How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 43-47 degrees, cloudy, misty, very windy.

Another magical day. When I'm running in the fields and woods for 4-5 hours, a lot of thoughts come and go. One thought was this : the strength of my body has finally caught up with the strength of my will. The reason I believe this is because there is a serene sense of satisfaction when I finish these long runs, as if my will is finally at peace.

I have been having running dreams lately. I usually have these types of dreams when I am injured or sick, and therefore not running. So it is unusual for me to dream about running when I am running everyday. But these recent dreams have been me running fast, something I have not done since August. So maybe the dreams are giving me a cue to start running faster.

Today, being warm, I dressed in 4 shirts and shorts, and felt light and energetic. The first 5 miles I was running quicker than usual, pushing in places, then pulling back, as if I was on a 7-8 mile run. When I got to the South Farms road the 20-25 mile headwind slowed me down. When I made the turn to go north, I saw a speedy runner about 50m ahead of me, and with the wind at my back, I decided to go for it. I was running 6:20 pace, but could not gain on the runner. After 800m I turned off the road and into MBK, slowing down to a trot, as I was beginning to go anaroebic, which is not a good idea at this point in my training.

Miles 11-13 I was changing paces, having fun going fast, then pulling back. When I got to Jimmy Johns to end the run, I felt too good to stop, so continued running to Strawberry Fields, where I stopped to buy a Cliff bar, some chocolate almond energy chunks, and Bolthouse blue juice. I had not eaten yet for the day, nor taken any fluids, so I was ravished for food and drink.

I was not sure how far I was going to go at this point, I guessed maybe 4 or 5 more miles for a total of 18-20, because it was going to get dark in about 45 minutes, as I had started at 1:00pm.  After eating on the run I started to pick up the pace, and my legs still felt strong and somewhat fresh, and before I knew it I was back on the South Farms road, battling the wind, as the sky grew very dark and gray. When I turned east into the corn field the horizon was dark and looked very far, making it seem as if I was entering into a black tunnel. I imagined I was running a 100 mile ultra at night without a headlamp.

I was still feeling good at this point, even though the past 5 miles had been into a strong headwind. Now I was about to turn with the wind, the sky black, but with an orange glow at the northern horizon, which made me feel calm and happy. I ran through MBK pretty quick, the wind aiding my pace, and I passed a pack of 3 runners with flashlights. The final 3 miles I was in a running zone, feeling strong, good, invincible. When I reached the final 800m straightwaway, I sprinted at 6:30 pace, not wanting to stop, and contemplated running 30 miles.

I was starving, however, and reaching Jimmy Johns for a second time, I decided to stop at 26 miles. I walked home, eating the sandwich, refreshed by a cool mist.

One of the greatest runs of my life.....

#394

 Print made a few days ago :

The Baraboo Hills
Printed 2008

 Weather - 11 degrees, cloudy, windy.

Not as pleasant as yesterday, but wore layers and managed to stay warm on my run.

Last year in similar conditions I ran at the arboretum, which offers no wind cover, and froze my groin (euphemism).

This year I planned better and decided to run loops at Busey Woods. However, around mile 5 my groin froze.

My legs felt pretty good, a little stiff and fatigued, but nothing to prevent me from running easy. I even managed 800m at 7:30 pace in the middle of the run.

After the run I did 3 sets of strength exercises and stretching. My eskimo mittens were able to grip the pull-up bar, so weather should not prevent me from doing these this winter.

#395

Weather - 16 degrees, cloudy, windy, snowing.

An unusal day for 2 reasons :

1) This is the first time since September that I have entered a mile that was not easy - today 1 mile at threshold pace :)

2) I ran the first 3 miles to the dentist in a snowstorm. The nice lady who cleaned my teeth laughed when she saw my long eyelashes covered in melting ice.

After the cleaning I ran with a numb mouth to Busey Woods, where I did 3 x 1 mile loops.

Last night I had a dream that I was running a 5k. I was feverishly pursuing a runner ahead of me. I broke through my sluggishness and started to really move. Just then the course went down a stairwell into a subway station. The other runner and I stopped when we got to the dark platform because we did not know where to go. Dejectedly we shrugged our shoulders and called the race off.

When I started the 2nd woods loop I recalled the 5k dream, and knew I had to finish my race, so I picked it up, flying just like in the dream, the 1 inch of snow on the ground not slowing me down. I was smiling, laughing, it was all too beautiful, too strange - starting a 5k in an unknown city, stopping in a subway station, and ending in a desolate snowy woods.

#396

Digital picture made yesterday on my walk to work :

Melinda's Alley

Weather - 18 degrees, cloudy.

Another unusual day. I had to attend a park district all staff meeting at 2:30pm, so I planned to run loops at Busey Woods for 2 hours until 2:25pm. The meeting was at the Nature Center, which is adjacent the woods.

There was 1-2 inches of snow on the trails, creating a nice cushion. I ran moderately, but every mile or so I would do some bounding drills for a minute or two. I also did some skipping, which I had not done since I was 7 or 8 years old. I tried to skip last year, but could not remember how to. Today I finally caught the right stride rhythm and it felt great to skip along. My bounding stride seems better than last years, as I am more relaxed and take longer and higher steps.

I appear to be slowly adding more intensity to my running as the days go along. I still feel like doing a lot of slow running, but I also feel the urge to begin building strength through drills and hills. I will probably start hill workouts in February.

