Wednesday July 31

Ran 5 miles this morning. That makes 16 miles over the past 3 days. I think that's an all-time high for me. Will rest tomorrow then try to do a good long run on Saturday. Will be a little difficult because we will be up in the mountains for the Beatty family reunion, but Wade has indicated that he wants to do a long run Saturday morning so maybe between the two of us we will get the motivation to do it.

Today for the first time I tried some "Fartlek" training, which the coolrunning website defines as "bursts of speed in the middle of a training run." At 3 random points during my 5-mile run I decided to up the pace for a short distance. I can't say that I was breaking any land speed records, but it was definitely faster than my usual shuffling slow pace. Feeling pretty good so far.

Have gone back to iceing down my knees and shins after each run. I have a reusable gel pack that I keep in the freezer for such occasions.

Back in the saddle again ...

Ran 4 miles yesterday. 7 miles this morning.

Trying to ramp things back up after not running much last week. I only ran 5 on Monday and 5 on Saturday last week.

I ran a bit the week of the cruise, but the marathon is fast approaching and I've got to get used to running longer and longer distances. Will try for at least 10 this weekend.

No Posting, but Still Running

So I haven't posted in awhile, but I have been running still.

This week I ran 20 miles total. 4 miles on Tuesday, 5 miles on Wednesday, 3 miles on Friday, and 8 miles this morning. Still maintaining around a 10:00 minute per mile pace.

Last week I also did 8 miles on Saturday, but didn't run on Thursday or Friday.

My knee has started hurting; getting sore and stiff; hard to walk down stairs and things like that. It's okay usually when I'm just walking around. So I've started trying to focus on that. I'm soaking it in hot water more often which seems to help.

The shin splints haven't really come back, so that's a good thing. Started to get a blister on my big toe this morning, so I need to watch out for that. Not good when I'm planning a fairly big hike next week. Going to hike Mt. Whitney with my brother-in-law and some of his brothers-in-law next Wednesday; doing it all in one day, which is pretty crazy. Should be fun, but crazy.

Upping the Ante

I ran 4 miles on Wednesday, 3 miles yesterday, then 6 miles today. First time I've ever run 6 miles. Was unsure of a route to run, so I looked on the map and decided on a 3-mile out and then reversing course for 3 miles back. Unfortunately the map did not reveal that the initial 3 miles were pretty much all up hill. Steadily increasing hills, not entirely uphill. But pretty brutal nonetheless. I only walked at the very end of the last hill for about 20 seconds, other than that ran the whole way. Still focusing on good form; the shin splints have not come back, knock on wood.

I did the first 3 miles in about 35 minutes; not bad for mostly up hill. The return 3 miles I did in about 30 minutes. All in all a really good workout.

That makes 17 miles this week. Most ever.

Next week will run 5 days and try for 20 miles total.

Out in Nature

good 4-mile run this morning over the trail and up to the cinder knoll. Good work-out. Increasing my pace a little as I get better at my form.

running route

here is a link to a nice 4-mile running route over to a scenic cinder knoll that I plan to run tomorrow: LINK

Good Week

So this has been a good week of running. For the first time I ran four times in the same week. Also I have run the most distance of any week I've run before.

I ran 3 miles on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday (still getting used to running back to back days), 4 miles on Thursday, then somewhere between 5 and 6 miles today. We are in Hurricane for the weekend and I went running with my brother-in-law, Wade, today. I let him pick the route, and he picked some crazy off-road running up and down some cinder knolls located close to the house here. Jogged a bit up some really steep rocky terrain before walking. Most of the running today was on soft dirt paths, but we had to be careful to avoid twisting an ankle on all the rocks. It was a fun run overall with a good bit of walking; we didn't push it too hard.

Most importantly, I feel really good with where I am at with my shin splints. Like I mentioned on Monday, I have been trying out some new stretches and also trying to correct my stride when I run, trying to focus more on rolling the foot (landing on the back half of the foot and then rolling it forward consistently) rather than just slapping the ground with my feet. So far it appears to be working. I have not had any significant shin splints or tightness. I'm optimistic that this will be the solution to my problems.

When I first started the new and better technique, my ankle muscles were getting pretty sore and I had to stop and walk more than I care to. Also I have been running at a slower pace than I'm used to, just trying to focus solely on training my body to run with correct stride and technique. So far so good.

I think that I will try to run 5 times next week with normal distances and paces, to see how my body adjusts and reacts.