11:34 am - Slappy feet... So I seem to have picked up a slappy feet issue in the last year or so of my running that I can't figure out (and I'm fairly sure I wasn't doing before). Something to do with how I run now, but I can't figure out how/what I would've changed, so I thought you lovely runners here might be able to help with ideas, or things I could look for as I'm running.
When I run, I sound like I'm barreling down the side of a mountain. It's noisy, does not sound even remotely graceful.
I believe I strike mid-foot... (my chief indicator of this is that any "impact" soreness from long distances on my feet is in the ball, not the heel, and I've not had any of the heel-strike complications I've read about). ...but I could be on crack of course...
It's entirely possible it's my shoes too, but I would think it a little odd, unless of course my shoes are too big (which they're definitely not).
I don't see that it's causing me any issues...it just seems like it shouldn't be like this. Any ideas? Any other noisy runners?
(the only issue I do have right now is that I went on a 12 mile run 2 weeks ago with my sock badly bunched up under the pad of my foot between toes 3 and 4, and it's been achy every since!)
12:45 pm - MILAN WEDNESDAILIES! Good morningafternoon runners! Here's the daily training thread!
The dailies are being brought to you today from Milan (MICHIGAN, not Italy) which is a big part of why they are so late today. My day off was yesterday because after work I drove the 8 or so hours northwest from Baltimore to Michigan to surprise hbfs a day earlier than she was expecting me (it worked, it worked REALLY well). The only downside was that I had been operating under a SERIOUS sleep debt from the previous few nights. I put a big dent in that last night. As far as running today, there will be some sort of tempo run I hear (details below). There may also be an indoor water park in the works and general showing-around-the-hometown-ness.
So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?
Question! December (and this year... and this decade) is drawing to a close. What were your goals for this month (year, decade)? How'd you do? Brag, gripe, vent, etc. Also -- what are your goals for next month (year, decade)?
11:25 am - Snow run! I just had to gush here...got Yaktrax Pro for Christmas and got a nice 1-2" of snow overnight on our already partially icy streets/paths. Went out for a nice 2 miler today in my YakTrax and hereby pronounce that they rock! Loved it. Didn't slip or misstep once and I was booking it for me (9:00 miles). Felt nice and safe.
:)
Love winter running - with the right gear! Current Mood: chipper
10:50 am - waterproof jackets I'm in the market for a waterproof jacket for running in snow. I had been looking for something to keep me dry and warm, but it occurred to me that I might instead want something lightweight that I could also wear during non-winter months in rain. The coldest temperature I've run in is 5°F, and I was comfortable with layers of tech shirts and fleece, so it seems I'd be good with a very lightweight, windproof, waterproof jacket on top. I do live in Iowa though, and last winter it got down to -20° for a week or so; if it happens again, I might just have to stay inside.
What do you all do? Do you have more than one waterproof jacket for different seasons? Any particular jacket recommendations?
ETA: Oh, sidenote. I went to buy running shoes last week. (Fourth attempt. Different store, different state.) Apparently I need a wide shoe? And apparently it is normal to buy running shoes a half to a whole size up from your regular shoe size? Solved my weird foot problem.
Next up for me: Run with Your Heart 8K on Valentine's Day in Willoughby Hills, OH. It will be my first trail race, but I've run parts of the course before, so I'm not as intimidated by it, though I know it will be different from my usual road races.
09:14 am I'm really desperate for a run. I never thought I'd become one of those people, but I totally have. It's really icy and lethal outside where I live and my gym is closed this week for the holidays and I'm going crazy with pent up energy. Any suggestions folks?
11:26 pm I'm training for a half marathon in March so I'm running pretty much every other day. (And I am not really a runner, I'm more of a triathlete.) I have a psychology degree and work for a fitness club so I am very aware of the mental stress running longer distances puts on the body. I'm curious if anyone else gets emotional after they run. Like almost every time after I run farther than 3 miles I cry a short time after. Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do to help you along with it?
10:49 am - Spin class for a non-biking runner? So, good news is that the podiatrist I saw yesterday thinks that my ankle injury (posterior tibial tendonitis) is relatively minor, and I could be running again within 7-10 days.
