Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: endurance

Conditions: 31 F up to 36 F, varying wind speeds and directions (5-15 mph, gusts to 20), overcast/cloudy.

Another good night of sleep -- you guys have got to try this! It is heavenly.  But I guess it is making some part of my brain nervous, because just before dawn I had a nightmare that I slept all day and missed my long run entirely.  

It is always a pleasure to have a run in daylight, and I enjoyed the scenery, though I noticed people's gardens are looking bleak indeed.  Lots of evergreen broadleaf plants look burned (from frost I assume) and the pea patch down near Stellar Park looked desolate. 

The final four miles of this run were somewhat difficult and a bit painful.  Legs did not want to run 20 and put up a pretty good argument for capping the run at 16.  However, they were overrulled by the tyrannical Brain, who pretends to listen to what everyone wants, but really just does what she pleases in the end.

So, I hear there is some kind of sporting event going on today?  Oh yes! It's Super Bowl (of Steroids) Sunday!  To those of you who watch, enjoy the game, enjoy the commercials, and don't eat too much junk.  :)

Objective: easy / recovery

Conditions at 7:00 AM: ~40F, breeze, partly cloudy. Pretty morning. 

Another lovely daylight run, thanks to DH being off work to come on a fieldtrip with us to the Pacific Science Center.   On the down side,  I had to share my run with the morning commuters.  I like the quiet better.

While we're in Seattle today, I might get a chance to visit my favorite running store!   I can't believe both pairs of my shoes are in the retirement zone, though I intend to wear them for short runs a bit longer.  I am particularly interested in trying out a mid-foot strike shoe. Otherwise, I might just stick with these Triax 11's.  They have been pretty good for me.

Some people on the blog seem to have a lot of shoes.  Do you rotate through them? Use different pairs for different workouts?  I'm very interested to hear from you!

Objective: VO2 intervals, 6 x (4 min @ VO2, 4 min jog)

Conditions at 5AM:  48F (!), wind 9-16 mph, mostly clear.  

15 min. strength work after run

I actually took off my windbreaker today.  It was nice at first, while warming up, since the wind chill was around 40F, but once I got going I had to tie it around my waist.  It's been a long time since that happened.  Winter is trying to lull me into a false sense of security, lower my defenses.  hmf

So let's get right to the good part of the story,  In Which She Gets New Shoes.  I spent good long time at the greatest running store on earth, and came home with 3 pairs of shoes!  Yesterday's discussion about shoe purpose and shoe rotation was very  helpful to me, and was reiterated by Chet James, the owner of said store, whom I was very lucky to have helping me. 

I tried on a ton of shoes.  My old Triax's still felt the best.  We talked a lot about mid-foot striking, and what that means for me. (EG, most of the fancy innovations of new shoe technology show up in a part of the shoe that, basically, I don't use.)  Shoe after shoe was, as usual, comfortable to stand/walk in, but "too much shoe" for the running: too stiff, to much bulk around my foot, too much under the heel. 

This store encourages runners to go outside and run up and down a hill - quite illuminating.   After running in many "too much" shoes, Chet brought out what looked like a neon green bowling shoe.  "I wouldn't even show you this if you were not a mid foot striker."  Hm. [Insert fleeting fantasy image of Chet showing it to me from inside a big overcoat, and hot Rolex's dangling around it.]   It was completely different from anything I've ever run in, but so fun! A men's Nike Lunar Racer. So, I impetuously bought a pair, along with a new pair of my standby Triax's, and for some variety in my shoe rotation, a similar shoe, the Air Span. 

My run this morning in the Lunars was fantastic. On my 3rd interval I dipped down to 7:49 pace, which is unheard of for me.   I do have a suspicion, however, that it is not really legal for a 50 year old woman who runs as slowly as I do to wear a man's racing shoe.  When spring comes and I wear them in daylight I will probably hear someone say, "Now hold it right there, ma'am." I'll get pulled over and receive a citation of some kind, and be forced to run in those black leather granny orthopedic shoes as punishment for my hubris and to serve as a warning to other presumptious, slow-moving females.   But until that day.... woohoo!

Objective: easy/recovery

Conditions at 5:10 AM:  Low 40s F, breezy (5-10 mph) Mostly clear.

