Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Brick Ride: 15.84 miles in 1:01:27

Brick Run: 3.01 miles in 22:09 at a 7:22 pace.

I felt pretty good today on my ride.  The run felt a little bit tough, but I kept up a pretty good pace for having just come off the bike. 

I ran an easy six this morning in 48:33 at an 8:03 pace.  I was mostly looking to build volume with the workout today.  I usually take Saturday to rest, but I'm going to work towards building up to 10 miles a day six days a week.  

I ran an easy 13 this morning.  I felt really strong and refreshed throughout the whole run.  It is amazing what going out at a pace just 15 to 30 seconds slower than what you are used to running does over the course of the whole run.  I pushed the last mile down to 7:44.  I averaged 8:29. 

My goal for today was to run easy and build a little bit of mileage.  I added 1 mile to last weeks long run.  I ran it a little bit easy because I'm running in the Firecracker 5K tomorrow morning, and although I'm mostly running this race for fun I'm still going to be 'racing'. 

Had I known I was going to podium today I would have taken this race more seriously.  I ran my usual 12 plus long run yesterday, and thus was a little less than race ready today.  I usually rest on Monday, but since we had a holiday weekend and a fun race to attend I decided to throw my hat in. 

I ended up placing third in my age division with a slower time than my last 5K of 19:39 where I placed 9th.  Today at 20:28 I placed third.  The winner of my division clocked a time of 19:36, which is just 3 seconds faster than my PR about 8 weeks ago.  Had I known I would have a shot at the top spot I might have played this out a little bit differently.  Such as not running 13 miles the day before and having a few beers the night before.   

All things considered I was really excited to see my third place age division finish.  Alisha took Ty in the jogging stroller so that he could participate in his first race.  She ran it with her friend Amy who also had her son Gavin in the stroller.  My brother Dalton and his fiance Melina showed up and ran their first 5k.  Somehow Alisha and Amy finished a few seconds before Dalton and Melina even thought the stroller 5k started a full ten minutes after the general 5k.  I wanted to give Dalton a hard time, but it was his first race and he did not train at all.  Still I wonder how they were passed by Alisha and Amy.  

I also saw our friends Scott and Amber.  Scott ran with this boys in the fun run.  I saw my high school friend Maribeth during the race but I did not get to talk to her after. 

During the final three fourths of a mile I came up behind a young kid.  He was probably about 11 years old.  I told myself that I could not be beaten by such a young person so I dug a little deeper and passed him.  Then about a quarter mile later a woman spectator shouted from the sideline, "keep it up, your the first little guy!"  When I realized she wasn't talking to me, I knew the kid must have still been right on my heels.  At about this time a guy a few tenths of a mile ahead of me stopped to lean over and hurl chunks all over the road.  He promptly straightened back out and took off for the finish line staying ahead of me all the while.  It was just a few seconds after this that the 11 year old boy passed me.  And when I say passed me he was really moving fast.  He took me a little off guard.  I had to dig real deep to keep up with him.  I was determined not to let him beat me.  We both struggled to be the first to the finish line, and in doing so passed two other racers.  He ended up beating me to the finish by milliseconds, but had he not been there to make a break for it I would not have passed the two other racers near the end.  

I had a really good time.  

My Garmin time says 21:03 because I always forget to stop my watch at the finish line of a race. 

Brick Ride: 27.75 miles in 1:38:59.

Brick Run: 3 miles in 22:14 at a 7:23 pace.  

I'll give my legs a rest tomorrow.  I'm planning a 45 minute swim at the gym. 

Today was a tempo run workout.  I ended up running it with Ty in the jogging stroller so Alisha could get some extra sleep.  He woke up a little extra early this morning and thus she needed the sleep.  

I felt as though I ran this same run a little faster the last time I ran it on June 30th.  When I checked the previous workout I realized I was right.  I ran the last one in 48:47 to this time of 49:14 for the exact same distance of 6.01 miles.  I'm not sure what happened.  I think it might be related to having increased my mileage these past couple of weeks by 10% per week.  

Brick workout.  

Ride: 15.34 miles in 59:15 

Run: 3 miles in 22:34 at a 7:30 pace 

 I've been building my mileage this week and last.  My workout today completes a 36 mile week, which is up 10 percent over last weeks 33 miles.  

