It's All About The Run

I spoke to Steven today regarding his marathon. He ran a VERY SOLID race on a day with less then perfect conditions......actually let me re-phrase that- he ran in BRUTAL running conditions. Mother Nature can deal a cruel hand at times. I don't want to spoil it so will wait for him to post his report (hopefully soon). You kicked ass Steven- good on ya!

My running has been going pretty well. I have continued to ramp up the mileage while running aerobically and have continued to see improvement...baby steps but I'll take it. Several weeks ago, I could barely keep my HR under 160 while shuffling along and now I am running faster while running closer to a HR of 150. I'm going to try and keep it under 150 going forward.

Many people may make the train slow, race slow argument with this focus but it really isn't about training slowly. It's about improving your aerobic base so that you will see improvements in speed while running at the same aerobic HR's. Also, once you throw in the harder / faster stuff, you have a much better foundation and be less prone to injury. At least that's what I tell myself as I force myself to keep it easy right now!

Here are a couple good links on training aerobically (and before anyone mentions it, yes- I know that using 180 - your age is really not a good way to calc training zones. I guess the take away is to just run easy *notice I didn't say slow!*) :

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460
http://www.trinewbies.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=153
http://www.rrca.org/resources/articles/slowdown.html
http://www.counterpartcoaching.com/hadd.pdf

Running numbers for the last week. My legs are sore with the increase in mileage but will keep chopping unless my body tells me otherwise. Actually it is protesting a bit now with some slight soreness in the right knee but it seems to work itself out by the time I am ready to lace the shoes up again for another go.

Run Summary - Week of 10/23
7 days running
63 Miles Total
Mon 6
Tue 5
Wed 5
Thu 8
Fri 10
Sat 21
Sun 8

Have a great week!
*Peace*

Quest For Mileage

I have come to the realization that I'll need to start throwing in am runs, before work, if I ever want to run over 50 miles a week. It sure is hard though when it's pitch black out at 6am and about 40 degrees.....add rain to the mix and staying in bed wins every time!

Yes- I am a nancyboy.

No I didn't hit the road yet but did make a few purchases after consulting with the Sultan of Speed today.

First up, the Nathan Reflective Night Vision 2 Vest to prevent me from ending up as the hood ornament on the SUV of some half-asleep bozo or bozette commuting to work. This was on sale too so a nice bonus.





Next, I headed to REI and purchased a Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp based on Steven's suggestion. I don't want to step into a pothole or into the path of whatever wildlife is out running around in the early am. Based on the roadkill I've seen (SKUNKS, possums, raccoons, deer, etc), it's a crapshoot on what I could encounter out there.

Before actually fondling them in person, I was leaning toward the Princeton Tec EOS but it was noticeably heavier so I decided to go with the Petzl. Also, the Petzl, while not as bright, had a considerably longer battery life then the Princeton. I'm hoping it can stand up to the wet weather up here, though, since the Princeton was actually marketed as waterproof (and looked it) vs. the Petzl which is "water resistant". I guess time will tell.

Oops almost forgot the two pair of smartwool running socks that were 30% off. A bit more $$ then the typical running socks but well worth it. If you haven't tried them, do yourself a favor and get some!

It's dark peeps- make sure you light yourself up like a Christmas Tree out there. Otherwise, you're invisible. Be Safe

*Peace*

Portland Trip For Me Mum

Here's a couple of pics from Deb's visit last weekend with Chuck and my mom. It was great to have them in town and the weather even cooperated with a couple days of sunny weather that weekend.

Beautiful Multnomah Falls....aaaah the beauty up here still takes my breath away



Deb and I with my mom driving the camera....things can get a bit iffy there so glad to have a pretty nice shot! Taken at one of the many scenic backdrops at M Falls.




Me and my oka-san (mom)......can you see the resemblance? Deb always jokes that my mom looks just like me with a wig on....nice.



Deb wreaking havoc in my kitchen (in a good way).....mmmm, bleu cheez hamburgers and beers....tasty. Now that she is gone, I am back to my PB&J's....*sigh*



The Portland Rose Gardens were a huge hit with Hatsu. She wanted to break off a few stems to take home. I tried to tell her that taking even one rose would create a huge problem with the "what if all the visitors did that?" argument....she didn't seem to get it. I did check her pockets on the way out and she passed the test though.



