A Lean and Hungry Look

My arch didn't seem to bug me all weekend after the 16-miler on Saturday, but I still think I need to do a little preventive training.  There is plenty of controversy right now about barefoot running, and I am aware of the pitfalls of it, but I still believe that a small amount of running on the grass helps strengthen muscles and tendons in a way that can help prevent injury.  Until proven otherwise, I think I'll try to work in at least 4-6 miles per week in my Vibrams, but only on soft surfaces.  Today's run was at Sunnyside Park.  It felt great to be running in the Vibrams and I didn't notice any pain anywhere.  The only complaint I have is that I run a lot slower when I wear the Vibrams than when I wear my trainers.  That may be related to the fact that I'm running on grass that is sometimes long, but my average pace is almost a full minute per mile slower than my normal recovery day pace.

I switched up my hard days again, so the plan is Wednesday and Friday this week.  I forgot to take my inhaler before leaving the house, so I was a little wheezy this morning.I seemed to warm up after a few miles, though, and the effort felt pretty good.  I did have some tightness higher in my left achilles tendon (probably due to running in Vibrams yesterday), but it was mild and disappeared after a couple of miles.

6 x 1/2 mile repeats at Sugarhouse.  Did the usual outer loop as a warmup, then did the usual inner loop for the repeats (one downhill on each, no uphill).  Two minutes active rest between each repeat.  Splits were as follows:

1: 2:33 (5:07/mi)

2. 2:33 (5:07/mi)

3. 2:36 (5:12/mi)

4. 2:42 (5:25/mi)

5. 2:35 (5:11/mi)

6. 2:38 (5:17/mi)

I was feeling pretty spent by the fourth repeat (as shown by the deterioration in time), but I felt like it was a productive session.  I need to look back at my log during the buildup to SG '09, but I don't think I was running repeats at this pace until several months into my training.  I suspect my lower weight and more efficient stride (more of a midfoot strike) may be helping.

I did my cooldown barefoot in the interest of injury prevention.  It makes me nervous running shoeless in Sugarhouse Park, though, so I think I'm going to start bringing my Vibrams and may do my warmup and cooldown in them.  There was a great piece in The Science of Sport this week on the barefoot/minimalist movement and one of the recommendations made was to warm up shoeless but train in shoes.  That makes sense to me, so I'll probably give it a shot with some of my hard workouts.

H-rock run with Maja (but I came straight down after Devonshire ended instead of winding around to Crestview).  The 21st South hill just about killed me, which probably had to do with the fact that yesterday was a hard day, but the weather was perfect and the view, as always, was spectacular.  Besides that, Maja didn't make me use either of the doggie bags (she usually makes me use two), so it was a success all around.

After a late night and with a heavy day of work ahead, I decided to take it easy this morning and try to fit in some pace work in tomorrow's 9-miler instead.  U campus loop.  Left achilles still tight, but the issue is higher up on the outside instead of in the usual spot.  Need to stretch throughout the day.

I left Maja home this morning because she slows me down and I needed to get some MP work in today.  I headed out along my 19th-20th East route to 39th South at an easy pace, then stopped and stretched for a minute before turning around and coming back up the mild hill (but returning along 21st East instead of 19th) at MP effort.  I left the Garmin home because I wanted to focus on effort and feel instead of stressing out about hitting my actual target pace.

The first couple of miles felt pretty good.  By the final 1.5 miles, I was pretty worn down, especially between 13th South and Zions Lutheran (where the hill gets steeper).  Temperature was higher than usual, so I'm sure my HR was high.  All in all, though, it was a good workout.