Bummer

Things don't always go as planned, and I guess that adapting to the ups and downs of life is part of any decent training plan. It pisses me off whenever things get in the way of my schedule, but I have to do my best to let it go and find the bright side of any situation.

Well, here goes...

After the Half Marathon in Pittsburgh my left calf was quite sore as a result of the downhill running and such. I managed a couple of short, very slow runs on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the "race", but then came down with an awful cold on Wednesday evening that really took hold the following day. At first I thought it was just allergies to tree pollen hitting me hard, but when my throat started hurting I knew it was something worse. As such, I have not been able to run since as I've either been tied to my bed (missing work on Friday), or feeling very, very tired and lethargic. The upshot of all that is a few missed runs. That's the down side.

The up side, I suppose, is to take this as a sign that I really could use a break. A few months back, as I was mulling over the Marathon Training plan that I'd hoped to follow, I built in a two week break into one of the incarnations right after the Half in the Steel City. Subsequent plans no longer had that two week break because I am an idiot and can't see the benefit of such a thing when I'm actually feeling healthy, but it seems that my body really could use some time off, no? Therefore, I am trying to be positive about this and not feel like I'm losing fitness while waiting on the sidelines to try and start running again. It will now be a 22 week training plan instead of 24, and I think that's OK. Time to look at the old spreadsheet and re-jig.

The cold is still there and I feel crappy, though at least I'm back at work, and the calf is improving, but there is a hint of stiffness still in there. Also, my left heel feels bruised and it hurts a bit when I first get out of bed, which is the tell tale sign of the dreaded plantar fasciitis that I desperately wish to avoid.

So, marathon training will have to wait until at least next week. I am committing to taking this whole week off EVEN if I miraculously recover and feel 100% in the short term. Think I'll still go to the gym, but mostly to make use of the Sauna. We'll see...

Pittsburgh Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

Well, that was interesting.

The plan was to just run this thing as a training run and keep the heart rate in the aerobic zone. For the most part I managed to achieve this goal. I went out slow, had a lot of fun, saw a nice chunk of the City of Pittsburgh, and in general had a great time.

But let's back up...

The weather could not have been better, which was nice, and I got dropped off near PNC Park by my lovely family who awoke a bit before 6am just to drive me close to the Start. I didn't need to wear any clothes to discard to stay warm, though I was a bit worried that I'd be late as they were closing all Corrals at 6:45am (for the 7am start) on account of the heightened security. In the end, I got into the long line just to get into my Corral with a minute to spare and lined up at the very back of the pack. The pre-race speeches were emotional and I saw lots of runners with signs pinned onto their shirts with references to Boston. I wondered how many of the 30 thousand Marathon, Half Marathon, and Relay participants had been at that race?

Anyway, like I said, I didn't have long to wait and the countdown came pretty quick after the singing of the National Anthem and God Bless America. (Kind of wish the singer had been in key, but whatchagonnado...)

Then we were off, and as mentioned above I ran slow. And easy. And kept running slow and easy. I took a 30 second walk break after every 9 1/2 minutes of running, and felt weird to be doing so, especially early in the race. A few comments from the crowd trying to encourage me to "not give up" and "keep running" were a bit embarrassing, but I tried not to let it get to me and just focused on doing what I was supposed to be doing (in case that wasn't clear, that was to run easy!).

As the race progressed I was pleasantly surprised by how easy I found climbing the various smallish hills and bridges. However, I also found the other side of each to be much steeper than I had ever imagined. By the halfway point in the race my calves, especially my left one, were sore and tight. I knew this was going to be more of a struggle than I'd wanted.

Sure enough, by the end of the race, as I ran up the last hill (which is a very long steady climb, but with a spectacular view over the Monongahela River, so high up that I was really surprised to look way down onto the Downtown core from where I had started the race), I knew that I would have to traverse one last descent to get to the Finish Line. The great part was that as I reached the top of the hill and looked down I could see the Finish Line in the distance as the street was dead straight. The bad part was that it was a very, very long descent. I did my best to just flow down the hill, but my calf was screaming for relief. Even the walk breaks were no longer helping, so by the time I reached the flat section just before the end of the race, and my heart rate was not recovering to aerobic levels, I just picked up the pace to finish up as quick as possible. I kept an eye on my watch and was hoping to break two hours, but in the end I came about as close as one can without doing it. Chip Time: 2:00:01.8.

