ChromeDome

This was my first long run of anything more than 5 miles.  It was hot but low humidity (in the desert).

Very hilly road/asphalt and some single-track dirt trail over uneven ground. It took us about an hour and 15 min.

This was an easy recovery run. I was not really sore or anything from the 6 mile run, it just felt good to loosen up the muscles.

My memory of this run isn't that good ... I think I just tried to get the miles in ... it was hot and I ran with the dog and/or jogging stroller, which slows me down (not that I'm fast. ha ha)

Wife and I did an easy run through town with the dog and stroller ... we stopped by a few shops along the way, so there was a little bit of walking, etc. 

 It was hot out but the run was good and I didn't feel taxed at all. By the time my wife announced we were over 3 miles, I thought "already? that was easy" ... 

Wife and I ran 7 miles in 90-degree heat and high humidity.

I was tired at the end of the run but I think it was almost "easy" ... at least for my lungs. If anything at the end of my run I started to feel tightness in my hips and hamstrings, maybe a little bit of the effects of pounding in my feet/ankles. My breathing was rhytmic and relaxed. 

 I think the pace (according to the garmin) was 11:58 per mile average.

Night before, sleep was interrupted  a lot by the baby. It always takes a while to fall asleep after being up, so I know for a fact that it has been 9 months since I had a good 8-9 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep. Forget about having several of them in a row ... Baby "sometimes" sleeps uninterrupted from 3-6AM (ish) so 4 hours is the best stretch I typically get per night.

 Today wife and I did 4 miles in 90+ heat and above-average humidity. This was with the jogging stroller and interspersed with some "sprint" (ha ha) intervals along the way. We took turns sprinting and pushing the stroller ... this is our "stroller workout"... :-)

 It was hard. It was hot. I took a 15 minute cat nap afterward.

It was cooler (not much) today and I decided to see if I could go 5 miles, but played it by ear. I felt strong and wasn't winded even late in the run. However I did start to feel a little tingling/tightness in my left foot/ankle between 4 and 5 miles, so I made sure I took it easy the rest of the way home.

Temps in the 80s and brutally humid.  I'm supposed to be living in a "dry" climate but this year is totally ridiculous. I am getting hacked off by this weather.

 Ran with the dog, and it was an ok run. I have no idea of the time/pace, because I just took off out the door when I got home from work.

I was trying to get to 20 total miles this week (for the first time ever) but I guess it wasn't going to happen...

Baby has not been letting us sleep lately -- wife and I are both grumpy and nitpicking at each other over small things. We ran together and although we started out snippy before the run, we talked through the whole thing and we both felt much better afterward.

We ran in the (again!) heat and humidity of mid-morning, pushing the stroller (it was empty! we had dropped the baby off at the sitter but the stroller held all our water, phone, etc.  We have to come up with a better cargo-hauling plan than a stroller for these long runs in the future!)

 I felt heavy and slow through the whole run ... a total 180 from the previous week. My right knee and left hip felt creaky, but it came/went throughout the run so I didn't think it was anything serious, just fatigue and maybe the result of running at a verrrry slow pace and pushing the stroller. I felt slightly better around mile 6, then like crud again for miles 7 and 8.

 I think the combination of factors (low sleep/heat/humidity/stroller/) plus my increase in mileage lately probably combined to give me a hard time. I am going to rest a lot this week and try to get more sleep.

Yay, since I last weighed myself I'm down about 3 lbs. I've been more strict on my diet lately, mostly regarding portion control and cutting down on "bad for you" items. Not that I eat a lot of those things anyway, but they tend to have snacks out at the office, and I sometimes engage in "boredom" snacking if something is within arm's reach.

 Anyway after much research I decided to do the "Brain Training for Runners" marathon program in preparation for the Las Vegas marathon in December. I am jumping into the program at Week 4, and so far so good. I am also going to modify the book's plan to have longer Sunday runs.

I did a base run workout today of 3 miles at between 9:45 and 10:02 pace. It was brutally hot and dry (I ran in the hottest part of the day, somewhat on purpose, to test myself and to stop being a wimp in the heat) but yet I was able to score some good base run pace miles. I jogged/walked to/from the "track" around the lake, which amounted to nearly another mile in addition to the paced workouts.

I used my garmin to track my paces, and I wasn't very good at maintaining a regular pace at all. I kept speeding up/slowing down in an effort to hit my target. Put it down to inexperience, but gee whiz it was difficult ... I wasted a lot of energy just trying to modulate myself. Hopefully I'll get better at that.

At the start of my workout I felt pretty fresh, and went out of the gate too fast for my workout pace (about 8:00 pace) so I guess this tells me that I recovered just fine from my 8 miles on Sunday.

This workout was 2 mi. warmup and 2 mi. cooldown with hill repeats in between. The hill repeats were supposed to be .25 mile at my 1 mile. run pace. (7-minute range).

 I found I was able to run the proper pace for the warmup and cooldown miles just fine, and went out waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast on the first hill repeat. I ran like a 4:35 pace (uphill!) and hit the wall in like 150 yards.  OOOOPS. I have so little clue about my pacing, I don't know what I'm doing...

