I'm back blogging. My last entry was way back in February after the Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler meaning that I never wrote about the Boston marathon at all, which was supposed to be the culmination of the blog. Sorry about that... Well, I ran the marathon in 3 hours 18 minutes. I felt like I never found any rhythm after the crowds at the start thinned out and despite all my training on the course I didn't have much left when I hit the Newton Hills. That's it in a nutshell. But there's always next year, right? Well, I got married this summer and my wife Sara and I are expecting a baby in April on or around Marathon Monday. So even though I am planning to train for next year's marathon, I may be otherwise engaged that day (don't ever suggest to your wife that she might not need you at the delivery; if she's got to be there so do you). Anyway, can you see the narrative tension I am trying to set up here on the blog? Will I be able to run (despite having a number and having trained) or will I be foiled after all my training and preparation by Junior deciding that Monday, April 19 is the very best day of the year to be born. It is going to be a taut storyline: the two clocks are counting down. We know when one will hit zero; will the other one chime at the same time?
My mileage right now is not high. Last week 18.5 miles and this week will end up less than that. I did a half marathon in early October on low training mileage as I was coming back from a calf tear. I did a 9 mile run on a beautiful day at the end of November in New Hampshire. That was my best run in a while. I ran the 5.6 mile first leg of the Mill Cities Relay last Sunday. That wasn't so good. I don't have a training schedule that I am following at the moment, so that has to be a priority. I have been doing some trail running in the Middlesex Fells this last month or so and I hope to keep doing that while ground conditions allow. My overall aim is to get a bit faster and to avoid injury—I have a shin splint niggle at the moment so I am trying to keep that at bay.
In closing, a few lines from Andrew Marvel's poem, "To His Coy Mistress," that opens with "Had we but world enough, and time." The last two lines read, "Thus, though we cannot make our sun/ Stand still, yet we will make him run." Maybe I can make the sun run a little, while waiting for the son.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler
The Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler on Valentine's Day.
We took the ferry over from Wood's Hole at 9:30 am on Saturday morning. It took about an hour and a half to get there from Boston. The race starts rights outside where the ferry gets off so the small terminal building was jammed with people in tracksuits and tights and running gear doing late registration, writing labels for their bags so they could be transported to the finish, queuing up to use the bathroom. Sara had decided that she was not going to run the whole race and went off to the hotel we were staying in to drop off our stuff. Having vowed not to make the same mistake I'd made at previous races, I went for a short warm up run of maybe 7-8 mins with my backpack and all my layers on as it was a chilly, sunny morning of a little above freezing. I was a little worried as both left and right calf were a little tight. I stripped down to shorts and long tights (really long johns) and a long sleeve tee, my somerville road runners singlet, and a hat and glove and dumped off my bag at the bus and headed out down the road for another 10 minutes or so to warm up a little more.
I met Sara at the start and I hit the bathroom again. Then, with a loud blast and a generous plume of smoke from the brass cannon that started the race, we took off. The route took us out along the coast and accross this bridge that marked mile one. It was significantly warmer than I expected. We followed along the coast for the first 8 or 9 miles, making a couple of little detours around open, public areas. I had my hat and gloves in my pocket by about mile 3. I didn't fully realize it then but we were getting the benefit of a significant tail wind and this made the first half of the race deceptively easy. I think it also allowed me to run a little faster than I actually thought that I would. The first miles was about 7 mins 15 and from then until mile 10 I pretty much did 7 minute miles. I clocked the first half of the race at a few seconds under 70 minutes. Around mile 11 or so things turned; the direction of the race had changed and while we were no longer running along the coast we were getting a stiff head wind. The race continued onto bike paths at the side of the road, the surface was good and was sheltered in spots, but for a couple of miles it was windy. There were a few hills, at miles 12 or 13 or maybe a little later. I cannot quite remember. That was where the race really started. I wouldn't say I had been cruising before, but it had been fairly uneventful up to then. I don't have my split times but I know that I slowed down for 2 or 3 miles, and by the time I got to mile 17, I knew from my watch that I needed to run about 6:45 miles for those last three miles if I was to make it in 2 hours 20. And then there were a few more little hills, which didn't seem quite so little given how my legs were feeling. I was able to gut it out, though when I crossed the road from the bike path to get onto the road going to the finish line and the guy said, "Only 600 yards to go." I didn't feel overly encouraged.
