I guess I am on Week 7 now of the 10 week program (I will have some extra time after this to keep training, but this is the schedule for now…) There were a bunch of members on a track team who were practicing this morning cause I went a little later than normal, and they were sort of milling about the lanes and getting a little bit in my way. [Note to self/others: stay out of someone’s lane if they were there first.] Sorta rude bunch, didn’t seem to know I was running. Anyway, I kept doing my thing. I tried to not let it bother me.

Big thing from today is that I was having a harder time breathing than normal. It was a bit disconcerting, but the rest of my body felt okay, nothing major. On my intervals, I felt like a slobbering dog, just heaving almost with my breath. Strange. I did the same 15 warm up to 4×400 m accelerations (200 m jog break), 15 cool down.

I was watching to not shuffle my feet, so I was trying to keep my stride small and get my ankles up. I took the metronome, that beloved little piece of gentle reminders. (! I used it during the ENTIRE run today; maybe that’s why I was being ignored by the other runners! I was the annoying one.) When I started, I set it to my cadence, which was about 88 to begin with… I stuck with in for the most part, but at higher speeds, I have a hard time sticking with the cadence, and my cadence went up. (Which is generally okay, but I want to work on getting my stride longer, not getting my legs turning over faster)… I tried to envision ‘sticky feet’ to get my hips to rotate a little more, but I think I should just try to stick with a lower cadence so that when I get up higher, I REALLY have to focus on hip rotation.

I took the time to stretch after the workout and did a leg drain on the track. My knee, same from Sunday, was still a little bothersome, but not too bad, I tried to correct it as I ran, correcting my form by getting ankles up and that seems to help. My hip is a little sore today, but not NEARLY as sore as it was on Sunday after the long run, so that’s an improvement. Today’s run was only 45 mins, so less stress on my hip today than other days.

Scale: 8

I feel good now after the run, not overly tired. That’s all.

We went out early when it was still dark out, so I tricked myself into thinking it was cool out. WRONG. Humid and I had a long sleeve tech shirt on and boy oh boy did I learn a good lesson this morning: Underdress, Lizzie, underdress.

We had planned to jog to the park and then do a circle all the way around the park… We were thinking somewhere around 6 miles, and we’d shave off a little bit in the park or just walk at the end if the time was met. Today was my first 1.15 hr run, and I was very glad to have company, esp. Danny.

I didn’t realize CP is as hilly as it is. Immediately Danny had me getting my chin down and relaxing my legs, taking smaller steps. Surprise surprise. After a little while into the run we notice all these crazy mile-marker signs and at some point big water stands and it was clear there was a race that day (timing couldn’t have been better!) … apparently it was a training run for the ING Marathon. So for those of you who were doing that training run this morning, sorry we didn’t run together.

My hip was sore (probably from the long travel Fri evening and then more or less standing around all day on Saturday at the workshop, though I tried to stretch)… and then my right knee started to act up. After the run, we diagnosed that most likely, I am not picking my foot (feet) up enough, and so my leg is coming down and creating a force-force impact with the road. Antidote: pick up my ankles. No shuffling anymore.

Overall an 8. I had a hard time on some of the hills, I could feel some major lactic acid pulsing through my legs and we ran by water table. I grabbed some water and sipped. (Ever run in a race and get water all over your face? Try pinching the cup closed so there’s one little spout opening and sip on that till you’re through — no mess! Danny has all these tips, it’s like he’s the Martha Stewart of running)

Total mileage: 7 miles in just under 70 minutes. Darn fast for me.

We started at the track and I forgot the waistband thingy so I could run with my arms free… so I put the leash on my wrist and tried to get her to heel. It sort of works, but she kept leaning and trying to get in front of me. ROAR, so annoying. But really it was sort of funny, cause I’d get going, and Mei would be doing so well, and then whoops, she see a bird (what, dogs don’t chase birds) and then she’d cut me off and I’d mutter something like, “Mei Ling, please can you move back onto your side of the lane?! Geez.”

[NOTE:It reminded me of creating an imaginary line in the middle of the backseat of my mom’s Subaru station wagon as we drove across America on hot summer days… for the sole purpose of keeping my sister’s arms/legs/hair/clothing on HER side. I think I must have been a really mean older sister.]

Anyway, running with Mei on the track was okay, but certainly not contributing to a healthy armswing and certainly not allowing a regular speed!   I gave up the track after 25 minutes of surprisingly decent running (but not before I tried to let her off the leash at the track and she scared the jeebers out of two runners AND decided to take a #2 right in front of both people. WHERE did the plastic bag go? It was on the leash, I swear. Gross.) and decided to take her up behind campus onto some rolly hills where Danny took me before. THERE Mei Ling can run free. So could I.

When we got up into the wooded hills, I was really trying to just take it easy… My legs ended up feeling like lead, and that is a weird feeling. I just went slow, though, and it was pretty decent thereafter.