Anyway it took me all 4 repeats to "dial-in" close to 7 minute pace. The 4th repeat was fine pace-wise, but I was way too gassed, and I have a feeling the workout was *not* supposed to be as intense as I made it. Oh well!

Score!  20 miles already this week, this is a milestone for me. I know all to well from reading the blogs that some of you do 20 mile *runs* all the time .. y'all are crazy!  But this is my first ever 20-mile week so that seems like an achievement for me. But now I am starting to think my 4-milers are "short runs" which is a new mindset for me completely. Before last month I had only ever run 5 miles in a row ... eh, twice in my life. Sheesh.

Did a 4-mile base run in the 90-degree heat. The idea was to run around 10-minute miles, but I am still trying to get used to pacing using the Garmin and I kept going too fast. I ended up with 9:00 to 9:30 miles instead for the first 3, then I was gassed and had to stop and walk before I could attempt mile 4. Mile 4 felt super-duper slow and heavy (in the heat) and I still managed a 10:30 pace ...

 So, I don't know what to think of this. For the last two days I have been feeling strong at the start of workouts, starting too gung-ho, then gasping for air after running beyond my target pace. And yet, I am finishing the workouts in high heat conditions, so maybe I'm actually in better shape and should be running faster anyway?  Ahhh, I dunno.

 Note to self:  Stop going so fast at the start of workouts! 

I don't want to increase my base mileage too much too fast, and my legs are tired, so I'll probably try to cool my jets for the rest of the week and try to recover with slower runs.

Today was supposed to be 4 miles at "base pace" interspersed with some fartlek "bursts" at 1-mile pace.

 Instead, I just went out and ran and tried to pay attention to my body and try to get into a rhythm, which I haven't been able to do for the last few days. I took my garmin and only looked at it at the mile markers ... my average pace over the 4 miles was 10:42.

 The "bursts" never happened -- I just didn't feel up to it. All my leg muscles were tight, and sore from the week's workouts, as well as my lower back. I just didn't have any impetus to "push it" at all.  Again, it was hot and humid, but a little more tolerable in the low-to-mid 80's with an occasional breeze, instead of 90+ blazing inferno that it has been lately.

 A big milestone for me is that this puts me over 20 miles in a week for the first time ever!  This is also the reason I didn't want to push it. That 10% per week increase number is in the back of my mind, and I don't want to tempt fate with injuries by getting too aggressive.

My wife and I did our long run together around a wildlife refuge -- lots of birds and an 8.8 mile total distance on the trail that circles the lake. Much bigger than our own lake at home which is only 1.2 miles around!

 It was hot and humid for the first 2 miles, then the sky clouded and there were some slight breezes for the rest of the run. We got lucky!  Saw some beautiful scenery and some large pelicans, blue herons, some large hawks, eagles, and other birds. At one point on the trail a huge flock of blackbirds swarmed up from the grasses and passed right in front of us. It was neat.

 The trail was a mix of dirt roads and singletrack. I stubbed my toe on a big rock and now it's sore... oops.

 I tried a new hydration fanny pack that holds a bottle horizontally across your tailbone and has a couple of side pockets for gels/keys. It worked like a charm -- I have no idea how much extra energy is consumed carrying water, but it is nothing compared to pushing a stroller!

We both felt strong from miles 5-7. I think our split at mile 6 was 10:05, which for us is a peppy tempo (no snickering please!). The garmin reported 10:45 as our "average" pace, but that included some walking and cool-down jogging at the end, so we were faster. With the exception of one split that was around 11:15/mi (into the wind) all our times were in the 10:00-10:45 range. Our fastest pace was 8:30, on a downhill I presume.

 It was encouraging to feel strong at mile 6, and speeding up the pace from that point. It wasn't all that long ago that I had never even run that far, period.

Woke up with a cold ... sore throat and runny nose. Darnit.

 Went out for a run in the cool/overcast weather (finally!) and did 3.1 miles in 27:36. Not bad!

For the first time ever in the park I either:

A) Passed slower runners

B) Kept up with the faster runners until they stopped running and I passed them. (!)

Need to log a couple more miles later today to make sure I get 5 miles done today.

I am also going to get some new shoes! (I hope) Yay.

Felt absolutely dreadful today. Yesterday I was somewhat OK with stuffy nose, sore throat, etc. but today I was weak and achy, with no energy whatsoever.

Wife is also sick too, but we decided to go for 5 miles. It started to rain and we were getting close to our goal, so we turned back toward home. Total was only 4.6 instead of 5, but it was close enough for us.

I started to feel a little better on the run after mile 2, but we were both quite slow and we were pushing the baby stroller. Avg. pace was 12.5 ish.

 On the upside I tried out my new shoes and they feel great. I had a proper fitting at Fleet Feet in Boulder, and they showed me on video how my old shoes were letting my left foot pronate too much. The new shoes are the correct type for me, not too soft, not too heavy on the support.

