Running with a hyper-active jack russel

Well I began running as a way to excercise my dog and also to get fit. This was a great idea but let me tell you a little about my dog.

A quick lesson on the Parson’s Jack Russel terriers, who were bred to hunt fox. Their legs are longer than a Jack Russel Terrier to enable them to keep up with the horses and the hounds that chased the fox. When the fox went into it’s burrow the Parsons would dig it out and that would be the end of the fox. The dogs are equipped with unimaginable amounts of energy and will kill themselves running before they stop or tire.

Now, my dog Clover (12lbs) is very obedient and is a wonderful, happy companion in the house or when no one is around. But, as soon as I put the chest harness and leash on her she becomes something much different. Her insticts to be the lead dog and the hunter are brought out and she pulls me very hard. This is a constant annoyance because she not only makes my arm and shoulder tired but has begun to hurt my knee. When I run without her my knee feels fine but when she is pulling me I twist my knee ever so slightly which causes me a little nagging pain. I hate this because I really enjoy running with her and it shatters her world when I put on my Vibrams and head out the door without her.

So to alleviate this problem of her pulling on the leash I recently bought a controlease head collar that is supposed to fix the problem without causing her any pain. The head collar works like a horse bit in that when it is pulled it makes the head turn in the direcion of pull. Thereby stopping the dog from doing what you don’t want it to do. This is a novel idea but I fastforwarded the training that you are supposed to do before you start running with it on your dog and Clover quickly figured out how to stop letting the head collar pull her around and started to pull on the leash again.

So I am back to the chest harness and she is back to pulling me and my knee is back to aching. I think I can train her to do loose leash running but it will take some time.

Clover is still my running partner in the morning and gets plenty of exercise throughout the day by chasing squirrels and whatever else comes into our yard.

Training for next race

After my demoralizing time on my last 5k, My wife gave me a genius idea: train by running a 5k. Haha, so I took her awesome advice and tried to do it this morning. I have the mileage worked out at 1.6 miles out and back and started with Clover. I felt great up until the mile mark but after that my tired calves really began to act up. I jogged (could hardly call it running) and walked the rest of the way and took a few trails on the way back.

This felt great even though I was tired and it seems like the right thing to do. I can’t believe I had not thought of doing it before I guess I am just lazy.

2nd 5k

I ran my second organized race this past saturday the 14th. It was a flat course 5k, I was really hoping to beat my last time of 27:42 even though I was not training for it.

After my last 5k about a month ago I had not fully realized how important stretching was for me. Now when I run I stretch before, after about 0.5 miles and when I finish. Then, I stretched a little bit before and then ran the race. Up until this point I had not run past 3 miles and even then I hadn’t pushed myself. So after the first 5k I didn’t stretch and my calves the next week were horrible. I could barely walk, I hobbled around like I had peg legs. I would have offended someone with peg legs because I looked horrible. I winced every morning and all throughout the day. I ran 1 mile that next week and the next week brought a block of tests where I didn’t run much either.

So coming into this race I was hoping for better than 27 min but I was terribly ill-prepared. I started at the gunshot at a reckless pace for myself, at the first mile I had run a 6 minute mile and was in 5th place overall. Then came the next mile and I felt like I was going to die. My breath was coming in tearing gasps and my calves felt really tired. My two mike split was 17 minutes. As soon as the timer yelled this to me I nearly crumpled, I shouldn’t have been expecting better but I had been. So with this demoralizing statement I just started running for the heck of it, my race was over except to just finish.

I started running and walking when I felt like it. I didn’t get another boost until about 2.5 miles when I was walking and a lady ran past me and shouted, “those fivefingers killing your calves?”. This is all I needed, a lady passing me and poking fun. So I now had a goal, simply to beat her no matter the cost.

I ended up running the rest of the way and really making up some time. I did beat my prior time of 27:42 with a time of 27:13. Not near what I wanted but it was ok. This was a flat course though and I should have expected at least that time difference.

