Just a quick update on my goal to complete the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon at literally any pace. I had been starting to build back up after getting back from vacation at the end of November in hopes that my right hip/hamstring would cooperate. And, woo-hoo, it really had been! I slowly worked my way up to ~5 or so days a week of short runs and a "long" run of 6 miles. And then one day, 3.5 miles into a six-miler, my left calf seized up to the point of cramping. I tried walking it off and seeing if I could jog a block here and there (seeing as I was now 2.5 miles from home) but it only got worse. I tried again after a full week off, but I didn't even make it two miles before my calf was seizing up again.
A visit to my sports chiro revealed some weakness in my lower legs and ankles on both sides, which isn't a smoking gun exactly (it seems to me there rarely is), but it certainly isn't helping, so I've been diligently doing my calf/ankle/foot strengthening exercises over the the holiday break. And in each of the past two days, friends, I have been rewarded with a painless three-mile run through my neighborhood! (Well; three one-mile loops so as to never have to walk back more than half a mile should something feel off.)
Is 3 miles very far from 13.1? Yes. HOWEVER, 3 is much closer to 13.1 than 0 is (I am a math teacher so I know this), so we are celebrating over here.
As always, I'm trying not to get overenthusiastic and avoid doing too much too soon, which is mentally hard when your run for the day takes ~30 minutes. Since I don't have access to a spin bike anymore (stupid pandemic/omicron/people not getting vaccinating and thus prolonging this shite), I'm looking forward to getting back into my twice-a-week weights routine next week.
Christmas Gifts for Runners, or, more accurately Actual Running Gifts I Received This Year
- Garmin Dual. After my vacation when I first started back running, I went back to tracking my heart rate vs. pace, something I've done a number of times over the years during base-building phases. When you are running easy all the time it can be difficult to appreciate that you're getting fitter since you're not running races or workouts, so watching this measure slowly improve over time has been a way to make slow, incremental progress more obviously visible. It sucks to feel out of shape but the silver lining is watching that nice, gradual upward trend in miles per beat (or, if you calculate it as beats per mile, a downward trend) over time.
Base training in miles per beat, fall 2014 CIM training in beats per mile, 2016 Way way back in the day I used a (not-very-comfortable) ANT+ chest strap for this, but once they started making Garmins with optical heart rate monitors I just went by that. While the wrist HR monitors have more error than a chest strap, I actually found mine to be pretty believable the vast majority of the time. This time around, though, I've been noticing a lot more issues -- on a number of occasions, mine would lock on cadence instead of heart rate, jump wildly between equally unbelievable numbers, get weirdly stuck on one number for long periods of time, or just drop out all together. I don't know if it's because my watch is old or because it's been dropped/bumped one too many times, or what, but it was making it very difficult to appreciate the one quantitative metric I can really enjoy right now (as both pace and mileage are quite low).
Fortunately, Santa left a Garmin Dual in my stocking, which is a) 10 years newer than the chest strap I have, b) a lot more comfortable, and c) uses both ANT+ and bluetooth (hence Dual). I've only used it three times so far, but it was pretty easy to set up and works great as far as I can tell, so I'm looking forward to having more reliable numbers to obssess over going forward.
- Silva Trail Runner Free head lamp. Something I've just accepted about myself after many years of trying to change it is that I am a late afternoon/early evening runner. Can I run in the morning? Yes, if I absolutely have to. (See: most races, constrained travel days, packed afternoons/evenings, etc.) But it costs me something in terms of effort and motivation of which I have a finite supply, whereas afternoon/evening running is effortless. (It actually functions as sort of a post work "commute", a ritualistic way of wrapping up the effortful part of the day and transitioning into the more relaxed part, whereas trying to run in the morning is always a time crunch and I am inevitably preoccupied with everything else I have to do that day.)
Alas, this means that in the winter I often find myself running in the dark, or dark enough that I get worried about seeing well and cars seeing me. A couple years ago I picked up a rechargeable neon safety vest and a rechargeable headlamp, but I've never felt like the headlamp was all that bright -- like I'll have it on full strength and if I haven't just charged it, I won't be able to see the spotlight in front of me.
After a bit of internet research I requested the Silva TR Free from Santa and the man delivered. At 400 lumens, it's four times as bright as my old one, has a MUCH longer battery life, and I also like that it comes with a rechargeable light-weight battery pack (which I prefer as it's more ecofriendly) but also has as a separate pack that takes AAA batteries or a rechargeable hybrid battery (in case you forget to recharge or aren't able to). During the holidays I've been able to get my runs in early enough that I've avoided the dark, but I'm excited to try it out once the work week starts up again.
That's all for now kids! Best of luck to you in 2022! Don't forget to stuff yourself with black eyed peas, we're going to need all the luck we can get!
No comments:
Post a Comment