Yesterday morning I did a little over 7 miles at Seneca and Cherokee Parks in Louisville, KY. It was a cold morning but once again, the parks seemed crowded with runners, which is motivational for me in a communal sort of way. In the first mile, I was running next to a guy who started up a conversation with me. Normally, I am a huffer and a puffer and I am not much for chatting, but it was pleasant. He asked how many miles I was going, my route, and how old I was. He mentioned that he was 56, and was going to have a birthday today. (Happy Birthday, whoever you are!)
I started out a little faster than my normal pace, and although I did not have a specific route plan to give me seven miles, I had my Forerunner 305 with me. I felt like I was running strong but maybe a little too strong for my injury. When I got done, I knew maybe I had pushed myself a bit. I was limping noticeably all day yesterday after the run, and just a little this morning. I guess that comes with the territory.
When I reviewed the lap numbers from my watch, especially after uploading them to motionbased, I was able to learn a little something more about my running. Looking at my laps, my average miles per hour stayed fairly consistent, and my pace was consistent in miles one through six. Mile 7 was a lot slower.
I knew I was feeling tired by then, but the pace seemed even more slower than I thought it would be. Looking at the statistics further, I think the long, slow elevation of the seventh mile explains it. There were other elevation jumps prior to that, but they were steeper and didn’t last as long.
Here are my numbers for the run:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
1:09:28 |
9:32 pace |
| Distance (mi) |
7.28 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.3 avg. |
9.5 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+537 / -537 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
32 F avg. |
33.8 F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
NE 0.9 avg. |
NE 3.5 max. |
| Lap |
Time |
Distance |
M Spd |
Energy |
| (#) |
(m:s) |
(mi ) |
(mph) |
(Cal) |
| 1 |
9:06 |
1 |
7.8 |
177 |
| 2 |
9:08 |
1 |
7.6 |
180 |
| 3 |
9:50 |
1 |
8.1 |
178 |
| 4 |
9:33 |
1 |
7.8 |
177 |
| 5 |
9:32 |
1 |
8.1 |
177 |
| 6 |
9:27 |
1 |
7.4 |
181 |
| 7 |
10:13 |
1 |
7.8 |
179 |
| 8 |
2:37 |
0.27 |
7.2 |
48 |
Continue reading ‘Limping along’
I am noticing that it’s starting to get a shade lighter in the morning. No wait, I just started later than usual today. 
I felt pretty good, first mile the fastest at 8:55, then 9:33, then 9:47. But the key is my hip flexor pain wasn’t as bad. My plan is to run 7 on Saturday, then next Monday and Wednesday, run 3 each day. Then next Saturday, up the long run to 8, building up one mile each week till I get to 13. Then I will just do alternating long runs every Saturday of 10 and 6, all the way up until the mini. Here’s to strategic planning!
Garmin numbers for today:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:28:24 |
9:30 pace |
| Distance (mi ) |
2.99 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.3 avg. |
8.8 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+213 / -211 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
42.8 F avg. |
42.8 F high |
This morning I went for a run in shorts and a cotton tee shirt. Weather.com said it was 60 degrees as I walked out the door. What a fantastic run. The wind was swirling and it felt like a cool summer morning. It was quite invigorating! Especially since I didn’t sleep too well last night. Starlight is at the vet’s for her checkup, and the place just didn’t feel right without my roommate around.
I changed the settings on my Garmin to start keeping individual lap metrics of one mile, but after I uploaded it all to motionbased, the final numbers didn’t seem to tally up correctly. Oh well, no biggie. Here are the numbers, but numbers don’t really matter. I was out, I was moving, hip flexor pain be damned, and I had a nice little training run.
| Lap |
Time |
Distance |
| (#) |
(m:s) |
(mi ) |
| 1 |
9:45 |
1 |
| 2 |
9:52 |
1 |
| 3 |
9:41 |
1 |
| 4 |
0:44 |
0.07 |
| |
|
|
| Distance (mi ) |
3.16 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
5.9 avg. |
8.4 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+222 / -225 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
60.8 F avg. |
60.8 F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
S 9.2 avg. |
S 9.2 max. |
Today was the first day I ran since the Hangover Classic on Jan. 1. I ran a six-mile route between Seneca and Cherokee parks in Louisville, KY. The weather was cold and rainy. I got there around 7:45 a.m. and there were a whole bunch of runners already out and about, more than usual I think. There was a church group running, plus maybe some new runners trying to make good on their own New Year’s Resolutions.
My friends Linda and Laura were there, beginning their increase in mileage training for the Flying Pig marathon on May 4. The Flying Pig also has a half-marathon, and I would make plans to do that race if it did not occur so soon after the Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon on April 26, which I am planning to do. Linda and Laura did 12 miles today–double what I did. I would have loved to join them in going that distance, but my hip flexor injury continues, and I am trying to be good to myself.
Dealing with injury is something all runners do. Every runner I talk with has a pain story. Most of us, more than just one. We all like to complain a bit, but we all keep on running. All during the run, the hip flexor pain was noticeable. I would say about a five out of 10, ten being really bad. I tried to use mental imagery and also let the songs on my iPod distract me, and it worked for the most part. But the pain is definitely there, on the right side.