I made it with 7 seconds to spare and then lay down for a few minutes to recover. I was completely knackered.
I watched a bunch of people finish, including a couple from the Somerville club and then went for a cooldown run/stumble around the school where the race ended. My quads, in particular were sore, but I was generally very gimpy. I had a bit of damage to the toe next to the little one on my left foot--it is black, though I think the nail might not come off. I did some stretching and had some of the post race food, which was very good. I checked the results sheet to confirm my time of 2:19:53. Cutting it pretty tight. That made me 32nd overall and 10th in my age group.
Felt a bit stiff yesterday morning but nothing too serious--quads were worst. Sara and I did about 4.5 yesterday afternoon at the river and felt pretty gimpy at the start of that, and afterwards. I spent about 15 using a foam roller to knead out some of the kinks, and I think that opened things out a bit; I know I was pretty darned sore this morning, and, strangely enough, my biceps were as sore as any other part. I guess I got pretty into my arm pumping motion during the race. Or maybe I was tightening up.
A tough race, but no damage done, thankfully.
Time to plan out the next two month's schedule...
We took the ferry over from Wood's Hole at 9:30 am on Saturday morning. It took about an hour and a half to get there from Boston. The race starts rights outside where the ferry gets off so the small terminal building was jammed with people in tracksuits and tights and running gear doing late registration, writing labels for their bags so they could be transported to the finish, queuing up to use the bathroom. Sara had decided that she was not going to run the whole race and went off to the hotel we were staying in to drop off our stuff. Having vowed not to make the same mistake I'd made at previous races, I went for a short warm up run of maybe 7-8 mins with my backpack and all my layers on as it was a chilly, sunny morning of a little above freezing. I was a little worried as both left and right calf were a little tight. I stripped down to shorts and long tights (really long johns) and a long sleeve tee, my somerville road runners singlet, and a hat and glove and dumped off my bag at the bus and headed out down the road for another 10 minutes or so to warm up a little more.
I met Sara at the start and I hit the bathroom again. Then, with a loud blast and a generous plume of smoke from the brass cannon that started the race, we took off. The route took us out along the coast and accross this bridge that marked mile one. It was significantly warmer than I expected. We followed along the coast for the first 8 or 9 miles, making a couple of little detours around open, public areas. I had my hat and gloves in my pocket by about mile 3. I didn't fully realize it then but we were getting the benefit of a significant tail wind and this made the first half of the race deceptively easy. I think it also allowed me to run a little faster than I actually thought that I would. The first miles was about 7 mins 15 and from then until mile 10 I pretty much did 7 minute miles. I clocked the first half of the race at a few seconds under 70 minutes. Around mile 11 or so things turned; the direction of the race had changed and while we were no longer running along the coast we were getting a stiff head wind. The race continued onto bike paths at the side of the road, the surface was good and was sheltered in spots, but for a couple of miles it was windy. There were a few hills, at miles 12 or 13 or maybe a little later. I cannot quite remember. That was where the race really started. I wouldn't say I had been cruising before, but it had been fairly uneventful up to then. I don't have my split times but I know that I slowed down for 2 or 3 miles, and by the time I got to mile 17, I knew from my watch that I needed to run about 6:45 miles for those last three miles if I was to make it in 2 hours 20. And then there were a few more little hills, which didn't seem quite so little given how my legs were feeling. I was able to gut it out, though when I crossed the road from the bike path to get onto the road going to the finish line and the guy said, "Only 600 yards to go." I didn't feel overly encouraged.
I made it with 7 seconds to spare and then lay down for a few minutes to recover. I was completely knackered.
I watched a bunch of people finish, including a couple from the Somerville club and then went for a cooldown run/stumble around the school where the race ended. My quads, in particular were sore, but I was generally very gimpy. I had a bit of damage to the toe next to the little one on my left foot--it is black, though I think the nail might not come off. I did some stretching and had some of the post race food, which was very good. I checked the results sheet to confirm my time of 2:19:53. Cutting it pretty tight. That made me 32nd overall and 10th in my age group.
