  It’s meant to help the body catch up and recover in preparation for another push upward in mileage.  Considering that I missed 26 of the miles I was supposed to run last week, I was already kind of stepped back.  But nevertheless, I followed the plan–5 miles each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all on the Tropical Rainforest Treadmills in the University of Chicago Amazon Gymnasium.  Well, not really, but they do keep it hot in there.  And when you’ve gotten used to running in like 12 degree weather, 75 is really, really hot.

Yesterday I did an 8-mile pace run, actually beating my projected marathon pace (1:08:32, for an average pace of 8:36, 24 full seconds faster than I hope to run in the race).  It was “warm” outside — 34 degrees — and I used the balmy weather as a chance to practice my pace out of doors and to start to break in my new pair of running shoes, the ones I’ll be racing in in March.

Today I did 13 miles.  I was trying to keep it slow, because, you know, that’s what they tell you to do for the long runs.  I ended up averaging 9:19/mile, which is probably 20 seconds faster than I should have taken it.  But it felt like I was slogging along and would never get anywhere.  I’m tired and all, but I really felt like I could have pushed it harder.  Which is probably how I’m supposed to feel at the end of a relatively easy week.  Today’s run totaled 2:01:02.  Splits after the jump.

My first 20-miler of this cycle is in seven days.  Let’s hope my ankles make it.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Chicago, equipment, health, long run, running, shoes

The other day during my five-mile run my left foot started to hurt. I think it was my flexor halucis longus tendon (I had to look that up—running might end up helping me with my anatomy class). The next day when I did three miles (29:33, w00t!) it was fine and it hasn’t bothered me since. I’m going to try for 9 miles tomorrow, and if it’s a problem I may look into getting some more specific running shoes.

I’m wearing New Balance 873s now, which are trail runners, meaning they’re not as cushioned. I also picked them out based on their looks, because they lack that certain running-shoe butt-ugliness and when I got them I didn’t think I’d ever actually be running unless somebody tried to rob me or something. Unfortunately this means I skipped the whole gait-analysis thing so not only do I have the wrong shoes for the surface I run on, they also might be just wrong for me altogether. I will, however, be using them in that half marathon because that sucker includes “a combination of singletrack hiking trails, fire roads, pavement and a beach crossing.”

It being the last day of the month, I went back and read some of my older posts. It’s really encouraging to see how I’ve improved—A couple of weeks ago I was really proud of myself for doing 2.54 miles in 30 minutes. I guess that’s what this blog is for, good to know it’s working!

Tags: injuries, running, shoes

In today’s installment from the asylum, I had a nice little 6-miler at a blistering 13:30 pace. The program that I’m following assigns values to each training session. Today’s assignment was for 6 miles at “easy” pace. That’s compared to say next Tuesday’s scheduled 4-miler at “race” pace. The only problem for me right now is that there is no difference between “easy” and “race” paces. Maybe that comes later on? I have this dream of running 9 minute miles. Apparently, I can do an 8 minute mile right now. That’s AN 8 minute mile as in ONE mile in a row. Not 1.5 miles. Or, 2 miles. Or, well, you get the idea. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice day for something civilized – like bike riding!

Tags: running

I know this is not Chicago, but it was 28 degrees out there officially today. I think in the shade by the river (where I was) it was much colder than that. Today was scheduled for an easy 6 miles. I did a moderate, okay maybe it was easy, 5. All I know is that I was freezing at the end as well as in the middle and at the start. I think the new shoes help. I think the training is beginning to help. I think the activity is still ridiculous. Give me a bike any time! It’s been over 4 hours since I finished and I’m still cold. Please tell me that it gets better.

Tags: cycling, fitness, health, running, triathlon, Weather

I just ran/walked five miles in exactly an hour. 7 minutes fast, 3 minutes slow, five times with a ten-minute walk at the end. New record! Two weeks ago 7 minutes at 6 mph would have knocked me flat on my back, and today I averaged 6.5 mph for the running intervals.

Spending an hour on a treadmill is BORING. Until I get the hang of running though, it’s the only way I can accurately pace myself and keep track of distances and intervals. It’s also nice to be able to track my heart rate. I can tell a huge difference in how quickly I recover compared to two weeks ago. I can go from 187 bpm to 120 bpm in just over two minutes now.

School has started, which means an adjustment in my schedule. I walk about 3 miles on Tuesdays getting to class and back, so that’s my new day off. This way, I get some kind of exercise every single day.

Tags: run, running