(S)Now I'm Running!

I'm now ready to deem my 2 weeks sans running a success.  I eased back into running this week making sure I didn't do any speedwork.  I was a little scared the first few runs thinking that any weird feeling in my knee was the return of Runner's Knee.  On Thursday morning, I did a run in some pretty cold temps on one of my extra hilly routes.  It was good.  I was planning a 40-50 minute run for Friday, put with the impending snowstorm, I moved that run to Thursday evening so I could return to one of my favorite winter running events…

Dome Running!*

I ran two laps, then ran into Steve and Pharmie.  I did two laps with Steve, then ran the rest of the time with Pharmie and we were joined later by Steve Q.  Even though I had planned to run for 40 minutes, we were having a wonderful conversation and next thing I know, it's been and hour.  And I'm ok with that because I ran for an hour on the hard surface with no knee pain!  Victory!

Then winter came.  Again.

Last night it snowed, and my normal 20 minute commute took 1.5 hours in part because my bus was 40 minutes late.  This morning, I awoke and it was sunny with 4-5 inches of fresh, fluffy snow—perfect time for a run.  So I strapped on my Yaktrax and grabbed my camera and off I went.

My foot with Yaktrax.

The first few block were pretty treacherous, but once I got to the golf course near the river, the paths were cleared:

The sidewalk you see in this photo is new.  It used to be a wonderful tree lined, grassy, trail-like path heading down to the river.  Then the city decided that no one was allowed to have fun anymore and they took out a bunch of trees and put this concrete in.

The path was already cleared along the river in St. Paul...

…and in Minneapolis

A magnificent view from the Franklin Ave bridge 

Me, afterwards.  It looks like there is a spear going through my head.

So, take that, winter!  Between Yaktrax and Dome Running, there's no reason to forego running in the winter.

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from 5-8pm, the Metrodome is open for runners on the upper concourse.  It only costs $1, and parking is free in the lot on the east side of the Dome.  Go here for more details.

Brian Kraft Memorial 5k Race Report

I should have titled this post: "How to break all the 'rules' of running and still PR"

My spring training has come to a close, and marathon training begins.  In order to end spring training with a flourish, and begin marathon training with a fitness test of sorts, I entered the Brian Kraft Memorial 5k at Lake Nokomis.  Katie entered the race too, and was looking to see if she could break her PR.

I had 2 goals for this race: to enjoy it, and to break my post-high-school PR of 22'59".  As I was preparing for the race, I ended up breaking a number of "running rules".  I put "running rules" in quotes because these are more conventional wisdom than anything else.

1. Nothing New on Race Day.  I broke this one twice.  First, I wanted to wear my Speed of Light shirt because I was going to run fast.  The second thing is that on my recent journey back home to Detroit, I returned with my old cross country spikes.  Without the spikes, they're basically racing flats.  They're also quite loud.
2. Don't Wear Cotton.  The Speed of Light shirt is cotton.  In fact, it's double-layered cotton.  There would be no sweat wicking going on here.
3. Stretch Before Running.  I've stopped stretching before races.  I think it removes some of the springiness of my muscles, so it slows me down.  I do a warm-up jog and some strides, but no full stretching routine.

The Shoes

The race was a loop of Lake Nokomis, plus a little bit.  The starting line was about ¼ mile clockwise from the starting line (we would run anti-clockwise, if that makes sense).  Knowing this was a fast field, I started a little further back than I otherwise would have.  I was maybe 15 feet behind the starting line.

Mile 1

People were chatting up a storm, so I never heard them start the race.  Everyone started moving, and I realized that I started too far back in the back.  Most of the people around me were out for a casual stroll, so I had to quickly weave through the throng of people and eventually resorted to running on the outside of the curve to pass people.  This may have been helpful, though, as it kept me from starting too fast.  About ½ mile into the race, the crowd thinned out enough where I could take control of my race.  Hitting the first mile marker, I recorded 7'19".  Pretty good.

Mile 2

I don't know if it's because I'm an engineer, or that I don't like the "herd mentality", but when I race, I always pick the shortest path.  If it's a right turn, I stay right.  If it's a left turn, I stay left.  If the course is winding, I pick the path that goes down the middle and is the shortest.  In this race, most people didn't do this.  90% of the runners stayed to the left side of the road no matter which way we were turning.  I was puzzled by this, but took full advantage of their longer paths and made sure to always run the short paths.  I picked up the pace on this mile, and recorded 7'08".  Even better.

