Getting back to Boston

I have to keep reminding myself that my body likes it better when I put some stress on it in training. Slow routine miles kick my butt. Running faster invigorates me. Tonight, warmed up for a mile and a half, then cranked it up to GMP and beyond. Ran 1.49 in 11:40, which is 7:50 pace -- just about my goal for Boston. The last .49 was at 7:34 pace. Then cooled down for two full laps at Ben Geren for total of 6.09. Ended up with some drills and one longish stride. Afterward, felt invigorated, not worn out.

Pushed the pace a bit at Cross Park -- not MP, but harder than usual, averaging 8:40. Last half-mile was almost at MP. Nice and cool, but humid enough that I still felt it. But this is the kind of run that's going to get me back in go-fast mode. Tonight felt like what I remember Memphis feeling like -- fast enough that I felt it, but also comfortable.

I'm making one change that I hope will make a difference. My weak link has been the calves; they've cramped to some degree in all four marathons. I hope that if I do some specific calf strengthening as part of a cross-training program, that will give me the extra 10-15% to get through 26.2 before they let go. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten below 3:30 in both of my last two without the cramps; the hips, quads, etc., were cooperating. It's simple -- get on the edge of a porch or stair and just do ankle extensions against my body weight. Crossing the fingers that this makes the difference.

Went out tonight intending to do 7 or 8. But as I got going, settled into a good stride and decided not to waste a good night. So instead of turning around on Phoenix and heading back to my car for an 7-miler, decided to go another mile or so, under the freeway to the entrance to the Pavilion. Then, when I got back to my car parked at the Harps on 74th, decided to keep going down to the light on Rogers, then back to the car. That got me over 10 miles.

Oh, also almost got run over. I was going back up Phoenix toward my car and came to an intersection with a red light. As most such intersections in Fort Smith do, it had a crosswalk light for pedestrians, and I had the light in my favor at that time. But goofball in a pickup truck, planning to turn right on red, was looking left at traffic and never looked right at all. When he started to pull out, I was within about 18 inches of his bumper. I immediately veered right and yelled, and he stopped. I would not look good splattered on an old pickup.

All in all, though, a very good run. This past two weeks of training has been very encouraging as I look ahead to Boston. I figured I'd come around when I finally got some favorable weather, and sure enough, that's what's happened.

Three easy laps at Ben Geren. No traffic concerns, but not without incident either. Tripped on a rock during the first lap; don't know how I kept from doing a faceplant, but somehow got the right leg under me as I tumbled forward and maintained balance. Otherwise pretty much slow and steady; kept the HR in the low 130s. Got in a couple of strides at the end. My thought as I looked at the HR on the Garmin was that, if I'd run 4.6 at this pace in July, the HR would have been about 150. Tonight, it was low 50s and breezy; barely even needed a headband. Garmin says the AHR was 137, but then for much of the first mile it was counting cadence, not HR, until the electrodes got sweaty.

Tried a new course today. Reason I hadn't tried it yet was basically hill avoidance -- it's got three or four monsters. They were monstrous, all right, but I slogged the thing at 9:30 pace, which I thought was pretty good considering my butt still hurt from Wednesday night's 10. Went up Burnham to FF to 74th, down to St. Ed, all the way up the hill on Rogers, under the freeway to Waldron, down to Gordon, up the hill to Burnham and back home. MMR says it was 177 feet of uphill and 177 of downhill, and two of the uphills were greater than 3% average. That's Heartbreak Hill territory, especially the one on Rogers.

Stopped in front of St. Ed's to wipe my eyes and take my sunglasses off, and I thought I heard someone yelling, but with the traffic noise I couldn't tell what was being yelled or by whom (or at whom), and couldn't see anyone without my glasses. Minute later I heard my phone buzz for a missed call. The call was from Liza, my boss. I guess she was the one yelling at me. She knows I'm training for Boston. I called and left her a message that I'd heard somebody yelling something but couldn't tell what, or by whom.

Made today's run up as I went along. Had no idea where I was going or how long I'd go. Went south on Burnham (first time), west on Euper (first time), lap and a half around the mall, up Waldron to Park, across the freeway to 66th, down to FF, back to Burnham, then six Hudson hills on Burnham before coming home. Worked out to 5.75 in all. Hills actually felt pretty good, after not doing them for many weeks.

