Four in a row!

So I finally managed to do my four runs in a row so I am officially back into the swing of running. Funny thing is I a going to Europe for 2 weeks and I know I will fall off my routine. So I have established my running just in time to slack off. But that is fine, I'll consider it a rest period and then ramp back up again.

Last week was the second week in a row that I ran five days on with two days off. Both weeks I ran over 35 miles. I am feeling really good, I think this is a good amount for me to be doing if not a bit more than I should be doing. I have been feeling so good about the running that I am considering another marathon. With a proper ramp up I can do it no problem. I have been concerned about my feet and several issues I have been having, but those have seemed to work themselves out for the most part. I'll see how they do with some long runs (15+ miles). This weekend my running partner and I did a nine mile run, the first 4.5 of which was uphill. We went from a running store in the 23rd St. shopping district up to Leif Erickson trail for another 3 miles before turning around and heading back. My running partner has gotten me into eating while running as an energy boost, the snack of choice has become peanut butter pretzels. What a great reward after 4-5 miles of running! 6-8 of them and I am ready to keep going. Now when I snack on them without running I feel guilty!

Today I headed into the rain. Our fall/winter weather is here. Rainy, windy. It wasn't that bad. I have been fighting a slight cold and I was questioning whether or not I should even do it, but I decided I really should. I was bundled up and had my rain jacket on. In teh 6.5 miles I did, I never felt like I got too wet, so I think I was fine. Plus I think it is good to run when you feel under the weather. Certainly not a super long hard run, but a base run is just what the doctor ordered!

True tempo run

I was planning to do a speed run tomorrow to add some variety to my runs which I am feeling I really need to do in order to improve. Then my running partner sent me this article on tempo runs and announced she would be doing one at the gym tonight. Inspiring as always she got me thinking I should do one as well and with the added benefit of adding even more variety to my running workouts since I did speed work last week (not ready to do both workouts in one week!)

So since the last 10K I did I ran at an 8 minute mile, following this article's directions I added 15 seconds to that to establish my tempo pace of 8:15 miles. I wasn't totally firm on nailing that exact pace, but I decided I would just run fast for the prescribed 20+ minutes sandwiched in between 15 minute warm up and cool down runs. Last night I planned out my route in my mind and this morning I hit the somewhat chilly (but not enough so that I wore tights) day.

I warmed up for about 15 minutes or so, actually covered a shorter distance than I had planned. I think I was going so slowly on the warm up and I was excited (excited?) about the fast pace that I just couldn't hold back. So I was off! I checked the watch and figured my time (8:00) that I needed to start my cool down. As I was nearing my first turn back toward the college I realized how quickly I was going through my normal route. The blocks were flying by!

Like I said earlier, I wasn't totally sure what my pace was exactly, but as fast as I was going I was able to keep my three steps in and two steps out breathing going for the first 2/3 of the fast portion. For the final 1/3 I switched to a 2-2 breathing pattern. As I was nearing the college I realized that my first guess of how far I needed to go was off and that I would need to go further to my second estimate point. When I hit the that second guess I was perfectly on schedule at 8:00, 23 minutes of fast pace running. Phew, the temp portion was over! Time to cool down. My cool down was longer than it probably needed to be, but that was ok with me.

As I type this I feel the run in my thighs, gotta love that soreness you get from knowing you worked hard. I am looking forward to the next tempo run I do!

Base run

This morning was a typical base run of 6.5 miles, nothing fast, nothing slow. I felt a bit draggy this morning before I ran, but I knew once I got going that I would be fine and I was.

There was one thing I did differently this morning. I have been reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougal. In his quest to figure out why his feet hurt so much (sounds like a similar journey, eh?) he discovers the amazing Tarahumara runners of Mexico and their fantastic ability to run long distances. The book turns into a discussion of barefoot running and the advantages of using the natural foot design as opposed to all of the fancy running shoes, orthotics and inserts we runners hold dear. It made a lot of sense and I would really like to try the Vibram Five Fingers shoes he recommends. I have some reservations though, I wear a half inch lift in my right shoes to compensate for a shorter leg, I wonder how that would work with these and I also wonder if running without my lift would be a bad thing. So with barefoot running on the brain, I did the absolute opposite for my run today and embraced the evil cadre of podiatrists and wore my orthotics for the first time in a couple of months. My feet feel a bit more achey after my run and I don't know if I want to go back to wearing them. But we'll see.

