Total Miles – 33.1
Run 25 – 1/25/21 – Treadmill Return of the Pain – It was frigidly cold today and I decided to not risk further exposure to Mother Nature and headed to the gym for my easy 60 minute run . I also needed to check what the treadmills at the gym had as max inclination just in case the snow on Tuesday actually falls and I need to do my hill repeats on the treadmill.
First of all, I hate running with a mask, once you start sweating up a storm, even the Under Armour one I purchased gets so soaked, it is hard to breath. You are pulling in your own sweat, it’s disgusting! I hate running on the treadmill and then running on it with a mask. Yet, you must adhere.
Before I even laced up my shoes today, I iced my ailing right arch, because it was tender and it just plain HURT. So when I started my slow trot on the treadmill I knew what was coming before it started. It began as a small discomfort, that ended up turning into slight constant pain with every strike. Not enough to change my strike or to slow me down, but enough for me to notice and be mentally affected. To the point where I have to think, what will my hill repeats be like. This is not the shoe, since unlike the original shoe that started this, I don’t feel the stab.
I told my coach and he wants me to see a doctor, which I will. I made the appointment for Thursday. We will see what he says. I will not stop running in the meantime.
The run on the treadmill was what it always is, interminable. It never ends. Even with a good book in my ear. It never ENDS.
Run 26 Hills – Run 27 Easy – Run 28 Longest Run in a Year – I will be honest and say I did not write at all, all week. Except for Monday’s run. This is a recap of the week. Starting with:
Wednesday Hills #26 – I could not run on the road, so I had to take my hills to the treadmill. Part of the reason for running Monday’s run, other than the cold, in the gym was to see how high I could set the treadmill, 15. So hills consisted of 40 second sprints 6 times. Before that, 4 30 second sprints on flat ground to get loose and then capping it all off, with 10 minutes of Half Marathon pace. Sandwich that in between a 25 minute warm up and a 10 minute cool down and it was a hell of a workout. Not treadmill fun! Yet, went rather quick except for the bookends, because of all the changing up of paces.
I went back to wearing the Brooks for this run, to see if I could abate the pain in my arches and that worked. For some reason the Brooks don’t cause the same pain as everything else. I have the new New Balance ready to go for the next easy run. Anyway, the hills were murderous. Running so fast, at a 7:47 pace for 40 seconds with an incline of 8 was not easy. Doable, but no easy. By the 5th go around, I feared not staying on pace but pushed on. On the 6th run, I honestly felt myself slipping but pushed on and somehow sped up enough to stay on the treadmill and not show up in someone’s YouTube video falling off the treadmill like an idiot. The one thing the treadmill does do, is force you to keep that pace. The act of changing speeds or elevation is the act of giving up, and it is much harder to do when you have to press a button to do it.
After the hills came 20 minutes of interminable treadmill hell. The 10 minutes at half marathon pace never ended. After the fast pace of the changes between the sprints and the hills, staying at that pace for 10 minutes was both hard and monotonous at the same time. Follow that up by 10 minutes at easy pace and the last 20 minutes felt 10 times longer than the first 40.
Friday #27 – Easy Run on new shoes. They feel utterly different to the Asics and Brooks, and they hug my feet in such a way to say I got you. Yet, the toe box felt wide and loose. I feared that I would be in pain quick with these shoes, since I felt them on my right foot. Yet, I just felt them and nothing else. While I did feel a tinge of pain a couple of times it never remained. I was able to put on dress shoes after and nothing of note happened. I did my usual home loop for 55 minutes and nothing eventful, except the lack of pain but definitely some pressure.
The doctor on Thursday advice me that I would not do any real further damage, it would just take that much longer to heal. So, we push on!
Saturday #28 – Long Run, actually my longest run in a year when I was training for the canceled NJ Marathon. Again, I relied on the Brooks since pain and Brooks are not synonymous. I create a 15 mile loop, hoping that 15 would be enough to cover the 2hrs and 20 minutes I needed. I went from Mount Vernon, to The Bronx and Baychester Ave. I took this all the way past Co-op city and into Pelham Park. Did you know that Pelham Park is actually the biggest park in the city. The running trails in and around it are hilly and well paved. It was really a joy to run them. From there, I cut back up to New Rochelle and then back to Mount Vernon. Quite the loop!
Here’s the issue with that loop though. The last 3 miles were all up hill. It did not matter that it was a balmy 20 degrees outside. I sweated through the cold and my energy was completely depleted with the hills. My pace went from a steady 9:30 give or take. To a 10:1X. I felt it as I slowed. I felt it as the hills took a number on me. I thankfully did not lose the fight and other than stopping for lights. I never stopped because I could no longer go.
Next week is suppose to be an easy week, that will be made difficult by the Nor’Easter that is incoming on Monday which will make all my runs be done at the gym with the exception of maybe Saturday, which I will do in Central Park.
