Two runs in the same day…I haven’t done that in a while, but it is time to start in doing it a couple times a week, which will help me get to my weekly goal mileage of 40 miles per week once I get the body ready for the increase.

Run #1

I went to Waterville for a nice run outside in shorts and no windbreaker. I still had a long sleeve tech shirt and a tech shirt underneath, along with gloves, but I got to wear shorts. A nice change of pace and I ditched the gloves after a couple of miles.

I wanted to get 5-6 miles and added a bit to the first part of the run, which worked out just about perfect. It was not supposed to be a fast run, just another run to get acquainted with the Forza 3’s manners and see how they do on a bit longer run.

With the laces I have in, I have to tuck them into the lace box, so they don’t flap around, they are a bit too long, so I will look around to see what I have that is shorter in red. I like the red laces, although I have a feeling that white wouldn’t look too shabby either.

For the most part it was just a nice easy run where I had to make a pit stop at the library to feel better. Although for some reason after I stop there, I tend to loose my pacing and slow down a lot going back to PF. It probably has something to do with it being, slightly uphill and you really don’t notice the elevation gain as much as a real hill until you stop going uphill.

At about 5 miles the outside of my right foot started to bother a little, nothing serious, but I decided to bring it straight in versus heading up over Lincoln, which I had thought about doing, to add a little more distance. It was a good decision and I was glad that I kept it to 6.0 miles.

Plus going down First Rangeway was a bit of a wind tunnel and while the “official” app reading was less than 5 mph, it sure seemed like a lot more than that going into it.

This afternoon I had my bi-weekly acupuncture appointment and added a few new spots for the needles, which seemed to help quite a bit. I talked with Terry about if it was okay to run after and she said “go for it”.

Run #2

After the needlework, I headed down to the Rail Trail in Hallowell and proceeded to head down towards Augusta, I figured since this was my first double of the year an easy paced 3.0 miles would be just about right.

That first half mile was rather horrid. My body was going “what in the hell are you doing shithead?”

It wasn’t all happy about this second run stuff.

I go through this every time, I start second runs, so I ignored the way my body was responding and talking to me. Once it figured out that we were going to keep going, things settled in and I began to find a decent stride. But that first 1/2 mile I was definitely doing the “old man shuffle”.

After that things got easier and I was able to just run. The right foot didn’t bother at all, so I think it is just a matter of getting the foot used to running longer in the Forza’s.

I was pleasantly surprised at the mile splits for the effort levels, nothing super fast but 10 second better each mile and the pacing was fairly consistent for me.

While neither run was anything to write home about, they were both consistent and good miles that left me feeling good, which is all I can ask for.

When I got home Elliott was being Elliott and somehow got one of the grocery bags hung around his head and dropped it off the counter, while he was supervising the food being put away. Silly cat.

Well, it still ain’t warm and toasty outside, but at least the wind is not howling, but still blowing a pretty steady pace in a runner’s face. Yeah, it was nice enough outside that I wanted to be out in the elements this morning for my run.

I added a Coast Guard patch to my Boston Strong hat, it turned out pretty good.

However, I have retired the GoRun Ride 7’s to walking shoes, since the left heel counter is very questionable for running – I am pretty sure I would get a blister if I continued to run in them based on how they felt on Sunday’s run if I had gone any further in them convinced me that was a pretty good idea. Although knowing me I will at some point go for another run in them, because they are a huge favorite of all the running shoes I have run in lately. Unfortunately, the upper was not up to the way my heel is formed.

So this morning I decided to wear my GoMeb Speed 3’s and see how they would do on the roads, prior to this they had only seen duty on the track and treadmill. I really wanted to get 4-5 miles in (more if the shoes were up to it). Continue reading →

I can only whine about the weather so much and then, well you just gotta suck it up and deal with it. 😉

Today around the house, I swear that it is 10 degrees colder than everywhere else and it is a wind tunnel that makes those temps even colder, so on Bennie’s long walk this morning Mary and I decided to take our workouts inside – again.

I headed to Planet Fitness in Waterville, but when I got there the wind didn’t seem nearly as strong and the temps felt a bit more hospitable, plus when I went inside and looked at the treadmills, I just couldn’t do again.

Six straight days of treadmillin is about all I can take.

I always try to carry enough outdoor gear to run outside if the urge hits me, unexpectedly and luckily everything was there. So I headed out the door and planned on 5-6 miles.

The run itself was nothing spectacular, I maintained a pretty steady pace and kept things going according to effort, not pace. Which is probably better than attempting to hit a particular pace all the time.

However, I am a little disappointed with my Skechers GORun Ride 7’s, after only 142 miles, my left heel has already worn through to the heel counter and on the right foot the outside ankle well has worn through to the foam. I have been noticing the wear for about a week.