Mile 3 and 0.1

I picked it up again with a mile to go.  One thing I noticed is that from the point where the crowd thinned out about ½ mile into the race, no one passed me (or, if they did, I passed them back).  So, I ran 2.5 miles with an increasing pace and never got passed.  That tells me that I didn't go out too fast, and was able to push myself quite a bit.  With about 0.2 miles to go, I started kicking and passed more people.  One woman heard me coming up behind her, and she started her kick.  She had a strong kick, but with about 15 meters to go, we were neck-and-neck.  At that point, she veered to the side right in front of me!  I had to let up a bit, and she ended up beating me by about half a second.

Let me say this:  I have no issues whatsoever being beat by a woman.  I am not the kind of runner who can't stand being beaten by a woman.  I've been beaten and passed by many women, and will continue to be.  What I have issues with is a person purposely cutting right in front me almost causing me to trip over them.

So, what was my time?  22'06" It beats my PHS-PR!  That's a 7'06" per mile pace.  My pace for the Falls Du 3 mile run was 7'13", so I'm getting faster.  I'd say this was a good start to my marathon plan.

After finishing, I walked back along the course to watch for Katie.  She was trying to beat her PR of 28'30".  I saw her coming, and looked at the clock, and knew she could do it.  She finished nice and strong with a time of about 28'10", so she PR-ed too!  Great job Katie!

Us after the race

So, how did it go with breaking the rules?  Well, wearing cotton wasn't too bad.  I got a little sweaty, but the weather wasn't too warm and the race was short enough that it didn't cause major problems.

My shoes, however, are a different story.  They felt great to run in—nice and light.  But, after the race, I remembered something I always had to do in HS with these shoes—put band-aids on the back of my heels.  Yup, I got some nasty blisters from the shoes.  I had to take them off after the race, and just went barefoot.  Here's the carnage:

The other foot is just as bad

So, I'll need to treat my feet nicely for the next week or so.  And maybe I won't wear shoes.

My Toenail is Purple (and Week 5 in Reverse)

Look, it's my foot!  Sorry my foot is so gross, but a picture is better than me trying to describe what my foot looks like (it's, well, foot-y…).  On Thursday, I noticed that the 2nd toe on my right foot was a little sore, so I whipped off my shoes and socks to look at it.  Oh, and I was in my office at the time, so my officemate came in and saw me holding my foot up to my face.  There was a small (about 10% of the toenail area) section that was faintly purple.  As you can see, it's a lot more purple.  My guess is that I did this while doing my hill repeats on Wednesday.

The most likely outcome of this is that I'm going to lose the toenail.  Sounds gross (and it is, a little), but apparently it is a common thing among runners.  When the toe impacts the inside of your shoe too much, you damage it and then the toenail dies.  This will progress over the next few weeks, and then the nail will fall off.  I feel like a real runner now.

As for the Week in Reverse, I'm going to tone it down a bit from now on to spare you the boring details. I'll just make mention of some highlights and other interesting things that happen.  I've started keeping an online training log at Runner's World, so you can get the nitty gritty details there.  (I'm going to post a review of their training log in the next few days, so stay tuned.)

Sunday, April 4:  8 miles, 1:07:49.  It had been a long Triduum, with many late nights, and the Vigil was especially tiring, so this run should have been slow, and painful.  I went for the run in the afternoon, so it was much warmer than I was used to.  It started fast, and I wondered if I could keep the pace going.  I did.  Then I turned around and faced the wind, and wondered if I could keep the pace going.  I did.  When I got back, I calculated my pace to by 8:30/mile.  Let me say that again: 8:30/mile for an 8 mile run!  Holy moly!  It was comfortable pace for me, so all I can say is that this speed work is really working.  I'm becoming much more confident that I can get a sub-4 hour marathon this year.

Wednesday, March 31: 5 x Hill.  An increase of 1 repeat this time.  This workout was so tough, it killed a toenail (see above).

Tuesday, March 30: 5 miles at 9:00/mile pace.  Another "easy" run at a surprisingly fast pace.  I'm becoming fast again!

So there are the highlights.  Stay tuned for more pictures of my toe!