Phase II and the Halifax Waterfront

I started Phase II of the White Plan last week. So the total running time is 21 to 24 minutes per run (vice 10 to 14).

I also moved from running around the track to running down the Halifax Waterfront. I start on the Barrington Street Greenway and make my way along the waterfront to where the Bicycle Thief Restaurant is and then back the way I came. Here are some pictures.

Last week the weather was wonderful.  Today, it was much colder.

 

Cross training on Thanksgiving

In light of my goal of avoiding injury I decided to do at least another week of phase I of the white plan.  So October is of to a steady but slow start.

I decided to go for a bike ride instead of a run today.  It was my longest ride yet, at 12.2km, with a pretty good hill in the middle.


Unfortunately I have no pictures from my ride today.  It was the perfect October day for the bike (or a run), and when I got on the Chain of Lakes Trail I was tempted to keep going further.  But I knew I had a bit of a climb to get back home so didn't go very far.

Since I don't have any pictures from the ride I thought I would put in a couple of my current bike that I took last month.  It is a bit of a rust bucket, but for now it gets me where I need to go.  Although the chain has a tendency to fall off.

Have not decided yet if I will do a third week of phase I or move to phase II.

Jack Daniels' White Plan so far...

 

On Friday I went for a run in beautiful Point Pleasant Park.  Although I don't run here often because it is not a convenient place to get to for me, I recommend it to anyone looking for a great place to run in Halifax.  The paths are gravel and in most spots very wide.  It can get a bit windy along the shore but you can usually duck into the woods for some protection.  The paths also offer a good mix of flat and hills and it is quite easy to stick to the flat portions if you want to.

So after my 8 day lay-off earlier in September I have so far done 4 runs from the White Plan Phase I, so one week worth plus one run.  As far as muscle fatigue and breathing the runs are not very taxing for me.  But once in a while, usually the day after a run, I do feel a slight bit of pain in my previously injured knee.  The pain is not constant, and there was zero pain during this latest run.  So depending on how I'm feeling on Monday I might move onto Phase II.

The way my body feels when I run, if it wasn't for my wonky knee, I'm pretty sure I could handle Phase III or IV of the white plan.  Maybe even the red plan.  Daniels does state in his book that if you don't find the training at Phase I demanding enough, move onto the next phase.



Since I bought my iPod Nano I have been trying out the Nike+ website just because the feature is embedded in the device.  There are some things that I really like about the site so I plan on doing some review and comparison posts about it, Smashrun, and maybe a few other run tracking sites.

September Wrap-up, Changing Goals, and Button-ology

A bit of a multi-topic post this, so bear with me.

First a look back at September.  The modest total distance goal of 18km was passed, but only by 2km.  My other goal, which was to avoid injury, was not achieved because I tweaked my knee.  It meant an 8 day break from running, but I did manage to get a bike ride in there.  I would have liked to bike more, but it is a lot easier for me to go for a pre-lunch jog than bike to and from work.

I also finally figured out how to read the run plans in Jack Daniels' Running Formula book, so out of the 8 runs in September the last two were done correctly.  One run was also a 2km race.  On those last two runs I also started my tracking at the beginning of the 5 minute walk warm-up and stopped after the 5 minute walk cool down.  This kind of inflates the distance and the pace of the run.  Not sure yet if I'll keep doing it.

Looking at October, I think I'll set the goal at 24km.  Which brings me to my goal for 2014.   I ran my longest run, 14.57 km, in October 2013.  My total for 2013 was 462 km.  Considering I had only started up running again in March of that year, I didn't think it was unreasonable that I could beat that total.  So I had set myself the lofty goal of 600km in total as well as setting new PRs for 5k and 10, and running a half-marathon distance.

Clearly with a total of 123km and only three months to go trying to reach my previous goals would be asking to get injured again.  So I am changing my 2014 goals to a total of 210km and avoiding injury.

Speaking of avoiding injury, in an effort to reduce my impact on my knees I have been trying to avoid running on concrete.  Lately this has meant running on the gravel track around a sports field close to my work.  For a change of scenery, on Monday I ran on a paved trail along Barrington Street, but obviously this was not ideal.  Today I planned to return to the field, but there was some construction going on very close to it with a bunch of trucks parked right on the track.  So instead I decided to walk to the Halifax Common (aka the commons).

Unfortunately when I got there I discovered that the main paths were actually paved, which I had somehow forgotten.  Maybe because of this I got thrown off and when I started my first running interval I pressed stop on my watch instead of the lap button (DOH!).  I noticed after about 30 or 40 seconds and started the timer again.  There were some dirt paths that were ok, so I kind of just meandered on those.

Because the commons is more than a 5 minute walk from my work and I just started my timer once I got across the busy Gottingen Street the warm-up and cool-down walk portions were a bit longer.  In the middle it was 7 x 2 min with 1 min recoveries.

Anyway, in the end my knees feel ok.  We'll see how they are tomorrow.

290 Calories, how many beer is that?

It had been 8 days since my knee tweaked and it seemed to be feeling ok, so I decided to go for a jog yesterday.  Now that I have finally figured out how to read the plans in Jack Daniels' Running Formula book I actually did it correctly.

