John Kerl’s running log

1 mile slow, 3 miles faster (tempo run — just short of muscle burn), 1 mile slow. There’s a nice park — with just-right gravel and grass — just down the street here in Phoenix. I’d not considered it before, when I insisted on measuring everything — its shape is irregular and so I didn’t know its precise perimeter. The first lap took about 6 and a half minutes, at what felt like my usual nine-minute-or-so pace — so, that’s 2/3 mile, or close enough.

I am still enjoying the refreshing cold weather. At one point tonight I stopped under a light to stretch, and took off my stocking cap. I saw a prodigious swirling mist drifting south overhead on the light breeze ... it didn’t have the puffy-cumulus shape of breath clouds, and moreover it didn’t stop when I held my breath. It took me a minute before I understood: my bald head steams. :)

This was my last run of 2006 — a good year! Full of firsts, achievements, learning experiences — and just shy of 500 miles!

I’d planned to hold off on speedwork for another week or two — but these last few days, my legs have been just itching to go. I think I’m fully recovered from a not-so-good November. So, tonight I did some fast/slow intervals, about 1/3 mile or so of each; about 4 miles total including warm-up and cool-down. And it felt wonderful to just open up the throttle and fly! :)

5 miles in 44:55. I stretched well beforehand; everything felt good, and all parts got tired at about the same rate. This is the fastest I’ve run since the HM — it felt exhilirating! :)

6.5 miles. The fronts and sides of my calves were the first to tire — they bothered me early on, and didn’t feel OK until the last couple miles. I could blame it on the fact that I ran on some asphalt tonight ... except that I had the same problem on grass two nights ago. I feel like the Three Bears — asphalt, and cement even moreso, is too hard. Grass is softer, but can be hummocky and can make for uneven footfalls; loose, sloppy gravel is like running on spilled ball bearings. The just-right surfaces I’ve found so far are smooth grass, and plain dirt — which is visibly, trustably smooth — with perhaps some light gravel on it.

Also, I’ve been running gently since the HM — haven’t bothered to stretch or warm up much since I’ve been running at not much more than my warm-up pace. Tonight I had my pace back down to the low 9’s — so I need to warm up and stretch more, spending some more time in particular on those little dinker muscles all around my calves.

I think I’ll keep doing these one-hour runs, every other day, for the next couple weeks. Then, start putting intervals and long runs back in. Maybe make every 2nd or 3rd a little shorter and faster, perhaps timed. What I’m doing now is getting myself comfortably up to 20-25 miles per week. That is worth doing — more weekly mileage than in October and November, with no injuries.

Another comfortable 6 miles. Tonight I realized: I figure if I can eagerly do this running thing, even when it’s cold, dark, and wet out, I must be genuinely enjoying myself.:)

63 minutes (six and a half miles?). It was forty degrees out. It was moonless but there were enough streetlights. Orion was radiant; I startled a few rabbits.

5 miles at the middle river park. This is another new place — and quite nice. 3 miles long; grass and gravel options all the way. There were deciduous trees dropping their yellow leaves onto the grass ... I felt like a northeasterner in the fall. :) Running in the cold is grand — in sweats and a stocking cap, warm from the inside out, and good to go.

When I first started running I varied my routes and enjoyed exploring ... but soon fell into a pattern of always running at the same two places. I was always timing and measuring everything, and didn’t want to go places where I didn’t know the exact distances. Which is not all bad ... I’ve been improving steadily since May, and it’s been exciting to measure that progress.

40 minutes (so I guess 4 miles or a little over) at the purple park. 100% grass and wonderful on the feet! :)

A quick and easy 2-miler — 20 minutes or so, out the front door and back; didn’t even change out of my jeans. Finals week is hectic but man it feels good to take a few minutes, get some fresh air, and charge up. I was so sore after the HM that I hadn’t run since — and was eager to get back into it, even if gradually. Also: heart rate 49 BPM as I fell asleep Monday. Another sign of health! :)

Today was the Tucson Half Marathon: 2:02:11 (9:20 average pace). I am quite pleased!

The first 8 miles I took rather easy — 9:00 to 10:00 paces. I didn’t stop at all, other than a few seconds for water. After 8 miles, I was feeling very, very good, and decided to kick it up a notch. The next few miles were pretty quick. Then, the last mile or two I really started to tire. My left heel hurt rather sharply, but also my right heel, right knee, both calves, both thighs, and my left hip were all tiring. The last half mile was uphill and into the wind, and was grueling — but I didn’t want to stop.

I am tired and sore now — and I know I gave it all I could. Now for several days off, followed by a couple weeks of running with no hurries.

I ran into several people I know from the math department, and ran with one of them for the first 8 miles. Also made lots of conversation with some very warm, wonderful strangers. :)

Half a mile easy; 3 miles fast (8:22); half a mile easy. Heels felt good; mainly tonight my thighs had to work. I didn’t run long enough to strain my feet, nor fast enough to get winded.

11 miles: 4 laps around my usual 2.5-mile Phoenix loop, plus a mile to finish up. I stopped for 3 or so minutes after each lap for stretch and water. And, more importantly, to check my feet — my heels had been a little touchy, and I’d not wanted to hurt them tonight (“first do no harm”). On some previous long runs, I felt pretty good until I stopped and walked — so tonight, I thought I’d check myself often.

1 mile, then 4, then 1 — all under 9:00 pace. My intention was for the first and last mile to be extended warm-up and cool-down, and the middle four to be just short of muscle burn. Heels and hips are still just a little touchy.

This was my first run in cold weather — it was in the upper 40s, with the sun down. (When I started running in May, it was already hot.) A new experience! I had sweats on over my regular clothes, and began to wish for something over my ears. :)

Eight half-miles tonight. The first six I went pretty hard, focusing on stride length; the last two were more leisurely. Due to a 10-miler and a 6-miler last week, and 4 hours of hiking on Sunday, I’ve been a bit sore most of the last week. For tonight, I wanted to do some speed, giving my heart and lungs the kind of workout they’ve not had in a while, while not straining my legs — in particular, my left hip which is feeling just a little touchy. I’m still figuring out this distance stuff as I go along ... .

I am glad to be running untimed — this way I focus on how I feel. For long runs: stay comfortable; finish the distance without getting hurt. For medium runs: stay just short of muscle burn (increasing “lactose threshold”). For intervals: get winded and muscle-burnt, without getting hurt, and saving enough energy to finish multiple intervals. Keeping my level of effort just up to these various thresholds — without going over or under — requires constant, minute-to-minute adaptation, regardless of what time goal I might have on any particular day.

Key point: My body can tell me far more than my watch can.

It’s less than two weeks to the half marathon on Dec. 10. Only one more long run — Saturday, maybe 10-12 miles. Nothing I do over the next 12 days will make me significantly stronger, but I can hurt myself by overdoing it. The most important thing for completing the HM is making sure I’m rested and nowhere-sore.

6 in 57:45. I’m still a little residually muscle-sore from Tuesday’s 10-miler, and ran the first few miles with tight calves. Got into a groove in the second 3. Six miles was once a long run; now it’s a medium distance. I like that.

There’s a 2.5-mile loop I use quite often when I’m in Phoenix. It’s a little scenic, and has nice grass and dirt options much of the way — which are kinder on the feet than asphalt or cement. I’ve been doing this about 6 months now but realized only today that it’s much grassier on the other side of the street — grass and dirt almost all the way. Such a metaphor for how long it sometimes takes us to see certain good things in life, when they were right there all along. :)

10 miles — I lost track of the time, but I think about 1:50:00 which puts the pace at about 10-minute miles. Actual run rate was a bit better — 2-minute bio break at halfway, and a few more minutes here and there for water etc.

It felt wonderful for the first 8 miles — not too fast; easy, loose, smooth. My stride felt perfectly comfortable; heart rate 120 BPM after 6 miles. In fact I thought I’d finish this first 10-miler feeling not tired at all. But — in the last two miles, wham!, I got quite tired. Mostly my hips, followed by my thighs, then my calves. (Good news — my heels were stellar the whole time.) I’m more leg-sore than I’ve been in quite a while.

5 miles, at what felt like a conservative pace. It was only 5, so I did push it a bit — but I’m going to do 10 miles the day after tomorrow, and so I didn’t want to overstress any body parts today. The result — a 5-mile PR of 42:58.

This was perhaps the perfect balance. I didn’t go out there time-obsessed. I focused instead on the moment-by-moment pace: using my calves or thighs more, and varying the stride rate as I felt more or less winded, adapting to changing internal conditions as I went. Yet on the other hand I did check my time — at the end. Also I focused on running comfortably, treating my knees and feet kindly — and I feel very good right now.

2 miles today — also untimed. Fast for 3-4 laps around an 1/11 mile track, then slow for 1-2 laps, repeating. The point here was to run past muscle burn (unlike the longer intervals yesterday where I stayed just short of muscle burn), then recover just a little, then push it some more. Very invigorating. :)

5 miles, one at a time, with 30-60 seconds’ breather in between each. This is somewhere in between doing consecutive miles, on the one hand, and the usual way I do intervals, on the other hand: usually I take several minutes to fully recover before doing another interval. Tonight, I rested my muscles a bit at the end of each mile but started again soon. Also I left my watch in the car. :)

This felt fabulous. By having little rests, I could run at a faster pace than I could have sustained for 5 consecutive miles; by keeping the rests short, I got quite a workout. By not focusing on the time, I listened more to my body — keeping the pace just short of muscle burn. I can do this even with my watch on — feel first, measure second, which I started telling myself months ago — but watching the time makes it easier to forget that.

Tonight was a lot of fun, and it felt good. Afterward, I rollerbladed a few minutes just for whee — I’d not done that in months. :)

Also, tonight my heel felt wonderful — completely back to normal.

3.9 in 33:55 — 8:41 pace. (Actual pace was more like 8:30 since I stopped for 10-20 seconds to stretch PFs after each mile. This would be a 4-mile PR if I were to exclude the stretch stops, but I won’t.)

I didn’t too much feel like running tonight. I’m glad I did; after the first mile or so I got into it and started feeling quite good.

I’d planned 5 miles, but my left heel got sore the last quarter mile or so — so I stopped. This was wise — Oct. 28 I got heel-sore but kept going another mile and hurt myself; this time (as well as another recent run) I stopped soon after heel soreness set in, and recovered within minutes. My left heel is my weak point right now, so I need to respect it. This wisdom is key to my being able to complete the half marathon next month.

