faster with age

I have been running just over two years. I have been dealing with a high hamstring problem since mid november. It seems to do alright if I keep the pace slow and avoid running consecutive days. Every time it has started feeling better and I run a few faster miles I end up setting myself backward 2 or three weeks. I ran the painters 1/2 marathon in Jan. and didn't push to hard. I didn't wind up with to much soreness and thought I was recovered but as I added some more miles and a few faster runs it came back. I haven't had any flareups for about three weeks now and I've been riding a bike on days between running. I keep my fingers crossed after every run. It's usually not until that night or the next day that I can tell I overdid it and that makes it easier to go faster or farther than I should have.

This was a beautiful morning for running it was 16 degrees to begin but it was sunny with no wind we still have a lot of snow but it's going fast. I went for 9mi at a comfortable pace and felt like going a few more but decided I better not push my luck. I barley felt anything from my hamstring throughout the run. normaly I'll get a little more discomfort in the latter miles but this morning it felt no different at the end. Most of the run I kept about an 8:40 pace with last 2 around 8:10 overall pace 8:36.

This morning I went for an 18 mile bike ride. 1:10. Mountain bike. Gravel road. Another nice morning. Not sure of the best way to figure cross training miles. I guess I'll count that as about 6 mi.

Later went for a very easy 4 mile run at about a 9:15 pace. Last week I did easy 2 mi. runs on my bike days without any negative affects to my hamstring. A few weeks ago when I would run consecutive days of 6-9 miles at average pace I would wind up with more pain. Today seems to be no problem. So far.

This morning I wanted to do some hills. I found on a couple of my earlier recovery attempts that I could run a harder effort up a steep hill going slow with less hamstring pain than that same effort on the level. I felt like it was because of the shorter stride length. At the same time running faster down the hill lengthens the stride back out but the easier effort seems to put less strain on the hamstrings.

I have a mile long hill by my house that climbs 240 feet. The sign at the top calls it a 6 percent grade but the first and last 200s taper off a bit. I started with a 3 1/2 mi. warmup on the level at about 8:45 pace then down the hill in 7:22 back up in 9:28 then down in 6:55 which is faster than my current mp but probably a slow mp effort with the hill. then back up in 8:08 which was definatly a threshold effort.I didn't plan on going that hard on the last hill but the hamstring felt strong and I couldn't resist. I felt pretty good since this is the hardest effort I have run any distance in 5 months.I finished with 1 1/2 cooldown with a total of 9mi. total time 1:11 overall ave. 8:26

I had planned a bike day today with a short run later. I ended up being gone all day and when I had the chance it was quite rainy and muddy for a bike ride so I just wimped out and did the easy run at a very slow pace around 9 to 9 1/2 ave. I didn't feel real energetic today but that could be partly that I don't normaly run in the evening or something to do with the large meal I ate about an hour earlier. This was the first run I can remember in quite a while that I felt zero from my hamstring start to finish. I haven't felt what I would call pain for a while but there's generally some sensation just letting me know it's still there. I'm sure the easy pace had a lot to do with it but I'm quite pleased expecially after a couple of harder miles yesterday.

This morning I did an 18 mile bike ride before the ground thawed and got muddy. Mountain bike on gravel road. Time 1:14 HR 132.

Ran 4 mi. just before noon at an easy 9 minute + pace. It felt good and I wanted to go faster but resisted.

Nice morning for a run. 28 degrees with no wind and a few light snow flakes. Went 13 miles with none faster than 8:00 with an overall pace of 8:19. I felt real good this morning expecially after the first three miles. I added 12 miles to my weekly running over the last two weeks [8 of it this week] I'm a little worried about that being too much but what I added were 3 very easy 4 mile runs to days I hadn't been running. My energy seemed to be good on all the runs I had been doing normally including todays and I don't have any new achs or pains. I was wondering how todays run would feel after the extra miles this week and running 6 days straight [which I'm not used to]  right now I feel pretty good.  My hamstring is the best it's been in 3 1/2 months. I'm not sure what to do next week but I probably won't add much if any.

Ran out to the mailbox to get the paper 1 mile.

Ran 9 miles at an easy pace mostly 8:40 to 8:50 per mile. My son was out of school and wanted to ride his bike along with me. It was kind of nice to have some company on a run for a change.

Took a bike ride this morning in the blowing snow. Six miles of my route had been freshly graded. I think the grader was just ahead of me because mine were the first tracks in the fresh dirt and gravel. This made for very slow going even down the hills. It wasn't all bad though, I got to see a bald eagle up close and had a lot of canadian geese flying around. I went the same 18 mile route I have been going in 1:21:23. This took about 7 or 8 minutes longer than it has been and I actually put out more effort as my HR was in the 140s for a lot of this ride.

 About noon ran 5 mi. at a very easy pace.

