Home Alone Long Run

With the family in CT, I had no excuses to go for a long run
Feb 20, 8.03 mi slow avg. pace 12:25

I filled up my running vest with the two water bottles and a head lamp and set off to see how far I could run. I had hoped to keep the pace around 11mins, but that wasn't the case. Somewhere around an hour or 5 mi, I was hungry. From that point I did walk a bit and a lot more after 6mi.

This was the first run in over a week after my cold, which I don't think that I am 100% back from. I had hoped that I would feel good enough to do something crazy like 12 miles, that did not happen. 8 miles feels good. When I got home I downed a glass of chocolate milk, yum. Around that time about 10 mins I was suddenly really cold. I checked the temperature in the house and it was normal. I'm not sure what the cause is for this. Dehydration, hunger? I drank both my water bottles. It could be that as I said, I'm not 100%. I cranked up the heat and took a long shower. Drank more water and ate some food. I wasn't particularly hungry so I forced my self to eat.

Throughout the day I had a low grade headache, I'm not sure if that means I'm still sick or what. One day later my body feels fine physically, which is great.

A couple of updates. I did sign up for the triple threat. Now I need how to best train for the 17 mi race. One thought is to train for a full marathon and to alter it in a way that makes sense. I have a bit of time to figure that out. Also, I'm considering running a full marathon sometime before the end of the year. Perhaps October or November.

First "long run"

6.22 mile avg pace 11:04. Cadence 153, Impact 10.  Having just finished listening to 80/20 running, whose philosophy is that you should spend 80% of your training at low intensity. You typical recreational runner runs primarily at the moderate rate. And by following the 80/20 you can improve endurance and pace. Another interesting argument that is made in the book is that you are wasting your time of you try to adopt a better running form. In terms of heel strike vs. mid or fore foot and optimal cadence of 180. The argue that these recommendations for optimal form are not for everyone. By running as you would normally run you body will adapt in its own way to make it as economical as possible. This is counter to what I had been thinking. With the moov, I had hoped to improve my running by increasing my cadence and lowering my impact. I'm not sure what to do with that information.

With that in mind I went on my first long run of the year in the Altras. I had moov tracking the run just to see what my cadence and impact was when I wasn't thinking about it. The shoes felt great, I'm surprised that I really haven't notice much of a difference in the new shoes.

By the end of the run I felt like I could have kept doing and perhaps even done another 6 miles. Unfortunately I came down with a cold the next day.

2nd Run calves still hurt

Starting the week off strong with a Monday run. Before I went out I looked for a little bit for a training program to follow. I'm still considering the August 8th triple threat and some friends are doing a 5K on Mar 11. Most of the training programs are 16 weeks which is too soon to start for Aug. I'm considering just focusing on form and speed for now before getting into either a half or full marathon program.

I did the Moov now Run Efficiency Level 5. There were 3 intervals that put me at 1.2 miles. Both cadence and impact were improved. I'm wondering if the lack of heavy rain had anything to do with it. There were some annoyances as the Moov was disconnected twice in the first interval and once in the second. After that no problems.

For the form itself, it felt like I was doing a better job using my mid to fore foot area. My heel would only lightly touch the ground, which is great. What was not great is the pain, my calves hurt a lot. I'll take tomorrow off and try again on Wednesday. I tried to take it easy. Going down stairs is hard right now.

After that I did 6 intervals of Speed Endurance level 1. The target pace was 13 mins, so it wasn't a problem. Next time I'll start with level 4. The slow pace was ok given my calves so painful. My cadence was pretty good as well at 181 for this part.

I'm trying to sync all runs between Strav, moov, and runkeeper. It's a pain. I'm also trying to log all my food with myfitnesspal. We'll see how that goes.

On a lighter note, I forgot to take off my glasses before the shower! I'm actually surprised that I hadn't made this mistake before.

Considering the Rockport Triple Threat

The Rockport Triple Threat 1 mile race, followed by a 5K, and finished off with a Half marathon. The race is the first week in August. The nice part about Rockport is the possibility of having a place to stay. If that weren't to work out the hour drive wouldn't be a problem.

August gives me plenty of time to train. I say this as my calves still hurt from Tuesday's run. My guess that in my attempt to run lightly I over did it a bit. I'm going to do some more research on that before I try again.

I also want to look into how to train for a 3 in 1 race. I don't want to burn out in the first mile or 5K and have not enough left for 13 more miles. Probably the easiest approach is to treat it as one 16 mi. race. Since I'm considering doing a Marathon later in the year, I could be in good enough shape that I can run hard in the first two and be able to maintain a decent pace for the half.

I have a pair of Altra's coming as well as another pair of vibrams to try out. I'm thinking that I'll mix it up and run in both. We'll see.

First run of 2018

After a more of a month break for running, finally I got back outside. It was raining pretty hard and felt much colder than 47 degrees. But I had been putting it off for too long and wanted to try my new toy Moov now. 

I bought the Moov to attempt to improve my running. During this first activity I learned that the app focuses on cadence and impact. Two take aways for me is that my cadence is too bad with an average of 163 spm and average impact of 12g. The app kept reminding to not run as hard and suggested I run more on the balls of my fee. That was a big change for me, bigger than I expected. I'll have to remember to ease into this new style and avoid tfts (too fast too soon).

I'm not sure how I'll integrate this into my training routine, but I enjoyed it. An hour after the run, my right pinky toe feels cracked. I'll have to check on that. 

Today's run was in the fitkicks as I figure out my next shoe. I need to return the vibrams from HDO and perhaps exchange them for altras. I ordered another pair of vibrams from Mass Drop that wont come until mid February. 

I'm consuming a lot of running information and stories. Listening to Ambry Burfoots Complete guide to Running. I just finished Bryon Powell Relentrlss Forward Progress and just started Eat & Run by Scott Jurek. 

Still thinking about my next race. I was considering a half marathon in April but I don't think I'll be ready, especially if I'm changing my running style. I want to try a full marathon late fall so I'm hoping to train for a half and parley that into training for a full. I need to figure that out. 

More to come, I hope....