Well, it's been exactly a month since my last blog entry about running. Last time was just before the Hope Rains 5k. I did run that race and finished third in my age group, and I won a box of doughnuts. Woohoo! But I also strained a hamstring, which I have been trying to treat gently for about the last month. So, I cut out the hill sprints and speed intervals, and gave up my aspiration to run a fast 5k this month. I also slowed down and shortened most of my runs, although I am still averaging a little over 25 miles per week for the last month.
The last week or so my hamstring has been feeling much better, but is still a little tight. I have had a few good runs lately. On May 19 (Tuesday) I decided to test my legs a little and did some tempo intervals - 2 miles at 7:30 pace, 1 mile at 9:30 pace, and 2 more miles at 7:30 pace. I felt pretty good about that run. Then on Thursday the 21st I did an 8.7 mile run with some of the RunnersWorld group. I sort of did that like a Fartlek workout. There were a couple of stretches where I really pushed myself. Halfway through I tried a sprint up the grassy hill at 11th & Riverside, but I just gave it a moderate effort up the hill instead of a full sprint. Hamstring still felt a bit iffy.
The next couple of days my legs felt a little sore, but it was more of a tired sore than an injured sore. Saturday I did a 13.5 mile run with Rusty. I think we were maintaining about an 8:30 pace or so most of the way, but then I got hot and dehydrated. My right hand started to feel puffy and sort of numb and tingly, and my calves started some mild cramping. When we got to Turkey Mountain (after about 10 miles), I walked the hills, and I also walked a bit between 71st and Helmerich Park. Rusty finished ahead of me, keeping a pretty good pace. I finished with an average pace of close to 9 minutes per mile.
Last night I did the same 8.7 mile route that I had done the week before (from RW to the river, north, around Zink Lake, and back). This time I did it with Larry and Brian. Brian said he would like to do 8:30 miles, so we tried to beat that most of the way. We averaged about an 8:16 pace (that's with stopping the watch at water breaks). Here are the approximate mile splits (This is based on my stopwatch and my recollection of where mileposts used to be. I don't have one of those fancy Garmins.):
mile 1 - 7:55 (I told Larry he was going out too fast!)
mile 2 - 8:20
mile 3 - 8:29
mile 4 - 8:22
mile 5 - 8:30
mile 6 - 8:15
mile 6.6 (about 0.6 mile) - 5:03
mile 7.6 - 7:31 (1/2 splits were 4:06/3:25, and the last 1/2 got progressively faster!)
mile 8.7 (about 1.1 mile) - 9:35
My legs feel pretty good today. I think I may run the Kidney Klassic 5k tonight, but it won't be all out.
2 comments:
that was probably a difficult choice bt the Kidney Klassic and your hillworkout this a.m. I'm glad that you had an injury-free run. Can't wait to do your workouts this summer. Have a good day at church tomorrow and a great week.
Hi Dave,
Glad to hear about the run and keeping under the 8:30 pace :) I'm Hua, the director of Wellsphere's HealthBlogger Network, a network of over 2,000 of the best health writers on the web (including doctors, nurses, healthy living professionals, and expert patients). I think your blog would be a great addition to the Network in the Running community, and I'd like to invite you to learn more about it and apply to join at http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger. Once approved by our Chief Medical Officer, your posts will be republished on Wellsphere where they will be available to over 5 million monthly visitors who come to the site looking for health information and support. There’s no cost and no extra work for you! The HealthBlogger page (http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger) provides details about participation, but if you have any questions please feel free to email me at hua@wellsphere.com.
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Hua
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