John Kerl’s exercise log

Three miles around the neighborhood. Lots of guests this last week and not much running. The good sides: great time with company, and lots of walking. :)

Four miles at the river path with my sister-in-law — a great running buddy! :)

5-mile park loop, as before — except I ran it counterclockwise this time. Living on the edge! :) I walked 6-8 blocks beforehand and stretched carefully; it was a very nice run in cool desert-winter (early-fall by four-season standards) weather.

This semester I’ve been writing a paper, working on my dissertation, and job-hunting — very sit-down actitivies. Even moreso now for the last week or so, now that the semester is over. I feel like I haven’t done much. And yet I’ve exercised the last six days straight — not particularly vigorously, but consistently. This is a good thing: even on an off-feeling week, I’m still at it; exercise is a regular, routine (even sometimes a little boring) part of my life. :) :)

5 miles, same route as Dec. 8. My left plantar fasciae were tender ... probably for a few reasons. One, this fall just as last, I was biking a lot in prep for El Tour and not running much, then upping the running mileage after the bike race was over — so some adjustment is to be expected. Two, I was sloppy and didn’t stretch enough. Three, this week, with classes over, I’ve been sitting all day — and I know (or should know) that on such days, extra stretching is called for.

3 miles, around the neighborhood. The sun was setting when I left — a sprawl of peach, copper, and bronze, which faded as I ran. At first I was stiff — I’d been sitting all day, and had done a recently-unaccustomed five miles Tuesday. But by the last mile I’d forgotten to think about my pace, had stopped wondering when it was going to be time to stop, was completely in the moment on cruise control — my favorite way to run. :)

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of another year!

5 miles, for the first time outside (i.e. not at the track) in a while. 55 laps at the gym seems long, but over to the park, around it, and back home seemed like a quick lark. :)

4 miles at the track, everything feeling very very nice. Pool open as well! :)

Ran 3 miles at the track. I’d have happily run another couple miles, but my plantar fasciae were tight. This was unsurprising since, between tapering for El Tour, recovery, and the Thanksgiving holiday, I hadn’t run in two weeks. Ragnar is in three months — so it is time to ramp it up. After that ... probably no races for a while, unless a miscellaneous 5K or some such, what with graduating and moving to I don’t even know where yet ... .

And, the pool is closed at present due to mechanical problems. I hope that doesn’t last long! Winter swimming is a particular treat.

Yesterday, a nice little ride at the river with my daughter. Beautiful, cloudy fall weather — a bit of a headwind, but other than that, gorgeous. :)

Half an hour at the pool. Everything felt quite easy; I felt like I could have kept going and going. One nice thing about swimming in cooler weather (the pool is heated, mind you) is that there’s little competition for lane space. :)

Biking home, I took it easy; also, there was perhaps a slight tailbreeze. It felt effortless, like a ball bearing rolling on level glass. :)

El Tour is two days away!!! When I first moved (back) to Tucson, I heard about El Tour ... I thought biking 30 or 40 miles was nuts, but 100+ — just completely over the cliff, unthinkable. Four years later I know that 30-40 is a nice afternoon ride, and 100+ is doable. I have a friend who’s doing a full Ironman this Sunday, so I’m keeping it in perspective: she’s got the 100+ bike ride, with a 2.4-mile warm-up swim and a full marathon to cool down. (Yikes!) Yet, I am excited actually be doing this!!! At this point I just want to sleep well, eat enough, not get a flat tire, stock up my back-of-shirt pockets with plenty to eat ... then just get on the bike and start pedaling, keep my eyes open, and keep it safe. :) :)

Half an hour at the pool. I had planned to jog a few miles today (but not Thursday). However, the back of my right kneecap was just a little tweaky after the hillwork Saturday. I wouldn’t say it hurt — just that I could feel it. I want to be tip-top for Saturday.

Biked 43 miles — what I thought would be a relatively easy ride the week before El Tour. Zang!!! Some long and hard hills. I went riding with some 20-something guys from the department and quite simply couldn’t keep up. Lovely scenery out west, though — Ajo Way, McCain Loop, and Gates Pass, on a cool and almost-rainy autumn day.

3 miles at the track, half an hour in the pool.