Hope we all feel better tomorrow!

Finally slept through most of the night thanks to cold meds and the baby having a pretty good night's sleep also.

Ran 5.2 miles with the dog, and felt a bit better today. Encouraging to get my last couple of runs in despite the cold. I've been waiting for a workout to come along that was "easy" for me to accomplish and I haven't had one of those in awhile so I'll look forward to that!

 Oh, and I forgot to add that it's only Thursday and I'm already over 20 miles, yay! (this is still an accomplishment for me)

The workout plan called for 5.5 miles with fartlek tempo runs sprinkled throughout, but apparently I'm not over my cold quite yet. After 2 miles and a couple of fartlek spurts, my legs were toast. 

Between 3 and 5 miles I had to stop and walk periodically, before I could pick up a recovery pace again. I barely made it to 5 miles and I was glad to call it a day at that point. 

Bonus news is that I've dropped another pound, probably between being sick and logging my miles, but I'll take it either way. Maybe dropping weight too fast is making me weak also.

Hopefully I'll start feeling better during my runs soon.

Finally felt good on a run this week!  Went out to try for 5 or so recovery miles and ran 6!

My wife and I went out to do the long run in overlapping fashion today ... she ran for 1 hour alone, then I brought the jogging stroller and caught up to her, and we did 4 miles together before she took the stroller back home with her. 

Our little boy likes to make noises when we take the stroller over "rough spots" in the path ... his voice goes "aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa"  it's hilarious, and he does it for pure entertainment. He's starting to get a personality (9 mo.) now, and he can play and have fun, and also throw tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. Oh boy here we go! The joys of parenthood.

 We were just talking last night about how much we'll miss how he is as a baby, but are looking forward to things such as his ability to tell us "Hey, I'm hungry!" or "My tummy hurts!" ... so that we won't have to play the guessing games so much on a day-to-day basis just to do the basics of caregiving.  I suppose it is always going to be give and take. As soon as he starts talking, he'll start saying "No" and "Why". Oh well.

 OK I'm rambling. I made it 9.5 miles and ran very very slowly. Perhaps I ran too many miles yesterday on top of being sick most of the week? My lungs were OK and energy level was OK, but at the end of the run my feet/legs/joints ached from the pounding. I guess this is getting better though because I used to feel that way after only 5 or 6 miles...

 This training blog is great. I can look back and see my mileage for the past few weeks.  It seems like I've been increasing mileage more than 10% per week, so I think this week I will stay at or near the mileage from last week to let my body catch up.

Wow, what a surprisingly good workout!

I ran around our standard local lake trail, and it was probably in the upper 70's to low 80's and a bit humid but not too bad.

Following the "brain training for runners" book I used the proprioceptive cues of "floppy feet" and especially "pounding the ground" and I somehow cut approximately 45 seconds per mile off my typical base pace. I ran 9:15 miles average over the entire six miles!  

OK, I realize reading this blog that this is incredibly "slow" for most people here, but that is huge for me, as I have never run 6 miles in even 10:00 pace the entire way before (best was between 10 and 10:30. I felt a bit creaky in the joints etc. since my long run and I have a bruised toe/toenail on my left foot, so the only thing I can put it down to is the difference in the running technique.

Really a boost to my confidence!

Did two warmup miles in the colder/almost rainy weather. Didn't take my GPS but my warmup miles felt pretty fast and good.

 Followed up with 6 hill repeats of about .25 mile each with a 2 minute cooldown/jog in between. I was gassed at the end of it, but felt good for having done the work.

Went an easy 5 miles with the dog tonight after work -- I was in a grumpy mood but by the end of the run my spirits had lifted, both due to the endorphins (probably!) and to the great weather and serene, glass-like surface that was on the water. I was able to enjoy the run tremendously and chill the heck out.

One fun thing I did was strip off my shoes and socks and run 1/10th of a mile in bare feet!  I could feel my stride change as I did this, basically out of self-protection from the cinder rock surface of the running path -- very abrasive!  I think my feet felt strong enough to run farther, but wowee that surface was scratchy!  I just couldn't continue.

I put my shoes back on and noticed the stride change that much more!  My feet made a totally different "swishing" type of sound as the balls of my feet were striking first. It was crazy. This effect lasted for probably half a mile, before my old "shoe stride" came back... still, it was a very fun run and being more up on my toes made for a faster-than-expected average time. I felt like I was "pokey" for the whole run, but Garmin reported a 10:00 mile pace average for the entire run. Howdayalike them apples?

 My wife and I are going to tackle barefoot running techniques for real, and we are going to get some vibram 5 fingers this weekend!  Unfortunately our rec center will not allow you in without "shoes" ... so no barefooting on their treadmills.  I can't wait.

Went a nice and easy six miles, but not too slow -- wound up at 9:45 average pace for the whole 6 miles.

 Had some tenderness in left achilles again afterward... again ... but no pain. I need to stay on top of this though, so I need to be careful to get enough rest.

