Thursday, November 19, 2009

The searing competition of the Turkey Trot

I was planning to do the Norwood Turkey Trot this year if I was healthy, and I'm feeling pretty healthy right now so I guess it's on. I was looking at the finish times from last year, and you know something? Hurtin' for Certain put 8 men under 6 minute mile pace, and 3 under 5:30. I have to say I'm a little impressed; for an allegedly "challenging 4 mile course" that's some smoking times. I'd like to say I'd be running with that top pack, but unless I get bitten by a radioactive spider tomorrow I'll have to settle for beating Don, so Mike and Jeff don't lynch me (this is GNRC club grand prix silliness -- Don is only a few points out of contention for the top spot and he would gain ground if I came between him and the others in the finish order).

Incidentally, looking at the google results for the Norwood turkey trot, I see runputt is #5, and no actual race page higher up the ranking. We are apparently spending more verbage on this race than the race itself.

Just to keep score, while I'm writing anyway:
(T)-- blister rest day.
(W) -- 4M / Frees (w/ socks --feet much happier)
(Th) -- 4M / VFFs (bleeding stopped; feet happier still).

I would like to do 7-8 tomorrow and then a long run Saturday, race notwithstanding.

5 comments:

  1. I am very excited to see the outcome of the TT. What tension! What excitement!

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  2. You better beat Don.
    Those Google results are just scary.

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  3. Dearest David,
    I'm behind the times, but here's a comment about your knee pain: Noakes says that IT band injuries are incurred by, "too much, too fast, too soon, and in crappy shoes with a lot of downhills." My best unsolicited advice is to run as easily as you can. Don' t stress about how your feet should be hitting the ground if it throws your knees out of whack..
    If you're running in minimalist shoes, you won't heelstrike in general, but you will when necessary. We have heels for a reason. Otherwise our toes could fuse together into some awesome propellant pod, like a horse hoof.

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  4. That would by satyriasis in the literal sense! I believe Noakes about the downhills, especially when the grade is steep enough that me knee has no choice but to exert a braking force on the rest of my body. For the rest of it I don't know. The onset of the most recent pain wasn't coupled with any particular increase in mileage or intensity, and resting it for most of a week had no observable affect. It could be the "crappy shoes" part, in the sense of formerly decent shoes degrading past a certain point. But the question of the hour for me right now is what constitutes a "crappy shoe".

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  5. Crappy shoe = one that don't do what you need it to do. For some a gel-laden, arch obstructing deal doesn't let the foot run properly. For others, the all-but-bare-foot approach doesn't quite do the trick.

    The increase Joel refers to could be an increase in miles run in a particular pair of shoes that stresses your legs in a way they aren't used to. It could be an increase in numbers of downhills you're running. It could be any number of things. I'm not trying to say you can't do the minimalist thing, but as with any change, a transition might make the change take better.

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