A Lean and Hungry Look

4 x mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  In reading Racing Weight last night, I was reminded of the value of fueling prior to a run (which I never do except for very long runs and races).  I gave it a try and ate half a bagel before the workout.  I also brought along an organic snack bar and ate it on the drive home.  The weight reflected in today's log is post-run, pre-breakfast, so it's abnormally low (I usually weigh myself post-run, post-breakfast).

1.86 miles easy warmup around outer loop, then started repeats.  I started all of them in the same place, at the northeast turn by the rose garden parking lot.  As a result, I had two downhills and one uphill on each repeat.  Active recovery of 5:00 between each.

Mile 1: 5:41

Mile 2: 5:37

Mile 3: 5:37

Mile 4: 5:30

Short cooldown in bare feet (see below for explanation).

My biggest challenge on each repeat was recovering for the final 500-600 meters after the hill.  I forgot to wear my HR strap today, so I don't have any HR data.  If I did, I'm pretty sure it would show me going anaerobic at the top of the hill each time.

For medical purposes, I need to bookmark this morning's workout as the potential start of plantar fasciitis in my right arch.  I started feeling a twinge about half a mile into my warmup and it continued intermittently throughout the workout.  That's what prompted me to do my cooldown barefoot.  Looking at my Shoe Manager, I have around 300 miles on each pair of my DS Trainers.  I've started running more on my midfoot over the past year, so the heels of my trainers aren't wearing down like they used to, but I wonder if the midsole is breaking down.  In any case, I've had a couple new pairs that I haven't opened yet, but it's probably time.  I may also try to work in a few miles a week in the VFFs in an effort to strengthen my feet a little.  I need to watch this one, though.

After yesterday's twinge of what felt like plantar fasciitis, I decided to put in a few easy miles on the grass in my Five Fingers, so I took Maja over to Sunnyside Park and ran around the perimeter on the grass a couple of times.  Since I still haven't done enough in the VFFs to really adjust to them and because it's been a long time since I've run in them at all, I kept the effort very easy and the miles low.  I massaged both feet last night by stepping on a golf ball, and I'll continue to do that through the week in an effort to stave off further issues.  I can't afford an injury this year.

Right arch was still bugging me, so I decided to take the day off and focus on rolling it on balls producing various levels of pain instead.  I don't want to miss my 16-miler tomorrow.

I was worried about trying 16 miles after the twinges I've been feeling in my right arch, which were feeling like the onset of plantar fasciitis, but I decided to try a new pair of shoes after taking a day off.  Although my energy level was down for the first 5-6 miles, I ended up having a good run.  I headed out to Holladay Blvd just south of Brooke's Aunt Connie's house.  Avg pace for first half (slightly downhill) was around 7:43.  I picked it up a little on the way back (slightly uphill) and finished with an overall average of 7:27.  Although I felt occasional tightness in my arch, there was no pain and I think the new shoes helped.

My arch didn't seem to bug me all weekend after the 16-miler on Saturday, but I still think I need to do a little preventive training.  There is plenty of controversy right now about barefoot running, and I am aware of the pitfalls of it, but I still believe that a small amount of running on the grass helps strengthen muscles and tendons in a way that can help prevent injury.  Until proven otherwise, I think I'll try to work in at least 4-6 miles per week in my Vibrams, but only on soft surfaces.  Today's run was at Sunnyside Park.  It felt great to be running in the Vibrams and I didn't notice any pain anywhere.  The only complaint I have is that I run a lot slower when I wear the Vibrams than when I wear my trainers.  That may be related to the fact that I'm running on grass that is sometimes long, but my average pace is almost a full minute per mile slower than my normal recovery day pace.

I switched up my hard days again, so the plan is Wednesday and Friday this week.  I forgot to take my inhaler before leaving the house, so I was a little wheezy this morning.I seemed to warm up after a few miles, though, and the effort felt pretty good.  I did have some tightness higher in my left achilles tendon (probably due to running in Vibrams yesterday), but it was mild and disappeared after a couple of miles.

6 x 1/2 mile repeats at Sugarhouse.  Did the usual outer loop as a warmup, then did the usual inner loop for the repeats (one downhill on each, no uphill).  Two minutes active rest between each repeat.  Splits were as follows:

1: 2:33 (5:07/mi)

2. 2:33 (5:07/mi)

3. 2:36 (5:12/mi)

4. 2:42 (5:25/mi)

5. 2:35 (5:11/mi)

6. 2:38 (5:17/mi)

I was feeling pretty spent by the fourth repeat (as shown by the deterioration in time), but I felt like it was a productive session.  I need to look back at my log during the buildup to SG '09, but I don't think I was running repeats at this pace until several months into my training.  I suspect my lower weight and more efficient stride (more of a midfoot strike) may be helping.

