Morning Run

6:00 am - Dog we've never heard before barking and snuffling in the neighbor's yard.
6:30 am - Alarm clock. I roll over and cover my head.
6:45 am - Dog begins barking again.
7:07 am - Phone rings with a wrong number call.
7:10 am - Obviously the universe is trying to help me get up this morning. I get up.
7:24-7:45 am - Run. Too fast for a recovery run. About a 10:30 mile.

So I didn't get up at 6:30, but I did discover that probably a 7 am wake up would be early enough. And I did enjoy it. I even thought of getting my Thursday runs in early as well!

Home Run

We spent the weekend up in my hometown of Sebastopol and yesterday Andy and I took an easy 4 mile run through town. We went down the bike path that runs behind my old house, crossed through the local high school, ran along beside the Laguna de Santa Rosa nature preserve, then looped back down Main Street, up the only hill in town, passed a school friend's old house, and headed back. It was only 4 miles at most, but I'm pleased with myself for actually getting out and running this weekend. Later, we drove up to Clearlake to check out a possible site for my brother's wedding, then had dinner at a charming little restaurant in Hopland called Bluebird Cafe. It was fun to see my brother two weekends in a row - something that, sadly, almost never happens.

All this means that we didn't get to go to yoga as planned, and I didn't run my seven miles as planned, but this is probably the last impromptu trip we'll be able to make until the Spring semester is over, so I decided to relax and enjoy it. Tomorrow I try to wake up at 6:30 am for my easy run.

Routines

Well, I got in 3.5 miles last night. It should have been a 5 mile tempo run, but I haven't been feeling well all week and I had missed two runs in a row. So I felt clumsy and out of shape and my stomach was hurting. Weak, yes, but here's the thing: I'm still hoping to get in 7 miles on Sunday and there's nothing I fear more than making running become a loathsome chore I dread rather than the highlight of my day or week. I hope that one day I'll be one of those supremely dedicated people who has run every day for ten years, but for now running is still finding a place in my routines. My biggest goal aside from staying on schedule is to begin running Tuesday mornings before work and classes. Since Tuesday is my easy day, I can probably get away with a 6:30 am wake up, but that's still a full hour before our alarm clock usually goes off. Andy claims Tuesdays will become my favorite day of the week, which proves that he either doesn't know me at all, or knows me better than I know myself.

Trying to Settle In

The school semester starts at SFSU this week and we are trying to summon excitement, or at least energy. Andy and I are restless, moody, searching for things outside of our daily routines of work and writing. Maybe it's just winter, the deadening effect it can have, but we find ourselves impatient with the things that normally sustain us.

We did spend a lovely weekend with my brother in Long Beach just spending time with him, driving around listening to a recording of Charles Bukowski. Contemplating visiting Bukowski's grave in nearby Palos Verdes, but never making it there. He's not a poet most literary writers would admit reading, but there's an undeniable spirit to his work. And spirit is what seems to be missing from so much "literary" writing I encounter.

I always bring my running shoes on these kinds of trips, but never make it out running, and I wonder if part of my ennui is a sort of withdrawal. Anyway I can't wait to get out tonight, even just for my scheduled short run.

Running for a Cause - My First Race!

Suddenly my first race is just two and a half weeks away. I've been shooting for the 12k in March, but today, on the spur of the moment, I signed up for the Kaiser Permanente 5k on February 4th as well. Well, Andy signed me up. After a bit of haggling ("why pay $25 to run 3 miles right where we always run 3 miles" - a fair point, but I liked the idea of a real race) we agreed: he signed me up, and paid, to celebrate running, and my running, and to do something anti-athletic-consumerism before settling down to watch the Super Bowl that afternoon. In return, I offered to pay for his introductory yoga pass (30 days for $30) when we finally try to get back into doing yoga again (we've made a date for 10am Saturday, January 27th).

More importantly, the race is in support of three Bay Area charities. I am running in support of Family House, a home away from home for families whose critically ill children are being treated at UCSF Children's Hospital. I already feel blessed to have made running a part of my life, so it makes sense to combine it with something else that's always been important to me - making a meaningful contribution to my community and the world. I'd like to raise a total of $500 for Family House, so please, if you can afford to help, follow the link at right and donate today. It will mean a great deal.

