Exercise

The long (and short) road back

Today was my first run on a workday. Woo!

It was also a very brief run, only 2.5 km after a three week layoff. It was about 7ºC, overcast with some light rain. I wore a jacket and long-sleeve t-shirt and may have been okay with just the t-shirt as the wind died down just prior to the run.

Some notes:

• I was recovering from the effects of some bug (felt kind of like the flu, sucked all my energy away for a couple days like some kind of sparkly vampire in germ form)
• the conditions were the worst I’ve ever seen. Many stretches of the trail were little more than mire and multiple times I felt my foot twisting on the uneven surface. A lot of exposed roots, too, as the continued heavy rains strip away the surface.
• annoying jogger duo. A pair of women were jogging ahead of me and stopped at the playground. They were apparently doing a start-stop thing. A little ways after passing them they resumed running and kept pace a modest distance behind me. No big deal. Except one of them would not stop yakking.It made me crazy. On the one hand, if you can carry on an (incessant) conversation while jogging, you aren’t trying hard enough. On the other hand, if I was in better condition I could have easily outpaced them and gotten out of hearing range, so I also suck. I am hoping to remedy this by running again on Friday with a ‘run as far as I feel comfortable’ plan (up to 10K). We’ll see how it goes.

No official™ chart for this run because it was such a quickie but here are the relevant stats:

1km = 5:10
2 km = 5:23 (yuck)

Total average pace: 5.28.

Return to the Valley of the Jogger: The Sequel

And unlike many sequels, this one is actually better than the first!

Conditions for my second run after the long layoff were decent. The temperature was 7ºC with little wind and an overcast sky. I wore a long-sleeved t-shirt and shorts and probably would have been fine with a regular t-shirt. My hands did not feel like frozen blocks of ice this time.

There was a hard, steady rain yesterday and the trail at the park showed the effects — several large puddles to be dodged, the southern stretch particularly boggy in several places and more exposed roots poking through than I’ve ever seen. I did a walk around first to size things up before the run proper.

By the second km I was feeling a cramp but this time in my stomach. I maintained my pace and within another km or so it eased up, allowing me to better hold my pace. I was faster at each stage of the run than a week ago and finished by shaving seven seconds off last week’s run, bringing my pace down from 5:44 to 5:37. Not bad!

I could feel my left knee a bit during the run but it never hurt and didn’t slow me down. For a few moments there was a twinge around my ankle/lower left shin and that spooked me but it went away quickly and did not return.

Although my performance was better, the improved pace meant that by the time I hit 5K I was happy to stop and recover rather than feeling all, “Haha, whee! Let’s keep going!” That’s okay. In time my stamina will be back where it once was and I shall run not unlike the wind. Or at least a strong breeze.

Chart:

km Jan. 25 Jan 18
1 km 5:04 5:07
2 km 5:20 5:26
3 km 5:31 5:36
4 km 5:36 5:42
5 km 5:37 5:44

Return to the Valley of the Jogger

Four months later and I have finally completed another jog. Woo!

My plan was to complete 5K.

Conditions were favorable for the time of year, with the temperature ranging 3-4ºC, only a slight breeze at the start and partly cloudy skies, with the sun actually poking out a few times. I walked a circuit at China Creek Park first to check out the path and while there were no puddles the trail was rather mushy in spots, about what I expected given the recent rain.

I dressed in shorts since my manly tree trunk* legs don’t feel the cold much, wore a t-shirt with my jogging jacket and eschewed gloves, remembering all the times I’ve overdressed on previous runs. After the first km my hands still felt like blocks of ice so I was wondering if I’d made the right call but they warmed up a short time later and were fine the rest of the way.

By the second km I was beginning to feel some cramping in my chest and my legs suddenly gained roughly 300 pounds each. At this point the only other jogger out sailed past me. He was something like four feet taller than me so I figured he was fast due to his huge, hill giant-like stride. It couldn’t be because I had lost every trace of my conditioning!