The usual drill: 3 miles at the track and half an hour in the pool. :)

Biked 65 miles: Alvernon, River, Ina/Skyline/Sunrise, Swan; stopped for a sandwich and a mileage-padding lap around the park; then the previous loop in reverse. It’s a bit hot out for November ... better than June, though. :)

3 miles at the track and a half-hour in the pool — quite nice and easy.

Biked 15 miles total — took the long way home from work. :)

3 miles at the gym and half an hour in the pool. Feeling kind of draggy today ... a bit sleepy-headed despite an apparently solid sleep last night.

Ran 3 miles at the gym. Then I went to swim, but there were only 15 minutes left before an event-related pool closure. So, I made it 15 minutes of hard crawl. :)

4 miles in Manhattan (job-interview day!) — over to 12th Ave., up to 49th St., and back.

Biked 30 miles: Swan north; Sunrise/Skyline/Ina west; Thornydale south; River east. There was a stiff wind from the west-northwest, so the climb up Swan was a solid quad workout. The rest — pretty easy and quick. :)

Ran 4 miles at sunset — north 2 miles toward the Catalinas, as they were so gorgeous in the sunset; then back before dark.

100 miles!!! :) I’d planned a 90-miler; picked a route that was 92. It felt good and easy, so about halfway I decided to extend my route a bit. It ended up being northwest to Oro Valley, east to Sabino Canyon Road, south on Houghton to Sahuarita, west to Wilmot, then north. My only mistake: looking at Google Maps to plan my route without checking for dirt roads. It never even crossed my mind. Wilmot north was 7 miles of large gravel and bike-shaking washboard — never again, that.

Other than that, pretty easy — my best (and longest) long ride ever. There wasn’t much breeze, which helped; also, going east on Ina/Skyline/Sunrise, the hills felt somehow less hilly this time, even though there was as much or less tailwind than last time. I guess I am reaping the benefits of better conditioning. The ride south on Houghton lacked that wicked headwind from last time, so I was able to keep up a nice cadence in 1st/2nd/3rd gear, instead of slogging along in 1st and wishing for another gear below it. There was about an hour total of stoppage — I had a sandwich for lunch, another in the afternoon, and refilled my water bottles several times. Ice water rather than straight water: a great idea, even though it’s less hot out as autumn moves along.

After this, one or two more long ones (realistically, probably one) before El Tour on Nov. 21. Whee! :)

3 miles at the track, effortless and not too slow. Also 20 splendid minutes at the pool.

Biked 40 miles. For marathon training, I’ve heard (and practiced) that once the weekly long run reaches 10 miles, do very long runs only every other week. E.g. a pre-marathon ramp-up might include long runs on successive weeks of 6 miles, 8, 10, 12, 10, 14, 10, 16, 10, 18, 10, 20, 10. I’ve been using the same approach for the 108-mile El Tour coming up: I’ve been increasing the mileage for my weekly long rides; I biked 75 miles last week. Today I did 40; next week I will do 80+.

So: north to River and west to Ina were mostly flat, with some headwind. East on Ina/Skyline/Sunrise is my standard hill workout; today I took it farther east, to Sabino Canyon Road. South to East River, then west — more rollers — to Swan, then picked up some flowers at the store and then home. A hill workout today, but I wanted that. It was cool, beautiful autumn weather; like several previous rides, I finished up in a glorious desert sunset.

Ran 2 miles at the track, with a longer swim after. The left ankle was fine, and the jog was splendid, but I was short on time.

Ran 2 miles at the track, with a swim after. My left ankle (upper metatarsal area) felt a little tweaky so I ran only two miles instead of the planned three.

Biked 75 miles, all the way to Oracle and back. It was quite uphill from the 79/77 junction into Oracle — even with a little tailwind (mercifully), it was still hard. Coming back was zippy. :)

Most tired spot: elbows, more the right than the left. I’m definitely tired, but not as much as after the 62-miler to Sahuarita.

On the way back I grazed the Catalinas (along Oracle Rd.) just as the sun set. Amazing — purple craggy mountains, orange sky, near-full moon rising behind, temperature just perfect.

I haven’t run much in over a week, due the travel and lots and lots of walking back East. Actually, on the last day of walking (in New York) my knees and ankles were feeling strained, like after a very long run, and I’ve been giving them some recovery time. So, I gave my legs plenty to do last week. :)

Ran 3 miles in Massachusetts, visiting S’s old college roommate. A very nice run, albeit hilly, with an equally nice running buddy. :)

Ran 3 miles at the gym; swam 20 min.

