While I'd like to record swimming times to notice potential improvement(s), there's not a lot to say about each workout. So I'm thinking I'll just start posting the swim sessions on a per month basis, noting any difference of significance along the way.
So here are the times for the remainder of December. All swimming now is done w/bilateral breathing. There was a significant drop off in swim sessions due to the increase of Yoga, and the holidays kinda threw the schedule up in the air.
12/18
36 laps - 32:39
44 laps - 40:23
12/27
36 laps - 34:00
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Swimming - introducing bilateral breathing
The past few sessions, I've decided to bite the bullet and get on the road to bilateral breathing. In the past, I had always fallen off the wagon because it really changes my breathing cycle/pattern, and always felt uncomfortable. Since it is the offseason, and I have adequate time to make an adjustment and get used to it, I figured that now is better than any other time. Plus, I found that with only breathing to the right side, I was slipping into an uneven body rotation when comparing left arm to right arm stroke. Introducing bilateral breathing should help even that out.
I also decided that I wouldn't be concerned about time - if I had to go slower, so be it.
The other thing I decided I need to do is to extend the distance slowly every so often. I still haven't settled into anything permanent, but I'm thinking that once a week, I'll tack on another 100-200 yds in distance. This way, come the end of the winter season, I should be around 1.5 - 1.6 miles on long sessions, which should carry over nicely to the training season and make the 1.2 miles seem that much easier.
11/30
38 laps - 34:09
36 laps - 33:17
bilateral breathing
12/5
19 laps - 17:16 (after yoga - even with a short recovery period, my body was pretty spent)
12/7
36 laps - 33:44 (bilateral)
43 laps - 39:17
12/11
36 laps - 33:20 (bilateral)
I also decided that I wouldn't be concerned about time - if I had to go slower, so be it.
The other thing I decided I need to do is to extend the distance slowly every so often. I still haven't settled into anything permanent, but I'm thinking that once a week, I'll tack on another 100-200 yds in distance. This way, come the end of the winter season, I should be around 1.5 - 1.6 miles on long sessions, which should carry over nicely to the training season and make the 1.2 miles seem that much easier.
11/30
38 laps - 34:09
36 laps - 33:17
bilateral breathing
12/5
19 laps - 17:16 (after yoga - even with a short recovery period, my body was pretty spent)
12/7
36 laps - 33:44 (bilateral)
43 laps - 39:17
12/11
36 laps - 33:20 (bilateral)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Yoga and Swimming - 12/1/10
Last update, I was a few classes into a two week trial period for Yoga. Since then, I've become convinced that the Yoga is helpful, in several ways. First off, there is the obvious flexibility gains, mostly in hamstrings and hips. The result of this has been an immediate improvement in how my lower back has felt. In fact, I realized I had gotten used to a certain level of discomfort and tightness in my back over the past couple years. A few sessions of Yoga and started loosening things up enough to make me conscious of the discomfort.
Another benefit I'm finding is getting used to the heat. At 105 degrees and 40% humidity, I sweat. A lot. After a few classes, I started getting used to it, and started figuring out the nuances of how to keep hydrated for this particular activity. But I feel like my body is getting more efficient at working out in hot weather - so my hope is that come the summer heat, when my performance normally suffers greatly, it won't be such a dropoff. While it gets hot in MA during the summer, it doesn't reach anything like 105 degrees and 40% humidity.
As I attend more classes, I find ways in which the postures work various muscle groups as well. Initially, my focus was just trying to do the postures with some semblance of correctness. But over time, I get a little bit better and more efficient, meaning I am using fewer muscles to accomplish the same task. I also find there are some poses that are potentially helpful in ways I didn't envision. One pose in particular, the standing head to knee pose, seems to really work the gluteus medius - which is a muscle that is typically very weak in runners, and helps with hip stability during running. In fact, multiple PT exercises were geared towards strengthening this muscle. I find that the standing head to knee pose on one side is significantly weaker than on the other side. My hope is that working the weaker side will ultimately help with hip stability, which should help with the IT band.
I've also continued swimming a couple/few times a week at the pool. At this point, I'm just doing the 36 laps (1800 yds, about 1 mile) in one straight session.
11/18
36 laps
31:59.5
11/22
36 laps
32:17
11/27
36 laps
32:09
I think what I've decided to do for the next couple months is do the Yoga 4x per week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday), and swimming 3x per week (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday). I found during the yoga trial that after doing it for 3-4 days straight, my motivation starts to drop - so I think doing 2x in a row is maintainable. Since the goal for swimming in the offseason is primarily maintenance with existing conditioning, doing that 3x per week should suffice - it still gives me a chance to have a shorter rep speedwork type session (if I so choose), a long distance increasing session (if I so choose), and a nice easy recovery 1 mile session (if I so choose).
Another benefit I'm finding is getting used to the heat. At 105 degrees and 40% humidity, I sweat. A lot. After a few classes, I started getting used to it, and started figuring out the nuances of how to keep hydrated for this particular activity. But I feel like my body is getting more efficient at working out in hot weather - so my hope is that come the summer heat, when my performance normally suffers greatly, it won't be such a dropoff. While it gets hot in MA during the summer, it doesn't reach anything like 105 degrees and 40% humidity.
As I attend more classes, I find ways in which the postures work various muscle groups as well. Initially, my focus was just trying to do the postures with some semblance of correctness. But over time, I get a little bit better and more efficient, meaning I am using fewer muscles to accomplish the same task. I also find there are some poses that are potentially helpful in ways I didn't envision. One pose in particular, the standing head to knee pose, seems to really work the gluteus medius - which is a muscle that is typically very weak in runners, and helps with hip stability during running. In fact, multiple PT exercises were geared towards strengthening this muscle. I find that the standing head to knee pose on one side is significantly weaker than on the other side. My hope is that working the weaker side will ultimately help with hip stability, which should help with the IT band.
I've also continued swimming a couple/few times a week at the pool. At this point, I'm just doing the 36 laps (1800 yds, about 1 mile) in one straight session.
11/18
36 laps
31:59.5
11/22
36 laps
32:17
11/27
36 laps
32:09
I think what I've decided to do for the next couple months is do the Yoga 4x per week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday), and swimming 3x per week (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday). I found during the yoga trial that after doing it for 3-4 days straight, my motivation starts to drop - so I think doing 2x in a row is maintainable. Since the goal for swimming in the offseason is primarily maintenance with existing conditioning, doing that 3x per week should suffice - it still gives me a chance to have a shorter rep speedwork type session (if I so choose), a long distance increasing session (if I so choose), and a nice easy recovery 1 mile session (if I so choose).
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Trying to find a routine
While I have been pretty good about keeping active, I've been a bit erratic at settling into a particular routine. For a short while, it was barefoot running a short distance each day. Then, a couple weeks ago I had a session with the TI coach to find some new ways to refine my swim stroke. That resulted in some focused effort on swimming, including some dilly-dallying into how I should go about swim workouts. Should I approach it like Daniels does with running - go with low stress, distance building type workouts first, before handling the more speedwork related sessions? Should I try to mix them all up and have distance and speedwork variation in my workouts on a weekly basis? I definitely want to keep doing long swims (~ 30 minutes straight) on a regular basis, just to keep that mental picture focus of swimming for that long a time.
In the meantime, I jumped from 2 miles to 3.15 miles of barefoot running. In working up to 2 miles, I was increasing distance very gradually - about half a mile at a time. This was to keep the calfs from getting so sore that I couldn't run the next day. However, after a couple days of two miles with little soreness the day after, I decided to try jumping from 2 to 3.
It might have been a tad too much, but not extreme. About 2 miles in, my left knee was feeling a tad abused (not the IT band, actually) when I'd plant every so often. As expected, my calfs were pretty tight and sore for about two days afterwards, but it really wasn't all that bad. I did the 3 miles on a day when I knew I'd have at least 2 rest days coming up due to work travel.
The bigger concern was that it appeared my quads were tight enough to make me feel the IT band rubbing on occasion over the next couple days. Not sure whether that was an effect of the distance jump, or the longer distance at a faster pace (about 8 minutes/mile) than I should probably be going at before getting fully warmed up.
As luck would have it, another curveball was thrown my way soon after. For a while, I had been looking for a Yoga studio close by, as I've been told multiple times from multiple sources that Yoga would help me with flexibility and core strength. Late last week I looked around and saw a local place had opened up, offering unlimited classes for 2 weeks for $20. The normal single class drop-in rate is $15 - so the $20 for unlimited classes sounded like a great deal for seeing whether Yoga would be helpful.
So at this point, I've signed up and attended a few classes. The discipline is called Bikram Yoga, and is done in a room @ 105 degrees with 40% humidity. It progresses through a series of 26 poses, both standing and on the floor. By the third pose, I'm dripping buckets. It is actually rather gross, and I fear for the owners of the establishment that I may chase some people away. But I do a pretty reasonable job of keeping my funk on my little area where I have my mat and towel - so hopefully that counts for something.
It is still a bit early to tell whether this Yoga will help what ails me, but I can definitely see where it could have huge benefits. Some aspects of flexibility have improved noticibly in only three classes, and although I'm not flexible enough to fully get into most of the poses and make it look good (actually, with that qualifier, I'm not flexible enough to get into any poses), I still get some benefit. I just have a lot of bottlenecks to work through.
Anyhow, workout information:
Swimming:
11/9
36 laps
32:26
(I am thinking the easiest way to judge improvement for this is to do 36 laps, 1800 yards, or about 1 mile and compare overall times)
Running:
3.15 miles
In the meantime, I jumped from 2 miles to 3.15 miles of barefoot running. In working up to 2 miles, I was increasing distance very gradually - about half a mile at a time. This was to keep the calfs from getting so sore that I couldn't run the next day. However, after a couple days of two miles with little soreness the day after, I decided to try jumping from 2 to 3.
It might have been a tad too much, but not extreme. About 2 miles in, my left knee was feeling a tad abused (not the IT band, actually) when I'd plant every so often. As expected, my calfs were pretty tight and sore for about two days afterwards, but it really wasn't all that bad. I did the 3 miles on a day when I knew I'd have at least 2 rest days coming up due to work travel.
The bigger concern was that it appeared my quads were tight enough to make me feel the IT band rubbing on occasion over the next couple days. Not sure whether that was an effect of the distance jump, or the longer distance at a faster pace (about 8 minutes/mile) than I should probably be going at before getting fully warmed up.
As luck would have it, another curveball was thrown my way soon after. For a while, I had been looking for a Yoga studio close by, as I've been told multiple times from multiple sources that Yoga would help me with flexibility and core strength. Late last week I looked around and saw a local place had opened up, offering unlimited classes for 2 weeks for $20. The normal single class drop-in rate is $15 - so the $20 for unlimited classes sounded like a great deal for seeing whether Yoga would be helpful.
So at this point, I've signed up and attended a few classes. The discipline is called Bikram Yoga, and is done in a room @ 105 degrees with 40% humidity. It progresses through a series of 26 poses, both standing and on the floor. By the third pose, I'm dripping buckets. It is actually rather gross, and I fear for the owners of the establishment that I may chase some people away. But I do a pretty reasonable job of keeping my funk on my little area where I have my mat and towel - so hopefully that counts for something.
It is still a bit early to tell whether this Yoga will help what ails me, but I can definitely see where it could have huge benefits. Some aspects of flexibility have improved noticibly in only three classes, and although I'm not flexible enough to fully get into most of the poses and make it look good (actually, with that qualifier, I'm not flexible enough to get into any poses), I still get some benefit. I just have a lot of bottlenecks to work through.
Anyhow, workout information:
Swimming:
11/9
36 laps
32:26
(I am thinking the easiest way to judge improvement for this is to do 36 laps, 1800 yards, or about 1 mile and compare overall times)
Running:
3.15 miles
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Taking it to the next level - The Patriot Half Iron
At some point it was bound to happen. After doing an Olympic tri in both of the last two years, I had a goal this year of going a Half Iron. The half iron distance of 1.3/56/13 is about 2x the distance of an olympic (0.9/26/6). With only a few in this area a year, options were limited. So when I got an email from Sun Multisports last week mentioning the Patriot half iron in June, I thought about it and then decided to sign up. The other half's in this area I'm aware of are in Rhode Island - one in July, one in September. The one in July would probably be rough because of the temperature, plus I believe the swim is in ocean water. So I figured the September would be the likely target one. But I couldn't resist signing up for the one in June. So at the moment, I'm thinking I'll do both the June one and the September one. However, the June one is the day before the Webster sprint tri - so I'll likely be passing on that.
The real complication was that my original plan for this off season was to give myself a rest from running, and build mileage back up slowly starting in the spring. Obviously, having something like a half iron puts a wrench into those plans, so the buildup will be more aggressive than I was planning. However, given that I've figured out that my IT issues are mostly caused by overdoing it intensity (speedwork) wise, I'm hoping I will be able to manage the distance without too much of an issue. I'll probably have to start training earlier than I planned, though. I still want to take the 2 months running rest (at least) - which will likely be December/January with maybe some February mixed in there, but by March I'll have to be running at least 3 times per week. At that point I'll have 4 months to build back up to 13 miles. Actually, I'd like to get a few 15-16 mile runs under my belt before the tri, just to get that extra conditioning to help keep the hips from tightening up during the last couple miles.