Simplicity

I leave work early on Tuesdays, but somehow I didn't manage to get out and run until about 6:30pm. When I finally did go out, it promptly started raining and I had forgotten my gloves, so my hands were freezing when I started. I did find a headband yesterday after looking at the New Balance, Nike, and finally, Adidas, stores. It wasn't the thick, cozy, kind I had in mind, with the extra flap for the ears, but it did the trick last night. At this rate, by the time I get all of my winter running gear together, it will be spring.

Not that I don't want all the stuff - I do, but I'm kind of resistant to spending a lot of money on something as simple as running. In fact, the simplicity is part of what draws me. No costs, no classes, no gyms, no special tools - just lace up a good pair of shoes and run out the front door. I like that. I like feeling like running is something I can do anywhere, that I don't have to pack an extra duffel bag of gear, or load a car with supplies, when I take a weekend trip. So I guess I'm waiting to find out what I really need before going out and buying a bunch of stuff that I'll never use. The first thing was shoes, then socks, now a headband. That's about the way I like it.

Day Off

Andy and I took a lovely day off from everything yesterday. We went to breakfast around noon at a wonderful little French cafe in Cole Valley, then walked in the sun up to Kezar Stadium and watched the runners for a while, bumping into a couple of friends on the way. After that, we walked up to Canvas Cafe and spent a few hours reading and talking about the future of literature. Then we walked through Golden Gate Park to the Inner Richmond where we spent a cold half hour at Green Apple Books before getting dinner at Le Soleil. We capped off our night by going to see Almodovar's new film, Volver, at the Clay. Ahhh . . . A whole vacation packed into one day.

My long run Sunday was great and I feel good about the new schedule and pace goals. I started off a bit too fast, but settled into an 11:30 mile nicely and averaged an 11:00 mile over all. I'm already getting excited about the 12k in March!

New Schedule, New Pace Goals, New Running Buddy

I posted an updated training schedule at the bottom of the page with tempo run pace goals in the high 9s. I think this will put me in a good place to start training for the marathon and (I'm hoping) give me a good 12k time to base my training goals on. I'll be swapping out the speed trainings for hill work, and trying to incorporate more hills into my other runs as well.

Unfortunately, Andy's been having some trouble with his ankles and hasn't been running with me much recently. Back in his serious tennis days, he wore down the cartilage in his ankles and was told he would never walk again without a cane. He recovered, but he can't play much tennis or run on pavement more than about once a week. I prefer running with another person, especially on long runs, so I was excited when a friend's girlfriend emailed last week wanting to start running together. She ran the San Francisco Marathon last year, and wants to start training for it again. I hope to meet up with her for a run in the next couple of weeks.

For today, I'm planning on 6 miles through the park and around Stow Lake, hoping the shin will hold up and confirm that I really am back on track.

San Francisco Marathon Route

Jeff over at Map My Run alerted me to the fact that you can now embed maps into a blog. So here's the 2007 San Francisco Marathon route. A preview of what I'll be preparing for over the next several months.

Also, I hear it's National De-lurking Week, and I know there are a few of you who've found the blog, so please leave a comment and tell me about yourself!



Follow-up to the New York Times story "When It's OK to Run Hurt"

Here's a quick follow-up on the New York Times article I wrote about yesterday. I wrote to the story's author asking if the advice applied to shin splints. My question and her reply are included below.

I said:
Thank you for today's story "When It's OK to Run Hurt." The article, however, didn't answer one question that I'm sure many runners are dying to know -- does this advice apply to shin splints as well?

Gina's reply:
I think it applies to everything that is due to inflammation, which means if you have a stress fracture or real fracture or a ripped tendon or muscle, you can't run. So I guess it depends on whether your shin splints are from tendinitis, which is most likely, or a stress
fracture. Good luck -- I am so so sympathetic!

Interestingly, she attributed most shin splints to tendinitis, something I had never heard before. But when I Googled the terms "shin splint" and "tendinitis," I came up with this fantastic explination of the two different kinds of shin splints from Merck.com. It turns out that Posteromedial shin splints (the kind that effect the inside of the shin) are indeed a kind of tendinitis and would probably respond well to the icing/running therapy outlined in the NYT story.

