WEEKLY SUMMARY (March 3-9): 30 miles (95% easy and 5% interval paces)
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:16/mi.
Monday: 7 miles at 7:12/mi.
Tuesday: 2.5 E, 2 x 1200m I @ 5:55/mi. pace (800m E), 2 E (7 miles total)
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 5 miles at 7:18/mi.
Friday: off
Saturday: 5 miles at 7:22/mi.
I didn't run much this week, though my hip has been doing well. On Tuesday I went to the track for the first time in a couple months but took things easy. I just wanted to do a couple longish intervals a bit under 6:00/mi. pace in order to get the feel of it again without wearing myself down. It was overdetermined that I wouldn't run on Wednesday: there was a big storm and I had a migraine. The latter explains my lighter run on Thursday too, when I also switched back to morning running after running in late afternoon (when I could) for most of the past two months because my hip seemed less tight then, in part because it's warmer. On Friday I didn't manage to run in the morning and so just skipped running altogether instead of running later. I'm not naturally a morning person at all, so getting myself onto a morning schedule requires drawing firm lines like that. On Saturday I still felt kind of stunned running in the morning and also took it easy because of the 8k race the next day. That brings my average weekly mileage so far in 2013 to 41.5. That's low in part because of my hip injury, but now I'm doing well enough that a low mileage week like this one is due to plain slacking. In the back of my mind I may also have been trying to get in a little rest before picking things up when Spring races begin (today).
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Summary of the previous three weeks:
February 10-16: 49 miles (100% easy pace)
Sunday: 5 miles at 7:29/mi.
Monday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
Friday: 5 miles at 7:19/mi.
Saturday: 18 miles at 7:20/mi.
February 17-23: 35 miles (89% easy and 11% tempo paces)
Sunday: off
Monday: off
Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:24/mi. on a treadmill
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:15/mi.
Thursday: 2.5 E, 4 x 1 mile T @ 6:16 avg. (1 min.), 1.5 E (8 miles total)
Friday: 6 miles at 7:17/mi.
Saturday: 7 miles at 7:17/mi.
Feb. 24 - March 2: 51 miles (92% easy and 8% tempo paces)
Sunday: 16.5 miles at 7:21/mi.
Monday: 6 miles at 7:20/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7.5 miles at 7:16/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:12/mi.
Friday: 6 miles at 7:35/mi.
Saturday: 3E, 2 x 2 miles T @ 6:15/mi. (3 min.), 1E (8 miles total)
I've been very busy over the last few weeks. But now I'm on Spring break, even though it's not yet Spring and the weather is not substantially different than it was on Winter break. Over that time my hip initially seemed better, then slipped back, and now seems to be stabilizing again. By now I'm getting used to living with at least some tightness down there even on good days, which I don't expect to go away until I build up a stronger "core" in general over time. At the end of the first week, on Feb. 16, I was encouraged to make it through 18 miles at a respectable, easy pace. My hip felt strong throughout, and I began thinking about trying a faster long run the next weekend and running the marathon on March 16 after all. I took a couple days off after that run simply because I was busy, which - together with not doing my next long run until the following Sunday - resulted in that week's mileage number turning out misleadingly low. But I got in an encouraging set of tempo intervals on Thursday of that week as well, with my hip again feeling stable. The set-back was on Sunday, Feb. 24, when I attempted a 20-miler in which I hoped to pick up the pace after halfway. The main problem was that it was very windy, and the wind was coming from a direction that made me run straight into it for miles 11-13 and then again from 16-20, in addition to generally blowing me around pretty much the whole time. My hip hurt much of the way, especially during and after running into the headwind in miles 11-13, which dampened my hopes of speeding up after halfway. When I turned back into the wind after 16 miles, it was just too much for me and I ended up stopping and taking the metro home. My hip continued to ache for several days after that. It loosened up only after I took an especially easy, slow day on Friday, which enabled me to get in a solid 2 x 2 mile tempo run on Saturday. I think that last Sunday pretty much killed any chances that I had of running the marathon on March 16. It was less windy the following day, and if I had been able to wait and attempt that run on Monday then maybe it would have gone well enough for me to attempt the marathon. But as it is that was my last real chance to get in a hard long run before March 16, and I don't see the point of running my 6th marathon when I haven't been able to do any hard long runs for two months because of an injury. Realistically, I could probably do the marathon, run 7:10/mi. pace for 15 miles or so (3:07 marathon pace), and try to pick it up from there if things were going well, hoping for maybe a 3:05 at best and likely still beating my current PR of 3:12 at worst. But I respect the marathon too much to tangle with that beast when I'm not properly trained for it, and especially when my head's not really in it. I'm looking forward to a lot of other Spring races as well, and in my current state of fitness running the marathon would either risk jeopardizing those other races or essentially amount to jogging 26.2 miles at my easy pace, neither of which I'm able to get excited about. So I'm going to do the half-marathon on March 16 instead, thanks to the RnR policy that allows registered runners to decide up until race day which race they want to run. Of course, I'm not in great half-marathon shape either, but my tempo runs are starting to come along and at least I can see the half as good training for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler three weeks later. Before my hip injury I had dreamed of running Cherry Blossom under 60 minutes, but that seems very unlikely now. Maybe 62-3 seems possible now, if my hip holds together, but I'll see how the half goes before setting goals. I might do the St. Patrick's Day 8k next weekend (March 10) just to shake some dust off and test out 5:58 or so pace for 5 miles. Then in the RnR half I might start around 6:30 pace and, after some mid-race hills, try picking it up to bring the pace down into the low 6:20's, which would be a 1:23-4 finish. At least those seem like non-crazy goals. It's March now - almost Spring - and time to start thinking about running fast!