Felt a bit stiff yesterday morning but nothing too serious--quads were worst. Sara and I did about 4.5 yesterday afternoon at the river and felt pretty gimpy at the start of that, and afterwards. I spent about 15 using a foam roller to knead out some of the kinks, and I think that opened things out a bit; I know I was pretty darned sore this morning, and, strangely enough, my biceps were as sore as any other part. I guess I got pretty into my arm pumping motion during the race. Or maybe I was tightening up.
A tough race, but no damage done, thankfully.
Time to plan out the next two month's schedule...
Boston loves art
Sunday, February 8
So the dude who designed the famous Obama image got arrested in Boston on Friday night for postering a few places including the railway bridge under the Boston University Bridge over the Charles.
On my run yesterday (which now is a week ago), I saw where he had put up the some posters—now how you can get arrested for postering something that is already all painted over with university names and colors for the annual boat races is beyond me. The image he postered is this one he made of Andre the Giant.
That’s apropos of nothing except maybe to demonstrate how small Boston can be—remember the so-called emergency couple of years ago when some guys put up some flashing devices to advertise a new TV show.
It was an uneventful run, and that’s a good thing. I did two loops, one from the Anderson Bridge near Harvard Sq—pictured in this photo—to the Science Museum and another slightly shorter from Western Ave Bridge to the Science Museum. It was the first mildish day for ages. In the high 30s or low 40s. I did not wear gloves and regretted that for a little while. The 18.1 miles took 2 hrs 40, so not breaking any records there. I took my camel back, with water, some Accelerade, which is a protein drink, and some Gatorade, which I did not use, and some gels blocks, which I ate some of at about half way. I carried a load of stuff, and the camera too.
The Martha’s Vineyard 20 miler is this Saturday coming. And my plan is to take this week pretty easy, and to carb deplete as follows: Friday morning, go for short hard run, and then eat carbs like a monster. Who knows if this will work; apparently some scientists in Australia said it is as effective as a more radical and longer depletion.
I feel kind of lazy, I have to admit—and I will try and write a longer blog about that. Since the beginning of January basically, I am off my schedule. This last two weeks has gone fine, and I have got my long runs in, but there’s no a real plan beyond that. And I think it is about time to work on that.
So the dude who designed the famous Obama image got arrested in Boston on Friday night for postering a few places including the railway bridge under the Boston University Bridge over the Charles.
On my run yesterday (which now is a week ago), I saw where he had put up the some posters—now how you can get arrested for postering something that is already all painted over with university names and colors for the annual boat races is beyond me. The image he postered is this one he made of Andre the Giant.
That’s apropos of nothing except maybe to demonstrate how small Boston can be—remember the so-called emergency couple of years ago when some guys put up some flashing devices to advertise a new TV show.
It was an uneventful run, and that’s a good thing. I did two loops, one from the Anderson Bridge near Harvard Sq—pictured in this photo—to the Science Museum and another slightly shorter from Western Ave Bridge to the Science Museum. It was the first mildish day for ages. In the high 30s or low 40s. I did not wear gloves and regretted that for a little while. The 18.1 miles took 2 hrs 40, so not breaking any records there. I took my camel back, with water, some Accelerade, which is a protein drink, and some Gatorade, which I did not use, and some gels blocks, which I ate some of at about half way. I carried a load of stuff, and the camera too.
The Martha’s Vineyard 20 miler is this Saturday coming. And my plan is to take this week pretty easy, and to carb deplete as follows: Friday morning, go for short hard run, and then eat carbs like a monster. Who knows if this will work; apparently some scientists in Australia said it is as effective as a more radical and longer depletion.
I feel kind of lazy, I have to admit—and I will try and write a longer blog about that. Since the beginning of January basically, I am off my schedule. This last two weeks has gone fine, and I have got my long runs in, but there’s no a real plan beyond that. And I think it is about time to work on that.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
What a difference a day can make
That's the Charles River on the left with the well-cleared Boston path on the right.Sunday 25 and Monday 26, Jan. 2009
What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday afternoon, Saturday, I was deep in runner’s depression. Instead of going for a short run I went to the swimming pool with Sara. I am not that strong a swimmer; hence I don’t like it so much and don’t feel like I get much of a workout. But seeing how swimming like spring cleaning and good bookkeeping is highly recommended, I decided to go. The Kennedy pool in Somerville is clean and bright and not over-chlorinated, and it was not too full. All was going quite well.