Running the Embarcadero

At the risk of having to eat my words, I officially declare myself to be out of danger of shin splints. At least for now. Last night I took my first 5 mile run in about 2 weeks and everything felt great. I ran along the Embarcadero which, unlike Golden Gate Park, is full of activity. Runners, cyclists, and tourists filled the wide walkway along the waterfront. It was cold and windy near the water, so I pulled up my hood and ran to the sound of vinyl swishing against my ears. After about a mile and a half, I felt good enough to pick up the pace, and ran at something near a 10.5 minute mile for the next three miles. As I approached the Ferry Building on the way back, I forced myself to slow down again, though not quite to warm up pace. I completed the run in 58 minutes, an average pace of about 11:36.

Now that I'm back on track, I'll have a new training schedule with new pace goals up soon. The 12k is only 10 weeks away so, sadly, I might not get to add any 10 milers before the race. It's tempting to try for 7 miles on Sunday and stick with my current schedule, but it's probably smarter to play it safe and log a few solid 6 mile runs before upping my distances.

Running with an injury

The top emailed story on the New York Times this morning: According to some sports doctors, its OK to run as normal, even with an injury.

Maybe the reason the story (check it out here) is so popular is that it confirms what many of us have suspected for a long time. Continuing an activity after an injury doesn't seem to do any damage.

As new to athletics as I am, I've already started ignoring online medical advice. I've been running with a shin splint and a strained calf for weeks now and have steadily gotten better rather than worse.

The trick is to decrease distance and speed, these doctors say, and to ice for 20 minutes before and after exercise. Some recommend an anti-inflammatory like aspirin as well. And of course, don't run if doing so causes extreme pain. But if the pain after exercise is no greater than it would be otherwise, go ahead and run.

Again, this is what I've been doing for three weeks, with good results. The article, however, doesn't address the problem of shin splints, and I'm still not confident about running on them, so I wrote to Gina Kolata of the New York Times to find out. I'll post her reply if I get one.

In the mean time, I'll be buying a few more bags of frozen peas (yes, they're the best as ice packs!) and an extra bottle of aspirin and hitting the streets.

Hill Training

My run through the Mission Monday night convinced me to do a little more research on hill training in general. I found out that running hills might be the best thing possible for a distance runner - it seems that running hills works to strengthen muscles, improve fitness, improve form, and increase speed.

Because the runner must overcome gravity on an incline, hills work as resistance training, like lifting weights. This develops the muscles specific to running, namely the hamstrings, calves, quadriceps, and buttocks. It also helps develop the muscles around the ankles and knees, helping to prevent some of the most common running injuries.

In addition, the muscles used for hill work are the same muscles used for sprinting, so working hills improves speed, too. And because good hill running form requires an exagerated running motion - pumping the arms and lifting the knees high, form is improved along with both the length and frequency of your stride.

Since muscular fitness has been my main problem so far, it's clear that I would be well served by incorporating hills into my regular runs, mostly (at least at first) to develop the muscles that will prevent injury as I continue training.

Most of what I've read discourages speed work if you've recently suffered shin splints, so I plan to replace the speed work days on my training schedule with hill work. There are a few prominent hills in my neighborhood which I've so far taken care to avoid. Now I plan to take them head on.

Running Hills

Took a run through the Mission District for a change last night and realized how easy I have it in Golden Gate Park. Near Dolores Park, even the "flat" streets feature a remarkable amount of incline and decline. I ran up Guerrero Street to 21st Street, over to Dolores Street, around the park, up Dolores to 21st Street again and then zig zagged around until I began to feel a tight itching in my calf muscle around the 3rd mile. I ran another cool down mile to make it about 4 miles. It was humid and warm and I was dripping with sweat when I got done. My leg would probably have lasted another mile were it not for the hills, but they probably got a better workout last night. Overall, I'm feeling good, and I think I'm on track for another 4 or 5 miles on Thursday. Maybe the weather will hold too?