Went to a barefoot running clinic this A.M. ... it was fun.  We jogged around the park on the grass, practicing technique and form. I doubt it all totaled 1/2 mile, so being conservative I put it at 1/4.

Achilles was "clicking" again today ... I tried rolling my lower leg/achilles area on the foam roller and it *was* actually sore a bit higher at the base of my calf muscle. Doing the barefoot stuff taxed the calves too though, so I'm sure that contributed.  I also iced/rolled the achilles before bedtime... so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Wife and I have already decided to scale back the "long run" and will play it by ear to avoid injury.

 On another positive note we scored Vibrams today ... we tried several models on in the store and although I liked the Sprint model, I thought the Classic was just fine too, but liked the color better (black). My wife got Sprints due to the shape of  her heel not working well with the Classic. Looking forward to working on the stride mechanics and getting the "barefoot" benefits of running in the five fingers.  So exciting!

So!  Not quite a "long run" day huh!

After much reading, and some continued nagging clicks and clacks from my left achilles area, I decided I needed to rest, and to change gears and incorporate some barefoot training into my regimen. Bought some Vibram five finger classics, and am going to start using them. My wife is too!

 We went for a walk barefoot (man I am a tenderfoot in the truest sense!)  wowee zowee was that more of a chore than I expected!  And then we jogged/ran about a mile in the Vibrams. I should say first that we got some barefoot running instruction on form first, before trying this.

 I also discovered that I should stop taking Ibuprofen or any pain killers whilst I try to recover from my achilles/lower calf (not sure where the problem is) condition. Various articles I read said that pain killers can actually make overuse injuries worse (surprise) by blunting the pain and allowing you to overtrain even further. Also there's some evidence (maybe not set in stone, but worrisome anyway) that NSAID drugs can inhibit healthy healing.  Not sure I buy that 100% but for the pain-masking fact alone, I am stopping any medicinal intake period, and will save that for when I am *truly* ill with cold/flu/etc.

Rested today -- no running, but did try to walk around barefoot all day.

I think all the rest over the last few days is helping, however taking up barefoot activities is taxing to my feet/calf muscles in different ways!

Good news is that the achilles is not "clicking" going down stairs anymore, and I have not taken any Ibuprofen for a few days. Yay.

I returned my Vibram FF Classics to the store and exchanged them for Sprints that are one size larger. I developed two blisters very fast, and one nasty long one on the ball joint of my right foot, basically due to the shoe being too small and the sole bending in an odd place and jabbing me. 

On the upside the Sprints seem to be the proper fit, and I was able to run 1 mile in them without blisters. I had to stop at one mile though because I felt the soles of my feet "heating up" with blister potential. ... but this was just due to running in the heat and on cement/asphalt/cinder rocks, and not the shoes themselves. Looking forward to being able to build up the mileage again.

Wow, a surprisingly good run today even in the 80-degree heat w/ humidity.

 I decided to wear the Asics and just go out and see how I felt, focusing on applying some of my barefoot techniques while wearing the shoes. In a nutshell:

 1) Shorten the stride to help land toward the forefoot. Keep trying for faster cadence/turnover.

2) Keep the forward lean (at the ankles), avoid leaning back and heel striking

3) Keep upright form, but relax, relax, relax!

 I turned in 3 miles at an average 8:30 pace, so in effect this became a tempo run of sorts for me, but it felt great and I had no odd clicks or clacks in my achilles.

 A weird sensation is that after spending so much time this week either barefoot or in the VFFs that the Asics felt clunky. When I first purchased them they seemed "light".  They sure do provide great cushion though!  They're very new still, and now I'm feeling I may have made a mistake getting them instead of a lighter racing flat or something that would be easier to transition between barefoot/VFF.  Sigh.

2 miles in VFFs  at about 11:00 pace, not too bad, but I'm still getting used to the mechanics of running barefoot so I just can't seem to go that fast. I was just starting to get into it when I had to stop because the VFFs were cutting into the top of my foot. GRR. So, I took the shoes off and went barefoot back home.

Barefoot ... just under a mile at about 13:00 mile pace over a mix of asphalt, grass, cinder bike path and sidewalks.

Had a lot going on today so I couldn't squeeze in a run at all. Had a good night's sleep but still feel occasional soreness and whatnot in the achilles area, so another rest day won't hurt me. Trying to recover enough to do a long run this Sunday and get things back to normal.

Ran half a mile (possibly a little longer, but erring on the short side) barefoot on a cement bike path.

 Felt very good, no hot spots or blisters, feet were doing a good job cushioning, etc.  Very nice experience and beautiful weather.  Spent all day on my feet in VFFs, on assorted surfaces and pavement/cement for at least 2-3 hours.

 Attempted to do more VFF running in the afternoon -- I still felt fresh but after one block my feet told me to stop ... felt bruise-like soreness on the balls of my feet, so I guess I got a more intense morning run than I thought, or else the combination w/all day in VFFs was about the maximum the feet could handle.

Nothing like going for my "long" run on a nice blazing hot sunny day... at noon!