As it turned out, I only lost most of my conditioning. My first km came in at a perfectly respectable 5:07/km but the rest of the run fell off the cliff, with my time plunging to 5:26 by the second km and continuing lemming-like for the next two km before leveling off as I finally hit my stride in the last stretch. By that point I was fully warmed up, the cramping had diminished and the legs, though still heavy, didn’t feel quite as burdensome.

Afterward, I felt fine and recovered quickly. My knee did not bother me at all and my legs are otherwise fine. I think my left shoe is a bit wonky up front so I will probably look for a new pair soon. I’ve put in probably over 700 km on these ones, so they’ve served me well.

Chart:

km Jan 18
1 km 5:07
2 km 5:26
3 km 5:36
4 km 5:42
5 km 5:44

* haha, no

My blog post, Volume 2 of 12: The Blog of Dreams

This post will be 10,000 pages long.

Fortunately, the pages have been shrunk through the science of something I just made up and they are now small enough to fit on the head of a pin, unlike the collected books comprising The Wheel of Time, for example, the weight of which could serve to batter down doors or stop a runaway cruise ship (like in Speed 2. I never really watched that movie but I did manage to catch the ending on TV once and I stood there staring at the screen, baffled and amazed at the sight of an actual runaway cruise ship. It was a definite ‘What were they thinking?’ moment. Good call by Keanu to bail on this sequel. That good call was subsequently offset by the many other terrible movies he went on to appear in, unfortunately, but a boy’s gotta eat).

I did not jog today due to spending a little more time with Tim getting and setting up his shiny new computer with patented* Harry Potter** interface, but I am rescheduling for tomorrow. Since it was also windy as all get-out today and I hate running in the wind (not to be confused with running like the wind) I am not too upset about putting it off for another day.

* it probably isn’t actually patented but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was
** seriously, the opening steps on initial startup that HP (Hewlett-Packard) forces the user to go through looks like some weird Harry Potter-esque thing with weird disembodied hands (Tim called them jazz hands)

Kneedful things

A good pun is hard to resist. A bad pun, moreso.

My left knee has checked out A-OK and the doctor says I am good to resume jogging, which I plan on doing this Monday. When he seemed a bit evasive on the cause of the soreness in my knee I asked, “Is it one of those ‘getting older’ things?” He immediately started in with, “Well, I wouldn’t want to put a name on it…” which seemed like a polite way of saying, “Yes”. But he was polite, so no dirty look for him!

Here’s hoping my Nike+ sensor still has some juice in it. Here’s also hoping I don’t collapse face-first into the mud after 200 meters.

Needing knees

I have not jogged since September 20th.

This is not by design.

As it happened, back in September my left leg was ailing again and so I opted to give it time to recover before resuming my runs, as I had previously. This particular time it seemed the left ankle was feeling especially tender. I am more convinced now that the way I was running — on an oval course, always counter-clockwise — may have contributed to my left leg bearing more than its fair share and thus making it more susceptible to injury. My plan was to resume running and to either find a new course to run or to simply alternate between running clockwise and counter-clockwise on the path around China Creek Park.

By the time I felt I’d rested enough to resume jogging I began a new job and suddenly my schedule was a lot tougher to work runs around. Couple that with waning daylight hours and I let it slide longer than I would have liked.

Then something weird happened. My left knee started to hurt. More precisely, I would sometimes notice it feeling sore, though it never hurt to actually walk on it. It was most obvious when I would kneel to tie my shoelaces. What makes this weird is that I never experienced any problems with my knees when running. At first I thought I did something to hurt it and just couldn’t remember exactly what I’d done but the soreness is ever-present. I feel it every time I kneel down, though it never gets worse (or better). I plan on having the knee checked out at the clinic soon but mildly fear this may be a chronic injury that will require therapy — or worse!

If the doctor tells me it’s one of those ‘men of your age’ things, I promise to give him a dirty look.

I will update on the potential kneetastrophe soon.

Running update: no running

The problem was different this time.

