How Fast?

Thursday I felt good after the 8.5 mile run, but later in the day I was SO tired. I nodded off at lunch, and went to bed at 8:30. Ten hours later I woke up feeling fairly good, and I rested that day. But today, halfway into the morning’s five-mile run with the St Croix Valley group I began to feel very, very sluggish. I even walked briefly a couple of times, and thought I was slower than molasses. But then, to my surprise, I finished in 43:13 for a pace of 8:39, which is not a bad time for that run.

So was this morning's fatigue real, or was it mental? Big week last week - maybe I should just rest some more. But my runner’s instinct says go out and run tomorrow, seize the day! We’ll see how that sounds in the morning.



Saturday night's dinner: Roast lamb with Rose's Key Lime Marmelade, organic parsnips, organic strawberries, organic squash, organic salsa, nice stout.

Dodged the Rain

Eight and a half miles on the Gateway trail with friend Randy. Very enjoyable run. Distance and time are approximate, but close enough. Time 1:13:09, overall pace 8:36. Hmmm. Same pace as Tuesday’s 6-mile run, though longer. Helps to have Randy pushing the pace. We ran in the morning and avoided the rain. Temp was 62 and humidity was enormous.

My running week starts on Saturday, and since I won’t run tomorrow I’m done for the week with a total of 36 miles. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s my biggest week in months, as I’ve struggled with an assortment of runner’s injuries. Happily, no pains today! I did not wear the knee warmers, either. I did forget to apply nipple protectors (spot band-aids) and got some blood on the t-shirt where it rubbed up and down across the nipples, so I guess it’s not quite true to say “no pains.” But this is just a stupidity pain and easily treatable (duh!).



Nice salad: Organic romaine, cucumber, organic grapes, pistachios, cheese, organic blue corn chips, organic red wine vinegar.

Six Nice Miles

On the Gateway Trail, meeting my sweeties twice. Almost a rainy day - misting and 60 degrees with a bit of wind too. Nearly-perfect running weather :-)

Splits: 8:36, 8:40, 8:38, 8:28, 9:18, 7:57, total 51:36, pace 8:36. Plenty fast enough after a 30k just three days ago. I tried to hold my breathing rate to four footfalls per full breath, but in the last two miles I was breathing faster at three footfalls per breath. Partly because I was running on a fairly full stomach, partly because it felt good. No pains! It’s a masterpiece.



Last night's dinner: Wild-caught Alaskn salmon, organic lime, organic pickle relish, organic broccoli, parmesan cheese.

Recovery Run

Nice short recover run on local streets, 2.5 miles in 21:26, pace 8:34. Not bad for “dex day.” No pains - not even a hint. Wonderful run, after a 30k and over two hours of mowing on Saturday. The calf that cramped up during the mowing was a little sore during the post-run stretches, but not during the run. It’s a masterpiece.

Interesting factoid: I have two pairs of running shoes, identical except for mileage, one for training and the other for racing. Last month I put more miles on the racing shoes than on the training shoes! Huh. Hafta think about that.




Post-run breakfast: Gluten-free oatmeal with organic flame raisins and dried cranberries, mango, blueberries, organic strawberries, organic grapes, organic walnuts, banana, organic pomegranate juice, nonfat organic milk. Takes me a long time to get around all of that.

Northern Lakes 30k

And two other runs.

Saturday, May 31:

The Northern Lakes 30k is three weeks ahead of Grandma’s Marathon, and with a little warmup and cool-down it makes a good 20-mile run. I finished in 3:02:30 by my watch (no online results yet) which is a pace of 9:49. In the past I have been about a minute per mile faster in most marathons, but I’m out of shape. Nevertheless I’d be happy with today’s pace in a marathon right now - it’s about a 4:17 finish. Actually, I’d prefer a 4:15:59 finish because that’s a Boston qualifying time for 65 - 69 :-) But it doesn’t really matter because I’m not going to run Boston anyway - been there and done that. There are SO MANY marathons to run :-)

Pains: The left hip flexors started to hurt a little almost right away, but didn’t get much worse over the 18.6 miles. Same with the left knee. I did wear a protector/warmer on that knee - maybe that kept it from getting worse. No other problems, and neither of those slowed me down. I walked quite frequently in the later miles, either because I was out of breath or because muscles were just plain tired. Out of shape.

