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Ah, a fresh week to make new times on similar distances.  Since I had the weekend off from running, I thought to run the 6.66 mile route and see what happens.

It was 74 degrees with 100% humidity, clear skies, and negligible wind, plus a full moon.

As always, the goal is to maintain the cadence of 170 and see what happens.

6.69 miles, 1:33:32, 13:59 pace, 159 avg cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length
1.  14:15, 129 bpm, 167 spm, 68 sl
2.  14:01, 137 bpm, 156 spm, 73 sl
3.  13:56, 144 bpm, 160 spm, 72 sl
4   13:36, 151 bpm, 162 spm, 73 sl
5.  14:21, 148 bpm, 154 spm, 73 sl
6.  14:06, 118 bpm (ha), 154 spm, 74 sl
7.  13:30 pace, 62 bpm (ha ha), 160 spm, 74 sl

Last Wednesday, June 15, I ran the same course with the below times at 78 degrees:
6.73 miles, 1:40:06, 14:53 pace, 152 avg cadence, 0.71 m avg stride length
1.  14:16, 166 spm, 68 sl
2.  14:32, 151 spm, 73 sl
3.  14:58, 149 spm, 72 sl
4.  14:52, 150 spm, 72 sl
5.  15:20, 148 spm, 71 sl
6.  15:14, 148 spm, 71 sl
7.  15:04 pace, 149 spm, 72 sl


So, two days rest, instead of 1 day rest provided these changes of 6-1/2 minutes faster.  I have no idea where the sub-14 splits came from.  I wasn't expecting it, I thought the satellite was screwing with me, but it could also be the mitochondria have manufactures some fresh muscle cells.  The air was not as heavy as last Wednesday's run.

It's a little soon to declare a victory, but it is improvement for now.

Every major triumph is made up of countless tiny victories. Good job.

Mark B wrote:Every major triumph is made up of countless tiny victories. Good job.

+1

An improvement is an improvement.  Take credit where credit is deserved.

Just getting out for a run in those conditions is a victory in my opinion.

Just want to know why the weather here in CLE is pretty darn close to the weather in Houston?  Of course, you were probably running at 4 am, and I was out at 9 am.

Anyway, a victory is a victory.

Mark B wrote:Every major triumph is made up of countless tiny victories. Good job.

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:Every major triumph is made up of countless tiny victories. Good job.

+1

An improvement is an improvement.  Take credit where credit is deserved.

Just getting out for a run in those conditions is a victory in my opinion.

Okay, I'll take the credit.  Doesn't seem like much of one, but in a month, I'm sure it'll be more apparent.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Just want to know why the weather here in CLE is pretty darn close to the weather in Houston?  Of course, you were probably running at 4 am, and I was out at 9 am.

Anyway, a victory is a victory.

Yup, it was dark:30 out there.
Thanks, y'all

-30-

This morning, I ran 3 miles as 'cadence work' by renaming 'speedwork,' since there ain't no speed at 75 degrees with 100% humidity.  After all, working on cadence is working on speed.  So the goal was to work on maintaining 170 spm for as long as possible.  Maybe even work on some stride lengthening.  I thought of doing four miles, but settled on three.  The HR strap was not functioning properly.

3 miles, 39:55, 13:18 pace, 166 avg cadence, 0.73 m avg stride length
1.  13:52, 167 spm, 70 sl
2.  13:01, 168 spm, 74 sl
3.  13:00, 164 spm, 76 sl

Three miles, instead of four, turned out to be the correct distance from a mental standpoint.  Sure, I could've ran four, but the cadence wouldn't have been as good.  As you can see from the mile 1 and 2 splits, the cadence was pretty durn close to 170, in fact, mile two was a step faster than mile 1.  But after mile 2.25, cadence started slipping.  (This was where picking 3 miles paid off.)  Once I thought that I only had 3/4ths of a mile to go, I picked up the cadence because I could push close to 170 for that small distance.  After mile one, I worked a little on lengthening my stride, which is quite fun for me, but it was sporadic.  Which just means that I need to do it more often.

So, it looks like Wednesdays will be cadence work, for the purpose of bringing up the endurance at 170, which will only help on the other two running days.  Thanks for stopping by.

This morning, instead of lifting weights, I fired up the stretching DVD that I was watching when I landed on my right knee.  It's an hour program and I think it'll do me some good on posture, core, and flexibility.  I think it'll be a good DVD to have as I get as old as Mark.  

This time, instead of using a chair, which went out from under me the last time, I used the couch.  It's a 70 year old couch that my parents received as a wedding present.  So, it's a bit sturdier than something from IKEA.

Tomorrow, I'll probably run five miles, since I'm doing this backwards long run on Mondays thing.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'm going to try to follow Houston Fit's Fall marathon program that started a few weeks ago.  It'll save me from having to dream one up and it'll get my endurance up.

