Had a 10 mile run today, which may have been a little ambitious mileage-wise, but it was a nice easy pace the whole way, and I felt good until the last mile. I'm definitely going back to the drills tomorrow, which works nicely because it'll be good to have a short recovery day anyway. I'm looking at another week of mileage. I'm thinking of jumping into the last cross country race of the year next weekend. I don't expect to have a great run or anything, but I think my club team could use the bodies, and I get kind of bored going out to races and not racing.

Of all the weird things, I have a sore right biceps muscle. It got more and more sore as my run went on. That's not a huge concern obviously. The bigger issue is that I also have a little bit of a right hamstring problem. I think this is a form problem, as it's consistently a little sore. Hopefully that'll work itself out sooner or later with the drills.

I got over my little quad problem, and had good runs yesterday and today. I felt great today, actually. Typical day after drills. I did 50 min., which is sort of a lot right now, and it was wonderful. Running can be very meditative, and pose running, I think, especially so. I am really learning to relax and that adds to the meditative effect. I ran really slow. I try not to obsess about that, but I hate running slower than 9 min./mile. Probably the fact that it was dark kind of hurt my pace a little because I was tentative on the grassy areas where the footing is a little weird.

Tomorrow I'll be doing some drills again and going longer on Sunday. Maybe 70 min. I think I should be good for that. I'll just make sure that I watch any downhills.

small setback

I'm sorry to report that I got a bit overzealous on yesterday's long run. I did 7 or so miles, and there was a long downhill at the end of the run that I ran pretty aggressively. I think at some point I must have gotten a little panicky with the speed, and tightened up my quad and done some braking as I was running downhill. Now my right quad is feeling strained, and it was very painful to try and run. So I bagged the run, and I'm hoping that it'll all be better by Weds. Tuesdays I have my night class and I have a hard time fitting in a run anyway. I don't want to take two days off, but it might be just as well given how my quad feels right now. I've been reading some of the Lydiard type coaches, like Hadd, and it takes like 20 weeks of aerobic work after you get up to 50 miles/week before you're ready to do some faster stuff. So really, two days off in what would have been a 20-30 mile week is not that big of a deal.

Had a great run today, only 30 min or so, but it really got set up well by a session of drills before hand. Yesterday I had some trouble with my shins during the run. I can really tell when it's been a couple of days since I've done drills because I feel some pain, try and fix my form, and I just can't seem to get it right. Today, I did a good half hour of drills and then headed out and I was pain free and felt really good. I did 4x100m. with the stretch cordz, and I felt incredible afterward. As far as I'm concerned, the stretch cordz are essential for learning pose. Tomorrow's a long run and I hope my legs will remember the drills session from today.

It's 4 and a half weeks until my Thanksgiving day 5k. This is a really premature race as far as my training is going, but I just have a hard time training for months on end without racing. I've been a little concerned about whether or not I would be able to hold a good technique over 5k, but after today, I am feeling more confident. If I keep at the drills, I think I will be able to do it. It won't be my fastest 5k, but that's ok.

If you've been following along here, I should add a few details to my description of J's nutty 199 mile relay race. J. was actually pretty happy with his 23 minute 5k given that it was a massive climb, it was his 3rd leg in something like 18 hours, and he is a sub-16:00 5k guy under more normal conditions.

I took some video the other day, and I think my technique is coming along. It's slower than I would like, but I think I can see some progress. The foot is less flexed, and I think I can see the back leg is slightly less than dead straight. That's in the slow run. In the fast run, you can see it all goes to hell.

Training is coming along. I'm still getting some PF, and some hamstring strain. I figure I just can't wait to perfect the technique anymore, and as long as I listen to my body, I can manage these things. I'm still doing drills 3-4x week, so it'll come.

Gotta get going to read the Rubio stuff that Jerry sent me. Thanks Jerry.

Put in my 45 min. along my typical route around Land Park. Really, Sacramento is a pretty decent running town. There's a few places where you could live and have easy access to good running spots. We're not really that close to the American River trail, which is definitely the jewel in the crown of Sacramento running areas. But being about 10-12 minutes to both Curtis Park and Land Park provides plenty of running out the door.

J finished up the Saturn Relay and had a great time. Apparently he ran great for the first two legs, and then ran a 23:xx 5k for his last leg which was a pretty steep climb in the Santa Cruz mountains. They had a great time, and he doesn't seem to mind the sleeplessness. Kind of makes me want to try it.

Did a 30 min. run on Friday and another one today, plus I did 20 min. of drills today. Tomorrow is going to be a longer run, 45 min. After the drills, I ran 9:05 pace for my 30 min. run which is quite a bit slower than one of my runs last weekend which was at more like 8:30 pace. I'm not going to worry about it, but it's nice for my ego to be running 8:30s.

I'm looking at doing the Hadd program, as described here. I was doing pretty well with the Daniels program based on his book, but I'm interested in branching out a little. Hadd's articles make a lot of sense to me, and I think I'd like to try a higher mileage program. This means a lot more long and slow, especially in the beginning. Also I have to get to a library to get myself a copy of a highly recommended training article by Joe Rubio.

J is off on the saturn relay thing right now. He's got the Golden Gate bridge leg in the middle of the night. A bit worrisome since he'll be climbing out of Sausalito in darkness, but there's either a sidewalk or a big shoulder over most of the route, so I'm trying not to get too worried about him. Apparently they've never lost anyone in this relay, so that's reassuring.

transition

I am really shifting into training mode, as opposed to just working with Pose method drills. My run today was pretty satisfying, no shin pain, no plantar fascitis pain. My most recent technique revelation was working on relaxation. Also, I am starting to get more fine tuned feedback about my lower legs, are they tense are they pushing, etc. I can feel it now, whereas before I couldn't tell what was going on.

My initial training plan is pretty basic. I'll be doing easy runs 4 days/week, pose drills and short runs 2 days/week, and nothing 1 day/week. Not too strenuous, but I need to avoid injury. This week the easy runs are 30 min. x 3 days and 45 min. x 1 day. Pace has been around 8:30, not on purpose, that just happens to be what I'm running. It feels comfortable, though it's quite a bit faster than what I started out with last time I began training. I think that's due to both increased efficiency and better fitness, as I probably didn't lose everything from before. It's nice to really run again.

goooooooooaaaaaaal

It has been decided, I will shoot for the Thanksgiving 5k here in town as my first post-pose racing goal. J made me a training plan to follow, and my easy days are 20 minutes of running plus extensive pose drills. No real hard days yet, just longer runs. I'm starting with 45 minutes as a "long" run. Unfortunately, I didn't end up running today because of a protracted doctor's appointment. But I can do the run tomorrow instead, just adding some drills.

I got the stretch cordz in and used them yesterday. They're pretty cool. The high school football players were looking at me kind of funny, but it was worth it to feel that super fast pull.

the dreaded pf

I have to read up again on the pose site about plantar fascitis, as it has reared its ugly head in short order since I've started doing actual running again. I chose not to do anything yesterday partly because it hurt a lot just to walk and partly because I was on a roll working on my master's thesis. I did drills and short runs plus an easy 8 minute jog on Friday, and I think the drills helped, as I did almost 30 minutes easy today and didn't feel much in the way of aches or pains. The pf was a little bit of a problem, but not too bad, and I didn't feel the shins at all.

J suggests a 5k on Thanksgiving that is kind of a big deal around here as a running goal for me. I am not sure that I need a race that soon. My body probably doesn't need a race, but it is tough for me to motivate without some kind of competitive goal ahead of me. So maybe the Thanksgiving 5k, or maybe there is something in December, that would give me a couple more weeks of training time.