February 10-16: 49 miles (100% easy pace)
Sunday: 5 miles at 7:29/mi.
Monday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:14/mi.
Friday: 5 miles at 7:19/mi.
Saturday: 18 miles at 7:20/mi.
February 17-23: 35 miles (89% easy and 11% tempo paces)
Sunday: off
Monday: off
Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:24/mi. on a treadmill
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:15/mi.
Thursday: 2.5 E, 4 x 1 mile T @ 6:16 avg. (1 min.), 1.5 E (8 miles total)
Friday: 6 miles at 7:17/mi.
Saturday: 7 miles at 7:17/mi.
Feb. 24 - March 2: 51 miles (92% easy and 8% tempo paces)
Sunday: 16.5 miles at 7:21/mi.
Monday: 6 miles at 7:20/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7.5 miles at 7:16/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:12/mi.
Friday: 6 miles at 7:35/mi.
Saturday: 3E, 2 x 2 miles T @ 6:15/mi. (3 min.), 1E (8 miles total)
I've been very busy over the last few weeks. But now I'm on Spring break, even though it's not yet Spring and the weather is not substantially different than it was on Winter break. Over that time my hip initially seemed better, then slipped back, and now seems to be stabilizing again. By now I'm getting used to living with at least some tightness down there even on good days, which I don't expect to go away until I build up a stronger "core" in general over time. At the end of the first week, on Feb. 16, I was encouraged to make it through 18 miles at a respectable, easy pace. My hip felt strong throughout, and I began thinking about trying a faster long run the next weekend and running the marathon on March 16 after all. I took a couple days off after that run simply because I was busy, which - together with not doing my next long run until the following Sunday - resulted in that week's mileage number turning out misleadingly low. But I got in an encouraging set of tempo intervals on Thursday of that week as well, with my hip again feeling stable. The set-back was on Sunday, Feb. 24, when I attempted a 20-miler in which I hoped to pick up the pace after halfway. The main problem was that it was very windy, and the wind was coming from a direction that made me run straight into it for miles 11-13 and then again from 16-20, in addition to generally blowing me around pretty much the whole time. My hip hurt much of the way, especially during and after running into the headwind in miles 11-13, which dampened my hopes of speeding up after halfway. When I turned back into the wind after 16 miles, it was just too much for me and I ended up stopping and taking the metro home. My hip continued to ache for several days after that. It loosened up only after I took an especially easy, slow day on Friday, which enabled me to get in a solid 2 x 2 mile tempo run on Saturday. I think that last Sunday pretty much killed any chances that I had of running the marathon on March 16. It was less windy the following day, and if I had been able to wait and attempt that run on Monday then maybe it would have gone well enough for me to attempt the marathon. But as it is that was my last real chance to get in a hard long run before March 16, and I don't see the point of running my 6th marathon when I haven't been able to do any hard long runs for two months because of an injury. Realistically, I could probably do the marathon, run 7:10/mi. pace for 15 miles or so (3:07 marathon pace), and try to pick it up from there if things were going well, hoping for maybe a 3:05 at best and likely still beating my current PR of 3:12 at worst. But I respect the marathon too much to tangle with that beast when I'm not properly trained for it, and especially when my head's not really in it. I'm looking forward to a lot of other Spring races as well, and in my current state of fitness running the marathon would either risk jeopardizing those other races or essentially amount to jogging 26.2 miles at my easy pace, neither of which I'm able to get excited about. So I'm going to do the half-marathon on March 16 instead, thanks to the RnR policy that allows registered runners to decide up until race day which race they want to run. Of course, I'm not in great half-marathon shape either, but my tempo runs are starting to come along and at least I can see the half as good training for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler three weeks later. Before my hip injury I had dreamed of running Cherry Blossom under 60 minutes, but that seems very unlikely now. Maybe 62-3 seems possible now, if my hip holds together, but I'll see how the half goes before setting goals. I might do the St. Patrick's Day 8k next weekend (March 10) just to shake some dust off and test out 5:58 or so pace for 5 miles. Then in the RnR half I might start around 6:30 pace and, after some mid-race hills, try picking it up to bring the pace down into the low 6:20's, which would be a 1:23-4 finish. At least those seem like non-crazy goals. It's March now - almost Spring - and time to start thinking about running fast!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (February 3-9): 43 miles (95% easy and 5% tempo paces)
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:20/mi.
Monday: off
Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:20/mi.
Wednesday: 2.5 E, 2 x 1 mile T @ 6:17/mi. (1 min.), 1.5 E (6 miles total)
Thursday: 4 miles at 7:26/mi.
Friday: 7 miles at 7:18/mi.
Saturday: 13 miles at 7:21/mi.
