Slowly Getting Faster

Miserable run.

After what felt like a death-march 18 mile run on Saturday I decided to take it easier this week.  I've still got 4 weeks before the marathon, including this one, so if I back it off a bit this week I will still have 3 solid weeks of decent mileage before taper time. So, instead of the 10 I planned on doing this morning, but couldn't talk myself into getting out of bed for, I ran an easy 8 tonight.

I took a route I haven't run yet just because I was bored with the one I had been running.  My regular route is nice because there is a lot of flat straight sections (easy on the ankle) and no traffic because it's all city trails.  Tonight incorporated a bit of the road but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it might. There was one place where a farmer cultivating his hay and causing quite a bit of dust, but other than that it was fine. 

In the spirit of keeping it easy this week I decided not to look at my watch.  Old habits die hard and I peaked twice.  Regardless, I managed to keep the pace comfortable and sustainable.  Avg 9:53.  According to the McMillan calculator I'm supposed to be between 9:09 and 9:50 per mile for recovery jogs (for what that's worth). I was at 9:44 until I finished my jog by running up State Street back to my house.  That slowed me down quite a bit. I may do a Yasso 800 workout in the next couple of weeks and just see where my actual predicted time is at, but that will have to wait a week or two.  

Same idea as yesterday.  Average pace (9:29) was a bit quicker but not because I was trying to make it so. Different route for the first half, which was nice. 

I've been in a funk this week.  Last Saturday's run was so grueling that my motivation was shot. As a result I hardly ran at all this week.  I think part of the problem is calorie deficiency. I can't seem to get enough to eat in a day to keep on top of my calories. This is odd because I'm eating all the time. The other problem is my PF has been acting up.  It started with some mild agitation but then grew into a real issue. I think I agitated it by ramping up my miles too fast after my injury.

I set out today to try and get out of that funk. It started yesterday really, because I ate and drank a lot of calories in an effort to get past the fatigue. Today I opted for a different shoe for my jog, hoping it would make my PF pain go away.  It did.  

I have had these old Asics in my closet for a long time.  They are actually brand new but never used.  They are the typical double the drop from heel to toe type of shoe and feel a bit like jogging with a block of wood strapped to the bottom of my feet.  I couldn't feel the road at all. However, I also couldn't feel my PF and when I was done with my run, 5.58 miles in the morning, it didn't hurt at all either. The Asics are hard on the feet in other ways though.  They always rub funny on the inside of my heel, and the drop makes the mechanics of the whole thing feel very awkward. Nevertheless, I will have to use them off and on for a while I think, in order to keep training while my PF gives me issues.

After that run I decided I wanted to do more.  I felt like my general ambivalence had subsided and my passion had taken back over. I've wanted to do some Yasso 800's for a while, just so I would know where I stand with the Marathon.  I've never really done them so it was a bit of an experiment.  I thought the plan was to run the 800 then rest, while still moving, for the same period of time it took to run the 800.  Turns out I was supposed to be resting by jogging. Oh well, next time. I got 5 x 800 done in an average time of 3:36.  If that holds true, I will be able to run the marathon in 3:36:00, which would be faster than my previous time by 2 minutes.  Not a huge accomplishment but its something. Of course, I'm supposed to ramp the workout up to 10 x 800 and use that average time, so I guess I won't know for a couple more weeks. At any rate, the 3:36 is encouraging, and if I can get back after it maybe I can get that time down even further by race day.  

I should start by apologizing for the length of this post.  After my run today I discovered something I thought was very interesting and wanted to spell it out in detail.  For those not interested in the differences between types of running shoes feel free to stop reading.  For those wondering if you should buy some Altra's, keep reading.   

It's amazing what a difference 3.2 ounces makes. I've owned a pair of Asics GT 2160's for almost a year now but I have never worn them, until yesterday.  My plantar fasciitis (PF) issues made it so that it was getting hard to run.  As I said yesterday, I'm almost certain they were caused by ramping up my miles too fast after my injury. I went from zero miles a week to 50 miles a week pretty quick, and I did almost all of it in my Zero Drop Altra Instincts. In order to remedy the problem I started running in the Asics because the PF issues seemed to go away when I wore these shoes. 