I did my cooldown barefoot in the interest of injury prevention.  It makes me nervous running shoeless in Sugarhouse Park, though, so I think I'm going to start bringing my Vibrams and may do my warmup and cooldown in them.  There was a great piece in The Science of Sport this week on the barefoot/minimalist movement and one of the recommendations made was to warm up shoeless but train in shoes.  That makes sense to me, so I'll probably give it a shot with some of my hard workouts.

H-rock run with Maja (but I came straight down after Devonshire ended instead of winding around to Crestview).  The 21st South hill just about killed me, which probably had to do with the fact that yesterday was a hard day, but the weather was perfect and the view, as always, was spectacular.  Besides that, Maja didn't make me use either of the doggie bags (she usually makes me use two), so it was a success all around.

After a late night and with a heavy day of work ahead, I decided to take it easy this morning and try to fit in some pace work in tomorrow's 9-miler instead.  U campus loop.  Left achilles still tight, but the issue is higher up on the outside instead of in the usual spot.  Need to stretch throughout the day.

I left Maja home this morning because she slows me down and I needed to get some MP work in today.  I headed out along my 19th-20th East route to 39th South at an easy pace, then stopped and stretched for a minute before turning around and coming back up the mild hill (but returning along 21st East instead of 19th) at MP effort.  I left the Garmin home because I wanted to focus on effort and feel instead of stressing out about hitting my actual target pace.

The first couple of miles felt pretty good.  By the final 1.5 miles, I was pretty worn down, especially between 13th South and Zions Lutheran (where the hill gets steeper).  Temperature was higher than usual, so I'm sure my HR was high.  All in all, though, it was a good workout.

Too busy at work to fit in a run today. :(

Plan was 5 one-mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park with 5 min active rest between each.  I warmed up in my Vibrams along the outside perimeter, then started in the usual spot by the northeast corner.  Unfortunately, by halfway through the second repeat, I was having GI trouble and needed a restroom.  Even more unfortunately, Sugarhouse doesn't open its bathrooms until late (after 7 am).  After checking all of the restrooms, I decided to try one more repeat and give the maintenance people until 7 to open up.  By the end of the third repeat, I was dying, so I walked around waiting.  When there was still no one in sight at 7:05, I gave up and went home.  I need to plan better for this not-so-uncommon contingency in the future.

Splits were 5:30, 5:29, and 5:24.

Went past Sugarhouse to Highland Park neighborhood and wound my way back home via 21st East.  Maja was gassed by mile 6, so the last two were a little slower than they would have normally been.  It's my fault--this is her first run in 5 days (I don't take her with me on long runs or quality days).  Avg pace was 7:27.

Easy effort with Maja through U campus and through Research Park.  Didn't sleep enough last night, so even the easy effort felt a little labored.  I'm hoping to do my long run tomorrow instead of Saturday this week, as we're headed somewhere for an anniversary getaway.  (Not sure Brooke would be thrilled if I took off from the hotel at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning to run 18.)

Since Brooke and I are headed for an anniversary getaway (all the way downtown) tonight, I sneaked in my long run before work this morning.  I ran out to Extra Space and back.  Pace on the way out was leisurely (7:45), especially since it's slightly downhill the entire way.  I picked it up some on the way back (around 7 flat).  Other than some lower back pain (feels like a pinched nerve), I felt great.  Last mile was around 6:20.

After staying at the Marriott and sleeping in until almost 9:00, Brooke and I ran 4.5 up City Creek and back.  My lower back hurt during yesterday's long run and throughout the day, and the pain was back today, although somewhat less.  The pain is left of my spine along the back of my pelvis, which, if I remember correctly, is the area that was injured in a boogie boarding accident in Hawaii in 2004 (my legs got ripped over my head on a nasty break).  I had intermittent pain there for a year or two, but it eventually went away.  Not sure what could be bringing it back.

Had a late night with family, so I missed my early run.  I got the new Forerunner 610 for Father's Day yesterday, though, and I was dying to try it out, so I brought my gear and ran after work.  I parked at Sugarhouse (by the rose garden) and ran around the outer loop but continued on 13th East out to my sometime route up Claybourne, over to Zenith, then winding my way back along 20th East, then down to Highland and around the outer loop of the park.  Pace was just slightly brisk for an easy day (7:06), especially because it was warm outside, but the effort was pretty comfortable. AHR was 163 bpm.

I love the 610, especially the vibrate feature, which makes it much less likely that I'll miss a split when listening to my iPod.  I also love that it looks and feels more like a watch than a brick and that it turns back into one when you stop the timer and leave it idle for 30 seconds or so. 