20 min strength work after run

I'm quite sore and stiff this morning, especially in the calves and hamstrings. DH says, "Congratulations! That's wonderful!" 

This shoe (the Air Span) may have to go back.  I'd like to wear them one more time when my legs feel better, but they were not as comfortable as I remember from the store.  In fact, my left forefoot still feels kind of stressed out, as if I had been sitting on it or something.  tsk tsk

And there goes my shoe-type rotation plan. :(  I would really like a third type of shoe, especially since I'll be using the Lunars somewhat sparingly. But perhaps the Triax is really the only all purpose shoe I can wear right now.  I'll try the Spans again in a few days and see. 

Objective: general aerobic, 3 mi easy + 6 mi moderate

Conditions at [groan] 4:50: Low 40's, clear, light breeze.  

20 min. strength work after run

This is probably my favorite kind of run, though I'd have liked to go up to 11 or 12 miles:  a lengthy warmup for my old body, followed by a strong but not exhausting effort.  I'm still a bit sore from Tuesday. I used the Stick before going out, which helped.

One of my Ravelry buddies was telling me about a drill where you do butt kicks with only one leg for about 100 meters, then do the other leg.  I started to give it a try this morning, but I'm still too sore and so abandoned the trial for another day.  She was also taught to do this drill at the beginning of a run  (though I waited until after my warm up to even try it).

New Shoes Update:  Back in the Triax shoes today. Ah.  These are the new 12 models, which feel exactly like the 11's.   I couldn't tell any difference.  I'll give the Air Spans one more chance, maybe tomorrow, but if they still make my feet grumpy they're going back. 

Objective: general aerobic/moderate

Conditions at 5:20 AM: 40F, light rain and patchy fog

20 minutes strength work after run

I think I ate something bad yesterday.  I missed nearly a half hour of run time this morning getting out of the house late, since I had to wait for my insides to settle down and stop auditioning for the ballet.  Once running, I felt mostly ok - except for 1 bathroom stop - and enjoyed the fog and the light rain falling. My legs are still a bit sore from Tuesday.  Guess I'm not recovering very fast.

The verdict is in: these Air Spans will have to be returned.  I've given them 2 runs now, and I think I know what's wrong.  They are great on the downhills, which is probably the only time I'm really using that heel crash pad. The rest of the run they feel clunky, like they just have too much cushion or bulk underfoot.  Or maybe it's just too much in the heel.  Anyway, the feet are not happy, so I'll have to make another trek into Seattle soon and see if Chet can come up with a better shoe for me.  I do think having a different model (ie not always running in the Triax shoes) would be beneficial.

Objective: endurance + progression (6 mi easy, 6 mi moderately hard, 3 mi very hard, 3 mi easy) 

Conditions at 7:30 AM:  40F, windy (6-9 mph w/ gusts 28 mph - increased through run), sunshine with increasing clouds

I changed into the new shoes at 11.7 mi (went past my house) and I just love them!  Smooth and flexible, they feel like they're not even there.  These might be my favorites. The Air Spans went back to the store.  I seem to be having some trouble "deleting a shoe." In shoe manager, I clicked "delete shoe" but they are still on the list.  Any suggestions?

I had a pleasant run for the most part, though the wind was brutal at times.

Objective: easy/recovery

Conditions at 5:30 AM:  32F, snowing lightly for first 2 miles, about an inch of snow on ground (very pretty), full moon peeking through clouds. A Yaktrax day.

10 min. abs & pushups

I guess Winter isn't done with me after all.  But really, the poor dear doesn't stand a chance at this point.

I dwell in the land of tissues and aspirin...

This hit me so fast yesterday afternoon I scarcely had time to begin my immune defense routine. (At 10:00 AM I felt a little weird in the back of the roof of my mouth; by 4:00 PM I was horizontal.) Today I will put it into action in hopes of a quick recovery. 

Objective: easy, hard, easy hard, easy... etc. : form drills, cadence drills, butt kick drills, easy jogs between.

