I noticed recently that my 45-minute morning runs have been feeling easy. I think I’ve been concentrating so hard on gently recovering my fitness (after two weeks off for injury and illness in February) that I didn’t realise when I had reached it. My pace had been dropping regularly but now it’s levelled out. My foot’s been feeling good. After my run last Wednesday, I hopped in the shower and realised that I didn’t feel winded at all. In fact, I couldn’t tell that I had just been on a run. “That’s probably not good,” I thought. “Am I falling into the dreaded junk miles trap?” I decided to shake things up. For Friday’s run, I pushed myself to see how fast I could go without too much discomfort. I also threw in a couple cadence drills for fun. To my surprise, I knocked nearly a minute off my pace per kilometer. I could definitely feel the effort afterwards, and I was even a little sore the next day. It felt good. On Sunday, Eileen and I went for a run in Canberra with a view towards doing some speed intervals. Again, this was definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone. I gave myself a few days to recover, then went out for my normal run yesterday. I ran the whole thing at what I considered to be a comfortable pace, and afterwards I discovered I was still 30s/km faster than I was during my “junk” runs. Obviously I can run at this faster pace, but I just needed to prove to myself that I could!

April 2: 5.42km
April 4: 6.06km
April 7: 5.81km
Total this week: 17.29km (10.8mi)
Total in 2010: 281.61km (176mi)

To meet my goal of running 1000km in 2010, I should be at 269km right now. So I’m still ahead of schedule. This weekend will see me doing my second-longest run of my entire half-marathon training plan: 19 kilometers (12 miles). That’s only just shy of the actual race distance! Wish me luck…

This week saw my longest run yet: a scheduled 16km (10 mile) run on Sunday. I headed to Centennial Park as usual and managed 2.5 laps around. I did 2:1 run/walk ratio the whole way, and it was fantastic. I felt much better than I did the previous week (where I did 3:1 for 13km). My legs didn’t cramp and my overall average was actually faster! I was having some stomach pain though, and somehow I managed to lose one of my water belt bottles. Still, I got it done. This week is a cutback week, which I’ve been looking forward to.

Mar. 27: 5.34km
Mar. 28: 16.72km
Mar. 31: 5.35km
Total this week: 27.41km (17mi)
Total in 2010: 264.32km (165mi)

We are officially one-quarter of the way through the year, which means I should be at 250km to meet my 1000km goal. Looks like I’m about 14km ahead of pace. Woooo!

In Geek Girl Runner Episode #5 I talked about changing my run-walk ratio on my long runs to 3 minutes running/1 minute walking. Now here comes Jeff Galloway saying that even shorter periods of running can be used to go faster! One of the people he trains has done a 4:38 marathon using 30 seconds running/30 seconds walking. Crazy! Maybe I’ll keep cut my ratio down even further for this weekend’s 10-miler and see what it does…

Apologies for missing last week’s entry. I’ve just been a bit stressed and down lately. My running is going really well though, and I think it’s helping me to cope. I have managed long runs of 11km (7mi) and 13km (8mi) in the last two weeks without too much trouble. I’m also doing two morning runs each week and a cross-training session at Spudds. I’ve been gratified to see the pace on my morning runs has slowly been improving after the two weeks I took off for my cold and injury. My foot is feeling much better, and I’d say it feels 95% recovered. I’m still running in my New Balance though; I haven’t returned to the Newtons since the injury. (I’m still doing a midfoot strike though even though it’s more difficult in these shoes.) On to the numbers…

Mar. 20: 5.23km
Mar. 21: 13.14km
Mar. 24: 5.41km
Total this week: 23.78km (14.8mi)
Total in 2010: 236.91km (148mi)

To meet my 1000km goal, I should be at 230.7km. So I’m about 6km ahead of pace right now!

I’m still experiencing the after-effects of the Public Nudity Epiphany, I think. For the past 15 months, I’ve been struggling with the rowing machine at my weekly Spudds session. There’s always at least one station on the circuit where you do two 20 second rowing sprints separated by a 10 second rest. The goal is to get 100 meters in 20 seconds. I’ve done it a few times in the past year, but I’ve never been able to get two in a row. My form is improving though, and I’ve been closing in. (Last week I had 101 and 98.) Yesterday I stood before the machine and took a few seconds to visualise myself doing it. Then I sat down and strapped in. The first 20s felt good, and I was well within pace. I got 101m for that one. Spudds came over to congratulate me and told me to “stay loose” during the 10 second rest. “Back yourself!” he yelled. And I was off. My pace was slower, and my technique was definitely sloppier. But he stood over me shouting that I could do it, and I gave it everything I had. As the buzzer sounded, my distance slipped upwards… and stopped on 100m. I gave a shout. It was as satisfying as finishing my first half-marathon. He gave me a high-five and told me that I was the first female to do it. (I’m a little doubtful of that; I’m sure some of the women in his evening classes could do it. Still, it’s a big accomplishment.) I tweeted afterwards: “I feel like I can do anything.” I really do. This whole “self-confidence” buzz is intoxicating.

But hey, running is what this is all about, right? Because of my continuing issues with my right foot, I’ve dropped my running back to three days a week (rather than four). With my Sunday distance increasing, I want to give my arch as much rest time as possible.

