I tried an experiment today. I decided to run harder than I thought I could. And I did! Many months ago, when I was just starting to run, I discovered that pushing too hard was hurting me, and causing me to have to walk more, rather than eating up [...]
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So here’s a tip. Don’t get used to running at a new “maxed-out” pace, then forget to use your asthma inhaler one morning and try to maintain that pace! That was a mistake. It would seem that the asthma drugs did have a large role in my performance [...]
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Four runs into the use of my new asthma inhaler, I achieved my personal best time on my morning run. It was only ten seconds better, on a two mile run, but considering that I had been nearly two *minutes* behind that time the week before, I’m feeling pretty damned good [...]
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I finally caved in. After decades of resisting the urge to use drugs to improve my performance, I could take no more. Exercise induced asthma, you win! Since the first day I ran last June, I’ve had a bit of trouble breathing while I was at my maximum exertion. [...]
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Ugh! So after one sub-twenty-degree run in the new year, I instituted a policy of no more sub-twenty-degree runs! At least until I find some gear that protects my nose and lungs while I run, anyway. Who knew you could freeze your nose hairs? Also, as it turns out, huffing [...]
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Well, between bad weather, life’s little surprises, and winter grumpiness, I missed a whole week of running. I got out there this morning fully expecting a slow, painful run full of suffering! I was right about the pain and suffering, but surprisingly, not about the slow. I actually beat [...]
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The weather the last two weeks has made running dangerous, difficult, and confusing, but I’m certainly not bored! There’s been snow on the ground for two runs (not adjacent, of course), a below freezing run, a mid-sixties run, and run with so much sun and heat I felt like it [...]
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Another first! My morning run was the first I’ve done below 50 degrees. Boy, does temperature change things! The first thing I noticed was how hard it was to warm up my muscles. I usually do a couple of rounds up and down our front-hall stairs, followed by ankle-rolls, [...]
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So I finally began losing some of my walking on my morning run today. With my pacing under control, I’ve been able to increase the length of my running segments every run for two weeks. today, I only increased the running a little, but decreased my walking segment lengths by [...]
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Having found a rhythm that seems to allow me to actually progress with my running, I decided today to take things up a notch. I increased my run/walk ratio from 3-to-1 to 3.5-to-1. I had considered going directly to a 4-to-1 ratio, but I was trying, for once, to be [...]
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