Biked 62 miles, out to (and just beyond) Sahuarita and back. On the map the route looked flat and straight ... in reality it was a long slight incline all the way south on Houghton. By itself, that would have made for a nice endurance workout. But, the headwind was stiff. I was slogging along all the way, wondering when I was ever going to get out of first gear. On the way back, not so bad — with the sun going down, the wind eased off and so I didn’t get full headwind payback. Still there was a little breeze behind me with a slight downhill.

I was t-i-r-e-d when I was done ... the 108 miles of El Tour are looking formidable indeed. Of course, by then I’ll have had several of these longer rides behind me ... :)

Ran a few nice miles at the gym; good A.C. :)

Biked 47 miles total — to Oracle and Tangerine on the way in to campus; an extra loop around the park on the commute home. For the former, I started out at noon and biked until 3:00 — it clouded over soon after I started and it was just splendid. A little crosswind from the west; mixed clouds and sunlight over the mountains.

4 miles at the track — very glad for the air conditioning. :)

The usual 8-mile commute, plus a 31-mile late afternoon ride: Swan, Golf Links, Houghton, Snyder, Bear Canyon Road, Tanque Verde, Grant. The clouds were puffy white and puffy grey; it was warm but not hot. Once I got up close to the Catalinas I realized how green they are right now. It was absolutely gorgeous — inside of me as well as out. :)

4 miles at the track, and a swim in the “beggar’s lane” — just past the last lane line, in the wide shallow area. I need to find a less busy time to swim ... but late afternoons work so well for my schedule, alas! :)

3 miles at the track, and a swim.

I took the long way (rather, a long way) home — First to Skyline, to Swan, then home. This was 18 miles total, along with the four miles on the direct route in this morning. Also the first hillwork in quite some time — my legs let me know they weren’t used to it, but it felt great afterward. And the downhills were soaring. :)

20 minutes in the pool — first time in a month after travel and whatnot! — and 3 miles at the track. Also some misc. errand biking — hot out, but worth it.

Biked 17 miles — the usual way to campus and CSA; on the way back, Mountain to the river, east to Swan, south home. The next big thing coming up is the full-108 El Tour de Tucson on Nov. 21; I’ll have no lack of work with dissertation, vertical integration, and job-hunting. So perhaps this fall I’ll only run/swim a couple times a week (back to back at the gym: track then pool), with maybe an outside jog every couple weeks or so — but mainly focus on cycling. Whee! :)

3 miles, in late afternoon, at an easy pace with the dog. She never broke from a canter into a run; neither did I for that matter. Some runs are like that.

Clouds were piled up high and white in the east: great towering things, spotless and clean. As the sun set, they peached and purpled, then blued to match the mountains beneath them.

3 miles, at a rather peppy (for recently anyway) pace of 9:00.

I’ve not run much in recent weeks, with the travel, jet lag, and intestinal goings-on. But, I walked prodigiously in Europe — almost as good as running.

8 miles (or so), in Berlin: toward Under den Linden, through Tiergarten around Siegessäule, and back. Perfect weather; easy pace (sightseeing jog).

5 miles in Marseille, shortly before sunset — an amazing run, internally as well as externally. I kept up a pretty peppy pace, with little effort; brought my camera in my fanny pack and got a few shots around town. I went a few blocks up Rue de la République and back, a way out the west side of Vieux Port and back, then a way out the east side of Vieux Port and back. (I saw several other runners on the latter street.) This way, I was never far from the hotel. I had had quite a large lunch with the folks from the Institute (CNRS), so after I got back I showered (ahh!) and had some bread — that was quite plenty. Now a couple hours’ leisurely work before bed. This is a glorious evening. :)

3 miles, easy, in Norfolk. I did my usual out-of-town plan: picked a promising direction, kept my eyes open, ran half my desired distance, then turned around and retraced my steps. This way I don’t get lost. It was a so-so run — I got up early, to run before my flight out, and got calfsore.

4 miles: 3rd at 8:15 pace, and the rest at 9:10 pace.

4 miles at the track, easy/medium.