About that ... I made the decision a couple weeks ago to do the HM, and I will. However, these last few weeks I’ve been footsore as often as not; as a result, running has felt more like work than play. Some lessons:

• For the future (e.g. the next time I run a half marathon, or if I run a full marathon next winter), start increasing distance sooner. Here, I’m adding a mile per week, in just the last six weeks before the race. In particular I’m building up to 13.1 miles, when up until a few weeks ago I’d never run more than 7 miles. This is a lot of sudden change to put my body through.
• I think that after the HM, I’ll not measure times at all for a few weeks — just run for distance and enjoyment.
• For the last few months, up until a couple weeks ago, I’d not done any new distances at all — I worked (successfully) on increasing strength and speed. And, I found that quite enjoyable. After the HM, I think I’ll again work on speed for a while, holding the distance constant for a few weeks or months. Say, long runs of 8-10 miles at most, and regular runs of 5-7. Building up speed will make the distances happen more quickly, when I do increase distance again.
• My next race will be a 5K or 10K, some time in the spring.

9 miles, an hour and 35 minutes — about 10.5-minute pace. Finally I am managing to slow down. The 8-miler two weeks ago, with its heel injury, got my serious attention. I decided to take the approach long run = comfort run — my goal was to complete the distance without getting hurt, and the way to do that is to stay comfortable. My sole thought regarding form was shock absorption; I made sure to run on as much grass as possible. And it was nice, although the last couple miles were hard work — my feet got quite tired toward the end. Other than that, a wonderful run. Four weeks to the half marathon!

4x1 in 7:20, 6:50, 8:02, 7:28. The second is a PR, and by quite a bit. It was all stride rate — even though I got quite winded toward the end, I kept my little legs moving as quick as I could. :)

5.8 miles in 50:30 — 8:42 pace. I’d not run since Saturday — recovering from the problem with my left plantar fasciae. Today it felt quite good to walk — back to normal. I was careful with warming up and stretching; I didn’t run as fast as I could have, and in particular I took the last mile a bit easy as my feet were beginning to tire. A grand, grand run.

This injury was not good — it took more than a week to get over. How did it happen and how can I avoid it again? This is pressing since I’m upping my mileage for the half marathon coming up in just over a month.

My left foot felt good to walk on today, so I ran — 5 mi in 43:45. The left foot was OK — except for some twinges in the last quarter mile — until I stopped, and then it really hurt. Yikes!

2.9 in 24:00 — 8:16. My left plantar fasciae were OK to walk on today; I decided to run a bit. They became a little sore — I spent about half the run allowing my left heel to touch the ground, and the other half on the ball of my left foot. This felt fine. I was winded at the end.

Some miscellaneous numbers: (i) After running today I weighed 139 lbs. Now, this was spurious — I was 141 just before, and had sweat off a couple pounds of water, and regained it by rehydration just a few minutes later. Nonetheless, it’s the first time I’ve seen the 130’s since ... well, the mid 1990’s I guess. And certainly the first time ever on this scale. (ii) Often when waking up in the morning I can feel my pulse in my ear, and if a clock is ticking nearby, I notice my heartbeat slipping in and out of phase with the clock. Recently, though, it’s been backward — they tick together, but then it’s the clock that rushes ahead. I counted a few days ago — resting heart rate 57 BPM.

4.8 in 41:40 — 8:40 average. This has been a hard week — I’ll run a long one (7 or 8 miles) Saturday, then take Monday and Tuesday off. I’ve been feeling a bit tired in my calves, and in my left hip. Time to recover a while ... . :)

2 miles in 15:58, then 2 miles in 17:00. I’ve not done 2-mile intervals in some time — I should more often. It’s a fun little distance.

The first pair ended in a beautiful light sprinkle. By the time I’d recovered and started the second pair, it was pouring — I ran it soaked, dripping, and heavy-shoed. :)

3.9 in 33:50 — 8:40 pace. I am getting stride length and stride rate going together now — (1) push off with the foot; (2) bring the foot up high; (3) bring it back down with some dip in the knee (this builds up some spring tension which gets re-used on the next step); (4) keep up the stride rate. Doing these things requires calf strength, thigh strength, and cardiac strength, all of which I have now.

5 miles, 45:40. I had a bit of a head cold today, but felt splendid — even restless — from the shoulders on down. So I went ahead and did my planned 5 miles, but took it easy tonight. I’ve been running hard and pushing myself for several weeks now. Now that I’m stronger, I’ve not had joint issues as I did the first few months, and my times have improved dramatically. This is all well and good — but it’s been a while since I did such a relaxed, long-warm-bath kind of run as this.

6.8 miles in 59:35 — 8:45 pace. All systems go! :)

4 one-mile intervals: 7:20, 7:25, 8:10, 7:25. All were work — nothing easy tonight. The last in particular was hard. But, I didn’t overdo it, and I felt good during, and I feel marvelous (although tired) after.

5 miles, 43:50. Another unsought PR — I merely wanted to get good and tired.

This morning I was feeling kind of so-so and wasn’t sure if I wanted to run at all — and, as usual, I knew that was all the more reason to go. The first half mile perked me up and got me wanting more. :) Now that it’s fall, running in the morning (good advice!) was very pleasant — it was sunny and cool.

Four half-miles: 3:25, 4:00, 3:30, 3:30. Whew!

Holy cow! :) 2.9 miles in 23:30 — 8:06 pace. I’ve run single miles that fast, but never three in a row. I started off sproingy and full of energy; thought maybe I should slow it down to a pace I could sustain for 3 miles; decided to not slow down and see how long I could keep up the pace; found that I kept it up all the way to the end. The last mile was harder work than the first two but doable. I was neither too sweaty nor too winded by the end.

Cool, fabulous weather as well!

3.9 miles in 36:00, in a hard rain — glorious!

2.9 mi, 26 minutes. :)

6 mi in 55:50 — 9:18 pace. A new PR by quite a bit. This is my last 6-miler before the 10K next weekend, and at tonight’s pace that would be (10K being 6.2 mi) about 58 minutes. That would be fine!

I felt moderately blah before running — kind of sleepy and ho-hum. Some exercise and fresh air cured that. :) Also I am loving the cooler fall weather. I am tired, mainly in the thighs — but no area is particularly bothering me, and in particular all joints are feeling fine.

Four-something miles around the neighborhood, 40 minutes — nice weather. Again I ran too soon after a big meal, and got stitchy. Must ... learn ... lesson. :)

3.9 in 34:35 — 8:52 pace. This is new — under 9. My left knee is a little sore, though — I have been running hard recently. So there are limits. :) The 10K is the weekend after next and so I will be tapering next week — and the timing is good.

5 miles, 48:00. I had eaten too much tonight, and had run too soon afterward ... feeling not too good. Each time I tried to pick up the pace (my legs were ready for more), bile rose and/or I started to get a stitch. So I took it easy — ended up not tired in the feet or legs, not winded, and not very sweaty. And still under 10:00 pace. So, as of the last couple weeks, this is officially a new era — single-digit paces are now my norm. :)

6.8 miles, 67 minutes. This is very satisfying — a long run, at under 10:00 pace.

I went out around sunset and ran until full dark with the stars out. Beautiful weather and a beautiful evening. I ran at a steady pace, feeling good. Bliss ... :)

4 half-mile intervals in 3:30, 3:30, 3:40, and 3:35. Steady improvement still!

3.9 in 36:00. Steady improvement over the last few weeks. All joints and muscles are feeling good.

Form: I’ve been trying to land with a little knee flex, to help absorb impact. This makes my stride a little bouncy, and keeps me lower to the ground by some fraction of an inch, but I think I get the energy back (spring effect) on the next step. This feels good. It gives my thighs more work to do, but is kinder on my knees and ankles. Also, I’m focusing on having my push-off not be too horizontal (feels like falling down) or too vertical (overly bouncy). The push-off should aim toward the body’s center of gravity, which is about abdomen level. When this is aimed correctly, I move forward smoothly.

4.9 miles in 44:00 — yow! Consecutive 9-minute miles. This is very much a pleasant surprise. I ran before sundown and it was nice out — I welcome the onset of fall. :)

4 mi at 9:30 average pace, plus some pickups. A little calf-sore the first 2 miles, then feeling good. I started off a little slower, then really started wanting some speed. :)

3 one-mile intervals — 7:25 (!! — a PR), 8:40, 8:00. Feeling good!

2.9 in 25:15 — 8:42 pace! Stride rate and stride length both coming together. Everything feels grand tonight.

6 miles, 62:00 — nonstop and metronome-steady. :) I’m now doing a little jogging with my warm-up walk — then stretch, then run in earnest. This has been working well to prevent calf tightness.

I’d taken two days off due to various leg soreness, in particular my right hip (in back this time, not on the side as in July). It’s been a crazy, busy, changeful, wonderful week — so it felt like forever since my last run on Wednesday. After that rest I felt very strong tonight, other than residual touchiness in that hip. A long run at close to a 10-minute pace — which not so long ago was a fast pace — I am very pleased.

Six half-mile intervals, times ranging from 3:40 to 4:00. Sore in the hamstrings from non-running activities; hip joints a little touchy from apparent overuse. Today makes 4 months running!!

2.9 in 26:50 (9:15 pace). Another run in the rain — marvelous. I caught some raindrops on my tongue — like being a kid again.

4 mi, 39:30. A few times in the past I’ve run at the very beginning of a sprinkle, but this was the first time I’ve ever run in the rain per se. It wasn’t a downpour but it got me wetter than my own sweat ever does, with rain running off my eyebrows. Just fabulous — cool, damp, sparkling, beautiful.

2.9, 9:20 pace; then, 1 mile of pickups (5 total). It didn’t feel that fast ... but there it was :). I stopped for a minute after two miles — my calves were very tight. I think I warmed up pretty well ... could do more of it. Especially on nights when I run fast like this — more warm-up is in order?

Pickups — yow! So amazing — a few seconds of unmatchable, pure, human-powered flight.

4 half-miles in 3:55, 3:50, 3:45, 5:00. Whee! :) I felt really good tonight.