I'll also have to dedicate myself to cycling. A big part of that will likely be riding into work a few times a week. That 30 miles a day will be a big portion of weekly mileage, but I'll also have to make sure to start cycling longer distances on weekends. I'm thinking of up to somewhere around 75 miles.
Swimming will actually be the easy part. I'm already conditioned for swimming a mile straight. My time of 30 minutes is ok - not great, but ok. During the winter I'll work on keeping that conditioning for 30-45 minutes of straight swimming, and also hopefully get the times down a little bit.
Ideally, I'd be able to simulate a half iron somewhere around the beginning of June. I'd be ok with taking breaks between activities - no need to put the stress of a race on the body 2-3 weeks before the race - but mostly to get somewhat familiar with the level of exertion both mentally and physically.
The real complication was that my original plan for this off season was to give myself a rest from running, and build mileage back up slowly starting in the spring. Obviously, having something like a half iron puts a wrench into those plans, so the buildup will be more aggressive than I was planning. However, given that I've figured out that my IT issues are mostly caused by overdoing it intensity (speedwork) wise, I'm hoping I will be able to manage the distance without too much of an issue. I'll probably have to start training earlier than I planned, though. I still want to take the 2 months running rest (at least) - which will likely be December/January with maybe some February mixed in there, but by March I'll have to be running at least 3 times per week. At that point I'll have 4 months to build back up to 13 miles. Actually, I'd like to get a few 15-16 mile runs under my belt before the tri, just to get that extra conditioning to help keep the hips from tightening up during the last couple miles.
I'll also have to dedicate myself to cycling. A big part of that will likely be riding into work a few times a week. That 30 miles a day will be a big portion of weekly mileage, but I'll also have to make sure to start cycling longer distances on weekends. I'm thinking of up to somewhere around 75 miles.
Swimming will actually be the easy part. I'm already conditioned for swimming a mile straight. My time of 30 minutes is ok - not great, but ok. During the winter I'll work on keeping that conditioning for 30-45 minutes of straight swimming, and also hopefully get the times down a little bit.
Ideally, I'd be able to simulate a half iron somewhere around the beginning of June. I'd be ok with taking breaks between activities - no need to put the stress of a race on the body 2-3 weeks before the race - but mostly to get somewhat familiar with the level of exertion both mentally and physically.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Ditching the shoes
For the better part of a year now, I've been intrigued and looking into running without modern running shoes. Initially, my thinking of doing so centered around using Vibram Five Finger's as a shoe replacement, so that the soles of my feet would have some protection against gravel, glass, and other things found on pavement that may scrape up the bottom of my feet. While there are those who run truly barefoot and buld up callouses to deal with such things, I didn't want to roughen up my feet quite like that.
So I went to try on the VFF's on during the fall last year. Unfortunately, I found that they didn't fit my feet all that well - my toes are relatively short, and the fabric of the VFF's would dig into the flesh between my toes. Assuming that every step taken while running would drive that fabric into the flesh, I decided VFF's weren't going to work for me. I then figured that I'd have to make my own sandals somehow, similar to how the Tarahumara make their own from leather, old tires, etc. Unfortunately I didn't have any old tires, and I never quite got around to sourcing sole leather. I was busy with PT over the winter, and got started in the springtime with shoes, and I didn't want to throw a wrench into that. By mid-summer, however, in the midst of PF and ITB issues, I began to revisit the idea of figuring out how to run barefoot. A random comment from someone on Facebook, and I found that Barefoot Ted sells running sandal kits for about $25. Perfect!
Once I got the kit in and made the sandals, I knew I'd have to take my time to build up to using them. For one thing, the small amount of barefoot running I did last year taught me that even just a mile would result in sore calfs for a while. For another, I have never worn sandals, so my feet were not used to having string between the toes. If I were to start running, I'd have a few things to get used to first.
So for several weeks, while I was working on building distance for the half marathon, I made sure to wear the sandals a couple/few times per week for 45 minutes or so. Usually this was when I was walking the dogs in the park up the street. this gave me an opportunity to start playing with mechanics, getting used to having something between my toes, and getting used to walking halfway decent distances without a thick heel that normal shoes have. Once I finished the half marathon, I decided I'd spend the rest of the running season getting started with actually running in the things. There were a few reasons for this:
1) Mileage would be low - so I'd be able to make progress on something with less chance of aggravating an existing issue (PF or ITB).
2) I'd have a chance to see what kind of buildup rate might be acceptable.
3) Some of the conditioning might carry over to next year, so I'd hopefully get a little bit of a head start.
4) Since the mileage is low, I'd have the flexibility to run at odd times of the day. If a run is only going to take between 10-20 minutes, it is much easier to run @ night, as opposed to a distance run of 10-12 miles after getting home from work around 6:30.
I initially started with running a few days in a row, but only running a mile. I didn't want to repeat last years experience of starting out at close to 2 miles, and having to deal with extremely tight and sore calfs for the next 4 days. Even only a mile resulted in some tightness and soreness, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't run another mile the following day. After 3 days in a row, I took a rest day (I was travelling for work), followed by a mile on a treadmill the next day. Took two days of rest, and then followed up with about 1.5 miles the next day. Over the next several days, I ran about 1.5 miles a couple more times. After maybe the 3rd day of this, the amount of soreness is minimal from one day to the next, an indication that at least the calf muscles are adapting. What I don't know is what kind of time is required for the tendons and ligaments to adapt and strengthen as necessary.
At this point, I've done 3 days of 1.5 miles, and I'm thinking I'll do one more 1.5 miler before extending to 2 miles. I'm still just a touch more sore than I'd like to be to move on to 2 miles right now.
So there is THAT part of the story.
The other part of the story is how different running sans shoes is. At first, it seems very laborious. It just seems like more effort is required of the lower legs than is necessary when wearing shoes. In fact, the very first time trying out the sandals was soon after I got them, and when I put running shoes on the next day, they (the shoes) just felt so much more.. normal. However, after only a few times running in the sandals, they now feel much more.. normal. I noticed this last week when I went to do a 5 mile run (the first time since I've had my license that I've run for a utilitarian reason - I had to run to pick up the car that was being detailed that day). I felt like every step, the shoe was absorbing a great deal of energy that is generated during the stride. It was like an energy sink.
What I have found, after tinkering around with the necessary mechanical adjustments when transitioning from running with shoes to running without shoes, is what advocates for barefoot running have said many times over and over - that there is an extra spring in your step/stride when running barefoot. As the arch of the foot is planted and supports body weight, it stores that potential energy and releases it when weight is shifted off. The result is significant - much more of the legs upward movement is a result of 'decompressing the spring', as opposed to physically lifting the leg. It seems to me that this is why wearing shoes felt like an energy sink during that 5 mile run.
Second, it is much easier to reach the optimum cadence of 90 footstrokes per foot per minute without shoes. Being unable to 'cheat', and plant your foot more forward than it should be - as you can with running shoes - running barefoot more or less forces you to place your foot directly under your body, and it is done more easily (for me, anyway) than when wearing shoes.
Finally - I feel a definite difference in horizontal/vertical motion. When running with shoes, even if I try to minimize vertical motion, there is still more present than when running without shoes. I believe this is largely because of the thick heel in shoes - in order to allow 'proper' mechanics when there is an extra 1" of stuff under your heel, I was tending to use vertical motion as an aid (maybe to try and get up and over that extra material? Maybe to give my leg that extra fraction of a second to get directly underneath the rest of my body? I dont know). When running without shoes, my hips feel much more like they are riding on a far more level plane, and that my legs are moving in more of a circular, as opposed to elliptical, fashion.
So I'll see what happens long-term. My hope is to be able to do virtually all running next year in sandals, because one thing is clear - at this point it seems like it would be very difficult to train in both methods simultaneously. I could be wrong about that - perhaps running barefoot is just teaching me better mechanics and I can easily transfer those mechanics over to using shoes.
So I went to try on the VFF's on during the fall last year. Unfortunately, I found that they didn't fit my feet all that well - my toes are relatively short, and the fabric of the VFF's would dig into the flesh between my toes. Assuming that every step taken while running would drive that fabric into the flesh, I decided VFF's weren't going to work for me. I then figured that I'd have to make my own sandals somehow, similar to how the Tarahumara make their own from leather, old tires, etc. Unfortunately I didn't have any old tires, and I never quite got around to sourcing sole leather. I was busy with PT over the winter, and got started in the springtime with shoes, and I didn't want to throw a wrench into that. By mid-summer, however, in the midst of PF and ITB issues, I began to revisit the idea of figuring out how to run barefoot. A random comment from someone on Facebook, and I found that Barefoot Ted sells running sandal kits for about $25. Perfect!
Once I got the kit in and made the sandals, I knew I'd have to take my time to build up to using them. For one thing, the small amount of barefoot running I did last year taught me that even just a mile would result in sore calfs for a while. For another, I have never worn sandals, so my feet were not used to having string between the toes. If I were to start running, I'd have a few things to get used to first.
So for several weeks, while I was working on building distance for the half marathon, I made sure to wear the sandals a couple/few times per week for 45 minutes or so. Usually this was when I was walking the dogs in the park up the street. this gave me an opportunity to start playing with mechanics, getting used to having something between my toes, and getting used to walking halfway decent distances without a thick heel that normal shoes have. Once I finished the half marathon, I decided I'd spend the rest of the running season getting started with actually running in the things. There were a few reasons for this:
1) Mileage would be low - so I'd be able to make progress on something with less chance of aggravating an existing issue (PF or ITB).
2) I'd have a chance to see what kind of buildup rate might be acceptable.
3) Some of the conditioning might carry over to next year, so I'd hopefully get a little bit of a head start.
4) Since the mileage is low, I'd have the flexibility to run at odd times of the day. If a run is only going to take between 10-20 minutes, it is much easier to run @ night, as opposed to a distance run of 10-12 miles after getting home from work around 6:30.
I initially started with running a few days in a row, but only running a mile. I didn't want to repeat last years experience of starting out at close to 2 miles, and having to deal with extremely tight and sore calfs for the next 4 days. Even only a mile resulted in some tightness and soreness, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't run another mile the following day. After 3 days in a row, I took a rest day (I was travelling for work), followed by a mile on a treadmill the next day. Took two days of rest, and then followed up with about 1.5 miles the next day. Over the next several days, I ran about 1.5 miles a couple more times. After maybe the 3rd day of this, the amount of soreness is minimal from one day to the next, an indication that at least the calf muscles are adapting. What I don't know is what kind of time is required for the tendons and ligaments to adapt and strengthen as necessary.
At this point, I've done 3 days of 1.5 miles, and I'm thinking I'll do one more 1.5 miler before extending to 2 miles. I'm still just a touch more sore than I'd like to be to move on to 2 miles right now.
So there is THAT part of the story.
The other part of the story is how different running sans shoes is. At first, it seems very laborious. It just seems like more effort is required of the lower legs than is necessary when wearing shoes. In fact, the very first time trying out the sandals was soon after I got them, and when I put running shoes on the next day, they (the shoes) just felt so much more.. normal. However, after only a few times running in the sandals, they now feel much more.. normal. I noticed this last week when I went to do a 5 mile run (the first time since I've had my license that I've run for a utilitarian reason - I had to run to pick up the car that was being detailed that day). I felt like every step, the shoe was absorbing a great deal of energy that is generated during the stride. It was like an energy sink.
What I have found, after tinkering around with the necessary mechanical adjustments when transitioning from running with shoes to running without shoes, is what advocates for barefoot running have said many times over and over - that there is an extra spring in your step/stride when running barefoot. As the arch of the foot is planted and supports body weight, it stores that potential energy and releases it when weight is shifted off. The result is significant - much more of the legs upward movement is a result of 'decompressing the spring', as opposed to physically lifting the leg. It seems to me that this is why wearing shoes felt like an energy sink during that 5 mile run.
Second, it is much easier to reach the optimum cadence of 90 footstrokes per foot per minute without shoes. Being unable to 'cheat', and plant your foot more forward than it should be - as you can with running shoes - running barefoot more or less forces you to place your foot directly under your body, and it is done more easily (for me, anyway) than when wearing shoes.
Finally - I feel a definite difference in horizontal/vertical motion. When running with shoes, even if I try to minimize vertical motion, there is still more present than when running without shoes. I believe this is largely because of the thick heel in shoes - in order to allow 'proper' mechanics when there is an extra 1" of stuff under your heel, I was tending to use vertical motion as an aid (maybe to try and get up and over that extra material? Maybe to give my leg that extra fraction of a second to get directly underneath the rest of my body? I dont know). When running without shoes, my hips feel much more like they are riding on a far more level plane, and that my legs are moving in more of a circular, as opposed to elliptical, fashion.
So I'll see what happens long-term. My hope is to be able to do virtually all running next year in sandals, because one thing is clear - at this point it seems like it would be very difficult to train in both methods simultaneously. I could be wrong about that - perhaps running barefoot is just teaching me better mechanics and I can easily transfer those mechanics over to using shoes.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Lowell Sun Half Marathon - 10/17
Yesterday I ran the Lowell Sun Half Marathon - the same half marathon as I did in October 2008. My goal for this time around was simply to build up to the distance while keeping PF and IT band issues under control.
