The last month has been interesting.
I revamped a bit of a running routine, running six days a week, all in the early- or mid-morning hours, mostly. This is part of an ongoing effort on my part to re-spark some long-desired habits of self-care and creativity.
Let me be clear, though, that I’m not announcing or detailing any kind of “plans” I have in place for running or any kind of habit change moving forward, for two reasons:
- I’ve done this many, many times before, and every time I do announce that I’m planning on doing something, I seem to not follow through with anything I publicly commit to, so while I do have some intentions in terms of what I’m going to be doing moving forward (in terms of running, writing, what I’ll be doing with this site, etc.), I’m keeping them on the old shelves of the mind and will happily relay some of the results here.
- Regarding the above, I’ve read that research shows announcing goals can be counterproductive to actually carrying them out.
All that said, one thing I am trying out now is rehashing notes from my daily running log, a small blank notebook with cardboard-style covers, with the contents of the first month’s efforts transcribed below. This is a bit of a look at where I am and where I’m going in regards to my running journey – and most of this is sort-of starting from scratch after several months of lying rather dormant, the result of a slight injury (what I believe was ITBS, given the symptoms, though through rest and recent exercises this seems to be subsiding, thankfully) from poor training for my first half marathon I ran back in October.
I’ve committed to another upcoming half-marathon (details to come on that later), but I’m trying to see where the daily log of this will go. Before we begin, let me also clarify that I’ve intentionally kept mileage during the past month low.
Really low. Painstakingly low. Embarrassingly low.
Why? Because my goal this round was not to see how fast or how far I could run, it was how often I could run and if I could do it consistently. This was all about re-forming the habit. Following this will certainly follow-up notes as I move through the next 12 weeks of training.
For now, here’s Part 1 . . .
Thursday, Feb. 25 – 1.8 or so miles today…warm, just wore thermal, blue technical pullover, pants, white hat. Goal = Do this six days a week until new training begins in mid-March. Ran at about 10:30-11 a.m.
Friday, Feb. 26 – Woke at 7, alarm never went off – my thought now is that the universe will always support your decisions…that is, I decide to watch four hours of TV, and not relax and read, then the universe will comply and not allow my alarm to go off at the decided time. And so I woke at 7. Did ITBS/Medicine Ball workout, good sweat and stretch. Now I must do the next six days of running. Do this all until March 20, when training begins and mileage increases.
Saturday, Feb. 27 – Out of bed at 5:45 a.m. Dressed, then immediately went out for a run in the glowing dawn light. Cold, but felt rhythmic…left quad and ass cheek sore from yesterday’s core workout; a good sign. Total of about 1.8 miles again. Onward…
Sunday, Feb. 28 – Another 1.8-mi. run today. Energy was high; had 2 cups of coffee before getting out the door…also warmer out today, no wind, lots of traffic, a few other walkers, cyclists, joggers about. Much different to run in mid-day light than it is to run in pre-dawn hour. That I do tomorrow. The lunge matrix is also proving to be a simple warm-up.
Monday, Feb. 29 – Little sleep last night. Woke up at 5:08 and ran the normal sub-2 mi. route. Left ankle a little sore, like it was going to click. Warm morning, good sweat, good rhythm.
Tuesday, March 1 – Alarm went off at 5, stayed in bed until about 5;40, then got up, dressed and ran. Sunrise was incredible – bleeding colors to welcome the day. Colder air, so I wore the beanie, but felt good and loose – tonight, feeling quite tight, sore glutes, sore IT Band, sore quads. Good to feel this sore again. Been a while since I ran this regularly. But barely a week in – notes may and probably will change by March 25 (full training begins March 20, then it’s Plymouth or bust).
Wednesday, March 2 – Alarm @ 5, got out of bed by 5:20…better, but not there yet. Need to get up as soon as alarm goes off. Used foam roller last night to stretch out the quads and IT Bands…significant soreness in one spot on left leg, and I feared an oncoming bout of ITBS early in the game, then remembered I bumped into the dining room table pretty hard Monday night, as such is the soreness now. This morning’s run was warm and misty…and tightness about, even after lunge matrix warm-up. Need to revisit a few resources, namely Sheehan, ChiRunning and Strength Running. Taking it slow, want to avoid injury as much as humanly possible. It can be done!
Thursday, March 3 – Out of bed at about 5:15 this morning. Left leg was sore through the night…and the outside of my left knee continues to crack…reminds me of my Dad when I was younger (his knees always seemed to crack when he moved)…the cracking doesn’t seem to hinder my runs, though. The soreness is probably due to six straight days of running…felt like a growing pain when I was a kid. Stayed throughout the run, though remained mindful of the soreness. Much of me wanted to stop. But if I did, at the current low mileage, how would I make it to 13.1 in June? Must push forward. Tomorrow is off day. Started smoothies again today…need to get the weight back down to the 170 range, so I plan to get a scale to measure progress. Not running and being off the smoothies diet has left me a little heavier than before. Nothing like my pre-run days when I was bloated and heavy-faced. No, only back up to the 190 range; goes to show that even vegetarians can gain weight.
