Biking, Running

I finally biked to work for the first time today - an easy downhill ride. About 3 minutes into the ride, a biker just in front of me caught a pedestrian that darted into his path, skidded, swiveled and went flying, he in one direction, his bike in the other. The pedestrian went on the attack, yelling about responsibility and following the same laws as cars. He even picked up a rock. Granted, cyclists in the city often disregard the law, running stop signs and lights, and careening through traffic. But you don't jump out in front of a car and then blame the driver for not looking out for you. They both seemed fine, so I continued on, but later I wondered if that was bad form - should I have stopped to help?

The way back was . . . painful. I kept shifting down but I couldn't seem to get low enough. I came home sweating more than I have on any run, though the ride is only 2.5 miles. Basically, it shamed me. I'm hoping that I can tell a different story three weeks from now.

Went for an easy recovery run when I got home - just 4 miles at a slow jog. As usually for my recovery runs, the first two miles were a struggle, in fact, I wanted to head home after the first 2 mile loop. But that's nothing new. Sometimes, you just run.

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! :)

Sluggish run, gorgeous sky

Just a 3 mile recovery run last night. Wooden legs turning to cement as we dragged ourselves past the easy 2 mile turnaround point and down into the park. Some days, the body and mind settle in. On others, like last night, the only satisfaction is the task accomplished. I like to picture myself at mile 16 of a marathon, remind myself that the bad days are better training than the good sometimes. The sky was indeed beautiful - bright indigo and star filled.

Last night, I dreamed I was running the half marathon. The course was poorly marked, with jaunts into blind alleys, and even a mall. Somewhere along the way, I grew confused as to whether I was running a whole marathon or a half, and I only confirmed it was a half when someone jumped forward, holding up a stopwatch to record my time. In the dream, I finished in 2:14:55. Better than I'll do in the real thing - perhaps my mind has launched a positive visualization campaign.

Finally, I'm moving up in the blogosphere - the blog has cracked the top million on Technorati. (Insert amused smile). Thanks, everyone, for reading and linking here.

Next Up?

Another recovery run today, and it feels good to be out running an extra day per week. I can definitely do four days a week. Five might start testing my commitment, but who knows. So far my commitment has been like that of an addict to a new drug - almost limitless. In fact, such a comparison isn't far off - after all, endorphins are more properly called endomorphines.

This Sunday, another 9 miler, then a lighter running week before the 12k. After that? Very likely, the Santa Cruz Half Marathon on April 22. Talk about milestones. The idea seems sudden to me, but here's what I'm thinking: lighter mileage leading up to the 12k and light mileage that week, so plenty of rest before upping mileage again. Then two 10 mile long run weeks, followed by two 12 mile long run weeks, tapering the rest of my week's mileage during the last week. Then the half marathon. We don't plan to run it for time, just as a 13 mile training run, but I'm not entirely confident about this one so advice is welcome!

New Shoes

An easy and fast 2 mile morning run in the new Asics 2120s. The extra room in the toes felt good, but I'm not sure if I prefer them to the 2110s. The shoe felt a bit stiffer, and the cushioning was, well, less cushy. They were noticeably lighter though, and since my feet felt sore even before stepping into them, I'm not sure it was a fair test.

I noticed today that my footstrike seemed to be somewhere between the heel and the midfoot area, rather than fully on the heel like I thought it was. Would that change over time, or was this was my natural strike all along and I just didn't notice or couldn't tell?

Why?

1. The blog has been locked because it "has characteristics of a spam blog." Huh? All those ads for fake meds I've been posting, I guess. If this is posted, however, it means Blogger deemed it "not spam after all."

2. A toenail on my right foot is purple/black and will most certainly fall off in a few months because I'm too chicken to poke a hot drill through the nail. Has anyone really done that? My shoes have always felt pretty roomy, but now I wonder if they're still too small.

3. The Nike+ worked perfectly this morning. I had the most accurate mileage reading ever and still without calibrating it (I have a date with the track tomorrow but I'm a bit intimidated.) Andy thinks the gizmo must like him - as soon as he was running with me again, it worked. Either that, or it thought it was helping me through the race by giving really encouraging splits. Side note: One of my favorite words is resistentialism, the idea that inanimate objects rebel when we need them most.

4. My "easy runs" are so often (like this morning) the least easy of my runs. Maybe because I've been running them mornings for the last month (I've never been much of a morning person)?

Recovery?

I've made it up early for a morning run three weeks in a row, which really is more than I expected of myself. These two mile recovery runs are easy now, and I always take them too fast (this one came in at 21 minutes, including the lights and the minute I spent chatting with a friend I ran into). Today, to keep myself occupied, I was thinking about the difference between physical and mental stamina, how the body can do anything if only the mind won't interfere. I could practically run 2 miles on two broken legs at this point, but today, my mind didn't really want to do it, even on two fit legs. Yeah, I was a little sore after Sunday, and my left shin's been peeping again lately, but mostly, I was just a little bored, a little underutilized, my mind thought. Of course, the real challenge is to remember that these runs are about recovery, about training the body to use and conserve differently, also, about keeping the mind impatient rather than worn out. Being bored is good, being slow is good, and getting out when we don't really want to is best of all.

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!