dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 5 miles today, running the last mile barefoot.  I think that my body is not quite ready to run barefoot two days in a row, especially if I throw in anything that is fast.  I ran the last 800 of the workout in 2:30 (79, 71), and it ripped up the bottoms of my feet.  I also noticed that my body naturally tries to avoid ripping up my feet worse once the hot spots start to develop.  Subconsciously I seem to reach ground contact with more of a midfoot strike rather than a forefoot strike in these occasions, which leads to greater force being placed on my heel (thus the sore heel that I have now).  Total time for 5 miles was 34:47.  The barefoot mile at the end was a 5:55, which is the first time that I have broken 6:00 for a mile barefoot.  The 2:30 final 800 was also the fastest I have run for that distance barefoot as well (this is all relative to what I have done recently on the track, as I am sure that I have run faster barefoot on the grass in the past).

I ran 6 miles in 43:21.  I ran strides here and there during the first 5 miles totaling about .25 miles, and at 5 miles I ran .75 in 3:53 (78, 78, 77).  The wind was not horrible, but it was somewhat gusty and slowed me down a bit.  Something felt off today.  I felt really good at the beginning of the run, but after 3-4 miles I started to feel really sluggish, which is why I only ran .75 fast instead of a mile.  If I can convince myself to run slower tomorrow it would probably be a good idea.

I ran 5 miles today in 31:00.  I needed to hurry so that I could get to choir practice, so I started out with a 6:48 first mile (3:36, 3:12), followed by miles of 6:05, 5:58, 6:16, 5:53.  It was fairly windy, so the effort was actually harder than the pace would indicate.  Add in that I am way out of shape, and this really wasn't that easy for me.  I guess that I just need to be patient and have faith that things will get better with time.

I ran 6 miles today in 45:36, followed by an all out 100m in 13.9 and a little extra jogging to get me to 6.1 miles.  I was not happy with the 100 time as I had wind at my back and I was still over a second off of my 100 pr.  I was slowed down as I had to mess with my watch at the beginning and end, but I felt slow, uncoordinated, and awkward during the 100 as well.  During the run I ran two all out 400's, running the first in 64.3 (30.5±, 33.5±) seconds, and running the second in 66 (30.5, 35.5) seconds after running a mile recovery in 8:32.  The wind was pretty strong during both 400's, although it was especially strong during the second 400 as I felt like I was barely moving during the last 200m, and I was running as fast as I could go.  I was not very happy with the 400's either.  I felt like I had trouble really utilizing the strength that I have in my quads.  Even without the wind I do not think I would have gone any faster than 62 seconds on either repeat, which is pathetic.  I am not sure right now if I could even beat myself in a sprint if I raced junior high school me.  I guess it just takes time.  At least I am finally getting a little more consistent as I have not missed a day (not counting Sunday) since last Tuesday.  1600 splits for the run were 7:51, 7:35, 7:39, 7:19 (first 400 during this mile), 7:18 (second 400 during this mile), 7:37, plus a little extra to make up for the fact that 1600m is shorter than a mile.

I ran just under 3 miles on the roads, and then went over to the track again.  At the track I ran barefoot for a bit, running a hard 400 barefoot in 65s.  I was happy with the 65 as I was not going all out (but I also didn't have the wind I had yesterday) and yesterday I was wearing shoes.  I guess that this is my new barefoot 400 pr.  I was not actually trying to run quite that fast as I didn't really have a time goal that I was shooting for.  I was just trying to generate force on the ground without tearing up my feet.  I also ran another fast 200 earlier in the run just before I took off my shoes that I did not time.  After finishing I ran home for a total of just under 3.5 miles on the roads, and just over 2.5 on the track.  Total time for the run was 43:43.

On a side note, there was a family at the track while I was there, and the mom was timing her daughter and son as they each ran all out for 400, 300, and 200.  I thought that it was really kind of strange as the mom was all serious about taking the kids through their warm up and not letting them drink too much fluid.  She then timed them individually as they ran their workout and was cheering them on and setting time goals for each child as they ran.  The kids also had on fancy track spikes, which I thought was excessive considering their age (maybe 10 for the daughter and 8 for the son).  When the son did not hit his time standard for the 300 his mom was lecturing him on how he needed to focus like his sister, which made him upset because he felt like he was trying his best.  She then set a time goal for him in the 200 that was too ambitious (40s), and in an effort to please his mom he was busting his tail trying to hit that mark.  When he didn't break 40s (he ran 42) he was so upset that he started to cry.