In order to do this, I've only been running about twice a week for the past couple months. That is one major reason for the lack of updates to the blog - any running I've done hasn't been following any set plan. The only guideline I've really followed was to do a long run on weekends and a mid-week run of anywhere from 3-5 miles. For the long runs, I was adding one mile per week. Once the long run was 9 miles, I decided that instead of doing 10 miles the following week, and 11 miles the week after - I'd add 2 miles to the long run distance, but go every other week, with about 6 miles in between. So one week was 9 miles, the following week was 6 miles, the next week was 11 miles, the following week was 6 miles. I worked up to 11 miles two weeks before the race, so that I had a full two weeks of rest before the half marathon.
Initially, my thinking was that I'd have no chance of beating my time of two years ago. I was only running 2x per week this time around and doing virtually no speedwork. However, as the race got closer, and I saw how my HR and pace was doing, I thought that I might just have a small chance of barely edging out the previous time. However, I made sure to keep the mental note to not overdue it and re-aggrevate injuries from earlier in the year.
On race day, I decided on the tactic I'd use - break the 13 miles into three different stages. Stage 1 was three miles of slow warmup, about 10-11 minute miles. Based on experience, it'd take three to four miles for the field to thin out anyway, so this would be a good opportunity to take it slow and get muscles warmed up at a HR of about 150. Stage 2, miles 4-10, would be the meat of the race, and I'd use the run-walk-run strategy. Since I had only been running a couple days a week, my 11 mile long run a couple weeks ago was using the run-walk-run to try and minimize stress and overuse. During the race, I'd follow with the 4 minutes run, 30 seconds walk, 4 minutes run. However, I'd try and keep the 4 minutes of running at a brisk pace with a HR of about 160-165. Finally, at about mile 10, I'd enter stage 3 - possibly (depending on how I felt) treat the last few miles as a 5k - faster pace, no walk breaks.
Overall, the plan worked out pretty well:
Mile 1 - 9:53 avg HR 137
Mile 2 - 10:10 avg HR 143
Mile 3 - 9:21 avg HR 149
Miles 4-10 - No mile splits, I used the stopwatch to track the 4 minutes/30 seconds laps. There was a time or two I extended beyond the 4 minutes, in an attempt to prep for the last few minutes where there would be no breaks, or at least far fewer.
Mile 8 - Total time of (I think) 72 minutes, plus/minus about 20 seconds.
Mile 9 - Total time of 81:10 or so. I remember this because I was comparing to last time, when 9 miles was met in 81 minutes, exactly 9 min/miles. So I was on pace with the same race a couple years before.
Mile 10 - Right around 90 minutes, plus maybe about 20 seconds. I remember this because the mile marker was incorrect, saying it was mile 9 - and I remember thinking that there was no way I was maintaining an average of 10 min/miles.
At mile 10, I was starting to reach a bit of a wall. So I decided on one more walk break. When I took the break, I realized that I was starting to reach a point where the walk breaks were inducing some tightness and soreness. That settled it - no more breaks from there on out - whatever discomfort (note - NOT pain!) I was feeling during running would be less than if I stopped and started again. So I kept running along. As the yards went by, I started ticking the speed up. Although my rate of passing people had slowed down, noone was passing me.
By the time I reached the finish line, I had been running for 24 minutes straight, with an avg HR of 169. I'm not sure of the distance, because I didn't start the last 'lap' at a designated mile marker, but based on where mile 10 was, I believe it was the remaining 3.1 miles.
Total time: 1:55:07
Avg HR: 158
Compared to two years ago, I was about 40 seconds slower. I started out figuring there was no way I'd beat last years time, as the race got closer I thought I just might (50/50 chance), and as I was in the race, especially around mile 8-9, I was thinking that it was definitely possible. However, I opted to err on the side of caution, not wanting to aggrevate the IT band - and as a result the last 3 miles were done more conservatively that in 2008, and I fell short.
So now I have a bit of a dilemma - I originally just wanted to get through the race and begin the offseason of recovering from injury. Since I was able to run the race at about the same clip as last time, without aggrevating injury, now I'm more motivated to keep running until the weather forces me off the road. But I don't know if it is worth it (ie, how much carryover there will be to next year). One possibility is to start barefoot running - something I was planning on building up next year. However, I dont know whether my left foot PF issues would be aggrevated by such an activity or not.
In order to do this, I've only been running about twice a week for the past couple months. That is one major reason for the lack of updates to the blog - any running I've done hasn't been following any set plan. The only guideline I've really followed was to do a long run on weekends and a mid-week run of anywhere from 3-5 miles. For the long runs, I was adding one mile per week. Once the long run was 9 miles, I decided that instead of doing 10 miles the following week, and 11 miles the week after - I'd add 2 miles to the long run distance, but go every other week, with about 6 miles in between. So one week was 9 miles, the following week was 6 miles, the next week was 11 miles, the following week was 6 miles. I worked up to 11 miles two weeks before the race, so that I had a full two weeks of rest before the half marathon.
Initially, my thinking was that I'd have no chance of beating my time of two years ago. I was only running 2x per week this time around and doing virtually no speedwork. However, as the race got closer, and I saw how my HR and pace was doing, I thought that I might just have a small chance of barely edging out the previous time. However, I made sure to keep the mental note to not overdue it and re-aggrevate injuries from earlier in the year.
On race day, I decided on the tactic I'd use - break the 13 miles into three different stages. Stage 1 was three miles of slow warmup, about 10-11 minute miles. Based on experience, it'd take three to four miles for the field to thin out anyway, so this would be a good opportunity to take it slow and get muscles warmed up at a HR of about 150. Stage 2, miles 4-10, would be the meat of the race, and I'd use the run-walk-run strategy. Since I had only been running a couple days a week, my 11 mile long run a couple weeks ago was using the run-walk-run to try and minimize stress and overuse. During the race, I'd follow with the 4 minutes run, 30 seconds walk, 4 minutes run. However, I'd try and keep the 4 minutes of running at a brisk pace with a HR of about 160-165. Finally, at about mile 10, I'd enter stage 3 - possibly (depending on how I felt) treat the last few miles as a 5k - faster pace, no walk breaks.
Overall, the plan worked out pretty well:
Mile 1 - 9:53 avg HR 137
Mile 2 - 10:10 avg HR 143
Mile 3 - 9:21 avg HR 149
Miles 4-10 - No mile splits, I used the stopwatch to track the 4 minutes/30 seconds laps. There was a time or two I extended beyond the 4 minutes, in an attempt to prep for the last few minutes where there would be no breaks, or at least far fewer.
Mile 8 - Total time of (I think) 72 minutes, plus/minus about 20 seconds.
Mile 9 - Total time of 81:10 or so. I remember this because I was comparing to last time, when 9 miles was met in 81 minutes, exactly 9 min/miles. So I was on pace with the same race a couple years before.
Mile 10 - Right around 90 minutes, plus maybe about 20 seconds. I remember this because the mile marker was incorrect, saying it was mile 9 - and I remember thinking that there was no way I was maintaining an average of 10 min/miles.
At mile 10, I was starting to reach a bit of a wall. So I decided on one more walk break. When I took the break, I realized that I was starting to reach a point where the walk breaks were inducing some tightness and soreness. That settled it - no more breaks from there on out - whatever discomfort (note - NOT pain!) I was feeling during running would be less than if I stopped and started again. So I kept running along. As the yards went by, I started ticking the speed up. Although my rate of passing people had slowed down, noone was passing me.
By the time I reached the finish line, I had been running for 24 minutes straight, with an avg HR of 169. I'm not sure of the distance, because I didn't start the last 'lap' at a designated mile marker, but based on where mile 10 was, I believe it was the remaining 3.1 miles.
Total time: 1:55:07
Avg HR: 158
Compared to two years ago, I was about 40 seconds slower. I started out figuring there was no way I'd beat last years time, as the race got closer I thought I just might (50/50 chance), and as I was in the race, especially around mile 8-9, I was thinking that it was definitely possible. However, I opted to err on the side of caution, not wanting to aggrevate the IT band - and as a result the last 3 miles were done more conservatively that in 2008, and I fell short.
So now I have a bit of a dilemma - I originally just wanted to get through the race and begin the offseason of recovering from injury. Since I was able to run the race at about the same clip as last time, without aggrevating injury, now I'm more motivated to keep running until the weather forces me off the road. But I don't know if it is worth it (ie, how much carryover there will be to next year). One possibility is to start barefoot running - something I was planning on building up next year. However, I dont know whether my left foot PF issues would be aggrevated by such an activity or not.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Shoe induced PF, IT band tinkering and all kinds of other stuff
WOW. I thought I had made at least one post since late June when I made a major discovery. I was surprised when I checked in and saw that I hadn't.
Plantar Fasciitis
So here it is. The major cause of my PF was the shoes I was wearing. A couple years ago, when I decided I'd start training for a marathon, I went to a local reputable running store to have my stride checked out, to see if a different shoe would be better for me with the increased mileage. I had always been running in a neutral shoe with no issue, and over the past 10 years, had two different running stores tell me a neutral shoe was fine for me. However, when I went in for this fitting, I was put into a shoe (Nike Structure Triax) with some extra inner heel support, specifically because the person thought they saw some minor collapse of the left heel upon impact. So I started using them. That was in October of 08.
I ran the half marathon at the time in those shoes with no issues, and ran half of the 09 season in them with no issues until the IT band issues came up. Went through PT for that, got it resolved (or so I thought, more on that later), and started the '10 season in the new type of shoe. Then suddenly, whamo - PF. Long story short, since I had spent over a year in the 'new' shoes, it never occured to me right away that the pain I was feeling in my left heel was exactly where the extra support of that shoe is!
Once that fact dawned on me, I dug out an old old pair of shoes (neutral) to use as every day shoes, went out to the Nike store and bought a new pair of old faithful Air Pegasus. Within one week, the heel was feeling noticably better. Within two, the improvement was pretty dramatic. That was back in the beginning of July. It has been about 6 weeks since then, and although my heel can still get sore, it only appears briefly after a run. Within a couple hours, the heel feels fine again.
Moral of the story? If something is working and someone tells you to try something different, dont be so hasty to make the switch. Get another opinion, or follow your own personal experience, not the 'expert' opinion of some dude in a shoe store with one hours training who looks at your stride for all of 15 seconds.
IT band
So that was one major monkey off my back. Unfortunately, right around the same time, my left IT band started acting up again. It was noticably different than last year - last year I went from nothing to pain almost instantly. This year, I have felt no pain, but I have been able to feel distinct rubbing when things get aggrevated. Then, after a day or two, things are back to normal.
The good news about this is that it has provided me with an opportunity to tinker around and try new things and monitor the results without having significant setbacks.
All the details that have come about over the past six weeks are quite lengthy, but here's the main gist:
- It is possible that the structure triax shoes were actually contributing to IT band issues also. By not allowing the heel to rotate and move as it naturally wanted to, my left leg may have been bowing out every so slightly, which puts additional tension on the band.
- I'm still pretty certain that having 'runners hips' (weak gluteus medius and week abduction of the leg) didn't help. This was what PT was aimed at fixing. So the efforts of PT were not for naught.
- I still did too much too fast. My speedwork started out with mile repeats. That puts a lot of stress on the muscles that have forgotten how to efficiently handle lactic acid. As a result, I think they were tightening up rather quickly (only a few minutes into the repeat) so that by the end of the mile, the IT band had been rubbing harshly against the bone for at least a few minutes. Not good. I think I'd have been better served doing speedwork like I did for the half marathon a couple years ago - starting with 1/4 mile repeats and gradually building up from there.
- Although I had been stretching on a regular basis using the roller, it needed/needs to be refined. I've since gone to get a deep tissue massage, and that has helped loosen up some knots of tension that I didn't know existed, specifically between the area where the quad connects with the IT band. While the roller is great, it lacks the precision that a deep tissue massage, or the instrument known as 'The Stick' (which I've since purchased), can provide.
- I slacked on the strength part of PT once the running started up in April or so. I did some of the exercises once in a while, but should have been better about doing them regularly.
- Finally, and this is an idea that only came to light today that still needs testing out: I think I had been warming up incorrectly. When I did a warm up run, it was usually just a few minutes, followed by some stretching, and the if I was doing anything but a long slow distance, I'd go right into running fast. Today I took a more gradual approach - I started off slow, and let my legs speed up only as they felt ready. When they did speed up, it was just a small amount - I'd stay at that new speed until things felt comfortable, when I'd allow the speed to pick up a bit more. The end result was that by the time I was in the mid-160's for heart rate, it didn't feel nearly as intense as if I have started off the gun at the faster speed. My thinking is that this approach is similar to approaching speedwork starting with 1/4 mile repeats - by allowing time for the blood to really get going before working any harder, lactic acid buildup was minimal. Therefore, muscle tightening was minimal.
