Monday, October 26, 2009 (60 minutes)

Either the field was squishy or my feet were. i know which one I prefer, but I'm suspending judgment pending further data.

This was a nice little cruise, and I actually felt better forty minutes into it than I did ten minutes in, which is, I think, a good sign. Also, my resting heart rate has risen slightly over the past couple of weeks, which I take to me an indication that my body is finally under some stress, and might start doing that thing where it magically makes itself better at not getting tired. I just wish it wouldn't do that thing where it magically makes itself unbetter at not getting tired when I don't exercise, but that might be asking a little much.

Weekly Summary: October 19 - 25, 2009 (6 runs, 305 minutes)

I'm surprised I was able to do this. I jumped up from nothing to piddly twenty minute runs to hour-long runs very quickly. And although it took months upon months for my hamstring to heal, it seems not to have gone down the tubes with increase in training.

It may be that it's speed more than volume that aggravates it. I had some faster running on Thursday's hour run, and I think I did feel a little something twinging on Friday, so I'll be very cautious about quick stuff. For the time being, running 45 or 60 minutes feels fantastic, and I'm happy just to stick to that for a bit.

The plan for next week is to run a little more if that seems reasonable, or else to run about the same, and not to push it.

October 24 and 25, 2009 (45, 60 minutes)

Sweet. I'm running a pretty solid amount and I'm totally alive. All on the baseball field, of course. The track infield is also okay, but the rules for when the facilities are open or closed seem arbitrary, and the track is less accessible to sneaking into. It has better acoustics, though.

October 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (0, 50, 50, 40, 0, 60 minutes)

200 minutes over a 6-day chunk, including a full hour today. I feel very good about this, especially because not only have I run more, but my leg feels stronger than it has at any time recently. I think the core and gym work I've been doing have been beneficial. I'm including a sort of active stretching type routine that I got out of a book. It's goofy-looking enough that I felt self-conscious practicing it at first, but it seems to have helped my butt, and anything that's good for my butt is good for me.

I've run every step on grass since starting up training again, and that's good too. It's easier to maintain this regimen when I'm not running with other people, although again that means I'm not running with other people. There was some other guy on the field today, and I got minor satisfaction from doing three-halves his pace.

Saturday, October 17, 2009 (30 minutes)

I wanted to run longer than this, but I forced myself into moderation. My legs felt good, although maybe a little stiff. The field is cushy after the rain, but not so much there's goop between my toes (that gets there by itself, anyway.)

Friday October 16, 2009 (45 minutes)

Half an old long run makes this, technically, a semi-long run.

I'm feeling decidedly stronger. The simple fact that I can do 45 minutes without problems shows it. I even opened it up for a single, 50m strider, which was really nice, even if I felt uneven. I still felt good.

October 11, 12, 13 (three consecutive running days)

30 minutes each day, and I'm feeling pretty good. I definitely have the feeling that I could go jump into some hard training right now, at least in terms of the fitness in my muscles, lungs, etc. But, I'm still being cautious.

I've been more diligent about my gym work than in the past as well. I've hit up some core stuff four or five days a week for a while now. Even if it's not making me fitter or less injury prone, it gives me a warm-fuzzy feeling on the inside and a hard-badass look on the outside. (er, not really, yet. but it might.)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 (20 minutes)

I admit it. I'm a greedy bastard. I took two consecutive days of running and you can't stop me (unless you try really hard. Then you probably can, to be honest.) Also, I learned to prop the door to the baseball field open with a trash can, because it doesn't open from the outside, and I had to climb two fences to get out yesterday. Wait a second, I just realized I'm not going to lose all my fence-climbing skills I've been honing. That's a steep price to pay for some mediocre door-jamb-jamming skills. Who's ever won over a fine lady with those?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (30 minutes)

A little while ago I was out to dinner (referred to as "point B" in a previous post) and the conversation turned to polyphasic sleeping - sleeping in regular short naps rather than one chunk each night.

I remembered trying this before, and rejecting it because

• it was hard


• I got tired


• I thought it was basically a myth, and that you would never really "come out on the other side"


• I thought it would mess up my athletic training

I don't have any athletic training to mess up, though, and have a pretty free schedule, and no particular need for my mental faculties, so I decided to give it another shot. I'm now in my eighth night, and my report is that it's going surprisingly well. I feel alert and fresh during the day. I still normally have some bad patches at night, especially around 3am. But I haven't crashed for twelve straight hours, or even hit a snooze alarm yet.

I don't have some insane need of extra time, but I've enjoyed the polyphasic sleeping because it's given me that same sense of focus that training does. Staying awake the full two hours until the next nap, at times, felt similar to staying focused through the remainder of an interval workout. I can't do interval workouts now, but I can do this. And the extra hours are nice to have. Overall, I think I'm averaging about three hours of sleep a night. Normally, I do terribly with low sleep. If I go more than two days without an eight hour night of sleep I degenerate very quickly. It seems absurd to be sleeping about a third of normal and still feeling good. I don't know whether it will persist, though.

I hadn't been running at first, but I've run twice now, and felt good each time. I'm still worried about my hamstring, of course.