3 miles: 1 mile warm-up, 2 miles slow-lap/fast-lap intervals. First intervals since the marathon (I’m giving myself the green light since it’s been a month) — whee!! :)

4 miles at the track, rather sluggish. In retrospect, I could have snacked mid-afternoon, or gone to the gym earlier in the day. Also, I’d had a 40-minute swim. So, I doddered along with my gas tank running low. :)

5 miles, easy — except, in the heat. Daytime running in the summer isn’t my cup of tea, but scheduling was tight today. And it wasn’t really so bad. :) Yesterday, a fair amount of tooling around town by bike, and a good, hard swim.

5 miles at the track, untimed and very, very nice. My knees feel completely (every last little bit) recovered from the marathon. :)

4 miles at the track, about 8:40 pace with a few laps quicker. I felt spectacular. Also 20 minutes in the pool — I was a bit pressed for time so I pushed it hard. This was also spectacular. :)

Ran 2 miles — cut short from 3-4 due to a stomachache. Sometimes if I’m feeling a little weird, I figure if it bothers me while running or not, I might as well run and get the benefit of fresh air and exercise. But, this stomachache was much sharper while I was on foot, alas.

4 miles at the gym; very nice. Also half an hour in the pool — flip turns feel rather natural now. Not very pretty, but serviceable. :)

4 miles at the gym. By the fourth mile I was feeling ever so light on my feet — blissed out and in the zone. Long runs/races (e.g. the marathon!) can be grueling, but the fitness they create leads to a heavenly afterglow.

A fab-u-lous workout at the gym today ... and back to normal as well. Three miles at the track (OK, a little short for normal) and half an hour in the pool. The first half mile I felt slow and a bit heavy; timed myself one lap at 11:00 pace and thought, Eep! Did the marathon break me down? Then I stopped and stretched and took off feeling quite light; 9+ pace from there on out. I certainly don’t want to go any faster (no intervals or speedwork, for sure) for another couple weeks. But man, today I was grinning all the way. :)

3 miles at the track — 1st run since the marathon. It felt good. Also I swam 20 minutes — 1st swim in weeks. Also splendid. :)

The weather in San Diego was gorgeous — cool, cloudy, and just a little humid; I couldn’t have asked for better.

4 miles at medium pace back home, with the second mile quicker. Last run before the marathon! I’d have put in another run or two these last few weeks, but the rest of my life has been quite sufficiently busy and interesting. :)

7 miles, again in Atlanta. Halfway through it really rained. I hadn’t had a good soaking run in a long time — a joy.

5 miles in Atlanta. It was cool and cloudy, with a light rainshower starting partway through. With asphalt, grass, and leaf mold underfoot, and the patter of raindrops on the leaves overhead and in my eyebrows, I was in highest heaven.

10 very, very nice miles at the track. I’d planned to do a 20-miler this weekend, but decided to balance the benefits of another 20-miler against the cost of doing it two weeks before the marathon. Ten was nice — it was a workout, but without joint stress. It dawned on me — one tapers, say, three days for a 5K and two weeks for a marathon ... so here I am tapering, and content with 10 miles today. I’ll do eight or so this weekend, and a few other runs of 3-5 miles or so over the next couple weeks.

5 miles at the track, quite nice although a bit boring. But the air conditioning was a blessing, in this 100° summer weather. :)

The backsides (insides) of my kneecaps felt a bit creaky (cartilage stress) afterward. I know from prior experience that this is a sign of me reaching my limit. I’ve been running 3x/week, which isn’t too much of course, but 20-mile runs have longer-term effects — I’ve done two of them now this training season and have one more to go before the marathon on May 31. It remains to be seen whether I will want to be a regular marathoner — I told myself I’d see how this second marathon goes.

3 miles of intervals, still getting back to feeling completely normal.

5 miles, very solid and steady pace. I took it pretty easy, but the clock showed I was slower than I felt. Which bore out what I thought going in, namely, that this is a recovery run after the 21-miler.

21 miles at the park — I was pretty good throughout but tired significantly (ankle region foremost) the last couple miles. Hot and humid ...

5 miles at steady 10-minute pace — easy enough that I didn’t even draw a deep breath. This was exactly what I wanted, since I’ll be doing a 20-miler the day after tomorrow. Lovely evening weather again. :)

I squeezed a couple quick miles into a busy day. :)

Half a mile warmup, then 2.5 miles hard intervals: alternating slow and fast laps with no breaks.

