July miles

Total 42

• 6/29 - 0
  
• 6/30 - 18 - Seal Beach Pier - Realized it's easier on my knees if I run faster or barefoot.
  
• 7/1 - 0
  
• 7/2 - 4 - 5x(32 pushups, 8 pullups) + 16 pushups
  
• 7/3 - 2 - Pull tire
  
• 7/4 - 6
  
• 7/5 - 12
  

Total 34

• 7/6 - 1 - Pull tire, 2x32 pushups
  
• 7/7 - 6
  
• 7/8 - 0
  
• 7/9 - 6
  
• 7/10 - 6
  
• 7/11 - 11 including 6x6x40yds
  
• 7/12 - 4
  

Total 50.5

• 7/13 - 6
  
• 7/14 - 8
  
• 7/15 - 6
  
• 7/16 - 8
  
• 7/17 - 6
  
• 7/18 - 8
  
• 7/19 - 8.5 (6 in huaraches)
  

Total 58

• 7/20 - 6
  
• 7/21 - 10
  
• 7/22 - 4 - also cut grass (and watched Obama press conference)
  
• 7/23 - 10 (in huaraches)
  
• 7/24 - 6
  
• 7/25 - 12
  
• 7/26 - 10 (in huaraches)
  

Total 72

• 7/27 - 8 (sidewalks)
  
• 7/28 - 12
  
• 7/29 - 6 (Brooks flats on sidewalks - yech!)
  
• 7/30 - 12 on track
  
• 7/31 - 16 (in Body Glove water socks)
  
• 8/1 - 0
  
• 8/2 - 18 (in Body Glove water socks)
  

Jack Daniels

I'm talking about the coach, not the pain reliever.

I've been frustrated with the status of my running for a while now what with the injuries, a good performance followed by a bad performance, and generally chaos when it comes to having a plan. I think the thing that pushed me over the edge (besides my current recovery from sore knees) were comments on Todd Braje's Blog about "a last long run to lay down capillary beds" and "one long tempo workout to get in". These comments gave me the definite feeling that I was clueless. So I got out my Gordon Pirie paper and my Daniels Running Formula book which I had never studied very hard. Gordon Pirie tends to rage against convention which is my tendency as well but I feel like this attitude hasn't done me any good and now that I'm 53, maybe I shouldn't keep experimenting. So I started reading the Daniels Running Formula and charting out a course for the next races. I know that I still have plenty to learn but here are some of the things I get so far.

• Don't add more than 10 miles per week.
  
• The standard (marathon) plan takes you through 4 different phases of adaptation for 6 weeks each.
  
• The workouts of one phase should not allow the benefits of previous phases to be lost.
  
• Take a break after each cycle.
  

Furthermore, I'm going to set a guideline that the maximum weekly mileage in the base period is the maximum weekly mileage (100%) for the training period. At least with this first cycle, I'm going to refrain from any fast races during the base period. I do plan a 6 hour run at the end of the base period as a tune-up. Also, as far as exceptions are concerned, cutting a cycle down to 3 phases is probably ok as long as I don't omit the taper. I think I'll be running some of the same workouts as in the past but this time I'll have a plan on how often, how fast and for what purpose I'm running these workouts.

So far for building my base, I started out with a more or less 40 mile week, followed by a 50 mile week, and then this week which should be 60 miles (58 as I write). I'll post my workouts after I get in the 2 miles later today. The plan is to have 90 miles in the final week of the base period including a plan for 36 miles at the 6 hour run.

In the foreword, Joan Benoit-Samuelson mentions ten steps easy, ten steps hard, etc. I have yet to understand that although it sounds like fartleks. So more studying is in order.

Mis Huaraches

I've had my huaraches for a while now but they are getting more use recently because of sore knees. Wearing regular (10 oz) trainers tends to exacerbate the knee problems. Why? Because they have heels, causing my foot to land wrong. Because they are heavier, thus slowing down turnover, thus causing me to push with greater force. I just got back from a 10 mile road run and feel quite a bit better than I did yesterday after running 12 on the track in (7 oz) flats. That's partly because I ran when it was cooler today.