Here are the splits, which show clearly where my heart rate went off track as a result of my lack of experience running hills, especially on the down part. Also, I find the elevation gain and loss less than indicative of how steep some of the descents were. I'm sure they were only steep for me as anyone with experience training on hills would have found this course rather flat (with the possible exception of that last, long climb that was steady for about a mile straight I think).

So, there it is. My first "race" in two years. Now it's time to recover (as I did this morning with a very slow 7.35km run/walk of the 3:1 ratio variety) and get training for the Marathon!!! I would definitely do this race again, and would love to someday do the full marathon in Pittsburgh. I found the whole experience very positive. The race expo, and race day, were both super well organized. And the goody bag stuff was really good. Lots of aid stations along the way, and porta potties, if one needed them, and the crowd support was very consistent throughout, with some sections very, very loud. Good times!

Stupid Trees...

I'm feeling totally worn out these days, and I think it's because of the stupid trees and their annoying (but clearly necessary) reproductive cycle. For years, I've suffered with allergies to tree pollen, and have been getting immunotherapy shots every Winter for the past five years to help. Even so, sometimes the crap hits me pretty hard. I'm not completely incapacitated like I used to be before the shots, but it makes sleeping difficult and, by extension, I am constantly tired.

Anyway, blah blah blah. Long story short, this affects my running in that I have absolutely no gas (unless I eat too much cauliflower! <rimshot>!!!</rimshot>). Case in point, on Tuesday I ran my usual 5km route, but only manged a snail pace with an average heart rate to match (112bpm). Hardly broke a sweat.

This morning was a bit better, but I definitely started off thinking it would be much the same. In the end I managed an average heart rate of 125bpm, with the last 3km at 128bpm average and the pace just at or under 6:00/km. Not breaking any records, but it is good to see that I can run at that pace with such a low heart rate even when I feel worn out. A while back I was unable to run even this fast and keep my heart rate under 145bpm! This slow running is starting to pay off I think. Perhaps there is hope for some day being able to run a BQ pace and remain in the aerobic zone? Will I still be running when 6:00/km IS my BQ pace several decades from now?

Perhaps...

Here's how the running for April went in summary:

Again, not breaking any land speed records or impressing with the total mileage, but I am proud of that average heart rate. Means I'm staying true to my goal of not pushing it to the point where I have incurred injuries in the past. Running should be enjoyable, blah blah blah. And bleh...

Short(s) and Swee(T)

Nice Spring weather has FINALLY arrived and I hope it stays. Although I woke up at 5am with an allergy attack, it still doesn't matter. I eventually fell back asleep and then went out for my last Sunday run before next week's Pittsburgh Half Marathon. Can't wait! (To run it slow and aerobic...)

Today was another run much like last week so I though it useful to compare the heart rate based stats:

At a glance it looks like today my average heart rate was higher, and my pace was slightly faster. For some reason this run was tougher than the last one and I was never able to just cruise easily at a low heart rate. Could be the early allergy related wake up, or the addition of hills this week, or just life in general. My diet wasn't too good yesterday either, with just two meals, a beer, and some cake. Hmmm...

All the same, it was still in the right heart rate zone and that's something. The hill up Beechwood Drive was tougher than both yesterday's run and the one last week, as my max HR on that split (10/11) will attest. Oh well, onto the first race in nearly two years!

Might As Well

Since the whole idea behind this blog is keeping track of my running "pursuits" I feel I need to post about the Sunday run I had so that I can look back on it and compare in the future what I thought about it. Of course, the stats end up on Garmin Connect and all that, but I don't write any thoughts there so sometimes things get missed or forgotten.

In that vein, I ran a short LSD yesterday of just 12km. Two weeks out from the Pittsburgh Half Marathon and things are going well on the injury front (though my left knee tightened up after I ran around playing soccer and ultimate frisbee with the boys last Wednesday). I am mulling over ways to increase my mileage gradually over the course of the Summer and have purchased a good running backpack (at least I HOPE it's a good one having never tried it!) so that I can incorporate commuting to work on foot into that plan. I simply cannot figure out how to get my mileage up without running to and from work sometimes. As such, I will not start this until after Pittsburgh I think since the build up to this race has been steady and healthy and I don't really want to disrupt that. I might do it once though because I have an itch to try it.

