In my mind I was going to hop on the treadmill and walk 3 miles, but after I put on my shoes, I felt like running a little. I set the speed to 7.2 mph and didn’t touch it again the whole first mile. I crossed the 1 mile mark at 8:24. That’s pretty good for me. After that I remembered I was supposed to be walking, so I cranked it down to 4.0 mph and walked a mile. I may have walked further, but one of our neighbors came over and I didn’t want to be *that* antisocial.
I must run differently in the new shoes. My stride seems to be shorter and my cadence faster for the same speed in my old shoes. I think that’s mostly due to the extra bounce in my step. I’m also noticing that I must be running differently than I used to. It hurts to run very far at a time. My legs feel like they’re all twisted. The outside edge of the bones in my legs are really tender. I don’t know if it’s the bone itself (doubtful) or something that connects to the bone along that edge, but it’s not cool. Hopefully I just need some more time to break myself into the new shoes and pattern of running.
I walked on the treadmill for a mile before going out on the street today. I wanted to make sure the new shoes were fitting correctly. I’m pretty sure they are. I don’t slide around inside the shoes, and they don’t feel tight. But I had a really hard time running today. I was in pain, and also fairly tired. I seem to be going in the wrong direction. Hopefully I can turn it around soon.
https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/75423061
Jumping jacks: 50
Push-ups: 100
I wasn’t quite ready to give up on my shoes this morning, so I told Charmaine not to take them back to the store… that I would do it later. Then I read a bunch of stuff about how running shoes are supposed to fit, how to break them in, how to lace them up for this issue or that issue, etc. I made a few adjustments, put them on again, and jumped on the treadmill. It didn’t take long to realize there really was a problem. My right foot was pretty good, but my left foot really wasn’t. When I was running or jogging, it wasn’t terrible, but if I paid attention I noticed it. When I walked it was really bad. It was sloppy enough that I didn’t think I could live with it long term. Every time my weight shifted to my left foot, I could feel it slide around inside the shoe. That’s not cool.
So I hopped in the car and drove back to Runner’s Corner. They were really nice. They let me try on anything I wanted and made it super easy to exchange them. I went home with the same shoe, but in a size 12 (instead of a 12 1/2). I’m still not 100% sure who makes this shoe or what it’s called, but I like it. I think it may be a tiny bit too bouncy for me, but it’s not a big deal… plus it will probably diminish over time as I pound these babies into the pavement all summer. The shoes say “Brooks” on the back, but I’m not sure if that’s a manufacturer, brand, trim-level, etc. I guess it doesn’t really matter.
Now I have to figure out how to run more distance without walking. Maybe these shoes will never have to walk. Maybe they will never need to know that kind of defeat. We’ll find out soon.
Jumping jacks: 50
Push-ups: 100
Treadmill: 2 miles walking, jogging, running (experimenting with the shoes)
After hitting Costco early in the morning last Saturday, we stopped off at Runner’s Corner and I tried on shoe after shoe after shoe (and ran around the outside of the store on a little path) until I was sick of it and just picked one. It was a lot like taking an eye test.
“A or B?”
“I can’t tell a difference.”
“B or C?”
“Still can’t tell a difference.”
etc.
In the end, I went home with a new pair of shoes, size 12 1/2 (way bigger than I normally wear), and a bunch of new socks. They say cotton socks (I normally wear cotton socks) cause blisters. I haven’t ever blistered, but they are runners and they know what they are talking about.
Today I went out and ran for the first time in my new shoes and new socks. It wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t any better than I was doing in my old shoes. I still broke down and walked up one hill… and walking in my new shoes was fairly sloppy and unpleasant.
https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/75047377
After I got home I jumped on the treadmill to go a bit more, but I couldn’t run. Every time my foot hit the mat, the treadmill would grind to a halt, causing all sorts of bad things to happen to me. Not cool. Maybe the new shoes were just too advanced for my poor treadmill? I don’t know. So I tried to walk on the treadmill… much worse. The shoes were not only sloppy, but it was hard to really walk. I couldn’t walk at my normal 4.0 mph pace, I had to crank the thing down all the way to 3.0 or 2.5 before I could even walk. I wasn’t happy.
I wondered if something bad had happened to the treadmill, so I put on my old shoes for a second and jumped on. The treadmill was fine with my old shoes, but it certainly didn’t get along with my new shoes. That’s not so bad, I thought. I’ll just have a pair of shoes for running outside and one for the treadmill. But then I realized that was stupid.
As I took my shoes and new special runner’s socks off, I noticed something I haven’t seen on my feet for years. Blisters. The runner’s socks are “guaranteed not to cause blisters”, so it must be the shoes. They must be way too big. You see, when I was trying them on at the store, I was wearing my usual cotton socks, which are much thicker than these new runner socks.
