Back in RI for a little over 8 days, and 9 total runs. Didn't plan on it but for whatever reason ended up doing trails 7 of my 9 runs (6 of 7 this week). Would have liked more of a mix, but at the same time it gives some balance to my nearly all-road running UNH training while also providing a softer surface to aid my recovery. Very solid week. While this is the first time I've had a race-free November, I think the easy return will help me get back where I need to be. Still haven't worked or raced since October 19 which is normal for some people I know but almost unheard of for myself. Should be getting to that point very soon. Kept runs varied this week, with all 9 runs starting in a different place. Also had a trend of feeling somewhat lousy at some point in all my runs, just didn't fuel well at all.
Monday: 8 Miles
Ninigret, always a pleasure to run here. Normally do more a mix but except for the first mile, ran almost exclusively on the refuge/golf trails with a little on the soccer field. Very comfortable weather with temps in the 50s. Felt great on this run, and cruised in the 6:40s.
Tuesday: 7 Miles
Felt much worse on this run than monday's, just a weak slog the entire time as well as getting really tight halfway in. Got it done but wasn't very enjoyable. Did the usual 7 mile carter preserve loop, nice trails but more hilly/technical than I've doing.
Wednesday: 9 Miles
The rest of the runs this week were with Dad. Worked out as we were both looking to run decent miles without killing the pace. Bluff Point with a little haley, felt really great for about 2 miles before getting pretty tight after that. Tightness went away but then fatigue started to set in. Still never felt awful so another solid run completed. Good mix of both very easy and more challenging terrain. Picked it up the last mile.
Thursday: 7 Miles
Thanksgiving run, got out really late for this. Very cold run (I think 16 at start) on mostly twisty or technical trails in Burlingame north, was absolutely feeling it at the end of Sammy C's. Felt heavy but decent.
Friday: 10 Miles
Black Friday group run with Dad, Tom and Muddy. Very cold again (14 at start) but got really warm about 2 miles as I bundled up for this one. Didn't love it as many trails were overgrown as I was constantly getting up or awkwardly trying to avoid thorned plants. Still nice to run with some fellow WTAC guys though.
Saturday: 9 Miles
Grills run. Don't enjoy these trails as much as the other locations, but liked it more than expected. Got very weak and tight around 3 miles but after a short break, I felt decent enough (still tired, but tightness completely went away) to get through the rest. Even picked it up to sub-6 at the end without feeling any tighter.
Sunday: 11 Miles
Another good mileage, very rural roads in Richmond that I had never run before but my Dad frequents. A little slower than expected with most of the miles in the low 7s, but I was okay with that. Earlier start. Got really weak around 3 miles (and very out of breath) before regaining myself and feeling mostly good for the rest of the run. Eventually the pace became more natural and rattled off a few 6:30s at the end. Calves were a little tight in the last two, but overall good.
Weekly Total: 61 Miles
YTD Total: 1,904 Miles
Weekly Highlight: After many awful, awful weeks where I couldn't even lie to myself that any part of my running was a highlight, this week was pretty great. Not only did I feel mostly good, but I enjoyed most of it. I got a nice little tour of southern RI/CT trails as well. My mileage was probably higher than I should have but considering I took every run easy, I am very pleased. Highest week since September 3-9.
Weekly Lowlight: Nice to have lowlights now be minor things. Just felt lazy this week mostly from running later than expected. Wish I incorporated more roads, but not a huge thing. I'll make up for it back in Durham. Fueled poorly on many runs and felt weak because of it.
Very pleased with 61, even if was a huge jump up. I think I've officially beaten the hip injury, I haven't even felt it on 7 of the last 9 runs or so and even then it was nothing compared to how I felt on previous runs. Hope to keep the higher mileage going, but with slower increases. I think my sweet spot will be somewhere between 65-75 miles. It seems like I've (mostly) gotten my legs back for the easy runs and even longer runs. Time to get them back for racing and workouts, and then everything should fall back into place.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Monday, November 19, 2018
Last Two Weeks
Got really behind on blogging for whatever reason, going to catch up now. Still trying to beat this hip injury thing, pretty much there.
Weekly Log: November 5 to 11
Monday: 0. Coach was okay with me running, but I wanted to be cautious and take another day off. 20 minutes on the bike.
Tuesday: 3 Miles. Coach had me do 3 miles around the track, which is just as boring as it sounds. I was pretty disappointed to find out that after feeling decent for a few miles, I tightened up both in my hip and legs in the last mile.
Wednesday: 3 Miles. Exact repeat of yesterday, including how I felt.
