How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 25 degrees, cloudy, snowing. Woke to about 6-7 inches of snow on the ground, was feeling pretty good energy-wise because I ran only 6 miles yesterday, and I got 11 hours of sleep. Decided to run long today, and covered 13.5 miles, mainly doing loops around Busey Woods. The snow was tough to navigate, I could feel my leg muscles expending more power than normally needed just to keep moving forward. The good thing about running in the thick snow was the softness of impact, it was like running on a bed of pillows. After 2 hours of running my joints felt no wear and tear, which is usually not the case with a long run. I finished the run just before getting to Brookens Gym, so I did 6 sets of strength exercises and stretching in the gym to cool down from the tough run. I feel like I have made a small leap in fitness, I am now covering 2 hours for a long run, and after tomorrow I will have hit 60 miles in a week for the first time this winter. 

#77 

Weather - 37 degrees, sunny. Took a nice easy run today, mostly on plowed roads, but did about 1 mile through thick snow in Buesy Woods. Felt pretty fresh considering I ran 2 hours yesterday. Ran about 1.5 miles at threshold pace, felt good to move a little quicker than normal.

#78

Weather - 27 degrees, cloudy. A reasonable day for running, which was nice because I planned on doing a harder than normal workout. Ended up with 10.3 miles, 4 of which were run through 6-7 inches of snow on the golf course and through Busey Woods. When I left the snow at about mile 7 I ran 1 mile at threshold pace, and after a brief recovery I ran 8 x 40-60 second strides. I ran them fairly strong, everything felt good and in control, then I finished the run with about an 800 meter sprint. After the run I did 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 10 minute walk home.

#79

Weather - 46 degrees, foggy. Beautiful fog made for an interesting run, but the warm temperatures made the snow melt, creating high water in the streets. Other than wet feet, it was an enjoyable time today. 

#80 

Weather - 32 degrees, clouds, rainy. Started the run with 40 degree temperature and no rain, but I decided to wear shorts because it seemed like rain was possible. Ran 2 miles to the arboretum and then did 12 x 100m hill sprints. Felt in control for all of the sprints, when I finished I still had a lot of energy, so I ran another 7 miles, 3 of which were at threshold pace. This was one of the better workouts I have had this winter. I am surprised that I have been recovering well because I am taking no days off from running. Yesterday's 8 easy miles felt difficult, which was caused from the previous day when I ran a solid workout of 10 miles with 8 strides. Tomorrow I will probably feel like crap, so I will run 6 or 7 easy miles, and hopefully that will allow me to make a nice recovery. When I finished the run the temperature had dropped to 32 degrees and it was pouring rain.  I was 40 minutes from home at Crystal Lake Park, and I did a very fast 3 sets of dips and stretching, then began a tough walk home, feeling happy because of the strong workout session.

#81

Weather - 31 degrees, clouds, wind, snow. An easy 8 miles through the flooded streets of Urbana. Crystal Lake Park was swamped with water, so I had to alter my normal route and ended up on the university campus. I finished the run at Brookens Gym and did 6 sets of strength exercises and stretching, then 15 minute walk home. 

#82 

Weather - 28 degrees, gray skies. Felt relieved to run an easy 6 miles, I was surprisingly fresh and energetic. After tomorrows 14 miler I will have my first easy week in a while - 7 days of daily mileage no greater than 6 - I am curious to see how much fitness and strength my body will add from the ease and rest.

#83

Weather - 38 degrees, sunny with a few clouds, some wind. A nice day for a long run, warmish for late winter, and the sun was out. I felt good the whole way, I was reminded of my summer long runs this past year - how they would feel like adventures, so much would go on, mostly inside my mind. When the run is finished I feel like I have been through a battle of some sort, and although the body is a bit worn, I am feeling elated and happy. I feel I have earned the upcoming easy week of running, the rest will hopefully further my fitness, and I will be curious to see how I respond to the 9 mile trail race next Saturday. After the run I did 5 sets of strength exercises and stretching at Brookens Gym, and 15 minute walk home. 

#84 

Weather - 32 degrees, sunny. Felt a little stiff for the first couple of miles, but then I loosened up. It was a strange sensation to run 5 miles, just as I was finding my rhythm the run was over. Afterwards blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.

#85 

Weather - 7 degrees, sunny, windy. An easy run in cold weather. 