5 mi, 10:30 paces or so. I’d taken a few days off — I’d run hard last week, and my right ankle was a bit sore all last week, and I treated it mercilessly Friday night. This was another heavy-and-sluggish night — this happens every so often. And, my calves were tight for the first couple miles. So, I walked a minute after the first mile, until my calves loosened back up. Also, by this point I know that one way to handle such situations is (once I’m really warmed up) to pick up the stride rate and get the heart rate and adrenalin going and lift myself up and out of that funk. By the end I felt light and free. And tired. :)

6 miles, 63 minutes. I took it rather easy — my right ankle still has a twinge so I wanted to do the distance but not strain anything. I kept a metronome-steady pace (10:30) nonstop the whole time — this felt good. The last mile and a half, though, my legs were getting tired and it took more effort. Yet again, I wasn’t pushing particularly hard but lo and behold, a PR — I am indeed in better shape.:)

3 one-mile intervals: 8:05, 9:30, 8:30. First time at the U’s indoor track. Plusses: air conditioning (!!!), a forgiving surface, and nearby. Minus: 1/11 mile is like a gerbil wheel :) — I ran 33 laps tonight.

2.9 in 27:30 — 9:30 average pace. I started off pretty quick, slowed a bit around halfway and then picked the pace back up, and hauled ass the last half mile — it felt wonderful! So nearly like flying. I stopped at that point — the outside of my right ankle has been twinge-y (almost ... itchy) the last several days so I wanted to take it relatively easy tonight.

I swam today — about 20 min. or so; I lost count of laps but maybe ten or twelve. I stopped at that point, even though I was having fun and would liked to have gone longer. I’ve not swum serious laps in probably 15 years, and even then only did it for a few weeks or so. My triceps yelped early, even from the very light effort, and as a teacher with chalkboard duties, I don’t want sore arm muscles. My heart rate was about 130 today — 20-30 BPM shy of my running rate but still invigorating.

I’ve been planning to swim for a while now — and am beginning it with the start of the school year. The U has a nice pool, right on my way home ... so inviting :). With running, my lower body and my heart/lungs have plenty to do, so I thought I’d swim a few days a week to give my upper body something to do as well. Plus, I really love swimming, and also, the water is so blissfully cool — which is a particular blessing in this heat. I plan to treat it as bonus exercise — not having particular time/speed goals. Although my goal is to do it regularly (3 days/week) and to get tired doing so — and that is precisely what builds speed, strength, and endurance.:)

7 mi in 78:00. First mile, about 10:00; second mile, just a little slower; 1 min. water and stretch; middle miles, running steady; next-to-last mile pretty peppy; last mile was hard. Man, I love long runs — there’s so much there there, and I have such a feeling of persistence and achievement.

Also, I just passed 200 miles since May! :)

5 miles in 50:05. Holy Hannah!! The surprise is that I took it rather easy tonight — this since, despite my less-hard-but-more-often intentions stated below, I ran rather hard the 12th, 13th and 15th, and bladed over an hour the 14th. What I did do (besides the fact that I am gradually getting fitter) is pick up the stride rate. I’m getting used to this faster rate and it feels comfortable now. By doing so, I blew away my previous 54:00 5-mile PR from just a few weeks ago.

3 one-mile intervals in 7:50, 9:15, 8:55. Oddly, the first was the easiest — I was fresh. The second two took some determination. :)

2.9 miles in 26:20 — 9-minute pace! Tonight I wanted to do a short run, and considered doing it short and slow. But my heart and lungs had it easy with the long-and-slow last night, so I thought tonight I’d increase the stride rate (more work for my heart to do) but keep the stride length short (easier on the legs). And behold — a PR. :)

5 mi, 11-min pace (55:30).

It’s been a great week overall — quals are over and that big stressor is behind me (and I’m feeling good about how they went), I’m being productive at work, making some much-needed money, spending a couple weeks with the girls, finally catching up on some woodworking, etc. But today I just felt crabby. I’m ready for this two-week hiatus (which is half over) to be over and get back to my life in Tucson; I miss my friends down there; I have a few what-ifs swirling around endlessly in my mind. Tonight, I felt kind of blah — not physically but mentally. I thought, do I really want to go out and run? Maybe not tonight ... then, maybe not the next night either? Is this how it ends? This was the decision point. I decided that this is the kind of night when it is most important to get out there.

Tonight I’d planned a longer run of 5 miles — this isn’t a “long run” for me anymore, but I want to build up to 5 days a week over the next few weeks, replacing some off days with easy days. And I’m going to run 3 miles tomorrow, so I wanted to make it longish but still be sure not to make anything sore for tomorrow. So I went out for a warm-up walk; stretched; took off at a not-hard pace. At the first half-mile I took that crabbiness and that impatience and those what-ifs and tossed them over my shoulder — left them there in the road. After another half mile I started to sweat, and kicked it up a notch. Then I put some miles behind me — and I felt spectacular.

I kept up a steady, nonstop pace (my laid-back stride rate of 75). My feet got tired, and my thighs just a little, but at the end I was barely even breathing hard. I am pleased to see that an 11-minute pace is now an easy pace. :)

I started running for the reasons noted at the start of this log — and weight loss was not one of those. However, in early June, a couple things happened: (1) Although I’d not liked looking at my spare tire in the mirror for a few years now, it was when I started running that I really got tired of lugging it around. (2) I did some reading about running and nutrition and found to my surprise that I was borderline overweight — normal range for my height is 125-165 pounds, and I had been 165 for several years (and I am not at all big-boned). So I decided to lose some weight — I was already exercising, of course, and I had already been starting to eat healthier (eating less fat in particular). So it seemed straightforward enough to just go ahead and eat a little less and force my body to use up some fat reserves. At that point, in June, I was 158 pounds. Now, two months later, I’m 147. And I feel light. I plan to level off at 140; that should take another 6-8 weeks at this rate. But my current point is: part of the reason an 11-minute pace now feels easy is that I’m in better physical shape — but another reason is that I’ve lightened the load. :)

These 5 miles in 55:50 were easy tonight; my 5-mile PR is 54:00 and that was a hard run. I’m running a 10K (that’s 6.2 miles) in October — it’s now clear that I’ll certainly do it in under 70 minutes (barring injury), while 60 would be a high goal (that would require paces less than 10 minutes, 6 miles in a row). So, my low/middle/high goals for the 10K are 70/65/60 minutes, respectively.

4.1 miles (the around-campus route), 43 minutes. Everything felt good, so it seemed like a night for a PR. I kept the stride rate high most of the time; probably was under 10-minute pace for much of the time; slowed down a bit around mile 3. At the end I wasn’t winded at all — oddly, my feet felt the tiredest of all.

1.5 in 13:30; two quarter miles, in 1:40 and 1:45; another 1.5 in 14:15. The 1.5’s were at just over 9-minute paces — very fast for me. Unlike my previous 1.5’s, on Saturday, I really enjoyed these. And the quarters — I was flying! So that’s what it feels like to run at under a 7-minute pace — even if only for a short while. I was running with my wind in my ears and a grin from ear to ear. :)

I’ve been running for three months, as of today!!!

Here’s a 10K training plan from Runner’s World Online:

Wk Mon   Tue                 Wed       Thu        Fri        Sat    Sun     Total 
-- ----  ------------------  --------  ---------  ---------  ----- -------  -------
1  Rest  2mi, 4x1:00 AI,2mi  3mi/rest  4.0mi+3GP  Rest       5.0mi  Rest    16-20mi  
2  Rest  2mi                 3mi/rest  4.0mi+3GP  Rest       5.5mi  3.5mi   17-21mi 
3  Rest  2mi, 4x1:30 AI,2mi  3mi/rest  4.5mi+3GP  Rest       6.0mi  4.0mi   18-22mi 
4  Rest  2mi, 6x1:30 AI,2mi  3mi/rest  4.5mi+6GP  Rest       6.5mi  4.5mi   20-24mi 
5  Rest  2mi, 4x2:00 AI,2mi  2mi       Rest       2.0mi,2GP  Rest   10K race

AI = aerobic intervals. Stay well short of anaerobic (= squinty-eyed and wheezing). “Treat it like play.”

GP = gentle pickups. Over the course of 100 meters, increase to 90% of all-out; hold 10-20 meters; gradually decelerate. Walk to full recovery before starting the next. Idea: “Ah, this is what it feels like to go fast!”

Given some recent overuse issues, I’ll make the 5th day (which they marked as Wednesday) rest rather than 3-milers (at least for a few weeks). That will make 4 days a week which I think will be plenty.

What I’ve been doing for a while, especially July, is to do some pretty hard runs, sometimes only 3 days a week — so what I’ll try for the next couple months is to take their advice and run not quite so hard, but more often. It will be interesting to see what effect that has on my performance.

Two 1.5’s, one at 9:20-per-mile pace and one at 9:00-per-mile pace. Fleah ... not my favorite kind of run, but I remind myself that it feels good afterward, and makes me stronger.

Today I had little twinges in my right ankle and left hip, so I decided to keep the distance down tonight — and I figured it was about time for some intervals again. I’d been taking it easy for a couple weeks due to the hip thing, and after the race. But, the 10K is in a couple months so it makes sense to start getting systematic about preparing for it. Specific training plan TBD ... .

5.8 miles, paces just over 12 minutes. Very relaxed — which is what I want this crazy week. :) Also this is my first 6-miler since the hip thing a few weeks ago, so I decided not to push the speed.

Lordy do I love running after it rains!

4.1 miles (the around-campus route), 50 minutes. Nice and relaxed tonight — the last two runs were hard ones. This is my favorite kind of run: fully aerobic all the way, taking in the scenery. This is a wild and crazy week in the rest of my life ... but out there, I can just inhale the moist air and marvel at the russet and orange sunset, leaving every worry and what-if miles behind me. :)

2.5 miles, with two stops — I was a little sore in the right ankle, and walked it off. For this short run, I kept the paces under 10 minutes (last 1/2 mile in 4:20), mainly by keeping my stride rate higher. Exhilirating! :)

5 miles, 54 minutes (10.8-minute pace). Whew! I felt good starting out and paced myself carefully — got tired but kept going. I kept reaching for little increments — a little longer stride, a little faster turnover.

Tiredest spot: balls of my feet (I have my first pair of blisters — it was humid), then my heart, then my thighs; my hips and calves are not tired at all.

4 mi, 11-min pace. Feeling marvelous.

4 miles, 11-minute pace. I felt absolutely spectacular tonight. I felt like a coiled spring taking off, with my joints all aglow; I ran and got tired — and I’m still feeling great.

Last week and the week before, my hip joints didn’t hurt particular badly — but the discomfort was persistent. It really got my attention. Last week I despairingly thought I’d need to take all this week off. But it appears to have sufficed to just take it easy for a while — I ran only 10 miles last week, and took two-day breaks last week and the week before.

