Snow Day Again

The best news about Saturday's run is that I got through it. We had a couple inches of new snow on the ground, which meant that we were running in soft, dry snow in some areas, slush in some areas, and on ice in some areas.

I'm really tired of snow.

I put in my 3 or 3.5 before hooking up with the HalfWits, and it was slow going. Then with the group I did my thing of speeding up to talk with some folks and slowing down to talk with others.

Problem is, the hills on the Abe's Amble course kind of got to me. I was struggling a bit in the last mile, and I'm not sure if it was the last uphill, the steep crown of Sangamon Avenue along that stretch, or the residual effect of giving blood on Thursday.

On the other hand, the temperature was just fine. And there was no ankle pain afterwards.

Shoelaces and Blood

There I was at 5:30 am, running along and feeling fine when I felt the tale-tell tapping against my lower shin that signaled a flopping shoelace. For the second consecutive run, I had an untied shoelace. What am I, five years old all over again?

There was a time when I would double-knot my shoelaces every time I ran, and I guess I have to return to those golden days. Or buy those shoelace clips, but buying anything else for running this year is pretty much a non-starter in my mind. I've paid for my Green Bay registration, I'll be buying new shoes in May, and I'm committed to the travel expenses for the marathon trip.

So shoelace clips can take a number.

Anyway, I stopped in the early morning chill, knelt down, retied my laces, double-knotted them, and got going again. Of course, I'd had to pull off my woolen mittens to do my shoe tying, which meant I had to pull the mittens back on to start running again.

Once I got going again things were good. The temperature was around 12 and there was a brisk east wind, but except for the two times I was running straight into the wind, I was comfortable. I should have been, because I must have taken 20 minutes to dress this morning. That's the part of winter running I truly hate--taking so long just to get ready to head out the door.

But I was really glad I ran early, because the snow started falling before noon. Then the blood center called, with an urgent need for my blood type. I drove on over and dropped off a unit and smiled that I now had a very good excuse for skipping my weight training for the day.

Sometimes life is good. Even when your shoelace is flopping around.

ET

Tuesday at 5:30 the HalfWits group was doing a hill workout and I was right there with them. While most of the crew was charging up the hills and jogging or walking down them, I was concentrating on maintaining my pace uphill and down.

Last year I really concentrated on improving speed. That was my goal for the year--get faster. Or maybe get to where I might consider myself "fast." I did speedwork and hills and track work and, well, I didn't really get any faster.

So this year I'm training for a marathon. Based on what I've read and what I've been told, a real key to finishing, which is my marathon goal, is maintaining a steady pace. So that's what I worked on Tuesday night.

I also put in enough mileage for a 5.4 mile workout. And my ankle felt fine the whole time, thank goodness.

So today I decided not to tempt fate by going for a run. I used an elliptical trainer--ET--instead. I worked that thing for 40 straight minutes, which felt like an eternity (only because it's so boring). Except for the tedium, it felt great.

So does my ankle. I'm hoping to wake up early enough for a 5 am run tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Ankles

I have arthritis in both ankles, and the pain flares up as the oddest times. Most of the time it's fairly minor or something that I can run through and get my miles in.

But wow, after Saturday's run, and especially in the evening after I had been sitting a bit, the pain was intense. Sunday morning it was difficult to walk, especially on my right side. I stretched it and worked it and got to the point that I was walking okay.

So I planned to run early today, a day off from work. But when I got up this morning, the pain was back. Pain and weakness, so I didn't run. I thought I'd be able to get my run in sometime later in the day, but the damn thing still hurts. This is throwing off my week--at least it's a cutback week.

Cramps

Yesterday morning at 5 I had a banana and a slice of toast with peanut butter. Why am I thinking about that? Because I started getting a cramp in my right calf around the 10-mile mark.

Not a bad cramp, but about three times there was a brief shot of pain for a moment. But when I've cramped before, it was always around the 11-mile mark; 10 miles seems awfully quick. So I'm trying really hard to figure out why they came along. In two weeks Nutrition can be a factor, but I usually eat a banana each day. I think I've been missing a few bananas, er, days lately.

I'm also wondering if a long break could be the problem. I ran 3 miles on my own before I joined up with the HalfWits group for their 9-mile run. But I waited around for 20 minutes before we started running again. I got kind of cold standing around and I was a little worried about that. I didn't think about the possibility that my legs might tighten up in that time.