Still have to figure out how to do a 5/1 or similar plan and transition it over.

So, I've been delinquent on posting runs over the past 2 weeks.  I'll work on catching up.  Some of the flavor of the older runs will be missing, due to time.

Friday, June 24 ---
73 degrees at 100% humidity.  This was a five mile run that followed a 3 mile 'cadencework' run.

5 miles, 1:10:58, 14:11 pace, 159 avg spm, 0.71 m avg stride length
1.  14:00, 166 spm, 69 sl
2.  14:07, 157 spm, 73 sl
3.  14:08, 162 spm, 70 sl
4.  14:29, 154 spm, 72 sl
5.  14:13, 155 spm, 73 sl

The HR was pretty accurate from 0.37 miles to 2.5 miles between 138-141 bpm.  Other than that, it was not reporting accurate figures.  The cadence was better, but it's not there yet.

Glad to see you're back.  I was starting to worry and contemplating a nice game of tic-tac-toe in your absence.

Keep those run updates coming...

nkrichards wrote:Glad to see you're back.  I was starting to worry and contemplating a nice game of tic-tac-toe in your absence.

Keep those run updates coming...

Well, that would've been fun to see.

So, how did your June corn stack up against the family?

-30-

Monday, June 27---
This was my second run to Memorial Park since the April injury.  I'm troubled by my not being able to increase the cadence in the six weeks since re-starting to run.  It needs to be much better by Labor Day.

76 degrees with 100% humidity.

6.65 miles, 1:38:51, 14:52 pace, 136 avg HR, 150 max HR during mile 7, 152 avg cadence, 0.71 m avg stride length
1.  14:33, 130 bpm, 160 spm, 69 sl
2.  14:34, 133 bpm, 152 spm, 73 sl
3.  14:35, 136 bpm, 151 spm, 73 sl
4.  14:53, 138 bpm, 151 spm, 72 sl
5.  15:18, 136 bpm, 150 spm, 70 sl
6.  15:23, 139 bpm, 149 spm, 70 sl
7.  14:40 pace, 145 bpm, 152 spm, 72 sl

sigh

Next on tap is June 29, a Wednesday which means it's Cadence-xcitement day.  Instead of speed work in the 70's, it's 3 miles of 170 steps per minute.  I believe the 22nd was the first cadence work run (maybe the 2nd).  But the idea is to do my best to maintain a 170 cadence for the entire distance.  My version of speed work because if I can do the 170 cadence, then it IS speed work for me.

That morning it was a bearable 72 degrees with 100% humidity, which is 5 to 7 degrees cooler than other mornings and a dewpoint 5 degrees lower.  It's always interesting to me to see how I run 2 days after my long run of the week, in this case 6.66 miles at a 14:52 pace.  HR on this run saw not much for the first third of the run, then it picked up the signal.  142 bpm is about 5 bpm lower than it probably was.

3 miles, 39:07, 13:02 pace, 142 avg bpm. 168 cadence, 0.74 m avg stride length
1.  13:07, 121 bpm ( ), 169 spm, 73 sl
2.  13:04, 150 bpm, 169 spm, 73 sl
3.  12:55, 155 bpm, 165 spm, 75 sl

Avg HR would've been around 150 bpm.  The prior week, June 22, had a 39:55 time at 75 degrees w/100% humidity.  Again the 3rd mile of this run had some wavering cadence, but the fact that I was almost done helped me keep the cadence up.

I get to interrupt this catching up on past runs to say that I'm on injured reserve for probably four weeks.  I believe the body part is medial collateral ligament on the left knee.  It's been kind of whining for a couple of weeks, but rest or a short distance seemed to quiet it.  I imagine the cumulative effect caused it to say enough is enough, after running eight miles, yesterday morning.

The medial collateral ligament and its opposite, the lateral collateral ligament, are the ligaments on either side of the knee.

There is a center point to this injury, which is why I believe it's not a 'grinding' injury of a meniscus variety.  Of course, I've never had a meniscus tear or whatever, so it's just a guess.  I have no swelling, though.  So, I'll let it rest and probably buy me one of those elastic knee braces to support the MCL in its job.

I don't look forward to the loss of endurance again, but dems da breaks.  A 4 week rest would give me about 20 weeks to get ready for Houston in January.  For me, Houston is more important than the BB50 race in April or JJ100 in October, 2017 because I want two more official finishes at Houston to get 10.

ounce wrote:I get to interrupt this catching up on past runs to say that I'm on injured reserve for probably four weeks.  I believe the body part is medial collateral ligament on the left knee.  It's been kind of whining for a couple of weeks, but rest or a short distance seemed to quiet it.  I imagine the cumulative effect caused it to say enough is enough, after running eight miles, yesterday morning.

The medial collateral ligament and its opposite, the lateral collateral ligament, are the ligaments on either side of the knee.