Three easy laps around the mall. Finished off 40.69 for the training week. No muss, no fuss. Good weekend with Tyler, good training. Now back to work tomorrow night (boo). Not fond of the end of DST either; being dark at 6 p.m. is not my cup of tea. Maybe I'll get in an early AM run after getting off work at 5 a.m. Or maybe not.

Next 15 hours will be really interesting, as in, how will I handle working graveyard? I did a couple of graveyards in school 16 years ago, but this counts now. How much caffeine will I need? Will I get stupid tired, like I am late Sunday at the end of a full week of 12s? Guess we'll find out.

Before that, debated taking a URD just because I've run 20 out of the last 21 days, but decided to make it 21 out of 22. Got in 5.14 at Cross Park, meaning nine laps. Thought I saw Bhargav there, carrying a small child, but he should be at work now (unless he's on the overnight with me, which is possible). Thought about doing another lap or two, but nah. Decided to come home and rest for a couple of hours before work. I'll take that RD on Friday, when I only have seven hours between shifts (although there ain't no way I'll be back at work at noon after getting home at 5:15).

OK, I survived one night of graveyard. Wasn't very busy at all, which is good. I actually had the opportunity to try to take a nap, try being the operative word. No such luck. Gave up on the nap at 4 a.m. and just sat up bleary-eyed until it was time to go home.

I've done some calculation. Total US population is 310 million and change. In 2010, there were 22,674 American entries at Boston, or one for every 13,000 people in the U.S. With the population of Fort Smith being 80,000, there should be six runners at Boston from Fort Smith. Instead there is one: Me. The population of Arkansas is about 2.9 million, so there should be 210 entries. Instead, there are 61 -- and even that is better than last year. Fayetteville and Little Rock are well represented. Arkadelphia, my hometown, should have one entry; instead there are two. But Fort Smith only has one, and that's because I moved here from elsewhere. Not sure what that means, other than that the Fort Smith running community could stand some building.

Anyway, did my part for the FS running community by getting out and doing some this afternoon; 4.5 at about 9:25 pace. As usual, I got faster as I went along. If I could figure out how to do that for a full 26.2, I might be dangerous. Now off to the hospital soon.

Worked 12.5 hours tonight, having gotten called to go to the ER at 4:40 a.m., 20 miinutes before my scheduled departure. By the time I finished that, I was kinda wired. Decided I'd got for a run when I got home. Changed clothes, put a load of clothes in the dryer that had been sitting in the washer for 15 hours, and the sun is starting to peek over the horizon when I head out. Decided to run three laps around the mall, with the second one pushed. Well, I did that, but during the third lap, decided to add a fourth -- and pushed that one.

Wound up with 6.54 with about 3 at something resembling MP, finishing in just under an hour. After Wednesday's URD, good way to get back in the swing. Now I'll take a shower and finally go to bed.

Today was supposed to be an SRD due to the work schedule: Off at 5 a.m., few hours of sleep, back to work at noon, work until midnight. Which is almost how it worked. But tonight was light, I got to leave at 11:20, I felt pretty good considering I'd worked 23.5 of the past 31 hours. and there were still a few minutes of Friday left. So I make a quick store stop for catfood and a few other things, got home at 11:50, put up the groceries, changed clothes and went out the door at 11:59. Voila! No more SRD.

Cold front blew through today/tonight while I was at work, not sure which. So now it's breezy and COOL -- like mid-40s. Felt wonderful. Put on a long-sleeved tech shirt and shorts; didn't need the sleeves. Barely needed the headband. I kept the run to 3.2 because I did work 23.5 of the last 31 hours and need some sleep, but the run went well. Pace was low-9ish. Even attacked the hill on Duncan pretty well.

Tempted to sleep with window open, but won't. Get a shower and a snack, hit the rack, get ready for 12 more hours tomorrow. Not sure which hours that will be, as I may need to cover for someone who may not be able to come in, but whatever. I can get a short morning run in regardless.