White Plan Phase I, Day 1: http://smashrun.com/dominik.dabrowski/run/2014/9/26
5 min walk
10 x 1 min easy pace with 1 min walking recoveries (or 1 min easy, 1 walk, 1min easy, 1 min walk (10 times))
5 win walk

The run felt good with no problems from my knee.  It was around a field that has a gravel track, pretty boring, but until I'm confident that my knee can handle running on concrete this will have to do.  The two things I was concentrating on was keeping a short stride length and landing with my knees bent.

Went to the gym after the run.  I have been doing a routine out of the Men's Health Home Workout Bible.  It is a sports training program divided into 3 workouts to be done over a week.

I did Workout 1 today which consisted of:
Power clean, 5 sets of 5 reps
Skipped the jump squat this time because I'm not sure of the impact on my knee
B-1 Swiss ball incline chest press (alternating), 4 sets of 6 reps
B-2 Swiss ball reverse push up, 4 sets of 6 reps
High wood chopper, 3 sets of 8 reps

In the past I have found my knee to be most vulnerable during the recovery period the day after running or working out.  Hopefully this time I didn't do too much at once and there are no problems.

Next week I think I'll try doing the running Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday.

My Gear Part 1 - Music

Whether I'm going for a run or a ride I almost never go without some way to listen to music.  Up until recently that was a 1st generation iPod Nano.  For close to 10 years it was the way I would carry my music around with me.  It was dropped countless times and once in a while required a reset, but it just kept working.  That is until a month or two ago the wheel on it stopped responding.

Now, I'm not some Apple fanboy, but I do like it when something works well for what I need.  The original iPod Nano fit the bill for me.  It was pretty much the perfect size for a take anywhere music player, including for the gym or a run.  So when I need a replacement I obviously looked at the latest generation.

But since it is $140 I did take a look online at what else is out there.  The one that caught my eye was the Sony Walkman 4GB MP3 player (NWZB183F).  For $40 it is at a great price point, but does not have a very big screen and only supports MP3 and WMA file types.

For me since I have been using iTunes to buy music for a long time it made sense to get another Apple device.  I also wanted to get something with a screen so that I could easily browse my playlists.

So far the new Nano has worked great.  It even comes with a built in accelerometer which you can use to measure steps walked or to track a run.  It is integrated with the Nike+ fitness website, although it only appears to upload run information.  The step counter info is only accessible on the Nano itself.  I will play around more with the run tracking and Nike+ website and post a review of it at a later date.

For now here are a few more pictures comparing the original Nano with the 7th generation.  You will notice that the new Nano has a different connection than the old one, so it will not work with old accessories.

One last thing, I didn't like the ear buds that came with the old Nano and I don't like the new ones either.  They fall out of my ears very easily, I much prefer in ear buds.

A bike ride to strenghten the knee

My knee did not feel great on Friday, so I decided to give it a break.  Today I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood.  It is interesting just how different biking feels compared to running in terms of the muscles that feel sore.

Anyway in the end it was 8.4 km in 27:47 min.  I'll probably try to do a few of these before doing any running.

A mistake and injury...

After my run yesterday I realized that according to the plan I wasn't supposed to run for 7 minutes, walk for 1, and then run for another 7.  What it says is 7 x 2 min E w/1 min W recoveries, which obviously means run for 2 minutes, walk for 1, and repeat that 7 times.  Oops.  Now that I figured it out I have no idea why I read it any other way.

Friday's run should be a 5 minute walk, then 6 x 1 min E w/30 sec W, followed by 8 x 30 sec E w/1 min W, finishing with a 4 min W.  Seems like a bit much to remember during a run.  I might try to figure out if that is something I can program into my watch or just bring a small piece of paper with it on it.

But...

Before leaving for work this morning I was walking quickly through my house and all of a sudden there was pain in my knee.  It felt like the things inside it had tightened up or shifted suddenly.  It wasn't pleasant, but it did not seem as bad as in the past.  Maybe it was the fact that I ran on concrete the day before or maybe running combined with the types of workouts I was doing at the gym were putting too much stress on my knee.

Whatever the case is, right now it seems like I should not go on my planned Friday run.  It is frustrating, but I don't want to have another long layoff.  I might have to even give it a break for a week or two just to make sure it is fine.  This time I will do better at strengthening the muscles that support the knee; quads, hips, and glutes according to this article: http://www.runnersworld.com/health/big-7-body-breakdowns?page=single

Depending on how I'm feeling tomorrow I might go for a bike ride, or try a stationary bike or elliptical machine at the gym.

Building up fitness while avoiding injury

When I really got into running last year I didn't have any kind of plan.  I just ran as far as I felt like it.  Sometimes pushing myself go a bit further then my previous run, or to earn a particular badge on SmashRun.  But in retrospect I might have ramped up my running a bit too quickly and that combined with playing soccer led to some ankle and foot problems, and eventually to me injuring my knee.

