Archive for August, 2009

• Random thoughts on running

  Date: 2009.08.13 | Category: running, Uncategorized | Response: View Comments

  I’ve been doing ok with my training plan the last couple of weeks. The tempos and the speed runs are pretty challenging, which I suppose is a good thing. Today I struggled with my tempo, running at 8:09 for 4 miles (sandwiched between a mile warmup and a mile cooldown). I had some awful, piercing cramps, and some acid reflux. Ugh.* And some “I can’ts”. But I made it through.

  *Gross story, but one time I coughed while running and I actually ended up throwing up bile. I felt just fine too.
  Ew. I just realized next week I am supposed to do 4 X 1600 @ 7:33. Ew.
  I have been more cautious in the last couple of weeks not to run on consecutive days or run more than the training program calls for. I’ve noticed some tightness in my left knee and left hip than usual, which I know means my IT band is acting up.
  The IT band, for anyone that doesn’t know, is a series of tissues that run on the outside of your leg, from the hip to the knee, and work to stabilize your leg through movement, including running. The acute pain starts in the knee, but over time I think I have become more sensitive to tenderness around there and now I notice tightness in the hips too. The last time my IT band had really big problems was a couple of years ago – I remember not being able to run past 16 minutes when it was at its worst – the onset of the pain was sudden, and crippling.
  
  
  The best websites for information on it are : ITBS info, Dr. Pribut, And here’s a good article. There is a thread about IT band injuries on a forum in Runnersworld, too.
  All of this post was kind of random…
  
  
  Guess I should go stretch and work on that gluteus medius…

• Running on a Sour Stomach & Movie Review

  Date: 2009.08.03 | Category: running, Uncategorized | Response: View Comments

  Last week was not the best running week. I did only what the program asked, no more, no less. 4 miles on Wednesday, 4 on Friday, and a grueling 9 mile run on Saturday. My 8 miles the week before were fabulous – I felt like I was flying, it was easy, I felt like I could run faster and farther.

  I woke up early on Saturday, and my stomach was turning. I knew I did not want to run. But I didn’t know if I could fit it in on Sunday. I got up early, and figured that I was up, and maybe my stomach would settle after a few miles.

  It didn’t. By mile 5, it felt like I had rocks in my stomach (not how I felt at mile 1 at all). I struggled through the rest of the run. It was a great day to run though – overcast, cool (slightly below 70 I think?) and not humid at all – a rare late-July morning. It was not fun running on a sour stomach for 9 miles.

  Here’s hoping this week will be better. This week is:
  M: 2 mile @ 9:36
  W: 7 miles (warm, 3 X 1600 @ 7:38 with 800 jogs, cool)
  F: 2 mile @ 9:36
  S: 10 miles

  Not sure if I addressed this already, but my long runs were not in the plan that the “Smart Coach” on RW gave me (you can find the Smart Coach on www.runnersworld.com under the training tab). The Smart Coach had my long runs only going up to 9 or 10 miles, and I’ve never done a half marathon training plan that didn’t go up to at least 12 miles. So I tweaked it to go up to 12 miles, with a 9 miler in the taper week. I have left the rest of the program the same.

  I watched the movie, “Marathon Challenge” this weekend. This is probably a good movie for true novice runners – people that are like the runners who complete the marathon in this movie. The movie takes a group of individuals who have never ran a marathon and who are mostly sedentary and trains them for nine months to see if they can complete a marathon. Some of the people can’t run more than “half a mile” or their only exercise is “bowling.” They get an assessment in the beginning of their VO2 max and their body fat. Although none of them appear to be significantly overweight to me, a couple of the women have 40% body fat.

  Most of them get injured during their training. I was impressed that so many of them (about 11) finish the marathon – only one out of all of the team did not finish, and she had a stress fracture in her shin. The first finisher does it in about 4 hours which is a very respectable time. What I did like was that the film discusses the science behind running – what VO2 max is, what glycogen is. It made me want to get my VO2 max tested… but I don’t have a good reason other than curiosity.

  Happy running!