#86 

Weather - 18 degrees, clouds. Easy 4.25 miles. I can feel my body getting stronger from the reduced mileage. 5 more day of short runs should have me feeling good. After the run I did 4 sets of strength exercises at Brookens Gym, Stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

I was planning to run a 9 mile trail race in Rockford this Saturday, but that area was blitzed with snow a few days ago, and the forecast is for a 30 degree day, which means snow will still be on the course. Rather than drive a total of 6 hours, run a risky trail race in cold and snow,  I think it is best to skip the race and train at home. Next race planned will be my first 5k since July, on March 8th, which is less than 4 weeks away. That race should keep me motivated in my training.

#87

z.m. - #1

Weather - 19 degrees, clouds, snow. Easy 3.30 miles run around the neighborhood. Crystal Lake Park has been closed because of flooding, and Busey Woods is also flooded, so I have been running more on residential streets the past week. 

Today while I was working at the park district I began thinking about the upcoming 5k in 3 weeks. I tried to determine the bottom, top, and middle time limits which I feel capable of achieving. Given that my main goal this year is to break 19:00 in a 5k, this first 5k in March will be nowhere close. On March 8th the temperature is likely to be between 30-45 degrees, so I will not have full lung capacity, as I run stronger when the temperature is above 60. I have also done very little speed work this winter, and I am just now beginning hill workouts. The strong part of my current fitness level is my endurance. The times of my final 2 5k's last summer were 19:22. I will need to add 1 minute to that time because of the cold weather, and one more minute because of lack of speed work, which means my goal time for the March 5k will be 21:20. If the temperature is warmer than expected, I may be able to get to 20:40. If the weather is very cold and I feel lousy I may not break 22:00. I recall that my first 5K of last season in early March was run in 22:30. However, I did no winter training last year, so I was running on about 3 weeks of training. I have a good base built this year, so I am confident that I will have the endurance to feel pretty good on the run. The slow predicted time does not worry or bother me, I know once the warm weather arrives, and the speed training commences, I will begin to reap in the summer what I have sowed in the winter. 

#88

z.m. - #2 

Weather - 22 degrees, sunny. 5.25 easy miles with 5 x 1-3 minute accelerations. Afterwards 5 sets of strength exercises at Brookens gym, and stretching. I was inspired to try a new exercise, I think they are called leg-ups, or knee-lifts - I stood in place and began lifting my knees to my chest in a running motion. It was quite difficult to keep this going for more than 45 seconds - I could feel my hip muscles struggle with the high leg lift motion. I did 3 sets. I think I will include this exercise with the others,  if I can improve I think it will help my legs have a stronger drive. 

#89

z.m. - #3 

Weather - 25 degrees, sunny. Easy 4 miles, was finally able to run in Busey Woods, the water level has receded, I did 5 accelerations between 1-3 minutes in length. Afterward 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 40 minute walk home. 

#90

z.m. - #4 

Weather - 25 degrees, clouds, windy. Ran through Busey Woods and then when I got to the golf course I did 8 accelerations between 1-2 minutes each. Afterward 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 40 minute walk home. 

#91

z.m. - #5 

Weather - 23 degrees, sunny. Ran 6 miles, 2 being run at threshold pace because I was feeling strong and fresh, I guess 7 days of easy runs will do that. There are a few factors to consider in my feeling good - 1) One week of reduced mileage run at an easy pace. 2) The new leg exercise I have been practicing (knee-ups) appears to be having a positive effect on the driving force of my stride. 3) I started taking a vitamin B12 supplement.

A few years ago I noticed a drop in my overall energy level. I thought it may be an iron deficiency and since then I have tried to eat foods that are high in iron content. Being a vegetarian makes this more challenging, so my main iron sources come from fortified GrapeNuts cereal, spinach salads, and cooking foods in an iron skillet. I felt a slight increase in energy from this nutritional change, but I recently discovered that B12 is a vitamin that vegetarians can lack, since it is  found in most meats and dairy. I don't drink much milk, and only in the past year has my egg consumption gone up, due to owning my own chickens. I realize that my B12 stores are probably quite low, and since this vitamin is necessary for healthy blood, I thought it may also help my running efforts. So this week I began taking the supplement. It is too early to tell if it will have a positive effect on my energy level and running, but I am hoping it will. 

#92

z.m. - #6 

Weather - 42 degrees, clouds, rain, wind. Good run today, ran 4 miles to the Zendo, meditated for 2.5 hours, then ran 3.5 miles to Cardinal Fitness Center. 4 of the miles I ran at threshold pace, so it was a fairly hard run.