That was yesterday. Today I discovered, or more accurately perhaps rediscovered, why I no longer wear traditional running shoes. Before I went on my run I felt great.  I full of energy and ready to get out there. 30 seconds into my run I felt fatigued and wondered if I would be able to push through the miles I needed. I decided when I finished I would run a comparison of my shoes and see if that had something to do with it. As it turns out, the differences in these shoes are amazing and almost certainly the reason my run was so difficult. 

To begin with lets talk about the weight of my shoes. My Altra Instincts weigh in at 8.8 ounces. My Saucony Kinvara's are 7.7 ounces.  Even my Altra Lone Peak trail shoes and my Saucony Peregrine trail shoes weigh in at 9.9 ounces, and these have a rock reflection plate built in to the sole.  By contrast, the Asics weigh 12 ounces. 12 OUNCES!!!! That is ridiculous! The added weight makes it feel like I'm running with bricks tied to my feet, even though it is only 3.2 ounces. On top of that, the weight makes it harder to maintain proper form and results in pain in places that I have not experienced pain in a long time, like my knees for example. 

I'm convinced that most of the 12 ounces comes from the absurd amount of rubber on the sole.  This, in turn, has another detrimental effect. In my Instincts or even my Kinvara's I feel the road beneath my feet. It's not a painful thing, it's more of a connected thing.  I feel like I'm actually part of the run, like its a dance that requires skill, precision, and some level of involvement.  I feel like I'm interacting with the road rather than just moving over the top of it.  The same is true with my trail shoes when I am on the dirt. But in the Asics I can't feel any of that.  Aside from all zen of running experience, this also has a detrimental effect on my physical well being. Without being able to feel the road I am much less able to control my form.  The inevitable result of running like this is sloppiness which will, in turn, lead to injury. 

Finally, there is the heal-to-toe drop of these shoes. My Instincts have zero, which is what I prefer.  It feels more natural and absent injury I think I could run all day in these shoes. My Kinvara's have a 4 millimeter drop, which is pretty minimal.  My trail running shoes break down the same way, zero for the Lone Peak and 4 mm for the Peregrine's. The Asics, on the other hand, have a 12 mm drop, which is the standard drop for running shoes. This is the reason, or at least one of the reasons, my PF doesn't hurt when I wear these shoes.  There is so much support that my feet are hardly doing anything. But that is also the negative aspect of these shoes. My feet aren't doing anything, which is good while my PF is injured, but will end up hurting my training in the long run should I continue to wear these shoes.

I did the first 5.39 miles today in the Asics with an average pace of 9:15 per mile and total elevation gain of 454 feet.  Almost all of that elevation gain came in the last .3 when I ran up state street to my house. I then switched to my Instincts, because my PF wasn't hurting, and ran up the canyon.  In the first 1.5 miles there is 500 feet of elevation gain and then a pounding downhill run back to the start.  I managed this in 9:55 per mile. So, on a relatively flat course in the Asics I was only 40 seconds a mile faster than in my Instincts running up and down steep hills. The moral of the story, if running is always a grueling task that you have to continually force yourself to slog through, maybe the problem is your shoes. 

Easy pace 6 around the neighborhood. wearing the big 2160's still because they're good on the PF. 

I found out how to fix the PF pain yesterday.  Two words, kinesio tape. I tried it yesterday with the 2160's and my PF's felt great.  So this morning I decided to try the Yasso 800's again with the tape on. I'm very happy to report that my PF feels just fine, even after a hard workout.

I think I might make this a standard part of my workout, even when I switch back to trails.  The speed work feels good and is kind of fun. I managed to get my average 800 time down to 3:25, with the fastest 800 being 3:19 and the slowest 3:55.  I think I could take a bit more off that time too. I may try for a second short 5 mile outing this afternoon. 

8 on the JRP.  Taking it easy so I can push it with some Yasso 800's in the AM.

Yasso 800's on the Bountiful High track. I really like this workout.  It's hard, but at the end I feel so good. And it's fun to see how hard I can push myself. I got my average time down to 3:21 today, 4 seconds per 800 faster than Tuesday. My fastest was 3:16 and my slowest was 3:26, so I was more consistent today than I was on Tuesday as well. It will be interesting to see what I can do next Tuesday when I try again. 

6 easy in the horrible asics. 

I started this with the expectation of doing 10 miles at marathon pace with a mile of warm up and cool down.  At this point, I figured that marathon pace was between 7:40 and 8:00. My first mile was slow but everything felt alright so I took the breaks off. 