After the weirdest week of work I've ever had, no way I was going to be able to run Saturday or Sunday. In fact, I slept until 1 p.m. on Sunday and Monday. Got out tonight and decided to try out the dreadmill at Harbortown.

Fitness room over there is nice enough, but I quickly noticed there is no fan. Not good. And I didn't even wear a headband. Took a hand towel, which was woefully inadequate. Sweat's flying everywhere. Amazingly, it didn't blind me. Anyway, through the flying sweat, I warmed up for 1.5, ran 1.25 at MP, then .25 at somewhere between HMP and 10K pace, then cooled down for 1.5. Nice to have a dreadmill available if it's a thunderstorm, or it's minus-5, but don't think I'll be using it much otherwise.

Change of plans day today. I'd planned to do 10-12 this afternoon, but then found out I had a "mandatory" meeting at work (which half the team missed) at 1. So I went to the meeting. Then I decided to do 4 or 5 this afternoon, and the 10-12 tomorrow. I left the house a little before 4 to go to Ben Geren, planning to run one loop around the park perimeter, which is 4.4ish by car odometer. Ran it, felt pretty strong, and there was still daylight left, so I decided to run it again. Finished that loop, even faster than the first, and it was too late to run a third loop before dark, but I could run the gravel trail that I usually run. Ran that hard as well, then decided to jog a cooldown lap around the gravel trail.

Didn't have the Garmin (forgot to charge it), but I estimate that run as right at 12 miles, which I ran in 1:49:16. Splits were 40:30 for the first 4.4, 38:52 for the second 4.4, 13:33 for the hard lap on the trail, 16:21 for the jog lap.

The old joke goes that someone asked someone else why he was hitting himself in the face with a ball peen hammer. Answer: "Because it feels so good when I stop."

I think that's why I run. Not quite as destructive as the ball peen to the frontal lobe, but yeah, running hurts -- sometimes more than others. I believe the "runner's high" exists, but I've only experienced it one time, on that night run along the RT in NLR when everything just clicked between Cook's Landing and the quarry. So if I were running to experience the runner's high, I'd be sadly disappointed.

What I get out of it, other than the satisfaction of working toward a goal and taking each step along the way, is the feeling I get afterward. I don't know if you'd call it a glow, or a rush, but I feel different after a good run. GOOD run being the key. I don't get a glow after a slog, and that was probably my problem this summer. All I was doing was slogs, and I don't get good feedback from slogs. The last two days have been prime examples. After that 12-miler last night, I felt great. My legs hurt, but so what? I felt the glow, the rush.

Today, went over to Creekmore Park to try out the trail over there. Nice trail, but too much traffic for my taste; dodging too many walkers. It's just a smidge over 0.6 miles. Did nine laps today for 5.53, counting the jog back to the car after the final lap. Nothing dramatic as far as pace or anything, just a steady 9:30, about what I do on easy runs. Took two or three laps to get the kinks out from yesterday, but felt fine afterward. Thought about doing that 10th lap to get over 6, but nah. Then on the drive home, and sitting here at the computer, I feel the glow.

I don't think my results-oriented inclination would be enough to keep me going if the only thing I was doing was training to break 3:30, or when I was training to get me to Boston. Don't get me wrong, that was powerful motivation. But probably not enough to get me to run 2500 miles in 2009. I needed some more immediate incentive, affirmation, feedback, reward, whatever you want to call it. The glow is that reward.

Tomorrow marks five months to Boston. Eleven days after that, I start the training plan. Before you know it, I'll be doing 17-18-22 on weekends instead of 12. Hopefully I get the rush then, too.

Went to visit T today and go to the basketball game tonight. After I met him at the apartment, went for a run while he played Rock Band Green Day. From the apartment, up Razorback Ravine to Maple, down Maple to the trail (which they've finally completed from Maple to Dickson), down the trail to Sixth, and back to the apartment. Once I finally crossed Sixth at the EZ Mart, I put the hammer down, at least to 10K pace for the last 0.88. Definite negative split for the whole run, which is not surprising considering the second mile is virtually straight uphill and most of the fourth mile is downhill. Good run, though. More evidence that there's

 Before I got to the apartment, I went to FF and tried on some flats, just to see what was out there. Hoped they'd have some Kinvaras, but the woman said their buyer didn't like Kinvaras and didn't order any. Tried on Lunarracers, Lunareclipse, Lunarglides, a New Balance flat and Green Silence. Of those, I liked the Green Silence best. Still want to try on some Kinvaras, though. She suggested I might be able to try them at Best Sports at the mall. Might go there in the morning.