4 miles at the track.

10 miles at the park — beautiful cool and breezy evening weather.

4 miles at the gym: 1 mile warm-up, then 3 miles of quarter-mile intervals, slow ones at 9-10 pace and fast ones at 6-7-8 pace. Then some laps at the pool ... the sink/bob is much improved and I’m feeling level in the water. Flip turns ... gah. Water in my nose repeatedly. :)

5 miles at the gym, mostly at tempo pace.

20 miles at the park — very easy pace; it felt fluid and grand. Except for the last 3 miles or so when I was tiring, especially my feet. This was the best marathon-training run ever — I’m tired, as I should be, but I’m feeling essentially quite good.

Last time, for long runs as well as the marathon, I ate Clif bars; this time, I took some shot blocks (basically electrolytes + sugar) with me. These digested much more pleasantly, presumably due to the lack of fiber.

I left the house before sunset; before halfway, it was dark, and Orion had set by the time I was done. I do adore running under the stars ... they’re just little points of light in the sky, really, but somehow the knowing what they are is powerful. In the day we can see our atmosphere and our sun; well and good. But at night, the long view opens up and you can see for light-years on end ... .

Ran 4 miles at the gym: 1/2 mile warmup, 2 1/2 intervals, last mile easy.

I youtubed “flip turn” the other day and had some aha moments. In particular, from a stationary point of view, the arms stay pointing away from the wall. From the swimmer’s point of view, it’s like the first half of a stadium wave: hands start on the thighs and end up overhead. One is upside down until after kickoff. This feels and looks better. I still don’t have it quite right — I think I need to tuck more tightly.

I also found some TI stuff on YouTube — Shinji Takeuchi’s demo, and his before-and-after. Wow ... poetry in motion. This greatly illuminates the text in the book. In particular, I noticed Shinji has the recovery upper arm coming up vertically out of the water. I tried this, and found that it forces the torso to be sideways in the water — which is good for keeling through the water, but also gets my body rolled. So, I don’t have to lift my head to breathe (and sink/bob afterward, as I found last week) — my mouth is already near the surface. I knew about having the torso sideways, of course, but the vertical-upper-arm method makes it dramatic.

Ran 10 easy miles. This was my longest in a month — between tapering for the triathlon and the cold/sinusitis spell, I missed a long one. I’ll do a 20-miler next week, then 2-3 more of those before the marathon on May 31.

It was just gorgeous out — I started in late afternoon with full, warm sunlight; towards the end it was slanting light and then orange sunset; the last mile or two it was a cool twilight.

45 minutes at the pool, with flip turns coming along nicely. While trying to find out (debugging!) why my stroke count is higher when left-breating, I realized that after I breathe (and this is moreso on the left), my head and chest sink way down and bob back to the surface. This is in contrast to the goal of keeping the body torpedo-level. I tried for a while to figure it out but couldn’t see how I was pushing myself down — it’s not the exhalation of air making me less buoyant, since I tried an experiment which controlled for that. Hmm ...

5 miles, right at an easy 10:00 pace. This was my first run since the triathlon — I am feeling almost back to normal.

So, the usual crap happened: I got a cold (starting Saturday, nine days ago); did the tri but felt weak; I was feeling ungood (feverish, weak) Monday through Wednesday; somewhere in there, the usual opportunistic bacteria took hold in my bronchi and maxillary sinuses; the already-small nasal openings inflamed and closed off; the cold per se ended about Thursday but the (low-grade) infection continued. My lungs cleared up around about yesterday, and my sinuses are better but not 100%. Antibiotics have multiple perils (as I found out last year) — I asked my doctor last time what to do for prevention, and the answer was using decongestants to keep everything as clear as possible to help the body defend against the bacteria. Also I’ve been using a neti pot to help keep things clean. This cold-to-sinusitis crap happens to me regularly; the longest was five weeks, 7-8 years ago, and I hope to get this one licked far sooner than that.