Splits: 9:15, 8:54, 9:24, 9:24, 9:29, 9:17, 9:52, 9:44, 9:49, 10:15, 9:38, 10:14, 10:00, 10:22, 10:49, 9:50, 10:04, 10:00, 6:08. After the race I ate a big breakfast and then spent two and a half more hours mowing the lawn with a push rotary mower. Does that add on for the equivalent of a 26-mile training run? I think so. At least my calves thought so - the left calf cramped up during the mowing. Ouch. Maybe better hydration after the race would have helped that cramp.

The race itself is OK. I’m not enthusiastic about the 30k course, because it was on roads that were open to traffic, and almost a quarter of it was on a busy access road immediately parallel to a freeway. Noisy and a bit dangerous - there were places with no shoulder except a narrow strip of soft dirt next to the pavement. Sheriffs deputies more than once instructed us to run the entire race on the right side of the road, but in places the water stops were on the left side and in many places the left side was safer. The water stops were all working, though, and the finish line was great. My two sweeties ran the Northern Lakes 10 mile race at the same time, finishing well ahead of me.

Thursday, May 29:

After returning from Mayo with good news, I ran 3.3 miles on local roads in 27:26, for a pace of 8:19. Oddly, this is exactly the same pace that I ran in the Brian Kraft 5k race on Monday. That was a very flat course, and today’s run was quite hilly. Something was wrong on Monday, most likely just the dex that I took the night before. And maybe the good news helped today.

No pains or problems. I had intended to run four miles, but cut it shorter and scampered home when thundershowers appeared in the west. Running in lightning is just as dumb as golfing or boating in lightning.

Tuesday, May 27:

Gateway Trail, eight miles in 1:08:20, for a pace of 8:33. Faster than intended but no pains or problems. This was just one day after the Brian Kraft 5k that I whined so much about, and the pace really wasn’t much slower. All in all a delightful run.

Splits 8:48, 8:48, 8:08, 8:42, 8:17, 8:34, 9:12, 7:51, total 1:08:20, pace 8:33. A masterpiece.



Post-30k Breakfast. First a yummy plate of eggs (not shown), then gluten-free oatmeal with organic flame raisins and cranberries, organic strawberries, blueberries, banana, mango, organic walnuts, nonfat organic milk, organic pomegranate juice. Man I love that stuff.

Three Days in a Row

Monday, Memorial Day, May 26:

The Brian Kraft Memorial 5k is a well-regarded USATF race with a rich history. Today, as in most years, 5k records were broken. See results on raceberryjam.com, with women here and men here. It’s almost a who’s who of Minnesota running, with the fastest runner finishing in 14:47.

My splits: 7:40, 8:19, 9:47 (1.1 mi), total 25:46, pace 8:19. I did not do well, finishing a minute slower than yesterday and ninth of 14 in the official listing of men 60-69. I’m not fond of 10-year age groups, but would have finished fourth of four in 65-69 if they had used 5-year age groups. Maybe ninth of 14 sounds better! We have some very fine runners in my age group, of which I was not one today; the next-slower runner, Jared, age 65, finished in 21:38, more than four minutes ahead. My friend Jim, 63, led the 60-69 group with 19:07. Marvelous.

Lots of excuses for me though. I ran a 5k yesterday and five miles the day before, which is plenty for me. Perhaps more important, I took my dexamethasone last night, so today was “dex day,” and dex interferes with “glucose transport,” which means that my muscles were somewhat less inclined than usual to take up glucose from my blood. However, I slowed in the last mile because I was out of breath, not out of leg power, so maybe oxygen was the problem and not glycogen. Anyway I don’t like racing on dex day.

NO PAINS AT ALL! Whooee! Maybe the ITB program (see May 25, below) is working? Perhaps I’ll test that theory tomorrow with a longer run. Meanwhile I’m keeping that knee warm at all times and stretching both sides.

