ChromeDome

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!