My post-race thoughts are a little back and forth. I know if I had not run at a killing pace (for me) for the 1st mile I could have done better. After that mile I was worn out and couldn’t really get back into a groove. But, I should not have expected a better time because I didn’t push for it. I didn’t train hard enough and I was lazy.

Also, my dad and I ran both of these races and beat our old paces by the same time. The only difference is he didn’t run AT ALL between the two races. So props to him and shame on me.

On another note, my legs felt much better after all the stretching. And I truly believe it was the stretching that did it.

I will push harder before my next race which is in 2 weeks. I will run more and be faster next time and my last mile will be my fastest.

Dry Heaves

Well, I did it. I pushed a little too hard and ended up dry heaving after my morning mile sprint. The first time I have ever vomitted after excercising.

I have pretty much figured out what it was that made me feel so horrible, I woke up and was REALLY hungry. My wife and I had eaten early the night before and I went to bed a little hungry so I woke up starving. So instead of eating anything I just went out and did a new thing I am working on, sprinting a mile as fast as I can for as long as I can. Just trying to work out different muscles like my hamstrings and upper quads a little more than usual. So when I got back (0.5 mile out and 0.5 mile back) I tried to stretchand was feeling bad then just sat down and got queasy all of the sudden.

Anyways, enough about the sickly stuff, I am running a 5k this weekend called the Run for Hope. It is a run that benefits a cancer clinic and a childrens camp called Camp rap-a-hope, for children with cancer. It will be my second race and I am hoping to do much better this time, my last 5k time was 27:14 so at about 9 minute miles. I felt that it was an ok time but I was slightly dissappointed because I was hoping to get into the mid 8:00s. But this one I will push myself and just see what I can do. It is a flat coarse in downtown Mobile, Al. So it will be quick.

Well until next time…

Robby

Switching to Vibram FiveFingers

I began running altogether in August of 2009, I started running in what I had which were a pair of Keen Wasatch Crest trailrunning shoes. I truly love the shoes, they are wonderfully waterproof and are so comfortable and really work well on trails. But, as with any trailrunning shoe I have had, they are a little heavy. I started running the way my brother (personal chef/trainer/nutritionist) taught me on my forefoot. He was always telling me how light he ran, how eveyone around him was pounding the ground so hard and yo could barely hear his feet whisper. Well this sounded like good sense to me and still does so that’s how I began to run, that is until I began to get tired and then would revert to just getting my feet infront of each other.

Since I was in highschool, the outside of my left knee would hurt after a mile or so and I would walk back to the house a little scared that something was going to rip or tear at some point. So running never appealed to me much because of that fear. So this began to happen again but not so bad or nearly as often so I just attributed it to bad running form.

Well, my dad who has run marathons told me my shoes were too heavy and it would be bad for my body after a while so I started looking at running shoes that would cost me in the hundreds of dollars when I remembered something I had seen on vibramfivefingers.com that talked about people using their VFFs for running shoes.

Me being a constant rebel and loving to go against the system thought “what the heck, I’ll give it a shot”. So in mid September of 2009 I strapped on my Vibram FiveFinger Flows and ran for about a mile with no pain in my feet, knees, or legs.

So from that point I was sold. I only run in my Flows and I really enjoy it. My calves are getting very large and I feel much better. I sill can’t run as far as would like, but I am building up to it.

Hmmm First One!

My first blog here, not too much to say. I am sure I will get better at this with a little time.

We are currently being bashed by Tropical Storm Ida and my school is adamant about not shutting down. So in an hour or so I will have to brave the storm to go to class.

No running for me today, living on the water has it’s drawbacks and flooding is one of them. I have been running some trails lately and find them to be much more fun than running the street. My best estimate of distance would be 2 to 2.5 miles on the trails with another mile on the road to get to them. There is such an extensive network of trails I could probably run 10 miles without usin the same route twice but that will come a a much later date.

Well, first blog down, let’s see how many to go.

-Robby