Running has not been easy this week, but I think I am indeed on the road to recovery. With the help of the physical therapist whom I saw again on Thursday this week, I'm taking the long road to recovery that involves doing gradually more difficult exercises (in addition to running) to strengthen my weak and imbalanced hip muscles in hopes that whatever recovery ensues will not be short-lived. It now seems to me that the primary injury is to my right gluteus minimus and gluteus medius, with the TFL and psoas also affected. When I got acupuncture (for the first time) on Thursday, I realized that I had been unclear about exactly where the gluteus minimus is. It's one thing to look at it on an anatomy chart, to do stretches that target it, and so on. By when the PT delivered the charge to the needle that made my right gluteus minimus contract in isolation, it seemed to be at the very center of the pain and tightness that I've felt all through this injury. The more superficial gluteus medius attaches a bit higher on the iliac crest where I've had a pretty constant, dull pain since my 18-miler on 1/19. So it's clearly in a troubled state as well. But the deeper muscle seems to be the deeper problem, and the original pain that I felt several days before that 18-miler (but didn't worry much about) was lower and deeper at what I suspect may have been the lower insertion area of the gluteus minimus. So now I'm doing glute, hip abductor, and hip flexor exercises almost daily in order to bring those muscles back to life and to strengthen them all in a balanced way so that even the weakest of them (which is apparently my right gluteus minimus) can handle the running I do. I've slowed down my easy pace marginally this week in order to accomodate the extra stress of the exercises, but only slightly because the point is to get those muscles to cope by starting with very light exercises and gradually increasing the difficulty. At the same time, I'm trying to ease back into some harder runs. I did basically half of a tempo run on Wednesday and a medium-long run on Saturday that was almost twice as far as I'd run in the previous three weeks. My hip was ok during and after the mini-tempo, with only a little uncomfortable stretching in that area during the run that immediately went away when I stopped. But after Saturday's 13-miler there was some tightness and pain right where one would expect if the gluteus minimus is the main problem. I took ibuprofen and waited until this morning (Sunday) to stretch, and it seems fine. Next week I hope to continue on this trajectory. I'll still take things one day at a time, but I'm starting to think in weekly chunks again and hope to do a full 4 x 1 mile tempo run and another medium-distance run (maybe 11-12 miles this time) during this coming week while continuing daily exercises. If I run the 10k race next Sunday, then the best idea would probably be to treat it as a tempo run. The jury is still out on whether I'll be up for the marathon or half-marathon on March 16, which is only 5 weeks away. I won't run the marathon unless I can beat my current PR of 3:12, such as it is, but I'm not sold on whether I should run it even if I think I can run faster than that. At this point it doesn't really matter and wouldn't affect the sort of training runs I do, which are just aimed at nursing me back to general distance running health. By the way, when I was talking with the PT on Thursday it emerged that I had misunderstood one thing he said that I reported in my last post. The underlying lower back issues that he had in mind were effects of bad posture and nothing else. His point was that doing all these exercises and running with perfect form won't enable me to dodge injuries like this if I spend most of my waking life standing and sitting with bad posture. So trying to avoid that is the most important thing I can do.
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:20/mi.
Monday: off
Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:20/mi.
Wednesday: 2.5 E, 2 x 1 mile T @ 6:17/mi. (1 min.), 1.5 E (6 miles total)
Thursday: 4 miles at 7:26/mi.
Friday: 7 miles at 7:18/mi.
Saturday: 13 miles at 7:21/mi.
Running has not been easy this week, but I think I am indeed on the road to recovery. With the help of the physical therapist whom I saw again on Thursday this week, I'm taking the long road to recovery that involves doing gradually more difficult exercises (in addition to running) to strengthen my weak and imbalanced hip muscles in hopes that whatever recovery ensues will not be short-lived. It now seems to me that the primary injury is to my right gluteus minimus and gluteus medius, with the TFL and psoas also affected. When I got acupuncture (for the first time) on Thursday, I realized that I had been unclear about exactly where the gluteus minimus is. It's one thing to look at it on an anatomy chart, to do stretches that target it, and so on. By when the PT delivered the charge to the needle that made my right gluteus minimus contract in isolation, it seemed to be at the very center of the pain and tightness that I've felt all through this injury. The more superficial gluteus medius attaches a bit higher on the iliac crest where I've had a pretty constant, dull pain since my 18-miler on 1/19. So it's clearly in a troubled state as well. But the deeper muscle seems to be the deeper problem, and the original pain that I felt several days before that 18-miler (but didn't worry much about) was lower and deeper at what I suspect may have been the lower insertion area of the gluteus minimus. So now I'm doing glute, hip abductor, and hip flexor exercises almost daily in order to bring those muscles back to life and to strengthen them all in a balanced way so that even the weakest of them (which is apparently my right gluteus minimus) can handle the running I do. I've slowed down my easy pace marginally this week in order to accomodate the extra stress of the exercises, but only slightly because the point is to get those muscles to cope by starting with very light exercises and gradually increasing the difficulty. At the same time, I'm trying to ease back into some harder runs. I did basically half of a tempo run on Wednesday and a medium-long run on Saturday that was almost twice as far as I'd run in the previous three weeks. My hip was ok during and after the mini-tempo, with only a little uncomfortable stretching in that area during the run that immediately went away when I stopped. But after Saturday's 13-miler there was some tightness and pain right where one would expect if the gluteus minimus is the main problem. I took ibuprofen and waited until this morning (Sunday) to stretch, and it seems fine. Next week I hope to continue on this trajectory. I'll still take things one day at a time, but I'm starting to think in weekly chunks again and hope to do a full 4 x 1 mile tempo run and another medium-distance run (maybe 11-12 miles this time) during this coming week while continuing daily exercises. If I run the 10k race next Sunday, then the best idea would probably be to treat it as a tempo run. The jury is still out on whether I'll be up for the marathon or half-marathon on March 16, which is only 5 weeks away. I won't run the marathon unless I can beat my current PR of 3:12, such as it is, but I'm not sold on whether I should run it even if I think I can run faster than that. At this point it doesn't really matter and wouldn't affect the sort of training runs I do, which are just aimed at nursing me back to general distance running health. By the way, when I was talking with the PT on Thursday it emerged that I had misunderstood one thing he said that I reported in my last post. The underlying lower back issues that he had in mind were effects of bad posture and nothing else. His point was that doing all these exercises and running with perfect form won't enable me to dodge injuries like this if I spend most of my waking life standing and sitting with bad posture. So trying to avoid that is the most important thing I can do.
