Running progress

Another beautiful day for a run. It's just about zero and sunny. This temp is actually kind of difficult to dress for because it's just on the verge of running without any winter gear. Wear too much for a sunny calm day and you'll cook if you run hard. Go light, and run a bit slower with some wind and overcast, and you'll be really cold. I could probably have gotten away with wearing two long sleeve tech shirts, but I wore a vest, Susi has one like it, over a long sleeve tech shirt, and all was well. I hate to wear too much and have to end up with my jacket tied around my waist. That just looks so tacky, like you didn't check the weather before going out.

I ran exactly the same route as Wednesday, only trying to keep a steady pace after getting warmed up. This time I got a little further. Wed was 9 K in an hour with half the run going fairly hard. Today was 9.5 K in 1:02:30, with my heart rate in the low 130's for most of the run. It went up to just over mid 130's for the last (uphill) 15 minutes. The average was 131 over the hour, and I was never breathing really hard.

My feet and legs were really happy to be running again. We were in the groove. I was paying attention to posture and stride and arms, and all that, but wasn't having to think about it to make it happen. My body was doing it for me, with occasional reminders to straighten up, or to keep the arms moving, or relax the shoulders.

If I'd brought a Gu, and there was a place for water, I could have kept going for quite a bit longer at this pace. In less than a minute after stopping, my heart rate was down 25 bpm, and my breathing back to normal for walking.

I am so pleased at how the running is coming along. It's easy to see your progress on every run. Keep track of time, run a route you're familiar with, and think about how you feel, and there you are. Swimming, if you keep track really carefully, you can see the progress, but it's harder to do. Biking on the trainer it's almost impossible to see if you're making improvements, unless you have a power meter and really keep track. There are so many variables. Is your bike in the trainer tight or sloppy? What's the tire pressure? How tight is the resistance set? How's the chain lube situation? Your heart rate, breathing, perceived effort can vary quite a bit from day to day in any given set of gears. It's hard to know if your just having a good day, or if you're really making progress.

I'm still not sure I want to talk about chafing. On the last couple runs I've been getting a small patch of chafing in a very, very unlikely spot. I don't think it's from fabric rubbing directly; I think it's from the way certain bits of anatomy are positioned in these particular tights. No, not that. I said unlikely.