Monthly Archives: January 2010

Today’s workout was kind of weird, but great.

I ran 1/2 mile warm up to get to the gym from the Tire store where I dropped my car to get new tires.  My ankle felt a bit weird.  I thought I would just lift weights and swim at the gym.

Here’s where you can tell I’m kind of hooked on running.

I was in my running shorts and a tank top and FiveFingers, fully intending to go lift weights.  I stashed my bag in the locker, and headed out to lift some weights.  Before I knew it my feet had taken me up the stairs and I was running around the track.  And I was going fast and feeling really good.  Just passing the same people running about every other lap.  My whole body felt fantastic, it was so easy, and smooth.

I was just counting my laps.  Didn’t have a watch on or heart rate strap.  But I looked at the clock when I started.  After 2 miles it was about 13 minutes, and I felt like I was just getting warmed up.  After 3 miles I decided to stop because even though my ankle felt completely fine, I really do want to take it easy on it to let it heal completely.

I did 3 miles in under 20 minutes, I checked my heart rate and it was in the low 160′s when I stopped.  MAN that felt good.  It’s kind of cool to know that I can run a little faster pace and not be maxing my heart rate out.

Then I went and lifted for a while.  Then I ran back to the tire store, but when I ran outside my ankle was hurting.  I wonder if the 26 degrees outside is part of the problem on my sore ankle tendons?  It didn’t hurt at all to run inside, but before and after when running outside it was bothering me a little.   Weird.

3.35 Miles – 7:42/mile – HR: 155 avg – Ascent/descent: 381 ft (there’s no such thing as a flat run by my house)

My body felt good today but I decided not to do too many miles for the sake of not overdoing it on my recovering ankle.  I think with taking it easy the rest of this week and just running lower miles, I should be fine running longer again next week.

Running is a constant learning process.  You keep expanding your abilities, running into new road blocks, having to figure out how to get around them and keep pressing forward.  I thoroughly enjoy the process.  Sometimes its discouraging when I can’t run as far as I would like to.  But it reminds me to not be too attached to any one outcome, and I learn to appreciate just having a healthy body in general.

Running has so many parallels to life.  I feel like running keeps me conscious to life in general, because the lessons I learn remind me to live each day to the fullest and enjoy the journey every step of the way.  I guess that’s part of why it feels so good to me to run. The combination of physical, mental, and spiritual betterment is just a great feeling way to live each day.

My ankle wasn’t stiff anymore yesterday or this morning, and it felt fine running on it again, thankfully.

8 Miles – 1:10:40 – 8:50/mile – HR: 141 – Elevation: 630ft

I ran 4 miles out on the dry creek trail, downhill with a tailwind and was wondering why my HR was so low.

Then when I turned around and realized how stiff the headwind was on the uphill back toward home it all made perfect sense.

***Later***

Bummer, my ankle started feel stiff again after my run.  Annoying!  It felt great this morning and during my run didn’t bother me at all.

I guess I just need to take it MORE easy for a bit to let it heal all the way.  It’s a good thing I love biking or I might have been super annoyed right now!  As it is, I’m looking forward to a nice bike ride tomorrow on the road bike.  I’m getting ready to get a new mt. bike soon too because my gary fisher sugar is 9 years old and needs to be retired soon.

What a busy day.  Tuesdays are generally pretty packed for me.  I was gone by 7:30 this morning to a breakfast meeting with some investor friends.  Then out previewing houses to buy all day.  I knew if I didn’t get a run in I wasn’t going to have much energy to stay up all night researching which properties to buy.

When I got home at 4:30 I decided to try out a quick run in my new balance 790′s to test them out again.  I had been wearing them all day to brake them in.

I didn’t really like it much…at all…it turns out.  I turned around after less than 1/4 mile and came home to put my FiveFingers on.

Ahhhhhh....freedom.  I really don’t like my toes to be constricted and confined any more when I run.  Once you get accustomed to the freedom of bare feet, it turns out its annoying to stuff them back in confined spaces.  It just feels so much better when my toes are free to move around at will, and I don’t have to worry about how the shoe may be mes messing with my stride and bi0-mechanics.

If I had shoes that had TONS of room to move my toes around, and if the soles were flat with no raised heal, I think that I could get into shoes like that possibly.  But that’s the Five Fingers…so I’ve already got them.

The pair of 790′s I have are just too constricting for me I decided.  Perhaps I just need a wider pair, but I couldn’t find any wider than D.   I’ll still wear them around, they’re ok walking around in.  But I don’t think I’ll run in them.  I think I’m going to get some VFF treks to use for trail running and I should be all set.  They have similar flexibility and movement as my current FiveFingers, but with a bunch of tread on the bottom to protect the soles better and give traction on gnarly trails.

Today’s run: 5 Miles – 46:19  9:15/mile – HR: 131 avg – ascent/descent: 502 Ft

I was listening to a seminar about being a better landlord during the run…not super exciting…to say the least.

But good information which I really need to implement.  But it didn’t really get my blood flowing for running fast.  That was good though…my right ankle is still on the mend a bit from my long run Saturday.  My right inside ankle bone was really stiff for a couple days afterward, I think because I kicked it early in the run on accident.  Its feeling much better today, but not 100% yet.