What is: "No"?

The question was:
Can you run with

AND

AND

in your system?

The answer, as the post title indicates, is "no". The judges would have also accepted "not comfortably" and "not well" as valid answers. More on this in a minute.

My Midwestern Mid-Day Heat & Hills Run

I was out in the Midwest early this week and got a chance to run in some real heat and humidity. As I've said before, I've been hoping to get some heat training in as prep for the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon just in case it's hot on race day. San Francisco doesn't really get hot (ever), so I set out mid-day on a humid, 83°+ day for a 5 miler.

It was hot and it was hilly. It was fun running in farmland, though, because the driver in every pickup that went by (and every car was a pickup) gave me the friendly farmer wave. You know, the hand-on-the-steering-wheel-two-finger wave that you get in farm country. It was pretty cool. I'm used to drivers waiting impatiently at stop signs for runners, so the friendly farmer wave was a welcome change.

Both the heat and the hills wilted me a bit, so I ended up walking some—Gallowaying it, if you will. But I got it done.

And now on to my cautionary tale of poor pre-run food choices...

My Burrito + Hotdog + Chili Cheese Fries Run

We flew back home yesterday, forcing us to grab grub at the airport. Well, there are healthy choices to be had in airports these days, but I went for a chicken burrito. When we finally got home I was hungry again, and ended up indulging in a hot dog and chili cheese fries from a local chain. They don't serve great hot dogs, but so-so hot dogs are better than no hot dogs.

I waited about an hour and a half before running, knowing that chili and exercise don't go well together. I figured that was long enough. And, as you've gathered, I was wrong.

I had to stop several times, which lead to unfortunate vorping and discomfort, but in the end I got this run done, too.

Dammit, if my shins didn't hurt. AGAIN.

This lead to ibuprofen, Ace bandages and a very helpful thread on Twitter. (As of right now I'm not sure how to document a Twitter thread, so you'll just have to take my word that @sheilamking, @smellycents, @timhibbard, @runnersrambles, @ncjack, @ginaharris1, @anotorias, @meechellee, @kelownagurl and @sugigrl were all incredibly helpful. For that matter, if you run and you're NOT on Twitter, go slap yourself and then sign up for Twitter. It's as great a community tool as blogging is, but instantaneous. Friend me up while you're there.)

I'm R.I.C.E.ing today (well, the Rest and Compression part—Elevating is hard to do when you work at a desk). We'll see how the shins feel tomorrow. If they're good, I'll trot. If not, I'll R.I.C.E. again.

Thursday is a Sunset Run, which a lot of Tweeters are doing. I'm looking forward to it!

4 on the 4th

Went down to Crissy Field today and put in 4 miles in my Asics Nimbus with the Superfeet insoles. I didn't really intend to run 4 miles in under 40 minutes, it just kinda happened. I felt really good, and I think I'm ready to move from 165bpm to 170bpm. I feel better running at a faster cadence, even though my goal isn't to clock faster splits. It just feels better.

I've mostly been reading audio books (production stuff—mixing and mastering), but I should get back to reading the Chirunning book. I'm curious to know what their thoughts on cadence are, as I know it's an element of their running philosophy.

I'm not gonna lie: 4 miles did feel a little tough. I am a little worried about the Los Gatos 10k coming up. But my plan is to churn out runs every other day, work on my overall base and not worry about the distance so much. If the 6.whatever miles of the 10k race is my longest run in a while, fine, as long as I can get from here to there injury-free and feeling good.

I have been weather-prepping as much as possible for the warmer races. Today it was sunny and warm for San Francisco, which means it was breezy and maybe 68° or so at Crissy Field. I wore a long sleeve dark teeshirt with my heaviest black tee over it. There were times when there was no wind and it did get a little warm, which is good. I'm trying to get used to that for the San Jose RnR. Fingers crossed.

Totally Unrelated

In the last few weeks:
Michael Jackson died
Farah Fawcett died
Ed McMahan died
(pitch man) Billy Mays died
and today Steve McNair apparently was shot to death.

What the hell is going on? It's a really bad time to be a celebrity. Crazy.

People are Amazing

Based on all the comments from my last post, I'm realizing that the experiences I've had with running are not at all uncommon. In people's responses I hear echoes of the frustration I've had with shin splints, being sidelined and being forever lodged in Noobland.

Some people like to feel that their problems are unique to them, and that their experience is one-of-a-kind. I myself have always gotten solace from knowing others have gone through or are going through the same things I am. It makes me feel like I'm not a complete moron—others have been stuck in the same spot, so whatever I'm doing wrong must be an easy trap to fall into.

It's reassuring.

Anyway, in reading these comments and talking to folks on Twitter, I feel confident and determined about shaking the PermaNoob™ status. Thank you for your comments!

I wasn't able to run yesterday, but I got out today and put in 5k. I went back to my Asics Nimbus shoes and put some blue Superfeet insoles in there. Dude, they were awesome! I tried using Superfeet before and hated them, but I got them again on a recommendation from the CPMC Running Clinic. They recommended I used the blues instead of the heartier greens that I tried last time. There seems to be a little lift in the heel, which probably makes it easier on the achilles.

