18 Aug – Still Spinning? – 45 mins / 10 miles

Ok – so I don’t have gout – at least that’s what the blood work says.  So it’s probably a stress fracture in my foot and I shouldn’t run for a while.

But I need to get my heart pumping.  So I went to the gym today and sat on the exercise bike and pedaled away.  I also watched the table-tennis tournament at the Olympics so that was pretty amazing.  I went for about 45 mins and made 10 miles on the machine.  Spinning – that’s what they call it right? – doesn’t get my heart going as much as running, though.  My max heart-rate peaked at 150 and this was after MUCH effort, compared to the 160 plus average that my heart goes at when I slog.  I guess my legs just aren’t used to cycling.

Anyway, I don’t have much of a choice since my foot is still swollen and I can barely fit it in a shoe. Maybe my neurotic fears about running have materialized in a silly injury cause my unconscious wants to keep me from going!

An Injury?

So, injuries only happen to people who REALLY run, who train and all that.  But I’ve been hit by something that’s made it impossible to run for a few days now … I can hardly walk.  More than a year ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in my left big toe.  I thought then that it might be a case of gout but the doctors said no, it was just a stress fracture.  Since then, I’ve had mild pain on and off on that toe which sometimes comes when I run.  Anyway, the same pain just recurred a few days ago and it’s really demoralizing.  I just was at the doctor, who now thinks it might be gout (which is even more de-moralizing, considering how I hardly eat red meat …)  Anyway, my toe’s pretty inflammed now and I can only hobble around. Hopefully, I’ll get better from this soon.

12 Aug Medium Run 5 miles

The run today was full of pain.  So this is the first run of the week given my plan to now do the long runs on the weekend.  I almost didn’t go. In fact I was so tired from yesterday’s run that I ended up not going in the morning.  But at about 11 am, I headed out because I thought that if I didn’t discipline myself to do this, I’d just be making excuses.

I think one’s frame of mind is crucial.  This run, was by far, the most unpleasant thing that I’ve done in a while.  After the first mile, I felt like I was on a all weak in my legs, as if I was suffering from a sugar low or something.   I felt tight in my throat and stomach – sure signs of anxiety.  These feelings persisted into the second mile.  I don’t know why.  Even writing about this now, I feel woozy and lumpy in my throat.  Ook – maybe I’m falling ill or something for real.  But I think it’s more a psychological thing about hating running and having to do it.  I’d much rather curl up in bed with a big bowl of ice cream AND build stamina that way.

The third mile brought a new irritation – sweat in my eyes.  It really hurt my eyes after a while and I had to run with my eyes closed for stretches at a time.  All this is pretty ranty, I know, I was genuinely hating every moment of this run.  the sprinklers lining the pavement didn’t make things easier.  I ended up having to run on the road to avoid getting drenched, while avoiding on-coming traffic, while sweat poured into my stinging eyes.

The only good thing about today’s run is that I did it, even though it was really a slow painful slog.  I am looking forward to tomorrow’s short three-miles: hopefully it’ll be better and bury the memory of today’s run.

11 Aug Transition Run 4.5 miles

Ok – I know that “transition” run doesn’t exist but it’s part of my plan to shift the training schedule such that I do the long runs on Saturdays instead of Mondays.  I was supposed to run a 10 mile today and I’m actually quite thankful that I’ll have the additional week to do it.  The idea is to run a 5-3-5 sequence starting tomorrow.  I realized that I really shouldn’t have been running today but this struck me only once I started.  Does this mean this running thing is habit forming?

Anyway, I think my motivation is waning, especially because other concerns such as the dissertation, finding a job and other such matters.  I suppose the running is supposed to keep my mind off these things and give me a bit of a respite from real world concerns BUT it’s hard to get motivated!

9 Aug – Medium Run – 5miles

I did the loops on this run. I’m writing this three days after the event so things aren’t that clear now. But I remember that the soundtrack was interesting. I was listening to Elizabeth Cotten play her finger-picking guitar. The alternating bass-line was especially helpful on round three, though it may have caused me to run a little too quickly meaning that I was a little winded on round four. I’ve realized that when I’m tired it’s easier to take smaller quicker steps to keep up the movement but not feel as if I’m straining on each stride. So I did this in round four, especially on the uphill portions.

7 Aug – Medium Run – 5 miles

The medium runs are now longer in this final stage of the training schedule.  I woke up at about 6.30 but felt quite fatigued from going to bed late last night after watching the musical “Wicked”.  I really wasn’t too motivated to run this morning and I’m glad that Edna decided to run as well, as that meant that there were no excuses.

Instead of running the Hawk Island route, we did big loops around the neighborhood.  Each loop was 1.2 miles so we did four loops and ran a .3 mile stretch at the end.  The disadvantage, for me, of running loops is that it’s really boring.  After a difficult first round, I managed to be sufficiently distracted by the Pat Humphries album that I was listening to to complete a second round.  I think the first two loops were like a recovery run after the 9 mile on Tuesday, so they were quite painful.

The last two loops were much easier.  I actually was quite amazed at how easy the last loop was.  I definitely could have gone faster on the final round or run another loop, but I decided not to in order to preserve my legs and not mess up the incremental nature of the running schedule.

I think this loop running is good discipline for the mind, even though I hate it, and I’ll probably do the same route when I do the 5 mile run next.  I’ll need that mental discipline to keep going despite the boredom when I run the longer distances anyhow!  And I think the mental discipline is handy when I need to write a thesis chapter and just can’t bring myself to plodding along on it.