I ran today at a pace of 8:11.  It is actually slightly faster than that, but my Garmin was taking its sweet time acquiring and locking on to the satellites.  I think it omitted about .20 miles from the beginning of the run.

Tomorrow I run 13 just like last Sunday.  I can't wait. 

Hot! Hot! Hot!  It was 83 degrees when I left the house this morning at 6:00 AM.  The 10 day forecast has 102 degree highs every day for the next ten days.  Our summer heat in the Mid-West came early this year.

My time today was 1:48:03 at a pace of 8:18 miles.  I feel as though I am losing a little of my speed from where I was at during April and May at the end of my half marathon program.  I'm not totally worried about it though for two reasons.  I am in the process of increasing my mileage by ten percent per week and I don't want and I don't want to go too hard while also increasing mileage.  I want to get stronger as I go longer.  I also know that the heat has a little to do with my performance.  Running when it's 83 to 86 is a lot harder than running at 52 degrees.  In fact 52 is my PR temperature.  According to my training logs I have more PR runs at or near that temperature than at any other.

I think for this week I'll focus speed work more on my tempo run and at least one of my brick runs.  That should make my weekend long run easier to run faster even in this ridiculous heat.  

I just looked back over my logs and found that although my average pace for my long run is slower than where it was the few weeks preceding my April half marathon, it has steadily been increasing since that same time.  That is to say, since the week after the race where I started clocking slower times, I've been gradually increasing speed since then.  

My Garmin died last night.  The screen was blank when I found it on the charger.  When I unplugged it and plugged it back in the screen lit up and began charging.  Then I checked on it later and the screen was blank again.  I eventually had to do a hard reset to get it to come back on.  I then was able to let it charge.  I thought everything was fine this morning went it seemed to be operating normally.  I got exactly half way through my ride, when I noticed the screen was not on the stop watch screen, but had reverted back to the normal screen that displays the time.  I switched it back to the stopwatch display and my time was still there and mileage only the time had stopped.  I hit the start button and all seemed normal again.  

I rode for about 23.5 miles today.  When I got home I changed into my shoes and went for a run.  I saved the bike activity on the Garmin and started the watch again for the run.  Everything seemed fine.  I recorded a 3 mile run in about 23 minutes.  

When I went to upload the activity Garmin connect said no activities were found.  I then disconnected the watch and tried to view the activities directly from the watch.  Nothing.  I have no idea what happened but I'm a little frustrated.  I've had to reset my watch before when it froze, but I only lost activities already saved on the watch.  Why did the watch not record and save this mornings activities?

I reconnected to Garmin Connect and looked on the support section.  The website suggested that I run a software update and that updating my software would fix most problems.  I ran the update.  I will use my Garmin again tomorrow to find out if it worked.  I think I will also download a running app for iPhone to take along with me as a backup just in case.    

In sum I'm trying to remember my distances. 

Bike: about 23.5 miles

Run: 3.01 miles in about 23 minutes. 

I took Ty in the jogging stroller this morning on the Creek turnpike trail for the first time.  It was a little windy, which made the hills even more challenging pushing the stroller.  I enjoyed it though.  The passersby and other runners and cyclists seem to smile and wave at me a lot more when I'm pushing a baby in a jogger as opposed to running solo.

My time today: 58:52

Pace: 8:23

My ball of my left foot was just a little bit touchy for a short time a little over half way through.  The tendon that runs along the arch of my right foot felt a little tight during mile 6. 

Tempo Run

Time: 47:12

Pace: 7:51

Brick ride this morning.  Time: 1:05:23  Distance: 17.09 miles

Brick Run: 3.03 miles in 23:05 for pace of 7:37. 

HOT!  84 temp with heat index of 94 by the time I finished my run.  The meteorologist with the national weather service on the radio this morning said that we will have heat indexes up around 103 for the foreseeable future.  It sure makes training fun! 

I completed 40 miles this week.  Woo Hoo!  I've been building my base up towards that magical 60 miles per week, so talked about among the Fast Running Blog community, in order to attain the coveted BQ.  