While that is all well and good, the reality is that I still have an issue with the IT band because the inflammation is still there. I wouldn't be surprised if it'll take an offseason for it to completely diminish, but I'm hoping I can keep it under control for the rest of the season so it doesn't cause any more issues, doesn't get worse, and with some luck, will actually improve a bit. That would be ultimate validation that I've gotten this thing figured out.
Plan for next year
If my thinking on the IT band is close to accurate, I think I've formulated a plan for next year that'll help keep it at bay.
First, no running or biking for 2-3 months. At least December and January - but possibly November, depending on the weather. The weather during December and January is crap, and the roads are crap - so that's almost a forced offseason. During that time, continue with the stretching, using the roller, the stick, and self-inflicted deep tissue massaging. Visiting a masseuse on a regular basis is too expensive.
Once the end of January comes along, start biking on the rollers in the basement for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, no resistance. The purpose of this is not to get fit in an aerobic sense, but simply to get the knee and muscles used to the movement. Want to train things to accept activity without resorting to tightening up. Continue this for 2 months.
Towards the end of March, start working running into the picture. Again, nothing intense, just run 3 times a week for 30-40 minutes. Maybe even start with only 20 minutes. Continue this for 2 months. During the running off days, start cycling outdoors, gradually building up intensity (nothing more than spurts of moderate intensity, though) and distance to about the 20 mile mark. That puts me at the end of May.
Around June, start running speedwork with 1/4 mile repeats. Do these once a week. Also continue building up cycling mileage to 30-35 miles. Allow more intensity in cycling as appropriate. Also allow a couple days between a more intense bike ride and a running speed work session.
That should set me up pretty nice for the Webster Lake tri at the end of June. Re-evaluate at that time.
Plantar Fasciitis
So here it is. The major cause of my PF was the shoes I was wearing. A couple years ago, when I decided I'd start training for a marathon, I went to a local reputable running store to have my stride checked out, to see if a different shoe would be better for me with the increased mileage. I had always been running in a neutral shoe with no issue, and over the past 10 years, had two different running stores tell me a neutral shoe was fine for me. However, when I went in for this fitting, I was put into a shoe (Nike Structure Triax) with some extra inner heel support, specifically because the person thought they saw some minor collapse of the left heel upon impact. So I started using them. That was in October of 08.
I ran the half marathon at the time in those shoes with no issues, and ran half of the 09 season in them with no issues until the IT band issues came up. Went through PT for that, got it resolved (or so I thought, more on that later), and started the '10 season in the new type of shoe. Then suddenly, whamo - PF. Long story short, since I had spent over a year in the 'new' shoes, it never occured to me right away that the pain I was feeling in my left heel was exactly where the extra support of that shoe is!
Once that fact dawned on me, I dug out an old old pair of shoes (neutral) to use as every day shoes, went out to the Nike store and bought a new pair of old faithful Air Pegasus. Within one week, the heel was feeling noticably better. Within two, the improvement was pretty dramatic. That was back in the beginning of July. It has been about 6 weeks since then, and although my heel can still get sore, it only appears briefly after a run. Within a couple hours, the heel feels fine again.
Moral of the story? If something is working and someone tells you to try something different, dont be so hasty to make the switch. Get another opinion, or follow your own personal experience, not the 'expert' opinion of some dude in a shoe store with one hours training who looks at your stride for all of 15 seconds.
IT band
So that was one major monkey off my back. Unfortunately, right around the same time, my left IT band started acting up again. It was noticably different than last year - last year I went from nothing to pain almost instantly. This year, I have felt no pain, but I have been able to feel distinct rubbing when things get aggrevated. Then, after a day or two, things are back to normal.
The good news about this is that it has provided me with an opportunity to tinker around and try new things and monitor the results without having significant setbacks.
All the details that have come about over the past six weeks are quite lengthy, but here's the main gist:
- It is possible that the structure triax shoes were actually contributing to IT band issues also. By not allowing the heel to rotate and move as it naturally wanted to, my left leg may have been bowing out every so slightly, which puts additional tension on the band.
- I'm still pretty certain that having 'runners hips' (weak gluteus medius and week abduction of the leg) didn't help. This was what PT was aimed at fixing. So the efforts of PT were not for naught.
- I still did too much too fast. My speedwork started out with mile repeats. That puts a lot of stress on the muscles that have forgotten how to efficiently handle lactic acid. As a result, I think they were tightening up rather quickly (only a few minutes into the repeat) so that by the end of the mile, the IT band had been rubbing harshly against the bone for at least a few minutes. Not good. I think I'd have been better served doing speedwork like I did for the half marathon a couple years ago - starting with 1/4 mile repeats and gradually building up from there.
- Although I had been stretching on a regular basis using the roller, it needed/needs to be refined. I've since gone to get a deep tissue massage, and that has helped loosen up some knots of tension that I didn't know existed, specifically between the area where the quad connects with the IT band. While the roller is great, it lacks the precision that a deep tissue massage, or the instrument known as 'The Stick' (which I've since purchased), can provide.
- I slacked on the strength part of PT once the running started up in April or so. I did some of the exercises once in a while, but should have been better about doing them regularly.
- Finally, and this is an idea that only came to light today that still needs testing out: I think I had been warming up incorrectly. When I did a warm up run, it was usually just a few minutes, followed by some stretching, and the if I was doing anything but a long slow distance, I'd go right into running fast. Today I took a more gradual approach - I started off slow, and let my legs speed up only as they felt ready. When they did speed up, it was just a small amount - I'd stay at that new speed until things felt comfortable, when I'd allow the speed to pick up a bit more. The end result was that by the time I was in the mid-160's for heart rate, it didn't feel nearly as intense as if I have started off the gun at the faster speed. My thinking is that this approach is similar to approaching speedwork starting with 1/4 mile repeats - by allowing time for the blood to really get going before working any harder, lactic acid buildup was minimal. Therefore, muscle tightening was minimal.
While that is all well and good, the reality is that I still have an issue with the IT band because the inflammation is still there. I wouldn't be surprised if it'll take an offseason for it to completely diminish, but I'm hoping I can keep it under control for the rest of the season so it doesn't cause any more issues, doesn't get worse, and with some luck, will actually improve a bit. That would be ultimate validation that I've gotten this thing figured out.
Plan for next year
If my thinking on the IT band is close to accurate, I think I've formulated a plan for next year that'll help keep it at bay.
First, no running or biking for 2-3 months. At least December and January - but possibly November, depending on the weather. The weather during December and January is crap, and the roads are crap - so that's almost a forced offseason. During that time, continue with the stretching, using the roller, the stick, and self-inflicted deep tissue massaging. Visiting a masseuse on a regular basis is too expensive.
Once the end of January comes along, start biking on the rollers in the basement for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, no resistance. The purpose of this is not to get fit in an aerobic sense, but simply to get the knee and muscles used to the movement. Want to train things to accept activity without resorting to tightening up. Continue this for 2 months.
Towards the end of March, start working running into the picture. Again, nothing intense, just run 3 times a week for 30-40 minutes. Maybe even start with only 20 minutes. Continue this for 2 months. During the running off days, start cycling outdoors, gradually building up intensity (nothing more than spurts of moderate intensity, though) and distance to about the 20 mile mark. That puts me at the end of May.
Around June, start running speedwork with 1/4 mile repeats. Do these once a week. Also continue building up cycling mileage to 30-35 miles. Allow more intensity in cycling as appropriate. Also allow a couple days between a more intense bike ride and a running speed work session.
That should set me up pretty nice for the Webster Lake tri at the end of June. Re-evaluate at that time.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Swim practice - 6/23
Today's exercise simply continued on the previous swim sessions goals - spend reps on the new mechanics until they start feeling more normal. By the end of the session, having an earlier hand entry definately started feeling more second nature, but I still felt like when I wasn't paying much attention to it, my hand had a tendency to enter too far ahead, so I'm not quite there.
As a way to combat being out of breath during the skating, I tried something else - skating on one side for a few seconds, followed by a switch and skating on the other side. It wasn't quite as effective as I hoped, because I was still not breathing quite as often as my lungs wanted to.
Total distance was about 1300 yds.
As a way to combat being out of breath during the skating, I tried something else - skating on one side for a few seconds, followed by a switch and skating on the other side. It wasn't quite as effective as I hoped, because I was still not breathing quite as often as my lungs wanted to.
Total distance was about 1300 yds.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
6 Mile run - 6/22
Today I decided to try out a 6 mile run, with the idea that I was interested to see how the heal would respond with the increase in mileage.
Even though it was hot and humid, it was actually one of the more enjoyable long distance runs I've done this year, which is quite a relief. Similar to last weeks 5 miler, I found that my heel was slightly sore for about 1/2 mile, then it went away until the 3.5 - 4 mile mark. Around the 5 mile spot, it started to get a little more aggravated, and I knew that 6 was about all that I should really do (in fact, it may have been pushing it a bit).
Total Distance: 6 miles
Total Time: 58:37
Avg HR: 150
Even though it was hot and humid, it was actually one of the more enjoyable long distance runs I've done this year, which is quite a relief. Similar to last weeks 5 miler, I found that my heel was slightly sore for about 1/2 mile, then it went away until the 3.5 - 4 mile mark. Around the 5 mile spot, it started to get a little more aggravated, and I knew that 6 was about all that I should really do (in fact, it may have been pushing it a bit).
Total Distance: 6 miles
Total Time: 58:37
Avg HR: 150
Monday, June 21, 2010
Swim form practice - 6/21
Last Saturday, the day before the Webster Lake Tri, I had a session with a TI coach. I knew that I had picked up a lot from the TI book and DVD, but still felt like I could make some improvements. The problem I had been dealing with was that I was limited in my feedback that could be used to improve my form - having a third party see my mechanics could potentially provide some tweaks and tips that could improve things.
I was slightly dubious at first, because the session would be in open water, and not the clear water of a pool. But I was pleasantly surprised when, right away, the coach found a couple things that I could improve on:
1) Arm entry was too far ahead. This was causing my mid-section to dip a bit into the water, and increase drag
2) My left arm had a tendency to reach to the center line, instead of straight ahead. The result was that every time the left arm pulled, it would guide me to the right just slightly. Certainly explains why I have had a hard time swimming in a straight line.
3) Practice the skating drill to get muscle memory for where the arm, hand, head and body position should be.
4) Tips to improve sighting
5) Tips to improve swimming around bouys
So with these items in mind, I went to the pool to work on the first three items. I did a few laps of skating on either side to start getting accustomed to that, but found that with kicking providing the only propulsion, I was running out of breath quickly. So my focus became items #1 and #2 - looking for nothing more than just repitition so that the change in mechanics started to feel normal.
I timed every 50 yd lap, and found that each one was consistently around 55 seconds (closer to 50 initially, closer to 58 towards the end). All in all, it was about 1200 yds of swimming.
I was slightly dubious at first, because the session would be in open water, and not the clear water of a pool. But I was pleasantly surprised when, right away, the coach found a couple things that I could improve on:
1) Arm entry was too far ahead. This was causing my mid-section to dip a bit into the water, and increase drag
2) My left arm had a tendency to reach to the center line, instead of straight ahead. The result was that every time the left arm pulled, it would guide me to the right just slightly. Certainly explains why I have had a hard time swimming in a straight line.
3) Practice the skating drill to get muscle memory for where the arm, hand, head and body position should be.
4) Tips to improve sighting
5) Tips to improve swimming around bouys
So with these items in mind, I went to the pool to work on the first three items. I did a few laps of skating on either side to start getting accustomed to that, but found that with kicking providing the only propulsion, I was running out of breath quickly. So my focus became items #1 and #2 - looking for nothing more than just repitition so that the change in mechanics started to feel normal.
I timed every 50 yd lap, and found that each one was consistently around 55 seconds (closer to 50 initially, closer to 58 towards the end). All in all, it was about 1200 yds of swimming.
Webster Lake Triathlon - 6/20/10
This year was the second year I did the Webster Lake triathlon, a sprint distance with a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run (actually just a bit short of that). Last year I sprained my back, and lost about 4 weeks of training just before the triathlon, and felt that my run time would suffer because of it. Turned out I was able to put out about 7:30 minute miles, which was a pleasant surprise.
This year, I knew there was no way I was going to match last year. First, I only had one speedwork session. Two, I had nowhere near the stamina training - I had only done one 15 mile bike ride (last year I had done at least 2 x 50 milers by this time), and my longest run has only been 5 miles (last year I had built up to 15 miles by this time).
The only thing that would be improved is the swim, with the improved technique I picked up throughout the season last year, and had been practicing some this year. I knew that if nothing else, the recovery and therefore T1 time would improve over last year, because I remember being winded coming out of the water and having to walk a good distance of the way from the water to the transition area.
So, here is how things went today:
Swim: Overall I felt pretty good. I felt as thought I was swimming faster and a bit easier than last year. My sighting was a bit off, but it wasn't too awful bad. Sighting still needs work, but my tendency to drift right has been greatly reduced after learning that I've been reaching with my left hand almost to the mid-line during extension.
When I exited the water, I checked my watch and saw I was around the 14 minute mark. I felt like I remember my time in the water last year being maybe 16 minutes, but not sure.
T1: T1 was definately better than last year. I did stop to walk briefly, but not nearly as much as last year.