It was a good run. I'm pleased. A little vitamin I after my run and I'm feeling pretty darn great.

Can't wait to go out running again.

Negotiation, Disappointment, Optimism

Kids, the last 2 weeks or so have been somewhat frustrating. Lemme break it down for you.

Over the last few years I've racked up about 475 miles running. Yet I've somehow managed to be the perennial beginner. The cycle goes something like this: start running 3 milers, averaging 6 to 10 miles a week; sign up for a race; jump into the training program for the race; get shin splints; half-ass the training program; run the race, do somewhat poorly; take time off from running.

Soak, wash, rinse, repeat.

I'm realizing that not being "good" at running has become a low-level frustration for me. Let me clarify: I was always good at sports, but I'm not a hyper-competitive guy. In baseball or football or whatever, I always tried to do my best, but I never really cared what the final score was. Not winning doesn't really bother me, but I've realized that not being good myself is in and of itself frustrating.

The few weeks I was chasing the sub-30:00 5k crystallized this for me: running felt good, I didn't get shin splints, and I made great progress. I enjoyed the sense of accomplishment.

So now I'm in a 10k and a half marathon, and I have to prepare. And preparation has not gone great. The week I started adding on miles, I immediately started getting wonky shins. Fnck.

Soak, wash, rinse, repeat.

In order to try to break the cycle, I've backed off on the original Hal Higdon half marathon plan (intermediate) and am going for the Higdon novice one. The mileage is less, there's more cross-training possibilities, and it should be more gradual for me.

I just gotta put on miles slower and not get over-ambitious. Total rookie mistake on my part, done over and over again.

Today was a 4 miler, and it was a little weird. First, right out of the gate I had this exceptionally weird feeling that I couldn't get a deep breath. I have no idea why this happened. But it really felt like I couldn't inhale completely. This psyched me out a bit so I paused the Nike+ and did some torso stretches. My lungs felt fine, it just felt like my diaphragm was being uncooperative for some reason. Weird, huh?

My left leg started feeling splinty at about the 2 mile mark, and didn't get better until I stopped at about 3 miles. I am running in new shoes, so for all I know that's a contributing factor. What I did do is pause my Nike+ and remove the shim I wear in my right shoe. It actually helped, and I was able to finish the 4 miles as planned.

Alas, it was 4 somewhat uncomfortable miles with 2 stops. Not ideal. But I'll keep working. And keep R.I.C.E.ing. I want to get good at this.

In other news, the new Nike+ site is up. I had no idea they were whipping up a new version, but that might explain why they had some funkiness the other day—they must have been rolling out some backend stuff and something probably went kablooie. While some folks on Twitter had some initial poo-poos on the new site, I'm down with whatever whatever and will see how it goes as they roll it out (it's still in Beta). Connect with me! My username is (surprise surprise) HellaSound.

Cranky 5k; Song #3 Road Test

No, Crabby McSlacker did not hold a race. I, myself, was actually cranky. I usually like to be Johnny Upbeat and whatnot on this here blog, but the honest-to-jeebness truth is that I was just cranky today during my run.

My fuel sucked—I fell off the low-carb thing for the last couple days and was chock full of pizza; my sleep has been jacked up; and my left leg—from my knee, through my lower leg and down to my foot—just didn't feel like cooperating today. Grrrrrrrr.

Yeah, I'm sure the issue with the left leg starts in my hip, but there was nothing I could do about it once I was running. It was one of those days when you know your foot—for whatever reason it has—just isn't landing right, pronating right, and springing off right.

Lazy good for nothing left-foot bastard.

I'm sure there's some physiological explanation for why this happens from time to time and whatnot. I don't know it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I mean, I don't understand how microwave ovens work, or iPhones, or even the derailer on a 10-speed bike, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. And, just like I can't explain how the differential on a car works, I can't explain why my left foot just doesn't cooperate sometimes. But both the differential and the periodic flapping foot exist.

DISCLAIMER: I promise you, with all my heart, that this isn't a product pitch. Okay? I am not pulling a ShamWow on you. There is no Vince in what I'm about to say. It's a Vince-less statement. Promise.

Anyway, like I said, I was cranky. Still am cranky, honestly. BUT, the ONLY thing that got me out there to run was the knowledge that I was going to run to the new metal song we're working on.

I'm extremely excited about it, and it really helped me get through this run I didn't feel like getting through today. Even when my left knee started feeling wanky at the 2 mile mark—and I had the "am I injured? or does it just hurt?" conversation—I kept on running beat-for-beat and got in my 5k.

So, on the bright side, I really enjoyed running to it, and it really helped. I have just a few more things to tweak on it, then I'll be going into final production at the 10 different speeds (140, 145, 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175, 180, 185). Some of the faster chugga-chugga-chugga metal parts are going to be tough to play at the higher BPMs, but I'm looking forward to channeling my inner rock god to do it.

Total Weight: I don't even know today. Ask me on Sunday.