I've been trying to remind myself that I don't need to maintain super high speeds on the days that I'm just building mileage.  I don't want to burn out as I begin my official 16 week marathon training plan in two weeks.  I'm curious if I need to taper just a bit before starting the plan since I've been building for several weeks in addition to logging about two hours per week on the bike and two hours per week in the pool.  

Time: 1:07:57

Pace: 8:29

Today began the first day of following Gordon Bakoulis' pre-marathon/marathon schedule.  Her schedule is composed of 'minutes of aerobic activity' rather than 'miles,' so it is a little different for me since I've always followed a miles schedule.  

The ligament that runs along the arch of my right foot, which after searching on the web I have discovered is my plantar fascia ligament, felt slightly stretched and uncomfortable beginning at about mile 7 this morning.  I stopped for about 30 seconds to remove my shoe and massage my arch.  I then put my shoe back on but I tightened the laces a little tighter.  That seemed to help.  I also noticed that if I ran at a slightly faster pace the tight sensation seemed to lessen.  I noticed this same tight feeling in my arch a couple of week ago, but it did not occur until mile 9 or 10 if memory serves.  From what little I have read on arch pain I believe I may have the beginning of plantar fasciitis. 

I got this bit of helpful information from drshoe.wordpress.com 

"Many patient’s I see have arch or heel pain, otherwise known as plantar fasciitis. The plantar fascia is a structure on the bottom of the foot which extends from the heel to the ball of the foot. When it is tight (bow-strung) it can cause inflammation and pain."

"Not surprisingly, shoes can cause plantar fasciitis, especially shoes that are excessively worn, too short in the arch or too flexible. If you have plantar fasciitis you will definitely want to evaluate your shoes. You should also try not going barefoot in the house."

"If the pain persists, you will want to visit your podiatrist who may recommend calf stretches, anti-inflammatory medications (Motrin, Aleve) or give you a cortisone injection. Custom orthotics may also help."

I would not actually say that I have had what I consider to be pain at this point, but I'm cautious by nature and as a distance runner I know that I must listen to my body.  I think I will massage my arches every day, stretch my calves, and go a little easier on my runs this week.  I probably need to get some new work shoes too.  Mine are getting a little worn out.  

Brick workout. 

Ride:16.31 mile ride in 59:55. 

Run: 3.04 miles in 23:58 @ a 7:54 pace. 

I used my new Brooks Ravena 2 shoes for the first time today.  I love new shoes.  I did not feel any tension in my right foot's arch.  I took yesterday off to rest, aside from my 45 minute swim, and I only ran three miles today, albeit after 15 miles on the bike.  Hopefully the new shoes along with a little rest and icing will "fix" whatever is causing the tightness of what I believe to be my plantar fascia. 

 I ran in my new Brooks Ravena 2's for the second time today.  I paid close attention to my arches the whole time.  Interestingly my left arch started to feel a little tight first.  I started to feel a little tightness in my left arch at 6.5 miles and did not feel anything in my right arch until about 7 miles.  Once I felt my right arch it sort of became the dominant feeling between the two.  It was not painful at any point, it just felt a little tight.  I kept the pace real easy at 8:28 minute miles. 

I wore my old NB 1225's this morning and pushed Ty in the jogging stroller.  My arches felt fine the whole time, although I did not surpass the seven mile mark that is usually the point where they begin to tighten up.  I'm anxious to the 1225's out for a 9 mile run to see what happens.  The only have about 275 miles on them, although they have sat in my closet for about 2 years since I last ran in them.  I was told by the staff at my local running shoe store that the rubber goes bad sitting even if the shoes have not been used. 

I ran with Ty in the jogging stroller today on the hills of the Creek trail.  I massaged my arch of my right foot for about 10 minutes before I left the house.  On the run I started to feel the tightening at about 6.5 miles like usual.  I'm taking tomorrow off as part of my scheduled rest day.  I plan on icing and massaging more.  I'm not sure if I will run my usual long run Sunday or not since the tightness tends to hit at the 6 to 7 mile mark.  

I ran long and slow today at a 9:49 average pace.  This was very different for me to say the least, but necessary for me to heal.   I believe I have overstressed my plantar fascia and thus have been dealing with minor arch pain in most of my runs over 7 miles for the past two weeks.  I did not know until two nights ago that I technically have a high arch.  I always thought I had an average to high arch. 