Overall, up to this point, I felt like the difference between last year and this year was noticable, but perhaps not effective (ie, any faster).
Bike: Felt pretty typical - passed by a lot of people as usual. I remembered there was a big hill, and was actually pretty accurate about my memory in where it was (around the 3.5 to 4 mile mark). I also remembered that it wasn't one big hill, but was broken up. What I didn't remember was which portion was the hardest (turned out to be the first part).
The rest of the bike was pretty typical.
T2: This transition is usually pretty quick. Nothing too special.
Run: This sucked. It was a rough 3 mile run. I started out feeling ok, but just gassed overall. My heartrate was in the 170's pretty much the entire time, but I didn't feel energetic. The heel presented no issues at all, so that was good. I had to stop 2 or 3 times on the way back to walk for 30 seconds, because I couldn't run slow enough for my HR to drop - and after a point, I figured I'd be better off just walking or a bit and letting my HR recover rather than run really slow and maintain a high heartrate.
About halfway through the run, I decided that my goal would be to finish in under 1:30. I couldn't remember exactly what I had last year - I felt like it was in the 1:21 or 1:24 range. So there was no way I'd be ahead of last year. The last third of the run felt better, but that was mostly adrenaline at knowing I was almost done. So I was able to crank up the speed a bit and just deal with the discomfort.
I crossed the line in 1:28:47. Whew! Under 90 minutes! I decided to give myself a pat on the back, considering my run training was aborted for 6 weeks, I had done no real bike training, yet was only a few minutes behind last year.
Here are the stats:
Swim:16 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 168 overall. Time of 14:29
T1: 5:09 (last)
Bike:19 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 191 overall. Time of 43:43
T2: 1:11
Run:17 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 152 overall. Time of 24:14
Overall: 17 of 19 in M30-34, 174 overall
Later on in the day I looked up the times for last year, and to my surprise, it was 1:28:47. You read that right - the exact same time, down to the second! Consistent. Poor, but consistent.
This year, I knew there was no way I was going to match last year. First, I only had one speedwork session. Two, I had nowhere near the stamina training - I had only done one 15 mile bike ride (last year I had done at least 2 x 50 milers by this time), and my longest run has only been 5 miles (last year I had built up to 15 miles by this time).
The only thing that would be improved is the swim, with the improved technique I picked up throughout the season last year, and had been practicing some this year. I knew that if nothing else, the recovery and therefore T1 time would improve over last year, because I remember being winded coming out of the water and having to walk a good distance of the way from the water to the transition area.
So, here is how things went today:
Swim: Overall I felt pretty good. I felt as thought I was swimming faster and a bit easier than last year. My sighting was a bit off, but it wasn't too awful bad. Sighting still needs work, but my tendency to drift right has been greatly reduced after learning that I've been reaching with my left hand almost to the mid-line during extension.
When I exited the water, I checked my watch and saw I was around the 14 minute mark. I felt like I remember my time in the water last year being maybe 16 minutes, but not sure.
T1: T1 was definately better than last year. I did stop to walk briefly, but not nearly as much as last year.
Overall, up to this point, I felt like the difference between last year and this year was noticable, but perhaps not effective (ie, any faster).
Bike: Felt pretty typical - passed by a lot of people as usual. I remembered there was a big hill, and was actually pretty accurate about my memory in where it was (around the 3.5 to 4 mile mark). I also remembered that it wasn't one big hill, but was broken up. What I didn't remember was which portion was the hardest (turned out to be the first part).
The rest of the bike was pretty typical.
T2: This transition is usually pretty quick. Nothing too special.
Run: This sucked. It was a rough 3 mile run. I started out feeling ok, but just gassed overall. My heartrate was in the 170's pretty much the entire time, but I didn't feel energetic. The heel presented no issues at all, so that was good. I had to stop 2 or 3 times on the way back to walk for 30 seconds, because I couldn't run slow enough for my HR to drop - and after a point, I figured I'd be better off just walking or a bit and letting my HR recover rather than run really slow and maintain a high heartrate.
About halfway through the run, I decided that my goal would be to finish in under 1:30. I couldn't remember exactly what I had last year - I felt like it was in the 1:21 or 1:24 range. So there was no way I'd be ahead of last year. The last third of the run felt better, but that was mostly adrenaline at knowing I was almost done. So I was able to crank up the speed a bit and just deal with the discomfort.
I crossed the line in 1:28:47. Whew! Under 90 minutes! I decided to give myself a pat on the back, considering my run training was aborted for 6 weeks, I had done no real bike training, yet was only a few minutes behind last year.
Here are the stats:
Swim:16 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 168 overall. Time of 14:29
T1: 5:09 (last)
Bike:19 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 191 overall. Time of 43:43
T2: 1:11
Run:17 of 19 in the M30-34 division, 152 overall. Time of 24:14
Overall: 17 of 19 in M30-34, 174 overall
Later on in the day I looked up the times for last year, and to my surprise, it was 1:28:47. You read that right - the exact same time, down to the second! Consistent. Poor, but consistent.
5 Miles - 6/15
Nothing special - just a quick 5 miles to see how the heel would respond to increased mileage. Typical pattern has been about an hour of activity (either mowing lawn, running, whatever) and that 'uses up' the tolerance that the heel has for the day. Activity is usually followed by some soaking in an ice bath for a while, and some advil. Next day (often within about 6 hours, actually) the heel is ready to go again.
So I just wanted to get some extra distance in there to see if the recovery pattern was any different. I did recognize the familiar pattern - feel the heel slightly during the first 1/2-3/4 mile, then it feel perfectly normal. However since this run was a bit longer, I did notice that around the 3.5 mile mark, the heel felt sore again for a while, but then it felt normal again somewhere in the 4 to 4.25 mile range.
Overall though - same pattern. Good news, as that means I can do a 5 miler at least once a week for a while to start extending distance.
So I just wanted to get some extra distance in there to see if the recovery pattern was any different. I did recognize the familiar pattern - feel the heel slightly during the first 1/2-3/4 mile, then it feel perfectly normal. However since this run was a bit longer, I did notice that around the 3.5 mile mark, the heel felt sore again for a while, but then it felt normal again somewhere in the 4 to 4.25 mile range.
Overall though - same pattern. Good news, as that means I can do a 5 miler at least once a week for a while to start extending distance.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
3 Miles - 6/17
Since this was a week I was travelling for work, I didn't have access to the ice bath that I normally do - so it was a good opportunity to see whether doing a 3 mile run, followed only by taking some Advil, would feel the same the next day as I normally do.
The three miles wasn't fast - about 9 minute miles. The heel felt okay the next day, but it did seem slightly more aggravated than normal - just barely noticable.
I have noticed, though, that running in general has been a little on the rougher side. Not because of the heel, but just that my endurance and stamina has definately decreased. I'm hoping that its mostly from the time off, and that by running a few times a week again, it'll come back.
The three miles wasn't fast - about 9 minute miles. The heel felt okay the next day, but it did seem slightly more aggravated than normal - just barely noticable.
I have noticed, though, that running in general has been a little on the rougher side. Not because of the heel, but just that my endurance and stamina has definately decreased. I'm hoping that its mostly from the time off, and that by running a few times a week again, it'll come back.
Monday, June 14, 2010
1250 yd swimming - 6/14
Todays session in the pool was pretty much one non stop swim session. I was iinterrupted after a few hundred yards and asked to switch lanes, but other than that, I wanted to just swim nonstop.
The other weekend, I went for a swim in the lake and went for only about 15-20 minutes before being tired out and calling it a day. I thought I had been using the same form (based on Total Immersion) that I used last year, and was a little confused as to why I could only swim for 15 minutes. A couple days later, I went to the pool and remembered some important concepts from TI, and noticed an immediate difference. So todays session had two goals - see about swimming a long enough distance so that I would feel comfortable with next weekends half mile swim, and try and get some time in to help with muscle memory.
Below are the stopwatch times for each 50 yds (unless otherwise noted).
49.9 (50)
52.5 (50)
56.1 (50)
59.5 (50)
59.7 (50)
1:01 (50)
57.6 (50)
1:40.5 (50 - interrupted)
1:51.1 (100)
57.9 (50)
56.0 (50)
55.5 (50)
55.2 (50)
1:00.1 (50)
1:02.8 (50)
1:04.6 (50)
59.0 (50)
57.2 (50)
1:05.8 (50)
59.1 (50)
59.5 (50)
1:01.4 (50)
1:01.6 (50)
53.8 (50)
There was some variation in time as I was toying around with different things, 6 beat kick vs 2 beat (I seem faster with the lazy six beat kick), but all in all, I was pretty close to 1 sec/yard from beginning to end.
The other weekend, I went for a swim in the lake and went for only about 15-20 minutes before being tired out and calling it a day. I thought I had been using the same form (based on Total Immersion) that I used last year, and was a little confused as to why I could only swim for 15 minutes. A couple days later, I went to the pool and remembered some important concepts from TI, and noticed an immediate difference. So todays session had two goals - see about swimming a long enough distance so that I would feel comfortable with next weekends half mile swim, and try and get some time in to help with muscle memory.
Below are the stopwatch times for each 50 yds (unless otherwise noted).
49.9 (50)
52.5 (50)
56.1 (50)
59.5 (50)
59.7 (50)
1:01 (50)
57.6 (50)
1:40.5 (50 - interrupted)
1:51.1 (100)
57.9 (50)
56.0 (50)
55.5 (50)
55.2 (50)
1:00.1 (50)
1:02.8 (50)
1:04.6 (50)
59.0 (50)
57.2 (50)
1:05.8 (50)
59.1 (50)
59.5 (50)
1:01.4 (50)
1:01.6 (50)
53.8 (50)
There was some variation in time as I was toying around with different things, 6 beat kick vs 2 beat (I seem faster with the lazy six beat kick), but all in all, I was pretty close to 1 sec/yard from beginning to end.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
3 x 1 mile repeats - 6/13/10
With one week to go before the Webster Lake Triathlon, and having done no speed work, I decided to do a few mile repeats today. My goal wasn't necessarily to eek out as much performance as I can during the run portion of the triathlon, but rather to get somewhat exposed to a higher heartrate for a more extended period of time.
These repeats were done on the loop around the house, which is slightly downhill for the first 1/2 mile, flat for about 1/4 mile, and then a fairly good incline on the last 1/4 mile. I like doing this loop because it goes by the house (good for rehydration when its hot and humid), and the end being uphill definately provides a challenge.
Each repeat was done in about 8 minutes. I'm kind of surprised at that, simply because I hadn't done any speedwork since last year (actually, almost a year ago). Also, my HR topped at about 183 during the last one at the crest of the hill, but generally speaking it was around 170 bpm.
These repeats were done on the loop around the house, which is slightly downhill for the first 1/2 mile, flat for about 1/4 mile, and then a fairly good incline on the last 1/4 mile. I like doing this loop because it goes by the house (good for rehydration when its hot and humid), and the end being uphill definately provides a challenge.
Each repeat was done in about 8 minutes. I'm kind of surprised at that, simply because I hadn't done any speedwork since last year (actually, almost a year ago). Also, my HR topped at about 183 during the last one at the crest of the hill, but generally speaking it was around 170 bpm.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Back up on the horse
Last weekend (would have been May 29 or 30th), my heel had been feeling good enough for a long enough time that I decided to run a quick 1.8 miles. I mostly wanted to see how it would react after the previous week had seen some pretty encouraging improvements. Would it be a set-back? Would it be no worse for wear? Would the foot continue to feel better over the next couple days even with the running?
Fortunately, what I found was that the 1.8 miles did not appear to be a set-back. However, I also iced my heel a decent amount immediately afterwards, and after a couple days also applied heat. In another 2-3 days I felt good enough to do another 1.8 miles, with similar results - the heel continued to feel better as a whole as time went on.
I was going to cancel my doctor appointment on the 1st, but I never thought about it on the Friday before, and with the holiday on Monday, I decided to keep the appointment, see what he had to say, and at least have the visit on record in the event this thing flared up again or remained persistent.
When I went to the doctor, a couple things came out of it:
1) He suggested to continue icing only, no heat.
2) He recommended the green Superfeet arch support. In the same conversation, he said he doesn't like custom orthotics, which I found strange because I know a couple people who have been sold orthotics (and neither of them found them to be useful). The doctor indicated that custom ones are meant to change your foot structure and alignment, whereas off-the-shelf ones are meant to support your foot as currently built. It should be noted that I was suspicious of his trying to sell me custom orthotics, as it was a podiatrist. It was refreshing to hear him say he doesn't like custom orthotics. Also, he didn't suggest always using the supports - he just said to use them when running.
3) He also mentioned that soft surfaces (like mowing the lawn!) are notorious for aggravating PF. Due to the lower resistance provided by the ground surface, it places more strain on the connective tissue that is inflammed when you have PF.
So, while I took everything he said above into consideration, I have been finding that application of heat is actually helpful. Plus, that coincides with everything you hear - ice at first (durign first 48 hours) to control inflammation, heat afterwards to stimulate blood flow and healing. I also decided that I'd only use the supports while I have this issue - once it is healed, I'll remove them. I just dont see the need to use arch supports when I've never needed them in the past, and I have a very very good idea of what caused my problem in the first place (and its something I can avoid).
