run with ms

Feeling sick

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Ugh, the allergies have turned into a cold or flu thing that seems like it is moving into my chest. Two days until my first race and I am having some serious doubts about whether or not I can or should do it. I actually think I still may be able to run it, just run through it and do an easy pace; 70% of max HR maybe as a target? I have done two runs since coming back from Seattle and I am now thinking I won't do another until the race (if I do it).

I have been drinking a lot (airborne and tea) and trying to eat warm foods on the advice of my future acupuncturist. She recommends nothing raw though I still think I'll drink my green drink (actually this batch is all fruit and no veggies, I really need to go to the store.)

I have also been doing some stretching to hopefully help keep limber. I was really sore this morning, sort of achy. Our run last night was really slow so I am pretty sure that had little effect on my muscles. I rubbed in some arnica gel and that seemed to help.

Unexpected break

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Yesterday was the first time I had run in six days, not the best time for a break considering that I have my first race of the season coming up. I was in Seattle this weekend so I knew I wouldn't be running Fri-Sun, then for some reason I didn't run the two days before. To make things worse I drank way too much beer in Seattle (as well as milk in lattes, animals, perfume on the train and seasonal allergies) which all contributed to a major allergy break out. I have been sneezing and blowing my nose since Sunday. Ugh.

So yesterday I ran eight miles relatively slowly. My lungs were a bit congested from all the allergy crud, but it went well. Getting out and running seems to help with the allergies a bit. I think getting away from the animals and their dander helps too. Even though I feel somewhat worse today, I think I will try to get out and do another one today.

My plan for the week is to not overdo it before the 15K Shamrock Run on Sunday. I want to get my head clear before Sunday, but I am pretty worried about being able to do so. I am hoping to get at least three runs in before the race, but I don't want any of them to be longer than six miles with maybe some speed work included. It really sucks to have worked so hard to get into racing shape and then just let it go a week before my first race. Oh well, I am not all that concerned about this one and plan to "run through it" and treat it like just another run.

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:59:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://besaroboyrunwithms.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://besaroboyrunwithms.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Enjoyable long run

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:26:00 +0000

Sunday was time for another long slow run. I usually enjoy these runs quite a bit, slow relaxed pace, good conversation, the joy of covering lots of miles.
This was an especially enjoyable one. It was relatively warm, the sun was mostly out, there were a lot of runners out, my running partner brought her new dog who is adjusting well to me and others. All the makings for a nice run and a great day.

We headed up to Lief Erickson trail in Forest Park, a mile and a half of uphill neighborhood running before we got to the trail head. We like this trail with the Declan as it is a wide hard packed dirt road that allows him room to avoid others if he gets spooked. It also has quarter mile markers all along the way which is nice and needed when you forget your watch (I felt naked without my constant stream of numbers to look at, but that also added to the relaxation of the run.)

Our run was punctuation with frequent stops to see other dogs and people. Declan did great and had a really good time, tail out for most of the time. We joked about my running partner telling the tale of Declan's rescue over and over again, she has it down to an elevator pitch. I could have heard it a hundred more times that day. At three miles up the trail we turned around and headed back. It was a little muddy that day but not as bad as it has been in the past. It is sort of fun getting mud all over yourself, makes you feel like a warrior. Speaking of, a run that would be fun, but I doubt I will do it: Warrior Dash.

Down the trail and back to the car we headed to the running store to see if we could get them to honor a coupon that we no longer had, but we got the wrong sales person, grrr. So new shoes for her and new socks for me are going to wait. Next came sushi again, I love the train of food that passes you constantly. After dropping Declan off we headed to Best Buy to get her a replacement laptop for the one that just died. The almost half off deal was a nice capper for the day (for me anyway, she still had manure to buy which wouldn't fit int he car with me so I got away with not helping, I tried!)

Anyway, great run.

Exercise and ms

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:16:00 +0000

I just read an interesting article called Exercise Helps Protect Brain Of Multiple Sclerosis Patients. Apparently tests were done on people who were physically fit as opposed to those who weren't and several differences were noted. Fit msers performed significantly better on tests of cognitive function and showed less damage in parts of the brain that show deterioration as a result of MS, as well as a greater volume of vital gray matter. Whoo hoo! I knew that all this running was doing something positive as far as the ms was concerned.

"We found that aerobic fitness has a protective effect on parts of the brain that are most affected by multiple sclerosis," said Ruchika Shaurya Prakash, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University.

"As a result, these fitter patients actually show better performance on tasks that measure processing speed."

"Physically fit MS patients had fewer lesions compared to those who weren't as fit and the lesions they did have tended to be smaller," Prakash said. "This is significant and can help explain why the higher-fit patients did better on tests of brain functioning."

Aerobic fitness was also associated with less-damaged brain tissue in MS patients, both the gray matter and white matter.

"For a long time, MS patients were told not to exercise because there was a fear it could exacerbate their symptoms," she said.

"But we're finding that if MS patients exercise in a controlled setting, it can actually help them with their cognitive function."