Today was the 5K — my first race ever! 32:58. This was fine. I knew I could do 36:00 easily, barring nasty surprises; 30:00 would have been a pleasant surprise. I felt really good — warmed up, stretched, took off gently, and ran hard enough to get tired.

It was HOT! Just another reminder why I run at night. I thought that starting at 6:30 a.m. it would be cool — but it was about 100° and I was sweating like crazy. Kiwanis Park is big and beautiful! If I ever find myself living in Tempe, I’ll know where to run.

There were just shy of 800 people there (!). Quite a learning experience, and quite a sight. People of all ages — elementary school to silver hair. My vocabulary now includes new words such as “bib”, “chip”, “gun”, and “chute”. I hung out a little while afterward — to cool off, rehydrate, and chat a little bit but not a lot. And — I now have a T-shirt. :)

3 miles, 11-minute pace. Knees good; hips pretty good. My next run will be the 5K Saturday morning. After that, I’m still debating whether to take a few days completely off, or to just continue doing easy runs for a while. Time will tell.

2 miles at 10.5-minute pace; walked 1/2 mile; 2 miles at 12-minute pace. Still taking it easy; not quite back to normal yet. My hips haven’t popped anymore recently, but they still feel a little tender tonight.

2 miles, 9.5 min pace. My hip joints felt tender this week; I didn’t run last night (i.e. took two days off). Today, they weren’t tender — I’d say I was aware of them being there. So tonight I decided to run, but a short one. Warmed up and stretched nicely; ran on grass. A brisk pace felt good, and I got my heart and lungs going. Midway through the second mile I started feeling really grand, but I was nearly done — I don’t want to take chances with joints. I should be ready to do more on Monday.

2.9 miles in 30.5 minutes; half-mile walk; then, 2 miles in about 24-25 minutes.

I think I’m getting warm-ups down to a science — no tightness tonight. The first three miles were one of my hardest runs yet. I started off at a brisk pace; the first mile was in 9.5 minutes. I ran fast enough to stay a little short of breath for the first two miles. By the third mile, I was getting a little muscle-tired and my shins hurt a bit; I eased up on the pace but really wanted to push it through. (Less than two months ago, I ran 3 miles in 46 minutes ... tonight I wanted to find out what I could do.) The 5K is a week from Saturday; at tonight’s pace, I’d do it in 33 minutes. So, 30 minutes is a high goal for the 5K.

After the half-mile walk, 2 miles at a slower pace. 12-minute paces seem a bit slow now. It’s still a normal pace for me, but it does feel like shifting down a gear. I’d have pushed myself a bit more, and got a bit more tired, but for an odd thing: an occasional twinge in my left hip joint, about 5 times over the course of those last two miles. Kind of like some little bit of connective tissue sliding over the joint. I didn’t know what to make of it, but didn’t want to take a chance and overstress it.

7 miles in 82 minutes tonight — averaging slightly under a 12-minute pace. My calves were tight at first: I warmed up long enough but not warm enough, as it were, and started off running at too quick a pace (after two days off I had plenty of pent-up sproing). By mile 3 or so I was feeling quite good; miles 5 and 6 were just plain spectacular. By the last mile I was getting rather tired. The balls of my feet were getting sore (makes sense after that many miles), and also my front-of-hip and back-of-hip (i.e. butt) muscles. This was a new thing — my calves are usually the first muscles to feel tired, followed by my thighs. (On long runs, I don’t run fast enough to get winded.) So my calves and thighs are stronger now, creating new opportunities.

Distance running is what it’s about. I am running a 5K (3 miles) in a few weeks, and will do a 10K (6 miles) in October; I’m thinking about the Tucson half-marathon (13 miles) in December. But longer than that ... hmm. Would I actually want to be on my feet that long? A few weeks ago I told myself I’d probably want to run a marathon someday, simply to achieve the goal in my lifetime. But as I run farther, I’m really beginning to enjoy distance. A short run is to a long run as a pamphlet is to a novel — there is plot, character development, the slow parts and the page-turners, the moments of doubt when it seems our protagonist isn’t going to make it, the twists and turns, the grand conclusion when all becomes known. :)

5 mi, 12-min pace. I felt a little heavy and sluggish tonight. But, there it was — 5 miles in an hour, less time than 4 used to take.

I didn’t feel winded or tired in my muscles at all. But my knees were a bit sore at the start of the run, and improved a bit through the run but not completely. They were the weak point; I didn’t want to overstress them. It’s not at all surprising my knees would be a bit sore — I ran harder than ever this week. So, I am going to take tomorrow night off, along with Sunday as planned.

Weather tonight — beautiful.

3 miles, each at 9.5-min pace, with half-mile slow runs in between; then, half a mile of pickups.

Before tonight, when doing intervals, I’d walk the slow parts — I was too tired after the fast parts. Tonight, I did the fast parts at a pace where I knew I’d still be able to jog a half mile afterward. This really felt like a more thorough workout — alternating fast and slow runs tonight kept my heart rate up, whereas punctuating with walks had allowed it to drop to rest levels.

I did my first set of pickups (also called strides) tonight — 3 of them — start from a walk and accelerate steadily to top speed over the course of a minute or so, then decelerate steadily. The idea is to focus on “changing gears”. This definitely made for interesting variety — the feeling of it changed from second to second.

I feel truly spectacular tonight. I’ve been doing half-mile warm-up and cool-down walks recently — this seems like a lot, but really it’s worth it. Every one of my not-so-good runs has had to do with tight calves — and sufficient warm-ups avoid calf tightness. Those before-and-after walks are heavenly.

It had rained rather heavily around sundown — by the time I ran, it was still warm, and very muggy. I was soaked and slick with my own sweat — running hard and feeling grand — reveling in it.:)

Tonight I ran 5 miles total — and it didn’t feel like all that far. The rule of thumb for long runs is half again as long as one’s regular runs. I’ve been doing 6-mile long runs for the last three weeks now. Since 4 and 5 miles are regular distances now, I’ll start doing 7-mile long runs.

Tomorrow makes 2 months since I started running! Loving it and just getting started ...

6 mi, 12-min paces — and nonstop except for brief waters. A fabulous run — one of the best ever. I warmed up and stretched carefully; didn’t take off running too fast. Very little calf tightness for the first mile or so; none after.

Often I’ve wanted to have a metronome-steady pace from start to stop — now I think this is, and is not, a good idea. Yes, I want to start at a sustainable pace. But, varying the pace is fun. Tonight I had several times when I felt full of energy and bounded along for a few minutes, then slowed it way down for a few dozen seconds, then returned to my regular pace. Mile 5 I felt a little tired; mile 6 I felt spectacular. For a minute or two in my last half-mile I opened it up and flew. Then, returned to my regular pace and finished up. I may have run at that speed before in my life ... maybe. If I ever did run that fast, it was 20 years ago at least. I felt amazing — and so very alive.

3.5 mi, 14-min pace.

Four 1-mile intervals, at 9-min pace (1st one), then 10- to 10.5-min paces for the rest. I walked a half mile first, starting at a moderate pace and ending up going quickly, with arms pumping — just starting to sweat a bit. Then I stretched a little, then started to run. My calves felt spectacular the whole time. :)

I ran before dark again, at the usual place. It was just starting to sprinkle when I got there — it soon stopped, but the temperature had dropped significantly. Beautiful weather, and a beautiful place to run.

I just looked at my calendar — today’s run makes 100 miles since I started running!

6 mi, 13-min pace. The first mile my calves were very tight — perhaps I didn’t warm up long enough? (I just consulted Glover; he says you should get your heart rate and respiration up, and that you’re warmed up when you’re starting to perspire. That will be easy to remember.) I stopped a few minutes after the first mile to stretch; nonstop other than that. The tightness really didn’t reduce till after 2-3 miles. Also tonight I felt a bit heavy and sluggish — although I’ve felt that way on some previous runs. For the last 3 miles, I was feeling loose and good; ended feeling very, very good. Early on (waaaay back, almost two months ago), running a mile or two was an achievement in itself. Now, it’s just a start. This is one way I know I’m getting in better shape.

I ran these 6 miles at the same pace as my previous 6-mile run, last week — and felt much less tired at the end this time. In fact, I could have run faster or longer, to get myself good and worn out by the end of the run. The fact that I can run 6 miles and not get really tired is another way I know I’m in better shape. That pleases me. :)

4 intervals of 1/4 mi, at 2:10, 2:20, 2:10, and 2:05 (really flying!), with quarter miles of walking and jogging in between. Running fast gives the enjoyable opportunity to really focus on good form. And in particular I was gratified to find that I ran the last quarter-mile as fast as the first — so, I had picked a sustainable pace. I got a little winded but not very much, and recovered within a minute or two. My legs are not tired at all. So, I don’t feel tired now — really didn’t give my body a full workout tonight. This is OK — speedwork should be eased into gradually, to avoid injury. By Glover’s standards (and my own!) I am no longer a beginning runner — rather, intermediate. (Per Glover: if you can run half an hour nonstop, and/or 3 miles nonstop, you’re not a beginner anymore.) But running fast is still new.

4 mi nonstop, 11.5 min pace. I feel wonderful tonight. My strides feel longer now; some of the wind in my hair is now my own. :)

3 x 1 mi, at 11 min pace. Reid Park is fantastic — Monday I ran twice around the 3-mi path around the golf course; tonight, 3 times around the quad-ball-field and once around the zoo. Lots of dirt and grass options — nice on the feet and easy on the eyes too.

Tonight I felt ... slow and heavy and sluggish. After doing the first 1-mi interval, in about 10.5 min, I felt blah — sort of pre-tired. I decided to just take the next two nice and easy, not hurt myself, and forget about tonight’s goals. As it turned out, though, I did run the next two 1-mi intervals in about 10-11 min each — which was what I’d planned. That was a pleasant surprise. Although the run just wasn’t as enjoyable as usual. So-so runs are to be expected from time to time ... tonight was my 3rd ever (the others being June 2 and June 6).

What happened? Well, my longest run ever was night before last, and last night I went blading for the first time in ... probably a month. Blading can be leisurely, but I pushed it rather hard last night, for half an hour or so. I think the reason I felt so sluggish tonight is that my legs simply weren’t recovered. Tonight was another learning opportunity about the importance of recovery, and the fact that rest doesn’t mean just not running.

6 miles tonight, 13 min pace. I ran it nonstop (!!!) except for 3 water-fountain stops, each less than 10 seconds. A fabulous, fabulous run. (As are most!) I am very pleased with running 80 minutes nonstop. It is so incredible — doing this, knowing I’m doing it, finding out what my body and willpower are capable of, surpassing my old boundaries — and feeling good before, during, and after. These first few months are filled with personal bests — every week I’m running longer and faster and more gracefully than the week before.