The test I used was to dip my foot in a shallow pan of water and then immediately place my foot on a flat paper bag.  The foot print will determine your arch type depending on how much of your arch is visible in the print.  There is a website, which I can't remember the name of now, that can be used to compare to see what type you have.  Apparently high arches are more vulnerable to plantar fascia problems which is associated with arch pain.  Every time your foot lands your arch flattens out a little bit stretching the plantar fascia tissue that runs from your heal to the ball of your foot. 

I have never managed to develop this problem before in seven years of running, but I think I now know what happened.  This year I just took on a little too much.  I began incorporating triathlon training into my life.  I started out early in the year just biking once or twice, and never more than 10 to 12 miles on the bike.  I did a couple of brick workouts, but never consistently from week to week until the first couple of weeks in April before my sprint distance race.  After that race I quit the bike and the swims and focused solely on my running for five weeks to continue training for my half marathon.  I got in really great running shape for the half.  After the half I should have lightened up my training, but I did not.  I immediately started biking three times a week, swimming three times a week, and I continued running an average 30 miles a week.  After three weeks of this the workouts got very tough and I was sensing my body was asking me to back off.  So I decided to take a full week off.  All I did that week was a couple of strength training sessions and mostly took it easy.  No running, biking, or swimming.  I resumed the following week, but I gradually took my bike sessions down to two per week.  The difference this time was that in order to begin increasing my running mileage I began to make every bike workout a brick.  I ran at least three miles after having biked for 15 miles and sometime longer.  These twice weekly bricks were scheduled on my easy run days so that I could fit them in to my life.  The problem with this was that I ran the bricks hard coming off the bike instead of easy.  I completely disregarded the rule to go easy on the easy days.  I really did not have any "easy" days due to the rigorous multi-sport schedule I had made for myself. 

On top of all that I was occasionally taking Ty in the jogging stroller.  I took him once or twice a week, sometimes on the bricks and sometimes on the tempo runs.  The good thing here is that running with the jogging stroller was fun and challenging.  I felt I was getting an enhanced workout and I enjoyed the father son bonding time I got with my child.  The bad thing here is that pushing a jogging stroller changes your running form.  There is no possible way that it won't.  You are not able to run with both arms freely moving in their natural patterns to balance the body.

So while I was steadily increasing my mileage at the recommended rule of no more than ten percent per week, I also had added two bricks per week at a hard run pace, and about one to two stroller runs per week sometimes as hard runs.  This was just too much for my body to take.  I have learned my limits.  

I'm now going to follow Sasha's injury prevention and treatment principles along with icing and stretching treatment to rehab.  My workouts for the foreseeable future will not be looked upon as training for fitness, but as training for physical therapy.  I will do slow easy runs so as not to aggravate my plantar fascia as it heels and strengthens with each day.  When I can run the volume without having pain for soreness I will gradually add speed being careful not to add too much too soon.  With a little caution I am hopeful I will not be too far behind on my marathon training that is supposed to start this Monday. 

This was day two of my running for physical therapy rather than fitness.  I jogged for 45 minutes at a 9:50 pace.  I could only slightly feel the plantar fascia in my arches.  I think I felt it slightly more so in my right than in my left.  I massaged both arches for about 10 minutes before I left and I stretched them after I finished.  I also did three sets of calf raises for strength after the stretching.  I've following the stretching advice on injuredrunner.com, which was a website recommended by Dean Karnazes in his book 50/50.  

Easy jog.  Still waiting on my plantar fascia to heal up.  I felt it only slightly in my right foot this morning.

Average pace 9:31

I'm continuing to rest and take it easy.  I really wanted to run this morning, but I'm trying to listen to my body rather than my mind.  I'm still feeling a slight amount of tightness in my left foot's arch.  I have felt it momentarily throughout that day a few days this week. 

I ended up opting for cross training this morning by riding the bike for an hour instead of my usual long run.  My right arch felt fine, but my left felt just slightly tight off and on throughout most of the ride.  I can't wait to get my new shoes with arch supports.  I curious to see if wearing them feels more comfortable.