Everything You Didn't Want to Know About My Runs

Bad week last week.  It was good to get some rest to recover from going overboard the previous week.  I meant to get out Saturday, but unexpectedly ended up helping someone move and had too much work to do outside the house before the sun went down to get out.  I'm not sure when I'll learn that if I don't get out early, I just don't get out, but I think the rest was good.  I had no trouble at all with my shins this morning, so it was probably the right thing to do.  It just puts my 1,000 year in jeopardy.

Nice run this morning in the frozen air.  I did the 6 mile buffalo, which has two strava segments on it that I own and set new PRs on.  It was nice and I was able to run a bit faster than usual and keep up the cadence. 

I also picked up a replacement for my dead launches.  I got some Pure Flows, which are going to be a Christmas present, but I think I'll have to break them in before then.  I tried Pure Connects, but they have a super narrow arch.  It felt like there was a big rock across the mid-sole.  It forced me to land on the fronts of my feet.  I wondered if I could get used to it, but decided to try the Flows and they were much better.  They are so light, it is like they are not even there.

203 miles to go.  I can still make it.  Can I make it with my shins intact? 

Easy run today.  Passed 800 miles for the year.   Less than 200 to go.

Strava 

3 Mile Benchmark

Well,  it had been four weeks since my last benchmark and at that point, I was planning to do some speed work and see some significant gains.  However, that was too ambitious and I with the time off last week to recover, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I figured I'd show improvement and was hoping for 25 minutes.  I got close to my September numbers which were before the blood donation.  I think I've recovered from that now.  I did record my fastest second mile--which is the most difficult of the three.  Overall, I'm happy with the progress.  I can get to 25 minutes by cutting 23 seconds from each mile.

Date	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Total
11/28/12	8:58	9:14	7:55	26:07
10/31/12	9:28	9:30	8:28	27:26
10/17/12	9:45	10:08	9:00	28:53
9/5/12	8:50	9:24	7:50	26:04
8/15/12	9:32	9:36	8:24	27:32
8/1/12	9:16	9:42	7:58	26:56
7/18/12	9:20	8:56*	8:46*	27:02*

 * Different course with less uphill

There is this trend in my neighborhood for people to replace their normal exterior light bulbs for red and green ones.  These large bulbs give softer light than the strands of smaller Christmas lights that run the length of rooftops or wrap around tree branches.  The green lights kind of look Grinchy and the red lights suggest something altogether different.  I don't find the look festive at all in the dark morning just before sunrise.  It actually looks kind of creepy. 

Strava 

Recovery run.  Tried to keep my heart rate around 150.  It was a little warmer this morning.  My plan was to try my new shoes on the treadmill, but Stacie grabbed the treadmill before I got up and ready, so I ran outside again in my stinky clothes.  Maybe I'll get a chance tomorrow.

 As of yesterday, November became my top mileage month of the year, just passing October.  I'm looking to top that in December. 

Strava 

Well, I'm not going to hit 1,000 miles this year.  I've decided I need to rest to let my hamstring recover.  It is just getting worse.  I think I have high hamstring tendinopathy.  I only base that on what I've read on the internet, but everything about it is almost exactly how people describe it.  It was just there one day.  Not while I was running, but a while after.  It felt like there was this thin metal rod in the back of my leg all the way up from somewhere above the knee to deep inside the middle of the right half of my butt--right where the hamstrings attach to the pelvis.  Over time, the pain left my leg and just settled  where the hamstrings attach.  It feels like a very hard pinch.

I've been looking for any information I can find about it.  I wondered if I did it running or stretching--I thought stretching, but something I read said that it only occurs in runners, so I guess it was the running.  I don't remember when it started.  It has been a couple of months.  I can run with it and it hasn't been bothering me after warming up until lately.  I tried stretching it because I thought it would help and that only aggravated it. Later I read that stretching is bad for it.

What is good for it is not running and strengthening the glutes and abs.  So I am going to take some time and strengthen my glutes, abs, and shins (might as well try to solve that problem, too.)  I will also try to work on upper body strength, because, while my legs are probably as strong and tight as they have ever been, my upper body is way too soft.  I don't know how long it will take, but I think the pain should go away after a few days of not running.  But that won't be time to start again.  I'm sure it will come back if I run too soon.  So I will give it 2-4 weeks.  In the mean time, I need a way to maintain cardio.  I've read that biking is fine, but this isn't exactly the time of year for it--not when I have to work during all the daylight hours.  I've got to do something, though.  I want to build on where I am and not lose it. 

13.74 miles of mountain biking.

The weather was so nice today.  I had to get out on my bike since I can't run.  I don't think I've gone mountain biking in December before.  At least, not on trails.  I rode a big loop that I have never done before because some of it was on some pretty new trails.  I rode up Oak Hollow from the Draper pool to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  I left the BST to ride Ann's trail--which I rode once from the other direction.  I took that all the way over to Corner Canyon Road--which I attempted to ride down to ghost falls, but upper CC road is made of clay that gathers like a snowball on your tires when it is damp.  Pretty soon, I had so much caked on that my wheels stopped turning.  I had to turn around an walk back up the road and take the Rush trail down.  Then I took the Shoreline Trail back over along Mike Weir drive and then descended on Spring Hollow and took Vestry Road back to the pool.

I made it all the way up and around without stopping to catch my breath.  I stopped a couple of times from technical mistakes or to let oncoming riders pass, but I never stopped from fatigue.  That has never happened before.  And that is exactly why I can't afford to stop cardio training.  That will go very fast and I don't want to lose that.  I guess I need to ride stationary bikes at a gym or do a rowing machine if that doesn't put too much stress on my hamstring. 

It was a tough ride and I feel a little beat up, but it was great to get on the bike again.  Lots of fun. 

Training Peaks