Mar. 5: 5.27km
Mar. 7: 10.16km
Mar. 9: 5.43km
Total this week: 20.86km
Total in 2010: 191.27km (119.5mi)

To meet my 1000km goal, I should be at 192km. So right on track!

Peter Sagal (of Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me fame) has a column in Runner’s World this month and has blogged his “Three G’s for Runners”. It’s got some nice pointers for anybody starting out in running.

Things are getting better! Each run my foot seems to be improving. This morning I only had a little niggle, with no tenderness under the ball of my foot at all. Unfortunately my speed is still way, way down from being sick. If I keep my heart rate below 145, my time per kilometer is anywhere from 30-60s SLOWER than it was a month ago. It’s frustrating, but it’s oddly gratifying to know that I had that fitness to lose in the first place. I’ll get it back.

Feb. 26: 5.18km
Feb. 28: 8.06km
Mar. 2: 5.14km
Total this week: 18.38km
Total in 2010: 170.41km (106.5mi)

To meet my 1000km goal, I should be 173km. So I’m pretty much right where I need to be!

The fourth episode of the Geek Girl Runner podcast is now available! There’s no radioactivity in this one, but there is quite a discussion of public nudity. (I’m serious.) Thanks again to everyone who’s been sending in feedback. This episode features: my training update; emails, comments, and shoutouts; and a discussion about body image and self-confidence.

Show links:
Photos from trip to Kiama
Sydney Half-Marathon
Mother’s Day Classic – join the Geek Girl Runner team!
Running the Narrow Path – podcast by Krister Wilhelmsson
Triathlete’s Coffee Shop and Run That by Me Again – podcasts by Mango
You Don’t Have to Run Alone – podcast by Ted Beveridge
“Sydney Stripped Bare for Opera House Shoot”
Gallery of photos from the photo shoot

Thanks as usual to Nick Arthur for the use of his song “Little Donut Party”. Please give me some feedback and let me know what you think!

So when I last updated, I’d just found out that I do not have plantar fasciitis and that my doctor cleared me to run. Of course, I still had a raging cold. Well, the Snook and I went off to Kiama and did a 4.2km hike through the rain forest. It was a pretty good workout, and my foot felt fine through it. This week I’ve walked home from work twice, and on Tuesday I felt good enough to go for my first run in nearly two weeks. I wore my New Balance shoes instead of my Newtons, reckoning that my feet would welcome the extra padding. It was a warm day and I’m not at 100%, so I went slow. I aimed for more of a mid-foot strike, as I suspect in my Newtons I’m landing a bit too far forward. It felt fine at first, but after 20 minutes the niggle in my foot came back. It’s not really pain. It’s like a sort of a tender ache. My right arch felt like I’d just spent 12 hours walking around at DisneyWorld. You know that feeling? Not a sharp pain by any means, but a tightness and tenderness along the whole arch from the ball of my foot to the start of my heel. I still finished the run, taking a few walk breaks when necessary to keep my heart rate low. That night I went through the whole spiel my doctor had prescribed: self-massage, stretch, strengthen, and ice. I went to Spudds on Wednesday and it didn’t bother me at all. So the problem is specifically related to longer periods (20 minutes or more) of continuous running. Good to know. From now on, I’ll be taking preemptive walk breaks on all my runs.

Feb. 20: 4.2km (hike)
Feb. 22: 2.54km (walk)
Feb. 23: 5.06km
Feb. 24: 2.53km (walk)
Total this week: 14.3km
Total in 2010: 151.5km (94.7mi)

I’m counting the walks and hike this week because it was the only exercise that I could do. I am now 2.3km behind schedule to meet my 1000km goal. That’s okay. I’m just about over this cold, and I think my running distances will creep back up.

If you’ve been listening to the podcast, you’ll have heard all about The Saga of Kris’s Right Foot over the past week. It started with tenderness/pain in my right arch while I was running, then that turned into sharper pain on the outside of my right heel. Last Friday I went to see Dr. Maja Markovic at Sydney Uni Sports Medicine. She poked and prodded my foot and took a look at my shoes. She said that my plantar fascia felt tight, and she advised a bone scan to rule out the serious stuff (stress fracture, heel spur, or full-blown plantar fasciitis). I went in for that on Tuesday. They dosed me up with radioactive technetium and then took pictures of my feet and legs over the course of a couple hours. (Though it was a weak dose and I was only radioactive for less than a day, they told me to avoid standing near any children or pregnant women! Fun.) On Wednesday I got the verdict: no serious bone problems and no PF. Hooray! Dr. Markovic has cleared me to run again. Basically, we think the problem was just that I’ve been overworking my feet (specifically my arches with the forefoot running). The scan showed some inflammation on the outside of my right foot, presumably because I’ve been favoring the arch by shifting my weight to the outside. (That’s also why my heel has been hurting.) She’s given me a routine of massage, stretching, strengthening, and icing to do, and she also wants me to see a podiatrist before I buy new shoes. But I can ease back into running again.

Of course, I caught a cold on Monday so I’ve got to get over that first. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

Feb 17: 2.5km
Total this week: 2.5km
Total in 2010: 137.2km (85.75mi)

The only “workout” I got in this week was walking home from work yesterday. I don’t normally count walking in my weekly total, but given the doctor’s orders to start back slowly, I think this one counts. My 20km cushion in the 1000km Challenge has evaporated, and I’m now exactly on track with where I should be. I told you it’d come in handy!