[he also emphasized that I did the right thing by switching to cross-training immediately, and icing as soon as I noted the injury]
In the meantime, however, I'm determined to maintain my fitness as best I can. The arc-trainer works well for simulating easy runs, but I find it very difficult to get to tempo/interval intensity on it. Thus, I'm considering doing my first ever spin class tomorrow morning (I did a trial 20 minutes on a bike last night to confirm that it didn't aggravate my ankle).
I've never taken a spin class before. So, some basic questions: -will a pair of old running shoes work for this? -can I wear regular running shorts? Or do I need to wear my compression shorts? -anything else I should know?
I'm fully prepared for this class to be a bit frustrating, given that I will have a huge discrepancy between my general aerobic fitness (high) and my cycling-specific fitness (low). Oh, and I hate bikes (just not as much as I am growing to hate the arc-trainer).
Today is going to be a day off. Yesterday's run was pretty stellar and I've got some good running to look forward to for the rest of this week. I WILL mess around with some pull-ups/push-ups/squats at some point. And a nap would be nice.
So what is everyone else up to today, training and otherwise?
Question! What was the best Christmas (or just holiday) present/surprise you've ever received? And what was the greatest surprise you've ever managed to pull off? Deets!
02:25 am - two months without running It's been about two months since my injury took me out of running. I can walk a bit and I've been pool running --and more recently biking and using the elliptical. But, I'm starting to have doubts about doing the NYC marathon in 2010. I don't want to run it just to "finish" and I had planned a 2-year build up... now it will be more like a 10 month build up. I know it's possible... but still ... I hope some of my running from the past year (I was up to about 35-40 miles a week before the accident.) will carry over. But, I think I've lost a lot. It has been two months. My body has changed a bit-- I feel pretty soft.
So, I'm just thinking about how I might need to postpone it for a year-- and how I'll make that choice in a few months and not feel bad about it. I hope that I will be able to run it-- but really has anyone taken two months off and only done cross training (I do work with intensity and I get in about 5-6 hours a week.) and come back to running? What was it like? Do I need to prepare mentally to be a beginner again? I can start over. I have no issue with that. Whatever it is I'll do it. It could take weeks or a years, I'll get there either way.
It's just taking a longtime for my foot to heal. And the new year is coming and I'm still on crutches mostly. It's taking longer than I thought it would.
I read that "A general rule of thumb is that it takes about two weeks of training to come back from every week of no exercise." Am I looking at 4 months to get back to where I was before? That's a long time.
09:30 pm - A Post: In Two Parts First: I recently went out to Utah for vacation with my family. Now, I'm from Iowa, so it took me quite a while to get used to the huge elevation change. And it took me a while to get used to how nice the weather was. Even though it was "really, really cold" by their standards, it was pretty average Iowa temperatures... without the wind! It was so nice.
However, where I was, there was a huge inversion and everything was hazy and smoggy. It was really gross. My dad and I ran 10 miles down a canyon and I could tell when we got back down into the inversion. It was harder to breathe. :/ The air quality was horrible. I feel bad for anyone who lives in a place with stagnant, icky air. :(
Second: MY LEFT KNEE HATES ME! A LOT! Tomorrow, I am finally calling a local doctor to have it looked at, since it has been bothering me since the end of October. Basically, after I run about 4-5.5 miles, my knee starts to get achy/sore like it's swollen below my knee cap. Then it starts to hurt below and above my knee, but will hurt across my kneecap every few minutes. It's really horrible. On my 10 miler on Sunday, I wanted to cry for the last 2.5 miles. It doesn't hurt my pace a lot, but I get stuck in a slower rut than I start out at.
Anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong with it? I am hoping that a doctor can at least tell me what to do to make it feel better, if not what's wrong with it. After the first of the year, my marathon training really picks up. 35-45 miles a week... and I'm struggling with 30-35 right now, but only because of my knee. :(
08:21 pm - What should I focus on now? I'm hoping some of the wonkheads can help me with figuring out what I should be doing to improve my running times; I'm aware of where the discrepancy lies but I don't know what would help me the most.