I have been running a lot of miles this week, but my legs are fresh every day. It is a good state of affairs right now.

#397

Weather - 28- 30 degrees, cloudy, sleeting.

I am starting up my winter meditation studies, so I ran 4 miles to the Zendo. Unfortunately the ice storm made everyone stay home, and so the Zendo door was locked. I had to reluctantly continue on with my run and ran 2.5 miles back to town and walked the rest of the way home. 

#398

Digital picture made on my run 2 days ago :

121 West Goose Alley

Weather - 38-33 degrees.

Walking to work this morning I photographed the ice storm with the digital camera, I made 25 exposures. 

Lincoln Square on my Way to Work

When I got home I went out for my run at noon. The temperature had risen to 38 degrees, the snow and ice becoming a slop of cold wetness.

I wanted to wear shorts today, but the wind made it seem colder than 38, so I wore a funny outfit of black shorts over black long underwear, with 5 shirts. As I was leaving Rachel said she didn't have to worry about anyone hitting on me :)

I knew it was useless to try keeping my shoes, socks, and feet dry, and by mile 2 everything was soaked.

I stopped at mile 3 to do some strength exercises, which took about 30 minutes total. 

I trudged through the snow, getting a good workout for my hip flexors. The miles passed quickly, and I found myself going long, looping around the South Farms.

When I reached the end of the loop at Jimmy Johns, I felt a pebble in my right shoe. I found a place to sit down and removed the shoe. I saw a small black object protruding through the flimsy shoe insert. I removed the insert and saw that a rusty nail had punctured my shoe. I examined the bottom of the shoe and saw that the nail had gone in vertical, which is pretty amazing. I checked my sock and did not see blood, and felt no pain.

I was 1.25 miles from home, so I jogged gingerly, forefoot style, about 1 mile. I could feel the nail on my heel, so I walked the final quarter mile. When I got home I wanted to get a hammer and smash the nail out of the shoe. Fortunately my wife is smarter than I am, and she got some pliers and easily removed the nail. She looked at my heel and could not see any puncture wounds, so I felt good to go.

I ate some nuts, pretzels, a kiwi, and drank some kefir and water before heading back outdoors. "13 miles down, 13 to go" I said to Rachel while walking out the door.

I was partly joking about the 13 to go, I was not sure how far I would make it today because the melting snow and ice was making running more difficult than normal.

By now I had grown accustomed to cold, wet feet, and it did not appear to  hinder my running. I ran through Busey Woods, then the park, across town, into the arboretum, then hit the South Farms road as the sun was setting. I did not see the sun because the sky was a beautiful mass of gray, with strange looking clouds roaming and mingling in the sky.

As I reached the midpoint of the road I saw many geese flying in a V shape, then another flock, and another, and another. I had never seen so many geese, and then I watched as the second flock merged with the first, and the shapes and the beating of the wings was curiously beautiful and sad, and it made me cry.

Perhaps I cried because I knew that soon I would be turning into the wind for the final 5 miles, which did not seem fun, because my legs were struggling to get lift from the snow.

At mile 22 the sky in the north turned a dark, rusty orange, surrounded by the darkening gray. The beauty of the sky helped me forget my struggles, as I had now reached a low point with my energy.

Even though I was tired, I was still strong enough not to lose my form, and I handled the stress of feeling low on energy well enough, and by mile 24 I was starting to feel good again, and was able to finish relatively strong.

I was so hungry, and I ate the Jimmy Johns sandwich in about 5 minutes as I walked carefully home. It was getting colder, and the slush was turning back to ice.

#399

Weather - 29 degrees, cloudy, snow, wind.

Rough conditions, and a tough run today. 

I dreaded getting out of bed this morning because I felt I had a chance of being sore from running 26 miles yesterday in the snow. However, I felt no ill effects, and when I started my run I was unusually loose and flexible. 

I ran to the post office, mailed a few Christmas cards, then continued with the run along my normal 13 mile route.When I got out of Busey Woods and was running in the fair grounds field I tripped on a large snow covered rock and fell to the ground in a heap. I laughed as I lay in the snow, it has been a year since I last fell, and that fall was also due to snow. When I got up I walked 100m and felt fine, so continued with the run.

I had no intention of running the full route, but when I ended up at the arboretum I still felt good, so why not? I was feeling as if I had run 6 miles yesterday, so I was not going to complain or question the logic of my recovery.

But this good feeling soon faded, and once I got to the South farms road I felt the stinging 15-20mph wind and my energy disappeared in  a hurry. I made the mistake of eating and drinking nothing before I left for my run, and now I was paying the price. My legs felt fine, but I was so low on fuel I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I wanted to lay down in the corn field and fall alseep.

I had no real option other than to continue running, because I was out in no man's land, and 5 miles from Jimmy John's. So I trudged along in the snow and ice, slipping quite often, but fortunate not to do any more falling.I was running on guts, and it felt good to struggle so much, it was like I was running fast, but in reality I was probably moving at 9:00-9:15 pace.

The final 3 miles were as if I had hit the wall, each step felt like 3 or 4 steps, and the run was never ending. Once I got out of the arboretum and hit the streets, out of the wind, I picked up the pace and sprinted the final 800m, as I could not wait to eat that sandwich!

#400

Digital photo made yesterday on my walk to work :

Bunny's Tavern Parking Lot