I’m feeling very recovered and good right now. Earlier today I did a total of six laps at Farris with the dogs (two with Tito, four more with the ladies). Happy (the dog, not the state of being) is conked out on the couch. Sunny (the dog, not the weather condition) could keep going. Tito (the dog, not the boxer Tito Trinidad, his namesake) is becoming quite the runner for a little guy.
My feet are back at 100%. I learned a lot in Charleston, and I think having run it essentially barefoot has made me a better runner. I had gas in the tank at the finish for the first time. Yes the roads were rough and hampered my performance, but there’s not a bit of damage to my feet. I don’t care that my time could have been better. Running it the way I did was an investment.
Feet are hands. Their job is to collect information about the environment that influences what we do with ourselves. If I’m going to run, I want to be moving in concert with reality as much as possible. The pain and discomfort of reality presents an opportunity to ask myself, is the road causing the pain, or am I? The answer should be obvious: I’m sentient, the ground is not. I’m moving, the ground is not. Most importantly, I’m changeable, the ground is not. The ground isn’t doing anything to me. I am doing this to me. So I change. My feet tell me what to do. I’m not fluent in the language, but I’m getting better. Races like Charleston are master classes.
Another reason I’m not too miffed about my slower than hoped for time is that it might be beatable at Umstead. Bring on the hills and trails.
So, Umstead. I would like to prepare myself for this one so that I feel the way I did in November. I think I was on to something – lots of miles at medium distances, fewer long runs. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll run long (over 20) once in February, but the rest of my runs will be between six and 16 miles. And of course, lots of trails.
One change: I’m going to start re-adding the slower runs to the mix. Today I averaged around a minute slower than my regular “just running” pace, and I feel like I’ve been to a spa. When I took advantage of the warm days in late December and ran some easy barefoot miles? Spa. More spa. Maybe it will result in faster races as the experts suggest, but let’s face it. I’m a libertine. Spa feels good.
My survival instincts or whatever must have erased the memories of suffering from this weekend – I’m really looking forward to taking on the challenges the next half a year has in store for me. I’ll try to be more cranky tomorrow. All this positivity is annoying.
Nice post. Check your pulse though… I think you may have had an out of body experience. All this nirvana so early in the morning… sheesh… I haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet. “:D
Adding the slow runs back to your routine is a great idea. I think having a short, recovery pace run the day after a long run helped me a ton. It seems especially important if you don’t cross train, in terms of keeping you loose. As you say, it’s like spending time at the spa. Good luck preparing for Umstead. Cheers!
Sometimes I think my feet are saying to me, “What are you crazy trying to run on this stuff? Stop! Right now!” But sometimes I have to talk to them too and they have to listen: “I know you don’t like this, but later you’ll thank me.” or “How about we try it this way? If we do it this way can we keep going?” Communication with one’s feet is a two-way street!
I consider 16 miles to be a long run. Most of my runs are between 6-10 miles, or basically 1-1.5 hours. A run longer than 1.5 hours really challenges my attention span. The same goes for movies. I started to nod off during “The Dark Knight”. That was like two movies in one, a poor case of editing in my opinion.
@Steve: I wrote this last night, but am up at five most days. Sometimes even writing “insightful” blog posts.
@Viper: I was getting a little obsessed with my average pace. Today was supposed to be easy, but I got all itchy and pushed a little bit through the hills. Going easy is hard.
@Frances: Are you sure you haven’t run 100,000 miles already?
@Kelly: I think the magic running time for me is between 1:30 to 1:45. Re movies, I enjoy a few marathon length films. Like Lagaan:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169102/
Josh,
Speaking as a wise old man [in running terms ho-ho] leave the garmin at home and don’t look at the watch on recovery-easy run days, run on instinct listen to the body and run them as slow as the body needs!
If there is one thing I’ve learned ]I’ve forgotten many] always stay slightly on the under trained side, your make better improvements and feel 100% better and there is nothing worse than getting stale and overtrained!
As well as your long slow runs I’d try and fit in some up to 2 hour progression runs in; ie 40 mins easy- 40 mins steady, 30 mins marathon pace and finish with 10 mins at 10K effort.
You could fit 2 or 3 of these sessions into a marathon build.
Also your long runs don’t need to be fast, as this can wear you down, 65-70% mhr is fine!
Do some strides once or twice a week, this helps develop ba longer faster stride, we all could do with more speed:]
The strangest thing happened in my run yesterday morn. After about a mile, my right lower leg started to feel torqued, like it was twisted – not good. About a mile later, my right calf was getting so tight that I turned around and walk/limped back home. My right calf was sore the rest of the day. I went for a run this morning and it was OK, although still slightly sore. I don’t normally get cramps, which is what I would call this. I also noticed my mouth was pretty dry during yesterday’s run, so perhaps I wasn’t hydrated enough, especially with this cold dry weather.
@Rick: Sound advice. I think I would need (or at least would really like) a gps thing for progression runs. I have always just used a regular old stopwatch. What do you guys think of the new Nike + that’s coming out? Is it time I take the plunge?
@Kelly: It’s easy to skip the drinks in the cold. I had a weird pain too the other day – I thought to myself, hey, what happened to that achilles pain? Then my right achilles started to hurt. Then, I remembered it was my left achilles that had given me trouble a couple of weeks ago. The pain went away with a chagrined look on its face.
Curious, Amy and I were just talking about selling my Garmin 205 on Ebay. She priced used 205s on Ebay for about $75. I paid $180 new a few years ago. I only used it for a few months. Surprisingly, I wasn’t all that interested in studying the data from my runs. And the 205 is kinda large. I find it kinda annoying on my skinny wrist. I probably should plug it into my computer and make sure it still holds a charge. If you are interested in a deal, let me know.
Heck yeah! I don’t care about meta data, I just want to be able to run hither and thither without having to map or guess the distance afterward.
Two bits of info:
#1: danville has some really awesome trails attached to the hills from the half…. And no; not that stupid gravel; either. Like actual trails. I think they’re meant for mountain bikers; but I (used too) run them often.
Let me know if you want more info.
#2: beginning of march; there’s a race in Danville on said trails…your choice of 5k; 10k or half marathon.
Let me know if you want more info on that as well.
@Patrick: 1. I saw those trails along the route – they look nice. I’ll have to venture up there someday to run around on them. 2. I’ll be doing the Umstead trail marathon on Mar 5. When are those Danville races?
March 12th. May be too soon for a half; but a nice 5 or 10k before the Martinsville half? (I’m assuming you’re doing Martinsville)
@Patrick: Hmm, interesting. I’m hoping to get under 1:30 at Martinsville…
I mean; I’m just going to try not to break at Martinsville.
I was tempted to do trails on 12th; but at best it’s only 6 weeks back…. I’m worried I won’t be able to finish strong without other non-hip related running injuries from too much too soon