New route today, after taking Friday off to let the sore Achilles rest. Started from the Revenue office, down Phoenix to Massard, then down Massard a couple of miles past Zero until I got to the 4.5 mile mark, where I turned around (that was where a bike path looped under the road). Then I pushed the pace coming home, darn neat MP for the last mile. Wound up with a 9:07 average for the nine miles, although the Garmin credited me with 0.02 extra on the return trip. Achilles was a little tender, but not horrible. With 4 miles tomorrow, I'll still get 40 for the training week even missing a day. I'll just plan to run after work tomorrow night.

Starting to wish I hadn't signed up for that half. The Achilles is really tender now and there appears to be some swelling. I'm suspicious of a partial tear. Maybe I'll see somebody from Ortho today and have them take a look. Think I'll take a couple of days off anyway and see how it responds. Oh well, I might just jog the half. Or skip it entirely.

Edited: Ran into Dr. Rhomberg, Ortho guy, at noon and had him take a look. He says it's tendinosis. Activity mod, NSAIDs, maybe some PT modalities. I'll hit the ibu and take a few days off and see what happens. Or at least cut back on my mileage.

That's a relief! Noticed tonight the Achilles did not hurt at all, even going up and down stairs at Sparks. So when I got off work at 11:15, decided to test it. Went to run two laps around the mall, pushing the pace in thinking that longer strides for the same distance might equal less pounding. Plus I need to push the pace with a half onlu 19 days away. Ran the first half (1.45~) in 16:47, the second half in 16:13, with the final 0.89 in sub-8 pace. No pain at all. The AT felt heavy, I guess is the word, but it did not hurt at all. Took some ibu, going to bed momentarily, and we'll see how it feels in the morning. Might take another short run tomorrow before work. But after only 82 hours off, I'm very pleased with the response. Wasn't just that it hurt, but it was bad enough to also swell. Some of the swelling hasn't left yet, but the pain has, knock on wood.

Achilles test #2. Slower, a little longer. Still no pain, but still feels heavy. It has occurred to me that if I weren't focused on it, I wouldn't notice anything. Thought about stretching the run out a bit tonight, but decided it was too warm for that (73 degrees? 30 minutes before Thanksgiving Day?). Of course, tomorrow night it will drop below freezing. Much better running weather.

So I work tomorrow, work Friday, get a couple of runs in there somewhere, drive to Bryant Saturday morning, pick up T, go to the game, come back, and work Sunday night. Then seven glorious days off.

Easy run. Great running weather (35 degrees). Achilles felt OK. Unfortunately, the bear showed up. Bigtime. Got me as I got back to the car at what was supposed to be the halfway point of a 6-miler. Those plans changed really quickly. REALLY quickly. May now get in another run in the AM before work.

Absolutely no running content in this blog entry. Which makes sense, considering there was absolutely no running for me, as the Achilles problem has moved up into the calf somehow. Walking to the stadium was agony. But once I was there...

Anyone who knows me at all knows that if you cut me, I bleed little pigs. If anyone was born to be a Hog fan, it's me. Which has led to a lot of misery and disappointment, with rare intervals of ecstasy (April 4, 1994: January 2, 1978). Today was one of those intervals. We lined up and dominated a very good LSU defense. Cut out the penalties, the turnovers were not crippling, made the big plays in the passing game, and the line just wore them out in the fourth quarter. Could have been worse than 31-23, but I'll take it. If Auburn does what it's supposed to do in Atlanta next weekend, we're going to New Orleans. And I'll manage to be there, somehow. I'll have to juggle the work schedule and do all sorts of shenanigans, but Tyler and I will be there. He's never been to an indoor football game, which will be fun.

Weird coincidence: Our last Sugar Bowl visit was 1980, during my sophomore year at UA. What is Tyler, 31 years later? A sophomore. Oooh-eee-ooo-oooh...