I read something yesterday in Joe Henderson's book, "Better Runs". Here is an excerpt :

"Tom Miller had run about 100 marathons when his son, with little running training, beat him in an uphill race, When Tom asked how this could have happened, the boy credited the mountain biking he did as off-season training for skiing. 'I started doing uphill repeats on a bike, standing up to get more power,' said Miller. 'My running times immediately improved. A few of the runners I worked with tried this too, and they also got faster.' Miller designed a research project to verify these informal results. He traded road and trail riding for stationary bicycling because the training loads were easier to control while standing still. This type of leg work also was more like the running motion than weight training could be, and it was safer than interval runs would be. Nineteen runners completed Miller's program, which opened and closed with 10K time trials. The subjects made no change in their routines besides joining Tom for six weekly sessions of standup intervals on the exercise bike. They sat and pedaled at low flywheel tension to warm up, recover between 'runs', and cool down. They cranked up the tension until the wheel would barely turn and then stood for the intervals. They 'ran' 30 seconds twice, then two times each for 45 seconds, 60, 45, and 30. 'All 19 of these runners ran faster in the second 10K than in the first', said Miller. 'The average improvement was 10 percent, or about 4 minutes at that distance. 14 of them set PR's, even though this was winter and most of them were not in top racing shape.' The professors who oversaw this project were impressed. They told Miller that the statistical validity of the results was above question and that they'd seen no other study which produced such dramatic improvements in just six weeks. Tom coaches a training group in Salt Lake City. Two follow-up tests with this group, using 5K times as a gauge, matched the earlier outcome. 'There were PR's all over the place', he said. One man improved from the 19's into the 17's in just six weeks.' Why do standing bike intervals work this well? Miller's theory : 'They simulate fast running but with higher resistance than most runners can tolerate on the track or road. This training works the muscles as well as uphill sprinting would, but it doesn't tear you apart'.

After reading the above I thought it would be helpful to give it a try, since I am now moving into the hill repeat phase of my training. Because I don't own a stationary bike I decided to join Cardinal Fitness, so today after my run I stopped in, saw they had a good quality stationary bike, payed my money, and did my first bike workout. I 'ran' for 27 minutes, the bike had a heart rate monitor, I was able to get up to 163. It is the first time I have checked heart rate in any type of exercise. According to the heart rate training zone calculator, 162-168 falls in the ATzone which is 85-90% max heart rate. The majority of my interval runs today fell at about 155, which is between easy and AT. As I get more practice with the biking, I should be able to put forth a greater effort, which will increase my heart rate into VO2 Max territory, which for me would be 168-180.

After the biking I did 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#93

z.m. - #7

Weather - 25 degrees, windy, clouds. Strong winds today as I ran an easy 6.5 around the golf course. I wasn't sore from yesterdays hard bout, but about halfway through the run my achilles tendon became sensitive. I immediately slowed to a walk, stretched a bit, then resumed running. It seemed to be ok, but the last thing I want to have happen is to get injured just as winter training is coming to an end. I probably over-trained yesterday, combining a hard threshold run with the new bike workout. I was planning on doing hill repeats tomorrow, but I think it would be best to do an easy 5 miles and allow the achilles a chance to recover, so will reschedule the hills until Wednesday or Thursday if all goes well.  After the run I stopped at Cardinal and did 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

#94

z.m. - #8 

Weather - 21 degrees, sunny, windy. An easy 6 miles around Busey Woods and the golf course. I started out slowly, making sure my achilles tendon was warm before putting additional stress upon it. It felt loose throughout the run, so I am happy that yesterdays irritation is getting better instead of worse. After the run I stopped at Cardinal and did 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#95

z.m. - #9

Weather - 14 degrees, sunny. Today I felt well enough to give a hard effort for hill repeats. The weather did not make things easy, as it was cold with about an inch of fresh snow on the ground. I ran 1.5 miles to the arboretum as a warm up, stretched a bit, then did 15 x 100 meter hill repeats. As I ran the repeats I closely monitored the state of my right achilles tendon, since it had flared a bit a few days ago, but it felt fine throughout. The past couple of days were spent recovering from Sundays blitzkrieg of 2 threshold runs and a tough stationary bike workout. Today my body felt recovered, and I was thus able to put in a solid effort on the hills - I ran up the hill at 5k pace, pushed strongly as I crested the top, then glided down the hill. Until today I would always be spent near the top, and would have to slow down to a walk-like pace to recover on the downhill, but today my lungs never gave out, and my hips/quads had a driving force to propel me up and over for each rep. I had planned to do 12 reps, but when I reached that amount I realized I still had a lot left in the tank, and so extended it to 15. A workout like todays helps my confidence, as I can feel my overall strength and running ability improving.

Although spring officially starts the 3rd week of March, I am counting the final day of February as the end of winter training, which means only 9 more days until I achieve my first goal of the year - "to achieve a solid season of winter training" - As this is my 96th consecutive day of running in all kinds of nasty weather, I am almost there.