To me this old school of thinking just illustrates how little we know about the brain and ms, good to hear we are learning more all the time. I have to wonder how on track (or how far off) the scientific community is in their current thinking especially when it comes to drug therapy. I do know that since I have been on rebif I haven't had another set of symptoms pop up so that is a positive. But I wonder is that the drug or just the disease? I have heard of several people who have gone off of their drugs (different ones that they were on, not just rebif) and their symptoms flared up, so maybe it is the drugs.

I feel very positive that we will see a cure in the coming years, it seems like a lot of ms research (seen in my admittedly peripheral view) has been making great progress towards therapy and understanding of this disease. I also think that we have seen an increase in the disease whether that has been diagnosis or an actual increase I don't now. But basically ms has become the disease to have! This popularity can only mean more funding for research which will obviously lead to advancement in treatments like the new ms pill that is on the market (though I have heard plenty of bad things about it, though it sure would be nice to not have to give injections to myself...)

Six miles of recovery and new shoes

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:43:00 +0000

This morning I got a nice leisurely recovery run in which was needed after the long Sunday run and yesterday's speed work. The weather has been dry for the last couple weeks so I have been able to run on the dirt trails in the canyon which has been nice these last couple of days. The geese welcomed me back with a loud How Do You Do.

Last night I checked the miles on my shoes that I have been wearing. They have been giving me a bit of foot pain especially in the front of my feet. This in itself isn't a definite sign of needing new shoes especially with my ms-y feet, but I haven't looked at my total mileage in awhile. Sure enough I was over 600 miles on this pair which is pretty much way over when the shoe stores tell you its time for new shoes. I have had really good look with the Asics Kayanos, looking over my past shoes I have taken several over 600 miles total. Spend a little more, get a little more out of them.

This is the first time I have worn the new models (well new to me - kayano 15, they might even be on 16 now). The first day is hard to tell much from them but they feel good so far. Snug and solid in construction. This model has a new lacing method that I had read good things about, we'll see how it works for me. I am curious to see if they deal with the wet weather better than the 14s. I would get a little slippage with them on wet roads. So another test for another day, soon as the rain started again a little after I got home this morning. I stuck in a pair of Hapad inserts that I got as a sample, their new sport cloud inserts (so new they aren't even on their site yet.) www.hapad.com

Longish Sunday run and Monday speed work

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:25:00 +0000

Sunday was a really nice run up Lief Erickson trail with my running partner and my newest partner, her new dog Declan. Declan is 2 year old Irish Setter who was rescued from a show breeder who couldn't show him due to some teeth issues. Well his teeth didn't keep him from running with us and he did a great job. He has been having some nervousness issues with the new home especially when it comes to new people. He did really well, only getting spooked a couple of times by bikes. It was great having him with us!

Our run was nine miles, the first half was all up hill. It always a great relief to hit the halfway point in this run when you can turn around and go back down the same way. We didn't really target any sort of heart rate mostly just wanting to get Declan out to see how he would do. So it was a nice leisurely pace and run than ended with a bunch of sushi for your recovery meal which I found to be surprisingly agreeable in those terms. I felt really good after and didn't eat again until later that evening.

Today I headed out to the track for a little speed work. I ran a couple miles of straights and curves, I suspect I did more than eight sets as I think I lost count of the laps. I haven't dived into my report yet. One frustrating thing with the Garmin is I am having a hard time getting the laps to reset. Sometimes it is not a problem and all I need to do is press the button, other times it doesn't seem to work. Not sure what is going on, but it is quite frustrating. The laps I did get all found me running under six minute miles on the straights which makes me pretty happy.

Track work

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:06:00 +0000

Wow, what a beautiful warm day. I decided to head over to the track and run some 440 intervals which I have never done before. My plan was to do 440 at a just below all out, slower than I do my straights and curves. The I would cool down for 220 and start over again. I had it in my plan to do six of them and see where I was. So after 2 and a quart mile fast warm up I jumped in. I of course started too fast which is typical for me if there are people at the track. Slower runners don't phase me, but the damn long legged sprinters really bring it out in me. Especially when they are cute and compliment me on my pace!

So my third and fourth 440s turned out to be slower and the fifth was downright plodding. So when I cam around for the start of the sixth I said "aw forget it" and just did a lap to cool down a bit before I headed back for the 2.5 mi return. With a wave from my sprinter friend I head off the track and on my way home.

The last 2.5 I kept a reasonable pace up, the HR was pretty steady and high until the last mile or so when I slowed to a crawl to really cool down. Great run all in all.

Tempo followed by recovery

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:09:00 +0000

Yesterday I ran an eight mile tempo run, well the second through sixth miles were anyway, I started out with a half mile warm up and then picked it up for a sub 8:30 pace for the next 5.5. It went well was I felt strong throughout, My pace dropped a bit for mile four which is up hill for half of it, but I only lost 15 seconds averaged through the mile split, then back under goal for two more miles. The HR was obviously pretty high though this in the 160s for the first three miles and then over 175 for the next three on avg. I had to push it through this fast 5.5 and then spent the next mile and first of two in a cooldown going up hill and still keeping a relatively high heart rate. The last mile and a half was really slow (12 min miles) and I kept my HR around 150 or less.

I saw a barefoot runner go by and chatted at him for a bit. he told me he had heard that Vibram runners have been cutting the heels out of them. He didn't own a pair and was doing it full on barefoot. Said he might get some for the really hot weather.