Monday, February 4, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (Jan. 27 - Feb. 2): 40 miles (92.5% E and 7.5% M paces)
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:23/mi. on a treadmill
Monday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:21/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Friday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi. on a treadmill
Saturday: 3 E, 3 miles progressing from 7:00 to 6:30 pace, 1 E on a treadmill (7 miles total)
This week was less bad than I feared it would be, since I ran almost every day and felt by the end of the week like I was on the road to recovery. But I probably have some ways to go before I can do harder workouts again. Monday was the first day that I started to feel like I was clawing my way back to health. My hip didn't hurt when I ran, but that whole area felt weak and tight. Since that run seemed to go relatively well, and it was my fourth day running in a row, I decided to take Tuesday off in order to consolidate whatever gains I'd made and, I imagined, to feel better still on Wednesday. Instead my hip hurt more during my run on Wednesday than it had any other time since my injury. I was close to despairing, but it dawned on me that this was evidence that tightness was a large part of my problem. I hadn't activated my muscles in any way for 48 hours, and stupidly I didn't stretch before running on Wednesday. It relieved me somewhat to think that all this was caused only by tightness somewhere. But where? So many muscles were involved, but what was the root of the problem? That same day I read an article that led me to think that tightness in my psoas was the underlying problem, since apparently that can cause secondary tightness in all the other muscles where I was feeling pain. (Apparently you often don't feel psoas tightness directly because it's such a deep muscle). So I started doing psoas stretches before and after running. Perhaps coincidentally, my next three runs went ok. On both Thursday and Friday I felt looser and felt less (but still some) direct pain along my hip bone (iliac crest). On Saturday I headed to the treadmill without a plan but thinking that I might pick up the pace a bit if I felt ok again. After three miles in the 7-teens I felt fine, so I then went to 7-flat and gradually picked it up every half mile until I got to 6:30/mi. pace and three (more) miles. That's not very fast, but I did feel it a little in my hip as my form stretched out some. The next day (Sunday) I was ok, though, and ran 6 easy miles as normal. That was about the safest possible way to test whether my hip can handle running faster right now, and it was neither encouraging nor entirely discouraging. I'm going to have to keep taking baby steps forward. Today (Monday) I finally had my appointment with a physical therapist. I found a great (but expensive) running-specific PT who put me through various strength tests and videotaped me running on a treadmill. In addition to giving me tips on running form (my feet land too far in front of my body, and my arms swing unevenly) and posture (I slouch while sitting and shift my hips forward while standing, both of which put pressure on my lower back), he discovered significant strength imbalances in my hip muscles. Something has caused certain muscles in my right hip (especially my TFL) to atrophy. After finding my right side to be significantly weaker on some strength tests, the PT started probing around and said that he could feel the difference in the size and tension of certain muscles when comparing my right and left sides. "There's just nothing there," he said of my right TFL. Well, no wonder it hurts. A puny, atrophied muscle that isn't firing correctly will get tight and hurt when dragged through activities that healthy muscles can handle. So what has caused muscles in my right hip to atrophy? The search for an answer to this question was inconclusive. The PT looked for evidence of some underlying lower back problem, but it seemed to me that he must not have found the evidence he was looking for because at that point he started talking about psoas tightness, which is common in distance runners and squares with the tightness I've been feeling well above my hip just below my rib cage (where the psoas attaches to the spine). So he gave me some exercises to do to resurrect the dead muscles in my hip and asked me to come back (and pay more) for some acupuncture that might shock them back to life. I guess I'm relieved that he didn't find any major strain, but at the same time of course I'm annoyed to learn that my muscles are weak and imbalanced. When I was a kid, my dad used to wake me up - after I'd slept through the five previous attempts to wake me up - by quickly pulling all the sheets off me. (Ok, maybe he did it only a couple times, but it worked and I remembered it). I'm going to pull the sheets off those atrophied muscles in my right hip, and I'll even pay for acupuncture if that might help. Maybe this is also what I need to jolt me into regularly doing the ("core") strength exercises that I've known for a long time that I should be doing.
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:23/mi. on a treadmill
Monday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:21/mi.
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi.
