Back in Gear

I ran the Get in Gear 10K this morning. There was no rain and it was perfect for racing. I had a goal to run 7:30's today and I met that goal. After not running in January or February, it took 160 miles of running over the past two months to get me back to where I am today. I'm very happy and am ready to jump back into running with my friends for distances up to 12 miles. Soon enough I'll be running longer with them too.

At the race today I started too far back. At mile one I was thinking that the race was way too big and why the heck did I even decide to run it. It took about two miles to get around most of the people that had a slower target pace than me. At that point I could just settle in to a pace and run. Here are my paces:

Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:11
Mile 3: 7:28
Mile 4: 7:25
Mile 5: 7:34
Last 1.2: 7:38 pace (9:00 time)

from the results online:

bib number:	1048
age:	49
gender:	M
location:	Eagan, MN
overall place:	485 out of 3419
division place:	37 out of 174
gender place:	389 out of 1647
time:	46:49
pace:	7:32

Looking at my paces I'm slightly disappointed that my pace dropped off 10 to 15 seconds for the last two miles but I'll get that back in time. I ran at a harder effort than the Trail Mix last Saturday but I maintained a good breathing pattern all the way to the finish. I wasn't sucking wind loudly like some of those I passed. My legs feel good, my feet feel good and I think I'll just run some easy miles tomorrow.
--Mark

Get in Gear 10K coming up

I ran 6.25 miles this morning at an 8:04 average pace. That run was on the Ford Bridge / Lake Street Bridge Mississippi River loop which is most of the Get in Gear 10K course. Although I'm not back to the running shape I was in last year, I'm starting to get stronger. While I held back a bit at the Trail Mix 12.5K, I'll run at the fastest pace I think I can sustain for 10K. Right now I would be very happy with a 7:30 pace. The weather forecast is 46 degrees, rainy, and 15 mph winds. I love that weather for racing (except for the wind) but not for sitting around chatting with my friends after the race.

--Mark

Gait Analysis update

Last June I had a Gait Analysis done by Wendi P. at Gear West. The appointment was 40 minutes and Wendi figured out my shoes were wrong, I needed SuperFeet inserts and my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. The shoes, inserts, and heel lift made great progress in reducing the intermittent foot pain I was having.

Occasionally, I would still get foot pain and it was mostly after running hills. Lately my feet would have pain after nearly every run. I was coming off a few months of not running so I didn't worry too much. Two weeks ago I had my final post-foot-surgery checkup with my podiatrist. At that appointment I asked about the foot pain I was having. He knew I had a 5mm heel lift (from Wendi) and wanted to verify my leg length difference via X-Ray. Today I had the results faxed to my Doc and I was a little surprised that the measurements from the X-Ray found that my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. I find it amazing that Wendi could feel my hips and watch me run and determine that 5mm was the proper heel lift thickness without using any measuring devices. The same measurement determined by X-Ray machine. Amazing.

If you read back a few blog posts you will see that I found my shoe laces were loose and that's what I found caused my recent intermittent pain problem. Something simple but it's doing the trick for now.

--Mark

Trail Mix mini report

This was my third year running the Trail Mix team race. My team from last year abandoned me as they all qualified for Boston and I didn't. None of them felt that running 7.75 miles in the hills just 2 days before Boston was a very good idea. The Boston bunch all got PRs Monday - Jim 3:27, Karl 3:28, and Kim 3:10 (4th MN woman). Congrats to them!

Now back to the Trail Mix... I'm still coming off not running this winter and my pace is not what it used to be. The Trail Mix would be my first hard run since I last raced in October. Not wanting to suffer sudden death or just blow an artery or something, I decided at the last minute to run by heart rate. I picked a number, 163, to try to keep my heart rate at. Sure, it jumped past that on the hills, but I would try to keep it near 163 overall. That strategy wasn't going to get me a good time but it seemed to keep me at the right level of effort for the day. Half way though the race I adjusted my HR goal upward and tried to keep it around 165. Besides walking up the back of the ski hill (everyone was when I came though) I had to walk up the top half of the grassy hill near the south end of the course. I felt good at the finish now know I could have pushed harder. Oh, my average HR was 166 for the race so I did well in sticking to my running plan.

Last year on a shortened course I ran 7:20's in mud. I ran 8:40's this year in perfect running conditions. When my Boston marathon friends are done with their recovery I'll be just about ready to run with them. I think it may be a month before I'll be able to run with them comfortably on their moderate days but they will help me become faster in a hurry.

Next race: Get in Gear 10K on 4/25.

--Mark

p.s. Since I started tying my shoes tighter 9 days ago I have had no problems with foot pain.

learning to tie my shoes...

I've been having too much mid-foot pain and it's been a recurring problem over many months. I was reading something online the other day about foot and shoe problems. One podiatry article listed some foot issues that may be caused by problems with the 'lacing system' of the running shoes.

Sunday morning I was planning to run hills with a friend. I dread the hills as I was sure my feet were going to hurt; the last time I ran the hills was in December. I also remembered what I read in the podiatry article and laced my shoes tighter at every pair of eyelets. Usually I only have the laces tight at the top and the rest a bit loose. Now I had the laces snug, but not too tight, from bottom to top.

Guess what? No pain on the hills and no pain during my 6 mile run this morning. Last Friday I couldn't run 4 miles without stopping due to pain. Could it be that simple? I first learned to tie my shoes when I was 4 years old. Now, 45 years later, I'm learning to tie them again.

--Mark

A few nice miles today

I ran an easy 6 miles this morning and will do the same two or three more times this week. My feet felt good. Yesterday I had my final foot-surgery checkup and that went fine --- I'm all healed.

While there, I asked my Doc about my foot pain from running hard or hills or longer distances. I showed him exactly where I was getting pain and he told me a lot of things (about feet) that I have already forgotten. Last year I had a 'gait analysis' done and while that helped my foot situation quite a bit, there is room for improvement. He had me get an x-ray taken from my hips to my heels to get an accurate measurement of leg bone lengths to verify or change that 5mm heel lift I now wear in my right shoe. I expect to get custom orthotics in the near future.

Next race: Trail Mix 50K team race (12.5K each)

Ron Daws 25K

I ran a few easy miles this morning because I'm running the Ron Daws 25K tomorrow. Scratch that.... I'll just be watching the other runners now. I have a few twinges of pain in my foot (not related to the surgery I had) so I can't see that running 15.5 miles will do anything to improve my fitness. Even if I feel great in the morning, I think it will be best to take it easy for the next few days.
--Mark

post race update: I ran until I met my friend Dave near the 2 mile point providing informal race support and I hung out for an hour or so and then ran back to the finish to see the leaders come in. 3.5 miles for me; the first in 7:42. I was starting to get warmed up and feeling good before I dropped back and out. I see my Dr. tomorrow for what will be my final post foot-surgery checkup. The surgery spot has healed just fine, I just have other foot issues to deal with now. Although my foot issues have been a little better when I had a gait analysis done and changed shoes/inserts, there are some other things I think I need to do to minimize pain after hard/fast/hilly races. I may find a sports doc next.