All Hail, Gimpy!

If anyone actually got to the office as early as I do, they would have seen me hobbling down the stairs of the parking garage and grimacing with each bend of my left knee. I'm convinced it's a ligament on the outside of the knee that's causing most of the trouble, but what's causing the ligament to be sore in the first place? It didn't really hurt after 6 miles last Saturday. The only thing I can figure is (a) I run weird on my left foot, (b) running around a track couter-clockwise puts more weight on my left leg, or (c) both.

Well, I iced my knee all morning at work and took some ibuprofen to ease the pain. By lunchtime the pain was minimal, so I went on my run. Three miles in 31:45 for an average mile of 10:35. Slow, yes, but probably good considering my knee.

Shortest 4 miles I ever ran

That's because, in fact, it was only 3.4 miles. Damn you, Google Map Pedometer! Why do you default to kilometers?? Bret and I knew something was up when we reached the "2 mile" point and didn't even feel slightly tired. Plus we had only been running for about 11 minutes. I know we were running a bit faster since Bret has such damn long legs, but I know we didn't run a 5:30 mile. No way, no how. So we went a bit further as best we could judge to try and get 2 miles before we turned around. All in all, it took us 34 minutes even (including stops to ponder the distance and fight Manhattan Beach traffic). That makes for a 9:11 average mile.

I am invincible!

It still amazes me how much good 2 days of rest does for your body. During my run today I never once felt sore or fatigued. Bored, yes, but that comes with running around a track 12 times. My feeling of invincibility was reflected in my time, too: 3 miles in 24 min, 33 sec. Actually, when I first took a look at my time it was 22 min, 30 sec, but I felt like I might have missed a lap so I ran another and just averaged the time up to give me a full 3 miles. Still. That's an 8 min, 11 sec mile. Not bad for a novice. I think I need to clock it back still, especially since I still have two more days in a row of running. If only I had a watch to wear while running... (waiting to get it for Christmas instead of buying it).

Shins are a wee bit sore and the tendon in my left knee, too, but I'm going to ice those this afternoon. Still a lot better than last week.

Running Rollercoaster

Today's run was pretty damn interesting. My emotions during the run were so bipolar start start to finish that it felt like I was on a damn rollercoaster. I think it might have something to do with that route. Pangle showed it to me last weekend and it seemed pretty awesome then. It's down in Palos Verdes and the first half is pretty much uphill the whole way. Granted, it's a very slight uphill climb, but uphill nonetheless. It doesn't seem like much until about 1 to 1.5 miles in when your calves can't take any more and you stop to stretch them but it doesn't seem to do any good. Oh, and I still have shin splints, too (probably will for a while). They aren't too bad, but enough to notice when running. I kept on and around 2.8 miles in, my left foot starts falling asleep. Oh shit. What's that all about. I stop for a minute or two and losen the shoestrings, massage my lower leg to get the blood flowing. All I can think is that I'm 3 miles from my car with no cell phone. Whoops.

I get back up and decide to tell the whiny voice in my head to shut the hell up. "Nerd time is over, bitch. This isn't engineering, it's running. It's time to be manly and buff." Seems to work. The return trip is obviously downhill, which is blessing. About a half mile after turning around I hit my stride. My rhythm. Whatever you want to call it. Suddenly life isn't so bad. In fact, I start lengthening my strides and using my quads/hams more. This is feeling pretty good! I can run FOREVER!

I ended up running the 6 miles in about 1 hour, 3 minutes. That's an average of 10 minutes, 30 seconds. I can deal with that. What I need to figure out is how to hit my stride earlier on. Four miles is a long time to suffer through the doubting voices in your head. No wonder my weekday runs are so painful.

Oh, and I think my natural stride actually lands on the ball of my feet and not the heel. But that could be because my calves get so tight and landing there takes a load off my shins. I'm still trying to figure that all out...

Skippy McSkipperson

Skipped my run today. Shins were hurting too much. I tried to ice them last night but the damn cup of water wouldn't freeze fast enough. I actually got to ice them tonight after going to the Farmer's Market and dinner with friends.

It's going to be a long 3 months...

My shins hate me

Holy crap, today's run was uber-hard. I'm guessing I over-did it yesterday and I'm paying the price now. I purposely planned to drop my pace back a lot today and succeeded: 3 miles in 27:30, a 9:10 average. My legs felt like dead weight during most of the run, too. Oh, and I was running at the track again so I was pretty bored. I think I need to find a new place to run.

Back to the track...

Today was the first time running since the big 6-miler on Saturday. Man, it makes a big difference when you take 2 days off! I ran on the track at Golden West College here by work today. It's nice because they have the cool rubberized top to help ease the impact as you run, but man is it boring. I searched online for running paths here in Huntington Beach but couldn't find any. I might have to run in the morning down in Palos Verdes when the runs start getting longer. I don't think I can do 36 laps aroudn a track. Shoot me.

I ran pretty fast today. Three miles in 24:30. That's an 8:10 average mile. I'm guessing that's way too fast for a runner of my experince who's training for a marathon. My goal for the race is to run a 10 minute average mile which would bring me in around 4 hours 22 minutes.