Conditions at 5:15 AM: 36F, partly cloudy, breeze, pretty crescent moon

15 min strength work after run

In about the same amount of time as yesterday's run, I covered a full mile more! (Hence the estimated MP mile.)  Other than my warm up and cool down, which probably amounted to a total of 3 miles, I just kept  rotating through various form drills as I ran.  They sure do put pressure on the gas pedal. When I felt tired, I would just jog easily for a while until I got restless again.  It was a fun workout.  I think my personality is well suited for this kind of free form workout. I hope that doesn't doom me in terms of my marathon goal.  My shiny key to the track is still sitting there untouched...

More snot than sweat, but I'm back in business!  My first 2 miles were full of walking and worrying ("am I being an idiot?"), but after the warm up I was able to maintain a respectable jog, walking occasionally only to use the tissues.   The weather website said it was in the high 30's, but I saw plenty of icy patches in the shade.  Wind was up around 15 mph w/ hold-on-to-your-hat gusts of about 30.  Throat feels ok, legs feel ok. I just hope I haven't lost a lot of fitness this week. 

Objective: easy

Conditions at 5:30 AM: 32F, occasionally breezy, fog, very icy on roads, less on sidewalks.

15 min. strength work

I felt stronger today.  :D  I was surprised to see how much lighter it was during the last 10-15 minutes of my run, since I haven't been out in the early morning for a week.   The equinox is like a slowly approaching car on a highway: it seems like it will never get here, and then whooosh! --it passes by at top speed. Spring will be here before we know it.  There is a variety of ornamental cherry that blooms around here in February and I saw one this morning. Makes a person want to go out and buy primroses!

I think Winter was not pleased to see me out there this morning, and coated the road with ice in his rage.  It seemed to get even icier during the run.  But not being able to run for nearly a week made me twice as eager to be out there, so any little victory for Winter has backfired on him.  bwahahaha

Objective: moderate effort

Conditions at 5:15 AM: 38F, dry, calm, cloudy

Every day I feel a bit stronger, but my pace -- oh! Pathetic. Horrible. Dismal.  I'm not even going to tell you the number.  I was pushing my cadence and trying to run in that notch just above "easy" but the Garmin still mocked me.  Sigh.

I'll share something that is still just cracking me up.  I was already a bit late this morning because I decided to take a couple of minutes to relace my new shoes. When I finally did get out the door I encountered another delay.  About a half block from home I heard a familiar "meow?" coming from the bushes. One of my cats, the only one who goes outside, was in there "checking his p-mail" as we say.  Knowing he would follow me just long enough to be lost, I had to take him home and put him inside.  "Come on, honey! Come on!" And there he was, trotting by my side as we ran back home. (He is very dog like in this way.)  I was just thinking how funny it would look if anyone saw us: A Lady And Her Cat Go Jogging.  Right on cue, a car came up the street slowing down to watch the spectacle. 

2nd time writing this entry - the first disappeared!  Gr! Why does that happen???

Objective: easy, hard, easy, hard, etc. : form drills, cadence drills,  butt kick drills

Conditions: 36F, partly cloudy, crescent moon

15 min. strength work after run.

In almost exactly the same amount of time as yesterday's run, I covered a full  mile more today!  (Hence the estimated 1 mile MP.)  Those drills really turn up the gas.  I go for a block or two concentrating on one or two aspects of form, such as arm swing, hip pivot, cadence, heel lift, etc.  Then I switch to another aspect for the next block or two.

It was a fun workout, with all the freedom to push as long as I wanted to, rotating through the drills, and then go easy for a while until I felt restless again.  My personality is well suited to that kind of freedom.  I hope it doesn't doom me, in terms of my marathon goals. That shiny key to the track is still sitting unused...

Objective: slow & easy

Conditions at 4:50 AM: 36F, light wind (10 mph), starry skies w/ rising crescent moon

15 min strength work

I am pleasantly sore this morning, and unpleasantly sluggish -- but that's to be expected.  I finished knitting these mittens I've worked on for so long. I kept setting them aside to work on other projects, so although they weren't very hard they took over a year to make.  They were nice and cozy on my run, and especially since I always get a little cold when I run slowly.   Ta-da!

Objective: Tempo run.  3 mi easy & slow, 2 mi LT pace, remaining slow.   Splits: 12:02 - 11:19 - 14:00 (trouble w/ watch, walked for a couple of minutes while trying to fix)- 8:54 - 8:30 - 11:07 - 11:24  Tempo miles were mostly flat but some hills.