It seems like it has been a rather long road to recovery.  Probably because I didn't do enough exercises like these: orthoinfo.org/topic.cfmtopic=A00564 I did do some biking and if I get injured again because of running, I will probably be doing a lot more of it.

But for now I will be trying running again.  But this time I will follow a plan.  Earlier in the year I bought the book Daniels' Running Formula (3rd Ed.) by Jack Daniels.  He talks about things like oversterssing your body, diminishing returns, and accelerating setbacks.  Basically you don't want to introduce too much new stress on your body too quickly.  Your body needs to get used to a new level of training for at least 4 weeks before you increase it.  When you do increase your level of training it should be by a small amount.

So with the hope of eventually being able to run long distances without too much worry of injury I have started with the most basic plan outlined in Daniels' book.  He calls it the White Starting Plan.

I started on Monday, September 8, a 5 minute walk, 10 minutes at easy pace, followed by a 5 minute walk.  On Tuesday it was 5 minute walk, 7 minute easy run, 1 minute walk, 7 minute easy run, and 5 minute walk.  (um in the next post I'll discuss how I'm a dumbass and totally misinterpreted how the runs should go...)

On Friday 12 September I participated in the PO2 Craig Blake Memorial Fitness Challenge.  It is a mini-triathlon for the military here in Halifax.  There are some people who do all three parts, swimming, biking, and running.  But most participants are in a team of three.  I was the runner in such a team.  http://www.atlanticchip.ca/events/results-show.php?result=2253  I was a little concerned that it might be too hard on my knee to do a race, but it was only 2km.  But, doing the race helped me determine my VDOT value.  Knowing my VDOT value allows me to know what paces I should use for my training runs.  So now I know that my easy pace should be between 5:39 and 5:59 min/km.  http://www.runsmartproject.com/calculator/

The first four weeks are the same so Monday the 15th was another 5W-10E-5W (again this isn't right, I'll explain in the next post).  During these runs I have only been starting the timer on my GPS watch when I start running and then stopping it when the last run portion ends.  Should I be including the 5 minute walks at the beginning and end too?  It will make my runs seem even slower, but it will add a little distance.

Since these runs are fairly short I have been using them as a warm up and going to the gym afterwards.  Once I start phase II I'll probably change my gym days to Tuesday and Thursday.

How it all started

I didn't always love running, in fact when I was younger I thought it was really boring to just run by myself.  .  I had always preferred team sports, and I really loved playing soccer.  This was before the days of little mp3 players, so there was no way to listen to music.  Also there was internet with slick websites that could track my runs.  And if I wanted to figure out the distance of a run I would have had to use a paper map or drive the route in a car using the odometer to measure it (even that wasn't digital!).

So as part of trying to stay fit, once in a while I would try to go out for a run, but I never really stuck with it.  In the fall of 2011 I decided that when I did go run I wanted to try keeping some kind of track of my runs.  I think I tried a few sites, with www.walkjogrun.net being the one I found the easiest to use.  I would use my iPod nano to time the run and I would manually plot run route on the site to get the distance.

2011


Although I wasn't running too much, I managed to get a few runs every month from October 2011 until April 2012.  But then my running dropped off again as I was once again playing more soccer.  There was only one run (Sep 2012) until March 2013.

2012


Two things happened around the same time.  My wife happened to borrow the book, Eat and Run by ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek, from the library and a friend told me about www.smashrun.com.  I really enjoyed reading about Jurek's love for running and found it quite inspirational.  But I think the SmashRun site is what really finally got me to stick with running.  The sheer amount of stats combined with the very slick presentation really had me hooked.  The site also shows you how you ranks compared to others based on distance, devotion, and speed.  As if that wasn't enough there are also badges.  I don't know what it is about the badges, but I love earning them.

The first 5 days I was on the site I ran each day just to earn the 5 for 5 badge.  That month I also got the 10 and 20 under your belt, One Mile, 5ker, Solid Week, Solid Month, Chariots of Fire, Roadrunner, and In it for March.  I ran 61km that month, the most I had ever done before that was 22km.

I certainly improved my fitness which I noticed when playing soccer.  However I also put a lot of new stress on my body, which I feel contributed to some injuries.  I had some trouble with my ankles, including spraining my right ankle while playing soccer in April.  Once I recovered from that I had a pretty good running summer.  But at the end of August I sprained my left ankle quite badly, once again playing soccer.  Once I recovered from that September and October were quite good.  But in November I developed what seemed like a case of plantar fasciitis in my right foot.  The birth of our 3rd child in December meant that running was on hold for a bit anyway.

2013


Still managed 462km in 2013.  Considering I started in March and had some injuries, and tried to fit running in with soccer seemed pretty good to me.

2014 started out ok considering the new baby and crappy winter weather.  I was only playing soccer part-time at that point, but that did mean that after running earlier in the day I might get a message asking me to play in the evening.  That might have been ok when I was younger, or if I had been in better overall physical condition.  On March 25th before lunch I went for an almost 7km run.  I played soccer that evening and towards the end of the game twisted my knee and felt some pain in it that did not go away.  Over the next few months I managed to re-injure it several times.  It has been a rather frustrating road back to running fitness.