Friday: 7 miles at 7:16/mi. on a treadmill
Saturday: 3 E, 3 miles progressing from 7:00 to 6:30 pace, 1 E on a treadmill (7 miles total)
This week was less bad than I feared it would be, since I ran almost every day and felt by the end of the week like I was on the road to recovery. But I probably have some ways to go before I can do harder workouts again. Monday was the first day that I started to feel like I was clawing my way back to health. My hip didn't hurt when I ran, but that whole area felt weak and tight. Since that run seemed to go relatively well, and it was my fourth day running in a row, I decided to take Tuesday off in order to consolidate whatever gains I'd made and, I imagined, to feel better still on Wednesday. Instead my hip hurt more during my run on Wednesday than it had any other time since my injury. I was close to despairing, but it dawned on me that this was evidence that tightness was a large part of my problem. I hadn't activated my muscles in any way for 48 hours, and stupidly I didn't stretch before running on Wednesday. It relieved me somewhat to think that all this was caused only by tightness somewhere. But where? So many muscles were involved, but what was the root of the problem? That same day I read an article that led me to think that tightness in my psoas was the underlying problem, since apparently that can cause secondary tightness in all the other muscles where I was feeling pain. (Apparently you often don't feel psoas tightness directly because it's such a deep muscle). So I started doing psoas stretches before and after running. Perhaps coincidentally, my next three runs went ok. On both Thursday and Friday I felt looser and felt less (but still some) direct pain along my hip bone (iliac crest). On Saturday I headed to the treadmill without a plan but thinking that I might pick up the pace a bit if I felt ok again. After three miles in the 7-teens I felt fine, so I then went to 7-flat and gradually picked it up every half mile until I got to 6:30/mi. pace and three (more) miles. That's not very fast, but I did feel it a little in my hip as my form stretched out some. The next day (Sunday) I was ok, though, and ran 6 easy miles as normal. That was about the safest possible way to test whether my hip can handle running faster right now, and it was neither encouraging nor entirely discouraging. I'm going to have to keep taking baby steps forward. Today (Monday) I finally had my appointment with a physical therapist. I found a great (but expensive) running-specific PT who put me through various strength tests and videotaped me running on a treadmill. In addition to giving me tips on running form (my feet land too far in front of my body, and my arms swing unevenly) and posture (I slouch while sitting and shift my hips forward while standing, both of which put pressure on my lower back), he discovered significant strength imbalances in my hip muscles. Something has caused certain muscles in my right hip (especially my TFL) to atrophy. After finding my right side to be significantly weaker on some strength tests, the PT started probing around and said that he could feel the difference in the size and tension of certain muscles when comparing my right and left sides. "There's just nothing there," he said of my right TFL. Well, no wonder it hurts. A puny, atrophied muscle that isn't firing correctly will get tight and hurt when dragged through activities that healthy muscles can handle. So what has caused muscles in my right hip to atrophy? The search for an answer to this question was inconclusive. The PT looked for evidence of some underlying lower back problem, but it seemed to me that he must not have found the evidence he was looking for because at that point he started talking about psoas tightness, which is common in distance runners and squares with the tightness I've been feeling well above my hip just below my rib cage (where the psoas attaches to the spine). So he gave me some exercises to do to resurrect the dead muscles in my hip and asked me to come back (and pay more) for some acupuncture that might shock them back to life. I guess I'm relieved that he didn't find any major strain, but at the same time of course I'm annoyed to learn that my muscles are weak and imbalanced. When I was a kid, my dad used to wake me up - after I'd slept through the five previous attempts to wake me up - by quickly pulling all the sheets off me. (Ok, maybe he did it only a couple times, but it worked and I remembered it). I'm going to pull the sheets off those atrophied muscles in my right hip, and I'll even pay for acupuncture if that might help. Maybe this is also what I need to jolt me into regularly doing the ("core") strength exercises that I've known for a long time that I should be doing.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (January 20-26): 16 miles (100% easy)
Sunday: off
Monday: off
Tuesday: 6 miles at 7:19/mi. on a treadmill
Wednesday: off
Thursday: off
Friday: 5 miles at 7:26/mi.
Saturday: 5 miles at 7:30/mi.
I was feeling pretty confident when I wrote my previous post just after last Saturday's 18-miler. Things seemed to be going so well that I wondered what was going on. As the Stranger from California warned me several months ago: when things seem to be going really well, especially when they seem to be going too well, you might be right on the edge of falling apart. Indeed. The hip problem that nagged me last Saturday sidelined me this week, and it's too early to tell how far back it has set me. It seems to be a cluster of problems rather than a single injury, all centered around my right hip area. Hip flexors, glutes (especially medius), lower abdominal muscles (especially obliques), and maybe my upper IT band are implicated. When I first noticed a slight pain in that area around two weeks ago, it was on the outside of my hip near the top of my IT band. So maybe that's the source of the problem, or maybe not. I've had lower back problems for a long time, and hip issues are often related to back issues. But I don't know exactly what's up, and I'll try to get an appointment with a sports doctor soon. But I don't need to know exactly what's up in order to do what I've always done with injuries: rest if and only if the pain crosses the line beyond which running could make matters worse. I was clearly over that line on Sunday, the day after the 18-miler; and possibly on Monday, which I took off in any case because I just wanted the problem to go away. On Tuesday it felt better but not completely healed, so I ran on the treadmill in order to assess things while avoiding the stress of running on asphalt. My hip tightened up some as the run progressed, but it was no big deal. But afterwards and for the next couple of days it was worse. When I ran again on Friday (outside this time), it didn't feel much different while I was running than it did on the treadmill a few days earlier. Afterwards it felt worse again, but less so than before. So I hazarded running again the next day (Saturday) and felt marginally less bad afterwards. By then I was feeling pretty heavy (I've gained a few pounds this week) and out of shape from all those days off and from doing so little even on the days I did run. But my body still doesn't feel like it wants me to do any more. Today (Sunday) I skipped the half-marathon that I had registered for and went to the gym intending to cross train on the bike. But I ended up running 6 miles on the treadmill instead, stretching carefully both beforehand and afterwards. Cross training just isn't my thing. I'll do it if I have to, but I guess I haven't been driven quite that far yet. It has been a depressing week, though. Last year at this exact time I had a hamstring injury and skipped the same half-marathon that I skipped today. In fact, the race organizers were kind enough to defer my registration from last year to this year, but again I didn't show up. Maybe next year I won't sign up for any races in late January, or at least not that one. Next week I have no plan except to take things one day at a time.
