Friday, June 18, 2010

back to back to back

For the first time in several years I've been able to run 3 days in a row. Since getting knee surgery in 2008, I've had problems running two days in a row. My knee has been feeling better and better since I've started transitioning to the mid/forefoot running and after running on the treadmill on Wednesday, I ran yesterday at lunch. I felt good enough on my way over to the gym today that I decided to test things out again. It went really well, but I'll start with yesterday's run.

Thursday I ran from the gym to the corridor trail and then all the way to the Bridle Trails. Instead of entering the trails I turned North and headed to Old Redmond rd and then East to end up at Grass Lawn park again for some barefoot running on the track. I stripped the shoes and socks off and headed out for 10 laps (2 miles) around the track. My pinky toe with the blister was a little sensitive to the sponge track so I moved over to the turf next to the track and ran there instead. I wanted to run at a more reasonable pace than I did on Monday so I didn't look at my lap splits. I ended up running the first mile in 7:50 and then turned around and ran the second mile clockwise around the field  in 7:39. Perfect. The shoes went back on and I headed back to the gym to finish things off. It was a good smooth, easy run.

Time: 49:07
Dist: 6.0 mi
Avg:  8:11/mi

Today I jogged a few steps on my walk over to the gym and had zero pain in my knee so I laced up and got out for an easy run. I ran out the corridor trail again and this time continued into the Bridle Trails. The trails were still really muddy and required a good bit of hopping around to avoid the puddles and the crap. Always with the horse crap on those trails. I put Lose Yourself on the iPod and matched my cadence to the beat. Pure joy to run those trails even when it is muddy. After another song or two I turned the iPod off and just tried to relax and enjoy the scenery and find my way around the interior of the park. When I have more time I stick to the perimeter trails as they offer the longest route, but today I just had time to run to the center of the park and then take a different path back to where I started.

The weather today is sunny and warm with a light breeze. Rain is forecast this weekend so I ran a good portion of the run shirtless to enjoy what little summer we're having this year. The one thing that I didn't do is time or measure the run. If I had to guess based on feel and history, I'd say:

Time: 43:45 ?
Dist: 5.0 mi
Avg: 8:45/mi ?

Not really a training run, just junk/recovery miles but I'm treading lightly on this increase in running frequency. So far so good.

2 comments:

5 Miles Past Empty said...

Wow! I bet it feels good to get three runs in a row in! Great job!! And barefoot too! I've been thinking about going in that direction but I get wierded out when I think of running on the sidewalk and stepping on something gross. Do yo ever worry about that? I'm not so worried about stepping on a pebble or a stick, its the dog poo that freaks me out! =)

nrmrvrk said...

It felt great to run three days in a row for the first time since Nov 07.

I'm loving the barefoot running so far but I'm not going in whole hog with it. I pick soft places to run: Soccer / Football fields and soft tracks so far. They're typically flat and free of rocks, sticks, glass, and poop. It takes me back to being a kid again when I run without shoes. I love it.

I'd like to work up to running barefoot on pavement, but I'm a little worried about debris as well.