It wasn't that bad, really, in fact this was a great run around the "big lake" ... it is 8.8 miles around but wife and I did an extra 1 mile prior to starting -- she in bare feet, me just getting used to wearing the Asics again... I found I was able to implement my barefooting technique pretty well, and the shoes felt nice and cushiony soft.

I tied my shoelaces differently this time ... tight around the arch and near the ankle, but looser near the toe box. I definitely felt a difference with my toes being able to "spread apart" more on contact. I think it helped me stay mentally in touch with forefoot striking/barefoot technique, so that was a plus.

Even with the pre-run mile, when we hit the lake trail we ran well beyond the point where we stopped to drink water on the last run. (I intended to run as long as possible without stopping, but I just can't seem to do it in the heat). I think we took our first little water break/breather at about the 6 mile mark, and our pace was consistently around 9:30 or 9:45 ... we were even hitting in the 8's a couple of times on gradual downslopes and we were both feeling pretty strong. I felt we were doing really really well, especially for running on a mixture of dirt/gravel/single-track trail, etc. through the weeds.  About 4 miles in though, we were both torched by a trail-running dude wearing a camelback, and flying along at like 7:00 pace.  Dang!  I want to be that fast one of these days!

Anyway I think we paused twice more between miles 7 and 9, once when my shoe came untied, and once because I just needed to regroup in the heat before tackling the final 2 miles. We stopped too long (ate some orange slices) that last time, and both our legs felt like lead and it was hard to get going again. Still, I had a kick left at the end (not much of one) and got my pace back down to about 9:30 for the last quarter mile.

 After having such a low-mileage week last week, I was happy to have a successful jaunt of near 10 miles. We both remarked that we actually felt better after this 10 mile run than we did a couple of weeks ago after the 8-mile run.  My running technique felt very different now, and our speed was better overall as well (I think the entire run was 10:15 average pace, but that was skewed a bit by the first barefoot/warmup mile which was quite slow, about 12:00).

Made my first attempt at a pair of huarache sandals, following the instructions on barefoot ted's website: http://barefootted.com/

 Ran a mile in them right off the bat, and I have to say it was a fast, comfortable mile. Remember though what's "fast" for me is slow for other people.  :-)  Also running with barefoot technique (at least for me so far) it is harder to achieve the same pace as when wearing running shoes. But that said, I think I ran faster in the huraraches than in my VFFs. They felt quite nice!  I didn't have the GPS with me but I would guess my pace was 10:00 or slightly even less.

 I then changed to my Asics and ran back to the lake, and in doing so logged 3 miles at an average pace of 9:33. I was pleased with this, as I spent the entire run focusing very hard on my form, and trying to emulate barefoot technique in my shoes.  I tried "pawing" the ground much more this time, and the following morning my hamstrings were quite sore, so I think I hit them pretty good, and must have been working the technique correctly.

 It was very interesting to note that two times during this run, my "too fast" alarm went off on my Garmin -- this alarm is set at 7:30 pace. I hit that a couple of times on downhills or when I was thinking about my stride mechanics or cadence. 

 All in all, a very good tempo-ish type of running today even though I just set out to do what felt good and wasn't thinking much about pacing, but rather form.

Oops, I entered today's info on Monday, which was actually a rest day.

So Monday's entry happened in this space ... 

Started out with sore muscles, but ran anyway ... My calves were especially sore from my first run in the huaraches. I think I overdid it a little, speed-wise, on that run and am feeling the effects. My ankles didn't hurt but my right one crackled and popped a lot during the run.

I ran 3.1 miles in 30 minutes ... this seems to be a consistent workout speed for me lately. This is great, since a few years ago I had to work hard just to try to hit a 5K in 30 minutes, and the first time I ever did it I was totally sucking wind.

When I was 1 mile from home I took the shoes off and went barefoot the rest of the way. This time the cinder path was slightly less painful, so I think my feet are getting tougher after just a couple of weeks of barefoot practice. I just held my shoes like handweights as I ran, as holding them up high helps keep an upright running form.  People gave me some stares, but I just ran right by ;-)   I managed a peppier pace barefoot this time also, and hit a 10:20 pace on the sidewalk going downhill. It got intense after about 200 yards though, so I had to cool it and go slower the rest of the way.

Nothing major to report ... had to make this an "active recovery" sort of day.  I only did "2.4 miles" according to the elliptical machine -- this workout was at the health club. No running today.

 The barefoot work of late has toasted my legs and I was really sore, from my hamstrings on down. It is so easy to overdo it when barefooting, I'm afraid of a setback or injury. If I take it slow today I should still get between 20 and 30 miles this week, especially if I feel better tomorrow. Theoretically I should be ready to rock and roll... :-)

Not much sleep last night ... 5 hours might be optimistic. Baby not happy.

 Very tired all day and still sore. Had little energy when returning home from work. Had intentions to go for a run but I think my body is not ready or willing.

Today Barefoot Ted  (barefootted.com) spoke (and spoke, and spoke ...!) at our weekly barefoot running club. Suffice it to say it was interesting, and we picked up some barefooting tips/ideas/theory and got an earful of his stories.

