Recovery day and how

Today was definitely time for a recovery run. We planned out a five mile run that was relatively easy. Even though we both said, "lets go slow, its a recovery run" we started out at a pretty fast pace. It was my route and I was really bad at giving out directions, my poor running partner kept having to double back (so she probably ended up with more miles!) I was really sort of out of it this morning though I feel much better now all showered and surrounded by various morning drinks: coffee, metamucil and crystal lite (Um, what? It was the only sweet thing I had to mix with it in an effort to firm up...) and green drink + protein. Not very happy about the metamucil thing, we'll have to see how it goes. Aren't we all excited to find out?

So the run was really nice but we both were feeling the effects of the epic run yesterday especially on the hill out of Reed. But we did manage to do our "one step per square" on the last block after doing the San Francisco tiny hill step out of campus. When we finished both of us looked at our time of 53:10 and were disappointed. We couldn't possibly have been running slower than 10 minute miles. My watch said 5.93 miles, but it is a notoriously exaggerator. What had happened is we decided not to stop at the cafe in interest of time, so we cut out the loop that we added to allow us to do the cafe stop. I thought that it was even, but it turns out not so and we actually did 5.63 (according to mapmyrun.com).

Epic early run

A Sunday nine mile run didn't happen yesterday, so we made up for it by getting up really early facing the rain and going for it this morning. At 6:30 my running partner and I found ourselves under the freeway bridges on the Portland waterfront, The rain wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either other than supplying us with a relatively warm morning. Off we went into the AM dark on the darkest night of the year, nothing but bright runs from here on out. I wasn't sure how much light we would have, but we picked up enough from the city and the low clouds to see our way for the first hour or so until the day decided to welcome us.

We had to add on some miles to our loop to make nine which we did up a hill before we crossed the Willamette. I powered across the bridge mostly I think to get off it as quickly as possible but also to push my partner. We successfully traversed the thin pedestrian path as quickly as we could and then headed off to the final half of our run along the west bank of the river. This portion of the run is sort of unfair as the new waterfront development gives you the illusion of approaching downtown which really doesn't come for another mile and a half or so, sort of frustrating.

We brought peanut-butter filled pretzels to eat on the move which turned out to be relatively hard. We have taken them on long runs before and they have made for a good protein boost mid run. However in the past we stopped to eat, this time we powered through the run and ate on the move which proved to be difficult without choking on pretzelly goodness. We also brought sharkies, electrolyte gummy sharks which I love. I managed to pocket my partner's pack of sharkies, which may have been subconsciously on purpose.

I rode the bus home from the waterfront and ate a protein bar which was awesome (but I realized it is not vegetarian as it has oyster shells in it). I may need to let that one go.

Back

I had a number of clever (well that is debatable) titles for this entry, but I decided to just stick with Back as their really isn't much funny about it. Every once in awhile my back does a weird thing were I get these spasms in the lower back area. It usually begins with improper lifting, this time bucketing water out of the bird's pool. Oddly I didn't think I was doing anything out of the ordinary, maybe I moved too fast - lift with the legs (and arms) and go slow. Once the initial spasm happens my back seems to tighten up considerably and I get more periodic spasms. In the past it has gotten better over time, just a matter of waiting it out and taking aspirin. Yesterday I thought I was getting better and was moving around pretty well and pain free. Last night I got up to go to the bathroom and wham, another spasm and here I am back to pain. Needless to say this has kept me from running. My last run I did too early in my recovery and I blame the 10 miles on keeping me in pain. I have to remember to get over this fully before I jump back on the roads. Frustrating!

Make-up run

It is Friday and I find myself with only 6 miles for the week. Tomorrow we are expecting a day of freezing rain, so I don't see getting many miles in then. Sunday I have an eight mile run planned, 4 loops of a nature park in Portland. We'll see if weather permits.

So today I decided to do a long run to make up for my short week and a possible short remainder of the week. I made my way around my base run with added loops and additional sections. I ended up with 9.5 miles and felt really good doing it, I could have easily gone further. But it was cold and I was hungry, so I ended it.