Another thing I came across last week is a different take on icing. I can't seem to find the specific article (this one is similar, though), it seems that there is a recent trend in using more direct ice application as opposed to only use ice packs. The article I found last week specifically mentioned using direct ice until an area feels numb, and then removing the ice for a while to let things warm back up, and then repeating with ice. The general idea was that this direct ice was good for controlling inflammation that is near the skin surface (within 1 cm), because the amount of time that ice is in contact with skin is relatively low. However, if you have inflammation that is deeper (like in the knee), the slower icing effect of ice packs is better for that. So last week that is what I did - during the work day, I filled up a plastic bag with ice, put it in the freezer, and while sitting at my desk, I'd let me heel rest on the ice until it felt numb, then remove it, and then put it back on. After two days, the improvement was dramatically noticable. While the heel had been feeling better - now there were actually times where it didn't feel at all that there was a sprain (and I'm not talking about times when I was icing, or had just iced).
I also started using heat pads at night, in order to stimulate blood flow during a time when the body heals itself and when the heel is not under any strain. So, during the day when the tissue could be aggravated, it was ice. At night when there was no weight on it, it's been heat. So far that seems to be working rather well. Well enough that I'm going to do another 3 miles today, another 3 miles later this week, and hopefully should be ok with doing 5 this weekend.
Fortunately, what I found was that the 1.8 miles did not appear to be a set-back. However, I also iced my heel a decent amount immediately afterwards, and after a couple days also applied heat. In another 2-3 days I felt good enough to do another 1.8 miles, with similar results - the heel continued to feel better as a whole as time went on.
I was going to cancel my doctor appointment on the 1st, but I never thought about it on the Friday before, and with the holiday on Monday, I decided to keep the appointment, see what he had to say, and at least have the visit on record in the event this thing flared up again or remained persistent.
When I went to the doctor, a couple things came out of it:
1) He suggested to continue icing only, no heat.
2) He recommended the green Superfeet arch support. In the same conversation, he said he doesn't like custom orthotics, which I found strange because I know a couple people who have been sold orthotics (and neither of them found them to be useful). The doctor indicated that custom ones are meant to change your foot structure and alignment, whereas off-the-shelf ones are meant to support your foot as currently built. It should be noted that I was suspicious of his trying to sell me custom orthotics, as it was a podiatrist. It was refreshing to hear him say he doesn't like custom orthotics. Also, he didn't suggest always using the supports - he just said to use them when running.
3) He also mentioned that soft surfaces (like mowing the lawn!) are notorious for aggravating PF. Due to the lower resistance provided by the ground surface, it places more strain on the connective tissue that is inflammed when you have PF.
So, while I took everything he said above into consideration, I have been finding that application of heat is actually helpful. Plus, that coincides with everything you hear - ice at first (durign first 48 hours) to control inflammation, heat afterwards to stimulate blood flow and healing. I also decided that I'd only use the supports while I have this issue - once it is healed, I'll remove them. I just dont see the need to use arch supports when I've never needed them in the past, and I have a very very good idea of what caused my problem in the first place (and its something I can avoid).
Another thing I came across last week is a different take on icing. I can't seem to find the specific article (this one is similar, though), it seems that there is a recent trend in using more direct ice application as opposed to only use ice packs. The article I found last week specifically mentioned using direct ice until an area feels numb, and then removing the ice for a while to let things warm back up, and then repeating with ice. The general idea was that this direct ice was good for controlling inflammation that is near the skin surface (within 1 cm), because the amount of time that ice is in contact with skin is relatively low. However, if you have inflammation that is deeper (like in the knee), the slower icing effect of ice packs is better for that. So last week that is what I did - during the work day, I filled up a plastic bag with ice, put it in the freezer, and while sitting at my desk, I'd let me heel rest on the ice until it felt numb, then remove it, and then put it back on. After two days, the improvement was dramatically noticable. While the heel had been feeling better - now there were actually times where it didn't feel at all that there was a sprain (and I'm not talking about times when I was icing, or had just iced).
I also started using heat pads at night, in order to stimulate blood flow during a time when the body heals itself and when the heel is not under any strain. So, during the day when the tissue could be aggravated, it was ice. At night when there was no weight on it, it's been heat. So far that seems to be working rather well. Well enough that I'm going to do another 3 miles today, another 3 miles later this week, and hopefully should be ok with doing 5 this weekend.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Almost there?
My last post, I was bummed. The thoughts had crossed my mind that my season might be finished (almost before it began). But after the surprising effects of taping up my foot for a couple days, as well as modifying mowing the lawn (split into two days, with taped up feet) - I found that Monday morning my heel was not nearly as sore as it was the previous week. In other words, while I may have mildly aggravated it during the weekends activities, it didn't get nearly as aggravated as it had on other weekends.
This week I also scheduled an appointment with a sports medicine doctor, but that appt isn't until June 1. Given the progress I've seen this week, I think there's only a 50/50 chance I'll end up continuing with that appointment. It may seem silly to ditch an appointment (and the potential subsequent PT and exercises that would follow), but my reasoning is simple: Upon reflection, I have little reason to believe my issue is PF that has developed under typical conditions where it develops. While the end result may be the same (overuse of the tendons in the heel and general tendonitis), the cause came about because of a completely different reason: that I was trying to land on and use the front part of my foot almost exclusively while running over the past few months. This was such a radical departure from my typical form that of course it overstrained certain parts of my body when I didn't give it a chance to build up strength. Since my old form has served me well for so many years (I was just trying to eek out a bit more performance), I believe I can fully attribute this issue to doing too much, using a new form, too fast. So I'll keep the appt on the calendar, and see how things are over the next week before cancelling.
Also this week, I did some further research into how to tape up the foot to relieve even more stress from the tendon during the recovery process. So the past couple days I've done that (which involves some taping on the underside of the foot in a criss cross pattern). Earlier this week I was feeling around the heel and found a knot of what I believe to be the inflammation - as it was very similar feeling to the inflammation the doctor found when I went in for the IT band last year. So the past few days, I've been massaging that knot of inflammation to try and stimulate blood flow. It is not directly under the heel, but rather off to the side. The location is another reason for me to believe this isn't precisely a case of PF. This morning I stepped out of bed and felt very little, if no, soreness on the heel. That is an indication to me that the massaging, heat, and taping have been effective.
Yesterday I also snuck in a short (like, 10 minutes) run while walking the dogs in the woods, on the taped up foot. I just wanted to see if my heel would be more sore today than it was yesterday. Since I woke up with no soreness, I dont think I did much, if any, new damage. So tomorrow I may try a short 10-15 minutes around the neighborhood and see what happens.
This week I also scheduled an appointment with a sports medicine doctor, but that appt isn't until June 1. Given the progress I've seen this week, I think there's only a 50/50 chance I'll end up continuing with that appointment. It may seem silly to ditch an appointment (and the potential subsequent PT and exercises that would follow), but my reasoning is simple: Upon reflection, I have little reason to believe my issue is PF that has developed under typical conditions where it develops. While the end result may be the same (overuse of the tendons in the heel and general tendonitis), the cause came about because of a completely different reason: that I was trying to land on and use the front part of my foot almost exclusively while running over the past few months. This was such a radical departure from my typical form that of course it overstrained certain parts of my body when I didn't give it a chance to build up strength. Since my old form has served me well for so many years (I was just trying to eek out a bit more performance), I believe I can fully attribute this issue to doing too much, using a new form, too fast. So I'll keep the appt on the calendar, and see how things are over the next week before cancelling.
Also this week, I did some further research into how to tape up the foot to relieve even more stress from the tendon during the recovery process. So the past couple days I've done that (which involves some taping on the underside of the foot in a criss cross pattern). Earlier this week I was feeling around the heel and found a knot of what I believe to be the inflammation - as it was very similar feeling to the inflammation the doctor found when I went in for the IT band last year. So the past few days, I've been massaging that knot of inflammation to try and stimulate blood flow. It is not directly under the heel, but rather off to the side. The location is another reason for me to believe this isn't precisely a case of PF. This morning I stepped out of bed and felt very little, if no, soreness on the heel. That is an indication to me that the massaging, heat, and taping have been effective.
Yesterday I also snuck in a short (like, 10 minutes) run while walking the dogs in the woods, on the taped up foot. I just wanted to see if my heel would be more sore today than it was yesterday. Since I woke up with no soreness, I dont think I did much, if any, new damage. So tomorrow I may try a short 10-15 minutes around the neighborhood and see what happens.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sometimes its better to throw it all out and start over
After my last post, I was feeling pretty good. The heel was doing pretty well, and I thought that with less running I could turn the corner and gradually get the plantar fasciitis out of the way.
I guess I was wrong. I went out to do a 6 miler on Sunday, but failed miserably. It was the worst run I've had in my life, I think. I went in the late afternoon, trying to avoid mid-day heat - but I didn't realize it had actually been getting hotter as the day went on. I had also mowed the lawn earlier in the day, so my heel was, in retrospect, already aggravated a bit. I was also probably a bit dehydrated, although I wasn't showing the typical symptoms. So with all that, and the fact it was the first real warm run of the season and my body isn't used to shedding heat - it was a miserable time. I was trying to think of a single positive, and couldn't. The only non-negative thing about it was that it was an opportunity for my body to adjust to running in warm weather. Maybe that'll pay dividends.
On my way back (mostly walking), I went through a series of thoughts. Should I just skip the marathon this year? If I do, and with that being the major goal of the year - what should I do training wise (because whats the point)? Should I go back to running 3x per week, like last year? Afterall, I did make it much further, and one could argue that I gave myself more time to recover in between runs. Should I concentrate on cycling this year and give my body a rest from the pounding of running?
In the end, after I had some time to think, I decided on the following:
1) Take 3 weeks of no running. Do some cycling in the meantime to at least have some activity - build cardio capacity, legs, etc. That'll leave me with 20 weeks to train for a marathon. Not ideal, but possible - all depends on how the heel responds.
2) In the unlikely event I'm not able to do the marathon, I dont want this year to be a complete loss - so I can still do triathlons. So I signed up for the Webster Lake and Cranberry Country Olympic. I really should be able to do the 6 miles at the end of August. Hell, I did it last year in the midst of ITB friction.
3) Once I start running again, run 3x per week. Running 5x per week may be optimal for recovery and time training, but I really do not care about time in a marathon - I just want to finish.
4) This will all make completing the marathon that much sweeter.
So - last week I made sure to do the main PF stretches during the week, and by weeks end, things were feeling pretty good (again). On saturday I mowed the lawn (2 hours behind a push mower), and my heel was very sore. With that, it became a trend - so either that much walking, or the boots I wear while mowing are not helping. I had some gel inserts laying around, so I started using those to help cushion my heel. They helped a little bit, but the majority of the soreness and pain wasn't heel pressure, but when the foot is flexed during walking.
This morning I was doodling around the internet, and came across this. Normally, I read these types of columns with a great deal of skepticism, and I did with this one too. However, I had been wondering if getting something to support the arch would help - and, well, I had a roll of duct tape right by the computer. So I tried it out. I was amazed at the results. Not absolutely and completely pain free, but markedly better. In fact, the only pain I've had all day is pressure on the heel - which as I just mentioned, has generally not been the biggest contributer to pain in this whole ordeal.
Now, I am really not one to buy into the whole idea of getting things for your feet because they provide support. At least, not on a long term basis. I'm a firm believer that the human foot has the capability to provide its own support, and that artificially supporting it causes atrophy. However, in some cases - such as this where the support is only necessary on a temporary basis - I think support can be useful.
So we'll see how it goes. Now that I know that the combination of mowing and boots are a major contributer, I can start making adjustments to alleviate that. Hopefully after some time without reaggravating the injury every week, things will fall into place.
I guess I was wrong. I went out to do a 6 miler on Sunday, but failed miserably. It was the worst run I've had in my life, I think. I went in the late afternoon, trying to avoid mid-day heat - but I didn't realize it had actually been getting hotter as the day went on. I had also mowed the lawn earlier in the day, so my heel was, in retrospect, already aggravated a bit. I was also probably a bit dehydrated, although I wasn't showing the typical symptoms. So with all that, and the fact it was the first real warm run of the season and my body isn't used to shedding heat - it was a miserable time. I was trying to think of a single positive, and couldn't. The only non-negative thing about it was that it was an opportunity for my body to adjust to running in warm weather. Maybe that'll pay dividends.
On my way back (mostly walking), I went through a series of thoughts. Should I just skip the marathon this year? If I do, and with that being the major goal of the year - what should I do training wise (because whats the point)? Should I go back to running 3x per week, like last year? Afterall, I did make it much further, and one could argue that I gave myself more time to recover in between runs. Should I concentrate on cycling this year and give my body a rest from the pounding of running?
In the end, after I had some time to think, I decided on the following:
1) Take 3 weeks of no running. Do some cycling in the meantime to at least have some activity - build cardio capacity, legs, etc. That'll leave me with 20 weeks to train for a marathon. Not ideal, but possible - all depends on how the heel responds.
