First milestone: EIGHT MILES!

I completed the first milestone this morning - 8 miles! Since I'm up in Granite Bay this weekend with the family, I didn't run with my usual San José Fit group today.

It was a pretty grueling 8 miles this morning as I ran up and down Douglas Boulevard between Roseville and Granite Bay. Unlike the Los Gatos Creek Trail, there was hardly any shade to speak of, and even with SPF 15 on my legs, my knee brace made a really faint tanline that I'll have to erase next weekend. I had to drink two bottles of liquids (Accelerade and Propel); I left the house with only one bottle and thankfully had the foresight to carry some money with me so I could stop by the 7-Eleven for the second bottle.

One thing I noticed today: The LGC Trail is paved with asphalt and last week I had only isolated leg soreness. This morning however I ran almost the entire distance on concrete sidewalk and my entire lower body was sore. It seems like asphalt is much softer and easier on the legs than concrete.

From here on out we'll be running staggered distances (e.g., 6 mi., 9 mi., 7 mi. then 10 mi. in June) rather than progressive. This will help our bodies recover and fortify our muscle and joint tissues every other week. Those off-weeks will be welcome relief!

On to the next milestone: 10 miles!

7 miles and counting!

A fine outing today overall. It was a refreshingly cool morning; a little bit of late-spring rain last night and some cloud cover made sure of that. My knees and ankles felt a lot better today with my new shoes, even with an extra mile on today's run. No serious pain in the joints to speak of - even my patellofemural knee was doing pretty well. My total running time was 1h 24m over 7 miles, a 12-minute mile.

Of course, the impact stress has to go somewhere! I felt the most strain today in my hip flexor muscles, where the front thigh meets the torso. It was a little hard to walk the rest of the day because of that. As I get more runs under my belt, my body should get used to the new weight distribution and my muscles should adjust accordingly.

Ellen commented that my running form was greatly improved, although there's still some residual pronation. I need to focus on pushing my weight toward the outsides of my feet to correct the rest of the motion.

Next week I'll be running 8 miles without the group. Wish me luck!

A running epiphany

On Tuesday I went to Running Revolution in Campbell to get my running form analyzed. The girl who videotaped me and helped me select my shoes was rather deadpan and matter-of-fact. It was hard to tell if she was just bored or had a bad day or unconsciously projecting an "I'm a runner and you're not" attitude. Her colleagues seemed a lot more outgoing and jovial, so I'm sure it's not a reflection on Running Revolution. If anything it makes me think about my salsa classes, because I do feel sometimes that my own teaching style can be rather terse. But I digress.

It turns out that I was severely overpronating in my running step. This occurs when the foot turns inside on impact with the ground due to a flat or low arch. It was so bad that I grimmaced just watching the video of my feet running on the treadmill. No kidding: it was like seeing a soda can being crushed sideways! The picture shows you what it looks like. (No, those aren't my feet, as anyone who knows my sunbathing habits will tell you!)

So I finally bought a pair of Brooks "Beast" running shoes for severe overpronators ($120). The correction was decent but not quite enough so I also decided to get some Superfeet Performance Green insoles ($34.95). Even with the San José Fit discount (which applied to only the shoes, not the insoles), it came out to $130.95 before tax. Much pricier than my $40 Costco running shoes, but I bought those in a pinch just to get started and didn't expect them to be very good anyway.

Last night I felt the difference on my very first run. These new shoes were so much more comfortable and my knees felt a lot better afterward. Plus I didn't feel any stress on the outside of my ankles like I did in last week's six-mile run. Now I can really move forward!

My 6-mile run

The six-mile run was a tough outing. The first 4-5 miles went pretty smoothly but the last 1-2 miles I started hitting the wall. I'm clearly still trying to learn how to pace myself. I guess I jumped the gun a little bit in my hope to join the continuous-run group.

Ellen, one of the San José Fit trainers and also a certified ChiRunning instructor, observed my running style and recommended I get a video running analysis so I can get the right shoes. They'd mentioned this before in one of the pre-run seminars but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. Specifically, she said that my arch collapses upon landing and that distributes the stress of the impact unevenly. I did find at the end of the run that the outside of my ankles and knees seemed to be feeling more sore than the insides. So Sunday or Monday I'll be heading off to Running Revolution to get my running analysis, plus I'll consider taking a group ChiRunning class to learn proper form.

I wore my "WILL DANCE SALSA FOR FOOD" T-shirt and that grabbed a lot of attention. Some people are interested in my classes now. What a great way to network!

Next week: 7 miles.

Busy birthday weekend!

Happy birthday to me! Friday night was birthday-dance night at Hot Salsa Friday. Since Flavor Culture was performing, my birthday dance wasn't until midnight and I didn't leave until about 12:30. I went to sleep about an hour later and set two alarms to make sure I woke up before 7 AM the next morning.

I felt surprisingly good during yesterday's 5-mile run even after a full night of salsa dancing. I ran the distance in 53 minutes, so a 10.6-minute mile. Our group ran a 5/1 pattern – 5 minutes jog, 1 minute walk. I'm still getting used to my body's limits and learning how to pace myself, but I feel confident that I'll be able to move up to the continuous-jog group soon.

I met a couple of friends, Lisa and Joy, during yesterday's run. Lisa had also gone salsa dancing the night before. Joy admitted that she was in training to trade down a few wedding-dress sizes. You go, sister!


Next week's run: 6 miles.

Here we go - 25 weeks to race day!

Welcome to my RUN FOR AUTISM blog! As you know, I'll be running this year in the Silicon Valley Marathon to raise money for the Organization for Autism Research. For details on sponsoring my run, visit my fundraising page on FirstGiving.com.

Here I am, 25 weeks from race day. I joined San Jose Fit last week to train for this bad boy and each week we're doing three personal exercise runs (average 30 minutes each) plus a group run bright and early Saturday morning at 7:30 on the Los Gatos Creek Trail. I guess I'll have to cut down my time at Hot Salsa Friday for a while. :-) My first 4-mile run last Saturday was great. This Saturday's run will be 5 miles.

My first major milestone will be an 8-mile run over Memorial Day weekend. Stay tuned for updates!