Sunday: off
Monday: off
Tuesday: 6 miles at 7:19/mi. on a treadmill
Wednesday: off
Thursday: off
Friday: 5 miles at 7:26/mi.
Saturday: 5 miles at 7:30/mi.
I was feeling pretty confident when I wrote my previous post just after last Saturday's 18-miler. Things seemed to be going so well that I wondered what was going on. As the Stranger from California warned me several months ago: when things seem to be going really well, especially when they seem to be going too well, you might be right on the edge of falling apart. Indeed. The hip problem that nagged me last Saturday sidelined me this week, and it's too early to tell how far back it has set me. It seems to be a cluster of problems rather than a single injury, all centered around my right hip area. Hip flexors, glutes (especially medius), lower abdominal muscles (especially obliques), and maybe my upper IT band are implicated. When I first noticed a slight pain in that area around two weeks ago, it was on the outside of my hip near the top of my IT band. So maybe that's the source of the problem, or maybe not. I've had lower back problems for a long time, and hip issues are often related to back issues. But I don't know exactly what's up, and I'll try to get an appointment with a sports doctor soon. But I don't need to know exactly what's up in order to do what I've always done with injuries: rest if and only if the pain crosses the line beyond which running could make matters worse. I was clearly over that line on Sunday, the day after the 18-miler; and possibly on Monday, which I took off in any case because I just wanted the problem to go away. On Tuesday it felt better but not completely healed, so I ran on the treadmill in order to assess things while avoiding the stress of running on asphalt. My hip tightened up some as the run progressed, but it was no big deal. But afterwards and for the next couple of days it was worse. When I ran again on Friday (outside this time), it didn't feel much different while I was running than it did on the treadmill a few days earlier. Afterwards it felt worse again, but less so than before. So I hazarded running again the next day (Saturday) and felt marginally less bad afterwards. By then I was feeling pretty heavy (I've gained a few pounds this week) and out of shape from all those days off and from doing so little even on the days I did run. But my body still doesn't feel like it wants me to do any more. Today (Sunday) I skipped the half-marathon that I had registered for and went to the gym intending to cross train on the bike. But I ended up running 6 miles on the treadmill instead, stretching carefully both beforehand and afterwards. Cross training just isn't my thing. I'll do it if I have to, but I guess I haven't been driven quite that far yet. It has been a depressing week, though. Last year at this exact time I had a hamstring injury and skipped the same half-marathon that I skipped today. In fact, the race organizers were kind enough to defer my registration from last year to this year, but again I didn't show up. Maybe next year I won't sign up for any races in late January, or at least not that one. Next week I have no plan except to take things one day at a time.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (January 13-19): 52 miles (93% E, 6% M, 1% R paces)
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:28/mi.
Monday: 7 miles at 7:18/mi.
Tuesday: 2.5 E, 2 x (400m R + 400m E), 2.5 E (6 miles total)
Wednesday: 8 miles at 7:13/mi.
Thursday: off
Friday: 7 miles at 7:10/mi.
Saturday: 18 miles at 7:10/mi. (last 3 miles in 6:51, 6:49, 6:47)
Ok, I'm a go for the RnR USA marathon, assuming that I don't get injured or very sick between now and then. In fact, I do seem to be nursing some kind of hip problem, which I'll monitor closely this coming week. But I finally had a good long run on Saturday this week. The first half of the week was underwhelming. After recovering from my previous long run last Saturday, I set out for a planned 400m repetition workout on Tuesday morning in spite of the cold, wind, and freezing rain. Once I arrived at the track and started trying to run fast, it became obvious that it just wasn't going to happen. I couldn't cover 400m any faster than 86 seconds, compared with 79 in my previous repetition workouts. The weather was mainly to blame, but my right hip was already hurting. So I called off the workout shortly after it had begun. My plan had been to do a tempo run this week as well, and initially I thought I'd do it on Thursday since Tuesday's workout was a dud. But this was my first week of classes and I'm still getting a feel for my schedule. I didn't get out early on Thursday to run and wasn't able to fit it in later. By then I was reading forecasts of seriously wintery weather next week, and the inauguration will also close off my usual longer routes, all of which pass through the National Mall area. So I postponed the tempo run (yet again) and did a long run on Saturday. The weather was nice - sunny and in the low 50's - but breezy. I was surprised at how packed the Mall area already was with people two days before the inauguration. For maybe 5 miles I was weaving through crowds or running on clumpy grass because the sidewalks were jammed with people. My intention was to run 18 miles at a steady pace around 7:20/mi., and this time I planned to eat a gel and drink more water at both 6 and 12 miles. At halfway my average pace was 7:16. My hip was getting tight but I felt strong, and my pace drifted faster from there. When I stopped briefly for my second gel at 12 miles, my hip felt very tight, but once I got going again I felt very strong and found myself gliding along comfortably at just over 7-flat. Running up Capitol Hill, which pushed me over the edge last week, didn't faze me this time. So I decided to run marathon pace for the final 3 miles. That was harder but I was not totally spent at the end. Surely the gels were a big part of the reason why this run went better than previous ones. But still, 7:10/mi. is way faster than I've ever been able to do long training runs before, and my standard easy pace these days is drifting that fast as well. What is going on here? I'm not training particularly hard and my mileage is relatively moderate. Here's a hypothesis: my last couple months of training for the MCM were basically a kind of base training phase. I ran (for me) high mileage and never ran faster than tempo pace, which I kept to a low percentage of my overall mileage. After the MCM, I cut my mileage significantly and started doing some faster running - initially too much, but then I was forced to back off to running faster no more than twice a week and often only once a week. So I'm more rested now from lower mileage and my body wants to run faster due to occasional injections of speed. If that's right, then it suggests both that I should keep those injections of speed occasional (i.e., I should be careful to avoid running too fast too often), and that I should keep my mileage moderate in order to maintain this momentum through the Spring. Maybe I should plan another high mileage base phase in the summer, which might pay similar dividends in the Fall?