Thursday: 3 Miles. Got to run roads with some other guys who were going short/easy. Felt so much nicer than the track. Was feeling so good in the beginning, so very disappointed that I felt really terrible in both hip and legs in the last mile.
Friday: 0 Miles. Day off, hip starting hurt again from the run and didn't feel good to enough to go out again.
Saturday: 4 Miles. Went to go watch a really good race at HS New Englands which took up most of the day and made me pretty exhausted. Ended up running from home in the dark. Felt much better than the last three runs, although I was weak and it was super cold, so I kept short.
Sunday: 6 Miles. Ninigret with Dad, felt really good today.
Weekly Total: 20 Miles
YTD Total: 1,795 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Felt surprisingly good towards the end of the week with a nice Sunday run.
Weekly Lowlight: Those 3 mile days were not enjoyable at all, but worst of all, it felt like the most I could do.
Weekly Log: November 12 to 18
Monday: 7 Miles. Burlingame loop, didn't feel quite as good as the previous days. So much leaf cover that I didn't have great traction. Legs were heavy for sure.
Tuesday: 5 Miles. Short Rose solo, absolutely pouring. Hip felt okay, not good but not bad either. Went at a decent pace.
Wednesday: 6 Miles. Garrity, with a group of guys who were working out after. Wasn't expecting to go to fast (this was their warm-up) yet still managed low 6:30s. Very cold day (high 20s, but so windy that real feel was around 10) yet felt fine.
Thursday: 8 Miles. Short Snell, felt decent. Unexpectedly started dropping some fast splits at the end (just following a teammate's lead), running a 6:02, 5:57 and then a 5:27. The first two actually felt fine, last one I had to push and maybe should have backed off.
Friday: 6 Miles. Hip wasn't feeling that great coming in but surprisingly didn't bother me too much during the run. However, my legs felt just terrible, so bad I even had to stop.
Saturday: 7 Miles. Ran kinda late from the house to Avondale and back, mixing in some preserve loops with the grass trails. Felt terrible again, could not get the pace under control and way too fast. Zero hip discomfort for the first run in over two weeks.
Sunday: 9 Miles. Glad to feel like a normal and functional human being again. Not great, but much better than the last two days. Did a Rhody loop before race but adding in the 4 mile portion. Very wet and slippery. Got in a bonus mile running around during the race to film. Hip is good to go.
Weekly Total: 48 Miles
YTD Total: 1,843 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Building up mileage. Can't say 48 is a great number, but it is when considering it's only slightly less than the last three weeks combined. Nice to do some real runs, hoping to build slightly more until I get into real mileage (hopefully 65+). Seems like I'm no longer injured either, hip had huge improvement this week.
Weekly Lowlight: Just feeling like garbage until the end of the week including my hip issues. It's been a very long struggle to feel good during and hopefully I'm almost there.
Little Rhody Video- 2018 Edition
Very nearly missed this race this year, but fortunately due to some last minute changes in my schedule, I was able to make it down to RI a little earlier than planned. Figured I'd try to make another video. Absolutely hauled (both driving and running) to get to various spots on the course. Every time, I was nervous I'd miss the leaders go by but had more time than expected except at the finish where I literally sprinted to the finish and still barely caught Greg on video. I tried to vary things up from last year by going into the trail a bit more rather than staying out on the road. This made for more interesting shots but made much harder to get to other locations. It took about 12 minutes to get from my third location out near the rock scramble back to the road because everyone was running towards me. I was a little disappointed no one fell off the bridge (from a video standpoint), but it seems like I was just past the extremely slippery points.
Anyway, here it is below. I think the footage came out mostly good, so I didn't have to do much editing. It will likely pale in comparison to Seth's video, so I would check his out when he posts it (I certainly will).
Anyway, here it is below. I think the footage came out mostly good, so I didn't have to do much editing. It will likely pale in comparison to Seth's video, so I would check his out when he posts it (I certainly will).
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Weekly Log: October 29 to November 4
Trying to starting training again, but not quite working out.
Monday: 10 Miles
Wanted a little less but got thrown in with a big group of guys on a new route that I enjoyed. Felt okay but weird the first mile then everything got really heavy/tight again. Pretty disappointing to have this same result even after a week off.
Tuesday: 8 Miles
Solo, as Tuesdays are usually for me. Slightly less, still went at a decent pace because it was within my low effort zone. Legs felt slightly better but were still extremely heavy. Hip suddenly started to hurt afterwards. Got my strides in, pain went away only for it to come back a few minutes later. Had really bad pain the rest of the day walking around.
Wednesday: 1 Mile
Coach showed a bunch of stretches for my hips/hamstrings/quad. After they felt difficult with my right but nearly impossible/extremely uncomfortable with my left, it made a lot more sense. Tried to jog around the track but got tight and made things worse.
