GeekApproach

I am way, way overdue for a post.  Things have been kind of hectic on the running front.  In great news I ran my furthest ever last Saturday– 16.60 miles at Marymoor Park….in the rain…and the cold.  It didn’t entirely suck, but I was definitely paining afterwards.  My habit of pounding Gu I’ve replaced with a more moderate sipping model which prevents my stomach from acting like it just a loaf of bread on a run.

We’re down to just a few weeks before the event.  This weekend we’re at Lincoln Park for a “short” 110 minute run, and next week is the longest of the season: 180 minutes at Gasworks.  I’m looking forward to them, honestly.  I’m getting really jazzed about the marathon and it seems like its just in reach.  I need to post some more, but it’s not going to happen this morning…

So, it’s been a while since I’ve updated. I’ve had a mess of things going on in my life personally, as well as trying to get trained up for the marathon.  It hasn’t been easy but I finally feel like things have settled out.

The past 3 weeks have been great training-wise.  I’ve worked out my blister situation, and aside from the fact that I still get them they don’t hurt any longer.  The past few weeks have all been about hill training and figuring out how to add in hills into the workout without falling apart.  I’ve felt that I’ve done pretty good with it.  Last week though, I pulled my back muscle a bit much at the gym– like hobbling around and not doing any running for the week issues.  I visited the chiropractor (my first visit ever), but generally I’ve just tried to ice it a lot, stretch, and be as gentle as I can.

I feel antsy about not running at all though.  Like perhaps I’m screwing myself over by not doing anything? Or that my event day performance is going to be completely trashed by not running for this week.   I do feel better though– my calves have had a chance to heal up, and I currently don’t have any blisters.  My knees don’t hurt, and my quads are working normally– that is to say, they don’t ache and burn when I walk.  I need to get back into it this week.

I also tried to quit the team.  There’s a financial component that I wasn’t feeling comfortable with hitting externally or taking on my own plate.  Luckily, my team stepped forward and isn’t letting me quit.  We’re trying some group fundraising ideas, and I’m hopeful they’ll work before race day.  Hoping to get some more data up here soon, but no promises.  As always, you can donate by clicking the link abovee

Tuesday’s hill workout session went less than well as planned.  Having thicker socks did save my feet a bit, but as soon as we started climbing hills I could feel my feet rubbing (or maybe my sock rubbing) on the bottom of the shoe.  Combined with the difference my foot makes when landing downhill vs uphill, by the second go round I was in pain.  I muscled through it but I definitely had to ice my legs and feet that night.

One of the coaches suggested gel inserts as my next try-out.  Wednesday I did my normal run at Seward Park (in the moonlight no less) with my old shoes and no inserts.  I ran my fastest average mile about 9’25″ which is insane considering the foot damage the previous day, but I definitely felt it again at the end.  Yesterday’s run took me to Lincoln Park again with my newly purchased inserts.

Oh and a word about those inserts: Apparently only ladies need these, and only when they wear heels?  I call BS.  There were many choices but all of the men’s varieties were huge full foot inserts.  I don’t need additional padding on my heels, just along the balls of my feet. I found the ladies variety (and a steal with two pairs included for $5) and went on my merry way.  A word of caution if you’re going to try what I did: Spend the time to get the insert properly aligned under the balls of your feet or wherever you think you need it most.  I spent 15 minutes and after finding something that I felt worked, ended up stopping 5 minutes in to readjust. I’m still not thrilled with their location but, it definitely helped–on the outbound anyway.

The way back? Pain.  Not as bad, but I was definitely running in a different way.  It’s gotta be the hills along the route.  Either I’m getting tired and adjusting my foot’s plant on the ground, or there is something completely awkward with the way I run back downhill.  Gotta figure it out though; this Saturday’s run is at the Washington Park Audobon for 120 minutes.  Hoping I’ve got this thing figured out this time around….

This week was good.  Tuesday we started our hill runs at Green Lake, and while I didn’t get where I wanted to I felt pretty good about the workout overall.  Wednesday and Thursday were wonderful days, although Thursday I went to Alki and fought a massive headwind for most of my 50 minutes.  Bonus: Ran it 9:50/mi even including the warmup time and headwind.  You could say that I was going into Saturday feeling quite good.

Saturday did start out good.  I found myself pushing my stride and my speed on the outbound leg and in fact made it all the way out to Alki from Linconln Park, about 5.1 miles.  The turnaround was a bit more frustrating though. I can’t tell if it is my stride that changes and causes my foot to slide a bit in my shoe, or the fact that my feet are finally sweaty enough to move around in my shoe but dammit: My feet started to wiggle and I developed two blisters on my feet.  Let’s just say that getting back out of the hills of Lincoln Park was arduous.