After my hard run in the afternoon, I got up pretty early and went out again for a recovery run of six miles. It was slow going and a really good recovery run with very little time spent over my recover ceiling and a lot of it under by 5 beats or more. Boring run, slow run but a totally successful one. Recovery done, time for another quality run tomorrow! Maybe an AeT run with an HR around 160?

Long Saturday run

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:30:00 +0000

After getting some hours in for a client I headed out towards Mount Tabor. I needed to get a quality run in of some sort, be it a tempo, long run or hills. I ended up combining all three. My plan was to head to the volcano first, originally I set out to just do the eight mile loop to the top which includes 4.5 miles of low grade elevation change and 3 miles of hills and half mile loop at the summit. I brought a Clif Shot gel along and a bag of Sharkies but I made the mistake of not bringing enough water with me, something I paid for later.

Mount Tabor was a bit muddy but not too bad. There were a couple of spots that really need to dry out.I hit the climbs pretty hard and made it to the top without stopping. HR was pretty high but I kept it under 170 for the most part as I was going pretty slow.

On the first steep part to the caldera I decided I'd like to try out the first long run I did when I was marathon training. My Ipod Sport then told me it was 13.1+ total but I always thought it exaggerated. So this has been a run I wanted to measure with the Garmin and see what I came up with. I tried to stay with the same route, but I did have to go checkout the off leash area and see if it was fully fenced in (it isn't). At the top I gobbled and mocha gel and chewed a few sharkies. Even at this point I knew I was not going to have enough water. For some reason I passed up a water fountain, I think I had a good pace going and just cruised by.

There are some good downhills on this run too, but they wood chip several of the trails and I find those better to run down on than hard packed dirt (or mud for that matter). Once I was off the volcano I headed west and north for 25 blocks each direction and did a loop around Laurelhurst Park, one of my favorite parks in Portland (Mount Tabor is my fav). Time to head back. I had a couple more sharkies at the park as well as the last of my water, again I foolishly passed fountains. When I realized I still had four more miles to go to go along with my lack of water I should have gone back through the park but I was sick of hills and it would add another.

Reed college is directly south of Laurelhurst. I headed off through the Belmont business area as well as Hawthorne's where. Across Division and I was in the Clinton neighborhood where a buddy of mine used to live (great parties). I veered west again for a bit so I could cross Powell by Lincoln track. I almost did a few laps there so I could fill up my water bottle. Anymore running though was out of the question. So I popped some more sharkies and continued to plod on.

Past the Wimbledon is fun apartments I came up on Reed. There was a lacrosse practice going on. I passed them and headed for the east bridge. I powered across it pretty fast though in reality I was going pretty slow. I kept my HR at 160 which was high, but I didn't really want to go over than. It had been pretty high all run. Campus was sort of quiet and as I passed a few walkers I came upon two water fountains, but they were turned off. So I hit the final uphill climb, at least I didn't have any extra water weight to deal with. I really slowed down as I was truly feeling done at this point. I made it up the first hill only going over 160 at the very last steep part but I had to go really slowly. After the last hill the light didn't give any reprieve either. I had to pick up the pace to make it before it changed. The last mile was a killer, I was really feeling the lack of water as well as the hills in my legs. I passes the same old houses I always run by but I the lack of water was making my head sort of swim, and a lot of the houses looked like I had never run past them. Spring slowly popping out all over didn't help my dementia either!

I turned into Woodstock park and decided to check the fountains there. The bathroom were all still "Closed for Season" so I was skeptical. It had been really warm this winter, so I had some hope. I spied a brand new fountain over near the play area and thought I'll check it out. As I twisted the knob on the dry bowl I was all ready to be disapointed, but water came out! Even though I was only about a half mile from home I felt like I was saved. I decided not to turn the timer back on and guzzled some water, I was done.

I did a little stretching when I got home but mostly I wanted to eat. We had pizza and I had my eye on it. But first a shower.

Speed workout that should have been a recovery

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:51:00 +0000

This week I have gotten off schedule mostly do to a high workload in the ole non-running life. How dare it interfere! Tuesday I did a tempo run that really should have been a recovery run, but I felt it was ok as I took Monday off. Same thing happened today. I did a speed workout that should of been a recovery day but I took Wednesday off so it wasn't too crazy of a run. Tomorrow I definitely plan on a recovery run and I mean it!

I ran to the track which gave me a good 2.25 mile warm up. I pushed it towards the end of that, but not too hard. At the track I took off my jacket and water bottle and made the mistake of not turning my watch timer back on. I did six laps of straights and curves before I realized it. I was so mad as I really wanted to look at the numbers. The heart rate monitor was going during it so I got to at least watch the numbers, but I have pretty much forgotten most of it. I was getting up to 180 on the straights and then back down to 150 before I set off again. I felt pretty good about that, but I think I pushed it a bit too hard at the start. I was sprinting more than just running fast. Felt good to sprint, would have liked to ogle the pace number if I had them, grrrr.

I added another mile before I headed home. I was pretty beat by the time I got halfway home but kept plodding along although slowly. Good workout!