 Someone made the mistake of giving him too much "talk juice" (coffee) before starting the meeting.

We probably did a quarter-mile's worth of barefoot running exercises/drills on cement and grass. Nothing crazy, but I had a little tiny bit of soreness in the ball of my right foot which kept me from pushing very hard.

Worked around the house all day doing chores, and was barefoot the whole time. So, spending the day shoeless was a good activity as well, but it isn't necessarily running mileage and I don't know how to tally that.

Got a little more sleep last night so was feeling a little more human. Not much more sleep though. I feel I need to save up some more energy for the long run tomorrow, and for logging more consistent mileage next week.

Ran 10.5 miles -- I was just trying to make sure I logged my distance and wasn't worried about pace. I still ran 10:30 miles, basically, with a few 11:00s in there when I started to fade at the end.

Went the whole run without gels or sports drink -- tried not to stop/walk etc either, but took breaks at 4, 7, 8, and 9 mile markers. I could've skipped mile 4, but wife needed a drink. I usually take a gel after 45 minutes to 1 hour of running, but having nothing but water, I got super tired as evidenced at the multiple breaks after mile 7. Lately I've been feeling strong at mile 7, so I attribute that to the gels. Maybe next week if I go back to the gel I can log a whole run without stopping, we'll see.

I need to try to log all the appropriate mileage this week -- get back to the 30's.

Yesterday I could hardly stand up from the effects of the long run the day prior, but today the soreness was much less. I rolled on the foam roller last night though, targeting my calves (Ow!) and quads/IT band.  Maybe that did the trick?

 Set out to try to log 6 miles with my Vibrams only. Ended up running 3.1 miles and stopping, as a blister started to flare on my right foot, in the usual place where the shoe's inner seam bothers me. I made the 5K distance in 33:35, which I was happy with, considering I had to work through early stiffness and transition to running in the VFFs.

I then took the shoes off and ran the rest of the way home barefoot, mostly on cement sidewalk, which was actually quite nice. At one point I hit 11:20 pace on a slight downhill, so I was doing OK even though my ankles/calves were starting to twinge, and I was being careful to dodge rocks and debris.

When running barefoot I can tell I go much slower because I am concentrating on "landing" every stride, and this seems to take all my energy. I don't have much "push off" quite yet...

No running today.  ARG!

 Foot pain in metatarsals of both feet, likely due to "overdoing" something barefoot yesterday. Too fast with Vibrams, or something.

 This is depressing, just when I think I'm feeling good... oh well, another rest day.

Feet still hurt today, but seems to be getting a little better.

"ran" ... ok hobbled slowly barefoot over a distance of 1.3 miles according to the garmin. Mostly sidewalk, some asphalt, about 50 feet of grass...

 Hopefully this will help me work out some of the aches in the top of my feet ... the right foot is worse than the left, but it wasn't quite bad enough to make me unable to locomote.

 Unfortunately I had to run over some hot pavement/cement and it looks like I have some blistering on the pads of my feet near the big toe. I hope I just didn't do something stupid... :-)

No running today ... feet still hurt. 

No running today -- feet still hurting. This is depressing.

Tried going for a run in shoes, as feet were mildly sore.

 Got half a mile before pain returned and I walked home.  This is a major bummer.

 I really overdid it, apparently, with the barefoot running. It is taking me a week to get over this, and I am in a foul mood.

Rest day anyway today -- not that I could have done anything.  

 Feet still sore even when walking. I really hope this is just a sprain or something and not indicative of a stress fracture.  I am in a grumpy mood!

Nothing much to report ... went to the gym and managed 30 minutes on the stationary bike ... feet felt less sore today, but not good enough to run on.  I have no idea how these bicycles calculate effort and distance, but all I did was break a slight sweat, so no big woop.

 Still very bummed out about this whole affair.

Hooray!

 Two whole miles, and without pain!  OK, my feet were starting to throb at the end of it... but nothing "serious".

 My feet are finally starting to feel normal. I went out and ran in my old and pretty worn out adidas, with the insoles removed. This puts my foot lower to the ground and also helps me avoid premature heel striking. Unfortunately my nice Asics Gel Kayanos tempt me to hit my heel, and their very thick cushioning dulls the sensation of running perhaps too much.  I might try removing the insoles on those and giving them another shot.

 I was able to run comfortably, practicing my new running form and cadence, and it felt quite good.

 I have to go back to trying to log 2 miles per day and work my mileage up again. We will see how it goes, but my wife and I don't think we will be able to train up in time for Las Vegas in Dec. She has altered her running form also, and feels the effects of "starting over" almost, with a new running style. She has continued to run and is doing OK, managing to avoid my foot problems.

Hooray!  2.1 miles finished, running relatively pain-free.

 Today I ran in my old Adidas trainers, which I have removed the manufacturer's insole from. These didn't seem to prevent me from landing on the forefoot and implementing my "new and improved" running form. 