We visited our awesome West Seattle Runner store for a consult and some ideas–thicker socks are what I’m going to try this week.  I’d hate to have to shift shoes again, but we’ll see how it goes.  I was feeling sore enough today that I didn’t do the recovery run, but we’ll definitely do some sort of rapid walking tomorrow in prep for Tuesday’s hill session again.  In the meantime, I have another post about nutrition I’m prepping and trying to find my caffeine count and exactly what I should be having on a run.

Where I’m having trouble now is in my donations– I’m drastically low and not where I want to be.  Seriously folks, anything you can do helps.  This money isn’t for me its for blood cancer research!  Please consider clicking the Donate link above!

Been kinda sore over here, but hanging in there! Yesterday our large run took us out to Marymoor Park for 90 minutes. I took the opportunity to try a couple of energy products: an actual GU-brand Gu (Orange) and Clif Blocks (Strawberry). The GU…its so weird eating/drinking that stuff. The flavor was ok, but the energy boost was lackluster. The blocks though…wow. Strawberry fruit snacks! Makes me wonder just what the hell was in the ACTUAL fruit snacks I ate as a child. Energy level…still not great.

I’m not sure what the deal is. The product I tried before was a Power Bar-branded Gu thing and its result was instantaneous even if the flavor was completely awful. I think I need to do a bit more experimenting with products before committing to something.

Definitely lookin forward to getting out there again today to do a recover run. My legs are sore but I know I’ll feel better the sooner we get out there. As always, many thanks for your donations!

The above picture is what has been on my mind lately.  I’m calling it my saving grace because after last week’s runs, my legs were in agony.

This high-density foam roller is either your best friend or your worst enemy depending upon your use of it.  For me, it has definitely saved my butt and it was pretty cheap too.  After our long runs my normal MO is to ice my calves and legs to save them from the agony of defeat.  I’m often walking around the rest of the weekend with a slight hitch due to some minor cramp in my muscles.  Ice definitely helps, but my trainer advised using a foam roller.

Lemme tell you: it hurts.  Just realize that now.  You’re using the roller as a fulcrum point and rolling your body (especially your IT band) downward to literally stretch your muscle fibers and force out any kinks.  It burns, it hurts, its stretching, and you’re doing it to yourself.  However, within 30 seconds of stopping (and do both sides mind you) I feel like a million bucks.  Its magical.  Often I find that I have to do it twice a day sometimes, but its doing the trick.

Thanks Amazon Prime.

Not exhausted, but for a while there it was touch and go.  I developed what I’ll describe as “corona fire” in my right calf low and it caused me to drag out the first 30 minutes of the run.  I dug up into my calf and got it out, but I felt a bit crummy about the time.  Found my saving grace though, Power Bar energy goo stuff….It’s got a horrible taste, and quite honestly the Sour Apple flavoring advertised on the front feels like FALSE advertising, but I stuck it out.

Amazing results after consuming…it’s like night and day.  My muscles stopped hurting, and coupled with a couple of gulps of water I almost felt like 100% again. I think I’m going to experiment with some different flavors, but I’m definitely a convert at this point.  Magic.

It’s almost 6:30, getting prepped for our 90 minute run down at Gasworks this morning.  This’ll probably the longest amount of time I’ve ever been on my feet and running.  I already feel woefully unprepared, even having done 70 minutes last Saturday and trying to be conscious of my hydration level.  This training stuff is hard work!  I don’t feel injured at all today, but that could change in a few hours… Eating a decent breakfast helps.

Also, I’ve received my first donations! Thank-you to those of you who are scouting the site and donating– I’m on my way!

Throughout the season we have team training on Tuesday nights at Green Lake and a rotating location practice on Saturdays, which also happens to be our “long day”.  We’re starting to lengthen the practices that take place during the week (slowly), but I can feel my body beginning to stabilize out a bit.

Tuesday was good with comfortable weather, and a chance to run with some fellow geeks–It’s funny finding CompSci geeks clumping together on the trails, and as you can expect our conversations turn to odd topics.  Wednesday was a bit more arduous– I did it in the morning and as is often the case with running in West Seattle, took off downhill towards the water.  I got a little hung-up in Lincoln Park with the transition from road to trail and back to road.  Funny how running on uneven terrain hurts so much more than roads going uphill.  In the end I was happy with the run and not injuring myself, which is starting to remain foremost in my mind.

Two really great things happened on Tuesday: the first is that the LLS is the only medical non profit to increase their net assets and increase their funding output over the last 3 of 4 years. Given how rollercoaster the economy is going right now I think that’s a  fantastic thing.

Also, there was a breakthrough in chroniclymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common type of leukemia affecting people everywhere, every day.  Cellular immunotherapy research is taking off in big ways– stem cells were modified and re-inserted into the patient’s body.  In 2 of the cases, the cancer was completely gone and in the 3rd case nearly 70% of cancer cells were eradicated.  It’s because of people like you helping to fund the LLS and other organizations that this research is done in the first place!

As always, I appreciate your donations! Click the Donate! link above and help out!  I can’t do this alone…