Rain in today’s forecast inspired me to get out early (for wintertime) today, as it was not raining when I woke up around 6. I got out the door at 7:30am, and although it was a little bit foggy/misty, overall, it was great running weather. The temperature was hovering around 44°-45°F, and I decided to pass on wearing a jacket. Instead, I wore a long-sleeve synthetic Under Armour athletic shirt over a short-sleeve wool t-shirt. Rounding out my wardrobe were my New Balance running pants, Vibram V-runs, and a fleece headband. I gambled and didn’t wear a windbreaker or rain jacket, and Mother Nature cooperated nicely. Due to the fog, I also ran with my flashing visibility vest, which I mainly use for bike commuting. The run started out a little cold, but I was quite comfortable once I warmed up, and I ran 9 miles at a pace of 10:20. As with last Saturday’s run, I was able to set a pace that was comfortable throughout the entire 94-minute run, avoiding pushing too hard at the beginning, and I was able to finish strong. It was a great run overall. I hope to do it again on Thursday morning.

Tuesday’s run: 4.46 miles

My plan was to go around 7 miles on Tuesday, but I had to cut the run short because of a severe acid reflux attack. I’ve been having off-and-on issues with this for a few weeks, but this is the first time it hit me during a run. It wasn’t so much a burning sensation, but more so an unpleasant feeling of something stuck in my esophagus. I had just eaten some sausage with lunch, so that may indeed have been part of the issue, but I’m not sure. I was able to walk the 2 miles to get back home, and the problem did eventually clear up after a couple of hours. I’m going to take it as a lesson not to eat a large meal so soon before running (and to properly chew my food). I also started a course of Prilosec OTC, which seems to be helping with the acid reflux.

Thursday’s run: 5 miles

I ran at UMBC on Thursday afternoon, during my final day of the year at the office. It wasn’t the best run, but I was happy to get out, it kept me on schedule, and I had no issues similar to Tuesday’s. I should add that I’ve been running with Tuli heel cups for the past couple of weeks, to help deal with what I believe is a mild case of bursitis in my left heel. They do help quite a bit, as does pretty much any kind of padding, but the nice thing about the Tulis is that they fit well in my Vibram V-Runs. I suspect I’ll be using these for the foreseeable future.

Today’s run: 8.01 miles

Today was my longest run in about 2 weeks, and it felt pretty good. I think I’ve been pressing a little bit too much at the beginning of my recent runs, which has led to “running out of gas” during the second half. I made a conscious effort to dial things back today, and had much better energy throughout the entire run. Ironically, I also ended up with a faster overall average pace (10:10/mile) than either of my past two runs. You’d think by now that I would just instinctively set an efficient pace for my runs, but it’s hard to overcome the tendency to try to press at the beginning of the run, when I have the most energy. I’ll figure it out eventually.

After running every other day since last Sunday, I think I’m going to give myself a couple of consecutive days off, so my next run likely will be Tuesday 12/26.

I ran this morning for the first time in four days. We got a couple inches of rain yesterday and overnight, and as a result, everything was really wet, with lots of standing water. Temperatures were in the upper 30s with a decent breeze, so I wore my cycling jacket as a windbreaker over a long-sleeve wool running shirt. Most noteworthy was that instead of my usual Vibram V-Runs, I wore my Xero Terraflex shoes, which I use more often for hiking. These may end up being my go-to winter running shoes. While they are not waterproof, they did a much better job than the Vibrams of keeping my feet dry on the wet pavement and puddles. They are definitely heavier than the Vibrams, and accordingly, my cadence was down by several steps per minute. I suspect it will pick up as I get more used to running with them. Combined with wool socks, they kept my feet pretty warm, but we will see how they do when the temperature is below freezing. I know they’ll be warmer than Vibrams and toe socks, and I suspect they’ll be warmer than my lighter Xero HFS shoes. They fit my feet a little better than the HFS or my Altra Escalantes (both of which are a little large) and I suspect I’ll have fewer issues with tripping and stumbling than with either of those.

On the nagging-physical-issue front… the right hamstring that I tweaked way back in late September still is not back to 100%, though it has improved, and while it’s not a major impediment to runs, it’s still tight if I try to really extend it during faster running. I’m kind of resigned that it’s going to take months to completely clear up. After my run last Thursday, I developed some tenderness on the outside part of my left foot. During COVID, I had plantar fasciosis in this foot that took two years to fully clear up, and I’m always worried it’s going to recur, but this is definitely not PF. I’m wondering if it could be an overuse issue (e.g. bursitis) but I’m not sure. Walking barefoot was initially uncomfortable, but improved after a couple days’ rest. Wearing heel cups and/or cushioned shoes has helped a lot, and I did wear heel cups for today’s run, and will continue to do so for the time being, as I continue to assess this.