Practical note: I should get a cap cause the sweat pouring into my eyes makes running difficult.  And I should pay Hawk Island a non-running visit just to get some pictures of my route. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow.

5 Aug Tues – Long Run – 9 miles

So, because of Obama fever, my running plans got shifted around.

The long run today.  I woke up at about 6.15 and was ready to go quite immediately.  Unlike the 8 mile run, there was no humming and hawing.  Edna decided to go with me, so that was encouraging as well.  I made sure that I had the ipod – I don’t think I could do 9 miles without music.

The plan was to run the Hawk Isle route twice.  Going out of the house and doing the first mile, I found the pace a little too brisk for my liking.  Edna was setting the pace and I wasn’t sure if she was committed to do the 9 miles.  The quick pace eased up as we got to Cavanagh road and the first lap around the park was nice.  It was before seven and the sun was not peaking through the bank of clouds yet, so the lake was really mirror like.  I was listening to American  Folk Christmas Songs by the Seegers, and it made for nice listening.  Going around the park I decided to turn off the ipod and enjoy the sounds of the early morning.  That was a good decision as it added some variety to the run.

The other people that were running in the park just reminded me how slow I go.  They were essentially striding all the way.  I can’t imagine how people can build up that much stamina and strength to run at that pace.  Anyway, the route back out on Cavanagh and then into the park again was nice.  I think I caught what essentially was a second wind doing this.

Leaving the park after the second loop was when my legs started to hurt.  They felt like lead and I had to quicken my steps into a shuffle to keep going.  The uphill portion of Cavanagh was tricky as well.  Even though coming back into Beau Jardin was a welcome relief, the additional round around the estate to make the distance was quite taxing, especially for the first half a mile.  The final half was easy because the end was in sight.

I think that I’m getting really close to the goal of running 13 miles.  After all, it’s just one more 4.5 loop, really.  But I think I need to work on pacing myself properly especially if I’m going to be running alone.  The alternating moments of music and silence are quite good but the hurting legs could point to a lack of conditioning with regards to my legs.  Maybe I’m just not cut out for longer distances?

4 Aug Short Run – 3 miles

Did a quick three miles this morning. Although the plan was to do the long run today, Edna’s schedule, which involved me driving her to the Obama rally in Lansing, prevented this. The run was pretty uneventful. For the second time in recent history, I ran without my ipod, which was fine given that the distance was quite short. I have no re-collection at all about what I was thinking about. I guess my main worry about the run today was whether it would affect my long run, which I’ve now planned for tomorrow.

2 Aug Medium Run – 4.5

I ran today, on my birthday, with Edna, who’d just gotten back from Singapore. Nothing like a 4.5 mile run to get over jet-lag, I suppose. I went out today without any music on as I was showing Edna the Hawk Island route. We spoke at each other during the run, so I guess the pace was quite comfortable.

I realized that Edna runs with a lot more steps that I do. So she seems to shuffle as she runs where I plod. Another that I noticed was that the park was rather busy on Saturday morning. We passed a large group of runners who were all wearing “Playmakers” T-shirts. I guess it was either a group run or clinic, though a large number of the participants were walking. Another thing – Saturday morning had a lot more women than the other days of the week where the joggers are generally men. I wonder about this.

Anyway, running with Edna was fun. It was certainly distracting and at no point during the workout did I find my thoughts zoning in on the pain. My body hurts a little from serving too hard during tennis on Friday, but generally, I’m looking forward to the 9 mile run next week.

31 July Medium Run – 4.5 Miles

Having rested one day and only playing tennis yesterday, I was quite psyched for this run. I woke up at about 6.30, said goodbye to the doughster, and was out of the apartment quite quickly. I started out running listening to Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “Mermaid Avenue”, and found myself really enchanted by the song “California Stars”. The album, of course, is Bragg’s re-working of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics that Guthrie never got to put to music and for the first leg of the run I was thinking a lot about Guthrie and his impact on the entire notion of music as political action, and what he’d think about the mess we’re in today.

Anyway, once I started down Cavanagh Road, my thoughts turned to a rather more practical problem. I tried to work out how Edna’s flight could leave later today (Thurs 6pm) and only arrive on Saturday at 3pm. I kept rolling the dates and days of the week around in my head but couldn’t get around it. I will admit that it was quite silly of me not to realize immediately that she probably would be coming in tomorrow – Friday – instead of Saturday, but this occupied a lot of my thinking.

I will say that I managed to “think” of the route in about four parts and this mental map helped. So going around Dover’s Crossing is part one, running down Cavanagh Road to Hawk Island Park is two, running around the lake in Hawk Island is three, and running back up Cavanagh Road is four. It also helps because the stages aren’t exactly uniform in distance and they’re not like I’m just running circles.

The park run was pleasant. I passed quite a few joggers / runners. There was the speedy Japanese guy who was exiting as I entered, the black guy with the Army T-shirt, the plodder (like me) in a bright green T-shirt, and a a girl who was the friendliest of the lot. As for the walkers, I met the same Indian couple who were the only people there when I ran on Saturday, and the couple that I’d met during the 8 mile run. I guess it’s nice to see familiar faces and say hi when you’re running.

Running back was quite easy as well, through I did slow down once I exited the park. As I turned back into Dunckel and got ready to go into Beau Jardin I saw the girl who always runs with MSU Soccer t-shirts. Maybe she’s part of the team. She was striding quite fast and I managed to use her pace to register a strong finish.