Yesterday morning before my bike ride I was moving some things around while in an awkward position and tweeked my back. Yesterdays ride and then easy run didn't seem to make it any worse but it bothered me the rest of the day and was still there this morning. I don't know if the buildup in miles helped to bring this on or if it is just a coincidence. This morning I had planned to take it easy on my run. I only got 1/2 mile and I could tell the running was not helping. Rather than risking making it worse I turned around and went back and took a bike ride. I took the same gravel road as yesterday but then feeling pretty good I went another 6 mi on the highway for a total of 24 miles in 1:36.

My back felt much better this morning but not 100%. Just to be safe I took another day off from running and did 35 min. on the eliptical. This didn't seem to bother the back at all.

Did an 18 mile mountain bike ride this morning. My back is feeling better but I don't want to risk aggravating it more. Running while it is sore seems to aggravate it a bit but biking seems fine. I have had this lower back thing flare up on me 5 or 6 times over the last 8 years. I have had times where it took weeks to get back to 100 % but that was before I got into running. The last 2 episodes [since I have been running ] have been less severe and haven't lasted very long. I rode the second half of my ride at a harder pace than I have been keeping my heart rate in the 150s and 160s. Total time 1:12. Some of the freshly graded gravel is getting packed back down but there are still some very slow spots. I'm not sure but I may try a short easy run later I'll see how it feels.

This morning I tried running a mile but I could still feel it in the back a bit and decided I'd rather be safe than sorry so I went back and did 30 min. on the eliptical. Then I went on a 4 mile bike ride with my son. After I dropped him off at home I went on a ride for another 20 mi. in 1:27. I sure hope I can start running some miles next week. By not running today and taking a complete rest day tomorrow I have high hopes for monday.

My back was feeling pretty good this morning so I went out running for 6 1/2  miles at a very easy pace. It felt ok throughout the run and I just hope it feels ok tonight and tommorrow. If  it keeps feeling good I plan to keep my running miles under 30 this week and add in enough cross training to keep the total over 50. Hopfully I can get back to where I was within the next two weeks.

This morning I went for 40 min. on the eliptical. I counted that for 3.5 mi.

Afternoon I went for a 24 mile mountainbike ride offroad in 1:37.  HR 150. Had a strong headwind coming back that continued to get stronger then started raining hard enough that it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. Fun fun. Back feels great today after running yesterday and that's good news. I'll try another run tomorrow.

This morning I went for an 8 mile run.I ran most of my miles at 8:30 to 8:40 pace with a couple just under 8 min. Average pace was 8:25. I tried 1/4 at a 6:45 pace and it felt pretty good but I don"t think I could have maintained it very long. I haven"t run any miles at under an 8:00 pace in about 7 weeks [other than a few steep downhill miles] . I've only run about 6 or 8 miles at under 8 min. pace [ not counting the painter 1/2] in 4 1/2 months while battling this hamstring injury. This morning I hardly felt a thing from the hamstring and my back feels pretty good also. I think I may finally be past this hamstring thing as long as I'm carefull  about  how I bring back the faster miles. I was hoping to run the half at the Ogden marathon this year and go for under 1:30 but I'm running out of time. It's going to be tough to be patient with reintroducing faster miles and it's probably best if I don't get to focused on time goals for Ogden.

Went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride this morning. It was 25 degrees with a very stiff wind. I rode twice a week all winter and ran the other days with temeratures as low as -17. I don't think any felt any colder than today other than maybe one running day when I got caught in an extreme blowing snow storm. I'd take the colder temps without wind any day. It was blowing hard enough that I think I could have almost walked as fast when going directly into the wind luckily most of it was crosswind. It took 1:34 with 133 HR. Today was supposed to be easy but it didn't feel that way.

I went for 4 1/2 easy miles this morning at about an 8:30 pace. My back felt great but I wanted to keep it plenty easy. My back was a little sore wed. night after my 8 mile run wed. morning so I wanted to keep the rest of this week very easy. This is the hardest part of recovery for me when my back and hamstring feel fine I feel like running faster and farther.  Then when I find out I overdid it it's to late. I might do a couple more easy miles later today.

My back was a little sore again after yesterdays easy run. I was planning to run 10 miles today but decided to not run at all. maybe with today and tomorrow off from running I can be ready for a little more next week. I went on a bike ride with my son. We went  4 1/2 miles in about 25 minutes. After I dropped him off I went for another 20 miles in 1:30. I was able to take my favorite running and riding route today for the first time this year. It has been snowed in. I still had to get through a few drifts that are left and a lot of mud. Luckily it was cold enough this  morning that the mud was mostly frozen. With this road open I can make a 20 mile loop all offroad except for 2 miles of highway.

What happened to spring ? This morning it was 18 degrees when I left the house and the ground covered in snow . The roads were icy and it was windy. I was running through snow in a few spots that was drifted 4 or 5 inches. Shortly after my turnaround the wind got much worse [head wind of course] and it started snowing again.I hadn't worn enough layers for this very hard wind. My last couple of miles seemed much slicker coming back into the wind. I ran these last 2 miles at over a 9:30 pace but the effort felt like an 8 min.pace. I was glad I wasn't on my bike. I seem to get colder riding than running. I ended up going 7 miles at about a 9 min. pace overall on slick roads. At least my back feels good.