My laps were faster than I expected, and I averaged  9:05 per mile!  However, I was gasping for air, so that wasn't too good... but I think I am expending a lot of energy trying to maintain my form. It will be awhile before I can relax into it, but the speed is encouraging right out of the gate.

 I am trying to log a week or so of 2-ish miles, and if I can do that without re-injuring something I will proceed to increase the miles.

Knock on wood, I was feeling so good (and also couldn't find my socks) that I went out to try for 2 miles in Vibrams.  I logged a 10:15 average pace, which is probably as fast as I can go considering the pounding, etc.

 Out of the whole run I felt like I was getting in a groove with my stride for one brief stretch of like, 100 yards. ... :-)

 I am going to stretch and stuff tonight, hopefully I won't hurt tomorrow and undo any of my progress.

Was able to get my 2 miles today, but my hip started a painful clicking action about 3/4 of the way through. My hip was doing that periodically all day, just walking around -- wonder what's causing that? Hmm.

 Avg. pace came out to 10:15 ... however the first mile was in the 9 range and 2nd one closer to 11:30. Oh well.  Keep slugging away.

 I am supposed to run in a local 5K in about a week, so I hope I'm just healthy enough to complete it, when a month ago I was thinking I would easily get a PR. Who knows though, it's still a possibility!

Rested today - had clicking in my hip & thought this might be my body signaling to take a day off. 

Very good run today, ran 5K in 27:16, avg pace of 8:48.

 Nothing hurt today (neither hip nor feet) and I just tried to keep my form intact and take short strides. I still feel like a wobbly uncoordinated spaz when I run, but I can't argue with the results!  Even when I was in good shape and not hurting last month, I wasn't able to clock this kind of time. So, yay!

Had a good run today in the evening as it was starting to get dark. Managed 3.8 miles before my hip started to tighten up slightly. Decided not to push it since I have only been getting 2 miles per day of late.

Average pace: 9:05, not too shabby. I felt good.

 I took the insoles out of my Gel Kayanos and ran without them. I found it easier to land on my forefoot. I was impressed with the quality of the "stock" insoles, but these shoes have a much more elevated heel than I want, so they had to go.

I'm running in a 5K next week, so I just want to stay healthy and try to regain some consistency before then. I haven't run a 5K in at least a year where I actually card about clocking a good time, so as long as I don't hurt myself or something I'm pretty much guaranteed to PR in my next race as long as I run it in something under 30 minutes -- ha!

Went out for 2.8 miles with my wife, the baby stroller (+baby!) & dog today. It was hot, but we went slow -- probably 11:00 pace... it's  hard to go faster than that with the stroller regardless... we both wore our VFFs. By the time we got 2.8 miles logged, I started to get some hotspots near my toes, and my left ankle was starting to ache -- so I was at my VFF limit. We walked the last quarter mile home, but it was nice.

I put on my Kayanos and went back out for a couple of extra miles. After the VFFs the Asics felt like my feet were encased in some kind of pillow-lined foot cast. Cushiony for sure, but heavy and dulling to the senses, like my feet were injected with novocaine. I actually weighed them later, and my Kayanos are pushing a pound per shoe -- something like 14 oz. each according to my kitchen scale. Not cool! Oh well. I am only using them as "backups" now.

Interestingly my "old adidas" are only 10.6 oz. with the insole removed!

Went out for 6 miles today -- it was hot and very little to no breeze -- stagnant, in fact. Pace averaged exactly 10:00 miles for the entire run.

I wanted to run the whole distance with no rest, but  had to stop for water a couple of times. Oh well, if it was just normal weather I probably would have made it ... :-)

Rested today ... very busy, and also sore from yesterday. Felt so sluggish, legs were like lead. 

5K race is Thursday so didn't want to overdo it.

Chicked by my wife!

Yay I finally get to do a race report ... even if I get an F, proving I have not yet absorbed any of the lessons from this blog into my dense yet shiny skull.

My wife is a chamber of commerce member, so we signed up to run in their annual 5K. A rinky-dink race, but they had timing chips, so cool!

Despite all my foot problems of late and lack of training, I was looking forward to logging a good time and getting a new PR. It was so long since I ran a 5K, and my old time was 29 or 30 minutes... and I was in such bad shape back then ... that I was sure I would get a big PR.

Well... let's get going with the long list of mistakes I made.

The race wasn't until 6:00 in the evening, but the day didn't start off well.

I started off the day with little sleep, as junior had us up several times during the night. I'm used to this though, so didn't think it would affect me.

I ate different stuff for breakfast, which turned out to be a bad idea. I had stomach uh... "issues" all day long that became uncomfortable pains during the race. I can't believe I was that stupid, but I almost never get affected that much by food. Today was one of those days.

I was stressed out all day because of work and a late-in-the-day deadline I had to make. This may have made the food problems worse too?

I was shackled to my computer right up until the minute we left to go to the race. Not a good frame of mind to be in, and I definitely wasn't relaxed.

Wife and I were LATE to the race -- futzing with babysitter stuff at first, then traffic held us up. We planned to run with a friend. She offered to pick up our chips and numbers for us since she got there first.