A couple of laps of my ever so elegant breast stroke was making me question my aerobic capacity, so I trudged up and back with a kick board for a few laps. All continued to go quite well. Workout over, I was sitting on the side of the pool waiting for Sara to finish and decided to stretch out my leg by pointing my toes. Well, I held the pose too long with my right foot and that induced a nasty spasm in my calf. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Some muscle in the upper right of my calf began horribly pulsating and trying to break free. I straightened up my leg and sort of rubbed it, and Sara rubbed it or something. To be honest, I am not sure what I did—it was one of those things where the thought process gets comprehensively closed down. I do know for sure that I pulled pained faces till it settled after a minute or 30 seconds or however long it took. It hurt quite a bit after getting home, and I couldn’t really put weight on it for a while. I iced it a good bit throughout the day. My mood = foul—why did I go swimming—I hate swimming—I am so stupid—etc.
I assumed the worst—no more runs for weeks—long slow rehab. A couple of hours later, I went out on my bike with it bandaged. That went okay. Sara and I had a long run planned for today, and as we are doing a 20-miler in less than month, I felt that I needed to get the run in, and here I am wondering if I will be able to run at all. I decide the only way I will know is to try to do something and see what happens.
And so, on a cold sunny day (high of 26),
off we went to the river, and despite the chill and not having eaten enough, all went successfully for us, and for my dramatic calf, and I did my longest run in quite some many months, 17.2 miles. I am not sure what I should learn from this—beyond not doing pointy toe stretches after swimming. There must be more than just that. So, in the hope of something surfacing, I am going to hold off on posting this till tomorrow morning in the hope of greater insight.On reflection, morning after, here’s what I have to offer: try not to overreact to something that is potentially bad. It is too simplistic, while true, and not particularly helpful either, to say something like things might not be as bad as I think. When something like this happens, is it possible to adopt some kind of wait and see position? And if possible do something to help the situation. Or just do something?
It has been a niggly month for me in terms of training and something potentially show stopping it can get you down a little even when you are just a regular joe, as opposed to someone whose life and livelihood is their fitness and health. One final thought—try to do no further damage. Having been running regularly now for about 3 years, I have a good sense of how each part of my body feels, and without being very conscious of it, by checking in or noticing changes or aches or pains, or changes as they occur, I have a chance to be preventative. A chance, that is. But sometimes the opportunity goes untaken, as in the instance where I went out to run 7 one morning and my knee was giving me real grief. I ran through it, but ended up with shin splints. I should have turned around after the first 100m. I got the warning but didn’t evacuate the area.
Next time…
Broadway and McGrath in Somerville, MA, on a chilly evening last week.
I am still working on getting the camera settings right.
I am still working on getting the camera settings right.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Oft-delayed and sporadic
January 20, 2009
Getting this blog entry out has been a bit like my training this last few weeks. Oft-delayed and sporadic. I think I need to start posting my actual log to keep me honest and also as a way to deepen my own motivation.
So, what has actually been going on? Since the last entry, which was a whole three weeks ago tomorrow, I shut down completely for about 5 days because of worries about, mainly, my left shin, and also right Achilles/calf. I gradually started again around Jan 5, after I couldn’t take sitting around any more. My first run was a slow jog around the neighborhood, and then the next night the evil urge took me again and I did a faster 2.5 miles also in the neighborhood. That run felt like liberation. I bandaged up the shin for it and double layered and so on. I was running down Beacon St in Somerville, and everything felt right just for a couple of minutes. It was one of those in the zone experiences when it was all just working. I gradually worked up to doing long runs, from a 7 mile to a couple of 13s. And that is basically where I am now.
I did another 13 on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, on the slushy river paths of Cambridge and the clearer paths of Boston. Getting right up to date, yesterday after work I went to the gym—it is too slippery to confidently try to do a faster run outside—and had a good workout. I warmed up on some stupid elliptical machine that felt like it was wrenching at my hips. Then jumped onto a treadmill and warmed up another while, managing to make a fool of myself by catching my earphone cord with my hand and sending my iPod to the treadmill which promptly deposited it on the ground behind the machine. I still feel self conscious on treadmills and then tend to do klutzy things. I did about 45 mins total, with three faster 2-3 minutes spells built in. I think I had the incline set at 2.2, which I had not really planned. It either set itself or I accidently set it.