Conditions at 5:15 AM:  30F w/ pockets of warmer and cooler air about, clear & starry

My Garmin has filed for divorce.  The metal (or is it?) buckle broke this morning and I had to carry the little traitor in my hand.  Not fun.  Then towards the end of mile 3, it suddenly went berserk (beeping, switching screens, light not working) and stole a couple of minutes of my running time while I walked along trying to get it back on track.  I would have just ignored it but I had to do my tempo run.  It settled down, but the buckle is irreparable, snapped right off.  I don't know if I need to send it back to Garmin for replacement, or if I can just go into REI and get it over with.  Fortunately I know exactly where the receipt is.

Well, about the workout: I am quite pleased. The tempo section was not completely flat, so those are really good splits for me.  I didn't think I could do it.  Last night I felt even more sore than I did yesterday morning (DOMS), and so very tired. I couldn't imagine doing a tempo run this morning, and I was beating myself up a bit for being so foolish to think I could follow a training plan that included two quality workouts during the weekdays "at my age."  But I took some Ibuprofen and got to bed early, and despite my Garmin's betrayal I did ok today.  I will still be rethinking my training plan. But maybe I always do; I'm a little restless that way. 

Objectives: endurance, dealing w/ elements, practice taking gels on the run, winning mind games...

Conditions at 7:15 AM:  50F, very windy (15-20 w/ gusts 40), light rain.  Later, during run, variable...  Wind lessening at times.  Rain heavy at mile 7,  gone by mile 10.  Some sun breaks, one rainbow. 

I'll try to keep the whining to a minimum.  I really don't feel well today.  It's like the cold was almost gone and then yesterday I started feeling cruddy again.  So today's 20+ planned miles turned into 18+, and I was very happy to get that much, since I thought of going home a lot sooner.  I know better days are ahead, so I'm not going to worry about this.  What was really a treat was being able to face the elements and actually enjoy the morning.  There were  a lot of robins out today, and I saw a rainbow.  :)  Now I get to spend the rest of the day sitting, knitting, eating, and (later) watching the Oscars.  

Objective:  easy/recovery

Conditions: 45F, wind ~10 mph, cloudy, a few spinkles

20 min. strength work

I'm pretty stiff and tired this morning, but as the run progressed I felt my muscles loosening up. It was light enough towards the end of the run that I could run up around the duck pond.  (I tend to avoid dark trails, even w/ my headlamp, for safety reasons.)  It was just gorgeous. 

Objective: general aerobic. 4 mi easy, 4 mi moderate, fast finish (I was late .)

45F, windy (5-15 w/ occasional harder gusts), rain showers turning to steady rain

Pleasant run. I can't really complain about the rain, since we've been in somewhat of a drought the past month.  I've had it coming to me. 

Is it just my computer, or did all our comments disappear last night?

ETA: Ok, this is just really weird.  I can't see any comments on my own blog, nor the comments that I make on others' blogs.  But my comments are listed in the "recent comments" box.  For example, on Deborah's blog, Carolyn had already commented and I saw her comment; but when I added mine, they both disappeared but mine was listed in "recent comments."  What can the matter be?

Objective: easy / one notch above "rest day"

40F, gusting breezes, showers

4:15 AM is a bad time to revise running plans, but that is when The Cat Who Must Be Obeyed woke me up to let him go out.  (The litter box is beneath his dignity, but the bedroom carpet is not.)  Being awakened just 30 minutes before the alarm is so frustrating. 

Although my running has been fairly good quality this week, I've been feeling more and more "run down" later in the day.  Last night I could barely function after dinner. The residual congestion from my cold is still hanging on too; I don't think I ever recovered enough.  Enough for...?   Well, maybe I'm splitting hairs here, but I think I have been well enough to run, but not well enough to get by on less than 8 hours night after night. 

Anyway, I opted to sleep a bit more, and skip my speed workout.  I just hated to do that, but I think it's the right way to avoid Doing Something Stupid.  It's hard to make these choices about when to push and when to pull back.