Half an hour in the pool. On Saturday I was beginning to come down with something; I did the race Sunday but was not feeling 100%. Monday through Wednesday I was feeling quite bad; today better. I just went and swam for a while to move my body a bit, and worked on form. Also, as of today I’m doing flip turns. I’ve been avoiding them, since I don’t know how to do them “right” ... but I’ll never learn if I don’t start. They weren’t at all pretty today, but I’ll get there. :)

1 mile at the track (sore toenail); 30 minutes at the pool; an extra spin around the park while biking home.

Ran 5 miles, 3 of them at tempo pace; swam 40 minutes; biked over to campus and back (8 miles). A not-uncommon-for-me but nice compact training set for the triathlon. Which is ... Sunday! :)

3 miles of intervals at the gym — slow laps at sub-9 pace, fast ones at 6-7 pace with the last two laps at sub-6. Whee! For a thousand feet at at time anyway ... :)

Then, some distance/form work at the pool — 18-21 strokes per lap, which is better but with room for further improvement.

Eight glorious miles, after sunset. It was hot today, but this evening was pure heaven. :)

5 miles at the track, from easy to tempo paces (10:00+ to 8:00-).

Ran 17 miles, ramping up for the marathon in just over two months. Everything felt very, very good. It was cool and glorious under a blue full moon ... :)

Ran 1.5 miles, impromptu. :)

Ran 2 miles total, alternating hard/medium intervals of 3-4 laps each. After, half an hour in the pool; before, 8 miles bursty biking — I hammered hard but had forced stops at traffic lights :). Good triathlon prep — the Tucson Triathlon is three weeks from Sunday.

5 miles at the track — 4 at 8:30-9:00 pace, then the last easy at 10:00. Then half an hour at the pool working on zipper and skate components of TI ... :)

My 2nd Ragnar Relay!!! It was a BLAST. Van 1 started noon Friday; I was in van 2. We slipped behind schedule quite a bit (2.5 hours or so), ending just before 8 Saturday evening, but other than that it was quite smooth. I made some new friends, and may have a little hash-running in my future ... we’ll see.

I was quite pleased with my times — even though I was assigned one of the hardest sets of legs, I didn’t think it was too bad. Certainly I had very few hills, unlike some of the nasty hilly legs van 1 had to negotiate east of Phoenix. My first leg was 7 miles at sunset Friday southwest of Prescott; 2nd was 5 miles at sunrise Saturday north of Phoenix; 3rd was 8 miles just before sundown Saturday along the Beeline Highway east of Phoenix. Paces were 9:20, 8:00 (!), and 9:20, respectively. I was pleased with all of that, but I was very pleased with the middle leg. My best 5K time up until now was 8:20 or so — I beat that, over a longer distance, without getting particularly winded. After each leg I felt simply fabulous — tired, yes, but so very alive. :)

2 miles at the track, 10:00 pace — then a nice half hour in the pool.

7 miles at the track, then half an hour in the pool. The relay is this weekend! I’ll jog a few miles Wednesday, and will be sure to stretch all this week. My shins have been splendid the last several runs, but they were very tight the first couple miles tonight — then they loosened up and were fine from then on.

A quick 3 miles — it felt hot out. It’s been chilly recently so this was a surprise.

Speedwork at the gym’s 1/11-mile track: 7 laps of warm-up, then 5 iterations of two laps hard and one lap easy; also a few minutes walk/stop in between for my heart rate to go back down. I don’t often enjoy speedwork but that was a lot of fun today. :)

In the pool — I am still trying to get comfortable with the TI form. Finally I went really easy and took a breath only every 5 or 6 strokes (!) — got feeling pretty smooth in the water and kept my head well down, since I wasn’t pulling it up to breath so much. I have more strokes-per-lap reduction to do for sure, and more TI drills to finish reading about and implement, but it’s starting to feel right: keeping one arm in the front quadrant at all times, rolling with the stroking arm under, keeping my head hidden (for body leveling).

Hillwork, on Swan north of the Rillito: 0.5 miles flat warm-up, 2.5 up, 2.5 down, 0.5 flat cool-down. My calves were a bit tight on the uphill, but fine after that. Perfect grey running weather. :)

The relay is just two weeks away! I’ll do some more hills next weekend or so.

Ran 2 miles at the track: 3x0.25 hard (6:30-7:00 pace) with 0.5 warm-up and some easy in-betweens.