Time left 'til spring races

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:56:00 +0000

I have five weeks before the Shamrock Run 15k and nine weeks until the Race for the Roses Half Marathon. What to do with those weeks? I want to keep between 30 and 40 miles a week, but more toward the 30 end. I think this week may well be my high mileage week this spring at 39.5 miles. So If I drop off my miles I would still want to do five weekly runs. If I keep my long Sunday run to around 10 miles, that leaves me with 25 or so to split up for the other four runs.

Possible workouts:
AeT/Speed
Monday - 5 rc
Tuesday - 7 AeT
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 7 speed
Friday - 5 rc
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 10 lsd

OR
tempo/hill week
Monday - 5 rc
Tuesday - 7 tempo
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 6 rc
Friday - 6 hills
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 10+ lsd

OR
Long tempo week
Monday - 5 rc
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 9 tempo
Thursday - 5 rc
Friday - 6 aet
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 10 lsd

I think I will start out with an AeT/speed week (since last week was hills). This way I can do a long tempo the following week and get it lined up for Shamrock Run 15K three weeks after that to be the second long tempo run.

Then four weeks after Shamrock I have the Race for the Roses Half. I could spend those weeks building up mt LSD runs to get to 13 or so and a taper.

Four weeks of possible workouts pre-half:
March 15-21 Hills & 11 lsd
March 22-28 Speed/AeT & 12 lsd
March 29 - April 4 Tempo & 13 lsd
April 5-10 Taper
April 11 Race for the Roses Half

After the half I have two weeks before the Sean's Run 10K which is going to be tricky to plan ahead for. I think I'll a speed/AeT workout for teh first week, then a tempo/AeT workout the week of the race. I do think the race week should be light on effort/mile overall.

I say all this and it will probably change as the races come up. I am getting excited for it. It is like an actual season for me. I am seriously thinking about a July full marathon in San Francisco. What a great cap for a racing year.

13+miles, hers and mine

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:00:00 +0000

Today was a long run day both for me and my running partner. The only difference is we were in different states, she running the San Francisco Half Marathon, me running the Cemetery 13 run as I like to call it.

First off the main event, my running partner finished the half in 2:03:49. Amazing! I am so proud of her. She worked really hard to make it happen and she did it. An average pace under 9:30, way to go! I don't know too many details of her race, I am sure I will though as we are planning a celebration dinner this week. Man, I am so psyched for her!

So the half of today's running that I can account for was my run up Mt Scott along and through the Lincoln Cemetery. The run starts out with my typical path through East Moreland neighborhood to the Springwater Corridor. I took a little detour to check out this weird little spot where two creeks come together. It is a circular area with old stone walls that is tucked into a dead-end area at the end of the street. One of the creeks drops about 10 feet to meet the other in a little waterfall. Recently the city restored the creek bed before the waterfall and widened it. It isn't as dramatic anymore, but still neat. The last time I was there the area was completely overgrown making it a really secret spot, but it looks like someone has done some work on the area. Not so secret anymore I guess.

On the Springwater Corridor usually take this path toward downtown for some of my standard longer runs, but for this one I head east. The trail is pretty flat and offers a nice path with few street crossings. I stay on it for roughly three miles before I turn off taking a road that crosses under the freeway and up, up, up the hill. The next three miles are all uphill and a great hill workout. I was trying to do an aerobic threshold (AeT) workout and keep my heart rate in lower zone two, or somewhere around 147-151 bpm. Going up the hill was really slow going in order to keep my HR down, but I did a pretty decent job of it with one steep exception where it climbed over 160. The hill runs through a neighborhood and eventually through the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery. If there is no fog you get a really nice view of the city, however all I got was a nice view of a thick gray blanket, I could barely see a few blocks behind me. The downside of this run is that the road up doesn't have any sidewalks for most of the way and the road shoulder is very slight. I kept finding myself moving to the wet grass to avoid traffic, it wasn't that bad but not a traffic situation I would normally want to run in. Near the top of the hill there is a huge newer development and legally they have to put in sidewalks, so I had them for a quarter mile or so. The hill starts to make the turn down into Happy Valley when I turned around.

For my downhill journey I decided to run through the cemetery. I wasn't going to as I don't know how visitors would feel about that. But the prospect of the crappy sidewalk-less road made me reconsider. Fortunately nobody was around, I guess it was too early and church time as well. I circled the outer rim of the cemetery. It struck me as somewhat odd that I was paying so much attention to my beating heart among all these hearts that were no longer beating. I passed by their Oregon Korean War Veterans memorial and thought of my dad's contributions to that war. He wasn't happy about it but drove his trucks as he was asked to do. He told me many stories about timing his supply runs ahead of mortar fire, scary.

At mile ten or so I was off the hill and no longer pounding my knees. Both of them felt a little tender when I stopped at a traffic light awaiting my walk signal. I had a run in with a litterbug that got my HR up (funny, I could see the exact moment on the report when it happened) where I got to use my favorite litterbug line "Excuse me, I think you dropped something (thank you Cindy for the life lesson! I have never forgotten it.) Unfortunately (for the world) I don't think I made much of an impact on this clown.

I made my way back again targeting my lower zone 2 until the last 3/4 miles where I decided to pick it up and but out nine minute miles. I was able to keep it going pretty steadily for that last bit despite my bodies exhaustion. I think I was more happy about that part than any. Maybe it was because it was the first time on the run I wasn't holding back. Hopefully I didn't undo the good I had been struggling through for the last couple hours+ for.