2) In the unlikely event I'm not able to do the marathon, I dont want this year to be a complete loss - so I can still do triathlons. So I signed up for the Webster Lake and Cranberry Country Olympic. I really should be able to do the 6 miles at the end of August. Hell, I did it last year in the midst of ITB friction.
3) Once I start running again, run 3x per week. Running 5x per week may be optimal for recovery and time training, but I really do not care about time in a marathon - I just want to finish.
4) This will all make completing the marathon that much sweeter.
So - last week I made sure to do the main PF stretches during the week, and by weeks end, things were feeling pretty good (again). On saturday I mowed the lawn (2 hours behind a push mower), and my heel was very sore. With that, it became a trend - so either that much walking, or the boots I wear while mowing are not helping. I had some gel inserts laying around, so I started using those to help cushion my heel. They helped a little bit, but the majority of the soreness and pain wasn't heel pressure, but when the foot is flexed during walking.
This morning I was doodling around the internet, and came across this. Normally, I read these types of columns with a great deal of skepticism, and I did with this one too. However, I had been wondering if getting something to support the arch would help - and, well, I had a roll of duct tape right by the computer. So I tried it out. I was amazed at the results. Not absolutely and completely pain free, but markedly better. In fact, the only pain I've had all day is pressure on the heel - which as I just mentioned, has generally not been the biggest contributer to pain in this whole ordeal.
Now, I am really not one to buy into the whole idea of getting things for your feet because they provide support. At least, not on a long term basis. I'm a firm believer that the human foot has the capability to provide its own support, and that artificially supporting it causes atrophy. However, in some cases - such as this where the support is only necessary on a temporary basis - I think support can be useful.
So we'll see how it goes. Now that I know that the combination of mowing and boots are a major contributer, I can start making adjustments to alleviate that. Hopefully after some time without reaggravating the injury every week, things will fall into place.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Plantar ups, downs, and coming back-arounds.
So in my last post, I mentioned that I had signs of plantar fasciitis, and at the time I had taken a day off, taken some advil, and the pain had gone away. While that was true, I found that when I tried to run again, the pain came back in a short time.
Over the past couple weeks, I've gone through a couple cycles of days off until the heel felt pretty good, then running again, and having the pain come back. At first the cycle was only a couple days. Then I went just about an entire week without running (last week). Things were feeling good until Saturday, when my heel was sore again - even though I hadn't run in 6 days or so. But once again, I took some advil, and on Sunday things felt better. In fact, they felt better enough that I opted to try a quick 3 mile run. This time, I did a couple things differently: took advil immediately after to control immediate inflammation and tissue damage(hadn't done that before - duh), and reverted more to my older style of running, which uses the calf muscles less.
At that point, my new plan going forward changed quite a bit:
Running 5x Per week
Due to the fact that I'm behind on the build up to running 7x per week, the the apparent higher probability of becoming injured when running on a daily basis (due to no rest) - I ended up deciding that I'll likely settle on running 5x per week. This will provide both a mental and physical break, and provide opportunity for the occasional bike ride or swim session during this training season.
Revert back to my previous 'form' of running.
Since mid last year, I've been trying to make changes to my running form, with the two major items being cadence and limiting heel strike impact. Immediately upon trying the higher cadence, I had found my HR increased by about 3-5%. Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider that an easy run for me should be around 150 bpm, and a tempo run should be around 160 bpm (less that 10% difference) - 3%-5% is quite a bit. I initially thought I just needed to give my muscles time to adjust - but after going through the couch to 5k and subsequent build up - my HR was still higher. I've ended up deciding that while both Daniels and Galloway say that the fastest runners use a cadence of 180, that cadence benefits may depends naturally on speed. In other words - a cadence of 180 may impose a certain overhead in terms of HR - and at 9 min/miles, that overhead is more of a penalty than the cadence may deliver in benefit. Perhaps when you are able to throw down 7 min/miles, the equation changes. I'd be willing to bet that neither Galloway nor Daniels did much of their testing on subjects that were doing 9 min/miles.
Regarding limiting heel strike impact - last year I ran a couple times with no shoes to get an idea of the mechanics of barefoot running. I found that it resulted in a lot more landing and taking off from the front half of the foot, and that the heel barely contacted the ground at all. I then tried to emulate the mechanics while having shoes on. However, shoes have a natural slope to them - the heels are thicker than the front of the shoe. So when wearing shoes, your foot and angle is already at a greater than 90 degree angle. In order to have your toes touch first while in shoes, the angle has to be increased even further. I suspect that this had a part in why the plantar fasciitis started to creep up - trying to emulate barefoot mechanics with shoes resulted in an overcompensation condition.
So - with all that in mind, the current status is that I ran three miles on Sunday, followed by five on Monday, and yesterday (Tuesday) as a rest day. Tonight and tomorrow I'll run again, and Friday will be a rest. Even though I'm not going with Daniels 7x per week plan, I'm still going to follow the main aspects of his formula - train based on your current level of performance, and I'll probably have two quality days per week. It'll be very similar to the Galloway plan from last year, but without runs longer than 15 miles or 2.5 hours, with a phased approach to the types of workouts on quality days as opposed to mixing it all up throughout the entire season, and doing an easy run on non quality days as opposed to no running at all.
Over the past couple weeks, I've gone through a couple cycles of days off until the heel felt pretty good, then running again, and having the pain come back. At first the cycle was only a couple days. Then I went just about an entire week without running (last week). Things were feeling good until Saturday, when my heel was sore again - even though I hadn't run in 6 days or so. But once again, I took some advil, and on Sunday things felt better. In fact, they felt better enough that I opted to try a quick 3 mile run. This time, I did a couple things differently: took advil immediately after to control immediate inflammation and tissue damage(hadn't done that before - duh), and reverted more to my older style of running, which uses the calf muscles less.
At that point, my new plan going forward changed quite a bit:
Running 5x Per week
Due to the fact that I'm behind on the build up to running 7x per week, the the apparent higher probability of becoming injured when running on a daily basis (due to no rest) - I ended up deciding that I'll likely settle on running 5x per week. This will provide both a mental and physical break, and provide opportunity for the occasional bike ride or swim session during this training season.
Revert back to my previous 'form' of running.
Since mid last year, I've been trying to make changes to my running form, with the two major items being cadence and limiting heel strike impact. Immediately upon trying the higher cadence, I had found my HR increased by about 3-5%. Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider that an easy run for me should be around 150 bpm, and a tempo run should be around 160 bpm (less that 10% difference) - 3%-5% is quite a bit. I initially thought I just needed to give my muscles time to adjust - but after going through the couch to 5k and subsequent build up - my HR was still higher. I've ended up deciding that while both Daniels and Galloway say that the fastest runners use a cadence of 180, that cadence benefits may depends naturally on speed. In other words - a cadence of 180 may impose a certain overhead in terms of HR - and at 9 min/miles, that overhead is more of a penalty than the cadence may deliver in benefit. Perhaps when you are able to throw down 7 min/miles, the equation changes. I'd be willing to bet that neither Galloway nor Daniels did much of their testing on subjects that were doing 9 min/miles.
Regarding limiting heel strike impact - last year I ran a couple times with no shoes to get an idea of the mechanics of barefoot running. I found that it resulted in a lot more landing and taking off from the front half of the foot, and that the heel barely contacted the ground at all. I then tried to emulate the mechanics while having shoes on. However, shoes have a natural slope to them - the heels are thicker than the front of the shoe. So when wearing shoes, your foot and angle is already at a greater than 90 degree angle. In order to have your toes touch first while in shoes, the angle has to be increased even further. I suspect that this had a part in why the plantar fasciitis started to creep up - trying to emulate barefoot mechanics with shoes resulted in an overcompensation condition.
So - with all that in mind, the current status is that I ran three miles on Sunday, followed by five on Monday, and yesterday (Tuesday) as a rest day. Tonight and tomorrow I'll run again, and Friday will be a rest. Even though I'm not going with Daniels 7x per week plan, I'm still going to follow the main aspects of his formula - train based on your current level of performance, and I'll probably have two quality days per week. It'll be very similar to the Galloway plan from last year, but without runs longer than 15 miles or 2.5 hours, with a phased approach to the types of workouts on quality days as opposed to mixing it all up throughout the entire season, and doing an easy run on non quality days as opposed to no running at all.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Running build-up update - 4/12
No posts recently because there hasn't been a lot of new information to post about.
I've been following the build-up plan from the last post - going from running 4x per week, to 5 times. This is the final week of the 5x sessions, and next week starts 6 times per week (actually, we'll see - more on that later).
There are a couple of things worth pointing out, though:
IT band and stretching
Absolutely no issues with the IT band. I've been pretty good about stretching it after running (averaging around 5x per week). Also been trying to stretch the quads as well (I probably do them 3-4x per week, I'd like to get that up), as hamstrings (maybe 1-2x per week. Definately want to improve on that.
Acclimation to running multiple days in a row:
Last year, I ran 3x per week - always having at least a days rest between sessions. A couple years ago, when I was training for the half marathon, I was running 4x per week. However, many of the runs were able to be done in 30-40 minutes, aside from the weekly long run. So this years running is definately more intense and requires a lot more dedication than for years past.
During the last week of running 4x per week, and the first week of running 5x per week, my legs often felt dead. It was a struggle, both mentally and physically, to finish the 45 minutes. In fact, a couple times I finished up early - after completing a 4.2 mile loop in the 42-43 minute timeframe, I decided that was enough for that day. There were usually 'justifications' for this - either not wanting to overdo it on the 2nd day of a planned stretch of running 3 days in a row (something my body wasn't used to doing), or having just finished 3 days in a row and not wanting to overdo it, having already done the minimum of at least 30 minutes. I suppose I put 'justifications' in quotes, but in reality perhaps the slightly shorter runs are worthwhile. After-all, we are talking about more intense running than I've done in a considerably long time - so as long as I'm meeting the minimum goals (30 minutes per session), one could argue that the few minutes ultimately makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.
However, during the 2nd week of 5x per week, I noticed a distinct improvement. My heartrate settled down a bit - from the mid-high 150's to the low 150's, and there was more spring in my step. A very encouraging sign, and is actually a data point of anecdotal proof of Jack Daniels base-building theory that the body responds to stress, and it takes not a period of a few days to adapt, but a few weeks.
First minor setback
The past week or so, I've had a mild soreness in my left heel. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at first, because aches and pains are common and they often go away. Also, based on where it was located and the conditions in which it was sore (when the calf is flexed, lifting the heel off the groun), made me think that it was an overuse symptom of the band of tissue that goes between the heel and the mid-point of the foot. This made sense, since I've been landing mid-foot a lot more recently, paying particular attention to not heel-strike. Additionally, maintaining the goal cadence of about 180 foot strokes/minute makes it very difficult to heel-strike. All in all, since I've modified my form, it was perfectly reasonable to conclude that some piece of connective tissue had a bit of catching up to do.
By the time I got back from my run on Saturday evening, it was obvious that the soreness wasn't going to go away. I had given it several days, including the two rest days of the week, and it was still present. A quick internet search revealed that I had the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Basic treatment included anti-inflammatories, and stretching the calf muscles.
Of course!
I had been concentrating on stretching the IT band and the quads so much, I had completely skipped out on stretching the calf muscles - something I had done a decent amount in the past few years. So after a couple days of taking a couple advil, stretching the calfs, giving myself an extra rest day by skipping yesterdays run - the soreness has largely abated. I'm not sure I'll be able to get all 5 days of running in this week with my work schedule, though.
I've been following the build-up plan from the last post - going from running 4x per week, to 5 times. This is the final week of the 5x sessions, and next week starts 6 times per week (actually, we'll see - more on that later).
There are a couple of things worth pointing out, though:
IT band and stretching
Absolutely no issues with the IT band. I've been pretty good about stretching it after running (averaging around 5x per week). Also been trying to stretch the quads as well (I probably do them 3-4x per week, I'd like to get that up), as hamstrings (maybe 1-2x per week. Definately want to improve on that.
Acclimation to running multiple days in a row:
Last year, I ran 3x per week - always having at least a days rest between sessions. A couple years ago, when I was training for the half marathon, I was running 4x per week. However, many of the runs were able to be done in 30-40 minutes, aside from the weekly long run. So this years running is definately more intense and requires a lot more dedication than for years past.
During the last week of running 4x per week, and the first week of running 5x per week, my legs often felt dead. It was a struggle, both mentally and physically, to finish the 45 minutes. In fact, a couple times I finished up early - after completing a 4.2 mile loop in the 42-43 minute timeframe, I decided that was enough for that day. There were usually 'justifications' for this - either not wanting to overdo it on the 2nd day of a planned stretch of running 3 days in a row (something my body wasn't used to doing), or having just finished 3 days in a row and not wanting to overdo it, having already done the minimum of at least 30 minutes. I suppose I put 'justifications' in quotes, but in reality perhaps the slightly shorter runs are worthwhile. After-all, we are talking about more intense running than I've done in a considerably long time - so as long as I'm meeting the minimum goals (30 minutes per session), one could argue that the few minutes ultimately makes little difference in the grand scheme of things.