Although from past experience it was going to be a question of when, not if that hole in the heel counter was going to start bothering, just by the way the edges of the wear spot in the heel were starting to feel.

Today was when.

The left heel started to bother a little after 4.0 miles. It was That feeling you get when a blister is getting ready to start forming, that little bit of itchiness, not quite sore, but you know there is an irritation going on.

Before that I had been feeling really good and seriously thought about going over around Colby or up Lincoln to Washington to do something a bit longer, since I didn’t get my long run in this week. However, once that little irritation started, I know where it usually leads – big blister. Today there was no reason to abuse the feet, so I just headed straight in and finished before the feeling turned into something more.

I know it was the right thing to do, but it sucks when you are feeling good and the gear doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain.

This does really suck too, because I love the fit/feel of the GRR7’s and how they have let me run longer than I have in a while. Oh well back to the drawing board. I had a feeling that this was going to happen, but I thought/hoped that I would have a few more weeks before something like this happened.

I ordered a pair of Skechers Forza 3’s for a great price yesterday, because I had a feeling that by the end of the month, the GRR7’s would be toast. Now I am really glad that I ordered them and they should be here tomorrow.

So that sucks. Getting around 150 miles out of a pair of running shoes ain’t that good, although I did have a pretty nice run today.

Okay, some days I am pretty stoopid. I had to go up to Fairfield and pay for getting the rototiller worked on, but it was still cold/windy enough that I wasn’t going to enjoy running outside.

Which meant another run on the treadmill. Since I did a fairly hard treadmill workout yesterday, I didn’t want to do another one today.

I started out pretty nicely and then had someone get on the treadmill beside me going just a little slower. Now I know I am stoopid sometimes and today was one of those days I was gonna get stoopid again.

After a mile, I decided that I was going to turn this into a little 1K repeat action and put it at just a little above where I want my race pace and did my first repeat. I felt pretty good and figured that was not a bad idea.

The the person on the treadmill beside me started doing repeats just a little faster than I was doing my 1K repeats. Actually I did pretty good and went back to the same speed when I started my next repeat and at just over a .1 into that repeat, my calf started to talk nasty to me – it tightened up a little.

So instead of pushing through the entire 1K repeat, I went back to my easy pace. The calf relaxed and told me I could keep running. So I did and I was still on my stoopid kick and kept increasing the speed a little and checking in with the calf.

Thankfully, the person beside me got off the treadmill a little bit after than and I didn’t have to be competitive.

It was doing fine and when I got to that last mile, I decided to one more 1K repeat. I put it up to speed and the calf didn’t complain, so I kept going to the end at speed.

While I acted like a stoopid person, instead of doing the workout I was supposed and ran a little faster than I should have, it didn’t seem to bother the old body too much. The calf is doing fine, but my left hamstring is complaining a little. Tomorrow will be a lot easier run than the rest of the week has been.

Today was one of those busy days, where the day starts out at the Dentist’s Office and kept going from there. I don’t know about you, but going to the dentist is not really the way that I enjoy starting my day.

Luckily, it was just a cleaning and after that replacing an old filling from the 70’s, which I should have done last time I was there, but procrastinated it as long as I could. A couple of other things happened that I will talk about in a minute.

After the appointment, I drove from Manchester to Waterville in the pouring rain — no running outside today. Mid 30’s*F and rain, just doesn’t make being outside all that much fun.

Another day on the treadmill and since my back has not had anymore episodes, I wanted to do 7 to 8 miles.

Unfortunately, for me after most dental appointments, I usually feel off and today was no exception. I wasn’t feeling great, but I wasn’t feeling bad enough to not run, so I got on, put the treadmill at 7.0 mph and ran to 3.0 miles when I had to stop for a quick B/R break.

I still wasn’t feeling great, but when I got back on, I bumped it up to 7.1 mph and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. By the time I got up to 5.0 miles, I was ready to stop, but I pushed for one more mile, but I didn’t go any faster…I just didn’t have it in me today.

It was one of those runs where you have to force yourself to just keep going.

Back to my earlier comment.

During my dentist appointment, the hygienist commented that it looked as though I have some acid reflux issues. There was wear on my teeth, but after discussing it, I don’t have any other symptoms? Not sure of what was going on, but when I finally got home and talked with Mary about it.

She did some research and it seems that my use of Kombucha may be the cause, along with when I was using Apple Cider Vinegar regularly. Gotta change things up a little on that end. Probably start drinking more coconut water and using a probiotic, but move away from the supposedly healthier drink – Kombucha.

The other part was that after the dentist I felt almost sick. He did replace an old filling from the early 1970’s, which more than likely was a mercury based one. I wonder if that and exposure to some of the other “stuff” in the dental office contributed to my feeling off.

I will never know, but hopefully tomorrow I will feel better and get back to running normally for me.