But that short LSD I did this weekend went like this:

Once again, the HRM screws up in the first kilometre or so, but then it settles down and I was able to run in the low aerobic range for a bit. Near the end of the run I had to climb out of the Don Valley up Beechwood Drive, which is an almost kilometre long climb that gets pretty steep in the middle third. Naturally, my heart rate went up, but I felt pretty smooth on the way up and was pleasantly surprised at how easy this felt. Although the average pace is once again faster than the last LSD it is just slightly so due to either that hill climb or the fact that I felt a bit run down after a tough week at work. Also, I'm continuing to do the run/walk thing at a 9:30/0:30 ratio. If it ain't broke and all that.

Good times! Looking forward to the race. The Boston victims and their families, as well as all runners affected by the tragedy, will be in my thoughts as I return to "racing". Glad they caught the guy alive and that nobody else got hurt as they were hunting for him. What a senseless waste...

Moving in the Right Direction

Another day, another LSD. Longest one of this beginner Half Marathon training plan, which is also nice. I've been locked in on training based on heart rate to keep me safe and honest. Although this week I added an extra run, a short 6.4km on the treadmill on Friday due to a sore elbow keeping me off the weights for a day, I feel relatively healthy and that's a very good thing. So today I ran my longest LSD at 22.5km, waking up at 5:45am (though I was awake from 4:30am onward for some reason, just not able to sleep) on a Sunday to make sure I was around for Owen's first baseball practice of the season at 9:30am and not be absent for a good chunk of the afternoon.

In short, the heart rate is staying in the right zone and my pace is improving slightly with each long run:

Three more weeks until the Pittsburgh Half!

The LSD Lesson Continues

After my successful long run of last week I ventured out for another long steady aerobic effort this morning with a bit of apprehension. My legs were still a bit stiff, having completed the usual weight training workouts and normal runs, but also having added a Wednesday run with the basketball team I help coach wherein I lead the group in a track session that included some surges. A couple of those were of the short (80-100m) variety at full out effort, which I haven't done in at least two years.

Anyway, my intention was the same as last week: go slow and base the effort on heart rate. I'd figured out that my "bread and butter aerobic" zone was 146 - 152bpm or somewhere in that range, so I set the Garmin to alert me when I went above 152. Not sure that actually helped me as I was keenly aware of my heart rate without the alert, and the wonky metrics that tend to happen early in all of my runs meant that the alert was useless at that point, but it was worth a try. I will not use it again...

In the end I had an interesting result in this 20km run. I started off slower than last week's 18km effort, but ended up running at a faster average pace AND at a lower average heart rate! Either I was too worried about my legs being stiff or I'm already reaping the rewards of a Lydiard approach to training.

Still not very proud of the pace, but I think this is what I have to stick with for the long term. Next week is a short run with a 2km time trial, if the legs allow.

Lastly, March was a successful month for two reasons: I am not injured AND I never missed a workout. On top of that, I managed my highest monthly mileage in almost two years at 122.5km. Nothing to write home about, so I'm posting it here...

Executing the Perfect LSD for the Injury Prone Runner

Based on yesterdays effort one is inclined to believe that something finally clicked and after five years of running I've come to understand how a proper LSD should be run. Why did it take so friggin' long?! (And more importantly, will it ever be repeated?)

For years I've heard and read about the genius behind and necessity for the LSD (Long Slow Distance), but never actually internalized the essence of those three words. All three are up to ones interpretation, and mine typically was fine with the "L" and the "D", but the "S" was always a problem. No matter what I did I always felt "Slow", so what was the problem? Why was I bouncing from one injury to another? I was following mileage buildup plans, following the 10% rule, making sure to not heal strike, paying close attention to my cadence, blah blah blah. Still, my ego would not allow me to actually do an LSD the way it was meant to be done.

I had a mental block, clearly.

But, yesterday something clicked. I decided to check my ego at the door and focus only on my heart rate as THE most important metric for the long run of the week. Dozens of times I went out with this same intention, mind you, and I never succeeded to this extent. Sure, there were runs in the past where I ran on heart rate alone, but these were typically of the mid-week, lower mileage variety and, therefore, not as important to the ego.

My goal was to stay under 150bpm NO MATTER WHAT THE PACE!!! (That was key, and I used something I read in the Galloway training method to keep me on track: "Resist the temptation to speed up to just get the run over with once it starts to get tough.")