Plus, I am scrupulously warming up these days. The root of my calf and shin problems lie with not warming up properly, first way back in late Feb of last year when I did a half marathon in Hyannis didn’t warm up and then started off too fast. Second episode was the Mill Cities Relay mentioned in earlier blog. I thought I had warmed enough for the relay, but no, not quite enough. I am hoping that I can make it through the marathon, April 20.
Which brings me to the theme of all runners around here this last few weeks, snow. Snow, snow, and more snow. And ice too. And slush. When I signed off the last blog entry saying I would be writing lots more about the joys of winter training, little did I know. We have had three storms since the beginning of the month, and there are large piles of snow everywhere, piles on the sidewalks, on the sides of roads, piles in people’s gardens. Lots of folks haven’t shoveled outside their homes, which means packed, icy snow, or just nasty slushy snow on the sidewalks. Usually, I do longer runs along the Charles River, and it too has been a mixed bag. The path along north side of the river, in Cambridge, is usually cleared, but in a half-hearted way, or it is cleared and then the snowplows on the road toss snow back in on it. Sara and I ran there on Saturday last, and I ran there again Monday. Part of the Cambridge side was in fair condition, but parts are still really messy. Across the other side of the river, in Boston, things are much clearer. If I had realized that on Monday, I would have avoided some of the mush in Cambridge.
Photos are acoming—I got a nifty new camera that I have carried with me now for two runs. Soon there will be pictures of some of the fine and lovely places where I run. Adios.
Getting this blog entry out has been a bit like my training this last few weeks. Oft-delayed and sporadic. I think I need to start posting my actual log to keep me honest and also as a way to deepen my own motivation.
So, what has actually been going on? Since the last entry, which was a whole three weeks ago tomorrow, I shut down completely for about 5 days because of worries about, mainly, my left shin, and also right Achilles/calf. I gradually started again around Jan 5, after I couldn’t take sitting around any more. My first run was a slow jog around the neighborhood, and then the next night the evil urge took me again and I did a faster 2.5 miles also in the neighborhood. That run felt like liberation. I bandaged up the shin for it and double layered and so on. I was running down Beacon St in Somerville, and everything felt right just for a couple of minutes. It was one of those in the zone experiences when it was all just working. I gradually worked up to doing long runs, from a 7 mile to a couple of 13s. And that is basically where I am now.
I did another 13 on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, on the slushy river paths of Cambridge and the clearer paths of Boston. Getting right up to date, yesterday after work I went to the gym—it is too slippery to confidently try to do a faster run outside—and had a good workout. I warmed up on some stupid elliptical machine that felt like it was wrenching at my hips. Then jumped onto a treadmill and warmed up another while, managing to make a fool of myself by catching my earphone cord with my hand and sending my iPod to the treadmill which promptly deposited it on the ground behind the machine. I still feel self conscious on treadmills and then tend to do klutzy things. I did about 45 mins total, with three faster 2-3 minutes spells built in. I think I had the incline set at 2.2, which I had not really planned. It either set itself or I accidently set it.
Plus, I am scrupulously warming up these days. The root of my calf and shin problems lie with not warming up properly, first way back in late Feb of last year when I did a half marathon in Hyannis didn’t warm up and then started off too fast. Second episode was the Mill Cities Relay mentioned in earlier blog. I thought I had warmed enough for the relay, but no, not quite enough. I am hoping that I can make it through the marathon, April 20.
Which brings me to the theme of all runners around here this last few weeks, snow. Snow, snow, and more snow. And ice too. And slush. When I signed off the last blog entry saying I would be writing lots more about the joys of winter training, little did I know. We have had three storms since the beginning of the month, and there are large piles of snow everywhere, piles on the sidewalks, on the sides of roads, piles in people’s gardens. Lots of folks haven’t shoveled outside their homes, which means packed, icy snow, or just nasty slushy snow on the sidewalks. Usually, I do longer runs along the Charles River, and it too has been a mixed bag. The path along north side of the river, in Cambridge, is usually cleared, but in a half-hearted way, or it is cleared and then the snowplows on the road toss snow back in on it. Sara and I ran there on Saturday last, and I ran there again Monday. Part of the Cambridge side was in fair condition, but parts are still really messy. Across the other side of the river, in Boston, things are much clearer. If I had realized that on Monday, I would have avoided some of the mush in Cambridge.