It’s an odd sensation; it mostly feels like it’s “locked,” like there is a limited range of motion. Kinda strange. I figured my knees would get me a long time before a hip problem. Or plantar fasciitis, which I have dealt with before. But this thing sure is nagging. I will continue to deal with it. I can’t complain too loudly, because I have sort of slipped on doing my exercises over the past week. The last thing I want to do is stop running, but for now, scaling back the mileage somewhat is the right thing to do. [Hopefully I am not sounding like a broken record, but I guess I need to convince myself I am taking the right course of action because I want to run every day!] Even my pace was probably a little bit too fast today, but I was sort of motivated by the cold rain. Makes you want to get it done a little bit faster than usual. Garmin numbers:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:58:40 |
9:41 pace |
| Distance (mi ) |
6.05 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.4 avg. |
9.6 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+447 / -447 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
38.7 F avg. |
38.7 F high |
Today I managed four miles, and it went well. The hip flexor pain is not as bad as it has been on past runs, but sometimes it doesn’t really manifest itself for a couple of days afterward. I would normally do more miles, but I have decided to do the Hangover Classic on January 1, so that will serve as my long run (ten miles). It felt good to get out and run, and my pace was a little faster than normal because I have taken so many days off from running to help with healing. An additional motivator was the three pounds I have gained over the past week.
Here are the numbers for today’s training run, and a route graphic, just for fun. By the way, I track everything using my Garmin Forerunner 305, and I upload everything to MotionBased, which is where the graphic comes from. What can I say, I guess I am somewhat of a geek.
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:40:12 |
9:13 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) |
0:40:13 |
9:13 pace |
| Distance (mi) |
4.36 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.5 avg. |
13.7 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+289 / -289 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
34.7F avg. |
35.6F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
NW 6.3 avg. |
NW 8.1 max. |
I gave myself a Christmas present today and ran six miles on a beautiful, sunny, crisp winter morning. I think I might just do the Hangover Classic (10 miles) on New Year’s Day after all. It’s a flat ten miles, probably even flatter than the mild run I took this morning. The hip injury pain is still there, but so far, knock on wood, it’s manageable. Life’s been good to me so far.
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:58:34 |
9:44 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) |
0:58:34 |
9:44 pace |
| Distance (mi ) |
6.01 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.2 avg. |
8.9 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+444 / -438 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
28.4F avg. |
28.4F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
N 0.0 avg. |
N 0.0 max. |
It’s interesting to note what a difference that the hip flexor injury has made to my burgeoning pursuit of running. Back in August when I finally decided to get fit, I started going to the gym in addition to running and dieting. I have always tried to nuture left-brain as well as right-brain activity, so I noticed the gym (YMCA) had an online facility to track my progress, called FitLinxx. When I use certain strength machines at the Y, it automatically logs my workouts, but you can add cardio sessions separately online, which I have been doing. Their website has a home page where you can compare your current monthly numbers to your previous month. As you can see in the screenshot I took from the site and pasted below, my December cardio is way, way off from last month at this same time, down from almost 16 hours of running last month by this date (the 22nd) to 5.5 hours of running this month. And calories burned is down 16,607 to 6,791.
The good news though is I am still losing weight, just a lot slower. And I still feel a whole lot better than I did in terms of energy capacity. But daggone, getting old has its drawbacks.
Today I decided to run over at Seneca and Cherokee Parks. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the worst, I would say the hip flexor pain is somewhere around 6.5. It definitely hurt more sitting in the car driving back after the run, but once I move around it gets better. Oh well, just gotta continue treating it. At least I am running. It felt great to be out doing it. Even though the weather was quite warm for this time of year, I probably should have worn some thin gloves. My hands kind of felt like icicles, but they warmed up quickly once I got back to the car.
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
1:24:00 |
10:19 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) |
1:24:01 |
10:19 pace |
| Distance (mi) |
8.14 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
5.8 avg. |
8.7 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+599/-599 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
48.2F avg. |
48.2F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
SE 6.9 avg. |
SE 8.1 max. |
At long last, I went for a morning run. It has been nine long days since I ran outside. Apart from the treadmill work four days ago, it’s the first real cardio exercise I have had since then. It was a warmish December morning and it was great to be back on the road–despite the ding-dang hip flexor pain! As of this writing, it doesn’t appear to be any worse, but with a lot of other things going on in my life the past week or so, I have not been energetically doing my physical therapy the way I should. I am hereby making a renewed commitment to that. I love running way too much to not make the effort. Even if my running is slow, just getting out there is a blast. It must be the endorphins, huh?
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:29:52 |
9:41 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) |
0:29:50 |
9:40 pace |
| Distance (mi) |
3.08 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
6.2 avg. |
8.6 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+237 / -227 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
44.6F avg. |
44.6F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
WSW 10.4 avg. |
WSW 10.4 max. |
For the first time since I began running in earnest this year, I felt as if running this morning, while I am still dealing with my hip injury, may have not been wise. From the very beginning of the run, the pain was quite prevalent. But my compulsion to at least “stay in touch” with running led me out the door. The run was almost painfully slow, but despite the hip soreness and pain, and despite the light, misty rain that stuck to my glasses making it almost impossible to see, I gotta take it for what it was, and at least I was mobile, and out there. On with the show, my PT is tonight.
Numbers:
| Total Time (h:m:s) |
0:32:53 |
10:41 pace |
| Moving Time (h:m:s) |
0:32:53 |
10:41 pace |
| Distance (mi) |
3.08 |
|
| Moving Speed (mph) |
5.6 avg. |
7.2 max. |
| Elevation Gain (ft) |
+237 / -227 |
|
| Temperature (F) |
44.6F avg. |
44.6F high |
| Wind Speed (mph) |
NE 3.5 avg. |
NE 3.5 max. |
