I went for one of my best runs in a while today.

My peak is in the past…

Earlier in the semester, I was going on some phenomenal runs. I probably hit my all-time running peak when, in the span of a week, I ran 13 miles and 15 miles, and each time set a half-marathon PB – even though that wasn’t my goal – and managed to accelerate pretty much continuously the whole run. In both cases, I think my last two miles averaged to a sub-6-minute pace.

… but perhaps a peak is in the future

Now, admittedly, I’m removed from my peak – but I still got it. I did a 2.5 mile-ish tempo run with the running club today – and I did it at about a 5:40 mile pace. The guy I was running with is a good runner, but he said he wasn’t feeling it today. Suspiciously, though, he didn’t admit this until he ran with me (wink, wink). I think he didn’t realize that I’m no ordinary runner – I’m a guy who was putting in his fair share (OK, way more than his fair share) of 60+ mile weeks this summer. I even managed to hold a fairly solid conversation during the run. We picked it up quite a bit at the end (OK, quite a bit – we were hitting 5:05-5:10 for the last third of a mile; this part isn’t counted in the “5:40-pace” statement), and I was still talking a bit.

Now, admittedly, I’m removed from my peak – but I still got it.

My endurance was well off the charts earlier this semester (for me – I’m no Kipchoge), and it still remains fairly off the charts, at least on an individual day basis. I’m not sure I’d be able to put together back-to-back-to-back double-digit days (which I was doing as recently as mid-September), but I can destroy it for a day.

Being the first finishers of this tempo, we waited for other people to catch up. One guy, who is also a solid runner and had admitted earlier that he wasn’t feeling it, cruised in about two minutes after we finished and asked if anyone was up for a second lap. I accepted, and took this one a little easier (I didn’t want to run alone), probably notching a 6:15-minute pace.

(One funny thing I learned, both from the 5:40 guy and the 6:15 guy: we’re all a bit afraid of dogs, and dogs were out in force today!)

I didn’t realize just how fast I had been, though, until I stopped my watch, which congratulated me with a 5k PR of 18:0x minutes. To be clear, this is not a true PR because I don’t wear a watch for racing, but it is a semi-legitimate watch record. I write “semi-legitimate” because it doubtless included that roughly 2-minute rest, which was non-negligible. However, I was definitely holding back some – after all, I was talking pretty normally – during the 5:40 part, and I know I could tack a low-6s mile on the back of that effort without any (or at least much) trouble. In plain words, I’m fairly shocked that a 2-months-removed-from-60-mile-weeks me could essentially effortlessly hit a sub-18 5k. I must’ve been elite was I was at my recent-ish peak.

Now that I got the stats out of the way…

… I’d like to describe the beauty of today’s run. The current weather is inarguably unseasonal – but in the best possible way. (OK, best “possible way” for current me – this global warming stuff is going to absolutely wreck us, but man do these 70-degree November days slap.) The juxtaposition of the summery warmth with the blustery autumn sky and the paint-splashed foliage felt off, but it was awesomely beautiful.

… this global warming stuff is going to absolutely wreck us, but man do these 70-degree November days slap.

A too-low sun can really throw off a run – I’ve had my share of “miles staring into the sun” runs – but the sun was perfectly positioned today. Enough light streamed through the trees that the glare wasn’t overly direct, and the colored sky shining off the water completed the aesthetic.

Because the one guy and I went for a bit more, just the two of us ended up running back from the tempo location. It was a very good vibe, with good conversation, pleasant-looking houses, and leaf-strewn sidewalks.

Today was honestly pretty great.

Other running experiments

One interesting thing I’ve been trying recently is what I call “relaxed breathing running”. I learned about it, of all places, in a GQ article about some 3:45 marathon runner. The thesis of the article is inherently flawed: I reject the idea that everyone should run a marathon. There are much healthier, much more fulfilling athletic commitments with far lower injury rates. I am a pretty good runner, but I have yet to run a marathon. My longest run, I think, is 15 miles, even though my longest week is 65 miles (I did the 15 without eating or drinking – thirst and hunger always kick in around mile 12, and then I can drag myself a little further).