When we got back to the track area, I realized that I am getting sort of bored with my running. (oh god, no!). but really, I think the variation of three runs is really a good way to train, but I was definitely bored when I got finished today. It could definitely be my lack of concentration due to the dog, so my focus was off and I was just doing without thinking. (Which is actually sometimes a good thing, to DO and not think. It’s like Yoda: Try? There is no ‘try’. There is only DO.)

I would say overall probably like a 5/6, but not because of pain, just because of external annoyances. (I love you Mei Ling!)

I was feeling a little funky today, I don’t know what exactly it was that was going on… I didn’t feel in the best form, but overall I think it did go well.

I did the 15 minute warm up… but I forgot to wear my watch/HR monitor (blondie)… so I took my phone out on the track for an approximation. I did my warm up just getting the time, and guess what!? I gauged it just right and ran EXACTLY 15 minute. Can anybody say consistency?

My accelerations were 4 x 400 m with 200 m jog breaks. It seemed a bit hard, but not too bad. I used my metronome today (I really should use it more to check, especially with the track workouts with the variable speeds/gears) for the last two accelerations… I realized quickly that for the first two accelerations without using the beep, I definitely didn’t keep a steady cadence, so it was a good check-in to use it.

My 15 regular after accelerations was unmemborable. I don’t really know what to say about it, but that I did it.

My hip is a little sore today, my flexor/muscle, so I’ll need to work on stretching it.

Scale: 6/7/8

i think I might be getting harder and harder on myself so my scale is not really ‘baseline’… ah, so it goes.

I didn’t have a plan of where I was going to run, so I just left the house and did a really random loop. Here is an approximation of what I did. I ran down this massive hill (I forgot that it was so long…) and at the bottom of the hill did three separate short out/backs so that I could stay on flats for a little while before having to pump back up that hill… when I started back up Sand Hill Rd, I was really focusing on using my arms and just trying to take the smallest steps possible.

Surprisingly, the hill seemed much much much shorter on the way up than it did on the way down, and I have to say that it was an experience I’ve never had before: ALWAYS in the past, uphills have been painful for me and I have wished their demise. But today, it was like, “Huh! Woe, I’m already at the top?! Well I could keep going…?! “… Once I got to the top of the hill, it was like this immediate relief, but not the sort of relief I have felt in the past: this relief was “I am glad it’s flat now, but I’m okay.” In the past the relief was like this: “Get me off this god forsaken uphill.”

I stayed on a flat road, Haywood, for the duration of the run, doing another out/back thing to stay flat.Then I went on this crazy little hill thing again by my house, nothing very long, but it’s just hill everywhere in Asheville.

My knees were a little achy but nothing problematic. I was glad when the run was finished, but I really felt good about it.

Scale: 8

I went ahead with my run when it was clear he was running late (ha!). It was a 50 min form run, so I started at the track to really get into my form because it’s so blissfully flat on tracks! I did about 25-28 min on the track, really focusing as always. Getting sick of the blacktop, I moved up to the soccer and baseball fields adjacent to the track and ran around those each a couple of times. The grass was WET so before I knew it, my shoes were just wet as ever: Slop-slop-squish-flop-slop, etc. It was actually kind of a nice way to know if one foot was ‘heavier’ than the other. I went back down to the track after being on the grass just to check in with my form.

The last 10 minutes (on track) were a bit rough and I felt out of form until the few last few minutes when I ‘clicked’ and really felt good, and (gasp!) sped up, really just opened up for the last little bit.

The whole run today I was focusing on NOT dorsiflexing and trying to keep my ankles up. knees low. This concentration, plus running on the grass, made my hamstrings a little tired, which means I am using my muscles to do the ankle lift instead of letting chi do its work… Got to work on that.

I am not fatigued in my hamstrings now, but I did notice right after I was finished especially. I was really glad tho, because my PRE was WAY lower than it was when I first started doing these form workouts. I feel like I can actually get back into form/check in when I am moving instead of having to stop and get back into my posture stance. It seems pretty significant to me to be able to do that AND my heart rate was remarkably low, like maybe not even above 170… I don’t want to overtrain so I am watching myself to make sure I haven’t plateaued and overdone it… Definitely don’t want that to happen!

scale: 7/8 (cool weather! early morning)

I got out there early today, so it was nice because there were very few people and it was nice and cool, sort of overcast today. It’s still humid! I did my 15 minute warm up which felt just fine, nice 1st gear, nothing crazy, just getting my body ready for accelerations.

I felt like the 200s were getting to be easy so I upped the distance and ran 3/4 lap of accelerations, broken by 1/4 nice easy jog, 6 times. I didn’t go super fast, but I was really focusing on engaging gravity to get me to fall and using my rearward armswing to hold my upper body in correct position. I think it worked pretty well. My PRE was WAY lower during the accelerations individually and as a whole as compared to how I have felt in the past. Normally I get really winded and my HR gets up around 180 for a pretty sustained amount of time. I didn’t really hit 180 on this workout until the end of my last 2 accelerations.

When I did my last 15 minutes, my HR was around 155 until the very end, and then I started picking things up again, and just took off. The last couple runs I have had this freaky thing were I just want to “pick it up!” and have been ending my runs in what seems like a pretty quick gear without a lot of effort. I don’t want to question it too much (it is what it is!) but it’s pretty strange.