I started out too fast.  Maybe that's why the wheels came off at the end. I only made 8 of the 10 miles before I was forced to slow back down.  I didn't get injured or anything, I just had no gas left in the tank. My splits were 7:35, 7:45, 7:44, 7:51, 7:53, 7:40, 7:44, and 7:58.  I had a hard time keeping my pace slow enough for the first few miles, then I had a hard time keeping it fast enough. I decided at mile 6 I should take it easy for a mile and evaluate everything. Make sure I wasn't going to injure myself.  Everything checked out so I sped back up.  The last few miles of the tempo were hard and the very last planned mile didn't happen because I couldn't get myself moving fast enough to stay anywhere near my pace.  

I'm clearly not dialed in at all. Hopefully, this kind of a workout will translate into faster times everywhere though. We'll see.

5 easy around the neighborhood to shake out the legs after yesterdays effort. 

Drove to Bountiful for the Yasso 800 workout and realized I forgot my watch.  After I drove back home to get it I didn't want to go to Bountiful again so I did a speed workout around town.  I did 1 mile warm up, then 3 at tempo pace, then 2 easy and 1 more at tempo.  Tempo splits were 7:33; 7:30; 7:35; 7:44. Average pace for the whole run was 7:55 per mile, which is much faster than it usually is for the Yasso workout.  Maybe I'll switch to this one of the two days a week. 

AM: 7.4 around town.  Pretty flat course.  When this marathon is over I'm going to have to start hitting the hills again. 

PM: 5.2 up City Creek.

Yasso 800's w/ Matt VH. 8x800. I felt tired today. Not as fast. Avg lap pace = 3:29.4

No run today because I felt sick. I probably should have pushed through a few miles. As it stands I watched a documentary on the Appalachian Trail. Now I want to attempt an FKT. The record is 47 days. If a person could get themselves in good enough shape to run 50 miles a day it could be done in 44 days. How does one get in that kind of shape? I'm relatively young so it's possible, right?

I wanted to do 18 today so I could get at least 50 this week.  That might have been a bit ambitious considering I was sick yesterday. I may try to go out for 5 more tonight if time allows. Even for as short as it was this was not as quick as I would have liked. I did 12 last week at an average pace of 8:09, but 13 today at an average pace of 8:34.  Maybe it's because I went later in the day, maybe it's because I was sick yesterday, maybe it's because I planned on doing more until I got tired then just felt defeated.  Whatever it was it needs to go away.  

On the plus side, I found a perfect 13.1 mile loop that I can take in the future.  

I think my problem Saturday was illness.  I did just under 10 this morning at an easy pace and managed 8:38 per mile, just 4 seconds per mile slower than my attempted hard effort on Saturday.  Tomorrow is track day so I guess I'll reserve judgment until I see how that goes. 

9x 800's on the track.  I needed to be home earlier today so I didn't do these the same as I have in the past.  Instead of resting for the same length of time it took me to run the 800 I just rested for one 400 meter lap.  This meant that my rest time was a full minute shorter than it usually is between sets, which in turn meant that my lap times were slower. Still, it's probably a more accurate reflection of my fitness level. 

I managed an average 3:29 lap time, which is about where I was last thursday.  The good news there is that last thursday was probably as slow as it was because I was sick.  I'll try again this thursday and see where I'm at. 

Easy 9 to Centerville and back to rest the legs for tomorrows track day. 

Sick! Thanks wife.

still sick

20 miles around the neighborhood. Last long run before St. George. Farmington, Centerville, Bountiful, Centerville Farmington. I felt good until about mile 13, then I was tired until mile 17, then I felt good again until about mile 19.

I'm hoping the good news here is that, according to the elevation profile, mile 10-20 today was all uphill, albeit very gradual. St. George is uphill early, but then down hill from mile 11 to 26.  I imagine the pounding on the legs isn't going to be pleasant, but I may be able to move faster with an elevation decrease over those last miles.

Plus, the overall elevation drops from 5500 at mile 11 to 2500 at the end of the race, so by mile 17 I will be well below the elevation here in Farmington. That will probably also help.  

The major take away I guess is that I'm not going to break any major records, I'm just hoping for a PR - which would be anything faster than a 3:38:00.