I left my watch at home, and was disappointed at first. But I was soon glad. I saw the time on my car’s clock before and after, so I was able to find the overall pace, which I always want to know. But during — it was simpler and freer and better this way. Intervals should be timed closely — but on my long runs from now on, I’m going to run without a watch.

Reid Park — a nice 3 mi path around the golf course, asphalt, with gravel and grass options much of the way. Well lit, with many walkers, runners, bladers, and bicyclists. The foliage is quite nice. It was a little muggy, with all the grass and the sprinklers going — but I don’t mind. I’d rather have some extra humidity than have dry air dehydrating me with each breath. And two key words: water fountains. :) I’d brought some water bottles and left them in my car — I’d planned to take a several-minute pit stop, for water and rest, after the first 3-mi lap (the halfway point). But when I got to the halfway point, I told my car “hi” and “bye” and kept running right past, with a smile on my face.

Half-mile intervals tonight, with 1/4 mile slows, and some walking as well, in between. My first 1/2 mile was at an 8-minute pace — wow!! Subsequent fast 1/2 miles were at 9, 10, and 10.5 min paces. So, I started off at an unsustainable pace. I felt really fresh and springy going out, though.

A quick, out-the-front-door run tonight — 2.5 mi, nonstop, 12 min. pace. The nonstop part was my primary goal for tonight — achieved! :)

I got a little tired toward the end, but not a lot — my thighs were the tiredest, if anything. Also I got breathing a little hard. My calves and feet in particular were fine. I went 12th-Bell-9th-Union to 12th — a lovely little loop. This was a run on asphalt again, although about a third of it had grass alongside the road — of which I took advantage. :) There’s something magical about grass, trees, and starlight ... also, sprinkling systems tend to run at night, so every once in a while (at the HS field as well) I dash through one.

3.5 mi tonight, 12 min pace (!), with a couple stretch-and-waters. The first mile was 11 min and the last was 12.5. It felt pretty easy — except that my thighs were burning by the end. This new ankle flex is definitely the key to calf stamina. Plus it gives me some push and some stride length. I did the first 1.5 mi on the HS track — rubberized and quite nice. Then, the rest on the field. The summer nights in the desert are just beautiful — I can’t imagine more wonderful weather to run in.

My first long run tonight — about 5 mi. I was running for 75 min, with 3 stretch-and-water breaks. So, 14-15 min pace. I ran real slow at first, but then picked up the pace a wee bit after a mile or so. I wanted to focus on duration, not speed, but I found that running a little faster actually felt better.

I ran over to the field rather than biking — my first time running on asphalt in a while. My calves tightened up rather soon. Once on the grass, they were a little better but not a lot. After the second mile or so it dawned on me that, particularly in my slowest pace, I tend to keep my ankle angle constant. No wonder my calves and PFs had been tightening! They had been just hanging there without bending — also not contributing anything to my stride length. I made a point to flex at the ankle and toe-ball joints. This was wonderful — I didn’t need to stop and stretch so much since I was stretching my calves and PFs with each step.

After about the third mile I realized that my calves felt as good or better than when I reached the field. I got one of those “I could run all night” feelings. At about the end of the fourth mile, my thighs started to get tired. That was a new thing — my calves outlasting my thighs. That’s progress! :)

I am tired — not only my thighs but also the tendons above and below both knees. The three miles I’ll do on Wednesday are going to seem short and quick by comparison with tonight! :)

I hadn’t got much studying done tonight, and I knew I’d go to bed after running. So, going out to run felt indulgent, like ... having a second dessert or something. :)

I usually think of speed in terms of minute-per-mile pace — a macroscopic measurement, and an easy measurement to take. But the other day I ran across the (obvious in retrospect) fact that one’s speed is simply the product of one’s stride length and one’s number of strides per second. (A “stride” being two steps — say from one left footstrike to the next left footstrike.) This is a microscopic, step-by-step point of view.

My 15-min or 16-min pace — when I was first starting — is what I call my “wog”. It gets the muscles working harder than a walk, but the steps aren’t very long at all. More recently I’ve been pushing off and getting longer strides going. That’s the stride-length half of it; what about the stride-rate half of it?

Tonight’s an off night — and I overate badly tonight as well (bleah). I spent about 10 minutes or so at the park, taking some times with my wristwatch. My natural stride rate — which is just the natural tick-tock my body uses unless I think about it — is about 70 strides per minute; the quick-step stride I sometimes use is about 85. From what I’ve read, 80-85 is very common; elite runners might do 90-95.

In any case — running itself is the fun thing; analysis, less so. But I find I have more fun at higher speeds, so it’s worth thinking a bit about how to go about maximizing that. I have some room to increase “turnover” (stride rate), as well as more room to increase stride length. Going from 70 SPM to 85 SPM would turn a 12-minute mile into a 10-minute mile.

3 mi total tonight: alternating slow 1/3 mi (estimated 15-min pace) with fast 1/3 mi (estimated 10 min pace), for a total of 5 slow and 4 fast. No speedwork per se for a few more weeks yet — I’ll still do my regular steady-pace runs twice a week (e.g. two days ago), some intervals (e.g. today), and one long run per week (starting with, say, 5 mi day after tomorrow).

I ran about 3 mi tonight, at the pace that felt right. It turned out to be approx. 13-min pace by wristwatch & feel. I ran on the practice field at the nearby high school — warmed up nice and slow, stretched, and — what a marvelous surface. I’ll run on city streets again from time to time for variety, but that grass was a blessing. All subsystems got about equally tired; no particular calf tightness. My PFs feel good. I’m icing my feet now — these valiant soldiers have earned a nice cold furlough. :)

The run night before last was OK — I felt pretty good during, except for the unexpected amount of calf tightness. The next day, though, my feet hurt — PFs as noted before. Also I’ve been feeling a bit achy in various places in my legs.

Tonight — what to do? I did 13-minute paces last time; this was on target. I don’t insist on always running faster — but, I don’t want to run any slower than I have been. Once I’ve done 13-minute miles regularly (the 11-minute mile I did the other day was a single mile — an intentional exception), I don’t want to go any slower.

However ... maybe I did too much the night before last. For tonight, I’ve decided to go out & run the kinds of miles I can do today, and find out what that pace is. This feels like admitting defeat; it feels like going backward. But in the long-term view, this is wise. Also it’s actually a sign of progress:

Muscles strengthen rather quickly; in fact, my thigh and calf muscles are doing a lot more now than they were a month ago. That first week, my thighs were aflame ... now, they’re doing more work, quietly and happily. Also my calves — I am still pushing a boundary there, but they are also stronger.

Joints and connectors appear not to strengthen as quickly as muscles. Here’s an analogy: in computing, there’s a notion of the “long pole in the tent”: when you analyze a system for performance and find the slowest part, then optimize that part, you find that the second-slowest part — which you hadn’t noticed before — has now become the long pole in the tent. In fact there’s always a longest pole somewhere.

Muscle performance was the limiting factor at when I first started running. Those muscles are stronger, and now I’m able to run fast enough to stress other things. The longest pole in the tent now is joints & connectors — things which I simply can’t ramp up as fast.

I’ve been reading up a bit — I love running and emphatically do not want to stop. But I also don’t want to hurt myself. Note that none of the discomfort I’ve had so far is hobbling pain — it’s all been mild. But, I am making a point to not let anything get to be a major problem. Things I can do:

• Stretch lightly throughout the day.
• I’ve been doing warm-up and cool-down walks, and stretching at the end of runs. I will also stretch lightly (not too much, since the muscles are cold then) between my warm-up and the start of my run.
• Toe lifts should help make my calves stronger.
• Ice any iffy parts immediately after the run.
• Find better surfaces, as noted before.
• Go ahead and do run/walk when necessary. I did this night before last. It’s not my ideal: I really like the long, steady pace, and one of the things I enjoy the most is the relaxed feeling I get after I’ve been running steadily for a while. But it’s better to stop & run & recover & keep going than to plow ahead & get worn out sooner. Especially at first — I must remind myself that I am still very much a beginner.

My feet hurt a bit this morning — similar to what I described a couple weeks ago as a vague “bone achy”. Further reading identifies these spots as my plantar fasciae. I’ve always been familiar with muscle soreness — stressed muscles hurt the day after, less the next, and that’s it. And a knee ligament I stressed a few weeks ago behavior similarly. Likewise for tendons above and below the kneecap. The plantar fasciae, by contrast, are different stuff: connecting bands on the bottom of the feet, between the heel and the ball of the feet. New runners who do too much too soon (e.g. me) sometimes have flare-ups here. Discomfort may come on a lot more slowly, and take longer to go away, than for muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

What to do to avoid having trouble (Runner’s World Online again):

• Wear shoes all day, not flip-flops.
• Regular Achilles stretches help: when the calf muscles are more flexible, the PFs are under less tension. And tension is what causes the microtears in the PFs, which is what causes discomfort.
• Ice.
• Run on a good track. Sigh ... one of my favorite things about running is being outside at night, varying my route and exploring around. But there’s a nice outside track at the nearby high school. It sounds like a good idea to treat my feet extra carefully for a while. Also in Tucson (for when I get back there) there are some trails — perhaps I could do trails some nights, track others.
• Ease into speedwork only very, very gradually.

3 miles, 13 minute paces each. I stopped to walk and stretch after each mile — my calves were quite tight. These are most often my tiredest spot — this is frustrating in a way, since my heart, lungs, thighs, and knees could do more. However, I’ve only been running for a month (one month today — woohoo!!!), and in that month, my mile times have gone from 16-17 minutes down to 13. So I am getting stronger. It appears that my calves are parts of my body which are much in need of strengthening.

There was a dust storm earlier — now, it’s overcast and windy. The sky is rich and almost palpable. Wonderful weather to run in! :)

Did some hiking yesterday. Looking at the calendar (which I’m now glad I’m keeping — it helps me see the big picture of what I’ve been doing) I see I’ve gone 8 straight days without complete rest. I feel pretty good, but a little sensitive in various spots. So, I’ll run again on Tuesday night.

Today was my first-ever daytime run — I won’t be able to run tonight or tomorrow, so I decided to run before lunch (at work) today. I estimated it was about 2.5 mi — in the heat (100+ degrees). This experience reaffirmed my regular practice of running at night. :) It was hot! Maybe in the winter I’ll try running in the daytime ...

