Training with the Tortoise

I'm a super slow runner. I got into running in June 2013 after a serious medical situation that nearly killed me and forced me to relearn how to walk. A few weeks later I started running, and I've been veeeeeery slowly running since, with a few breaks. Now my goal is to get my training pace down to 10:00 (from the 15:00-14:00 where it is right now). I'm a technology nerd and I get into tracking and data, and I have no trouble running on a treadmill (I actually prefer it because I can control my pace so tightly).

[trainingtortoise]

New Blog

I moved my running blog over to a new primary blog, oldladyruns. It was just frustrating to deal with the way Tumblr manages secondary blogs, so whatever.

And also my legs hurt like hell and running is too painful, so there you go. Is one of these things related to the other?

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

Last night Mr Tortoise told me there was a heat advisory for this afternoon, and I already knew I had to stay late at work tonight, so all the more incentive to get up early and knock that run out.

Today on the schedule was 3 miles, which I wanted to be easy since my shins are taking the mileage a little rough. I also went back to my old Brooks shoes since they are more cushioned, though I’m not sure how much that helped. I did loosen the laces a LOT to get the feel more like the Altras which helped. I have such wide feet that I’m sort of used to shoes that are constricting on the sides.

For a change today I ran not along the waterfront, but across the island to the beach. It’s a little less than 1.5 miles from my house, so I ran a bit up the beach to get to 1.5, then turned around and ran back. It was overall an easy run, not in the sense that I didn’t work but in the sense that I wasn’t pushing it too hard.

Time: 0:38:21

Distance: 3.01 miles

Shoes: Brooks Ghost

Pain: shins were sore, right heel was sore

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

Tomorrow is a rest day. Yesterday was a long run but relatively easy. My more mileage program had me doing 2 miles today, so today I did intervals.

I programmed the Garmin to buzz every minute and ran up and down the pier. It was a super hard workout but not exhausting. I did 12 intervals of 1 minute of running, 1 minute of walking, and my run times averaged an 8:44 pace (between 8:12 and 9:47, mostly in the 8′s). By the end my calves and shins just HURT, but in a good way. I walked home and while I’m tired and sore I’m not broken.

I don’t think I could hold that pace for much longer than a minute at a time, but that’s not the point.

Time: 0:37:38

Distance: 2.74 miles

Shoes: Altra One 2.5

Pain: shins, calves, this was tough on my legs but only at the end

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

I had an all-day seminar today, and when I was looking up that location I noted yesterday that I’d be near a pretty decent running path. So after the seminar I changed into my running clothes in the conference center bathroom and drove to a good spot and ran.

It was a nice run. I ran along some artificial lagoons -- very common in parts of the Bay Area where they landfilled to make housing developments back before they cared about how bad it was for the bay. Then I came out and ran along the shoreline which was raw and naturalish (it’s an artificial shoreline, still) and very windy. Gusting around 35 knots and all headwind. That was much prettier to me than the very landscape lagoon path.

It was a much more wealthy neighborhood than I live in and there were a lot of people out and about, which made it feel a little crowded, but it was still a nice run. And I liked that I was able to run a nice big loop with almost no time on city streets. After the first mile I walked pretty often but I feel fairly confident that I at least ran 3 miles.

It’s funny; I live quite close to this place, but this is the first time I even thought about running there. I will definitely try it again.

Time: 0:48:23

Distance: 3.79 miles

Shoes: Altra One 2

Pain: none

[imgonnamakeachange]

Thanks for making a comment about people not pushing themselves pay the limit. I recently had a stroke because I dissected an artery in my neck while working out with a trainer pushing myself incredibly too hard and not listening to my body. (While I think it's kinda funny) having a mentality that you need to strain your body to have progress could really end up ruining your life.

Oh my god. I am so sorry. I hate this trend amongst the fitness community that you should push yourself extremely pass your limits, not take rest days, not care about form and only focus on how much you can lift/do. It is so horrible and can hurt a lot of people. Ugh.

[trainingtortoise]

This is serious stuff. I also had an arterial dissection, and in the hospital the doctors all said this was caused by: chiropractors (never let a chiropractor touch your neck!) or exercise injuries (especially trying yoga poses where you put all your weight on your neck).

I had to relearn how to walk. I spent four months not allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs. I was incredibly lucky to get very quick and good treatment. Many people in my place have lifelong injury from these strokes. Take care of yourself.

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

Tired today. I worked late last night and went in late to work, then we had work yoga (which was pretty good, but tiring). Fortunately, my left foot stopped hurting so much.

Today’s mileage on the more mileage program was just 2 miles. I spent some time considering outdoor routes, then around 4 a weather system moved in and it got overcast and windy, so I bailed and ran inside. Since I was only running two miles, I upped the speed.

Time: 0:26:00

Distance: 2.08 miles

Shoes: Altra One 2

Pain: none

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

This may be the stupidest thing ever. I’m a little torn on it. My foot hurts a lot walking around, but not when I run. So I went for a run today, taking it easy, doing run/walk intervals on the treadmill.

But I still ran on a potentially injured foot.

I can’t figure out if I’m brave or stupid or both.

Anyway, the run was nice, I was tired, I’ve been feeling like I’m walking through pudding for a couple of weeks, since something is disrupting my sleep. I think it might be my thyroid meds, since they can do that, and the timing is right for my last dose adjustment. I was exhausted at work today and it was really hard to get myself organized and get things done.

