Despite my best efforts, I was not able to blog after each run this week. I did begin to make a little progress on straightening at home. I did get some extra sleep and my attention span is the better for it. And I did have some struggles with my running.
As reported at my last entry, I had some shin pain on Sunday of last week. And it got more noticeable as I left for a flight. And it was most of the way better after the flight.
But I rested on Monday. And I rested on Tuesday. Two days in a row is a lot for me. Wednesday I came back with an easy 5. It went well. I noticed a little soreness and tightness in my shin (and in my entire body after that long a rest) but I felt good. Lesson of the day: take it easy when you come back to something. There is no need to rush.
Thursday came and instead of doing the (by now) standard progression run, I did 7x800 with each being 3:01 or better. Another track workout basically alone although there were a few people putting in laps, the walker who is almost always there, and two women who appeared to be running partner 800's. That was a great workout for me. Lesson: stability. Hitting 800 after 800 with times from 2:57-3:01 was a great workout. Stability in running is a good thing. Stability in life is a good thing.
Friday--hills. Except this time instead of running hill repeats, I decided to run the hilliest course I could think of for five miles near home. Why did I not want to do hill repeats? Simple--after 36 laps on the track the day before, the idea of repeats seemed to be a problem for my mind. And I feared that I would run them too hard as I was frustrated about something not running related in my life. So, I did a workout in which I kept my mile paces as near to 8:30 as I could using the natural hills of north Baltimore. Lesson: sometimes even for a strenuous activity it is critical to relax first.
Saturday--14 miles with no unusual feeling in my shin. A week of patience and self-massage on the muscle at my shin had paid off. The run was done in an average of just under 8:29. I had a slow first mile. A faster second. Then settled in. Rather than an out and back or a loop from the house, I did a "circle" (sort of) in which I was never more than 3 miles from home. Probably even less as the crow flies. Just made it easier to back out if I needed to at any point. Lesson: caution can help avoid much bigger problems.
So, where am I on my question for 2000 miles? Still, ahead of the game. As I rest today, I am two days from the end of week 19 of the year. And I am already at 764.9 miles. That is pretty cool. I am back on US Route 40. (It goes quite a bit of the way I am going.) I would have run through Teutopolis, Effingham, Altamont, St Elmo, and Brownstown on the way to where US 40 and I-70 meet in Otego, IL.
I decided to look up St. Elmo. There was a movie about St. Elmo's Fire in the 1980's. I think of the Elmo character on Sesame Street. But I had never bothered to look up St. Elmo. So, there appear to be numerous interpretations of who St. Elmo might actually have been (no one actually named St. Elmo but several who were referred to as Elmo among other things.) The most likely one looks like Erasmus of Formia. Another martyr who died around 303. He is the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain. Quite an interesting mix. And interesting how many of the saints were martyrs.
As reported at my last entry, I had some shin pain on Sunday of last week. And it got more noticeable as I left for a flight. And it was most of the way better after the flight.
But I rested on Monday. And I rested on Tuesday. Two days in a row is a lot for me. Wednesday I came back with an easy 5. It went well. I noticed a little soreness and tightness in my shin (and in my entire body after that long a rest) but I felt good. Lesson of the day: take it easy when you come back to something. There is no need to rush.
Thursday came and instead of doing the (by now) standard progression run, I did 7x800 with each being 3:01 or better. Another track workout basically alone although there were a few people putting in laps, the walker who is almost always there, and two women who appeared to be running partner 800's. That was a great workout for me. Lesson: stability. Hitting 800 after 800 with times from 2:57-3:01 was a great workout. Stability in running is a good thing. Stability in life is a good thing.
Friday--hills. Except this time instead of running hill repeats, I decided to run the hilliest course I could think of for five miles near home. Why did I not want to do hill repeats? Simple--after 36 laps on the track the day before, the idea of repeats seemed to be a problem for my mind. And I feared that I would run them too hard as I was frustrated about something not running related in my life. So, I did a workout in which I kept my mile paces as near to 8:30 as I could using the natural hills of north Baltimore. Lesson: sometimes even for a strenuous activity it is critical to relax first.
Saturday--14 miles with no unusual feeling in my shin. A week of patience and self-massage on the muscle at my shin had paid off. The run was done in an average of just under 8:29. I had a slow first mile. A faster second. Then settled in. Rather than an out and back or a loop from the house, I did a "circle" (sort of) in which I was never more than 3 miles from home. Probably even less as the crow flies. Just made it easier to back out if I needed to at any point. Lesson: caution can help avoid much bigger problems.
So, where am I on my question for 2000 miles? Still, ahead of the game. As I rest today, I am two days from the end of week 19 of the year. And I am already at 764.9 miles. That is pretty cool. I am back on US Route 40. (It goes quite a bit of the way I am going.) I would have run through Teutopolis, Effingham, Altamont, St Elmo, and Brownstown on the way to where US 40 and I-70 meet in Otego, IL.
I decided to look up St. Elmo. There was a movie about St. Elmo's Fire in the 1980's. I think of the Elmo character on Sesame Street. But I had never bothered to look up St. Elmo. So, there appear to be numerous interpretations of who St. Elmo might actually have been (no one actually named St. Elmo but several who were referred to as Elmo among other things.) The most likely one looks like Erasmus of Formia. Another martyr who died around 303. He is the patron saint of sailors and abdominal pain. Quite an interesting mix. And interesting how many of the saints were martyrs.
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