I ran 10 miles this morning, in spite of not feeling quite 100%. My pesky (but productive) cough returned yesterday, as well as some sort of weird acid reflux that started during yesterday’s bike ride, although the latter seems to have abated. This morning, I woke up with a mild sinus headache, which went away after I got moving. I felt fine for most of the run, and managed a pace of 10:43/mile and cadence of 183 steps/minute, both of which are about normal for me for a run of this distance. I was my first 10-mile run in just over 3 weeks, and I was definitely dragging a little bit for the final 2.5 miles or so, although overall, I felt like I finished strongly. Hoping I can get back into running this distance on a weekly basis.

I felt much more like myself running today than I had in the past couple of weeks. It was my first run in 4 days, mainly due to my schedule. I still have a nagging cough, but it has kind of gotten to where it’s more of a nuisance than an impediment to activity. Today’s weather was in the upper 40s with a slight breeze, and I wore long running pants, a long sleeve light wool running shirt, a windbreaker, calf compression sleeves, crew-height wool Injinji toe socks, a fleecy headband, and Vibram V-Runs. I did not wear gloves, and did not miss them today (they’re usually the first thing I end up taking off in this kind of weather). I ran 7.5 miles at a pace of around 10:50/mile and average cadence of 182spm. I felt like I could finally take deep breaths again without tripping my cough reflex, and I had more energy and was able to get my average heart rate up a little bit higher. It’s obvious that I’ve lost some conditioning over the past two weeks, but I feel like I now have the energy to start work on building that back up. I stopped a little bit shy of the end of my route, because I was starting to tire, and felt like I had already gone far enough. In spite of that, I was really happy with this run. My plan for the week ahead is to run Tuesday, Thursday, and probably Saturday, so I’ll see if I can continue to improve.

I took my third run in the past 4 days this morning, as I attempt to recover from my latest illness. I ran 5.35 miles at 11:09/mile, which is nowhere near 100%, but an improvement over Sunday and Monday. Of note is that instead of my usual Vibram V-Runs, I ran in Xero HFS with a pair of wool socks. The temperature was in the low 40s, and this combination seemed to keep my feet a little bit warmer. On the flip side, my cadence was slightly down (177spm) and the front of the toe box got “hung up” a few times — not really enough to trip me up, but something I’m going to have to keep an eye on as I start take more runs in colder weather. It may be that my Xero Terraflex trail shoes, which are more rigid but fit my feet a little bit better, end up being better winter running shoes than the HFS. We’ll see.

Also today, I went back to using my Polar heart rate monitor. I had stopped using it because I was starting to have difficulty getting it to pair with my Apple Watch. I put a fresh CR2025 battery in it last night, after which it paired easily, so I’m hoping that was the problem. The watch’s built-in HRM had been working OK for me in lieu of the Polar, but more recently, for some reason, it has been flaky at the beginnings of my runs. It seems to take anywhere between 10-20 minutes before it registers an accurate heart rate, and during that time, it either registers no heart rate at all, or gives an inaccurately high reading (usually 175-180bpm). Oddly enough, this only seems to happen during running workouts; I have no issues with cycling workouts, walks, or the periodic readings the watch takes throughout the day. It eventually will correct itself and give an accurate reading for the rest of the run, but the initial flakiness was enough to get me to switch back to the Polar, which worked great for me today.

I set another distance PR this morning, running 10.77 miles at a pace of 10:34/mile. This is the same distance as a lap around the BWI Trail, so I’m hoping to head over there soon to cross that off my bucket list. First, though, I want to get one more run of at least 10.5 miles under my belt. This was a really good run overall — I started and finished strong, and it seemed like I maintained pretty good form throughout. My watch reported my average cadence at 185 steps/minute. The temperature started out in the low 40s, and ended up in the low 50s. I drank about 16oz of water over the entire run, and ate a fruit and nut granola bar at mile 6. Troy Park, which I run through frequently, and is usually busy with youth sports on weekends, was empty this morning. I am guessing that the fall soccer season must have ended. I wonder if any other sports will come in to pick up the slack in November and December.

I guess I need to come up with a new running goal. 13.1 miles is starting to look like it might eventually be doable. Practically speaking, that’s about as far as I can see myself running on a regular (e.g. weekly) basis.