Running feels like a thing I can do, even though maybe I shouldn’t do it with my foot hurting still.

Time: 0:38:44

Distance: 3.01 miles

Shoes: Altra One 2.5

Pain: none while I was running

Common sense: none detected

[trainingtortoise]

Monthly Summary

I had this idea that I would do something like this more often, but apparently it’s only going to happen when I get it together, which is not very often.

So, for the month of May:

Distance run: 35.82 miles

Running average pace: 12:48 minutes/mile (!!!)

Injuries: shin splints and whatever I did to my foot, which is still hurting too much (but not when I run)

Gear: Love my new Garmin watch, and I am enjoying my second pair of Altras. I may still get a third pair of running shoes that are better for trails since I’ve been invited to do more trail running.

For June:

Planned mileage: about 50 miles

Pace goals: stay around 12:30 while adding mileage

Races: Sharks Foundation fun run in 6/28 in San Jose

After my run Friday my foot hurt more than ever, almost too bad to walk at points. It doesn’t hurt at all while running, though, so maybe I should just run everywhere.

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

My foot really hurt today. I thought about not running. But it actually doesn’t hurt at all while running, just walking. So I ran on the treadmill for the low impact and easy to stop if needed. The Garmin is getting very slightly better at guessing my mileage.

First week of my more mileage plan is done.

And now my friend is going to feed me spaghetti and I am going to knit with my foot up.

Time: 0:41:00 Distance: 3.17 miles Shoes: Altra one 2.5 Pain: well, NOW my foot hurts but none while running

[trainingtortoise]

"To succeed long term in fitness, exercise must be a source of self-love and happiness. Fitspiration, on the other hand, turns exercise into one of the numerous things in life we have to beat ourselves up about, which reduces its ability to work."

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

I put off today’s run until after work because my foot is still very stiff in the morning. I ran my usual route along the waterfront, only in reverse, so I started inland then ran back along the marina. The theory was that on Monday I ran along the marina with a bodacious headwind, and this way I would have the wind behind me, so of course the wind was the other direction this time.

I pass two public restrooms on this route, and needed one this time. So of course it was locked. It wasn’t even a “maybe this is locked after 5pm” thing; there’s a big cardkey lock on the door. Hmm.

The foot didn’t hurt at all. It’s terribly sore in the morning and sometimes when walking, but not at all when running, so that’s pretty good. I put on compression socks after the run to help with recovery.

Time: 0:39:22

Distance: 3.07 miles

Shoes: Altra One 2.5

Pain: none

[trainingtortoise]

Things you learn running long distance in track

I ran the 1500 in high school track. I sucked at it, with the purest, worst form of suck ever. (I also ran 800, which I sucked at only very slightly less.) But I learned two things:

1. I learned to recognize institutionalized prejudice. The girls’ event is 1500, the boys’ is 1600. You couldn’t compare your times because they literally did not let you run the same race. And not because girls are too weak to run that last 100 meters, because that is just stupid. When girls are literally not allowed to compete in the same event, but only in a shorter, weaker event, you train everybody to think that girls are inherently less strong than boys. And you never let them prove otherwise.

2. I can judge distance in 100 meter intervals almost perfectly. I spent so much time running around that track, miserable, measuring every footstep, thinking about how unhappy I was to be there, that to this day, more than 25 years later (I injuried out of track in my junior year, which was probably for the best), I can still judge running distance in 100 meter intervals.

Who says high school athletics don’t teach you any real life skills?

[trainingtortoise]

I didn’t feel great after my run today, which sometimes happens. It’s kind of how life is, even things that usually make you feel good don’t always work that way. So I pulled up this chart. This is a chart of my pace for every run this year (apart from the three runs I’ve done with my friend who is much slower than me, which were more walk than run, so I left them out of this data).

I have a lot to be happy about in there. This is why I keep a detailed spreadsheet of my runs, so I can look at things like this and see real progress. Also digging Excel’s trendline that implies I should be down to a 3 hour marathon by November. (cough)

[trainingtortoise]

Run Log

This may not have been my smartest move, but my foot was only achey today so I went for a run. I ran too fast, but it was good. Back on track to get the distance up. Time: 0:39:22 Distance: 3.08 miles Shoes: Altra one 2 Pain: none

[trainingtortoise]

Walk Log

My foot has been feeling much better, so today I did a walk with my dog to see how it would go. And it was ok, so I'm going to try a slow run tomorrow. Time: 0:36:00 Distance: 1.55 miles (the dog was very slow) Pain: none!

[trainingtortoise]

Verdict

Three x-rays and a lot of foot-touching later, and the verdict is no break (yay), but a pulled tendon.

“You can run when the foot tells you it is OK.”

That was not today, but it felt substantially better today and I have hopes.

[trainingtortoise]

Fall

I fell on the stairs at work and twisted my foot. It hurts like a mofo. I am icing it now but it was just barely ok for our after-lunch walk. I hope this doesn’t screw up my running plans for this week. Or, like, several weeks.

Also, this sort of thing would otherwise be unremarkable but because of the whole relearning how to walk thing feels like a major mistake and portent of bad things to come. Now I am in a little spiral of anxiety and depression.

[trainingtortoise]

Oh, this is certainly going to screw up my running. I need to see the doctor and make sure it isn’t actually broken but I can barely stand on it now. I need to figure out what exercise I can do since I will not even be able to bike if today is any indication.

Icing, elevating, complaining.