Thursday: 6 Miles
Woke up feeling much better, pretty much zero hip pain or discomfort. Coach had me run on which I wasn't really expecting and I tightened up/had hip pain after just 2 miles.
Friday: 0
Saturday: 0
Sunday: 0
Weekly Total: 25 Miles
YTD Total: 1,775 Miles
Weekly Highlight: None
Weekly Lowlight: Having an unexpected random injury is never fun, although now seems as good as any time to have it.
Thoughts: Getting a hip injury and doing a lot of stretching throughout the week has really just reminded how clueless I am about how to properly train for running. I felt significantly better although not great on my Thursday in leg tightness/heaviness and would assume I will feel pretty good when I start again. I have definitely neglecting stretching this whole season; it's just something has never seemed beneficial or necessary to me but now might be the missing factor in all of my recent failure.
Or maybe it's nothing and I'm feeling better as I start to return to things, or from time off. Either way, it definitely feels like it's helping with my hip pain as the once brutal stretches have now gotten a lot easier (although still hard on my left side), so I'll continue to do them for a while. I'd like to take tomorrow to be cautious. I'm in a pretty good spot getting hurt now as I have a whole month before indoor racing starts and a good 2 months after that until my target races. If I can put up a 45+ mile week with more consistent mileage next week, then I'll be happy with that. I want to work my way up to the 60s and beyond after that and if November brings me back, I think I can find redemption in the upcoming indoor season.
Either way, I'm itching to have success again. It's been a while since I put some good races that felt right, and I'd very much like to have that back. Hopefully I can start to learn more about what it takes to be a good runner, as I prove to be a complete idiot in that department more often than I should. I'm probably out for offseason racing, and that includes Little Rhody. While unfortunately that probably means I won't race it until 2022, it seems much smarter not to race considering I'm still trying to get back into regular training (and not even running right now). Looking forward to December 1st.
Monday: 10 Miles
Wanted a little less but got thrown in with a big group of guys on a new route that I enjoyed. Felt okay but weird the first mile then everything got really heavy/tight again. Pretty disappointing to have this same result even after a week off.
Tuesday: 8 Miles
Solo, as Tuesdays are usually for me. Slightly less, still went at a decent pace because it was within my low effort zone. Legs felt slightly better but were still extremely heavy. Hip suddenly started to hurt afterwards. Got my strides in, pain went away only for it to come back a few minutes later. Had really bad pain the rest of the day walking around.
Wednesday: 1 Mile
Coach showed a bunch of stretches for my hips/hamstrings/quad. After they felt difficult with my right but nearly impossible/extremely uncomfortable with my left, it made a lot more sense. Tried to jog around the track but got tight and made things worse.
Thursday: 6 Miles
Woke up feeling much better, pretty much zero hip pain or discomfort. Coach had me run on which I wasn't really expecting and I tightened up/had hip pain after just 2 miles.
Friday: 0
Saturday: 0
Sunday: 0
Weekly Total: 25 Miles
YTD Total: 1,775 Miles
Weekly Highlight: None
Weekly Lowlight: Having an unexpected random injury is never fun, although now seems as good as any time to have it.
Thoughts: Getting a hip injury and doing a lot of stretching throughout the week has really just reminded how clueless I am about how to properly train for running. I felt significantly better although not great on my Thursday in leg tightness/heaviness and would assume I will feel pretty good when I start again. I have definitely neglecting stretching this whole season; it's just something has never seemed beneficial or necessary to me but now might be the missing factor in all of my recent failure.
Or maybe it's nothing and I'm feeling better as I start to return to things, or from time off. Either way, it definitely feels like it's helping with my hip pain as the once brutal stretches have now gotten a lot easier (although still hard on my left side), so I'll continue to do them for a while. I'd like to take tomorrow to be cautious. I'm in a pretty good spot getting hurt now as I have a whole month before indoor racing starts and a good 2 months after that until my target races. If I can put up a 45+ mile week with more consistent mileage next week, then I'll be happy with that. I want to work my way up to the 60s and beyond after that and if November brings me back, I think I can find redemption in the upcoming indoor season.
Either way, I'm itching to have success again. It's been a while since I put some good races that felt right, and I'd very much like to have that back. Hopefully I can start to learn more about what it takes to be a good runner, as I prove to be a complete idiot in that department more often than I should. I'm probably out for offseason racing, and that includes Little Rhody. While unfortunately that probably means I won't race it until 2022, it seems much smarter not to race considering I'm still trying to get back into regular training (and not even running right now). Looking forward to December 1st.
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