#96

z.m. - #10

Weather - 20 degrees, clouds, snow. Ran 7.25 miles in a snowfall, afterward 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

#97

z.m. - #11 

Weather - 22 degrees, clouds, snowing heavily. Ran 10.5 miles in a heavy snow storm. When I got to the golf course it was total white out, I could not differentiate the rise and fall of the ground before me, so I took the pace slow and enjoyed the rare mood of the landscape. About half way around the golf course I stopped before a scene, filled with wonder - a snowcovered pine, a bit of dark green providing some contrast, hooked the left part of the composition, the middle pure void-white, from the right 3 small wooden fence segments curving towards the center - a study of calm simple beauty. 

#98

z.m. - #12 

Weather - 22 degrees, clouds. Ran 6.25 easy miles in 4-5 inches of fresh snow. I was feeling surprisingly strong considering I ran 10 miles in heavy snow yesterday. Along the way I ran .75 miles doing knee-ups. I started doing the knee ups maybe 10-14 days ago, at first I hardly had the strength to lift my knees to my stomach, now it is becoming easier, I feel the power in my hips growing, and the overall driving strength is improved. A few months of constant knee-up practice should help me become a better runner. I now realize that my overall leg strength is low, and this exercise along with hill/bike work should make a difference in my running times. I especially notice an improvement when running uphill, I can attack it with vigor, the legs pushing me up and over without a loss of speed or oxygen.

#99

z.m. - #13 

Weather - 20 degrees, sunny. Ran 4 miles to the Zendo this morning, meditated for 70 minutes, then ran 3 miles back into town and stopped at Cardinal to do my 2nd weekly bike workout. I brought a small piece of paper with me which outlined the workout, and I placed it on the bike controls to help me remember the interval times and wheel tension settings. I ended up doing 12 intervals of varying lengths, from 30-60 seconds, with about a 1 minute recovery between each. I ended up with 40 minutes of biking time. Afterward I stretched, and did 5 sets of strength exercises, and 15 minute walk home. 

To celebrate my 100th consecutive day of running, I ate a piece of chocolate cake which I bought at the Austrian bakery in Chicago yesterday. I was in Chicago to see the Edward Hopper painting exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

#100

 z.m. - #14

Weather - 36 degrees, clouds. After yesterdays 7 mile run and bike intervals, I thought I would be feeling wiped out today. When I started my run, however, my legs felt special, not only the legs, but everything, the breath, the arms and shoulders, the heart, even the spirit. I guess a day like today makes all the hard work worthwhile, meaningful. It wasn't a race, no time or body to beat, rather, the pure feeling of motion uninhibited by gravity or sickness. It is when the sun looks down and seems to smile upon a little blip in the universe who is trying hard to do something. Today I was a small shimmer of light angling across the land, a bird coasting in the wind, all that sky ahead and behind, above and below. I felt free. 

#101

z.m. - #15 

Weather - 28 degrees, clouds, snowing.

Ran an easy 8 miles in more fresh snow. The first 2 miles were against a stiff wind, and since I was not warmed up I felt weak and sluggish. When I got to the golf course at mile 2 I felt better, and I ran a few accelerations on the fairways. As I went from fairway to fairway I practiced lifting my knees high, and then, began to bound. I have never tried bounding before, one reason being I felt I didn't have the leg strength for it. With the knee-ups I have been doing the past 3 weeks, and the new bike intervals, I feel I have found a piece of the puzzle to running faster - leg strength. Hitherto I have felt that running should be enough to build sufficient leg power, but perhaps certain muscles need extra work through other means. As I attempted to bound through the snow, an image of a black and white photograph of Zatopek bounding in snow came into my mind. Soon after I discovered the correct technique, and as I bounded joyously through the snow - the peculiar pause in the elongated steps, the swinging of the arms in a new rhythm, the toes pushing the body up and forward - a wide grin came over my face. It felt like learning to ride a bike, and once the skill is learned, it is there for good.

I ended the run at Cardinal and did 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

Tomorrow a hard session, hill repeats. I will concentrate not so much on speed up the hill, but rather on a form which will allow my legs to strengthen further.

#102

z.m. - #16

Weather - 25 degrees, sunny, windy.