Nearing a peak

My running has been going really well these last 3-4 weeks. I have been getting in some great long runs which I think have been helping quite a bit. The soreness in my feet hasn't been too severe and I have been able to recover with little to no lasting affect. I feel as if my conditioning is ratcheting up to a peak point that would be optimum for doing a race. Its actually a good thing I am not as I will be taking what will amount to a two week layoff here in a few weeks to go to Europe. If I were training I would think that another 3-4 weeks of training at this level and I would be rock solid.

I have never been able to time my peak for running a race. When I was training for the Portland Marathon I peaked way early (about two months so). I was enjoying establishing my base so much that I kept wanting to push myself further. If I had been able to hold back around 30-35 miles a week instead of getting over that cusp of 40-50 I would have been fine. But I wanted to run far and I did, so I paid the price of missing my peak. Course then I just tapered off and started again but it wasn't quite right and plus I was dealing with a groin pull I got by jumping out of the way of a rushing mother and her carriage coming out of a blind entrance to a park. Really bugs me to this day that she never even said sorry and had no idea what so ever what she had caused me to do. Grrr, shouldn't drag up those old bad memories.

While watching the marathon, we watched an African runner go by who looked really impressive as a runner. John Riak was one of the most ripped individuals I have ever seen and had fantastic form even though he was finishing up a marathon (as it turns out his first and he placed fifth.) On my run this morn I visualized his legs and gained a feeling of sturdiness and strength in my own. I was IMing with my running partner and we looked him up to see where he placed and who he was. She found this great article on his struggles living in Sudan. Hefriended us both on Facebook and sent us nice notes. We both have a new favorite marathoner!

Mileage increase

Last week my mileage cranked up quite a bit. I ran five days last week and ended with a long run of about ten miles, my total for the week was 37 miles. My feet were a bit sore yesterday after the long run, but overall I feel pretty good. I did however take the day off today in favor of a rest day. I think this was a really good idea. This will negate my fast start to the week, but I think that is ok. The last couple of weeks I have run on Mon and Tues, even if it is only a psychological difference (say from running Mon and Wednes), it has made me feel like I have been off to a great start in terms of running miles and frequency (which I have!) This week I'll just have to make do.

I do think that I ran too much last week. For me I would like to keep it around 30 miles for the week. I think that is the optimum amount of running for me to do to keep the weight in check as well as a nice level of conditioning. Three base runs plus a long run on the weekend will give me those miles. I do still like going out five times though. One last thing on increasing miles, be careful! A safe increase is 10% on a weekly basis.

My run this weekend was really good. My running partner and I put in about eight miles running along the Willamette from Downtown to Sellwood and back. Our plan was to time our run to finish as the Portland marathoners were crossing the finish line. The last 30 mins or so we stewed and fretted about making it. We got there 30 seconds before the winner crossed. Great timing!

We did another slow run this time. It is funny how one might not think a slow run would work you as hard, but in actuality it is even tougher. I guess it is because you are taking more steps? The goal of the run is to keep your heart rate down so you are running in the "fat-burning zone." The pace is supposed to be about 2 minutes per mile slower than marathon pace. I have heard advice to the contrary, but I know after doing these workouts a couple of times now that they are great workouts.

Once we were done with our run it was awesome watching the runners. There were some notables, one a Japanese man who had "Tiffany" on his race number (Portland Marathon lets you put your name or apparently someone else's name on your number.) He was funny. We got some great smiles from folks who where only blocks away from finishing. Some runners looked terrible, some looked like they just started. We where about four blocks from the finish, when the first woman passed us, she was about forty feet ahead of the second. The woman is second looked a lot stronger and ended up passing the woman in first place with 200 yards to go (how disappointing for her).