Luckily the dad was not the track nazi that the mom was, and after a few minutes the dad came over to comfort his son.  I only mention this all because just watching this mom and her kids while they ran I kept thinking to myself "that kid is going to hate running when he is older because his mom is pushing him so much right now".  I just don't want to be a track nazi like that mom was when my kids get a little older.  I want my kids to enjoy running for the sake of running.  I don't want them to do it just because I expect them to, because if that is the case they will never develop the long lasting desire to run that will carry on into their adult lives.

I ran the first 2+ miles with Anita in the running stroller in 18:20, followed by 5 more miles alone in 36:40.  On the way home I ran a mile hard in 5:17-18.  The mile was downhill but into a headwind, so it probably evened itself out.  Total time of 55:00.

I only ran 4 miles today because I had to get done quick so that I could get home.  I didn't have my watch with me today, so I took a look at my cell phone just before starting, and shortly after finishing, and based on that I think I ran the 4 miles in approximately 25 minutes.  Two miles were a little harder and two a little easier, but I have no idea how fast I was actually going.

I ran 7 miles today, running some short sprints throughout the first 4.5 miles of about 100m each, generally giving myself about 500-600m recovery at close to 8:00 pace.  I ran six of these, and after 4.5 miles covered in 33:54 I ran an all out 100m which I timed in 14.3.  I was hoping for faster than that, but my legs were kind of tired after the other 100m sprints I had already completed.  I then finished up the run, covering the last 2.5 miles in 17:27.

I ran 7 miles today, running the first mile with the stroller and both kids while Kimia ran just behind me.  I then ran the last 6 miles alone, and during the second half of the run I ran a half mile in 2:32, followed by a half mile recovery and another half mile in 2:28.  Both half miles had a net downhill, but the trail I was running on had a lot of twists, and turns, plus some hills (mostly mild hills, but there was one that was really steep if only for about 50m) during both half miles, while both were run into a mild headwind.  During the repeats I could tell that there were aerobic limitations that were hurting me.  I felt like I couldn't really run any faster than I was already going, but at the end of both repeats I could tell that my legs had a lot more in them, and if I wanted to sprint all out I could have sped up quite a bit.  The total time for 7 miles was 52:43.

I ran 7 miles today in 51:38.  During the run I ran 4x200m with 200m recovery (between 62-68s).  Splits for the first two 200 repeats were both 31 high or 32 low.  The third repeat was a 32, and the final repeat was a high 30 or a low 31.  I was trying to simulate 800m race pace, because I feel like I need to get my short distance speed better, and I figure that now while I am getting back into shape is as good a time as any.  Later on in the run I ran one final hard 200 in 29.

I was really busy today, leaving the house early in the morning, and not getting home until 9pm.  So, I just ran 3 miles for the sake of getting my legs moving.  Total time was 22:24 if I am remembering correctly.

28 miles this week

During the first part of this week I ran 18 miles.  Nothing special happened

I ran 6 miles today.  Since I am in California at sea level, I decided to run 1 mile hard just to see where I am fitness wise.  I ran the first 3 laps on the quarter mile track (not 400m) without looking at my watch, and just tried to run hard without really pushing the pace too hard hitting that mark in 3:59.  On the final lap I really cranked up the effort and finished with a final lap of 1:12 and 5:11 for the mile.

I ran today in the Altra Adam for the first time.  I have run completely barefoot before, but this is the first time that I have run in a minimalist shoe.  I actually got these shoes free from a grant that I wrote for my thesis.  I did have to "destroy" the shoes as part of the testing that I performed, but they are still usable, so now that I am done using them for testing I am going to be wearing them more often. 

I wasn't planning on running as much as I did today, but Kimia wanted to run a time trial for the mile since we are at sea level in California and I ended up running twice.  I ran 8 miles easy in the morning, and in the evening I paced Kimia to a new pr in the mile in 8:17 (1:52, 2:10, 2:08, 2:07).  The track we were on was a quarter mile track, not a 400m track so we didn't need to worry about adding on extra distance at the end.  it was pretty obvious that Kimia went out too fast as she ran the first lap 15 seconds faster than any other, and she had splits of 0:52 and 1:00 for that first lap.  I was worried that she would fade a lot at the end, but I was impressed with how she held it together.  To top it off, there was a good amount of wind, and even with drafting off of me, Kimia told me afterwards that she was really struggling into the wind.  The 1:52 first lap, and particularly the 52 second first half lap tells me that if Kimia simply maintains some consistency and builds mileage she will be able to break 7:00 for the mile eventually.

I ran 1 mile from the BART station to Kimia's sister's house in Concord after presenting some research at the ACSM conference in San Francisco.

I ran 2 miles today as I was traveling to and from the ACSM conference.