My final numbers: 13.47 mi 2:22:43.

Recovery day

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:40:00 +0000

After my hill training yesterday I decided to keep with my heart rate plan of following heavy days with a recovery day where I target my recovery ceiling of 70% of max. These runs can be agonizingly boring and they take what seems like forever. But the goal of being able to do more hard runs in a week with the rest I am getting form these recovery runs is worth it. Tomorrow I am taking a full day off. Part of me wants to do another recovery run, but I have plans for a 13 miler for Sunday before the super bowl, this way I'll feel like I earned my chips! So today I did just over six miles in 1:04. Pretty slow, but I am actually pretty happy with the speed I am able to attain and still keep the hr under 143 (my 70%). The one thing I notice is that these runs tend to strain my Achilles tendon a bit and they are usually a bit sore after.

Two lonely runs

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:02:00 +0000

My running partner is in her taper week before the San Francisco Half Marathon this weekend so I have been on my own. It is amazing how dependent you become on a running partner when you run regularly with them. The runs seem so boring if I am not yacking away with her. I used to run with music all the time, or with the radio, but I have been spoiled! They are no substitute!

So my first lonely run was a recovery run where I did my best to keep my heart rate at or near 70% of max (recovery ceiling) which for me is 143 bpm. On the run I was really happy with how well I did keeping it relatively steady. The reports I got when i got home showed more variation than I would have liked, but that is ok. I was also really happy with how fast I could go without going over that, at least for the first half. At one point I was able to keep up a sub 9 minute mile pace for several blocks before it started creeping up. The hills were torturous, I really had to slow down for them, but I was successful at keeping the hr down. Toward the end as I ran through the Reed campus class was just getting out. I was crawling along, but I decided to check the ego at the door and just do what I was supposed to. I was really tempted to jet past several smokers, can't believe how many people still smoke. The run took forever, 1:26 for 8 miles but it felt pretty good. Despite the slow pace my legs were pretty sore.

So this morning after my slow run yesterday, I figured today was time for some pain! My plan was to do my hill run in Eastmoreland. I started out with a mile of warmup then hit the hills. Three blocks down, one block over and three blocks up. For the most part the pattern goes three blocks of hills, then five recovery blocks (one over, three down, one over to the next hill) so essentially I just criss-cross blocks along this ridge. On the hill portions I really step on the gas and try to do them as hard as I can. I maxed out my hr at 180 today, spending a lot of time in the upper 170s. The thing I am most happy with is is my hr drops considerably on the recovery portions, at times all the way into the 120s, mostly mid 130s.

This being the second time I have done this workout, I was especially excited to compare the two runs. Unfortunately I realized that they were really not identical as the first time I had run down to Reed to use the bathroom. Also they are doing sewer construction and on different blocks, so that sort of messed me up a little bit as well. But I was able to compare pace and hr. This time I did the run a bit faster and got my hr up higher. I still want o comb over the numbers and see how the recoveries compared. I just love the data you get out of the Garmin.

Speaking of the Garmin Forerunner 405, I just figured out how to customize all of my displays as well as my heart rate zones. Pretty slick. I am not going to go into how to do it, suffice it to say it is all in the manual and is surprisingly simple to do. I love this watch.

ms Monday

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:29:00 +0000

I have written so much about running in this blog that I often forget about the ms part. Not a bad thing I am sure! So today I did my rebif injection in my right thigh ending a string of my four favorite injection sites (LR stomach, LR thigh). Seems sort of funny to have favorite injection sites, but that's how it goes. For the first year and a half or so that I was taking rebif (going on year two now) I followed Serono's advice of taking it before bed to mitigate the side effects - flu-like symptoms. Those have seemed to tapered off (though I still take a single acetaminophen and a single ibuprofen). I also started to notice that I was having some trouble sleeping at nights I took it. So with occasionally running in the evenings, I often wouldn't take it until around 9AM which was getting too late for me. So I started experimenting with taking it in the afternoon. This has worked out fine even on nights where I was running afterward or even going out for a beer or two. The only change I have made to my routine with these afternoon shots has been to also take an additional Ibuprofen at night. I probably should be very consistent with the times I shoot the rebif, but life gets in the way and sometimes I think my schedule will only allow me to get the three shots in with 44-52 hours between injections. As long as I get my three shots in a week then I feel like I am doing myself good and taking care of this stupid ole ms. But this is not medical advice, just reality advice. Just another ms Monday, wish it were Sunday.

Fast run from out of nowhere

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:20:00 +0000

My plan today was to do a recovery run after yesterday's slow 12 miles. I was on my own as my running partner had the dual recovery going on, 12 miles and a open bar gala last night. Since the both of us plan to do a recovery run tomorrow, I decided to just wing it and see what I was comfortable running. During my first mile I was lugging a pile of library books along with me for the first half and managed to do 9:30. I thought that sounds about what I expected. During the second mile I was paying more attention to my heart rate which was around 150-155 so I wasn't real sure of my pace. When the mile two beep sounded I had ran that last mile at 8:17! And I felt pretty strong, so I decided to do another mile at that pace which I did. As I started into the fourth mil I knew there were going to be hills so I decided I would try to recover for a mile. The first half was all up hill and I relinquished the pace but not the HR which was hovering around 170+. For mile five I cranked out another 8:15 before hitting another set of hills. Again I relinquished the pace but kept the HR up topping 181 at one point and keeping a pretty steady HR of 175-180 for the next six tenths before I decided to back off and recover up the last hill. My last mile I ran pretty steady but relaxed around a 9:30 pace with a stop off at the library. All in all a much faster run than I expected and very enjoyable after the luxurious slowness of yesterday. Speed rules...sometimes.