The running is coming along. I am still dealing with the PF issues although it seems to be isolated just to my left heel now. It isn't getting any worse but not much better so I have decided to just go for it on the mileage. This past week I had 6 days of running and got in some pretty decent mileage. Still doing the aerobic shuffle and plan on doing it for the next month or so? I'm still 3+ months out from my marathon so plenty of time for the speedwork. Running everything with a HR cap of 160 (25 beats under my Anaerobic Threshold)

A great quote from the slowtwitch website regarding running and the fact that too many people jump right into speedwork without having anything close to a solid aerobic base:

"Speedwork is icing on the cake....and you don't have a cake"

I thought that was pretty funny. I'm still working on getting all the ingredients on my list so that I can "bake that cake"....the icing will come later.

Run Summary - Week of 10/16
6 days running
50.25 Miles Total
1 x 15
1 x 11
1 x 10
2 x 5
1 x 4.25

Have a great week!

*Peace*

Big Mazungo....Threat Mazungo

Originally found this link on Duncan's blog....great 3 part series on Buster....check it out if you have around 20 minutes to kill...good stuff

The Big Mazungo - Part 1

Keep it rolling!

*Peace*

Embrace The Pain

My public service announcement if you haven't experienced the joys of using a foam roller.





You need to get out and get one now....your tight, knotty muscles will thank you. Granted, you will experience some serious pain working out the knots but it is well worth it.

Did I mention SERIOUS pain?!

I had plenty of knots in my calves and have tried using "the stick" but it only served to point out the exact location of the knots without really helping relieve them. The foam roller actually uses your own body weight to work them out. Unless you can afford weekly deep tissue massages, this is the way to go.

Here is a link to the benefits of using a foam roller and some pics of the different stretches possible with the roller.

http://www.thesealquest.com/myorelease.htm

The calf and IT band stretches are seriously painful but I can already feel the benefits after doing them for the last 3-4 days. It's a "good hurt" and as I work the knots out, the pain isn't as bad in subsequent sessions. In the link above, it is noted that you should stop and rest on any tender spots *this is key to working out the knots*

Embrace the pain!! Seriously, every athlete should have one of these in their arsenal...and in the immortal words of Bill Bowerman...."If you have a body, you're an athlete" Go get one now- it is definitely one of the better 20-30 dollar investments out there.

The running is going pretty well.....I've been running every day and my HR has been averaging around 157 bpm....this is 20 beats lower then my average marathon HR (and about 30 beats below my Anaerobic Threshold HR of 185) so pretty darn aerobic. I'm starting to see pace improvements in the last week so will carry on....slow but steady. Maybe, I'll break that 8 min/mile barrier soon! ;-)

Hope your training is going well!

*Peace*

Keeping It Simple.....

*cricket* cricket*

A bit quiet around here as my blogging has fallen off the map...at least I've been consistent in my inconsistency...ok, not a good thing.

Not much news except I'm glad to report that my feet are starting to come around...I have been religious about stretching my calves before / after every run and keeping my arches supported at all times...a bit of drag wearing shoes in the house and first thing out of bed but it sure has made a difference with the plantar fasciitis.

My aerobic running pace (zone 2 or anything between a HR of 158-168) is quite a bit slower than it was prior to taking a month off of training. No worries though, as I know it will come around. I met Steven last week for beers / burgers and we talked about running- fast running, in particular and I know what I need to do......start RUNNING FASTER! But not until I can get my aerobic pace down with lower HR's across the board. I have been running while keeping my HR under 160 (barely in Z2 *and barely moving*) and plan on keeping it there through October.

So that's all I got....keeping it simple....just plan on running as much as I can with the only constant being a Heart Rate ceiling of 160. I figure the pace should come around by the end of the month. The plan is to then start in some tempo and track work in November and beyond. I should be fine..that'll give me November thru Mid January with some speedwork before the February mary.

So that's the plan and I'm going to stick to it. Any of you doing the faster stuff....throw in a couple of fast 800's for me - I can live vicariously thru your training! ;-)

*Peace*