Posts Tagged ‘doubles’

Back to pre-injury volume this week with 90 miles.  It also marks my first week incorporating doubles as a regular thing, which I loved, so 10-11 runs/week will be the norm until summer.

Even though the mileage is the same, twice-a-days are decidedly different from singles.  Despite the luxury of shorter runs, your day is actually more about running since you have a standing afternoon appointment with the pavement.  This might be a novelty factor that wears off eventually but it does feel like a larger commitment to the sport.  It’s as if me and Running had been dating but now we’re engaged.

It’s great though, I’m getting to bed at a more reasonable hour, the scale is dropping and I feel more adaptable.  For example, I’ve always run when the weather sucks the least, so in winter that meant afternoons exclusively.  But a pre-breakfast run on a frosty morning turns out to be a fine way to start the day, especially when countered by a warmer afternoon run.  You get to see the park changing outfits and personalities as the day progresses.

Anyway, the extra effort of getting dressed and out there twice doesn’t bug me as I thought it would.  My two other preconceived complaints also ended up being moot – mostly because it turns out I’ve no compunction about being a dirty pig.

That is to say, I always thought running twice/day meant you had to take 2 showers and do twice the laundry.  But unless I have somewhere I need to be between runs, I just dry off and sit in my filth (which isn’t real filth, maybe a tad salty but I don’t smell).  And since most of my runs are half the distance they used to be, I’m cool with wearing most of my stuff twice before washing.  Rule: As long as it doesn’t stink, it can have another run.

So here begins a new running experiment (doubles) and a continuation of the one I began last summer (mileage).  Needless to say, I’m excited to see what comes of it.  I expect good things ahead.

A Doubly Good Week In Review
All easy stuff, though a couple runs had some fartlek or a few faster miles.  It’s a relief to find my paces returning to normal, I figure a couple more weeks should do it.

More shoes and a PureFlow coda
Running Warehouse has a great sale on racing flats (20% off) that ends today so check out the offerings. The prices are so good I ordered a couple models I’ve been curious about: the Asics Hyper Speeds and the Saucony Fastwitch 5s.  I plan on using them both as regular training shoes since the Adios’ worked so well in that regard.

Speaking of, I really do still love my Adidas Adios’ so despite my dissing the awful new color scheme and major design revamp I’ll probably order a pair of the new version, but only after the price goes down.

A final word on the PureFlows: I mentioned how they’d been said to be slippery in wet/snowy conditions so I took them out on a rainy run this week.  I had great traction on the asphalt bike path so I thought people might have been overreacting…until I ran under a couple bridges and felt some serious slippage.  I’m not sure why, it was the same bike path asphalt on a warm day (so nothing was frozen and I avoided the tar repair spots) but it happened twice.  So I’ll wear them in the rain, being careful under bridges, but if it snows, forgetaboutit, I’ll use another shoe.

Took long enough but I’m thrilled to have finally ended the mystery.  It was the Sartorius, a muscle I didn’t even know I had.

The Sartorius’ claim to fame is that it’s our longest muscle.  It’s a thin strap that starts near the knee on the inside thigh and crosses diagonally to the outer hip.  It didn’t enter my consciousness when I was “shopping” for my injury, I just assumed it was a quad or possibly even nerve-related problem.  But late Friday night, I happened to land on the roller Just So and finally found the Aha! spot.

The discovery explained why the injury seemed to move around.  The muscle itself covers a lot of ground but also, once my outer quad started compensating, it developed a knot of its own, which in turn pulled my tibalis anterior, causing that weird pinching.  That bit came to light while rolling a trigger point on my outer quad with a bent leg, which reproduced the pinch.

We really are like large marionettes: pull this string which pulls this, which pulls this…

Anyway, suddenly, everything was rosy again!  I mean, I’d have to lay off running for a few days, but the relief at understanding the source and being able to treat it specifically made all the difference in my demeanor.  Bottom line, I was now dealing with 2 muscle strains, the Sartorius and outer quad, so it was a no-brainer; no running till Tuesday.

I had a fun weekend playing sickie though. I lounged on the bed with my laptop (thought it best to keep the leg straight), socialized online, fell in shameless love with a chick BBC series (Mistresses…so good!), foam rolled, iced, heating padded, took a short walk every day to test and stretch out the leg and stopped scaring myself by looking up information on stress fractures.  Was a fine way to waste the weekend away.

One thing’s for sure, every injury is an education and I always appreciate that aspect since the more you get acquainted with these things, the quicker you can stop them in their tracks.  This one lingered a while but now that my Sartorius and I have been formally introduced, that ain’t likely to happen again.

Phase II -The Plan
I can’t wait to begin this second training section of Fall 2011!  Coach Adam/A muse gave me my workouts for the next couple months which are very different from the last cycle.  They include “stroke volume” workouts inspired by this interesting article by Joe Rubio, then as the race distances grow, more tempo stuff is brought in. It’s a logical yet powerful trajectory that should leave me in excellent shape for the Vegas Half.

Notorious Sartorius Week In Review
This was the week doubles became my new BFF.  Injury aside, before I tipped the bucket, I was thrilled by how much easier it is to run the same number of miles in two rather than one run.  Granted, feeling “not right” as I did this last week, I should have cut back the mileage, but I do believe that had I done the same distance via singles, I’d have been out for the count sooner.