My lower back was sore during the run, but it was almost debilitatingly painful after the workout.  I had Brooke give me a pretty painful massage in hopes of loosening things up.

Lower back was still killing me this morning, so I decided to take the day off and try to loosen it up by rolling on my foam roller, Miracle Balls, and pretty much anything else that seemed like it might help.

Intervals at Sugarhouse Park (8 x .25 mi with 1:00 active rest between each).  I drove over, then did the outer loop in my Vibrams as a warmup.  After a quick detour to the Chevron restroom, I started my workout.  Here's how it went:

1: 75 sec (5:00/mi) 163 avg/177 max

2: 75 sec (5:00/mi) 163 avg/177 max

3: 77 sec (5:12/mi) 173 avg/178 max

4: 83 sec (5:34/mi) (finished uphill) 174 avg/181 max

5: 76 sec (5:06/mi) 174 avg/179 max

6: 80 sec (5:20/mi) 174 avg/183 max

7: 80 sec (5:20/mi) 175 avg/183 max

8: 76 sec (5:04/mi) 171 avg/181 max

1-mile cooldown.  I was hammered after this one.  I'm getting old.

I hesitate to call these easy miles because I felt a little wasted from start to finish today, but the pace should have been easy.  The temperature was already around 70 when I left at 6:00 a.m., so that didn't help.  Besides that, I think I was tired from yesterday's repeats.  Maja struggled even more than I did, though, and I had to sort of drag her the last two miles.

Hill sprints at Sugarhouse Park.  I ran to the park at a normal easy pace (7:30 or so), then did 8 sprints up the sledding hill, jogging a serpentine route back between each.  I started each sprint near the creek on the flat section and finished at the top of the hill.  It hurt.  My legs seemed to give out before my heart did, because my heart rate only went above 180 once, and that was on the first or second sprint.  After that, even though I felt like I was dying near the top of the hill, my heart rate was only hitting 176-77.

I ran home as my cooldown, but I stopped and walked about half a mile at about 6.5 due to GI issues.

I took Maja for the first part of the run, which was my U campus-Popperton-Shoreline-Research Park route, then dropped her off at home and traded my shoes for my Vibrams and did the last 4 at Sunnyside on the grass.

After yesterday's sprints, my legs were useless on the hills.

Sugarhouse loop with Maja.  She was loafing a bit today, stopping three or four times during the final two miles for no apparent reason other than seeming tired.  I had visions of the scene from the new "True Grit" where Jeff Bridges stabs the horse to keep it running until it collapses in a heap and he shoots it, but I thought better of it.

My right hamstring was bugging me a bit today.  Not in the spot where I tore it in HS (way up top), but about halfway down on the outside).  I'm assuming it's related to the hill sprints I did last week.  I stretched it more than usual following my run but will need to watch it throughout the day.  My mileage is supposed to exceed 60 this week, so I can't afford to be injured. 

6 x mile repeats with 5-min active rest between each.  I decided to try something new and ran east from my house 2 miles, which took me about a mile up Emigration Canyon.  I then did one repeat up the canyon, one down, and so on until I had done 6 total, then jogged home.  I alternated my active rest between climbing and descending  (which explains the different elevation loss and gain between each repeat) so that I finished the last repeat at the mouth of the canyon so that I would have just over a mile of cooldown.  Splits were as follows:

1: 6:19 (170 bpm, 121 ft elevation gain)

2: 5:16 (171 bpm, 116 ft elevation loss)

3: 6:27 (174 bpm, 127 ft elevation gain)

4: 5:12 (169 bpm, 152 ft elevation loss)

5: 6:43 (173 bpm, 249 ft elevation gain)

6: 5:17 (168 bpm, 152 ft elevation loss)

Fortunately, my hamstring tightness from yesterday was gone, and all systems seemed to be functioning pretty well.  I should note that there was the usual canyon wind, which meant that the ascending repeats were into the wind and the descending repeats were wind-aided.  Still, maintaining anything close to MP while ascending feels impossible at this point in my training.  Given the fact that I gave away lots of time at SG '09 on the uphill sections, I think I'll do this type of up-down repeat workout several more times throughout the course of my training this year.  Hopefully that will help me stanch the bleeding enough to keep my average pace where it needs to be in October.

I took Maja out for the first 8 miles (Sugarhouse to Highland Park loop), then dropped her off and did another 4 through the U campus and back along Wasatch and Foothill.  Maja was dragging from mile 5 on today, so I was thrilled when I dropped her off and was able to pick up the pace.  When I left her, my overall average was sitting at 7:45 after 8.  By the time I finished the last 4, it was down to 7:23 for the workout.  Final mile was 5:43.  AHR for the run was 152.