Diary of a Crappy Run

Perhaps the day a tropical storm is scheduled to arrive isn't the best day for a long run.  It's pretty darn hot out here, and the humidity is awful.  I hope my two water bottles will be enough.  I probably shouldn't have waited until 9:45 to get out here; an earlier start would have been much better.  Oh well, too late to worry about that.  Since tomorrow will be worse I'd best get going.  Hrmm, the legs aren't feeling very good. But they never feel good when I start out, once I warm up they'll get a little better.  Even though I'm just getting back at training after my injury, doing a 13 miler today shouldn't be that big a deal, right?  I did 11 last week and although it wasn't a great run I survived.  Just two more miles shouldn't cause any problems.  At the river and headed inbound.  The legs should be loose by now, but they're still feeling sluggish. This could be a painful run.

Let's take the little path around Magazine Beach.  I think this is it, nope, that's just the parking lot.  How about this path?  Well, there's where I want to be over there, I'll just cut across.  OK, that wasn't worth it.  Past the BU bridge, at least there's a water fountain coming up.  Just a short break for water, and since I'm stopped I'll stretch the legs a bit.  That didn't feel better, but I'm sure it helped. On towards the Mass Ave bridge, gee it's pretty hot out here today.  The dirt path by the river feels good, too bad it doesn't go the whole way around Esplanade.  Approaching Mass Ave, if I slow down just a little I'll miss the light and get to rest for a bit.  Perfect, that means I get 90 seconds of rest and it doesn't look like I'm being a sloth. What?! The walk signal already?  OK, keep moving.  Longfellow or Museum of Science?  Suck it up, do the distance, MoS it is. Why am I getting passed by everyone? And especially by these tiny women who are running twice as fast as me?  Ah, the turn at the Museum, things should get better soon.

OK, how far is it to the water fountain in front of Community Boating?  I'm dying here, this is much hotter than I counted on and my Gatorade tastes like hot tea.  Finally! Stop the watch because this is going to be a few minutes.  Water, Gu, stretching; all needed.  I'll walk back and forth so it doesn't look like I'm about to collapse.  Why is everyone else still running?  At least one or two should be stopping for water.  Bastards.  I can at least make it to then next water fountain, get moving. I love this area and I wish I were feeling better today.  Lots and lots of people getting in their workouts before the storm.  I hate them all.

Ah, this feels a little better.  Wait, no it doesn't.  It still sucks. On the Esplanade at least, there's a small breeze from the river.  Yikes, I need another break because my legs are screaming.  I'll stop here in the shade, at least I made it past another bridge.  It's not that far to the next water fountain, get moving you lazy bum. Good, there's a dirt path here that should help.  Look, up ahead, it's a water fountain.  Why is there a line of runners waiting for water?  Finally someone else is showing the effects of the weather.  Lots of sweaty people, all fitter and faster than me, but sweat is the universal equalizer.  Gatorade and Gu are gone, but all this water will do the trick, I should be fine from here.

This stretch has always seemed too long.  Under the BU bridge and past the MIT students cleaning up the river bank, pardon me for not saying "thanks" but I don't think my voice would be audible right now.  OK, lets settle into a pace and try to reclaim this run.  Thank god the light is against me and I have to stop.  Why are things spinning?  Yikes, I'm getting dizzy!  OK that's it, cutting the run short right now.  Passing out isn't an option.  Stop the watch, I'll just stand here a bit.  I'll just lean on this light post.  I'll just sit on this support.  Drink your water you idiot!  Let's check my fancy heart rate monitory, hrmm, 135.  When it gets down to 110 I'll start again.  135.  134.  134.  135. That's not right.  Deep breaths, relax, calm down.  127. Better.  125. 120.  OK, we're headed in the right direction, finally. 119, getting closer. 115, 112, 112, 112.  That's close enough, right?

