Recovery Runs

I've always wondered about the science behind the recovery run. I hate nothing more than plodding through a cold stiff run so short it almost doesn't feel worth the effort to put on running clothes. So I found this article on Active.com interesting. Combine recovery runs with an interval training regime, and fitness should improve exponentially! :)

Daniels VS Pfitzinger

I ordered both books online, but I'm not really planning on pitting them against each other. In fact, I don't plan on adopting the "Pfitz" plan any time soon (after the SF marathon?), but I am ready to get a bit more scientific about training. I'm still building base miles, trying to encourage my body to catch up with my ambitions, trying to keep it slow and patient, getting my mind to adjust to sustained pressure. Why is it that I can run for an hour and a half with relative ease, but a two minute dash to catch a train leaves me with heart pumping, struggling to catch my breath? Am I not pushing hard enough on my regular runs? Andy would say so. He thinks I should be forcing the pace up, chasing speed goals.

I want to be running farther and faster too, but most of my runs still leave me with tight calves, ominous shin aches, sore hamstrings. Part of that is expected, but I don't have any threshold for comparison. How hard is too hard to push, and what pains are run-of-the-mill, what pains are cause for carefulness? Case in point: after my long run Monday, the back of my left leg grimaced painfully along the whole length, painful even to stretch. It has only started to subside today, and the shin still aches. I want to get in a good hard run before Sunday's race, but is that wise? would a gentle 5 miles be better? if I do include a 6 mile tempo run, when should do it? should I give myself ample time to recover from Sunday rather than risk a real injury (run on Friday), or give myself ample recovery time before next Sunday (run on Thursday)?

Books aren't any substitute for experience, but I'm hoping they will give me context, new ways to measure and make meaning from the jumble of questions and impressions I've built up so far. After July 29th, maybe I'll be able to look back over a year of running and know things, crown myself "intermediate," set new goals. Until then, there are running books, and a break from all that poetry :)

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 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.

Stretches and Exercises for Runners

I found a page of stretches and a page of strengthening exercises for runners on the NISMAT website (full link at right). It's simple stuff, but a good start for those of us who are just getting started and need to take special care to guard against overuse injuries. I plan to take it a bit easy tomorrow. If the leg feels OK, I'll take a short run, then concentrate on preparing for New Year's Eve -- we plan to have 8 or 10 friends over for dinner, drinks, and of course, champagne.