My calves burnt very early on. I ran quite slow (16-minute pace or so) almost the whole time in order to control the burn & be able to keep running at all, even then stopped to walk twice. Why such a difference, for such a short run? I’m not sure. I’d not eaten recently; I made the mistake of doing only a minute or so of warm-up walk & then starting off running a little quick. And it was all on cement ... . Maybe I just can’t do as much in the heat; maybe slow days are to be expected now and then (I’m new enough at this not to know for sure). The night before last was my hardest-ever run; I didn’t run last night but did walk 1.5 mi. Maybe complete rest was in order last night? In fact, my last three off-days really were not. Today was a learning experience in any case.

What next? I’ve been doing several weeks of steady-pace runs — although I did a first, light set of intervals (2x800’s) the night before last, and mixed up the speed last night. There is a 5K in Tempe toward the end of July — 7 weeks from now. I run for fun, but doing a race now and again sounds like a good way to meet some people, learn some ideas, and have a goal to focus on.

I found the following 5K plans at Runner’s World Online:

5K goal       Days Wkly Long Tempo        Speedwork
pace          /wk  mi   run  run
------------- ---  ---- ---- ------------ ---------------
 5:00 (15:32) 6    40mi 12mi 4mi at  5:30 12x400m at 1:10
 6:00 (18:38) 6    35mi 10mi 3mi at  6:30 10x400m at 1:25
 7:00 (21:44) 6    30mi  9mi 3mi at  7:30  8x400m at 1:40
 8:00 (24:50) 5    24mi  8mi 3mi at  8:30  6x400m at 1:55
 9:00 (27:56) 4    15mi  6mi 2mi at  9:30  4x400m at 2:10
10:00 (31:02) 3    12mi  4mi 2mi at 10:30  3x400m at 2:25
11:00 (34:08) 3    10mi  4mi 2mi at 11:30  3x400m at 2:40
12:00 (37:14) 3     8mi  4mi 2mi at 12:30  3x400m at 2:55

The key point is that you don’t just run steady-paces all the time — do some short-and-fast, and some long-and-slow as well.

Even though I think a 9:00 pace is an ambitious goal, from looking at the above plan (for what it’s worth) I see my weekly mileage about 15 mi, and definitely 4x/week. So ... that lands me on their 9-minute-pace plan. Maybe with several more weeks to go, and with preparing well, that 9-minute pace won’t be so ambitious after all!: :) I know I can finish it, no problem; 5K is 3.125 mi & I run that all the time. I’d be happy to finish it in 35 min.

So, this is my weekly plan for the next two months:

• Steady pace: 4 mi
• Tempos: 2 mi at 9:30 (work up to this pace over the weeks)
• Off
• Speedwork: 4x400 @ 2:10, with some easy jogging in between
• Off
• Long run: 6 mi (work up to this mileage)
• Off

I’m kind of excited about the 5K! This is pretty close.

3.5 mi tonight, 45 min total, 13 min average pace: 7th-Utopia-12th-Grovers-7th to 12th. The first mile my calves started to burn right away — odd. I took it slow. There’s a very slight incline that first mile, but I wouldn’t have thought it would be enough to matter. Although last night’s run was short, it was fast — so I thought maybe it had been more tiring than I realized, and thought that perhaps tonight’s run would have to be taken easy.

The second mile is slightly downhill; also I was feeling comfortable and steady-state by then, & picked up the pace. I’d decided to run 3.5 rather than 4.0 miles tonight so I thought I’d pick up the pace a bit more toward the end. I ran the second-to-last half mile in 5 minutes! This felt spectacular. Even though — rather, because — it was work. The last half mile I pushed a little less, but was still feeling energetic; ran it in 6 minutes.

So: although I started out with 16-minute paces, and over this month I’ve gradually worked up to 15-minute and 14-minute paces which I can sustain for 3-4 miles, a 10-minute pace is in reach. After a few more weeks or months I may have the speed and the distance, together.

I really felt on top of the world tonight — worked hard, felt good.

I’ve been noticing just the last few days that — apparently for the last 36 years, since I learned to walk — I put more weight on the outside of my left foot, and on the inside of my right foot. I believe the technical terms are “supination” and “pronation”, respectively. I noticed this when the big-toe ball of my right foot felt really stepped on after runs. I’ve been making an effort to distribute my weight evenly across the width of the balls of both feet while running. This feels right.

It’s the end of the month. I started running May 6, so it’s not quite a full month. I’ve run 46 miles!! I like adding it up — each little bit and piece may seem small, but gathering it together really gives me a sense of achievement.

It’s an off/easy night. I was feeling good, so I did a short run: 1/2 mile at a 9.5 minute pace, then a 1/4 mile walk, then another 1/2 mile at the same pace.

Afterward, my legs hardly felt like I’d been running — but I was breathing hard. This is the direct opposite of my usual longer, slower runs. I guess that’s why people suggest varying one’s rate between long-and-slow and short-and-fast from night to night: different rates stress different parts of the body.

I am now more amazed than ever that there are people who can keep up a 6-minute pace for mile after mile! Tonight, by my standards I was running quite fast.

4.25 miles, 13.5 minute pace. Over to Cave Creek Rd. and back, with a loop down to Grovers on the return. Tiredest spot: knees. Calves good. Paying attention to the footstrike is kind to my feet and lower legs; quickening the stride keeps me going. Tonight I worked hard enough to get a little winded — this felt nice! Usually my legs get tired before I can get winded.

In the last half mile, I could see my healthy body silhouetted by the street light — and felt spectacular with a steady running rhythm — relaxed and in motion and alive — I felt so good about myself it made my hair stand on end! :)

4 miles nonstop tonight, 14-minute pace: Union-7th-Bell-7th.

I bounded off tonight at a fast clip — I was well-rested and full of energy, and it felt good to blow off some steam. But within a few hundred feet or so I intentionally slowed it down to a pace I knew I could sustain for the full run.

Midway through the second mile it dawned on me — I can increase my speed by pushing harder with my legs and lengthening my stride (which is the only option I’d ever imagined before tonight), or (the insight) by quickening my stride. What’s the difference? Well, taking longer steps requires more of my calves, which are already my tiredest spot most nights — causing me to flame out. Taking quicker but same-length steps doesn’t get my calves any more tired — it takes more cardiac and respiratory throughput, of which I have plenty to spare.

This is fantastic — instead of thinking “Ow-ow-ow” and having to stop to walk, I could instead take advantage of my strengths and make an improvement. My net pace wasn’t much quicker than the previous run — a little faster, but more importantly I was able to keep running for a solid 56 minutes. And, I ran a mile farther than last time — with my legs feeling less tired at the end.

All my life I’ve associated exercise with feeling winded, overdone, and generally blecko. But now, by taking it slow, not trying to do too much too fast, and listening to my body, I feel good at the end of a run — actually better than I felt at the start of the run. I feel tired in the sense that I know I’ve just done several miles — but not exhausted. And my body is simply aglow.

Can life really be this good? Yes, it can! :)

This morning my legs feel spectacular! Ah — the benefits of getting enough rest! I always want to get out there — and this is quite normal. But keeping myself healthy and uninjured matters. Rest is as important as running.

3 miles, 15-minute pace. Walked 3 min. at the halfway point. 12th, Grovers to 20th; back. I am not increasing my pace, nor do I intend to for the next couple weeks. But it’s feeling more comfortable — which is what I want. I wasn’t breathing heavily at all tonight. About the last half mile my legs started to get tired — not just that feeling of being in use, but tired. Tiredest spot: tight calves.

I had taken an unprecedented two nights off in a row — I had been achy in my right foot and was experimenting with how much complete rest such things need. By tonight everything felt grand.

I read a Wikipedia article on shin splints. I was just looking for a definition of the term, but found a section on “form”. Key point: the heel is not for landing on! Land with a flat foot, if not erring on the side of landing on the ball of the foot. To facilitate this, keep the chin up & the back slightly arched (keep the chest and abdomen proudly out — the opposite of hunching). I did this tonight & it felt nice. Too much heel-strike might explain the foot aches I’ve had on and off.

Goals: Why am I running?

• As always, one thing that bothers me is, say, running around with the girls & getting tired and/or winded. That doesn’t seem right — being in the prime of my life, I want to be able to use my body for a while & be fine with it. This is an old motivation, going back to before I had children, in fact — any time I get winded from moderate exertion, I think to myself, “This isn’t right.”
• Even when I am older, I want to be in good health — and I don’t want to be just starting to take care of myself when I’m already beginning to fall apart. I want to age well. This is also not new.
• I want to look good. This is also an old motivation. I’m not overweight, but I do have a bit of a spare tire which I would not at all mind losing. I’ve been 5’8” and 165# for some years now which is OK; 150# would also be OK.
• I want to feel better outside of exercising. This is an old motivation — this was a goal on previous (short-lived) exercise stints.
• Feeling better during exercise and enjoying it — this is new. I never enjoyed it before, and I think that’s why I didn’t keep it up. It was always a chore. Now I’m having a blast & feeling great & getting that awesome high while running. Blading made this point of view possible.

What about measurement & external criteria? I said early on that the commitment was just getting outside & getting fresh air; running was extra. But it’s very clear that I have minimum-mileage and maximum-time expectations for myself.

I am going to do a 10K in October. Why race? Why not just do this for the exercise? I think it will be exciting, & a challenge, & give me something to work toward. Another difference between previous (failed) exercise stints & now is seeking out & being open to advice. This is big. Being OK with being like other people, not having to be different for its own sake, learning from others. Doing the occasional race is a way to join up with the rest of the world. Letting myself get soundly and publicly beaten, with 9-year-old boys and asthmatic great-grandmothers running past me. Also, it’s totally new to me, and I decided to do the October 10K out of boldness & wanting to try something new.

Three miles tonight nonstop, 46 minutes. (Stopped for 10 seconds at the end of mile 1 to check BPMs — 120 — then later realized [duh!] that it suffices to check BPMs at the end. No need to pause partway.) Over to Cave Creek and back — I like this route.

Most nights I stop to walk a few minutes at the halfway point. Tonight, whenever something started to feel tight, I made it a point to rest by running slower, not stopping to walk — not even for a few seconds. For the next two weeks — I wouldn’t mind adding another half mile, but really I want to focus on repeatability and on continuing to not walk.