I’m going to write more about my observations on two-a-days vs singles after I get another week’s worth under my belt.  It’s a whole other reason I’m so excited to get back on the road, to experiment more with this new running toy.

Monday: 12@8:27
Tuesday: AM 7@8:42, PM 6@8:28
Wednesday: AM 10@8:16, PM 6@8:05 (strides)
Thursday: AM 8@8:42, PM 6@8:06
Friday: 1.4@8:47
Saturday:Off
Sunday: Off
Total: 56.4 mi

OK, I just discovered something I don’t like about doubles – it’s now a pain in the ass to write out the Week In Review.  Oh what I do for my sport…

Yesterday morning’s run was a total stinker.  I planned for 12 but was PMSy and the previous day I’d fallen flat on my face near the end of a 12-miler so both my knees and palms were scraped and tender, but what was getting me down the most was that pinchy leg niggle that was still there.  Not that it’s so painful (it isn’t, and works itself out during the run) but not being 100% when I’ve got all these races planned is a serious downer.

I ended up cutting it short at 7mi – unheard of for me – and once home, I first whined to my forum pals then did what I should have done 2 weeks ago…took ibuprofen.  I had held off on it initially because I didn’t want to bloat up before my Half but also because this niggle has been so elusive, it seemed worth monitoring “as is” to make sure it wasn’t a scary thing.  Since it’s way better and eases off as I run, I think I can now assume it is not a scary thing. So Vitamin I down the hatch.

A couple hours later, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner.   When I tried the bend-my-leg-and-stand-on-it-just-so-to-replicate-the-pinchy-pain test it felt great…not a peep.  Needless to say, this cheered me up substantially and as the day progressed, I thought “wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity for my first double?”

So at 5pm I put on some fresh running gear and went out for an easy 6mi.  It was warm, 80 degrees, but it sprinkled and the park was super pretty in that dark rainy afternoon way.  It turned out to be a swell run and my leg was just fine.  The only annoyance were the gnats: swarms of them.  When I got home, I had to disrobe in the shower so as not to fling their little black carcasses all over the bathroom via slingshot (wet sports bra).

Gnats aside, there really is something to be said for short runs, they’re so easy!  My legs will surely appreciate it as well.  I have no regrets about holding off doing it till now, btw, summer’s sweltering temps would have made afternoon runs torture, but the next couple months should be wonderful conditions and now I’m so close to the park…it’s like a Siren call.

In fact, I’m doing another double today – I did 10 already and will go for 6 later.  I’m looking forward to doing some strides in the second run since it’s such a tiny li’l thing.

The Training/Racing Conundrum
Kevin Beck finished his series on volume and it’s a good capper.  I was actually thinking of the “slave to the mileage” thing before I read the article.  I’ve been thinking about what my focus is right now and how I need to prioritize what matters but the question is…what is my priority?  My plan in doing all these races as to use them as training tools enabling me to replace speedwork and also to learn to race better, so basically, I considered it to be something on the way to something better.  But then I got to thinking “why do I train?” and the answer is…to race!

I’m in love with running anyway so the whole “training to train” phrase (generally said with a sneer) is not such a negative thing to me, after all, I just spent the best few months of my running life “just” running.  But now things are getting more interesting in potential improvement so…do I set my sights on the future or concentrate on getting the most from these next couple months?

If the former, I would keep mileage the priority with an eye for next year since I can imagine another improvement bump next Spring (providing nothing weird happens in the interim), or if the latter, I’d make these upcoming races the priority and lower my mileage to get the best outcome in those.  While I’d like to improve my Half PR in Vegas, I’m not sure how much I can milk from this period.

And looking ahead, since I can’t see myself freezing my ass off for 90mpw in the dead of Winter, I’m expecting a mileage drop to the 70s, which in turn, got me wondering if it’d be a waste to keep the volume up now, knowing I’ll just be cutting it come Winter.

All these thoughts were giving me an “oh crap, what’s the most important thing here?” anxiety attack until I unloaded on Coach Adam/A muse who instantly put me at ease.  He assured me that capillaries don’t suddenly disappear and that the miles I bank now will help me in the Spring.  He also reminded me that maintaining aerobic fitness is easier than building it in the first place.  Then he shared his ideas with how to proceed and suddenly,  peace was restored to my swamp of a brain.

The main thing, the framework, will include maintaining high mileage for several weeks but dropping radically before Vegas: “a true taper and we can try to force a peak, too”.  There’ll be some switching of tempos and faster stuff plus some hybrid workouts. He also recommended I reread Joe Rubio’s “Endless Season” approach for frequent racing – an article that, when I read it a few months ago, gave me the heebee jeebies (What? Race a lot? Terrifying!) since it’s a great stepping-off point.

So it looks like there’s a through-line already shaping up, a plan in the making.  And Jim…I didn’t get a single finger-wag.

Race On Saturday
The next time I check in will be after my 5k.  Yikes!  I’m expecting a not-that-great time but I’m expecting to have a great time.   This is a sweet little race, as mentioned before, with nice prizes.  It’s not certified though and last year it was short, but it’s been adjusted and the director said he remeasured it twice so supposedly it’s correct, but if not, I don’t care, it’s merely a rust-buster for short and fast, and goodness knows I have a lot of rust to remove.