5 miles at the gym, 2-3 of those miles up-tempo. Also, my shins were great Sunday as well as today. Hurrah! I am figuring out this chi form and it’s beginning to feel natural ... I knew landing heel-first can overwork the shins, but re-reading key parts of Dreyer’s book on chi running this weekend, I noted that pushing off with the toes is the key cause of shin splints. I didn’t think I’d been pushing off with my toes ... but, I’ve been making sure to lift my heels, and making sure my toes aren’t pressing the ground. And voilà — so far, so good. :)

Ran 12 miles — 4 laps (+ change) around the park. It was raining this afternoon when I got back into town from traveling; I like a jog in the rain but didn’t want to get soaked doing a long run. After dark, though, it cleared up a bit. It was still damp out, and a bit chilly; I wrung the sweat out of my stocking cap several times. The full moon was amazing — sharp and clear against a navy-blue sky, in gaps between the silvery clouds. Wow. :)

Ran 4 miles at the track — 1 mile easy, 1 mile tempo, 7 minutes up and down the stairs (a quick substitute for hillwork), and 1.5 miles easy.

I recently got Total Immersion which is all about good hydrodynamic swim form ... I’m only halfway through it but I think I know the main outline. I was no faster in the pool today, but with much lower stroke rate and less exertion. It felt awkward, and it will until I get used to it.

Ran 4 miles: a couple miles of intervals, an easy mile, and a tempo mile. Tight shins through most of it, lessening toward the end. After that, I swam non-stop crawl for half an hour — so, about 30 laps. That felt very, very nice. :)

Ran 5 miles, with a visiting running buddy. :) Shins tight throughout. :(

Half a mile easy/medium (9:00 pace), then 8x0.25 alternating harder/easier (7:00/9:00). Calves splendid. :)

Ran 10 miles at the track. That’s 110 laps (yikes!), if I’d been counting laps — actually I computed distance from pace and time, which is a lot easier to keep track of. My shin muscles were tight the first 2-3 miles, then loosened up afterward. I don’t like running longer distances at the track so much — there’s the gerbil-wheel effect and the scenery doesn’t change much. But, as much as I like running in all kinds of weather, it was cold out today and so I wimped out. :) I stopped 2-3 minutes after each mile; it was pretty easy. In the last 2 miles I started losing some energy; I probably should have brought along something to eat. The soles of my feet tired most. After, I went for a short cool-down swim — thankfully, the pool is heated.

3 miles, at constant 9:00 pace.

Ran 3 miles at the track: 2 medium/easy and 4x0.25 harder (7:00 pace). Also some nice time in the pool.

Ran 8 miles — everything felt very easy.

Ran another quick 3 miles! :)

Ran a quick 3 miles! :)

Ran 5 miles at the gym, with a swim after. I’m finally back in my routine after the break — back in Tucson, with the gym open and the semester about to start. There had been a chlorine-resistant-algae problem before the break ... whatever they did over the break was amazing — the view underwater was crystal-clear from end to end. Also the air was still so there were few ripples, and since it was evening, the water was like blue glass above and below.

8 miles — really, 4 and 4 with an hour break halfway. I had intended to go 4-5 miles, south along Rock Creek. But, I reached the Potomac, then realized I was getting close to the National Mall — so I thought I’d go a bit farther. I decided to turn around at the Lincoln Memorial (which I went into), but then I realized how close I was to the Washington Monument. So I kept jogging along to take an up-close look — and then, how could I not go up to the top? :) I had a conversation with a couple very nice people, and had an incredible view. With the lines at the monument, it was about an hour before I got underway to go back.

I took the pace very easy, even moreso once I realized it was turning into a long run. I was calfsore up until about mile three, then not at all after that point; everything except my calves was great throughout. And I really love running bundled up in chilly weather. This was truly a wonderful and memorable run! :)

4 miles, also in Rock Creek Park but north from the hotel this time — past the National Zoo and back. Again I was quite calfsore, albeit less so in the last mile, even though I warmed up well ... this is a bit frustrating. I didn’t hydrate before running, and have fallen off my daily stretch routine ... .

Ran 3 miles at conference lunch break, south of the conference hotel in DC’s Rock Creek Park — lovely wintery scenery. I was calfsore, but I’m unsurprised, as my warmup was thoroughly inappropriate.