While running on a treadmill for the second straight day yesterday, I was visited by the family dog Missy. Missy is long on the cuteness, short on the brain cells. Or at least that has been my experience over the past decade or so she has been a member of the family. So I was not surprised that as I was getting into my run on the treadmill, Missy started to aggressively chase her tail. And not for a lack of effort, she didn't quite catch it. As I encouraged her fruitless pursuit mostly for my own amusement, I found myself wondering at her blissful stupidity. About 15 minutes into my run, and 5 minutes of solid tail chasing by Missy, she decided to cut her losses and call off the hunt. Yet, I went on for an hour on the people's version of the hamster wheel. It slowly dawned on me as the run was winding down, and Missy was creepily peering up at me in wonder(or bemusement?), that the dog figured out- at least for the time being- the she wasn't going anywhere with her chase. I on the other hand had just run in place for a little over 60 minutes and an alleged 9.5 miles, before stopping my own ridiculous venture. The dog had just scored a rare win in the Darwinian scorecard of evolution.
But I digress...my week of running has been pretty solid once again. Last Sunday I had an excellent 13 miler with Nick from Breakneck. He trekked into Philly on the coldest day of the year for a frigid loop around the River. I warned him about how cold the way out into the wind was going to be. Yet both of us were still in serious discomfort along Kelly Dr. for the 6 miles or so until we got to Falls Bridge from my apartment. The wind chill was in the single digits, and I started to have concerns that I was exposing myself to involuntary sterilization. But as we crossed Falls Bridge the wind shifted to our backs, and the perceived temp. was probably up in the balmy 20's. From Falls Bridge back around to the Art Museum(just under 4.4 miles) we ran 6:10, 5:52, 5:49, 5:49 and finished off the last short half mile at roughly 5:50 pace. We recovered nicely on the way back to my apartment, and for the 13 miles we were around 84:30. A decent days work on a pretty shitty weather day. With the day off last week I finished at 58 miles for 6 days, and my 7 day total through this past Tuesday was a solid 65 miles. Even the mileage has been relatively modest, the difference has been almost all of my runs have been at least at a 6:30-40 average, with the majority of them finishing down in the low 6's.
After a fun recovery run on Monday from Breton's place in which Jay Simon and I recited most of the Rainman movie(which he is far better at), I had a tempo planned for Tuesday. After trying many different ways to coax someone into doing the workout with me(including offering a six-pack of choice), I set off after work on a warm up to Lloyd Hall. I had some hamstring tightness going on since Sunday's effort, and sure enough I felt some discomfort on the warm up. After stretching out lightly and doing some easy strides, I decided to change the planned 5 mile tempo in 5:30-5:35 pace to a 5 mile threshold run so that I could ease into the workout without stressing the hamstring too much. My first mile was a controlled 5:47, the second was 5:46, I turned at 2.5 miles(14:33), and my third mile was 5:54. The fourth felt controlled at 5:51, and seeing a large running group spread out over the last mile I decided to cautiously pick up the pace. I finished the last mile in 5:38 for 28:58(5:47 avg.), and had one hero that I passed the last 400 try to sprint in with me. After warning him off, he peeled off quickly. I don't understand the need to try to catch someone when they clearly were running much faster than you when they passed you on a regular training run. It would be like me trying to prove my worth by going after Ryan Hall if he rolled by me on a run...lame.
So the workout was altered, but I still felt like I got a solid effort in and hadn't shredded my hamstring in the process. 15 inches of snow fell the next evening, and it was a good day to rest the legs. This summer into the fall I had been stubborn and had run 126 days in a row...but I compromised my overall quality of training by worrying about not taking an occasional day off to let the body heal before breaking it down again. After the thunder snow of Wednesday into Thursday, and a day off from work..I had a lunchtime treadmill run with Elkan in his building's gym. Spurred on by a bizarre mix of Ozzy Osborne live from Omaha and Hendrix killing it with All Along the Watchtower on Andy's 10 dollar boom box, I had a relatively painless 10 miler in 66 min. on the treadmill. It made it much easier having someone else loving life on the old hamster wheel next to me. On Friday the roads still sucked so I had another date with the treadmill at my parent's house. I slowly warmed up into the run, and after getting down into the 6:30's I decided to keep my sanity by deciding that every new song that came on the radio would cause me to drop the pace down another 4 or 5 seconds. I went through 9 miles just over 57 minutes, and finished up 9.5 in just over 60.
After Friday's run I went to see Michael Libercci who is a MAT specialist...or Muscle Activation Techniques Specialist. He just moved back into the area after being down in DC for awhile, and he is sharing some space at Be Well Massage in Haddonfield. After evaluating my range of motion throughout my trunk, spine, back, etc., Mike went through an occasionally painful but extremely helpful manipulation of my lower legs, feet, hips, and into the sacrum. His goal is to provide stabilization for athletes to ensure maximum efficiency in your chosen activity. His mix of Active Release Techniques, and practical core training methods left me extremely hopeful in his ability to help me correct some of the major imbalances I have going on with my left side especially. His email is mike@humanmovement.us and I strongly recommend him.
This weekend I will be venturing back on the roads for my runs, and am hoping to avoid the ice and other pitfalls the wonderful weather of the past week has bestowed upon our grateful region. The Mardis Gras Half Marathon is in two weeks, and I am excited to get a race in and spend some time with friends and family in the Big Easy. All the best in your own pursuits this week, and stay warm.
Eric
When you looked inside me, you forgot my balls.
They are on the outside.
-Andrew Bernard, employee of Dunder Mifflin, Cornell grad- circa 1997
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