Bah! Strength Training Woes

For the second week in a row I've ruined my speed work out with strength training. I decided I would start strength training two weeks ago on a Sunday. I figured the soreness last week was just from not having done it for a while. So I did it again on this Sunday.

By the end of yesterday I was feeling pretty sore. I did some yoga last night, but it wasn't enough to repair the damage. I was suposed to run 4 x1600 at 10k pace with 3 min jog recovery. I got through a warm up lap and then 800 m at slower than 10 min/mi.

I think I'll just go swim laps tonight and let the run today go. I'd like to keep up the strength training, but I have to keep it at a level that won't kill me two days out. Or maybe I could do my speed work out on Monday, since two days out seems to be the worst.

Week 2

We'll I recovered from my second long run much better than the first. I ran 16 mi on Saturday and I think I've found myself a rather nice long run loop in my new town. I ran from my place to the Island Trail, up Canyon Rd to the Bonneville Shore Line Trail. I'm going to run it in reverse next weekend to get a better view of the Wellsvilles by heading south along the Wasatch.

I took it quite slow, averaging 12 min miles. Perhaps speed will come with time. For now I'm happy to get through the distance. My hamstring is hurting just a little bit. Check out the elevation profile. That's quite a climb at mile 4.



People keep telling me that I'll be acclimated by now, but with altitude like this and last week's, starting at 4500 and 6000 feet, I think it could take a bit longer to get use to it.

*GASP*

I was just reading a Runner's World message board thread. It was titled Drinking While Running. I was hoping for tips on how to balance alcohol consumption with marathon training -- no such luck. It's a typical thread about how to carry water. Zzzzz.
Anyways, the person who started the thread is "Running Vicugna", complete with picture of a vicugna/vicuna. I have a thing for llama-like creatures. Vicuna are the cutest of them all.

Back in the Saddle

So it turns out theinjury I have is actually in my hamstrings. It's not a huge surprise, I've known that my hamstrings are tight for a while.


I went to the doctor, who showed me some exercises. He recommended physical therapy, but the exercises and doing yoga a couple times a week seem to be working, so I think I'll by pass that.


In the mean time, I've been able to start a marathon training. I'm adopting the Runner's World veteran plan. It's a bit of a stretch to call myself a veteran, but with a couple modifications (e.g. slower long runs, atleast to start) I think it makes sense for me.


My first week was last week. I managed to get in the long run on Sat while on a family minibreak to a lake cabin. What I didn't realize was that the elevation of where we were staying was at 6000 feet. I've been adjusting to 4500 in my new home. That and a bug that was going through some of the fam had me wiped out at the beginning of the week.


My pace has generally been slower since ramping up in Logan. I figure it's a combination of injury, the time off I took while moving and first injured, and elevation.

Busy

I havce been running little more than the blog here suggests. About a week and a half ago I got a pain in my butt. I can actually feel the tension in the pirformis muscle.






I'm a bit worried because this is frequently described as an ongoing problem. I found some srtetched. Hopefully if I do this over the next week, I can be out running by the time I get to Utah.




Here are the stretches


-Pretzel Stretch (start off by lying on your back, bend your knees and cross your right leg over your left so that your right ankle rest on your left knee in a figure four position. Then bring your left leg towards your chest by bending at the hip. Reach through and grab your left thigh to help pull things toward your chest.)
-Standing active stretch (lift injured leg, rotate leg inward, pointing toward other leg, and hold for 10 seconds, repeat).
-Lying down active stretch (lying down face down, bend your knee at a right angle so that your lower leg is pointing straight up, now rotate your leg so that your foot moves outward, away from you, when you reach maximum stretch hold for 10 seconds, repeat).
-Lie on back, flex injured hip and knee, grasp injured knee with uninjured-side hand, pull knee towards uninjured-side shoulder, grasp just above right ankle with injured-side hand, and rotate ankle outwards.
-Stand on your uninjured foot, place injured foot on chair such that injured knee and hip are flexed at about 90 degrees. Now, using injured side hand, press the injured knee across towards the other side of the body while keeping the ball of the injured foot on the same spot of the chair.
-Other: Important to stretch iliopsoas (rest on bent knee, injured side, and slowly roll forward).

"Security"

On my run this morning I was enjoying the view from the Washington Monument toward the Lincoln Memorial, and I was thinking about how much I’ll miss DC. So I took in the view and tried to appreciate the moment as much as possible. Then when I get to work and it all unraveled. I forgot my badge. The security guards know my name, but there’s no entering this building without the proper process. We’re close to the White House and you’d think that the President was actually in the building.

I manage to get in without too much difficulty, because I have our staff listed as a permanents guest in case we forget our badges. But I can’t get into the gym/showers. I ask the guards to let me in. They know I’m legit after all, but no. They aren’t going to be remotely helpful. Or maybe they think I actually might be a terrorist.

Anyways, I manage to by pass security and get other tenants to let me into the locker room. The guards see this, but don’t stop me. Fabulous. Sure they won’t let a terrorist in, but their not going to make any effort to stop her. Maybe they were laughing behind my back because they know my mission would fail. See, I had my suit, running pack with daily essentials (underwear), but I left the shower bag (shampoo, brush, soap) in the office. Since I wasn’t sure if I could get back in the locker room again, I decided to make due with the “body shampoo” that’s stocked in the shower. So the security guards didn’t prevent my crime, but I am having a really bad hair day.

Zzzzz

I ran to work this morning and I started off pushing myself a bit. I went around a 9:35 min pace over the 3 miles of hills (with a net elevation loss) that start the run to work. By the time I got to Rosslyn, where I decide, 6 mi, 7mi, or throw in the towel and metro, I felt nauseated. But I thought, well, this will teach me to run through pain. So I took the 7 mi path. I slowed considerably, even though it was mostly flat. I still feel exhausted, even after breakfast and vitamin water. Isn't it strange that the short run yesterday, just a bit faster than normal completely wiped me out?

I'm trying to figure out how to approach marathon training. One of the problems is that I don't feel like I have a recent race time that's reflective of my true abilities. The programs based on my marathong time, have really slow easy runs. I don't mind some slower runs, but I don't want to be running 11 min miles. There's an article in a Runners World eletter I got today on VDOT training, which led me to this site on the purpose of different runs and how to calculate VDOT (ability to process oxygen) based on race times.