Last Long Run before the SF half

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:29:00 +0000

But not for me! Today's long weekly run was my running partner's last long one before a taper week and then the San Francisco February 7th. She is a bit nervous about what pace she should do, a knowledgeable running store worker recommended pushing for 9:20 but she thinks that is too fast. I think she is going to try for that at points in the race but accept a slower pace at times, probably averaging 9:30 - 9:45. She is going to fuel up well beforehand both with sleep, food and water so I am sure she'll do a really good job. She is also going to sport a waterbelt with two 8 ounces bottles of H20 and two of Orange Gatorade G2 which is the replacement drink they are serving. We both know its crap, but it will be flavored and have some good stuff to counter its ton of sugar. She is also going to take 3-4 gel packs. I am encouraging her to take one before she starts and she wants to take them every 45 minutes after that. They are serving the G2 later in the race (I forget exactly where) so she plans to space out her own bottles around that drink station. I'm really proud of her hard work, she is all set!

In other racing news, I have a third race to do this spring. Sean's Run from Autism. I have done this race twice before, it's a really nice 10K along the water front from Oaks Park down the Springwater Corridor.

So now I am looking at the following:
Shamrock run 15k - March 14th
Race for the Roses half marathon - April 11th
Sean's Run 10k - April 24th
And then I think my spring racing season is over and done. Not sure if I will doing anything this summer unless I can find one at the coast where it is cooler.

So today's run of 12 miles up Terwilliger Ave was one I have wanted to do for a long time but never have, mostly cause the hills make me nervous. They weren't nearly as steep as I had them pictured in my mind, but they weren't easy either. So maybe 3.5 up hill then 2.5 rolling, but relatively flat then we turned around and back tracked. Here is the Garmin report. We did a really good job of keeping our heart rate down and going slowly but steadily. The route has pretty good paths along it in the form of sidewalks and paved nature paths. There is really only one area without sidewalks where you have to cut across an off ramp. The nature areas near Tryon State Park were really nice. One of these days I want to go all the way down to Lake Oswego, really only another 4 miles total. We ended our run with a really good healthy meal at vegetarian/vegan restaurant, very yummy and good for us, good recovery meal.

Overtraining and exhaustion

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:11:00 +0000

After a really hard week of running last week I am feeling like I have overdone it. We have done two runs after our long run on Sunday and both of them have been slow and really rough. Both myself and my running partner were noticing this and having trouble figuring out what happened. One thought is that we have been doing so several really slow runs in an effort to keep our heart rates lower that we have forgotten what it is like to run fast. I am pretty sure it has been a symptom of over-training. One week we are kicking butt through some hard runs and feeling great, the next week we are pooped and slow as turtles. I hope she is able to recover sufficiently for the half she is doing in two weeks, I am sure she will. She has a nice easy taper week coming up.

My mistake last week was not so much a slight increase in miles (though it certainly didn't help I am sure) but doing so many hard runs in a row. I think of the five runs I did last week, I rated four of them as "hard" runs or red runs. One LSD run up the hill for 5.5 mi. one tempo run, one speed workout and a hill repeat. Way too much despite what my enthusiasm was saying. That is what I get for reading running books, I get all pumped!

For my part I am now in the midst of taking a second day off from running which seems to be helping my overall energy level quite a bit. We are ding a 12 mile run tomorrow, so hopefully I will be rested enough for it. I think I will have no problems as the plan is to go really slow.

Recovery run that felt like a marathon

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:03:00 +0000

Last night my running partner and I hit the roads to run a needed recovery run. Neither of us wanted to do it, but realized we really needed to get out there and stretch our sore legs. We decided to do out run very slowly so as not to kill either of us. Off we went.

So even though we went so slowly, the perceived exertion level was really high. Both of us felt wiped out by it. Though oddly we attacked the Reed campus hill and ran it as fast as we ever had. Perhaps it was our slow 5-mile warm up that gave us the energy. That and I think there is a "show-off" aspect sometimes to our running that we both feed off of (at least there is with me, and I think with her a bit as well.)

I was originally intending to go for a run today, but I had no choice but to take it off. I was wiped. I woke up feeling very dehydrated despite drinking a huge glass of powerade last night (essentially just sugar and water, and possibly some other good stuff.)

Tomorrow we are heading to the waterfront for seven miles at a consistent 9:30 pace. Our goal is to get my partner's half-marathon pace cemented in her brain.

Long SLOW run in the rain

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:17:00 +0000

Sunday my running partner and I set out to do our weekly long run. In order to keep our heart rate down at our recovery pace we had to do it really slowly. The goal was to keep our bodies in the fat burning zone as much as possible in order to concerve our glycogen stores. This is supposed to make our hard runs later in teh week easier. It was really tough to go so slowly, especially seeing as the first 5.5 miles was pretty much all up hill until we turned around and did 5.5 back down.