Photos are acoming—I got a nifty new camera that I have carried with me now for two runs. Soon there will be pictures of some of the fine and lovely places where I run. Adios.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The New Year spirit is dispirit
With the year coming to a resounding close it seems to be as good a time as any to evaluate the first four-week section of my marathon training and look forward to the next fourteen weeks. Overall, the first four weeks went very well. I wouldn’t say that I cruised, but everything went acceptably well, even the weather was decent overall, apart from a snow storm that gave us a foot or so the week before Christmas.
But one is only as happy as one’s last run, and here’s the latest: I got up this morning to run before work. All I can say is that I hope this is one-off, a reality check to not make any assumptions about how any run is going to go.
So what happened? Well, here’s my running log for today. It’s not usually quite so narrative driven. The reason for this is that it’s basically a cut and paste job from an email that I sent Sara, and I was being a bit more dramatic than usual:
6:30a: Tough run to river and JFK to Harvard [these are the names of bridges along the Charles River. Put lifts made from old insoles in shoes last night. My left knee really hurt basically up to Harv Sq. And then by the time you would usually be nicely warmed up, the left shin started to tighten. I stopped and walked a bit, stopped and rubbed it a bit, stopped and took the heel lifts out. Each time I restarted, or at least sometimes, the knee hurt again. Just fine while walking. Even without the lifts, the shin still surfaced as something that I could feel a few more times. Once when I lengthened my stride a little for about 50 yards. I realize both pain points were in same leg, and it might be related to the lifts? I am going to stay off hills for a while until calf lays off a bit, and I am going to hope and pray this shin/knee things was just an end of year glitch, and I am hoping to try to persuade myself to do a two-week ankle strengthening routine.
Well, that was the low point of my marathon training so far. The relay race I did without warming up sufficiently would be on the low point list too. I’d rank it below today. The relay was a few weeks ago so time might have diluted its memory as time does with so many things. Thank you, time, for obfuscating so many of my memories, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Would it be a curse or blessing to be able to recapture old places, setting, emotions? I must send an email to M. Proust on that one. Perhaps I could begin by saying, “My name, sir, is Madeleine, and I am trying to reconnect with some things from the past.”
I am getting back to this blog entry a day or two later, New Year’s Day, [Happy New Year!] it feels like things have taken a bit of a nose dive. I ran about 5 miles this afternoon and it was freezing cold with slippery snowy conditions underfoot. I should have worn the shoes I put the screws in, but wasn’t sure what to expect so didn’t. Today, once again, some troubles; the left shin felt like it was ready to tighten up at any moment. Any time that I sped up a little it was right there waiting, waiting ready to pounce. I walked a few times and stopped to stretch a couple of times. I am trying to figure out what happened. Top theories so far are the heel lifts I wore the other day or perhaps some wear and tear combined with the fairly severe and cold weather we are having. I think it might be time to hit the treadmill at the gym if I do run tomorrow, or alternatively take an extra day off. I hope this is just a temporary glitch. Will have a better idea by the time I get to the long run of 13 or 14 scheduled for the weekend.
In conclusion, a dispiriting end to ‘08 and beginning to ‘09. Hope for better things tomorrow. Thanks for reading. I will be writing lots more about the difficulties of winter training during the bleak period of the New England year. Bundle up!
But one is only as happy as one’s last run, and here’s the latest: I got up this morning to run before work. All I can say is that I hope this is one-off, a reality check to not make any assumptions about how any run is going to go.
So what happened? Well, here’s my running log for today. It’s not usually quite so narrative driven. The reason for this is that it’s basically a cut and paste job from an email that I sent Sara, and I was being a bit more dramatic than usual:
6:30a: Tough run to river and JFK to Harvard [these are the names of bridges along the Charles River. Put lifts made from old insoles in shoes last night. My left knee really hurt basically up to Harv Sq. And then by the time you would usually be nicely warmed up, the left shin started to tighten. I stopped and walked a bit, stopped and rubbed it a bit, stopped and took the heel lifts out. Each time I restarted, or at least sometimes, the knee hurt again. Just fine while walking. Even without the lifts, the shin still surfaced as something that I could feel a few more times. Once when I lengthened my stride a little for about 50 yards. I realize both pain points were in same leg, and it might be related to the lifts? I am going to stay off hills for a while until calf lays off a bit, and I am going to hope and pray this shin/knee things was just an end of year glitch, and I am hoping to try to persuade myself to do a two-week ankle strengthening routine.