Sunday, May 25:

Charities Challenge hosts a series of nice 5k races on the trails around Lake Como throughout the outdoor-running season. Today’s race was ”Challenge Hearts and Minds," to celebrate people who are challenging their heart disease or mental health issues by running and other exercise. Everyone welcome, of course, even those of us who have neither of those diseases. Nice little races with a lot of support and encouragement for everyone. Maybe 100 runners, with finish times ranging from 16 minutes to over an hour.

Having run five miles the day before, with some knee problems, I had decided to take this one easy. You know how that goes - how can anyone run slow in a race? I can’t. So I started a little slowly but gained speed throughout. Friend Rick was ahead, and I tried to keep up, but eventually fell a couple of minutes behind anyway.

As an experiment, I wore a foam rubber knee support/warmer/cover on my left knee, the one with ITB problems. A half mile into the race I was regretting this choice, as the ITB started to hurt. I had thoughts about stopping and waiting for my sweeties to catch up, then to run with them at an easier pace. But another half mile later the pain was gone. Huh. So my current treatment for ITB is threefold:

• Keep the knee warm at all times. When I’m not wearing long pants I wear a homemade knee warmer made of old sox with the toes cut out, even in bed;
• Now I’m wearing my rubber warmer on that knee whenever I’m running; and
• Probably most important, I’m assiduously doing my ITB stretches three or four times per day.

We’ll see if that ITB program works.

Splits: 8:11, 8:03, 7:51, 0:45, total 24:50, overall pace 8:01. I’m not unhappy with this time, and I think I could have done just a little better if I had tried from the beginning of the race, but certainly not more than a minute.

Saturday, May 24:

The St Croix Valley Runners regular 5-mile Saturday-morning run, enjoyable as always because of the people. I mostly ran with Roy, but fell back when the left knee started to hurt, because of ITB issues I think. Nertz. Anyway I made the five miles in 45:18 for a pace of 9:04 even with the poor last mile. No pain after the run, and as before I can’t find the pain by palpating the place where it seemed to hurt. Maybe it’s ITB, and the doctor thinks so, but maybe it's not.



Today's exotic-fruit breakfast, after the Brian Kraft 5k. Irish oatmeal with organic flame raisins and dried cranberries, blueberries, organic strawberries, freeze-dried rambutan, dried dragon fruit, dried lychees, organic pomegranate juice, organic nonfat milk. The exotic fruits are all from Trader Joe's. Rambutan chews a little like corn curls but tastes sweet and fruity as if it contained two or three different fruits mixed together. Dried lychees are chewy with a pleasant, somewhat familiar fruity flavor. Dried dragon fruit has a marvelous chewy texture and a nice flavor.


Recent lunch: Organic chard with dried cranberries, macadamia nuts, organic apple, organic chicken breast, organic pomegranate juice.


Dinner: Turkey-breast curry, organic strawberries, organic green beans, very nice porter.

Twelve miles

Wednesday, May 21:

Randy and I, both recovering from injuries, set out to run 14 miles on the Gateway Trail. We didn’t hurry and we stopped our watches at least twice to empty shoes of rocks and swap water bottles. After 9 miles I started to feel a little warning from the left knee, so I turned around early and ran only 12 miles. In the last mile I also had some hip-flexor pain on the left; that mile was very slow as I walked and ran. I’m probably just pushing the mileage too hard - perhaps I’d be better off starting at 8 miles and increasing mileage only 10% per week like everyone says. We’ll see. Nothing hurts now, though, after the run.

Was today’s knee problem really due to ITB? Pro: It did seem to hurt as much when lifting the knee as when coming down on it, the pain was on the very outside of the knee, and it started after quite a few miles as ITB problems often do. Con: I was unable to find any place where I could make it hurt by poking it with my finger. To be honest the hip-flexor hurt more than the knee in the last mile. I’m thinking the hip flexor is just a fitness issue - need more miles, building appropriately.

Total time 1:51:50, pace 9:19, but even that pace is better than it should be, because we stopped our watches a few times. I took water at every even mile and Clif Shots twice.



Salad: Organic romaine, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, homemade guacamole, blue cheese, organic red wine vinegar.


Dinner: Free-range no-antibiotic no-hormone bison, onion, organic carrots, pepper & salt.