Friday, March 4 – Slow morning, but is my “off day” – that is, the one day I’ve set during the week to not run. And so I found it easy to justify hitting the snooze. This, clearly, was a mistake, as the grogginess and bags under my eyes suggest. Arose, then did the ITBS routine and medicine ball workout. Back on the road tomorrow. First week, so far so good. Long way to June, though. My goal this time is to finish 13.1 pain free, nonstop. Don’t care about time or competition. Will worry about that later, or possibly never. Not doing this for speed or best timing…never did. This is about coming face to face with that son of a bitch I need to meet head-on – me.
Saturday, March 5 – Mid-morning run. After 2 coffees. These runs are not as serene as the pre-dawn runs. But I feel more energized. It’s rare I can do these mid-morning runs during the week, so I tend to save them for the weekends. Ran light, no pain, which was encouraging.
Sunday, March 6 – Another mid-day run…realizing while it’s tough to wake early, I enjoy the quiet of dawn more than the pre-rush hour traffic.
Monday, March 7 – 6 a.m. run, surprisingly light out, the sunrise pink and golden. Beautiful. Hated the first few minutes; cold and sweaty. But by the end I felt comfortable and light.
Tuesday, March 8 – Woke at 5, arose @ 5;30, wrote three pages longhand (morning pages) and then ran – cold, but you could feel the warm air on the way. After, as I walked the dog, I saw steam escaping my shoulders. Ghost.
Wednesday, March 9 – Much warmer run today, but difficult to get out the door. Little sleep last night – the kids were up almost every half hour. But still plugging in these mini-runs.
Thursday, March 10 – Late morning…didn’t even get out of the door until about 6:45, back by 7:03…short runs these days, gearing up for training to begin on March 20. Training for training, essentially. By mid-day, anxiety started to settle in…no specific anxieties, but had a near melt-down moment thinking of my brother and other deaths we’ve endured in recent years. But I also need to drink more water to hydrate. Yes.
Friday, March 11 – Out of bed at 6:40 (too late, but easy to justify on this one-day off each week)…did ITBS routine and medicine ball routine…both are quick but powerful and get my heart GOING! Sweating is inevitable. Good stuff. Start training in less than 2 weeks.
Saturday, March 12 – Back at it today. Mid-morning run, brisk air, daylight, more energy but also more traffic and less mystery than pre-dawn run. Also less pain of waking up early…
Sunday, March 13 – Mid-morning. Warm air. Felt great…change of foot strike changed any discomfort I had in ankle area. Also, runs seem to be affecting energy for the better…sometimes even a short run can feel like hell, running through knee-high muck. But for the rest of the day I felt energized and fantastic, even despite little sleep (our youngest did not feel like sleeping at all, apparently).
Monday, March 14 – Today’s run, about 5:25 a.m. felt cold and heavy, not light at all, but little sleep again. Moving onward.
Tuesday, March 15 – Soaking wet run, cold, but highly refreshing. Dripping wet, something about a rain-run I feel encourages me to keep going. Left ankle needs work, stretching going into core routine.
Wednesday, March 16 – Day off today due to wife’s schedule, swapping out for Friday, which means 8 straight days of running ahead.
Thursday, March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day. Early run, cold but light on feet.
Friday, March 18 – Mid-morning run. These are getting easier.
Saturday, March 19 – 2-mile run up in cloudless East Wakefield, NH with sis-in-law, hard run, out of breath. 2 major hills, but felt good and light by the end of it. Will do same tomorrow.
Sunday, March 20 – At home, late day run, exhausted, but did it anyway.
Monday, March 21 – Little sleep, maybe four hours, then out the door at 5;15 a.m., quick run in the cold spring-snow.
Tuesday, March 22 – First full 2-mile run, training now underway. The question is whether I will use “off” training days as short runs or focus on the core – my thought now is the latter. But will continue this week – tomorrow, 1.8, Thursday, 3, Friday, core.
Wednesday, March 23 – Really late run, not worth sleeping in, left ankle in pain. At night did ITBS routine, feels great on the side-quads.
Thursday, March 24 – Even later run today, so late that I could not fit in my 3-mile run and instead did less than 2-miles. Can’t let another slip happen. But the one-month plan is mainly complete.
Friday, March 25 – Woke at 5:30, ITBS routine done. Amazing how much a little effort with this particular routine actually does in terms of helping with soreness. Lower back sore today; must have bent too far forward during yesterday’s run. Core, posture, form – all important. Resume full training tomorrow.