Week whatever - ChiRunning and some new gear!

Long time no update!  Sorry about that.  I did my peak 20 mile run a week ago.  Before I started I texted my girlfriend to let her know where I planned to run and how long I anticipated it would take in case I got hurt or kidnapped or something.  The problem was that I had originally planned to do 18 miles but about 4 miles in I decided to just do the whole 20 and be done with it.  Unfortunately the run didn't go that well.  My hip flexor/groin got really sore and I ended up having to walk more than I would have liked and also caused my running pace to severely decrease.  This ended up causing my run to last over an hour longer than I planned and created on worried girlfriend.  The whole thing reminded me of this blog and my sudden lack of posts.  I hope ya'll weren't worried!

Training hasn't been going great.  I believe my last post was about a knee injury I sustained.  It wasn't really a running injury but it did prevent me from doing much running for about a month.  During that downtime I did a lot of research on how to safely start running again and also how to run without injury.  That's how I discovered ChiRunning.  I'm not going to go in to specifics but it promises injury free, effortless running by improving your form.  I've been practicing it for a little over a month and I think it is making a difference.  I learned that my form (while not terrible) wasn't the greatest.  I was a heel striker, especially when I increased my speed, and that was causing a lot of shock on my knees. ChiRunning, along with other running forms, focuses more on a midfoot strike which is more efficient and less jarring of an impact.  This midfoot strike led me to my first new piece of gear.  My Newton Distance running shoe!  They are designed for midfoot strikes. At first I wasn't totally sold on them because I was still landing too much on the heel.  After my first 2 mile run I was shocked at how much wear was on the heel.  These shoes are not designed to be run in like that so the heels are made of soft foam that really can't take much friction.  I worked on increasing my cadence and posture and now I am more of a midfoot striker and am really loving the shoes.  That style of running uses muscles that I'm not used to in the calf area so there is a long adjustment period before one is able to switch to using them exclusively so unfortunately I will not be able to wear them at the marathon.

My next piece of gear is the new Columbia Omi-freeze Zero line of sports clothing.  It supposedly has a special material that cools you down more as you sweat.  I bought a shirt and hat made of the stuff.  I didn't really notice it cooling me down any better, but I do like the shirt.  It is constructed well and the material is nice and light.

I also bought a pair of Injinji toe socks because I heard they are great for preventing blisters.  I have had a very painful blister on my left foot that has really being ruining my form so I've been trying everything to help with that.  The Injinji toe socks are great for preventing blisters, I think, but the one that was already formed still felt like shit.  I have a theory that that blister is what caused the groin pain in my long run.  I think I was compensating for the pain and ended up using the groin muscles more than I should.  The groin pain led me to my next piece of equipment...

...The Stick!  I did some research in to how to deal with sore muscles and came across The Stick.  It's a similar idea to a foam roller, I think.  You basically roll it over all the muscles areas on your body to give yourself a nice massage.  I discovered by using it that I had a knot in my shoulder, back and a huge one in my right calf.  Oh boy did that calf one not feel good to roll out!  Yeoowwwch!  I can't believe I was running on that thing and didn't know it.  I'm looking forward to seeing my my running improves as a result of using the stick.  I guessing my recovery time will.

That's about all for this post.  Less than two weeks until the big day!  I'm getting pretty nervous...

Week 4

I gave my workouts letter grades last week and I kind of like that!  This week I'll give myself a B+.  It would be an A but I skipped a day because I am still undisciplined.

Monday - SKIP :-(
Tuesday - Run 3 miles
Wednesday - Max Interval Circuit
Thursday - Stationary bike 30 minutes
Friday - Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Saturday - 7 mile run
Sunday - Recovery

Total miles: 10

I did Max Interval Circuit on Wednesday.  It was the workout I skipped on Monday and I figured the two workouts I cannot skip are my MAX workouts and the long runs.

I wanted to run on Thursday but my work schedule was screwy all last week so I didn't get home until later and the weather was pretty crappy.  The weather was crap on my long run as well.  I had a 20 MPH headwind for about 3 miles of it but I kept a 9:04 mile pace which is really good for me.  In the past a long run would be more around 10:30.  I think there are a few factors that improve my pace.  First is just being in better shape.  Insanity really helped my cardio.  My resting pulse rate was down to 58 beats per minute the other day.  Before I started Insanity it was around 80.  Next is my weight loss.  I am down almost 10 pounds since my last half marathon.  It saves quite a bit of energy not lugging that around!  Then we have my improved nutrition.  Using myfitnesspal to make sure I am eating enough has helped immensely.  Last is the shoes.  I love the Ghost 5s.  I can't believe I ran on my old shoes for so long!

I'm hoping to get over 10 miles total next week.  That should be easy to do as long as the weather cooperates.

Week 3

If I were to rate my weeks so far they would be as follows: 

Week One: A

Week Two: F-

Week Three: B

I was going to give week three a C based on the amount of workouts I actually did but I decided to bump it up a letter grade because the quality of the workouts was pretty good.  Here's the week's review:

Monday: SKIP

Tuesday: SKIP

Wednesday: Pure Cardio (Insanity)

Thursday: Run 4 miles

Friday: Cardio Power and Resistance (Insanity)

Saturday: AWESOME 6 miles.

Sunday: attempted my own ab workout that sucked but then did 24 min on the stationary bike even though it is supposed to be my rest day.

Total miles: 10

I feel good!  What a great rebound after the horrible week two that I had.  Going forward I'm hoping this will be the norm.

My run on Saturday was one of the best I've ever had.  I did a 10K distance in 52 minutes.  That is the fastest I've ran that distance (or any distance, really) since high school.  Next week I'll try a 7 miler but at a more reasonable pace.

Oh!  I replaced my Garmin Forerunner 305 with the Garmin 10.

Garmin 10 v. Garmin Forerunner 305

I dig the Garmin 10.  It has less feature than the Forerunner 305 but I am totally fine with that.  If I wanted to monitor my heart rate I can use my Polar 4 heart rate monitor.  As you can see from the pic, the 305 is a freaking brick compared to the 10.  I am not a fan of the green color but the black one was actually a little bit bigger for some reason.  Oh well.  We don't run to look cool!