Big mistake!

We got to the race and couldn't find our friend. She had picked up our race packets and vanished...

The first two waves went off. No sign of her. We had the PA people announcing her name... where was she?

All the waves had gone by the time I found her (she was wandering around a parking lot looking for us ... & was nowhere near the start line ... what was she thinking?!!  I have no idea ... but nothing could be done about it.)

I wrangled her to the start line -- nobody was there but us and the race volunteers and timers. We all quickly tied on our chips and took off -- totally stressed out, no warmup, no nothing.

I turned on my Garmin ... no satellites aquiring ... naturally!

I left the gate irked and annoyed and going totally too fast -- I probably ran a 5 minute mile (which is good for "fast" runners, suicide for dorks like me), as the race's start/finish was on top of a hill and it was down, down, down ....  into a sea of people -- the walker wave!

Had to pass the morass of walkers/slow runners for the whole first mile and into the 2nd. The majority of the race was on a paved bike path / sidewalk (stink!) so passing was exhausting and annoying. Our own fault though.

It was hot and humid ... in the mid 80's and the trail wound around some ball fields that apparently get watered a lot, so the humidity was just uncalled for. I did not need it, that's for sure. I was wearing a hat which I usually don't take off until I've run a couple of miles when it is hot out ... I took the hat off at the 1-mile point, I was boiling over like a pot o'lobsters.

My lungs were screaming somewhere in mile 2, and I knew I was going too fast, but it was impossible to tell just how fast, because everyone at first was slow or standing still, by comparison. I eventually stalled out in mid-pack somewhere after passing half the field ... I was toast.  My wife then promptly passed me  (she smartly stayed back at the beginning, watching me flame out with my sprint, thinking "what the heck is he doing"?).  I never caught up to her!

My Garmin woke up nearing mile 3, and even though I felt totally dead it said I was clinging to a pace in the 9-minute range, drifting toward 10 on the uphills. I wasn't about to argue... I was just trying to keep the legs moving while I caught my breath, which seemed uncatchable for the moment.

I started passing people again during mile 3... mostly senior citizens and 9-year-olds ...  I finally relaxed and remembered to focus on my form (totally forgotten until then) and the "path" opened up enough to where I could start taking good tangents on the curves. Before that I was at the mercy of the crowd.

I had absolutely nothing left at the finish. We had to run back up the same hill that made me go too fast down at the start. Had to push it up the hill or that lady pushing the jogging stroller loaded with 30-lb twins was gonna catch me ...

I made it across the finish and just kept going straight to the porta-potty!

My wife got 5th in her age group,12th in overall women with 24:54! She is faster than me, and actually knows how to race.  Plus, she thrives in the heat, which is bizarre. Her marathon PR was in Las Vegas. She chicks me but good, every time!

As for me, I was smack dab in the middle of everything. Almost exact middle of overall males, as well as my age group, as it turns out. Boo! However my age group (30-39) produced the overall winner! (17 minutes). So there is hope for me.

I'm not going to cry about my "official time" or anything, because the whole race was just a disaster. But, my wife's Garmin *did* work, and it clocked her time at least two minutes (?!) faster than the chip time recorded. I wonder if the very late start threw off the chip somehow? It doesn't matter.

Note to self:

Be on time for the next race.

Don't let anyone pick up your race packet for you.

Don't go out too fast!

Listen and learn from wife.

Went out in the rain to get at least 3 miles, and ended up running 4 pretty easily.I took the metronome and tried to keep the strides at 180bpm. It was easy for the first couple of miles but I had to work at it for miles 3 and 4.

Average pace was 9:41. My goal for next week is to log 4 miles per day as I work my toward 6...

4 miles today to start off the week ... still trying to figure out my form, working on trying to relax...

Avg Pace 9:00

9:45 average pace, felt soreness in my left foot.  I turned it slightly during the 5K last week and I didn't feel much from it until now.

10:27 pace, had to quit due to flaring pain in left foot.  DARN!!

 I can't believe this.

Absolutely nothing doing today -- foot hurts even walking on it, I limped to and from work. 

I am depressed.

Still resting and limping. If anything my foot hurts worse today than yesterday. The soreness seems to be expanding toward my toes from my ankle ... maybe I really did a bad thing running on Tuesday of this week.

 I know I healed from something similar not long ago ... I know *exactly* where the soreness comes from this time though ... two uneven slabs of concrete that I didn't notice while running in the 5K, and semi-rolled my ankle. It wasn't even enough to make me stop running at the time, nor for a few days thereafter. What gives.  I did fracture this ankle when I was a teenager and maybe it is just easily damaged now. Who knows.

 I am in a bad mood.

Went to the doc yesterday for an x-ray on my foot. They were trying to rule out an obvious fracture, though stress fractures often do not appear outside of MRIs, etc.

 So, another 10 days of rest + heavy anti-inflammatory use, icing, and staying off the foot.

If/when I can run again without pain, I am back to square one. So disappointing.