Originally we were to leave at 9, but it was pouring and my partner wanted and eztra hour to finish her book. So at 10 when we did leave the rain had luckily tapered a bit. So our first hour was rainy, but not as bad as it ended up getting. The road we took was a hard packed dirt and gravel road up into Forest Park. The surface is rally rocky and somewhat hard on the feet (but not that bad once you can get used to it). It had rained so much earlier that night that there were tons of puddles. The runners coming down were covered in mud, looking like road warriors. We were soon to join them, however we were going so slowly we didn't get too muddy.Some of the dogs on the road were a total mess, just caked with mud. It was pretty funny.

We managed really well with keeping the HR down. Our pace was really slow and even though we were going up for 5.5 and then down, it got consitently around 15 seconds slower each mile the entire run. The consitency of eth slowdown was really interesting to me.

Here is the online report the Garmin provided. When we got back to our starting spot, the run was showing up a quarter mile short. Looking at the report, you can see how off thebacktrack was. I have no idea why that would be. Makes you wonder how reliable GPS is.

Today, we are both really sore and mutually posponed our recovery run until this evening. I think we should still do it as our bodies will be craving some loosening by then.

Um, make it three?

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:03:00 +0000

For all my talk about the value of resting and recovery days (maybe I have just been thinking that and not writing it, but I am pretty sure I have said on several occasions rest, rest, rest!) recently I haven't been living up to it. I have been listening to my body though and have felt strong enough to do these multiple hard days in a row.

So my running partner and I chatted on our Wednesday tempo run and IM'd all day Thursday about doing a hill repeat run on Friday. At first I was a tad concerned because of the two hard runs (one solo) I had done already this week. But our long run the previous Sunday was on a reduced mileage week for my partner's program and we would both have a day off on Thursday to recover. So I felt pretty good about the whole thing.

So Friday morning came around and I got the dreaded text "Too tired, can't make it". My first instinct was to go back to bed happy (especially since I hadn't slept that well the night before) but I had already had a cup of coffee and I was pretty peppy. So I decided to go out and do it on my own. We had discussed several routes and I decided to do the one I wanted to try. I know the area pretty well, but wasn't too sure how good of a hill repeat route it would be. It runs along a ridge that has streets running perpendicular to it, the blocks are about three blocks long. So it seemed perfect for going down one street then up the next alternating as far as the ridge went (the ridge drops down so eventually the hills got less and less before ending at Johnson Creek.

So after a quick bathroom break at the college I started my hills. The first ones were really steep and tough but I was just getting going so I wasn't too concerned. However coming back to them and ending here would be a different story, but I wasn't going to worry about that yet. So on I went, the hills were pretty tough, but I was able to push the pace pretty well. I found myself getting my heart rate up over 170 (into my 85-90% range) and then dropping down to 130 on my recovery blocks (one block over to the down hill, 3 down and then another over to the up hill, so sufficient for a recovery). Sure enough as I continued down the ridge, my hills flattened out a bit, but they were still effective as I would push even harder.

After five up hills, I decided to reverse course (I would actually hit six on the way back.) I crested my first hill on the return and realized that I would have the additional elevation gain of going back up the ridge, ugh. But I kept at it. I felt a bit tired, but still strong. HRs were still climbing high, but never higher that 175 and my recoveries were still dropping underneath 140. Sure enough as I neared the finish the hills got tougher and tougher. The last two almost broke me (actually it was the second to last that almost did it), but I made it. My final mile was run underneath my recover HR of 143 and was very enjoyable boosted by the successful completion of the run. I only wish my running partner had been there to enjoy the feeling (I knew she was going to be mad at herself for bagging all day (and she was!))

Overall my pace was really slow (over 10) but I felt great about the HRs I kept throughout. I look forward to improvement. Today we are scheduled for 11 miles at our recovery pace (actually we are going with out 70% HR counts- 143 for me and 151 for her.) It is totally raining, so I expect we will be very wet on this run. Maybe more on that later toady or tomorrow.

Two hard runs in a row

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:27:00 +0000

Not something I would recommend for every week, but as hard as that second run was I felt great afterward. My thighs are a bit sore and I feel a bit out of it mentally, but my body feels really awesome. Full of sore energy. I feel like I have worked hard, and I have.

Yesterday I ran down to the Cleveland Track to run on their newly surfaced track. Very nice. I did a comfortable 2.25 to the track to warm up. Once I got there I started in on 2 miles of straights and curves. My pace on the straights was as high as 5:30 and my heart rate got up as high as 178 (not far from what I estimate my max of 184). For the most part my straights got the HR over 170 before I brought it down to below 150 on the curves. It felt so good to go all out especially after our super slow Sunday ten miler. I even got to show off a bit as the girls track team came out to the track to workout, they had to wait for me to run a straight. I heard one of them say "I wish I could..." as I passed by them. I am sure she finished with something like "date Johnny" but I imagined she finished by saying "run as fast as that!" Ha ha. I only had one more lap after they got to the track before I relinquished it to them. I ended the run with another 3.75 back to home.