One weird thing happened on this run. About 2.5 miles into it I got a funny feeling on my right heel which quickly felt like I had a blister hot spot coming or like I had something in my shoe (or both). I stopped and adjusted my shoe and the feeling remained, but it felt better. I thought about walking, but realized that a 2.5 mile walk wouldn't do much better than a 2.5 mile run. My shoes weren't wet and I have never had any problem like this before with my feet and shoes. So I started up and decided to run with a pronounced mid-strike rather than on my heel or ball of my feet. It felt a bit better, but still a concern. The my running thoughts drifted away and the next time I thought of it was five miles later, this time with no odd feeling at all. Strange and ms-y.

Running in the cold

Last night in a brave attempt to beat the cold and our dwindling weekly runs my running partner and I hit the roads for a six mile evening run. We even unbeknown to either of us, celebrated the holiday season by bedecking ourselves in red and green blinking lights. Off we went to stave away the 22 degree night, me with five upper layers, she with three.

We tried for a slow pace and were successful, ending up doing a 10:10 pace. At about four miles into it as we started to cross the west bridge over the Reed canyon and onto campus. The run started getting tough for me. I have been battling a chest thing that is annoying but hasn't affected my lower lungs and has allowed me to keep running (except for the last two days). But I kept with it and pushed through. We slowed down a little for our climb past the art dept and through the east field up to Woodstock. Both of us are doing this part stronger now, we have yet to walk any part of it.

So my five layers tonight. I started out with a tight breathable shirt made out of "rubber band" material (as my friend calls it). Good for the cold, bad for public... Then I added a cool max running shirt, then a thin fleece shirt, next my warm weather running shirt. Lastly I wrapped all of this in my running wind jacket, bright orange reflective fabric to aid out holiday display.

Tops weren't the only layers I had. I considered wearing two sets of tights, but settled for one for which I was really glad as halfway though the run I felt like I had too much on as it was. I only wore one pair of running socks, but my running partner donned two including a wool pair which she really likes for keeping her feet warm. I did layer when it came to my gloves wearing a breathable pair of Manzellas under a wind shell pair. My hands were fine the entire run. For headgear I wore my balaclava and a hat (to which I attached my green blinking light. She wore an ear-warming band and a fashionable buff. We were sufficiently bundled, but I think I had a few too many top layers on. Halfway through I could have easily stripped off the fleece (or left it home) but it was too cold to stop and remove layers to get to it. Next time I need to think more about removal strategy!

We ended our run at a great local restaurant for a drink and dinner partly negating the caloric benefit of our run (the cake I had after I got home really did the damage). Our trip home from Toast was super cold, damp clothes and full bellies adding to the 19 degrees it was by that time. It was a great run, (and I am giggling to myself as I actually type this) a courageous run (maybe outrageous is a better word.) Feels good to brave the extreme cold every once in awhile, but I couldn't do it everyday.

Did I get up this morning for another? Um, no.

Fast four miles

My running partner is gearing up for a half-marathon this winter in San Fransisco and she is following this plan. I have been joining her on several of her shorter runs as well as her longer weekend runs. One of the deficiencies in my running is I often run just for miles. Joining her on her runs gives me a lot of needed variation at shorter distances. I have been able to fit more runs in per week than I normally do and now can comfortably run five days a week (in fact last week I almost found myself running six, but took Sunday off as a rest day.) The only draw back is having to deal with running extras (prep, cool down, shower and cleaning my gear), not to mention getting up earlier to do it. But the early rise is not a huge deal, I like getting up early anyway.

She just ran a 10K this weekend and did pretty well, so I felt like I had to push the pace. Overall we ran faster than 9 minute miles on our 4.25 mile run. To start I think we were probably running 8.5 and then faded to 9.5/10 towards the end (especially on that darn hill coming out of Reed. I think adding the chit-chat on ourr runs gives us an extra physical push as well, certainly pushes the breathing.