Sunday, August 28, 2011

Training 8/14 - 8/27

A training fortnight!

Onto the numbers...

8/14, Sunday: 9 - 1:16:22, Bradbury Mountain Breaker. Still not really sure how or why I had such a solid result.

8/15, Monday: 5 - 41:35, Highland Green. A little tight and a touch of fatigue after the race, but not sore at all, which is even more baffling. Good to feel a bit tired after a hard effort. Hadn't had that feeling in weeks...months?

8/16, Tuesday: 7.75 - 1:35 running time, Beast Run. Drink a beer, run a mile lap in the trails. Suffice to say, mistakes were made, but a good time was had by all. Thankfully, I was given a ride home. Unfortunately, I rolled my left ankle quite hard only 2 miles into the run. Would've been ideal to ice it afterwards...

8/17, Wednesday: Off...off from life...

8/18, Thursday: 3 - 23:31, Patriot Commons. Flat, road run to test the ankle. It didn't feel that great. Booooorrrrrinng loop.

8/19, Friday: 5 - 38:30, Patriot Commons x2 (Canam Variation). Ankle felt good enough to push it to 5 miles, but not good enough to do something other than another boring, flat, easy road run.

8/20, Saturday: 5 - 39:00, Patriot Commons x2 (Canam Variation). No real/addition pain in the ankle, but left shin was extremely tight/painful from compensating. Some pain in my foot as well. Conscious of it with every step, which only added to the mental torture.

Totals:
Miles: 34.75
Trail: 16.75
Road: 18

Not the mileage I had hoped for, but I'm playing it safe with the ankle/don't have a choice. More curtailing due to injury. I'd be mad if I didn't half expect it at this point, or I had rolled it at the end of the Beast Run, read while...well...drunk. Rolling it early was no different than rolling it on your standard trail run.

8/21, Sunday: Off. Planned to get in a run today, but my shin was fairly painful and randomly spasming all afternoon. Sam and I met D at The Brad while she was doing her long run. I hiked about 2 miles with Sam in the backpack, which must have aggravated it.

8/22, Monday: 9 - 1:09:38, Bowdoin Fields. Surmising that the increase in road runs was exacerbating the pain in my shin, I hoped that the relatively smooth treadway of the trails around Pickard Field would be a viable running option. Turned out to be a very good decision. Got in 9 miles at a reasonably quick pace (7:42/mile) without any shin or ankle pain. Each full lap is about 1.1 miles, and I was able to be creative with switching directions in various locations to keep from getting bored.

8/23, Tuesday: 5 - 37:58, Treamill. "GASP!" On Monday night, I drove down to New Jersey to visit my sister who is recovering from hip surgery. Trapped in the urban jungle, the treadmill in her apartment complex was the best option. I didn't want to risk my ankle on the sidewalks—to great a potential for odd changes of direction from cars and/or pedestrians. Treadmills are evil, but the run was a great way to get the previous day's 6-hour car ride out of my legs.

8/24, Wednesday: 7.5 - 1:28:50, Treadmill - Mt. Washington simulation. Since I don't normally have/want access to a treadmill, I figure I might as well up the torture quotient. Really, I knew that a strength workout would be the best thing I could do, and the treadmill was a safe place to do it without risking the ankle. I was a bit nervous how the constant incline would affect it. Admittedly, it was a touch sore by the end, but not a concern during the run. In any event, I set the incline at 11.5% and pace at 12 minutes from the start and the first hour (when the timer ran out on the treadmill...annoying) was easy. Upon the restart, I felt totally thrown off for the next couple minutes, but soon settled back into my groove. I cranked the pace up to around 11:30 for the final 2.5 miles and could really feel it by the end. Good workout. Although, I was worried my sweat might short out the treadmill...so gross. Clearly, running Mt. Washington on a treadmill isn't nearly as difficult as actually running the mountain, as I was well under my PR, but this reasonable facsimile was a great workout. Plus, knowing the road so well, I could really envision my location as I watched the miles tick by on the treadmill's read out. Just before 4 miles I thought, "Finally, I'm above treeline." And, really, running the road on a treadmill is akin to running the road below treeline: it all looks the same.

8/25, Thursday: 5 - 37:42, Treadmill. Easy recovery run on the treadmill, even though I pushed the pace at the end to get it over with. Legs were neither sore nor tired from the previous day. Luckily, I borrowed my sister's iPod all three days, otherwise it would have been impossible. Hopefully, on my next visit, I'll be able to get out on the roads.

8/26, Friday: 18 - 2:40:45, Bowdoin Fields, Brunswick Town Commons and Simpson's Point. I never fell good about my training unless I'm getting a long run in, and based on Monday's success and healing of the ankle, I hoped that a mish-mash route on flat, level terrain would work. Turns out, it did work. Started out with a lap around the fields, then headed out through the Commons onto the roads to the ocean at Simpson's Point. I kept the pace easy and stuck to the softer shoulders on the roads where I could. All in all, the run went well, although it's clear I haven't been running much—no spring in the legs, which is similar to how I felt during the Breaker. Set up an "aid-station" at my car, which worked well. I could feel my ankle the whole way, but it never worsened. My shin was never an issue. Not the type of miles I'd like to be doing (read: flat and easy), but better than no miles. Hopefully, I can get some real trails into my long run next week.

8/27, Saturday: 5 - 43:07, Highland Green. Easy plod around the familiar loop. Hamstrings/calves were very tight from the previous day, and I was low on energy. Neither were a surprise. Solid, smart recovery run.

Total: 49.5
Trail: 27
Road: 22

The total for this week was probably a bit more than I should have done, but I'm not known for my solid decision making. My ankle is still an issue—icing daily. I've hit a few small rocks/roots on a couple runs, and I can tell that a bad roll would do some serious damage. Trying to avoid that, while continuing to train is tricky. It will heal, but not if I roll it again. I'm very wary of it on all my runs. It sure would be nice to run some hills and real trails again.

4 comments:

mindy said...

Solid week, man. I'm really impressed at how quickly you've been able to bring up the mileage. Take care of that ankle!

Jamie Anderson said...

Well done sir, well done. I'm more impressed with the rebound from the Beast Run then I am the ankle.

sn0m8n said...

Thanks, guys, but I'm still not feeling like myself. I'm definitely holding back because of the ankle, and it's inhibiting my strength work. Bummed about that. Beast Run recovery was done by Wednesday evening, not horrible.

Jeremy Bonnett said...

You're putting some great, quality miles in man. Looking real solid heading in to the fall!