There is a center point to this injury, which is why I believe it's not a 'grinding' injury of a meniscus variety.  Of course, I've never had a meniscus tear or whatever, so it's just a guess.  I have no swelling, though.  So, I'll let it rest and probably buy me one of those elastic knee braces to support the MCL in its job.

I don't look forward to the loss of endurance again, but dems da breaks.  A 4 week rest would give me about 20 weeks to get ready for Houston in January.  For me, Houston is more important than the BB50 race in April or JJ100 in October, 2017 because I want two more official finishes at Houston to get 10.

Well, crap.

Anything you can do to rehab it faster? Can you get it checked out, or is that not feasible?

4 weeks is based on the 4 weeks it took my right knee to get better, which wasn't even a running injury.  It's more of a guess on healing at the young age of 59.

I don't imagine there's much to do for a doctor or PT other than strengthening the muscles around it.  Plus, it's getting down to nut cut time on starting training for Houston, so doing nothing for a couple of weeks could be very advantageous.

What! On the medical reserve list!!  I don't know about you and Mark....

Take care of yourself and let it heal before you get back out there.  That said hope you are able to train well enough to be prepared for Houston as I know that's an important one for you.

nkrichards wrote:What! On the medical reserve list!!  I don't know about you and Mark....

Take care of yourself and let it heal before you get back out there.  That said hope you are able to train well enough to be prepared for Houston as I know that's an important one for you.

Well, I didn't want to take any of Mark's thunder on being hurt, but shit happens.  I think I'll be able to train well for Houston.  If I adapt well before October, I might be able to up the mileage to get some longer runs in for BB50 (Brazos Bend 50 mile in April).

Thanks much, Nancy.  I just hope this is not just the beginning.

Still having to upload the runs since July 1.  

Having sidelined my self since last Monday (July 11), I was tired of not running and thought I was ready to see how far I could run before my knee started to protest.  I ran 1.86 miles, which was the 2nd whining of the knee.  I wasn't in limping status at that point and even the walk back home did not piss my knee off.

It seems when I heel strike on the back of the heel, that it causes the afflicted left knee to whine.  It was that way on July 11 on the return 4 miles.  In Chi Running, I'm not supposed to be striking the back of the heel anyway, rather the forward part of the heel or the mid-foot.  However, I find that as I run along and get a little tired, I become a back of the heel striker.

So, there's something mechanical going on when I rear heel strike that makes the MCL reflect the left knee pooch medially, but doesn't when I land on the forward part of the heel.  It could be something as easy as replacing the two pairs of Kinvara 4's that I've been running on since April 2015.  They sure have been great and durable shoes.  Saucony is already up to Kinvara 7 in their models.

I have a new pair of 5's that I've had for a year, still in the box.  I'm curious if the 5's are just a tad softer than the 4's.  I can still get two pairs of 4's on Amazon.  I even have a pair of trail 4's (called the Peregrine) that have about 50 miles on them that would be perfect for BB50, next April, because of the flat and dirt trail makeup of the course.  I'll probably run that course in the Fall to get the hang of the course and the alligators that are course monitors.

Thursday, I pulled out that new pair of Kinvara 5's.  I replaced the black laces with the lime green laces from another shoe because black laces against a black tongue gives zero contrast to see if the laces are about to untie.  I spent the day in them to see if anything seemed off or a loose, but sharp, thread would poke into my foot somewhere.

My knee is better, although some random move other than keeping the leg under me, like planting to go right and the left leg is trailing, would be met with varying degrees of protestation.  With that, I ran this morning hoping to get to 1.86 miles, the distance from Tuesday, without pain.

I ended up running 4 miles with some minimal sustained pain around 3.9 miles.  Not fixed, but promising.  A case in point would be during miles 3 and 4, my left knee was whining some.  However, by focusing on running straight and not kinda weaving a bit was the pacifier the knee needed to be content.  This focusing was used at the last Houston to keep me from weaving in the last 10K of the race.  That REALLY worked, then, and kept my over-running the course less.

So at this point in the analysis, the pain could be from using shoes past their useful life.  The next experiment is to run in the teal Kinvara 5's (where some early excess wear on the left medial sole of the shoe started) against today's new 5's (white and black).

Post-run up to now, the knee doesn't hurt.  It did ache immediately after the run, but that abated before I got back to the apt.

Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

Mark B wrote:Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

+1 on the run/walk suggestion.  And that will be good training for your ultra.

Stay safe and don't overdo it.

Mark B wrote:Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

+1 on the run/walk suggestion.  And that will be good training for your ultra.

Stay safe and don't overdo it.

Well, I can't say that I'm sold on the idea of run/walk Houston because I have enough of an issue to just finishing it by running most of it.  According to an earlier post, a 5/1 at Houston would equate to a 12:24/18 minute pace for a 5:45 finish. 