I didn’t have any aches or pains, but my hip is a little stiff which is okay. I would say on a scale 7, which would have been a 10, if I had been really INTO it, which I wasn’t, but it was a fine run, physically.

I decided to run on the Greenway which is nice and flat. I left about 830 so wasn’t super hot but wasn’t super cool either. It was pretty shady but there were spots of sun. The path runs next to the Catawba River, which is a nice ambient noise since I don’t run with my iPod anymore (sob.)

I would say the first 30 minutes were absolutely at 10 on a scale and by the end of the run I was probably about nine. I think I ran just over 5 miles – felt really good. I tried to focus on keeping quick arms. I worked on keeping my ankles up and my knees down, and I did that high heel drill that Danny taught me earlier this week to work on my midfoot strike. I worked my breathing and it worked really well.

I had a little twinge in my ankle but I think I realized I was trying not to dorsiflex, and so I was twisting my foot funny–my right foot– so I adjusted that. It ended up going away. That ache went away and I never did get a side ache. My breathing was pretty good and during the last 10 minutes of the run something happened and I started going fast. I didn’t want to stop! I was probably going somewhere around second to third gear. I didn’t want to slow down, so I figured “What the heck, I’ll keep going.” It was a great run  andI felt good about it. I was wearing ChiWalking tank top while I was running and two women stopped me at the end of my run asking “what is ChiWalking?” We had a nice conversation and I plan to do some work with them in the future. Great run, made me happy that I can actually run and enjoy it!

He videotaped me again: I did my normal run across one arch of the track and then on the way back I did this exercise to practice a high ankle: When running, one leg at a time for maybe 10 reps, try to lift your ankle high enough, exaggerated enough, that the inside of your heel hits the inside of your calf, about midway up. Switch legs, and then try eventually, to do it with both legs and the same time. It really helped me recognize how to truly land mid foot and keep myself from dorsiflexing.

Apparently, I have taken up dorsiflexing, and this exercise keeps me from dorsiflexing and really was an ‘ah-hah’ moment to feel the true midfoot strike.

The video showed that I am collapsing a bit in my pelvis/waist, so I need to keep focusing on keeping my core engaged. It’s a lot to remember, but compared to the last time I was videoed there has been improvement. Danny and I could both see it, so there’s a little nugget of proof than even though my runs have been less than what I consider stellar, they are helping!

After a bit of this track workout, Danny and I ran up in the trails around UNCA campus with Mei Ling, the Dreyer’s crazy running dog. She’s a truly amazing runner. I marvel at how much she enjoys it and how FAST she can go!

I hadn’t run these trails before, and they’re pretty mild, nothing too crazy so it’s something I can use when I want a change of scenery from the track, but still have the track close. The run went well, and I got a bunch of pointers from Danny the whole way: “chin down, ankles up, watch your arm swing!…”.

It was good until the very end: apparently all this lifting of my ankle made me lazy and I apparenly didn’t lift my ankle and took a pretty ridiculous spill right in front of Dany and Mei Ling. It was like slow motion: “W.o.w…. h.e.r.e I g.o.o.o.o.o” BAM. right on the ground. Managed to run away with fairly insignificant brusing and scraping, but let me tell you, it was pretty embarassing. After making sure I was okay, Danny said, “Well that will teach you to keep your ankles high!”

Thanks, Danny.

I would say on scale: even with crazy humidity (I wonder if people see me all red-faced and sweaty and ask themselves if I have a strange disease)… 6/7.

Got there early so it was cooler and less ‘populated’… I focused on the y’chi (getting all the energy to flow around and up in my body, out my eyes, pulling me forward. Try it!). I really kept focusing on my form, (chin down, legs limp). I apparently tweaked my calf on the Bent Creek Run from Sunday and so I could tel when I was using my muscle today, and it actually helped me stay relaxed. I wouldn’t recommend tweaking your muscles to create this effect, but it is sure a good way to know what muscles you use…

I focused on a quick cadence (no metronome, but I could tell it was quicker than normal) but using my arms to dictate the turnover, not my legs. As Danny writes about, it’s so much easier to get your arms to swing in a fast cadence than your legs, but your legs will have to follow suit, so it’s sort of like the path of least resistance.

I thought of getting the ‘wrinkles’ out of the back of my neck – (What?! I don’t have wrinkles on the back of my neck yet, do i? ). It was really humid today, so I was a sweaty girl, which really isn’t much different than any other time, but I am talking DRIPPING. When I felt good in my form, I tried briefly to focus on breathing: 5 out, 3 in.

Had my 15 minute warm up, then transitioned into 6 x 200 m accelerations with 100 m jog breaks. The intervals went very well. I didn’t go too fast, but stayed within the range that I thought my core strenth could accomodate (kept in mind Katherine’s comment from last week). The last 15 minutes were just fine, pretty good pace, no walking this time!… Had a good stretch afterward. I would say on scale: 7/8.

Woo hoo, finally, a breakthrough!