The thesis of the article is inherently flawed: I reject the idea that everyone should run a marathon.

Despite this criticism of the article, one part caught my eye: it recommended limiting breathing to a breath in every 3 strides, and a breath out every 3 strides. (At my cadence, this is around 30 breaths in per minute.) Initially, this seemed impossible. Then, though, I tried it. I ran 6 miles, with the final 4 miles performed under this “breath per 3 strides” strategy – and I was able to do it, and comfortably! Moreover, I dropped my pace throughout the run, with my last two miles clocking in between 6:20 and 6:25. So I guess I covered a mile in approximately 180-190 breaths!

Today, I used an analogous strategy. Save a push at the end of my first lap, I started with a 3-in/3-out strategy before shifting (and sticking) to a 2-in/2-out strategy. I think this control helped keep me feeling cool and unexhausted. It’s honestly a great technique to know. It’s shockingly doable, and I feel like it has the potential to make me a much more controlled runner.

Some ramblings

Eating and running

The hardest part of running when I’m at home, for me, is eating. My sister is vegetarian and my mom is pseudo-vegetarian, so I muddle through life on a perpetually un-nourished stomach. I eat about 5 meals per day at home, and I stop at 5 because a guy only has so much time to eat.

At school, I can eat so much, and it’s great. Somehow, I’ve passively acquired a semi-developed six-pack, I think just because now I have the nutrients to build muscle. I recover from running so much more readily – it’s the weirdest thing (OK, not the weirdest, but I really felt like I ate nutritiously at home, and I apparently just don’t). Even still, I eat about twice as much as my friends at school, and I’m the skinniest (arms, stomach, etc.) by far, which just doesn’t make sense. The most depressing part of running is when I look at my watch, see “1510 calories burned” and realize, Well, I guess I’ll be thinking about food for the rest of the day.

Returning to “full-time” running

One fear that I have is that I may be in shape for occasional running, but that I am not sufficiently in shape to carry the burden of the essentially constant running I was doing this summer. There were some days this summer when I would wake up absolutely drained, dreading any running I had planned to do. It’s an awful feeling.

Throughout the summer, I also dealt with various ailments, but they all worked themselves out, and I’m not sure how much of that was luck-based. There was one time when I ran for literally 300 miles with a kind of bum left knee, but it never became anything more than that. The 250 miles before that were dedicated to a kind of sore right foot that felt like maybe it was just being silly or maybe it was a stress fracture (of course, it ended up being fine, so I can retrospectively rule out “stress fracture”, but that’s the thing: you can only rule out these worst case scenarios retrospectively).

… that’s the thing: you can only rule out these worst case scenarios retrospectively.

Now, my left foot feels a little off – not in a discrete way, just in a “the top feels some pressure”-type of way. I don’t know what to make of it. Also, I have no idea what my mileage should be when I restart the grind in the winter. I’m thinking 35 miles, with a 15-20 percent per-week ramp up to 55 miles, and then 10 percent my way up to 65. A part of me, though, fears that 35 could be too aggressive. I don’t think it will be, and I guess I’ll return for the spring semester soon enough which will force me to do some level of rest, but the unknown aspect of running (and, I guess, everything else) can be so annoying.

Research update

I also had a major research-based breakthrough. Basically, just evaluate your assumptions now and then, question why they’re your assumptions, and you might figure out something semi-magical. Just last week, I had showed that, in some setting, some property was inevitable. But I failed to consider other settings. Now with a creative twist on a different setting, I think I know how to do what was impossible in the other setting. It feels a little too good to be true at this point, but I think I rigorously proved it, and I even checked my proof! I’ll see what “tomorrow me” thinks. (Of course, “tomorrow me” has non-research related schoolwork as well (eyeroll).)

This could be a major, unanticipated win. I’m fairly psyched about it!

OK, how was this 1600+ words?? I literally have a 1600-word essay due Monday, and I know it’ll flow out a lot less smoothly than this.