I have no problem of doing run/walk for BB.  Heck, I'll be doing it anyway at some stretch of the race, so I might as well get into the groove of it.  But can it wait until after Houston...10 weeks from BB?

-30-

Friday, July 1---
I remember this run as a milestone in returning to form.  It was going to be either a ~7, 8 or ~9 mile run.  If I ran the 9, it would be objective evidence that at whatever pace or cadence, I had the endurance and ketones to run it.  THAT would be cool.

It was 76 degrees with a dewpoint of 75 degrees or about 96% humidity.  I ran 8.82 miles.  My left knee was bugging me for the last half of the run.  Regardless, the run was so inspiring.  The 2nd half of the run, even though my cadence was in the 150's, instead of the high 160's, I was in a groove.  I was chugging along.  It was fun!  Pace wasn't important, once I found the groove.

8.82 miles, 2:12:52, 15:04 pace, 152 cadence, 0.70 m avg stride length
1.  14:02
2.  13:46
3.  14:43
4.  15:16
5.  15:28
6.  15:34
7.  15:44
8.  15:30
9.  15:33 pace

Wednesday, July 6----
5 miles at 79 degrees with a dewpoint of 77 degrees.  My outlook on running was much better.  It was time to increase the mileage.

5 miles, 1:12:49, 14:33 pace, 154 cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length
1.  13:47, 166 spm, 70 sl
2.  14:07, 154 spm, 74 sl
3.  14:36, 157 spm, 70 sl
4.  15:12, 149 spm, 71 sl
5.  15:05, 148 spm, 72 sl

Wednesday, July 8---
79 degrees with 77 degree dewpoint.
6.66 miles, 1:39:14, 14:54 pace, 151 avg cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length
1.  13.53, 165 spm, 70 sl
2.  14:12, 152 spm, 75 sl
3.  15:01, 149 spm, 72 sl
4.  14:58, 149 spm, 72 sl
5.  15:27, 146 spm, 71 sl
6.  15:39, 144 spm, 71 sl
7.  15:16 pace, 148 spm, 71 sl

My left knee seems to be less inflamed.  When I walk, the knee is transparent.  If I am walking and cut 90 degrees to the right, while dragging my left foot at the medial side of the ball of the shoe, it squawks, but nothing like the sharp pain I was getting two weeks ago.

The two pairs of old Kinvara 4 have been retired to pedestrian duty.  Let us have a moment of silence.  

Now, I'll be rotating 2 pairs of 5's until the Fall, when I will go out to Brazos Bend State Park to run around on the BB50 course and see if the terrain is suitable to road shoes or if I need a pair of a trail type shoe.  I have a pair of Peregrines that are a trail version of the Kinvara 4.  I have about 60 miles on them.  They don't have lugs.  BB50 is flat course with dirt trails.  I'll report more in detail in the Fall.  Alligators serve as course monitors.  

The Javelina Jundred 100K course has elevation change of 5,000', like 800' increase over 10 miles, then down x 3, I think.  JJ has rocky jeep trails, which ought to be fun in the dark.

I've read, regarding to blisters, that some people wear two thin pairs of socks to reduce sand and dirt from getting to the foot.  What do y'all think?

This morning, I went out to run further than the 4 miles that I have ran the past couple of weeks.  Had to dip more of the foot into the water.  My choices were either 5, 6-something or 8 miles.  The left knee would be the stool pigeon.

At 3.2 miles, the knee was barely beginning to ache and I decided to turn around.  So, I ran about 6.3 miles when it was 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 76 degrees.  This gives me 10 miles for the week, since I didn't run Wednesday.

My knee handled the distance with only minimal whining, mostly when I was getting sort of loosey goosey with the stride.  Afterwards, when I wasn't walking straight, therefore having to adjust the direction, the knee protested.

So, it's clear to me that running straight keeps the knee happy.  Walking straight, too.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

nkrichards wrote:

Mark B wrote:Smart idea switching out the shoes. Run-down shoes -- especially if they have run down lopsided -- are a recipe for trouble.

Keep easing into it. You might be able to go farther by alternating running and walking. My PT had me do that once, and it helped a lot.

+1 on the run/walk suggestion.  And that will be good training for your ultra.

Stay safe and don't overdo it.

Well, I can't say that I'm sold on the idea of run/walk Houston because I have enough of an issue to just finishing it by running most of it.  According to an earlier post, a 5/1 at Houston would equate to a 12:24/18 minute pace for a 5:45 finish. 

I have no problem of doing run/walk for BB.  Heck, I'll be doing it anyway at some stretch of the race, so I might as well get into the groove of it.  But can it wait until after Houston...10 weeks from BB?

I was thinking more of using the run/walk method so that you could get out there on the knee sooner without risking further damage.  I'm like you...I'm not thinking it's necessary for Houston.