Overall I felt really good like I usually do after a speed workout. The other benefit is that the next runs always seem really fast as well. Speed workouts really do help improve in the fast arena. I think you are just getting used to the speed especially after months and months of base runs.

So today, my running partner wanted to do a seven miler at her potential half pace of 10 minute miles (though I know she is going to be faster). I thought I could handle that. Then she decides she wants to push it a bit. Of course I have to step up and say "Yay, let's do it." So now we decide to do 1 miles slow, followed by 5 miles at 9:30, then end with another slow one. By the time we got to the waterfront, our 9:30 goal became a 9:15 goal. Phew, now I was gonna be hurting.

The first mile went well. My legs were sore and we were passed by several runners, but it felt good. I wished out loud that this would be a super long mile so I could enjoy the pace, and it actually did go on for a long time. Then our fast miles hit and boom we were off. I think my running partner and I feed well off of each other and though I was lagging a bit I kept up with her fast pace. We usually talk the entire time we run together, never seeming to run out of topics. Well this mile there wasn't anything said. Second mile done and I looked at our pace and was greeted with an 8:33! Holy moly that's fast. So we agreed to slow it down a bit, but not a lot.

Third mile was grueling, but I was determined to keep going and so was my partner. Our conversation was sparse, I think we realized how quiet we were for the last mile and both felt that was odd. So we got a few words in. Mostly though we ran. I concentrated on my breathing, deep from the belly. I was really glad we were slowing down, but it really didn't feel like it was that much slower. Third mile done and our pace for the mile was 8:40. Yeah we slowed down but not nearly enough for me!

Mile four was another grueling one. I concentrated on breathing and was even able to blurt out a couple of things. I wonder, did they even make sense? As the mile wound down, my partner gave me some words of inspiration, only a mile to go! Well not quite yet, but yeah only another fast mile to go. At this point we decided to only do four fast ones, we were extremely happy with that. Especially since our pace was so much faster than we had started out with. Mile four done and our pace slowed to an 8:50 crawl (yeah right). One more mile to go.

As our final fast mile came to a close we realized we would finish it before the next hill which was a great feeling. Both of us had worked up a great sweat. Felt really good to be flying along with each other. We rocked this run. Phew, mile 5 done with an 8:42 pace. Time to cool down for the final two miles. Max heart rate for the fast part 170.

Those last two miles were heavenly and a great reward for us both. What a fantastic run, we both were really happy with it. We are getting good.

Long Slow Run with HRM

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:07:00 +0000

Yesterday my running partner and I braved the oncoming rain and headed out for a 10+ mile run. When I woke it was warm out with no sprinkles, so warm I passed on the tights. But the rain didn't hold out for long and greeted us at the start of our run on the West side of the esplanade.

We have been talking about keeping our long runs slow so as to keep our heart rate under our recovery ceiling thus keeping us in the fat burning zone. The idea is to burn fat instead of reaching into our glucose stores. So like I said we have been talking about it and trying to do it. Today we both strapped on our Heart Rate Monitors and did it for real. We knew we were going to be going slow and that the full run would take around 2 hours. Our target heart rate was 147 and we were really successful in keeping it there. It was sort of fun to watch our heart rates so closely, we even managed to stay under on our small hills. My heart rate was a bit lower than my partner's, but not much. Overall my average was 141 for the run with an avg pace of 10:45.

As we were finishing I really felt like I could run a full marathon at that pace. My feet were hurting a little bit but my legs and body felt great. I even considered adding and extra 5 miles to run home from downtown, but not seriously. My mile were high this week (36) and I didn't want to push 40 yet. Later in the day I felt really good as well, not very tired and not very sore. I did quite a bit of stretching throughout the day and the next morning I felt a bit sore and tired, but not bad.

We are scheduled for a recovery run this morning of five miles. I just got a text hoping to put it off until tonight. Sounds good to me, I'm pretty pooped this morn.

I have been trying to figure my resting heart rate in the morning right after I wake up. The first time I tried it it was 46. The next day 47 and today 49. The cats kept jumping up on me while I was laying there and not helping. I want to measure how low I can get it while doing chi gong breathing exercises. I am sure it would go even lower.

Mileage, mileage!

noreply@blogger.com (besaroboy) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Last week marked the second week in a row I managed to get in over 30 miles. I feel pretty good, no exhaustion, no overwork, no lingering aches (other than my usual feet things.) I also found myself running for six days in a row without a break. Usually I will go three days max before I take a rest day, but it just worked out to do the six days. My only issues seem to my my feet aching and a slight case of boredom.

To counteract that boredom I just got a Garmin Forerunner 405. So far I really like it, the reports it gives are amazing. Way more info than I could ever want on my run. A few quick complaints: its a little large and gets caught in my sleeve, the maps that the computer based reporting system uses are really crappy (compared to MapMyRun which uses Google Maps it totally pales) and the bezzle interface can be a little sensitive. I have gotten spoiled with Google maps and the almost blank maps the software displays are completely unacceptable. I hope I can figure out how to change that, there must be a way.

I have never used a heart rate monitor before, and it is pretty fascinating to watch. Apparently there are a number of ways to sue the data to maximize training that I am looking forward to utilizing. Hurray, more ways to get scientific.