Sunday: 6 miles at 7:28/mi.
Monday: 7 miles at 7:18/mi.
Tuesday: 2.5 E, 2 x (400m R + 400m E), 2.5 E (6 miles total)
Wednesday: 8 miles at 7:13/mi.
Thursday: off
Friday: 7 miles at 7:10/mi.
Saturday: 18 miles at 7:10/mi. (last 3 miles in 6:51, 6:49, 6:47)
Ok, I'm a go for the RnR USA marathon, assuming that I don't get injured or very sick between now and then. In fact, I do seem to be nursing some kind of hip problem, which I'll monitor closely this coming week. But I finally had a good long run on Saturday this week. The first half of the week was underwhelming. After recovering from my previous long run last Saturday, I set out for a planned 400m repetition workout on Tuesday morning in spite of the cold, wind, and freezing rain. Once I arrived at the track and started trying to run fast, it became obvious that it just wasn't going to happen. I couldn't cover 400m any faster than 86 seconds, compared with 79 in my previous repetition workouts. The weather was mainly to blame, but my right hip was already hurting. So I called off the workout shortly after it had begun. My plan had been to do a tempo run this week as well, and initially I thought I'd do it on Thursday since Tuesday's workout was a dud. But this was my first week of classes and I'm still getting a feel for my schedule. I didn't get out early on Thursday to run and wasn't able to fit it in later. By then I was reading forecasts of seriously wintery weather next week, and the inauguration will also close off my usual longer routes, all of which pass through the National Mall area. So I postponed the tempo run (yet again) and did a long run on Saturday. The weather was nice - sunny and in the low 50's - but breezy. I was surprised at how packed the Mall area already was with people two days before the inauguration. For maybe 5 miles I was weaving through crowds or running on clumpy grass because the sidewalks were jammed with people. My intention was to run 18 miles at a steady pace around 7:20/mi., and this time I planned to eat a gel and drink more water at both 6 and 12 miles. At halfway my average pace was 7:16. My hip was getting tight but I felt strong, and my pace drifted faster from there. When I stopped briefly for my second gel at 12 miles, my hip felt very tight, but once I got going again I felt very strong and found myself gliding along comfortably at just over 7-flat. Running up Capitol Hill, which pushed me over the edge last week, didn't faze me this time. So I decided to run marathon pace for the final 3 miles. That was harder but I was not totally spent at the end. Surely the gels were a big part of the reason why this run went better than previous ones. But still, 7:10/mi. is way faster than I've ever been able to do long training runs before, and my standard easy pace these days is drifting that fast as well. What is going on here? I'm not training particularly hard and my mileage is relatively moderate. Here's a hypothesis: my last couple months of training for the MCM were basically a kind of base training phase. I ran (for me) high mileage and never ran faster than tempo pace, which I kept to a low percentage of my overall mileage. After the MCM, I cut my mileage significantly and started doing some faster running - initially too much, but then I was forced to back off to running faster no more than twice a week and often only once a week. So I'm more rested now from lower mileage and my body wants to run faster due to occasional injections of speed. If that's right, then it suggests both that I should keep those injections of speed occasional (i.e., I should be careful to avoid running too fast too often), and that I should keep my mileage moderate in order to maintain this momentum through the Spring. Maybe I should plan another high mileage base phase in the summer, which might pay similar dividends in the Fall?
Saturday, January 12, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (January 6-12): 50 miles (88% E, 6% M, and 6% 5k paces)
Sunday: 2 E, 5k race in 17:58 (see below), 1.9 E
Monday: 6 miles at 7:25/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:20/mi.
Thursday: 8 miles at 7:17/mi.
Friday: 6 miles at 7:22/mi.
Saturday: 16 miles at 7:18/mi.