What's the shortest way home?  Cross the Charles here or take the foot bridge?  More dirt if I take the foot bridge.  Not bad, slow the pace way down. Stairs up the bridge, ooh, that doesn't feel good.  Let's walk across the bridge.  Let's walk to the stop light. I could cross as there's no traffic but I'm going to be good and wait for the walk light. Running again, to the one hill.  Ouch, a slight calf cramp, we'll walk up that sucker as well.  Home isn't that far away now, I can feel it. Nice easy pace, I must look like hell. Take it one block at a time. Try to concentrate on the sidewalk right in front of you.  Ooh, better obey the traffic light and wait for the walk sign.  Just a few tenths left, I'm not taking the usual detour to add a little distance.  This is close enough, I can see my house from here. I need to cool down, I can still feel my heart racing.  Just walk, keep walking.  God this run sucked.  What's wrong with me?  I don't see how I'm going to do a marathon in 8 weeks! 10.75 miles, at least I did 10+.  How many times did I stop?  Doesn't matter, the run is over and we're on to recovery mode.  Lord knows I need it.

The Simple Life

Running appeals to me on a number of levels.  It can be solitary or communal, depending on my mood or available running partners.  Although it is somewhat weather dependent you can run in pretty much any conditions provided you are willing to suffer a bit, and after all what is exercise but organized suffering? You can run anywhere from city streets to mountain trails to a hotel treadmill on a business trip.  It requires nothing but a pair of running shoes and some comfortable clothing; you don't have to put the bike in the car, or drive to the mountains, or find a place to store your rowing shell.

When I started running I had a pair of shoes, some shorts and cotton t-shirts, and my one piece of specialty gear - a pair of white cotton gloves for cold weather.  Packing my bag to run at lunchtime was simple and quick. I was living Thoreau's maxim - "Simplify, simplify."  I decided to get a new pair of running shoes and got fitted properly and had my gait analyzed but that just meant a new pair of shoes to replace the old ones.  The next big purchase was my Garmin GPS watch (with heart monitor) that tracks my every move and presents me with reams of information for study and analysis.  A small MP3 player was needed for the long training runs. Then I got some gels to eat while running; not really gear but something else keep track of and pack.  My exercise shorts really weren't the best for running so I got new ones, plus some running tights for the cold weather.  Since I was at the New Balance factory store I picked up a new top and a running jacket for rain and bad weather.  At this point I was often running after dark so I found a reflective vest with a matching blinking light for visibility.  My dark running jacket wasn't enough so I found a bright orange one with reflective patches.

Then I suffered my first real injury, a bout of ITB tendinitis that left me unable to run for a few weeks.  That lead to getting The Stick and a foam roller for stretching and massaging my sore and stiff muscles and tendons.  Somewhere in here I got a belt for long runs so I could carry water, some food, and my cell phone.  My collection of shirts grew until I had a weight for each possible temperature range, plus several from my races.  During my training for Boston I added monthly professional massages to work out the kinks and help stave off injury. Special trail shoes for trail running, plus a pair of Dirty Girl gaiters for the proper look.  Recently I've had a problem with my calf so I bought a special calf stretching aid that gets used several times a day.  Last weekend I bought an IKEA cabinet to store all of this gear in my guest room, although to be fair it also holds hiking, biking, and skiing clothing as well.

Two nights ago after my long run I finished stretching and was headed over to the kitchen when I stubbed my toe on the calf stretching device.  I wonder if there are protective toe socks that would have saved me from this?  My once simple activity now has lots of gear and packing and choices.  I do love the gear (I'm a gear hound, I admit it) but I sometimes want to head out wearing any old pair of shoes and a cotton t-shirt with nothing but the sun to keep track of the time.

But I'm scheduling a massage session for next week and I need to pick up a new pair of shoes.  I wonder what color the t-shirt is for the Bay State?


UPDATE - 8/22/2011
How could I forget my compression socks?!  They have been on my legs for pretty much every run in the past 3 months and I'm not sure how much they help prevent injury and recovery but they look wicked cool. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Working through injury

Again.

Three weeks ago during a morning run I felt some pain in my right calf but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop.  The next morning I called off my run a short way into it and decided that it wasn't worth getting hurt right before my week long hiking vacation (NH, Baxter, Acadia) so I decided to rest for a few days. I figured it was the heat.  For the hiking I wore my compression sleeve on my calves which seemed to do the trick.  We had a bunch of great hikes including a nice long loop over the Knife Edge to Baxter and Hamlin Peaks.  We were tired at the end of the day, but my legs were OK.

Skip ahead to the Tuesday after the vacation when I went out for my first run in two weeks.  About one half mile into an easy run at my sister's house in NY I felt a familiar pain in my right calf and pulled up to a stop. I can't tell you how frustrating that was.  My plan was to go into the long run part of my marathon training right after the vacation but this was putting my race in October in jeopardy.  Even a full, quick recovery might not be enough to get the miles down in time.