However, during the 2nd week of 5x per week, I noticed a distinct improvement. My heartrate settled down a bit - from the mid-high 150's to the low 150's, and there was more spring in my step. A very encouraging sign, and is actually a data point of anecdotal proof of Jack Daniels base-building theory that the body responds to stress, and it takes not a period of a few days to adapt, but a few weeks.
First minor setback
The past week or so, I've had a mild soreness in my left heel. I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at first, because aches and pains are common and they often go away. Also, based on where it was located and the conditions in which it was sore (when the calf is flexed, lifting the heel off the groun), made me think that it was an overuse symptom of the band of tissue that goes between the heel and the mid-point of the foot. This made sense, since I've been landing mid-foot a lot more recently, paying particular attention to not heel-strike. Additionally, maintaining the goal cadence of about 180 foot strokes/minute makes it very difficult to heel-strike. All in all, since I've modified my form, it was perfectly reasonable to conclude that some piece of connective tissue had a bit of catching up to do.
By the time I got back from my run on Saturday evening, it was obvious that the soreness wasn't going to go away. I had given it several days, including the two rest days of the week, and it was still present. A quick internet search revealed that I had the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Basic treatment included anti-inflammatories, and stretching the calf muscles.
Of course!
I had been concentrating on stretching the IT band and the quads so much, I had completely skipped out on stretching the calf muscles - something I had done a decent amount in the past few years. So after a couple days of taking a couple advil, stretching the calfs, giving myself an extra rest day by skipping yesterdays run - the soreness has largely abated. I'm not sure I'll be able to get all 5 days of running in this week with my work schedule, though.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Jack Daniels - Phase I plan
The Jack Daniels running formula plan is broken out into four phases of six weeks each:
Phase I - Base Building, Foundation and Injury Prevention (FI). Self descriptive.
Phase II - Early Quality (EQ). Focus on mechanics, economy, and some speed.
Phase III - Transition Quality (TQ). Toughest phase - focus on long intervals
Phase IV - Final Quality (FQ). Primarily threshold running.
Looking at the calendar, that puts the beginning of phase I on May 9. The first phase of the program is essentially running the same amount of time 7x per week for 6 weeks. There are also some strides and a long run or two in there as well. The major concepts in Phase I are:
- Add mileage no more than every 3rd week.
- When adding mileage, don't add more than 10 miles, or about 1 hr of weekly running to the previous total
The question of how much to run is dependant on the runner. Given that the couch to 5k will end with 3x per week of 30 minutes (90 minutes total), I think it'll break down in this fashion:
Week 1 (3/7) - 4 x 45 min (180 total minutes)
Week 2 (3/14) - 4 x 45 min
Week 3 (3/21) - 4 x 45 min
Week 4 (3/28) - 5 x 45 min (225 total minutes)
Week 5 (4/4) - 5 x 45 min
Week 6 (4/11) - 5 x 45 min
Week 7 (4/18) - 6 x 45 min (270 total minutes)
Week 8 (4/25) - 6 x 45 min
Week 9 (5/2) - 6 x 45 min
Week 9 (5/9) (Phase I start) - 7 x 45 min (315 total minutes)
The only aspect of this is that I'm not following the rule of increasing mileage every 3rd week right out of the gate. Basically, I'm going from 90 minutes to 180 minutes. However, I figure that I'm experienced enough that it should not be a problem, and if I'm going to do something stupid like double time from one week to the next, it should be in the beginning when the time and mileage is low. Really, the only major concern at this point could be the IT band, but the time involved is still low enough that I don't envision an issue.
Phase I - Base Building, Foundation and Injury Prevention (FI). Self descriptive.
Phase II - Early Quality (EQ). Focus on mechanics, economy, and some speed.
Phase III - Transition Quality (TQ). Toughest phase - focus on long intervals
Phase IV - Final Quality (FQ). Primarily threshold running.
Looking at the calendar, that puts the beginning of phase I on May 9. The first phase of the program is essentially running the same amount of time 7x per week for 6 weeks. There are also some strides and a long run or two in there as well. The major concepts in Phase I are:
- Add mileage no more than every 3rd week.
- When adding mileage, don't add more than 10 miles, or about 1 hr of weekly running to the previous total
The question of how much to run is dependant on the runner. Given that the couch to 5k will end with 3x per week of 30 minutes (90 minutes total), I think it'll break down in this fashion:
Week 1 (3/7) - 4 x 45 min (180 total minutes)
Week 2 (3/14) - 4 x 45 min
Week 3 (3/21) - 4 x 45 min
Week 4 (3/28) - 5 x 45 min (225 total minutes)
Week 5 (4/4) - 5 x 45 min
Week 6 (4/11) - 5 x 45 min
Week 7 (4/18) - 6 x 45 min (270 total minutes)
Week 8 (4/25) - 6 x 45 min
Week 9 (5/2) - 6 x 45 min
Week 9 (5/9) (Phase I start) - 7 x 45 min (315 total minutes)
The only aspect of this is that I'm not following the rule of increasing mileage every 3rd week right out of the gate. Basically, I'm going from 90 minutes to 180 minutes. However, I figure that I'm experienced enough that it should not be a problem, and if I'm going to do something stupid like double time from one week to the next, it should be in the beginning when the time and mileage is low. Really, the only major concern at this point could be the IT band, but the time involved is still low enough that I don't envision an issue.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Finish of Couch to 5k
This week is the final week (9) for the couch to 5k program. The past couple weeks has been solid running during the workouts, no walk breaks - starting with 25 minutes, then 28 minutes the next week, and this week being 30 minutes.
Fortunately, there have been no ill effects aside from a minor ache here and there that has gone away within a day or two. Although the running time of 30 minutes isn't that long compared to what I was doing last year, I'm surprised at how stiff my muscles are the next day (which is not to say its a lot, but enough to notice). I attribute it to not running for a few months, as well as getting used to a higher cadence.
Which brings me to another aspect of the couch to 5k that I've been taking advantage of - cadence and foot strike location. Multiple sources I've researched indicate that the optimal cadence is 180 footstrikes per minute. In short, the benefits are: 1) less impact on each strike, 2) it becomes very difficult to maintain that turnover rate unless your up-down movement is minimized, so form inherently improves. Last year I started paying attention to cadence mid-season, and I found that there was a certain overhead to the extra leg motion that I wasn't used to, and my HR would increase. I had also started paying more attention to foot strike location mid-season last year, making an effort to get used to landing mid-sole or even a little farther forward. However, this increased the degree that my calves were used, so it came with a HR penalty.
Since I had to essentially start over by doing the couch to 5k, I figured this would be a good time to incorporate both aspects of form change into my training. So that is what I've been doing.
Once the couch to 5k is over next week, I'll be starting on building up to the training plan I'm going to use this year. Last year I followed Galloway's plan, and while I liked the running 3x per week, I wanted to give another plan a shot, based partially on feedback from other people, as well as the philosophy used.
The plan I'll be following is Jack Daniels running formula. Last year, a friend followed it and was very impressed with the results - saying he was running better than he did even in high school. In talking with him, it was obvious that the philosophy used by Daniels is radically different than most training plans or philosophies. Even still, the philosophy makes sense.
Essentially, it all comes down to this: train at the intensity level that your current performance dictates.
A future post will go into more detail on how this training plan works, but for now I'll just say that while this philosophy sounds like it would be common-place, it is not. Many times, people have a goal time in mind and structure their plan around that end goal. However, this approach does not take into consideration the current level of performance. So under/overtraining is a common result.
Fortunately, there have been no ill effects aside from a minor ache here and there that has gone away within a day or two. Although the running time of 30 minutes isn't that long compared to what I was doing last year, I'm surprised at how stiff my muscles are the next day (which is not to say its a lot, but enough to notice). I attribute it to not running for a few months, as well as getting used to a higher cadence.
Which brings me to another aspect of the couch to 5k that I've been taking advantage of - cadence and foot strike location. Multiple sources I've researched indicate that the optimal cadence is 180 footstrikes per minute. In short, the benefits are: 1) less impact on each strike, 2) it becomes very difficult to maintain that turnover rate unless your up-down movement is minimized, so form inherently improves. Last year I started paying attention to cadence mid-season, and I found that there was a certain overhead to the extra leg motion that I wasn't used to, and my HR would increase. I had also started paying more attention to foot strike location mid-season last year, making an effort to get used to landing mid-sole or even a little farther forward. However, this increased the degree that my calves were used, so it came with a HR penalty.
Since I had to essentially start over by doing the couch to 5k, I figured this would be a good time to incorporate both aspects of form change into my training. So that is what I've been doing.
Once the couch to 5k is over next week, I'll be starting on building up to the training plan I'm going to use this year. Last year I followed Galloway's plan, and while I liked the running 3x per week, I wanted to give another plan a shot, based partially on feedback from other people, as well as the philosophy used.
The plan I'll be following is Jack Daniels running formula. Last year, a friend followed it and was very impressed with the results - saying he was running better than he did even in high school. In talking with him, it was obvious that the philosophy used by Daniels is radically different than most training plans or philosophies. Even still, the philosophy makes sense.
Essentially, it all comes down to this: train at the intensity level that your current performance dictates.
A future post will go into more detail on how this training plan works, but for now I'll just say that while this philosophy sounds like it would be common-place, it is not. Many times, people have a goal time in mind and structure their plan around that end goal. However, this approach does not take into consideration the current level of performance. So under/overtraining is a common result.
Monday, February 8, 2010
IT band and couch to 5k
Wow. Two months.
In a sense, not a whole lot has changed. I've completed the 2 month course of PT to help with the IT band, but honestly there are some things I'll always have to do at least 2x per week. However, even though the official PT sessions have come to a close, the therapist left me with a workout schedule to continue with, for the purpose of continuing on with the strength and flexibility training.
The schedule is divided into two strength training days, with the intent of doing strength training 3x per week.
Day 1:
- side leg raises
- straight leg raises
- clam shells
- lateral plank holds (combine with a side leg raise if you want to be hardcore - it's tougher then it sounds!)
Day 2:
- single leg squats
- side walk with exercise band around ankles
- dips (using aerobic step)
- opposite arm and leg (with exercise band)
The exercises were chosen specifically to be paired with the other exercises for that day.
The idea is that on one week, Day 1 exercises would be done two times, and day 2 exercises being done once. Then the next week, day 2 exercises might be done twice, and day 1 exercises only once.
On top of that, stretches 5x per week:
- quad and hip flexor
- foam or PVC roller for IT band
- hamstrings
So I've generally been continuing with that trend, doing the strength training on days when I'm not running as prescribed by the couch to 5k program.
Which brings me to... the couch to 5k program! During the last week or two of PT, the therapist recommended I finally get started on it. With the cold weather and my schedule, I haven't been quite as regimented about it as I'd like - and as a result the 3 workouts scheduled for a week often take 8 or 9 days. However, I figure that having more rest time isn't a bad thing, and as long as I'm progressing, that is all that matters.
Last week I finished up week 5 of the program. Up until that time, the running has been limited to 5 minutes at a time. However, week 5 saw one day with 2 x 8 minute sessions, and the last day being a full 20 minutes. Fortunately, so far there has been no IT band irritation. My times suck, but I'm ok with that for right now. I'm also being pretty good about rolling out the IT band before and after the run, and getting into the habit of stretching my quads after the run as well.
In a sense, not a whole lot has changed. I've completed the 2 month course of PT to help with the IT band, but honestly there are some things I'll always have to do at least 2x per week. However, even though the official PT sessions have come to a close, the therapist left me with a workout schedule to continue with, for the purpose of continuing on with the strength and flexibility training.
The schedule is divided into two strength training days, with the intent of doing strength training 3x per week.
Day 1:
- side leg raises
- straight leg raises
- clam shells
- lateral plank holds (combine with a side leg raise if you want to be hardcore - it's tougher then it sounds!)
Day 2:
- single leg squats
- side walk with exercise band around ankles
- dips (using aerobic step)
- opposite arm and leg (with exercise band)
The exercises were chosen specifically to be paired with the other exercises for that day.
The idea is that on one week, Day 1 exercises would be done two times, and day 2 exercises being done once. Then the next week, day 2 exercises might be done twice, and day 1 exercises only once.
On top of that, stretches 5x per week:
- quad and hip flexor
- foam or PVC roller for IT band
- hamstrings
So I've generally been continuing with that trend, doing the strength training on days when I'm not running as prescribed by the couch to 5k program.
Which brings me to... the couch to 5k program! During the last week or two of PT, the therapist recommended I finally get started on it. With the cold weather and my schedule, I haven't been quite as regimented about it as I'd like - and as a result the 3 workouts scheduled for a week often take 8 or 9 days. However, I figure that having more rest time isn't a bad thing, and as long as I'm progressing, that is all that matters.
Last week I finished up week 5 of the program. Up until that time, the running has been limited to 5 minutes at a time. However, week 5 saw one day with 2 x 8 minute sessions, and the last day being a full 20 minutes. Fortunately, so far there has been no IT band irritation. My times suck, but I'm ok with that for right now. I'm also being pretty good about rolling out the IT band before and after the run, and getting into the habit of stretching my quads after the run as well.
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