I mentioned my right ankle was sore yesterday ... wasn’t sure how it would go today. From what I’ve read, when one is running one should get used to minor aches and pains. On the other hand, when one is hurt one should rest. Where is the line? Flat-out hobbling pain — that’s clear, but ... . I am learning by experience, to see which kind of aches are which. My right ankle today had (like my left knee recently) a shadow of a discomfort — didn’t hurt but felt like it might if pushed.

Tonight I took off carefully — but the ankle felt fine. In fact it felt like nothing at all. As did the once-sore spot on my left knee. What did tire — calf muscles; pretty much everything. Both knees tight, but centrally — not the outside-left sore spot. I read that strengthening quad muscles helps keep knee joints lined up! I am realizing I know very little about physiology. In any case — long-term strengthening is a goal.

Morning: This morning — all is well, except my right ankle which feels a bit achy. My knees in particular are good — earlier at the grocery store I put one knee all the way to the floor, then the other — no twinges at all.

Not walking tonight after all ... I spent much of today on my feet (doing all sorts of stuff with the girls) & my right ankle is sore, more than when I woke up this morning. I want to really rest it.

Night: I was restless ... and really wanted out into that marvelous night air ... walked 1.5 miles; about 40 minutes.

Well — a cold glass of lemonade and an avocado are waiting for me! :)

OK, I am tired of trying to do the arithmetic in my head. Of course I am just starting to run; I’ll do a 5K and a 10K this year. Maybe the Tucson Marathon’s half marathon in December. A full marathon wouldn’t be until 2007 sometime, at soonest. Nonetheless:

 5K =  3.125 mi = 1/8 marathon
10K =  6.25  mi = 1/4 marathon
21K = 13.1   mi = half marathon
42K = 26.2   mi = full marathon

Here are current and foreseeable paces, in minutes per mile and miles per hour. Also, what times those those paces would give for 3, 6, 13, and 26 miles.

min/mi mi/hr  3 mi   6 mi   13 mi  26 mi
------ -----  ----   ----   -----  -----
15     4      0:45   1:30   3:15   6:30
12     5      0:36   1:12   2:36   5:12
10     6      0:30   0:60   2:10   4:20
8      7.5    0:24   0:48   1:54   3:28
6      10     0:18   0:36   1:18   2:36

Hours/FM    pace        Hours/FM    pace
--------    ----        --------    ----
2.0          4.6        2.6          6.0
2.5          5.7        3.1          7.0
3.0          6.9        3.5          8.0
3.5          8.0        3.9          9.0
4.0          9.2        4.4         10.0
4.5         10.3        4.8         11.0
5.0         11.5        5.2         12.0
5.5         12.6        5.7         13.0
6.0         13.7        6.1         14.0
                        6.6         15.0
                        7.0         16.0

I don’t know what is reasonable to expect — though I feel like 10-minute miles are an achievable goal for this year.

Knee was fine this morning — as was everything! :) :)

OK, I’ve decided — I’m going to:

• run about 45 minutes (because I can),
• every other night (to allow for recuperation for all the various little aches, since my body is still new at this),
• slowly, say 15-minute miles with no pushing beyond that (per Burfoot & to avoid strains),
• walk (or skate) on the off-nights — say, 30-45 minutes
• for the next couple weeks (10% rule).

This is backing off from what I intended a week ago — but it’s 10 miles per week; still ambitious I think. :) Also, I think it’s better because it’s less ambitious. (When I do get to 6 nights a week, an hour a night: even at a 15-minute-per-mile pace, that’s 24 miles per week which is a lot — and my pace will have improved by then.)

Primary goal for these next few weeks: Keeping a steady pace for the entire 45 minutes.

After those couple weeks — what next? Either add some speed, some more time, or start going 2 of every 3 nights. Probably the latter — 45 min is nothing to sneeze at, and speed isn’t a priority.

I’ll go out in about another hour or so. :D

I’ve been running for two weeks. My first run was two weeks ago tonight; my first full hour was ten days ago. Wow.

Tonight I ran three miles — 1.5 at a steady 14-minute pace; walked 4 minutes; 1.5 back also at a steady 14-minute pace. 7th-Utopia-12th; then back. It felt really easy — I was intentionally keeping it slow. Except: the last 1/4 mile my knees started to feel tired — I’ll see how they are in the morning. I’m still learning about my body & about the time-delayed effects. One piece of good news is that “taking it easy” needn’t mean not going out at all for a night, or some number of nights — I can still walk, or do a shorter run, etc. Last night is a great example of that. A lesser run can be relatively relaxing!

Taking it slow tonight, applying Burfoot’s 10% rule — this felt great. Just as I started my run (after the first 200 feet mentioned before) it dawned on me what a powerful lesson I’ve learned already. That first week — each night was a goal, a complete thing — basically, let’s see how much I can do in an hour. Which is OK — I wanted to find out what I was capable of. But, one of the things I worried about way back then (days ago — hee hee!) was re keeping it up — if each run is like a complete football game, then maybe I’d get tired of game after game. Tonight, though, as I started, having chosen my pace & my distance, & having made the conscious decision to not run any faster than that, I realized that each night’s run is just a piece. Using the football metaphor, each night is like a single play — and who’d want to quit a football game just a few plays in?!?

So, the key lesson is the LONG-TERM point of view. Not what am I doing tonight, but what am I doing this month. I really like Burfoot’s 100,000-mile point of view. Burfoot suggests this as the major goal: “Run comfortably and run for a lifetime.”

The “comfortably” part — this is also hitting home. In the first week I was amazed at what I could do — and was also stiff & sore every day. Now I want to feel good not just during a run but the next day as well.

I already feel like a running nut. I know now I’m in this for real, for the long term — I am HOOKED! :)

Morning: I woke up this morning & my left knee felt like ... nothing at all! Wow, that was fast! I ran a few steps & could feel a shadow or echo of something. I feel like it might hurt again if I push it too hard. So, tonight: I will run a bit, at least, and be gentle about it. Maybe walk most of the time.

What did I do to it night before last — whence the damage? What can I do to avoid getting hurt? Run less than a full hour for a few weeks/months, avoid going down off curbs, avoid hills for a few weeks/months. This knee thing is a wake-up call. It will take weeks and months till I can really see my body change, till all my parts — muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints — are all strong. It cannot happen in a matter of days.

I really want to be out there!!! To heck with taking it slow. I’ve enjoyed a string of personal bests for the last couple weeks, and I want to keep having that pleasure. But, from Burfoot it’s clear that this is a very, very common desire — completely normal. It’s important to balance that eagerness with patience. :) Keep thinking long-term.

Night: Taking it easy on the knee: I ran only a mile down 9th, then walked about 1.5. (Ran another 1/4 mile in there just for fun.) Didn’t breathe hard, or hardly even sweat, and it felt quick. [It feels so good to say that — took it real easy and ran only a mile! :) ] My knees were OK — they didn’t hurt so much as I was aware of them. But I was also aware of my thigh and calf muscles.

I felt like I could have run another mile at least — but, with the time-delay effect I mentioned before, & the recent knee injury, I thought I’d stop with the one mile and see what my knee does tomorrow morning. I have so much to learn — I really don’t know what to expect from my body until I go through these things.

When I started off running tonight, something felt odd — then I realized: I was going at a pretty brisk trot! And I didn’t feel like I was pushing at all — more like a leaf skittering along in the wind. Burfoot’s #1 advice for new runners is SLOW DOWN. So I did. The mile took me 16 minutes. And the walk after that was BLESSED. My legs feel spectacular. :)

I FEEL AWESOME!!!

Saturday night’s run my right hip hurt a bit; better by Monday’s run. Last night’s run did a number on the outside of my left knee; I would not want to run at all at this moment. But, these things feel good somehow.

Tonight would be a night off running — but I wanted to get outside for a while. :) Walked 1/2 hour. Nice! My knee — I hurt it last night but didn’t notice till this morning. Running even a few steps — doesn’t make me wince or anything, but it’s a clear alarm saying “Don’t run on me”. With muscle pain (too much yardwork, or lifting, or moving, or ...), from lifelong experience I know to expect a few days. This is a ligament — and I don’t know what to expect. It’s already better than it was this morning, & I hope to run tomorrow. We’ll see. It feels right — not ripped, torn, worsening, etc. — but just used. So I feel like it will be better soon — day after tomorrow if not tomorrow, I predict.

The walk — around the neighborhood. I noted before that when running I notice my surroundings etc. & that’s one of the things I enjoy — not only because I do notice the wonderful world around me but also because I do not obsess about how tired I am etc. But while walking, working much less hard physically than when running, I noticed even more. The moon is past full & so I walked under the stars. Such stars as there are visible in metro Phoenix anyway ... :)

I took last night off running, and will continue to run every other night for a while, till my muscles are good and toned. This feels good. Last week (week one!) I ran every night & knew it hurt & was sore every day. It was fun — a new thing. But, running every other night for the last few nights — my muscles feel grand by the end of those 48 hours.

Tonight, about 4.25 mi in 65 min! This with a walk of a few minutes at the halfway point. The last half-mile — east on Union from Central to 7th St. — I said to myself, Let’s see if we can do this in 6 minutes. It turned out to be about 7.5 — but I was stoked and cheering myself on & full of self-confidence and feeling GREAT. The whole run was great — but what a high note to end on.

I did a 1/4 mile cool-down walk east from 7th to here. That took 7 minutes! So this initial slow running pace, as pokey as it seems, is actually almost twice as fast as a walk. And I can expect to double my running speed eventually — from 15-minute miles now, to 8-minute miles (an achievable goal) someday.

I just got Burfoot’s Principles of Running. A fabulous little book. Points:

• Warm-up and cool-down walking is good. This reaffirms what I’ve already been doing by doing what feels right.
• Run every other day at first — then, once in steady shape, take off every 7th day. Good ’cause today I’m bone-achy in my feet. (Also I didn’t get enough sleep last night!) I think I’ll go out for a walk in another half hour or so though.
• Heart rate of 120-140 BPM is fine at first — 170, by contrast, is an Olympic level of exertion. If your heart rate is that fast, you’re doing too much.
• Get up to a solid unbroken run — and do not worry about speed at all. Persistence is what matters. Doing 15-minute or 17-minute miles is fine at first. Good ’cause that’s what I’ve got going on. :) And it wlll take a while to get up to 8-minute miles.
• Also Burfoot suggests taking 10 weeks to get up to a solid half-hour run. Well I ramped up faster than that! Maybe the skating helped ... maybe it’s because I’m in the prime of my life, highly metabolic, & not overweight ... maybe I went too fast & have gotten achy as a result ... nonetheless I’m able to keep up a steady slow run & feel OK with it, and there’s no arguing with that fact.
• After — a few months? — enter some competitions. You don’t need to be a Boston Marathoner — but do some racing, even if you don’t finish well. Something to think about ... maybe a 5K or something one of these days. No hurry on that — I’m a night runner & I like it that way.