So, the first thing I did (after moping) was to schedule a massage with my guy, but that wouldn't happen until the following Monday.  After I got back from NY I went for a bike ride after work to make sure that I could still exercise at all.  That ride was difficult because of the all runners I was passing and wishing I were with them.  Still, it was good to be out and active.  I ran into Jackie who was doing the regular Thursday night Charles River run and we chatted a bit and I felt a little better about my recovery plan.  On Saturday Monica and I went for a ride on the Mountain Bike Loop in the Fells which went really well.  I need a better mountain bike. :)  That will have to wait.

Monday comes and after work I have my massage with Nolan.  Boy, that hurt a lot but I think it really did a good job.  He worked on my calves for nearly 30 minutes with painful instruments of destruction and I had a bit of a hard time walking right after but I could tell it was good for me. We talked about the injury and he suggested I get something to stretch our my calves and use it many times a day. After false starts at two stores I found what I was looking for at City Sports. I'm now using it 5-10 times a day, every time I get up from my desk I try to stretch for a minute.

This morning (Wed) I went for my first real run in 3 weeks.  I stretched a bit before heading out and ran at a slow steady pace.  There was no pain, but when I got hurt there wasn't any pain until all of a sudden there was.  I crossed the Charles, taking the steps on the footbridge gingerly to avoid any unnecessary strain. At two miles I stopped and stretched again, no point being silly about this.  The final mile back to the house I could feel a little tightness so I slowed the pace (how could I go any slower?) and finished pain free.

Now it's a routine of ice, stretching, compression, and rest.  I'll try a run again on Friday, then a longer one on Sunday.  Perhaps the marathon isn't a lost cause yet.  If I can run a 12-14 miler in the next few weeks then I'll feel much better about mid-October.  Until then I'll just take it one day at a time, and try to work against my normal instincts and not overdo things.

Starting the Week right

Monday mornings set the tone for the week, but I guess that goes without saying.  For my workout schedule, if I don't get a run in on Monday morning the whole week feels a bit off kilter. I always fear falling behind my goal of running or exercising 5 times per week.  Missing the Monday workout means I'm behind the eight ball and can only miss one other day all week!  That's too daunting and makes it easier to rationalize that I can write off this week and concentrate on next.

But if I get my early morning run on Monday then I get to work with the feeling that I'm already ahead of the curve.  I don't need to rush home and try to get a run in before dark, or break up my day with a lunchtime visit to the fitness center for a boring treadmill session.  The little pains I feel climbing the stairs to the 3rd floor each morning remind me that I've already accomplished something today, this week, this year.

From a fitness standpoint it's probably not a huge thing.  I often hike both days of the weekend, so I'm already getting a good amount of exercise.  Sunday is really the first day of the week according to my software tracking but that's not they way my lazy self rationalizes it. I've found that I can't give my self a sliver of justification to avoid exercise.  The best Monday mornings are: wake up, put on running gear that I set out the night before, put on the MP3 player to some loud fast music, and be out the door less than 10 minutes after the alarm goes off.

After that, the rest of the week is up to me.

Bangalore mornings

The hotel pool at 5:00 AM

I recently went on a business trip to Bangalore India and in my small carry-on case that I brought for the week I allocated enough space for my running gear.  Last time I was here I made it a point to get to the gym and run a few mornings but that hotel gym had much better A/C.  In this one I started sweating the moment I stepped on the treadmill.  But a run is a run, so I came down at 5:00 AM on Tuesday and Thursday for my morning session, accompanied by my MP3 player and Indian music videos on the TV.

I was fighting jet lag for most of the week so getting up at 5:00 wasn't a big problem.  The run seemed to anchor the day, getting me off on the right foot (pardon the pun) and helping me adjust.  The only problem was that the steady diet of authentic Indian food was giving me a slightly upset stomach that made running slightly uncomfortable but wasn't enough to stop me.

Another kind of running

The first day I had a bit of trouble translating from metric to English units and set the treadmill at a breakneck speed that nearly killed me before I figured out what I had done.  On the second day I ran I was preoccupied with Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals which started at 5:30 AM Bangalore time.  I wanted to rush back to my room and check online to see how things were progressing because none of the approximately 40 24-hour news and sports stations had ever heard of ice hockey.  I guess it turned out OK. :)

I'd love to find a way to run outside on future trips to Bangalore but I'm just not sure that's going to be possible. Running on the roads would be insanely risky, plus the air pollution from the traffic would make it difficult to have a good run.  Maybe I'll take some trips out of town next time and explore some areas where an outside run would be feasible.  But for now, it's the hotel gym and Bollywood movies.