Today I began moving out of my winter phase. Before running the hill repeats I decided to run a mile at 5k pace. The track at Urbana HS was covered in snow, so I decided to run the mile on the pedestrian/bicycle path that runs North/South on Race street. I labored with my breathing in the first 400 meters, but I then recovered my form and ran ok for the remainder of the distance, which I covered in 7:02. As I walked the mile back to the start, I decided to run it again, as I felt the reason I was sluggish was because I did not have enough of a warm-up (I ran 2 miles to the path, then stretched, I probably needed to do a few strides to get my lungs ready for the faster than normal pace). The thought of running another mile at 5K pace was a bit daunting because I have been mostly running at an easy pace for about 3 months, and have not run a 5K in 7 months. And the fast running I have been doing has been between 1-3 minutes in duration. Doubling that time while running on the edge I knew was going to be a big hurt to the system. The second mile went much better, I started smoothly and remained calm and controlled for the entire distance, which I ran in 6:51. I then jogged to the arboretum and did 8 hill repeats, in which I bounded up the hill instead of sprinting.

The racing season begins next week for me, so I believe now is the time to begin the faster runs and tougher training sessions. Considering that I have not run a mile at a fast pace since last July, I actually feel good about my times today. One reason is because I was wearing 2 pair of long underwear, sweatpants, 2 tshirts and a heavy sweatshirt, a jacket, hat, gloves, and facemask. That added 3-4 pounds to my body, and it restricts my range of motion in the arms and legs (during the second mile one of the pairs of long underwear was slipping down my hips, and I had to pull them up a few times while running hard). When I can finally lose the winter clothing and the air is warmer, I should be able to move my 5k mile time down to 6:15-6:25 per mile without too much work. Moving it down to 6:00-6:05 will be the challenge.

I checked the long range weather for next Saturday, it looks like it will be in the 30's, which means I won't be running comfortably. I was hoping to run 21:30 without much of a struggle, but after today's mile runs I think 22:00 is a more accurate estimate.

#103

z.m. - #17

Weather - 28 degrees, clouds.

Eventful running day. In the early afternoon I went to Body N Sole to buy some new running shoes. I recently realized that my current pair of Asics Kayano is way past the expiration date, they probably have 700 miles or more of wear. Also, they have always seemed too clunky, heavy, and without enough cushion. Why I did not replace them months ago shows how stubborn and illogical (stupid) I can be. I ended up buying two pair of shoes today , Nike Structure Triax 11 and Asics 2120. I wore the Nike on my run today, I could not believe how good they felt, the cushion put a smile on my face, and I may have just solved my achilles tendonitis problem. For the past 2 months my achilles has felt tight at the beginning of each run, and only loosens after 1-2 miles. I am not sure why I did not think the shoe was causing the problem, my guess was that it was because I was running everyday, and it was a weak link that had to be tolerated. On my run today the achilles loosened within the first 10 steps, and felt healthy throughout the run. It is hard to believe changing shoes can have that big of an impact, but the Kayanos may have been the cause of the problem. I won't know for sure until I take more runs in the Nike shoes. It would be a relief if the cure was this easy.

For my run I jogged 3.5 miles to Michelle's apartment and then we went to her exercise room which has 3 treadmills. I have never run on a treadmill before, so I thought I would give it a try. Michelle taught me the basic functions, and then we started running. I found it to be easier than normal running, so I cranked it to 10 level and according to the controls I was running 6:00 minutes per mile. I laughed at that, there is no way I can currently hold a 6:00 pace. I then decided that if I put some elevation into the run it would make it more challenging. I cranked it to grade 12 and watched the machine lift, by the time it stopped moving I felt like I was running up the side of a mountain, so I lowered it to grade 9, and set the speed at 8, and this caused me to sweat. I eventually settled in at grade 2 with 8.5 speed, this seemed to equate my normal running effort. After 4 miles we stopped and chatted as we did a cool down walk.

#104

z.m. - #18

Weather - 38 degrees, sun/clouds.

A little warmer today, though still a lot of snow on the ground, so I headed to the golf course to get some snow running in. I did a loop of the course doing hard fartlek, and then I did a second loop at an easier pace. I contemplated wearing heavy boots for this workout, but since I knew I was going at least 90 minutes, I did not think it wise to try my first boot workout for that quantity of time.

My hip muscles are a bit sore from all the bounding I have been doing this week, that is a good thing, so today I did no bounding or high knee lifts, or, at least not very much.

This coming week I will cut back on my mileage, will probably drop to about 30 (from the low 50's), but a lot of the running this week will be hard, fast stuff. I plan on doing fartlek, 200-400m repeats, and lots of strides.

Today I accomplished my goal of achieving a solid season of winter training. Considering this was the first time I have trained consistently throughout the winter, I am curious to see if it is really true that a lot of slowish, consistent mileage, followed by 6-8 weeks of speed work, can lead to fast racing times.

At runs end I stopped at Cardinal and did 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#105

z.m. - #19