So the new shoes are going back. Charmaine is going to trade them for a size 12. I think that may still be too big for me. My old running shoes are size 11. I still can’t believe I let them send me home with size 12 1/2. What was I thinking? I really, really hate shopping and trying crap on, but maybe I should go back to that store and try to get something closer to what I already had. I don’t know what to do. I’m frustrated.
The weather is really getting nice. I was really hoping to get out and ride my bike, but it’s still a little too cold for that. Maybe tomorrow. But I did run outside today. I ran my usual 5k loop, but this time I broke down and walked… twice. The second time really sucks, because there’s no real excuse for it other than a mental breakdown. It was on a nice flat section before a slight down-hill section. Lame.
https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/74460153
For my punishment, I got on the treadmill and walked another 2 miles after I was done.
Weekly summary:
23.1 miles
300 Push-ups
150 Jumping jacks
I must have pushed harder than I thought yesterday, because my legs are really sore today. Since I wasn’t feeling up to running, I decided to continue my experiment with walking every other day instead of running. So I just walked 3 miles at 4.0 mph. Now that I’ve gone something close to 200 miles on the treadmill, I’m going to start writing a review of it… in a future post.
It may not be fast to anyone else, but I’m pretty sure I set a personal record for fastest 5 miles. I started the day with a bowl of oatmeal. 20 minutes later I started warming up with my jumping jacks and push-ups. They were all easy. I was feeling good. I got on the treadmill and ran the first mile in 9:16 then settled into a rhythm with less rest than usual. I went 2 minutes @ 6.5 mph followed by only 1 minute @ 4.0 mph. I crossed the 3.0 mile mark at 30:47, which is pretty good for me. I couldn’t hold the rhythm with less rest, so I started giving myself 2 minutes at 4.0 mph between intervals. By the middle of mile 5 I was toast and just walked it out. I crossed the 5.0 mile mark at 53:29, which is pretty awesome for me. I haven’t ever kept records of my 5 miles runs (there haven’t been that many of them), but I’m pretty sure this was a personal best. I cut 7 minutes from my time just 2 days ago. I’m feeling pretty good about that. I guess taking a walking day wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I may take another one tomorrow. We’ll see.
Jumping jacks: 50
Push-ups: 100
Time to mile 1.0: 9:16 (6.5 mph ave)
Time to mile 3.0: 30:47 (5.8 mph ave)
Time to mile 5.0: 53:29 (5.6 mph ave)
Time to mile 6.0: 1:08:33 (5.2 mph ave)
Yesterday’s little stunt slammed my legs more than I thought. When I got on the treadmill this morning, I was really sore. I decided to just walk a couple miles and call it good. I’m not sure if that was just an excuse or if it was good thinking, but that’s what I did. 3 miles at 4.0 mph. No jumping jacks, no push-ups. I’ll have to run again tomorrow, or it’ll become obvious that walking was just an excuse.
It’s been a long time since I’ve really tried to run on the treadmill. I was in Roatán, Honduras last week for my first real scuba diving trip. We did 17 dives, including 2 wreck dives, 1 night dive, and 1 dive with sharks. It was a lot of fun, but the schedule didn’t allow us to do much else, although we did sneak in a horseback ride along the beach and a fish identification class.
So I haven’t really been on my feet for a few weeks. That turned out to be both good and bad. The soreness I had been feeling along the front of the bones in my lower legs is gone, but so is my mental toughness to push through 3 miles. In fact, I only ran the first mile, then walked 2 miles. After that I got into a nice rhythm of 2 minutes at 7.2 and 2 minutes at 4.0. That pulled me through miles 4 and 5. I crossed mile 5 at 1:00:39, which is pretty good for me. Then I walked another mile to cool off. Hopefully I didn’t push too hard to do it all again tomorrow.
Time at mile 1: 0:09:48
Time at mile 5: 1:00:39
Time at mile 6: 1:15:44
Jumping jacks: 50
Push-ups: 100
The day started slowly. Charmaine and I took back a telephoto lens she rented for the weekend, then went shopping for scuba equipment (our trip will be here very soon), and then to Ikea. Suddenly it was 3:00 and I was close to convincing myself that running this late in the day would be too close to our big ski trip on Wednesday. But eventually I realized that was a sad excuse, so I got on the treadmill and ran 4 miles, then walked another one. I started walking 2 minutes at 4 mph, then 2 minutes at 6.5, then another 2 minutes at 4, then 4 minutes at 6.5, then another 2 at 4, then 6 minutes at 6.5. Then I dropped into my familiar 2 minutes running and 2 minutes walking until I hit 4 miles. Then I walked the last mile, but for some reason I kept feeling like I wanted to run a little during that last mile.
Time at mile 4.0: 43:54
Push-ups: 100
Jumping jacks: 50
Actually, the jumping jacks have been bothering my right shoulder, so I adjusted them to “half-jacks”.