Month: August 2010

I passed a guy at the base of Great Hill who looked as if he was about to start a run. Based on his legs, I could tell he was a superior runner. I guessed he was going just to do hill work. However, I was wrong. As I climbed Great Hill, he eventually overtook me. A quarter-mile later, I caught him and overtook him. A quarter-mile later, he caught me and overtook me. I came within striking distance of him over the next mile and a quarter, but eventually he got ahead of me as I turned off for a water fountain. The guy I chased helped me to run one mile at 6:51, and another mile at 6:44. This, in 86-degree weather, fortunately with humidity around 30%. (It felt a little more humid than that, but a wind did cool things some.) I did 6.28 miles today in Central Park in 45:53 (7:18s), my second-fastest time over that distance this year. The fastest distance was in 74-degree weather. Here are today’s deets:

No injuries at all, though just as I was leaving my apartment, I felt some twinging in my left knee around where the IT band problem I had was. Nothing developed though.

And I thought of doing 8 miles, even 10 miles today. Given my speed, I figured that was a good enough workout for today.

There you have it!

So, I scored an audition for tomorrow, and that late-day news gave me a zing of confidence: I’ll run 15 miles today! NOT. I ended up doing just a loop in Central Park after tanking right at 6 miles, but it was a pretty good run considering the heat. It was 87 with about 50% humidity and a light wind. I felt I had some strength and speed but no glycogen to carry me much farther. Here are the stats:

I guess 7:33s is a pretty good pace in this weather! I ran the loop in 47:37 with one water break. My splits steadily grew but not horribly so; I didn’t run any mile slower than 8 minutes, even the mile with Great Hill! It was a run with a lot of runners in the park and I think only one person passed me, though there were many packs of speedy runners running the opposite direction of me. Of note, I passed a number of triathletes in training toward the end of my run.

No injuries to report, and it was good to know that I had some speed back after a surprisingly slow Sunday. I’m still wrestling with commitment to running as seen yesterday when I could have run but decided to rest: These risings before 5am for work really mess with me.

I felt I was moving at a rabbit’s pace but it was more like a rabbit on a turtle’s back or something: I ran 8.1 miles in Central Park this evening at a surprisingly slow 7:49 pace. No one passed me but I guess the half pizza I ate after yesterday’s 20.04 miles–with its sodium and my high liquid intake (meaning fluid retention)–made me heavier and slowed me down a lot. Post-run, I weighed close to 180 lbs., so I guess that confirms my theory. But regardless, though I started this week on Wednesday, I crammed in 50.67 miles this week. Incredible, especially considering I feel pretty damn good! Here are my deets for today’s run:

Injurywise, I suppose what’s to report is what I didn’t experience. I think yesterday’s ice bath made quite a difference on my legs … that, and maybe sleeping in compression socks … because this morning I felt NO PROBLEMS with my legs! They felt great! It really is unbelievable. The only thing physical to report for today’s run was … heartburn. The pizza was coming up a bit.

The temperature was 74 and pretty cool, though given my sweating a bit more than yesterday the humidity probably made an impact: It was about 70%. I kept pretty even splits despite being so slow. I even picked up the pace toward the end, mostly because I was trying to catch a guy just ahead of me. I could tell from the beginning I was pretty slow because I was listening to The Flaming Lips’s album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which I’ve synched to the course, and I was far behind where the songs usually change. Without a physical explanation, I reasoned the pizza I was lugging, along with retained fluids, and maybe a little bit of muscle weariness, led to the slower speed.

I’m drinking a protein shake I made. I also took a couple laxatives to speed things up inside. Tomorrow is a rest day and I will take advantage of it. Hopefully the rest of the week will let me continue to train with considerable mileage.

EDIT: I’m taking Naproxen 500mg, but not just before my runs. I’m on Day 3 today. I just read that fluid retention may be related to taking naproxen, and I was noticing a little flab under my arms that I thought would be leaner in light of my running. I’ve also had some digestive surprises I won’t go into, and maybe shallower breathing (seen when I run). So, is naproxen interfering with my running and explaining some of these results? It’s to be seen.