Posts Tagged ‘single runs vs 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…

I went 18 miles yesterday.  Last time I ran longer than 17 was the Boston Marathon, April 2010 – long time ago.  It wasn’t planned when I left the house, I was expecting to do 14 or 15 but the day was nice, I was running well and it seemed like a fun thing to do, just to see how 18 miles would feel.   It was a great run, 8:11 pace with a low heart rate, no fatigue at the end, no wishing it was over, just enjoyment.

There really is something to be said about this casual increasing of distances and efforts.  I like it so much that I plan to continue this model long-term (knocking on wood for continued health):
1. Summer base-building, completely low-key, emphasis on volume
2. firm it up for Fall racing, try to keep the mileage up through the season (racing will naturally interfere some, but it’s ok)
3. take 1-2 weeks off completely as Winter sets in, then
4. spend Winter running mid-60s to 70s (no way I’m doing 90mpw in wintry suck) – again keeping it casual
5. returning to 90mpw and race prep in the Spring.

The trouble with higher mileage in singles
As you know, I prefer doing all my runs in singles and so far, it’s been just fine.  However, now that I’m adding in quality work, scheduling becomes more complicated. I only have one short day, Monday, which I consider to be a recovery day or “my little reward for having completed another chunky week” so it’s a putter day if I choose.  That leaves me 6 days of double-digit runs in which to place speed and tempo workouts.  This is why extending the Long Run to 18 and beyond is helpful, as it lets me shorten a workout day.

Not that it’s horrible to do a speed or tempo in the midst of a longer run, it’s just a pain in the ass.  Because if I do it towards the front of the run, energy levels are good but that leaves a lot of miles afterwards.  Alternately, if I wait towards the end of a run as I would for speedwork (because 1-2 miles is the most I want to deal with after that type of effort) then that’s an 8-9 mile warmup…a tad excessive.

Additionally, the day preceding a quality day will probably always be 14 or more, which means my legs aren’t exactly bouncy when it’s time to do the workout.  And with my preference for 2 days between quality sessions…you see how it can be limiting.

On the other hand, quality days within longer runs aren’t the worst thing ever, it’s certainly good for endurance, but you have to accept that there will be some performance tradeoff.  So if I find I’m too tired to do the workouts properly or that my progress is being held back because of it, I will either have to drop some mileage (even 5mi would help) or incorporate a couple doubles.

The good thing is that I’m satisfied with any progress at the moment and am in no hurry to get from A to Z.  So I won’t be making any changes just yet, but this is an ongoing experiment and it’s interesting to see how these components will unfold as the workouts go from baby steps to Real.

My Goals and Revisiting Marathons
I wrote a post on the 3:20 thread the other day in response to the usual teasing from my forum pals about my “Great marathon training, Flo!” or asking me when my next Full is.  It always makes me laugh and I haven’t said anything about goals in a long time because I stopped having any.  Well, that’s not exactly true, I’ve had a sub-20 5K goal for almost 2 frickin’ years, lol, and if I don’t get it this Fall, there’s something seriously wrong with me (meaning, I’m confident it’ll happen).

But anyway, I finally said something goal-ish to my 3:20 pals because I wanted to admit I have one, even if it’s a while down the line.  This is a goal I’ve secretly coveted for ages but dismissed for being impossible, but here it is back on the table… a 1:30 Half.  NOTE: I have to make this super clear before anyone gives me a “you can do it!” before I’m ready; it ain’t gonna happen this year!   It’s a 2012 goal but the fact that I even have it (and think it’s acquirable) is beautiful.  So that’s my #1, long-term goal.

Now about those pesky marathons…
While on a run the other day, I got to thinking about the things I disliked about marathons and marathon training: those interminable long runs, the way improper nutrition or hydration can kill a race, that bad weather can crush months of hard training in an instant, not to mention my feet always get beat up and hurt like hell during a marathon.  Then it hit me that two of those things are no longer applicable.

Long Runs are obviously not heinous anymore and 6 purple toenails later my feet are acclimated to constant pounding (crazy how bad my feet got the moment I raised my mileage, but all is well now).  As for the other things, I still hate them.  I haven’t had a gel on a training run since March 2010 and love not having to worry about it, and the thought of racing hard for 3+ hours in crappy weather turns my stomach.  I’m not ever going to be someone who finds the challenge of those things exciting or something to rise above, it’ll always be irritating shit in my book.

Now here’s a thing:  about a year and a half ago when I announced “no more marathons”, I told my friend Lara that there was one lone circumstance in which I’d reconsider the decision and that was if I could confidently go after a sub 3:10.  It was a “when pigs fly” type of remark because I knew it was never gonna happen.  But now I’m not so sure what I know or don’t know anymore – there’s really no telling where this new phase will lead.

If, for some crazy reason, I’m able to drop my times to where 3:09:59 seams feasible, then I actually would probably go for it.  But I still don’t love the marathon distance, so please nobody expect me to be perusing Rock N Steal Your Money Roll’s website for the latest fab race any time soon, it’ll be a while, if ever.

So that’s what’s been going through my head lately.  Since what I’m doing is pretty much marathon training.  How ever the hell that happened.