Archive for the ‘recovery’ Category

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Short eighth run and breathing right on seven

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

Today I bused up to NE to run in my running partner’s hood. It marked eight days in a row of running. I don’t think I’ll be able to continue as I have a gig tomorrow and I don’t like to run on days when I am playing in the band. Its too hard to play for two hours, my fingers get really tired and lazy.

The run today was nice with plenty of breaks. It was a great way to recover further (this is my second recover run in a row, though the nearly eight miles I did yesterday was faster than a true recovery run.) If I do manage to run in the evening after the show tomorrow, I think I will repeat the effort of today.

Yesterday and odd thing happened. I came to a corner with a older guy on a bike to my left with a stop sign. I crossed in front of him and nodded as I passed. He was staring at my as if studying me. I thought it odd, but continued on my way. A couple of blocks later he pulls up along side me and begs an interruption. I take off my headphones and he apologizes and assures me that it will be worth it. He tells me I could improve my running posture by bringing my nose down and looking ahead “like a cockroach.” I didn’t ask him to explain, I just listened to him. I didn’t even find out what the benefit was going to be from doing this. And then just as suddenly as we met, we parted ways; me wanting to run and he probably embarrassed for stopping me and giving me a lecture.

After the encounter I tried the old guy’s advice. For the entire run I aimed down slightly and then looked ahead with roach eyes. My breathing felt clearer! I was able to breath through my nose and exhale through my mouth, sometimes a combo of both. I am not sure if my sinuses were especially clear before the run or if it was just mental, but I felt better, felt like I ran faster and definitely pushed the pace a bit on what was supposed to be a recovery run.

I researched (and my running partner did as well) and we couldn’t find anything about it. Some advice to the contrary (in general breathing advice seems to go against itself with one sure fire method negating another) saying don’t look down, hold your head up, look straight ahead. I think it comes down to doing what feels natural.

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Mile high intervals

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

This morning I made it over to the high school track. It always brings back memories of those years even though I didn’t run track in HS. The extent of my time in the stadium was spent marching for half-time shows with the band. Still it is kind of neat to run there. I didn’t think I would be able to get in at first as all gates were locked. I had given up and headed to the Jr. High just to the north when I saw what looked to be an open gate used for maintenance purposes. So I sneaked in and was able to crank out some straights and curves, two miles worth. The run ended up being just under 5 miles in total.

I am still noticing the elevation here. My HR seems to stay 5-10 beats higher than normal and my speed on the straights was lessened. I noticed that my recovery seemed to be affected as well. As I would finish my “sprints” on the straights I would fall into a slow jog on the curves and my HR continued to rise for longer than I am used to. In fact it kept going up for nearly half the curved portion before it started falling. Of course it then didn’t get back to as low as I usually liked before it was time to run fast again. So 150+ was a bout as low as the distances would allow me. For the last two laps of my run I was feeling pretty pooped out, the humidity was killing me. I almost gave up but decided that I would continue on and force myself to complete the full circuit of eight laps.

My cool down was pretty slow and I plodded along past an old girlfriend’s house, the library and an astonishingly large corn field in someones lot that used to be a pet cemetery. This is my last run of this trip to Winslow and I find myself missing the chance to get out in the town to relive memories. But I have to say I will not miss the heat, the humidity or the elevation.

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Tough recovery run

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

This morning I really didn’t feel like running. I was still pretty burnt out form the hot run yesterday, but we have guests coming and I need to get my miles in when I can. I am hoping to get a long run in Saturday after they leave. Sunday is pretty much out as I have a concert to play in the morning. Both days will be hard to run on as I probably won’t get going until the afternoon and by then it may be too warm. I guess I need to get used to it, plus I should burn more calories in the heat.

I could still feel the effects of yesterday’s cramping in my calves. It wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely there. I have been trying extra hard to hydrate today. The run was actually pretty nice, it was getting warm but still pretty cool and a nice breeze helped out immensely. I didn’t push it even when I was passed by a good looking girl (she didn’t last for too long at her pace.) I pushed the run out for longer than I originally intended, it ended up 7.5 miles. Slow miles.

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Recovery run

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

I did a good recovery run today. It felt almost perfect in terms of heart rate with everything being under 43. Looking at the watch report I saw I went above that rather consistently. So I wonder why it felt so on track? Actually my overs were pretty isolated to hilly areas and I was getting weird readings fr the first half mile till I started to sweat. I could have tried to moisten the back of the sensors on the strap, but its sort of a pain and I knew that once I got some sweat going then it would be more accurate. I think I really needed a run like that, maybe I will do my long run tomorrow? I am at 30 miles right now, with Sat and Sun to go.

This is the fourth day in a row I have run. So maybe tomorrow should be another short run. Maybe I will do a short tempo tour of SE tomorrow instead. The long on Sunday. Still don’t know where I will go for my long run. Lake of Mystery? Or Tour of Milwaukee?

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Cold wet volcano run

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010

My running partner (I should say partners as her dog, a strapping Irish Setter always comes too) and I took a slow recovery type hill run up to the top of Mt. Tabor and back. The goal was to keep the entire run under our recovery ceiling of 70% max ( my HR at 143 and hers a bit higher at 147). We did pretty good except for the climbing, but even then my HR only maxed at 151. The last two miles of cool down were all under as we plodded back. The rains came right as we got back to my house, all in all a lot calmer weather-wise than was predicted, though I was looking forward to lightning strikes.

I have to say I am liking the G2 as a recovery drink. I think I’ll like the orange mix better than the fruit punch. I really wish they made it without any coloring, the fruit punch is really deep red, it looks like red ink. But I really like the low calories and sugar. I also like that the powders mix really quickly and thoroughly. I have been mixing with more water than they suggest, goes perfectly in my big plastic ice tea tumblers.

