Behind on entries for a sort of stupid but ultimately fun reason. Chapter 7 of Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer talks about improving your concentration, and the exercise they recommend is a grid of 100 scrambled numbers you're supposed to cross off in order. They say to do it every other day (making copies of the one they give you & then creating your own). Well, I thought about how there should be a web application for that but I couldn't find one. So I spent a crazy amount of time this weekend learning Javascript just so I could write one, and here it is!

I've been wanting to learn Javascript anyway, and I rationalized that doing the programming would involve my concentration much more than just doing the exercise. I still don't fully get JS--I infinitely prefer PHP--but this was certainly a good way to wrap my brain around a lot of it in a hurry (it ended up involving some moderately complex issues, like unique random numbers and remote scripting). But my problem with programming is that I get way overfocused and let everything else fall behind--I can't put it down, my brain is always worrying at it and saying "just try one more thing!" It's certainly an example of flow--I love doing it and time flies by--but not of keeping balance in my life...

Anyway, I hope somebody will use it besides me! Doing the 10x10 grid, which is what's in the book (I added a feature where you can do smaller or larger tables), is harder (& more boring) than I realized. I can see that it takes focus and concentration to do it quickly, but I wonder how much it really applies to running. I think there's "muscle specificity" in the mental realm as well as the physical. Improving your concentration in anything helps everything to a degree, but if you want to get much better at some mental task, you need to practice that particular task specifically.

August 13

4 miles, 44:11; splits 10:47, 10:23, 12:30, 10:32.

I went 2 miles out & back on Canada Road because we'd gotten a lot of rain (it was still raining steadily) & I wanted to see the maximum of rushing, foaming water. I love following streams when they are running high--the volume and motion of the water is exciting. At about mile 1 1/2 you cross over a stream, and sure enough it was gushing--in fact I noticed a waterfall in the woods which I haven't seen before.

That was the good part. The bad part was that my left leg, which hadn't bothered me since those few bad strides about 2 weeks ago, started getting that same weird feeling of landing wrong and hurt quite a bit for most of the run. I think it's related to doing steep downhills before I'm properly warmed up, and maybe road camber (since I run on the left, it would make sense that my left leg would be affected). I'm trying to run closer to the middle of the road--which is feasible since traffic is so light.

August 15th
Long run, 14 miles, about 2:45:00; splits 10:44, 12:10, 12:15, 10:43, 10:32, 12:35, 13:22, 10:47, [7:59, 3:57!!!], 12:33, 12:42, 11:53, 11:23, plus about 12:00.
Still no Polar watch, so no heart rate data.
Miles for the week: 28 (4/6/4/14) WEEK 8
Weight: 116

I didn't know I was the equal of Roger Bannister, but apparently my Forerunner thinks so--1 mile in under 4 minutes! And look at these lovely graphs:

Speed


Altitude


Apparently I was running 2000+ feet in the air, until that burst of amazing speed when I was suddenly at sea level. But it's not the poor Forerunner's fault, really. What happened is that I went into the garage right before I started running and it lost GPS signals. I should have waited for it to solidly lock on again before starting the time. I'll know better next time! So I thought I was done suspiciously far from home, and then when I looked back at the splits (I thought I had seen 3 minutes as a split, but I automatically acknowledged it & then thought maybe it was 13, although it was all downhill so that wasn't plausible...) I realized I needed to run about another mile at least, and luckily I was up for it, even with the last long steep hill included that I thought I was going to miss.

A very good run. My left leg didn't bother me; I liked the route; I stayed hydrated; the weather was cool and cloudy, then turned clear but didn't warm up too much. I saw a red fox! That's a rare treat. Also on this route were a donkey (I love donkeys! and it was on a part of the road that I'll be running for my 8 mile loop, so I'll be seeing it again), sheep, and pigs (their field also abuts the road I drive to work, but on this day they were eating corn right up against the fence I ran by). Wildflowers this week: a different goldenrod (flat-topped with rounded flower clusters, instead of the plumy ones that started a while back), milkweed pods, Solomon's seal berries, elderberries, bull thistle.

When I got back, I did an experiment to see how much ice baths actually help. I soaked my left leg only (since it was bothering me on Friday, I didn't want to risk it not getting maximum care) in a trash can full of cold water. (It seems to hurt just as much whether there's ice in it or not--our water is straight from a 200' well and it's COLD!) Verdict as of today: no significant difference between recovery of the 2 legs. Maybe I'll try just ice on my knees next time. It's the ankles that hurt the most in the ice bath, but they're not bothering me. I wonder how much of the ice bath "benefit" is just the mental effect of having put oneself through that pain!

When I got back, Jonathan not only clapped and whooped, but even tossed his hat in the air! A while back, he started this wonderful routine of making a fuss when I get back from my long runs. It feels great. I haven't mentioned before how incredibly supportive he is (about everything, not just running), and what a huge difference it makes. He learned my self-talk paragraph and says it to me ("You are a marathoner! You love to run no matter what the weather's like..."), and there's something about hearing it from the one I love that goes right into my subconcious. Thanks for everything, J-Hay!

today
4 miles, 43:37; splits 10:53, 11:36, 11:00, 10:09.

Clear skies but very foggy; at the top of the hill, I was out of the clouds and looking down, it was a sea of milk where our house is. This is what the Binghamton valley looks like most days from now until frost, which is why I'm glad we don't live there anymore. (Almost every fall day we wouldn't see the sun until noon. Depressing!) A good easy run.

- posted by Hilary @ 8:53 PM