Morning run - June 1st

My alarm goes off at 6:00 and I hear the radio announcer start the headlines at the top of the hour.  The cool breeze blows across my body and I remember that I wanted to run before work today.  Up, put on the new running shorts, find a pair of socks and track down the calf compression sleeves.  Why didn't I lay out my shoes the night before?  Grab a bite to eat, drink a little left over iced tea from last night, put the earbuds on (Tide is High by Blondie) and start down the stairs.  It's cool and refreshing as I put the watch into training mode, stretch the legs a bit, and take off at a slow pace onto Magnus St.

My first steps are slow and uneven, pretty common for my morning runs.  I should stretch more before running but the first mile acts as my warm up.  Past The Biscuit as the first patrons of the day head in for their morning coffee.  Past the stacks of dry ice containers at Acme Ice, waiting to be unloaded.  Savenor's isn't open yet, and the papers sit on the stoop in front of the convenience store.  I begin to settle into a rhythm as I see one or two other runners headed opposite me.  Construction workers carrying their lunches in coolers are arriving at the Fogg Museum, traffic is light but there's steady flow in and out of the Dunkin' Donuts.  At a mile I'm now running comfortably, still cool but I can feel the heat building.

I stop at Memorial Drive waiting for traffic to clear and see many more runners and bikers traveling up and down the river.  The light changes and I'm across, running on dirt now as I spy a single shell in the water headed upstream.  It looks like Robyn, who paced me in the marathon, and I decide to have her pace me again.  I accelerate and find a new gear in an effort to keep up with the boat cutting through the still water with efficient strokes.  Is it really Robyn?  I don't know but she managed to pace me again regardless.  I turn across the Lars Andersen bridge and head downstream, leaving the shell behind

There are fewer runners on the Boston side of the river and more bikers.  My steady footfalls propel me past the Weeks foot bridge, the Western Ave bridge and I turn at River St.  I pass a few of the runners I saw earlier on heading in the opposite direction, everyone looping in their own orbits.  Crossing back to the side streets I glance at my watch, checking my pace and thinking about the 1.5 miles remaining.  Up Dewolfe and Bow streets, stepping on my lucky manhole cover before climbing my one hill, thinking to myself that Stairway to Heaven is an awful running song.  As I turn on Kirkland I spot a woman ahead of me wearing a shirt from my first half-marathon in June 2010. My pace is a bit faster and I reel her in by the time we cross Beacon St.  As I turn to home I see a small table out on the curb with a "free" sign that would fit in my hallway.  I loop back, adding an extra .2 miles to my run and stop the watch as I reach the table.

As I carry my new possession back to the house I can feel the heat catch up to me.  It's going to be another hot day but I've completed my first task.  The rest of the day will include this sense of accomplishment and some well earned satisfaction.  Maybe tomorrow I can start a half hour earlier?

Long run without training goal

Went out for a 10 miler along the Charles yesterday.  It was the first long run since the marathon and it was interesting running without a specific goal in mind.  I remembered pointedly when I did my first 10 mile run and it was such an important milestone for me.  This was just a workout, but in some ways it is equally significant. I was running because I'm a runner, not because of an upcoming race or event. It feels good to be out there for a solid workout at a fair pace because it is part of my life.  I was wearing one of my Boston Marathon shirts and I saw a woman with one as well; we exchanged a knowing glance and my pace picked up a bit.  There were plenty of runners on the path around the Charles and I felt more a part of them than ever.

As I got to the Mass Ave bridge I knew it wasn't going to be 10 miles so I went on to the Longfellow and revisited the site of my first lunchtime runs at ChoiceStream.  By then I had settled into my run rhythm and I could let my mind drift as I passed and was passed by other runners.  I rolled up my long sleeves and dug a little deeper for the last 3-4 miles, wanting to get some speed work.  The route is so familiar that I don't really have to thing, in contrast to the trail run I did with Mats last weekend where I was constantly looking at the terrain.

Monica summed it up for me - I'm training for a goal, but I just don't know what it is yet.