I just recently trimmed the end of the strap so that it isn't so long. Between that and just getting in better shape, I can run better and faster in my huaraches now. I think getting rid of the extra will also result in less sand, etc getting in between the sandals and my feet.

In the middle of today's run, my right ankle was sore and my lower legs were hurting a little. But this went away and I was really cooking toward the end. The ball of my right foot can get sore too but this sort of stuff recovers pretty quickly.

Glucosamine Chondroitin

I've been having problems with sore knees recently. Taking Glucosamine has seemed to make a real difference. After about 2 weeks of taking the recommended amount, I'm going back and forth between - just fine and still a little sore. As Jerry Pournelle would say - Recommended.

Tendonitis

OK - so my chiropractor told me that I have overuse tendonitis in my knees. That's good news actually because I know what to do for that. The knees are getting better - just the left one has some remnants of an issue. I think the other problem and what probably led to the tendonitis is lack of strength. As a result, I'm going to emphasize building strength in my legs in my workouts. So going forward in the near future, I'm going to do one or two interval workouts per week, a tempo (10k) run, and a long run, preferably a 16 mile run on the track. I have a few other things in mind for building strength which I've done in the past: Riding the bike, running very short sprints up the side of levees, and dragging a tire. No lifting weights yet but that could be in the future.
The other thing was that I went to Roadrunner Sports and had them do the gait analysis. The main thing we noticed was my left ankle rolling lightly which they said indicated my arch was stretching too much. So I got the advised arch supports (which I just ran in) but also will try some arch strengthening exercises.

Ruth Anderson 100k 50 mile

There's good news and there's bad news. The good news is

1. I didn't hurt myself,
2. I kept the hip flexors under control and
3. I went past 50k finally at Ruth Anderson.

The bad news is I had the familiar drop in pace sometime after 20 miles from 9+ minute miles to 12+ minute miles. I wanted to get past my personal (2 times) 50k barrier at RA so kept going at that point (about 4:59). However, when I was getting close to 50 miles, I had a little chorus of pains singing from my right ankle and knees with a steady background accompaniment of pain from my quads and hip flexors. I was tentative going into the race because of my knees and didn't see much point in going on to complete a 11:30 or worse 100k so I quit at 50 miles.

I think the problem with the drop in pace is lack of conditioning via 30+ mile runs for the ultra distance. That didn't seem to bother me at Helen Klein though and I did have a problem in the past where 40+ practice road runs on consecutive weekends left me exhausted for a few weeks (iron deficiency?). So I'm planning to incorporate a 50k per week (but maybe no more than that for now) and I'm taking iron. My next race is a 6 hour (tentatively) so 50k should be plenty to prepare for that.

Sore Knees

I got overly enthusiastic last weekend and ran 7500' of descent (and the same ascent). At the end of Monday's workout, my knees were pretty sore. Then on Tuesday, I ran a track workout with a 5 mile commute both ways. I was planning to run 20 miles from work to Park and Ride on Wednesday but my cooler head prevailed (I usually keep it locked in an ice chest but every so often it escapes) and I took the bus home. So nothing on Wednesday. Friday's workout got stopped on the last lap because things around my knees were acting up. I iced really well on Friday and iced one sore spot on Saturday. By Sunday, I put in the planned 16 mile (slow) run so I should be back to full workouts this next week.

So for the week

• Mon - 11 miles on trails with 2600' vertical (sore knees)
  
• Tue - 13 miles including 1320 yds (4:39), then 6x440 yds
  
• Wed - 0
  
• Thu - 4 miles in grass
  
• Fri - 13 miles (planned to do 16)
  
• Sat - 4 miles barefoot in grass
  
• Sun - 16 miles
  

Total - 61 miles