Here are the splits, of which I am proud NOT because of the pace (which is craptastically slow), but because of the Average Heart rate for each one, and the Max Heart Rate as well. Every time I noticed my HR creeping above 150bpm I forced myself to slow down and bring it back into my target zone. Even when I was being passed by other runners, I was not goaded into a fake race for pride. Amazing! Perhaps I'm actually maturing? Anyway, onto the splits:

I took 30s walk breaks every 9m30s to reinforce that as well. And even on the uphill portion at the end of the run I did not let my pace dictate my run, as I have done every other time. Although embarrassed by the speed, I am convinced that this is the way. The first 12km were a joke: so easy I thought I could do this all day. But, to my surprise, it DID get tough! So I DID get a workout, and now, the Monday morning after, I don't feel like my legs are shredded, as I did after a 15km run I did earlier this month in which I ran too fast and didn't care about my heart rate. Missed the point then. Learned the reasons behind the LSD now.

Lastly, what is up with my HR monitor in those first two kilometres! According to the max readings I should have been dead. Clearly, something is wonky in the machinery and, for once, it's not my ankle that's the culprit.

Over The Hill

I am referring to February in my "Over The Hill" title for this post, not my state of being. Although there are some aspects of Winter that I really enjoy, this particular one has definitely been trying my patience. Don't think I posted about this, but the stupid weather seems to ALWAYS get dangerous the night before I am supposed to run, leaving the sidewalks slippery and all around shitty.

Case in point, a couple of Saturdays ago I went for a short recovery jog, took every precaution, made sure to proceed at a snail's pace, and still fell. HARD! Right on my back, in the blink of an eye, with my head smashing the concrete a bit harder than I would have liked. Definitely saw stars, and stayed down for a bit trying to figure out whether I was up to proceeding or not. But, having watched a documentary on the legendary Bones Brigade the night before, I felt compelled to continue. After all, this type of fall is routine for skateboarders, so...

Anyway, I am very much pleased that February is over and am looking forward to nicer weather.

Here's what February was like running-wise, for posterity:



Like I said, slow and shitty...

Something Smells Fishy, and I Love it!

Get your minds out of the gutter (where I've now firmly placed them)! This is a G audience blog, though that may also be misinterpreted in a myriad of sick and lovely ways.

Yes, it is Valentine's Day, and I could kiss a fish. I won't, of course, but there's a good reason why yours truly is up on the scaly cold-blooded mindless and, sometime, tasty creatures. Let me to explain...

One cold January morning, as I lay in my warm bed having just been rudely awakened by the chatter of the bed side radio alarm clock, I happened to catch an interview with a Naturopath. Blah blah blah is what I got out of most of the conversation, but I do remember the last thing:

Question: What is the one universal natural supplement that you would recommend for the majority of the population?

Answer: Fish oil. The reason is blah blah blah...

The dude was articulate enough for me so, done and done. It just so happened that we had some of this magical elixir in gigantic pill form in the house and I started gulping these suckers down, initially at half the prescribed adult dosage, that very day.

And let me tell you my knees feel better than they have in years. It could be that the weight training regimen is working (likely), or that the run/walk method of training is also the culprit (probably), but after a few weeks of Fish Oil things are really looking good.

Case in point: managed my first 10k this past Sunday and my kneecaps are not creaking and groaning as they might have a month ago after such a (pathetic, I know, but still...) distance.

Yay! Kiss a fish if you want. But it's probably better if you eat it.

I take mine in gigantic pill form...


DISCLAIMER: I am not a Doctor, clearly, but my professional recommendation is to do exactly what some guy on the radio, who may or may not be qualified to give advice, tells you to do. It worked for me, so how can it possibly go wrong?! I, however, reserve the right to re-evaluate this course of action at a future date should things start to go sideways and I begin growing gills or webbed feet.

Slip and Slop

Well, that was just about the slowest, slipperiest, weirdest run ever! Went out for the usual (of late) 5km run this morning and, although the temperature hovered above freezing all night, the film of goo left behind from a recent snowfall made the City into a sloppy ice rink. First time I tried crossing a street I completely froze my right foot with watery slush, and that was only about a hundred metres into the run.

It went about the same the rest of the way with my pace hovering in the death walk at the end of my first marathon region. It wasn't because I was dying, just because I was afraid of falling with every step!

Anyway, it is done. Hope the black ice clears away before my next run on Thursday morning...

Die is Cast

Just a quick post to commemorate being another $107CDN and change poorer. Why?

Signed up for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon!!!

Wonky extremities don't fail me now (and to be more precise, before October 20th, 2013)...

With that in mind, and perhaps I take too much pleasure in coming up with these things, I have created the bare bones of a training plan for said Marathon already. It's short on miles, and long on prevention. Like a new set of winter tires...