After finishing the run on September 20th my left leg felt sore but I incorrectly surmised it was my shin again. However, while it was a little tender, that was not the issue. Rather, it’s the ankle, which is new. I can still feel it some 12 days later, so I’m not going to be running again for at least a few more weeks. I’ve read that there is a small chance that regular running on a track or oval can lead to each leg getting a slightly different workout and can increase the risk of injury. I wonder if that’s what has happened here. When I do resume running, I am going to try switching direction every other time, so I run counter-clockwise one day then clockwise the next. I may also plan out my first runs away from the park.

Next week, with the ankle feeling better, I’m going to resume my free weights workout in the interim, so all of my other muscles can be sore and share in the fun, too.

Here be puddles and sore legs (run)

An early afternoon run today with the temperature rising from 15C-17C, breezy and about an equal mix of sun and cloud. It had showered hard in the morning so this was the first run in a long time where I had to navigate around puddles.

It was not a very good run, alas, plagued by a number of issues:

  • rust from five days off
  • when the sun came out it felt very humid and muggy
  • my left leg was clearly bothering me partway through
  • a persistent cramp in my stomach in the second half of the run

That said, I finished at a pace midway between my two previous runs, clocking in at 5:27/km with a total time of 55:03. I ran a little farther than intended because the glare on my iPod was so bright at the end I could not read the display. It also seemed that clicking the menu button did not, in fact, present me with a menu the first few times I tried it. I suspect Apple wants me to upgrade to the shiny new nano that just came out. Total distance ended up being 10.08 km.

The midway point of the run was ‘highlighted’ by a muscle car revving its engine as it went down nearby Glen, causing a car alarm (apparently on the ‘go off if songbirds are present’ setting) to start wailing and it was that car alarm. You know the one, the worst car alarm ever, the one that has four different alarms, each one annoying in its own way. Fortunately the owner turned it off in short order. Or maybe it was an act of God. Either way I was glad.

There was not much else noteworthy on the run. I found a burst of speed for the 7-8 km stretch but the cramps and general soreness prevented me from maintaining that to the finish. I iced the left calf for about 50 minutes afterward and will see how it feels in a few days. The way things have been going I suspect I will be taking another forced break from running. I may look into some kind of cheap physiotherapy, if such a thing exists.

Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):

km Sept 20 Sept 15 Sept 13 Sept 6 Sept 2
1 km 5:02 5:05 5:00 4:56 4:54
2 km 5:07 5:08 5:05 5:03 4:58
3 km 5:11 5:12 5:09 5:07 5:03
4 km 5:15 5:15 5:14 5:11 5:08
5 km 5:18 5:17 5:18 5:14 5:13
6 km 5:21 5:18 5:21 5:16 5:16
7 km 5:23 5:19 5:24 5:18 5:19
8 km 5:24 5:21 5:26 5:20 5:23
9 km 5:26 5:23 5:28 5:21 5:26
10 km 5:27 5:23 5:29 5:21 5:27

The tire(d) run

Today was the first time in awhile that I attempted a run with only a day off in-between.

Fortunately, it was a success!

The temperature was 19ºC but dropped a degree or two over the course — not that I noticed, because despite the sky being overcast, it still felt a bit warm. It began spitting partway through but didn’t turn to light rain until the run was over and I was heading back. The spitting did clear out most of the park by about the 6 km point, though.

The only discomfort I felt was some light cramps on my right side but they didn’t affect my pace.

After another slowish start (5:05) I again finished with a strong back half, though I could clearly feel the effect of only having a day off. The second half of the run left me feeling pretty tired, even as I worked to maintain my pace, but my consistency from 5 km to 10 km was probably the best ever — I only dropped my average pace by 7 seconds in that span (compared to 12 in the first half). I finished with an overall time of 54:03 — a full minute faster than Monday and an average of 5:23, my third best pace to date.

The titular tire (say that three times fast):

The top of the photo is the gravel of the kids play area, the bottom is the path I run on. I continue to be baffled at how things like this end up where they do. What is the story behind someone rolling a tire, complete with rim, into a public park? People are weird.

Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):

km Sept 15 Sept 13 Sept 6 Sept 2
1 km 5:05 5:00 4:56 4:54
2 km 5:08 5:05 5:03 4:58
3 km 5:12 5:09 5:07 5:03
4 km 5:15 5:14 5:11 5:08
5 km 5:17 5:18 5:14 5:13
6 km 5:18 5:21 5:16 5:16
7 km 5:19 5:24 5:18 5:19
8 km 5:21 5:26 5:20 5:23
9 km 5:23 5:28 5:21 5:26
10 km 5:23 5:29 5:21 5:27

The slog run

After a week off to rest my tender left shin, I opted for a morning run under overcast skies, with the temperature ranging from 15-17ºC. There was almost no wind at all, which is unusual. The sun poked out briefly a few times and made me feel like I was wearing a warm, damp blanket when it did, but was otherwise not a factor.

Given that it had been a week, I expected my time to be slower and it was. The shin was not a problem though by about the 8 km mark I could feel it. It didn’t hurt enough to affect me, I was just aware of it. I was both tentative and sluggish, starting out right at the five minute mark but dropping off noticeably each km in the first half. My average pace was saved by a stronger second half again and that much is reassuring.

I didn’t experience any particular problems during the run. The trail was damp but only had one easily avoided puddle. The lack of any breeze made me feel warmer than I would have otherwise but it was still manageable. Overall, a rather dull affair. Total time was 55:03, about a minute and a half slower than my previous zippy pace.

I iced my left shin for 45 minutes afterward and am going to try to run again in two days. We’ll see how that goes!

Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):

km Sept 13 Sept 6 Sept 2
1 km 5:00 4:56 4:54
2 km 5:05 5:03 4:58
3 km 5:09 5:07 5:03
4 km 5:14 5:11 5:08
5 km 5:18 5:14 5:13
6 km 5:21 5:16 5:16
7 km 5:24 5:18 5:19
8 km 5:26 5:20 5:23
9 km 5:28 5:21 5:26
10 km 5:29 5:21 5:27

A fairly zippy run

In a taste of things to come, today’s run was in light rain, with the temperature a cool-for-the-season 12ºC. Despite the inclement weather and it being a stat holiday a fair number of people were at the park, either jogging or walking their accursed dogs.

My body definitely seems  to prefer cooler days when it comes to running. I had another good start (4:56) but slumped surprisingly in the 2nd km (5:03 — still a decent time). I had an excellent and very consistent second half, however, and finished with my second best time ever — 5:21, only one second off my fastest run back on February 26th.

Unlike many recent runs, there were no cramps or other bits of discomfort to slow me down. My left leg seems to be holding up fine. I think I got a bit of a mental boost from the other runners, as they were all jogging at a much more casual pace than me. I lapped several of them and you can’t help but feel a little fast when you do that, even if they’re not exactly tearing up the place themselves.

Chart (red denotes running in especially warm conditions, green denotes cramps during run):

km Sept 6 Sept 2 Aug 29 Aug 22 Aug 19 Aug 11 Aug 7 Aug 4
1 km 4:56 4:54 4:54 4:59 5:02 5:07 5:04 5:02
2 km 5:03 4:58 5:03 5:03 5:04 5:09 5:08 5:08
3 km 5:07 5:03 5:09 5:08 5:08 5:13 5:12 5:15
4 km 5:11 5:08 5:13 5:13 5:12 5:16 5:16 5:19
5 km 5:14 5:13 5:17 5:16 5:15 5:18 5:19 5:23
6 km 5:16 5:16 5:21 5:20 5:18 5:20 5:21 5:26
7 km 5:18 5:19 5:23 5:24 5:21 5:22 5:23 5:29
8 km 5:20 5:23 5:26 5:27 5:23 5:24 5:26 5:32
9 km 5:21 5:26 5:28 5:30 5:24 5:26 5:27 5:35
10 km 5:21 5:27 5:29 5:33 5:23 5:26 5:27 5:37