Well, that was the low point of my marathon training so far. The relay race I did without warming up sufficiently would be on the low point list too. I’d rank it below today. The relay was a few weeks ago so time might have diluted its memory as time does with so many things. Thank you, time, for obfuscating so many of my memories, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Would it be a curse or blessing to be able to recapture old places, setting, emotions? I must send an email to M. Proust on that one. Perhaps I could begin by saying, “My name, sir, is Madeleine, and I am trying to reconnect with some things from the past.”
I am getting back to this blog entry a day or two later, New Year’s Day, [Happy New Year!] it feels like things have taken a bit of a nose dive. I ran about 5 miles this afternoon and it was freezing cold with slippery snowy conditions underfoot. I should have worn the shoes I put the screws in, but wasn’t sure what to expect so didn’t. Today, once again, some troubles; the left shin felt like it was ready to tighten up at any moment. Any time that I sped up a little it was right there waiting, waiting ready to pounce. I walked a few times and stopped to stretch a couple of times. I am trying to figure out what happened. Top theories so far are the heel lifts I wore the other day or perhaps some wear and tear combined with the fairly severe and cold weather we are having. I think it might be time to hit the treadmill at the gym if I do run tomorrow, or alternatively take an extra day off. I hope this is just a temporary glitch. Will have a better idea by the time I get to the long run of 13 or 14 scheduled for the weekend.
In conclusion, a dispiriting end to ‘08 and beginning to ‘09. Hope for better things tomorrow. Thanks for reading. I will be writing lots more about the difficulties of winter training during the bleak period of the New England year. Bundle up!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Running with screws in your shoes
Yesterday morning, Tuesday, I did get up early enough to go for a run. If you read my previous blog posting you will know that I had rigged up a pair of running shoes by inserting ¼ inch sheet metal screws into the soles using a power drill, I should add, as a way to get traction running on ice and packed snow. Well, the verdict came in. A definitive success! They work very well. If you look at the photo of my shoe, you will get the idea of what it looks like and also the size of the screw.I ran to the river. My street still had a layer of ice/snow. I did some little test stops and starts and the things do really grip well. It is easy to feel confident with them. I ran on the road for a little bit and they are fine for running on paved roads. Not something you would want to do all the time but not a problem and they grip perfectly adequately—there is a clacking sound as they hit the road and you lose a bit of shock absorbency too, I think. The shoes that I put the screws into are very old and probably have not much cushioning left. I probably should have used a pair that was not quite so used up. The only surface that the screw shoes are not good on is the red brick sidewalks that you get around here. The bricks don’t offer much traction. I think it is because they very hard and smooth, this despite having gaps between the bricks.
When I got to the river I realized that they have given up trying to keep the paths clear. I think they did try for the first storm and not for the second, or at least on the Cambridge side of the river. This isn’t so good. And even part of the path that was cleared had snow that was plowed off the road thrown in on top. I ran on this for a couple hundred meters but that’s annoying. Then I ran on unplowed paths for a few hundred meters. Not much fun either—you really need to concentrate on both these surfaces or you risk landing badly and potentially hurting an ankle. And my ankles seem to be always to be a little sensitive to slights of this nature. One of my traning goals is always to strengthen them, and I do from time to time, but not consistently. Do I see a New Year’s resolution abrewing. Anyway, I hope that the rain we are having today starts a thawing process so the paths along the river, and the sidewalks generally clear up and we don’t have a winter of running discontent. I renewed my gym membership last week assuming that some of my training will have to be done indoors. I had no problem whatsoever with traction. I did have problems with not feeling much energy. But I cannot blame the shoes for that.
The first month of my training ends this Sunday coming. Four weeks in. I am very happy with how things have gone so far. Sometime between now and the end of the year I am going to spend a little time evaluating how things have gone and a little time examining the next while. I have been reading a book about Kenyan runners and a little component of one coach’s training struck me. I think my next blog will be a little review of the month and a preview of the next while. Bet you cannot wait! Thanks for reading, and Happy Christmas.
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