The two main runs of this week were on the weekends, between which I spent the rest of the week recovering from a back issue. I've had an old man's lower back since I was a teenager, in part because my torso is bizarrely long (and perhaps in part because, when I was a teenager, I used to lift weights with bad form). When I was in Florida a few weeks ago, my mom paid for me to get a massage as a birthday present, and the first thing the masseuse said when she saw me lying on the table was "wow, you have a long back!" My lower back hurt during and after my 15-miler last Friday, and it may simply not have recovered before my 5k race on Sunday. It didn't hurt during the race, but it did start hurting the next day and got worse through the middle of the week. So I was content to run easy until that cleared up, having just run a good race in any case. I decided to push the track workout back to next week and to do the long run first whenever I was ready, which turned out to be on Saturday. It was another disappointing long run, though not as bad as the previous one. My plan was to run 10 miles around 7:20 pace (easy) and then to run 6 more at 6:45-50 (marathon pace). It was warmer than usual (50 degrees) and sunny, I ran at mid-day, and the drinking fountains I normally use are turned off for the winter except for one that I found about 6 miles from where I live. I averaged 7:19 over the first 10 miles and felt pretty good, stopping briefly at the drinking fountain twice but taking no gels. Then I felt strong running at marathon pace for two miles but was thrown off by a steep hill that I stupidly chose to run up, after which I managed only one more downhill mile at marathon pace (averaging 6:46 for those 3 miles). At that point, there's a short staircase on the course I normally run. I had to sit on the stairs and rest for several minutes (with my watch stopped) before jogging in the remaining 3 miles, which brought my average pace back up to my easy range. It may be that I simply reached the distance by which I need to drink more and eat a gel if I want to do any marathon pace running, since I did fall apart pretty quickly. My back was fine, though, and I didn't have the creeping fatigue (as opposed to a relatively sudden onset) that afflicted my purely easy paced run last time. I'm slowly getting stronger at bigger distances, but time is short to get strong enough for a marathon in two months. My plan for next week is to do a track workout, probably the 400m repetitions that I put off from this week, and some 1-mile tempo intervals. My next long run will probably be a purely easy paced 18-miler early the following week. The week after that, on January 27, I'm registered for a half-marathon on the towpath. I probably won't race that but, depending on weather, may run it at marathon pace with the option of speeding up a little later on if I feel good. Then, as we get into February, I'll decide whether a good enough marathon in mid-March is in the cards and what kind of long distance-oriented training to do in the remaining time. I'm still leaning toward doing the marathon, in spite (or partly because?) of my recent disappointing long runs. In other news, we're in a mini-heat-wave right now: it was in the 50's today (and felt Spring-like), and tomorrow is forecasted to approach 70! This is not right for January in the mid-Atlantic. But temperatures should quickly return to normal (highs in the low 40's) after that and then may dip a little below normal (bring it on!). My semester begins next week and, because of my schedule, I'll probably do at least most of my runs very early in the morning when temperatures are near their daily lows (around freezing on average, but often in the high 20's). For my trouble, I hope to be rewarded at least sometime this winter with some snow, not to mention the usual grit that comes with running through a (real?) winter.
Sunday: 2 E, 5k race in 17:58 (see below), 1.9 E
Monday: 6 miles at 7:25/mi.
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 7 miles at 7:20/mi.
Thursday: 8 miles at 7:17/mi.
Friday: 6 miles at 7:22/mi.
Saturday: 16 miles at 7:18/mi.
The two main runs of this week were on the weekends, between which I spent the rest of the week recovering from a back issue. I've had an old man's lower back since I was a teenager, in part because my torso is bizarrely long (and perhaps in part because, when I was a teenager, I used to lift weights with bad form). When I was in Florida a few weeks ago, my mom paid for me to get a massage as a birthday present, and the first thing the masseuse said when she saw me lying on the table was "wow, you have a long back!" My lower back hurt during and after my 15-miler last Friday, and it may simply not have recovered before my 5k race on Sunday. It didn't hurt during the race, but it did start hurting the next day and got worse through the middle of the week. So I was content to run easy until that cleared up, having just run a good race in any case. I decided to push the track workout back to next week and to do the long run first whenever I was ready, which turned out to be on Saturday. It was another disappointing long run, though not as bad as the previous one. My plan was to run 10 miles around 7:20 pace (easy) and then to run 6 more at 6:45-50 (marathon pace). It was warmer than usual (50 degrees) and sunny, I ran at mid-day, and the drinking fountains I normally use are turned off for the winter except for one that I found about 6 miles from where I live. I averaged 7:19 over the first 10 miles and felt pretty good, stopping briefly at the drinking fountain twice but taking no gels. Then I felt strong running at marathon pace for two miles but was thrown off by a steep hill that I stupidly chose to run up, after which I managed only one more downhill mile at marathon pace (averaging 6:46 for those 3 miles). At that point, there's a short staircase on the course I normally run. I had to sit on the stairs and rest for several minutes (with my watch stopped) before jogging in the remaining 3 miles, which brought my average pace back up to my easy range. It may be that I simply reached the distance by which I need to drink more and eat a gel if I want to do any marathon pace running, since I did fall apart pretty quickly. My back was fine, though, and I didn't have the creeping fatigue (as opposed to a relatively sudden onset) that afflicted my purely easy paced run last time. I'm slowly getting stronger at bigger distances, but time is short to get strong enough for a marathon in two months. My plan for next week is to do a track workout, probably the 400m repetitions that I put off from this week, and some 1-mile tempo intervals. My next long run will probably be a purely easy paced 18-miler early the following week. The week after that, on January 27, I'm registered for a half-marathon on the towpath. I probably won't race that but, depending on weather, may run it at marathon pace with the option of speeding up a little later on if I feel good. Then, as we get into February, I'll decide whether a good enough marathon in mid-March is in the cards and what kind of long distance-oriented training to do in the remaining time. I'm still leaning toward doing the marathon, in spite (or partly because?) of my recent disappointing long runs. In other news, we're in a mini-heat-wave right now: it was in the 50's today (and felt Spring-like), and tomorrow is forecasted to approach 70! This is not right for January in the mid-Atlantic. But temperatures should quickly return to normal (highs in the low 40's) after that and then may dip a little below normal (bring it on!). My semester begins next week and, because of my schedule, I'll probably do at least most of my runs very early in the morning when temperatures are near their daily lows (around freezing on average, but often in the high 20's). For my trouble, I hope to be rewarded at least sometime this winter with some snow, not to mention the usual grit that comes with running through a (real?) winter.
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