A word about running in the rain.  I love getting the kudos in my comments, but it's not really that big of a deal with the right gear.  If anyone is interested, there are 3 essential pieces to my rainy-run wardrobe:
1) Tights.  The legs can get wet without feeling heavy-laden or cold.
2) Cycling jacket.  Cycling jackets are heavier and more waterproof, they have vents, and they have super long sleeves that can be pulled over the hands.  People who get extremely hot while running will have a hard time with cycling jackets, but I can wear one in temps below 50F.
3) Baseball style cap to keep rain out of eyes.

As long as I'm feeling a little cranky anyway, I have soapbox moment to get off my chest. This has nothing to do with running, just a rant that's on my mind.  I heard last evening about an acquaintance with a young child who is getting a divorce.  This is the second one I've heard about this week, and the fourth one in the past three months!   I know people make mistakes, misjudge character, etc. and I will not sit in my glass house picking stones to throw.  But what is eating me is this: out of these 4 people, I know that 3 of them viewed "having a baby" as a kind of experience on a bucket list.  Go to college, get married, visit Paris, have a baby, get promoted at work... "Have a baby" is not something to put on a list -- it's one tiny component of something that none of these women ever seemed to even consider putting on their list: "Dedicate years of my time, energy and resources to raising a child." I knew them intimately enough to see how they viewed the choice, but not intimately enough to feel I could point out the mistake.  Now I have to watch the aftermath and see the children get hurt.  OK, end of rant.

Well, I'm just a ray of sunshine today, aren't I?   Thanks for listening, and have a good day.  :)

Objective: easy/moderate

29F,  light snow flurries turning into steady snowfall.  About 1cm of snow on everything except the pavement at first; snow sticking everywhere by end of run. Streets very icy, sidewalks tolerable.

20 min. strength work

A pretty good run. The snow is always nice from the viewpoint of aesthetics. That is, a run in the dark is no longer a run in the dark.  Being able to see more of my surroundings adds a lot of the quality of my running experience.  Slipped a little at times, but I did pretty well considering I had no Yaktrax on. 

I have some questions for my fellow fastrun bloggers.  The first is about naps.  I recorded yesterday afternoon's nap (yeah, I got a nap!) on today's post because it occurred to me that it only affects today's run. I used to add naps to the previous day's post, ie on the day of the nap.  But this way, the nap plus the night sleep will add up to a total number of hours that have their impact on the next run.  Does that make sense?  Which way do you all do it?  Never nap? Well, which way would you do it if you did?

My second question is about cadence. I may have mentioned this before, since I've been wondering about it for a while.  There is a school of thought that recommends a cadence of 170-180 (about 3 foot falls per second), no matter what your overall pace is.  So an "easy" pace would still clip along at that cadence, but the steps would be very small and not very powerful.  I have yet to be able to achieve this.  No matter how small I make my steps, moving my legs/feet that fast always gets my heart rate up. And in the first couple of miles of  run, when I'm warming up, it's just plain uncomfortable.  What are your thoughts about this philosphy and what is your cadence:pace relationship?

Objective: moderate / general aerobic

32F, mostly cloudy, wind 11mph, snow remained on plants but pavement dry & clear

My plans for a Friday-off, Saturday-long run fell apart yesterday when DH and I sat down to have one of our much needed Planner Pow-wows.  Very illuminating.  (Gr.) We don't keep a family calendar. I guess we need to have these little chats more often.  So I'm on mom duty Saturday morning and that means no run.  Ah well.  I wanted to sleep in Sunday after staying out late Saturday but I guess I'll manage.

Speaking of illuminating....  I feel both stupid and happy about the cadence question I posed yesterday.  Stupid, because I hadn't really counted steps with my watch for a while, just assuming that my intuitive "feel" for the cadence was still accurate -- it was not.  And therefore happy, because I am at 180 even on my easy pace.  I have been working on it for a while, and I don't know when I crossed over to success, but this morning's count -- this time using the watch instead of my faulty mental clock -- was right on the dot.  It was funny, really: "twenty seconds yielded 60 steps, times 3... oh no that can't be right. Try again...."  I finally did the waltz thing, watching the seconds and thinking 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Yep, 180.   I guess I can move on now and start focusing more on push-off and other speed enhancers.

So that's February, since I won't run again until Sunday.  I'm not as far along as I had hoped probably due to a week off from illness and this past week of still feeling kind of run down.  I hope you all had a good month.  Three weeks until the official beginning of spring!  I'm planning my victory party. :D