Apparently there has been some problem with G2 stock levels. The only flavors I have seen in the powders has been fp and  grape. Even online. The only flavor Fred Meyers has is the fp.

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Slow and easy recovery

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

My morning plans included a run with my running partner. I was a bit worried she would want to go fast and I was still pooped from yesterday. Well she never made it up, so I went out on my own. Probably for the best as I was able to go the pace I needed to do which was slow, slow, slow. I kept a keen eye on my HR and it stayed really low, around 130. It took me quite awhile to do six miles, but it was nice and relaxed and I never felt stressed. Good recovery run So good in fact that I let my running partner convince me to do another run this evening. She better not want to go fast!

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Track work

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

After a recovery run on Tuesday (and a day off on Monday) I went to the track to force  myself to do some speed work. I think that is what has been missing from my running these last several weeks, actually I know it. My speed really slowed down after the time off I took going up to Seattle and then the week following being sick. It has been somewhat of a struggle getting back into things. The running itself hasn’t been too bad, but my pace has been really slow and basically feels like I have reverted to where I was a couple months ago before I started including quality runs into my workout. Everything has felt plodding.

Yesterday’s speed workout went ok. After six laps of straights and curves I decided to head back. I was tired and the track was crowded. I kept having to dodge soccer balls, apparently you need like 50 of them to have a practice and they have to be kicked all over the place. The sprints were at a good sold pace and I felt strong doing them. I think it was a good start back to going faster. Now I just need to keep it up. I think a tempo run is in my near future!

Today I am going to do a short recovery run. Hopefully I will be doing it with my running partner, she has been sick and still working with her new dog who will also probably be joining us this morning. No text yet saying she can’t make it, and we are supposed to leave in ten minutes.

Update: I ended up doing the run on my own this morning which wasn’t all bad as I did the miles I wanted to do. I also really focused on doing a recovery run. My goal was to keep my heart rate under my recovery ceiling of 70% or 143 bpm for the entire run. There were a few times it got up to 146, but I did pretty well even on hills. I was surprised to notice that I was able to keep up a decent pace and even keep the HR below 140. Towards the end of the run the final two miles were harder to keep the HR low but I was able to without going agonizingly slow.

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Tempo followed by recovery

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Yesterday I ran an eight mile tempo run, well the second through sixth miles were anyway, I started out with a half mile warm up and then picked it up for a sub 8:30 pace for the next 5.5. It went well was I felt strong throughout, My pace dropped a bit for mile four which is up hill for half of it, but I only lost 15 seconds averaged through the mile split, then back under goal for two more miles. The HR was obviously pretty high though this in the 160s for the first three miles and then over 175 for the next three on avg. I had to push it through this fast 5.5 and then spent the next mile and first of two in a cooldown going up hill and still keeping a relatively high heart rate. The last mile and a half was really slow (12 min miles) and I kept my HR around 150 or less.

I saw a barefoot runner go by and chatted at him for a bit. he told me he had heard that Vibram runners have been cutting the heels out of them. He didn’t own a pair and was doing it full on barefoot. Said he might get some for the really hot weather.

After my hard run in the afternoon, I got up pretty early and went out again for a recovery run of six miles. It was slow going and a really good recovery run with very little time spent over my recover ceiling and a lot of it under by 5 beats or more. Boring run, slow run but a totally successful one. Recovery done, time for another quality run tomorrow! Maybe an AeT run with an HR around 160?

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Recovery run that felt like a marathon

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Last night my running partner and I hit the roads to run a needed recovery run. Neither of us wanted to do it, but realized we really needed to get out there and stretch our sore legs. We decided to do out run very slowly so as not to kill either of us. Off we went.

So even though we went so slowly, the perceived exertion level was really high. Both of us felt wiped out by it. Though oddly we attacked the Reed campus hill and ran it as fast as we ever had. Perhaps it was our slow 5-mile warm up that gave us the energy. That and I think there is a “show-off” aspect sometimes to our running that we both feed off of (at least there is with me, and I think with her a bit as well.)

I was originally intending to go for a run today, but I had no choice but to take it off. I was wiped. I woke up feeling very dehydrated despite drinking a huge glass of powerade last night (essentially just sugar and water, and possibly some other good stuff.)

Tomorrow we are heading to the waterfront for seven miles at a consistent 9:30 pace. Our goal is to get my partner’s half-marathon pace cemented in her brain.

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Getting back into running after a marathon

Friday, December 5th, 2008

I have noticed that after a marathon event that it is both hard to break from your established training routine and get back into it at the same time. In reality it is good to give the body a rest after the rigors of preparing, break the habits of training(assuming you aren’t going to keep up with your routine, which for the most part is everyone) and ease into your post marathon life. Unless you injure yourself this is often tough to do. After I did a full marathon two years ago, I found myself running 15 miles on a grueling course just to prove I could do it. Bad idea, my body was tapped after the big even and pushing myself too hard was a mistake. I should have done several recovery runs instead of another big one.

This time I am going the extreme opposite and not running at all, not really by choice though. I seem to have pulled something in my groin area. I am not sure when, and I first noticed it a couple of days after I got back from Seattle. It doesn’t hurt too horribly, it might be a slight hernia. I am going to give it the weekend and see how it goes before seeing my doc about it though I need to go back anyway for a cholesterol check. We’ll see.

I think there must be a happy medium. Keep up the running, but let the training routine go. I have found one of the hardest transitions is laying off the food. You up your caloric intake, get used to it, run the race and then have to go back to eating less. It’s hard, I like food (especially carbs) too much.

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