02:14 pm - Honey to lose weight? I'm a Judo girl and before any competition I have to be a certain weight..but I also run. Running makes me sooooooo hungry, and my crazy Japanese coach has suggested that I eat a tea spoon of honey after all of my runs to suppress hunger. Has anyone tried this with success?
10:42 am - Burning lungs and 4 days of Christmas... How normal is the "burning lungs" feeling when you run? How intense should it get before it becomes something harmful, rather than annoying? I'm not really a distance runner by any means yet -- I'm only running about a 5k distance 3-4x a week, but my long-term goal is to master distance running upwards of 40 mi/week. Right now, I'm afraid to increase my mileage because the burning sensation when I breathe has gotten pretty bad. I cough and occasionally I feel as though my throat closes EVER so slightly/I can't suck in enough air (this feeling only persists for maybe 30 seconds at a time, but it does happen).
What are your best breathing-while-running techniques? What *should* I be doing? I run on a 1.0 incline on the 'mill, at 10min/mile ("graduated" c25k not long ago), I'm not overweight, and I've never smoked at all. Should I accept burning lungs as a fact of running, and just suck it up and go farther?
07:17 am - Bell lap MONDAILIES! Good morning runners! Here's the daily training thread!
I'm starting off the last week of 2009 with an easy hour run after work. I'll cover 7-8 miles. There will also be ravioli and an early bed time in my immediate future.
So how is everyone else starting off their week, training and otherwise?
And it's Monday so tell me about your weekend. It's the Monday after a long holiday weekend so I'm sure there's lots of griping/venting and also bragging/rejoicing (and everything in between) to be talked about. Lay it on me!
07:11 am - I'm Ba-ack!!! I went out running on Boxing Day, but could only do about 40 minutes. I guess not running for 7 weeks DOES take its toll, whether you just ran a marathon or not. Yesterday I did 7 miles and I felt great. My ankle wasn't hurting although it's weird because I'm definitely aware of it now. I can actually feel my ankle when I'm not thinking about it, although it's not pain. I guess maybe my brain is just very concerned about it or something. Running with my pre-accident face is a bit of a pain in the cold. The huge patch of my cheek that has massive scar tissue forming underneath gets very cold in the wind and my right eye droops at the bottom because of the pull of the scar tissue and so I can't close it and it waters and gets cold.
I think today if it doesn't storm (it better not, the guy who picked me up off the floor immediately after my accident came into Sport Chek on Boxing Day and I asked for his email thinking he was moving to Winnipeg and instead got his phone number so I asked him out for coffee and we're going this morning! My face is mangled but I guess my runner's butt is still intact jaja) I will go for a nice 5 mile run. I don't want to push it too hard because it's been so long and I'm pretty sure over-training was what ruined my ankle in the first place.
In other news, I love my new Asics Gel Kensei runners. They are gorgeous and super comfy and they don't slip and slide as much as some do on the ice on the roads.
07:42 pm This will probably be widely classified a TLDR, but I think it's inspiring, so I'm gonna post it anyway. Plus, I still have such a surplus of joy over The Run that I think it would be selfish not to share. So here you are:
04:43 pm - Advice for a first marathon I'll be running my first (but not last!) marathon on January 10th (Walt Disney World). I know each event is different, but what advice do you wish you'd been given for your first? What were you not expecting?
I'm wondering specifically about fuel on the course. Do you like to bring your own water and blocks/gel so you don't have to rely on aid stations?
is there a minimum number of times/week you need to run to get benefit from running?
I'm having issues trying to figure out how to fit in yoga & judo & running & weight training while actually having something resembling a rest day if I'm running more than once/week and to make matters worse when the weather gets nice I have a bicycle and a kayak that will start demanding attention... this would be much easier if I didn't have a 40hour work week ...or maybe harder given a lack of food? Is it helpful to even bother if you're running less than 3x per week?
**This is a weekly thread maintained by myself, posted every weekend. Runners of all ages and abilities are encouraged to use it to document their training and goals. Feedback is also encouraged, which helps keep a sense of community - thanks!
**reminder: at the end of the month, I will be posting the 'Training Year' thread. For those that need info and preparation, the last couple years threads are in the memories section. I look forward to reading through the results for 2009!
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