I have a 14-mile run in two weeks. I really want it to go well, because I've never run farther than 13.1 before. Also, that's a little more than half of the marathon distance. I really really don't want to have to deal with cramps.

Nautilus

There is really nothing like a workout that leaves you feeling more energized than when you started. That's the kind of workout I had at noon today.

I did leg and upper body weights on the Nautilus machines. That means I was doing exercises that focus on the knees, among other things.

I'm really obsessing about my knees these days. Too many runners I know have had to give up on long-distance training programs because they developed knee trouble. I'd hate to get further into this training for the marathon and then have to give up because one of my knees blows up.

So once a week I work on the Nautilus leg machines. So far it seems to be working. And it was nice to feel energized after a workout.

Catching Up

It's been over a week since my last post. Time to catch up.

I actually went ahead and ran last Tuesday and got caught in a driving rainstorm. Put in 3.5, including some hill work, so I guess it wasn't a total waste of time.

Friday morning I did some Nautilus lifting and some swimming in a failed attempt to cut some weight for the stupid Biggest Loser contest at work. My workout had no impact, but it really felt good to do some swimming.

Saturday was a very good running day. The temperature was over 30, the wind wasn't bad, and the sun was out. I put in four miles before the HalfWits run got going around 7:30 and ran seven with that group for a total of 11.

I kept my pace even, and I was a little concerned. It has been a few weeks since I last ran 11 miles--I'd have to look up the exact date that I last ran that distance. When we were done I wasn't really tired and had no pain. Got home and took the dogs for a walk and then rested. After laying around for a couple hours my ankles stiffened up and started to hurt, but it could have been worse.

I don't know why, but 11 miles is kind of a milepost distance for me. When I can run 11 comfortably like I did on Saturday, I have a lot more confidence about increasing my distance. Confidence is going to be vital in coming weeks, I think.

Yesterday I was back at it, running three miles at lunch time, and I picked a route that still had a lot of ice on the sidewalks. Getting through the running wasn't easy, and that's just because of the condition of the sidewalks.

Which brings us to today's run of six miles. This is the first time I've attempted to run that kind of distance during the work day. I went in a half hour early to make up for what I knew would be an hour and a half of exercise, stretching, showering, and dressing.

And of course it started snowing this morning. And the temperature never got above 18, even though the forecast promised that we would see the 20s. I almost decided to lift weights today and postpone the run to tomorrow, but I went ahead for a run.

There were some slick spots out there, but for the most part the footing was firm and secure. That was a good thing, because I had some mild hills on the route I had picked out for the run. I went through Washington Park and headed up Lincoln Street, which is fairly steep coming out of the park, then back in on Park Street.

I felt great the whole way. So far my Tuesday runs have felt just wonderful. And today, with the crisp air and some snowflakes flying around, it was really good. Felt strong on all the hills and confident all the way to the end of my six.

So we're in the middle of Week 5, and the marathon is 96 days away. I just don't know what I think about that yet.

Wimp Day -- One More Time!

We had thick fog most of the day, including 11:00 this morning when I wanted to get my Monday 3 miles in. Also, there was still slush, ice and slop on the streets and sidewalks. So I wimped out again and headed for the treadmill.

I did my 3.1 miles on the treadmill and then did some pushups and crunches. I'm trying to do pushups on a regular basis now, even though I've managed to avoid them for, well, years. Just seems like they could help with the old upper-body strength.

The worst part of the workout was when I was finishing and Jack, Russ and some others mentioned loudly that they were heading outside. Whatever.

Tomorrow it's ran and thunderstorms. I may do weights tomorrow and run on Wednesday and Thursday.

All Better Now?

The pain in my right knee subsided very slowly throughout Friday, and I just kept gobbling Advil. Some of my buddies refer to ibuprofen as "Vitamin I" and I may be thinking of it that way myself.

There were still some times when it felt a bit stiff on Friday, and I was a little worried even though it felt pretty good by bedtime.

I should probably mention that Thursday afternoon we started getting snow. By Friday morning we had just short of 13 inches of snow on the ground.

Saturday morning I felt no pain. Even though I was concerned about how the footing would be, I went ahead and ran an easy 6 miles with the HalfWits group and it felt fine during and after the run. Even with less than perfect footing, even with the occasional slip underfoot, everything felt fine. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It was interesting to me that I considered this run as no big deal. It wasn't that long ago that I thought it was the high point of good conditioning to be able to run 6 miles at any time. Now it's a warmup.

Long run this week is 11 miles. We'll see how it goes.