Off Schedule

I was a bit lazy this week and didn't take my Thursday run until Friday evening. Even then, I ran a conservative three miles, though I did pick up the pace a little. The shin felt great, but my calf muscle suffered a slight strain. One side effect to runing through the shin problems, is that my knees and calves are taking more impact than they would otherwise. Still, better a sore calf than the dull pain of muscle pulling away from bone at the shin, and the calf seems already back to normal. :-)

Then I missed my Sunday run altogether and I now feel so far off track, I'm not sure how best to pick up again. That 7 miles I was scheduled for yesterday seems farther and farther off. I haven't taken a run longer than 3 miles in almost two weeks. I'm tempted to try a slightly longer run today (5 miles?), let up a little this week (maybe 3 or 4 miles Thursday), and then see how 6 miles feels on Sunday. Too ambitious? I'll find out after the run tonight I guess.

This weekend, my mom and I drove up to Yuba City for an uncle's 4oth birthday party and quite a few of my uncles and aunts were there (my mom is the oldest of 10). I was surprised and pleased to find out how many of them have been runners. A few even have some marathons under their belts.

Why I Run

I read somewhere that 80% of those who take up running quit in the first month. Though I don't have the source (has anyone seen this statistic?) the number doesn't really surprise me. Running is difficult, demanding, and sometimes painful. It requires dedication, patience, and most of all, time. We take up running for all sorts of reasons, but I'm certain that those of us who keep doing it have found it to nourish our souls even more than our bodies. I don't claim to be an experienced runner, or even a fully committed one. I'll claim that after I've finished the San Francisco Marathon. But I know that in running I've found a place where, daily and weekly, I reach the limits of what I'm capable of, and then ask myself for more. And I can't think of a better habit or commitment to oneself than that.

Methods

My two mile easy run last night was uneventful. Though my leg felt a bit tight from toe to hip, I warmed up in the second mile and didn't experience any soreness on the run or afterwards. Still, I feel like I've lost a bit of momentum. I'll probably shorten my Thursday run by a mile or two, and maybe my Sunday long run as well. I know I should be pleased that I'm running at all, rather than nursing a dull ache in the leg, but I can't help feeling impatient.

Besides the Internet, my two sources of running information are Andy and our housemate Keith. Andy played juniors and college tennis, and his response to most athletic questions is to work harder, push through, do a little more. He has trouble watching me skip a day of my training schedule, even for "injury." Keith, by contrast, is the kind of natural runner who rarely suffers setbacks, and never had to learn to run. When I asked him about his foot strike a few days ago, I watched as he summoned a mental picture of his stride. He moved his foot ever so slightly. "Heel," he finally said. He once had a shin splint, but could not identify its source. He took a week off from running, then returned to his usual runs (he seems to run 6-8 miles on average).

So I'm trying to walk some kind of line between internet advice (some of which recommends taking as much as 3-4 weeks off) and Keith and Andy's advice, which would like to see me on a 7 mile run this Sunday (but not before, according the Keith). It seems to me that a little bit of running helps build muscle strength and prevents having to start from the ground up again, but that too much will continue to stress the weak area. So far, the soreness has been very minor, more of a threat than a full fledged problem, so I think it's safe to test some different approaches.

Happy New Year!

Sunday was the first running day I've skipped. Though I was disappointed, I think my restraint has paid off -- my shin was much improved by Sunday night, and held up well on a long walk yesterday. I'll test things out on my scheduled easy run this evening and try to get back on track by next week. The truth is, I didn't have much time for a run Sunday anyway. We had about 15 people over for food and drinks, and spent the better part of the day tidying the house, grocery shopping, and cooking. Regardless of how frequently I say the words casual, and low stress when referring to entertaining, it seems I'll always be busy and pressed for time the day of. Our housemate Keith (you can check out his green living blog here) made luscious lemon bars, I made chocolate dipped strawberries and oranges, and Andy assembled a collection of savory hors d'oeuvres. We also made deep dish pizzas which, had we baked them right away, would not have become architectural monstrosities, but would have remained flaky, chewy wonders.

Other than my commitment to running, my resolution for this year is less concrete. I'd like to find and develop the routines that nourish rather than oppress, that help me be fully present for the challenges and learning opportunities of work and graduate school, while still finding time for the things I love -- family and friends, writing, reading, running.