Thank goodness for running!! With work and quals, this is a nose-to-the-grindstone summer — getting outside, under the stars, breathing the air — what a book I read calls “disassociating”, instead of thinking about running itself which hurts morale when you’re still not good at it — getting healthy, being alive, having fun, doing something other than work & math — what a blessing.

I think this doing-it-for-the-fresh air perspective is the biggest thing making me enjoy this so much. This is in contrast to the old days when I disliked running, & hence didn’t keep it up. Another thing, perhaps the same thing, is measuring time rather than distance. I mean I do measure distance, but the primary goal is how long I’m out there total, & how much of that time is uninterrupted running; how much distance I cover is incidental. This time, I know I’ll keep it up.

It’s good to be back at work at my non-grad-school job — slipped right in & being productive. People smile & are happy to see me — & speaking of running, of having a good thing happen at a good time — LORDY, I love being mentally healthy! I’m OK, you’re OK, season that with good humor. I feel RADIANTLY healthy & able to contribute to the team & work with people, warts and all — being myself, being good & happy, being EXUBERANT. :)

3 miles, 45 minutes. Union-16th-Wahalla-12th-Utopia-10th. New motto — I AM AMAZING. Beats the “you’re not working hard enough” inner voice (childhood baggage) that often comes to mind when I’m doing something physical and am getting tired.

Tonight, toward the end of the run, like the other night when I ran to Country Club, I had that feeling of relaxation while running — really relaxed, almost like sitting on the couch. Marvlelous ... :)

3.5 miles, 65 minutes. Walked several minutes at the halfway point. This is my first run in Phoenix: here for several weeks. Union-16th-Bell-9th.

A few nights ago — maybe it was the night before I ran to Campbell & back — I looked down 10th Street & told myself that someday, when I’m stronger, I’d run down to Country Club & back (2 miles each way). That day was today! :) Maybe 4 or 4 1/2 miles, and 70 minutes including the walking parts. Heart rate 150 both times I checked. I really like the couple blocks of warm-up and warm-down walking. Full moon tonight — staggeringly gorgeous. Even moreso in neighborhoods without so much light — the moon is radiant.

Like last night, the first mile or so I was going along at a pretty good clip. The 3rd & 4th miles, I was just really comfortable — not going real fast, but just felt totally at ease & was running without particularly thinking about the mechanics of it.

I realized during the third mile, when I was feeling so comfortable, that I could actually push it harder. I didn’t want to really — not yet. A few nights ago I was hauling ass across a street — full on running. & I told myself it will be great to be doing that at a steady pace.

Life is wonderful! :)

I JUST RAN FOUR MILES NON-STOP! ONE HOUR AND FIVE MINUTES SOLID!!

G*d-D*MN this is awesome.

I had two finals today, and one more tomorrow. I’d been studying all evening, and am feeling pretty good about the final. Just before going out to run, I figured out some stuff about the action of the fundamental group on fibers of a covering space (at least a good example and a mnemonic, which I think is all I need, along with inklings of what to focus on for deeper understanding for the qual). In particular, there’s no fixed time to get up tomorrow — the last few days of last week, and the weekend, and all but two days this week, I’ve not needed to set my alarm. I love that — go to bed & sleep & get up when I’m rested.

SO ......... tonight, when I went out to run at 10:35, I told myself — I’ve got no hurry tonight, and I’m going to give myself plenty of time out in the fresh air — and I’m going to go around the campus. Up 2nd St., east on Helen, down just east of Campbell, east on 9th or something. That’s about four miles, and I thought to myself — I’ll see what I can run; even if I walk most of it, it will be fun & relaxing.

Heh. :)

I felt like I was picking up a little speed tonight — and for a while, toward the end of the first mile, really had my breath going. It felt marvelous. In contrast to the last time I was running (9 years ago), when it seemed I was always getting my upper calves in a bad pinch or something, now I’m noticing that my calves are a bit tired, yes, & my thighs, & I’m breathing a bit heavy (of course) and my chest feels ... actually fine. But there’s no particularly weak link — they all feel like they’re being used, and tired, but keeping up, in a steady state.

After I’d been going a mile or so it began to dawn on me I might actually run the whole way. Passing Cherry on Speedway (about two miles) I knew I would make it. I’d stopped 10 seconds to take my pulse right before that — about 150-160 beats a minute! Holy cow! It wasn’t pounding out of my chest or anything — it was just ticking right along. But I had to double-check my watch a couple times to believe what I was counting. Like the article I read the other day — this is something the human heart, the human body, is designed to do. It’s always known how to do this, all 37 years of my life — and now I’m letting it. Now, I just decide where to go; my body knows how to run. I’ve been letting the speed find itself most of the time.

I ended up going down Campbell itself — that was the only busy-street part of tonight’s run. Just past University (i.e. after about three miles) I laughed and felt like jumping (so I did) — & said out loud “I don’t believe I’m DOING this!” and smiled wide.

I’ve been taking different streets each night. This is part of the fun of it (and to heck with the idea of running in circles in the gym!) — seeing how different each street is, really getting a feel for how big a place this is. “This” = ... the campus ... downtown Tucson ... Tucson ... the planet. Driving back & forth to Phoenix I do 75 mph & cover a lot of ground in a hurry — nice landscapes, views of the mountains, moon over the desert. Running is the direct opposite — the close-up view.

Passing Vine or so, going east on 8th St. — it felt like just the home stretch. Almost there — only half a mile to home! Thing is, most of my life I couldn’t run half a mile nonstop at all.

I stopped running & started walking at 9th & Tyndall — at 11:40, 65 minutes after starting. It still gives me goose bumps. Me! Doing it! I was tired. And I should be — this is something I’ve never done before in my life, not even close. Coming back in here to my apartment — it seemed like days since I’d left. I think that’s typical for new experiences — they have a way of dilating time.

:)

Two miles tonight — nice and easy. South/southwest of campus.

Tonight — even better. Ran a bit short of TWO miles! From Euclid, down 10th St. to Campbell (!) and back to Tyndall. A block or two before I stopped I was thinking, I feel like I could do this for hours. & maybe so — at a steady locomotive chooga-chooga, not getting short of breath — keeping up with it. Passing Cherry on the way out, I knew I’d make it running the whole way. I stopped running at Tyndall — my left knee tendon was tightening up & I didn’t want to hurt myself tonight & thus keep myself from being able to do this again tomorrow night.

It feels SO GOOD out there!!! I thought running would be less fun than roller-blading (more work, and less speed) — could it be that it’s actually better? :)

Ran south of campus. When I started running tonight — muscles started getting a little sore but not a lot — heart was going at a steady rate & no chest pain — 18 minutes, baby! Steady running. Also it’s fine on my back — no problems at all — running upright vs. blading leaning forward. I was at the steady-state condition. I’ve always wanted to be able to steam-engine along indefinitely — I am getting there. [18 minutes isn’t “indefinitely”. :) ] Walked about 5 minutes (I think I stopped due to a side-ache), then ran 15 minutes more! I later realized I ran a total of 1 to 1-1/2 miles last night! And it felt AWESOME!! I felt better coming in than I did going out!

First run: south of campus. 4 min. running, then maybe 10 walking, then 4 more running, then more walking.

Some backposts now: It’s May 25 but here are some items from my off-line journal, going back to May 6.

This is the start of my running journal.

I’ve been running for 2 1/2 weeks now. My first run was Saturday May 6 — more walking than running, the latter only for a few minutes at a time. After the first week I was actually running for a half hour straight, albeit slowly: 15-minute miles. That was an awesome feeling — I didn’t know my body could do that!

I’m now running every other night, 3 miles at a time. I plan to hold it to this pace for a few weeks at least before attempting more. I’d been rollerblading regularly (4x/week) for about 2 months before this, so I was in pretty good general shape. (I’ll continue to rollerblade on some off-nights from running.) However I’m finding out that the impact of running puts a lot more strain on my joints than rollerblading did. I want to take it easy while my body gets used to this new level of exertion. The first week I was sore all the time — and kind of enjoying it, oddly enough: it felt good to be challenging myself. In retrospect I did too much too soon, so I’m giving my body time to catch up. One of my mottos (due to Amby Burfoot) is run comfortably. Another piece of advice he offers is the ten percent rule: don’t increase mileage, running time, etc. by more than 10% per week. The body adapts only gradually to stresses.

It’s amazing that I’m enjoying running so much ... I’d started an exercise program at least three times before in my life — two running stints and one swimming stint as an undergrad, none of which lasted over a month, and a third running stint about 9 years ago. It always felt like a chore and I never really enjoyed it. The third running stint was the longest — it lasted about 3 months until I just couldn’t motivate myself to do it anymore. But now, I’ve been taking better care of myself in lots of ways — emotionally, physically, professionally — and I’m finding that I’m running for the fun of it.

I learned the following lessons from rollerblading this spring, which I’m now applying to running — enabling me to really have a blast and want to keep it up:

• Do it just for the sheer enjoyment of it — not as a duty or an obligation, but as a privilege.

• I live in the desert, so daytime exercise in the summer months is a drag. Go out at night. The desert nights are divine, and also I love the moon, stars, and night air.

• Go different places each night. Explore.

• I’m in a demanding graduate program, and there’s never time enough for everything. Instead of saying “I don’t have time to exercise”, I say (at a certain point in the evening) “What I’m doing right now is cutting into my outside time. I can’t have that.” So I put my work down, get out there, and treat myself to some fresh air.

• Instead of exerting myself hard right off, I start out easy. This way exercise doesn’t feel like some kind of intimidating chore waiting for me. Instead of telling myself that I’m going to go get tired and winded, I tell myself that I’m going to go out for a while and relax. And every night I find that after a few minutes of taking it easy (this is a well-known concept in running — it’s called a warm-up walk!), my body is always ready for more — I find myself wanting to push it.

• Addendum 10-16-2006: No matter how busy I am, of course there is always time to eat, shower, etc. — likewise I also make time to exercise. Running takes only a few hours a week total. And here’s the magic: I have more energy, am more productive, and require less sleep than I used to — so I got that time back and more. It turns out I don’t have time not to exercise.

Here’s a great quote from Burfoot:

A runner is someone who runs. It’s that simple — and that grand. Be that someone. Be yourself.