Day 220, 145 To Go

August 8, 2013

Honey was back out there with me today, but I had to drag her out with me.  She wasn't feeling well, but I told her to stop being a vagina and get your shoes on and run already.

After I applied the ice to eye, we went out for our run.  It was very hot and humid and Honey was running too fast again.  That Honey!  Not that I couldn't keep up, but she would run herself out of breath and have to stop.  She likes running faster, but she doesn't have the endurance to do it for long.  I think she is ready to do a longer run once a week, but with her knees not feeling good, we have to wait. 

It's not like I haven't given her advice on how to treat her knees since I have had the same problem, its just that she is my wife and she ignores me and my advice.  Enjoy your knee pain, Honey.

Speaking of pain, my toe has not been hurting me much this week, but I did over ice it at some point over the weekend.  I burned my skin and it is all read and swollen and starting to kind of scab over.  I basically came close to giving myself frostbite.  I ended up with just a mild case of freezer burn.  It just happens to be on the side of my foot near my big toe.  Feels great when I slip my shoes on and off and even better when I run.  Yay!

Let this be a lesson to you to be cautious with your icing.  I even used an ice pack with a protective cover, but it must have been extra cold and because it was wrapped around my toes which don't present that much of a surface area, it got too cold and caused the damage.  On the bright side, I don't feel the pain in my toe.  I do expect that it will return, so I am going to try to keep my speed work to a minimum if possible.

Let's move on to #14 from The 25 Golden Rules of Running from Runner's World magazine.

14. The Up-Beats-Down Rule 
Running uphill slows you down more than running downhill speeds you up.

So, you can expect hilly runs to be slower than flat runs. "You don't get all of the energy that you expend going uphill back when you run downhill," explains Nimbus Couzin, Ph.D., a marathon-running physics instructor at Indiana University Southeast. "That's because when your feet strike the ground on a descent, a lot of energy is lost."

The Exception: When you run point-to-point with a net elevation drop, your average pace should be faster than on a flat course.

Thank you Captain Obvious.  Running uphill is harder than running downhill.  Who would have thunk it!  Ok, that isn't exactly what it says.  This is similar to rule #8 about running in windy conditions.  Basically, as a strategy, you need to conserve some energy going up the hills because pushing too hard won't gain you that much.  You can pick up some time on the way down the hill, but you will never gain what you lost.  It is just part of running on a hilly course.  Also, running downhill is hard on your body, and you want to make sure you run with proper form going down.  Don't land too hard on your feet.  Try to run smoothly and easily with a slight forward lean as you go down.  Keep your turnover high and try to recover from the uphill.

The only real strategy to beating hills is running hills in training.  You have to love them even if you hate them.  If you are racing a hilly course, you will be screwing yourself if you do not train on some hills.  Hills are your friend...remember that!

Here are our numbers today:

Time: 25:00

Distance: 2.30 miles

Pace: 10:53/m

Max Pace: 9:03/m

Calories: 215
Avg HR: 112

Max HR: 125

Another sub 11 min run for Honey!  Way to go!  She was dying by the time we got back which is understandable.  It wasn't too long ago she had her other fast run.  I tried to slow her down to no avail.  I started to tell her about the 80/20 rule (not in the 25 rules) but she was panting too hard to hear me.  I'll talk about it soon.  I am still wrapping my head around it myself, so I need some time to explore how I can integrate it into my running.  Until then my friends...

Run for Life!!