Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it. I'll try one of those balls out first to see how they feel.

I started out the warm-up for today's run with some SMR, felt great. Went for a course I've never run before and I had no idea it would be this tough, there's a brutal ~1km stretch with a 100m elevation gain. I didn't pay much attention to the GPS, I just tried to keep a comfortable pace while focusing on getting the technique right. Obviously I ended up with a way high BPM but the run felt great anyway, at least until the final 300m where there's a steep downhill and my knees started to hurt a bit. I have to careful in those downhills.

Distance: 7.9km
Pace: 6:08 min/km
Avg HR: 182 BPM (ruh roh)
Elevation gain: 150m

Unfortunately the GPS missed the first km.



Now I'll take one day of rest and then a 5km recovery run, preferably <165 BPM but who knows.

Knee update: They're definitely sore today, but in a specific spot low on the inside of the knee. I feel no pain when I'm moving, walk up and down stairs etc and it's not in the typical runner's knee symptom spot as far as I understand it (high between the knee and quad). The spot feels sore only to touch and I'm tentatively hopeful it's just from the contact with the floor my knees make in the tri-pod position for my SMR. I'm doing it at home and the floor is pretty hard.

For tomorrow I'm going to do the 5km recovery run on a track. It'll probably be easier to keep a steady pace at a low BPM on a track and I get none of those high impacts from running downhill.

By the looks of my scale it seems I'm losing weight a bit quicker than I planned, gonna follow Pummi's advice and add some cals (atm I'm pretty much like last week). Daily goals:

• 1,400 - 1,800 kcals per day (1400 = no workout, 1800 = longer run)
• 140 - 160 grams of protein per day depending on total kcals
• Not sure if I need to care about fat/carb distribution. It will probably end up with 40 - 50 gram fat per day which seems reasonable.

Actually I'll try to go for closer to ~60g of fat and ~150g of protein which would leave ~115g of carbs = 1,600 daily avg. kcals.

~34% kcals from fat
~38% kcals from protein
~29% kcals from carbs

If this looks way off to anyone let me know.

That breakdown is probably fine if you can manage to get as high as 38% from protein. I've never tracked protein until this week, but I'm coming in around 30% protein for my training* diet. I haven't tracked carbs/fat but if I had to guess I bet my total breakdown would be something close to 30 fat/30 protein/40 carb.

* I'm just getting back to eating well again and haven't actually started training. Was off the wagon for a long while. But this is my normal kind of eating when I've been in shape and hiking/climbing/trail running a lot.


Do you ever ice your knees? I would try icing the knees before bed after every training day. Maybe for 10 minutes each knee. I have 2 cold wraps that are large enough to go all around the entire knee. It's nice to get them both done at the same time then throw the wraps back in the freezer until you need them again.

Yeah I can do that no problem, I've been at 140g protein last couple of days and that's without really trying to eat extra protein.

Lots of good advice, I'm getting my optimism back. Will try icing the knees. I'm pretty sure my soreness today came from the SRM though, because I'm feeling similarly in the elbows I used to carry my weight, so that's good news.

I also came across a Swedish site which sells lacrosse balls just for the purpose of SRM. I'll probably get one of those and also a stick to complete my SRM kit. After watching some more videos the stick seems good for massaging tiberalis anterior which is the one muscle I've always been tense in after running, even at a young age (all those other problems have come later).

I had a good recovery run today. I didn't have access to the track but went with a course without crazy steep uphills. Didn't feel any soreness anywhere which had me worried.

Distance: 6.4 km
Pace: 6:22 min/km
Avg. HR: 166 BPM
Elevation gain: 71 m

That's the last run for the week, my plan for next week:

Long run, 10 km
Recovery run, 6-7 km (<160 BPM)
Tempo run, 6-7 km (~180 BPM)

Not necessarily in that order.

Today's macros:

61g fat
116g carbs
151g protein

Just wanted to try it out. 116g carbs confirmed not a lot. I switched my whole-grain pasta for green lentsils, they seem almost absurdly healthy.

Basically the challenge for me is to decrease carbs and increase fat, 150g protein is easy.

OK I ended up cheating yesterday and traded carbs and some protein for alcohol.

And the weather was so nice today I couldn't help myself but to go for a run. Perhaps not a wise decision but it turned out a great run. I went for a 10km course but got lost and ended up circling a bit towards the end to reach the 10km goal. Either way it was a really nice run in parts of the forrest I hadn't checked out before. The terrain was tough so it's not really comparable to yesterday's run, lots of rocks, roots and in a few spots wet and almost swamp-like. I still could've and should've ran a bit slower but my impression from my first 10km run are 100% positive. Some things:

- My technique is a lot less terrible than it has been
- I don't heel strike*
- I don't overstride*
- I don't hopelessly flail with my arms when I get tired*
- I don't lean into uphills*
- My downhill running still needs some work
- I don't think the problems I've had with my hips is much of a problem, I just think I need to keep up the stretching and SMR. Working on my core strength would probably help too.

Distance: 10 km
Pace: 6:59 min/km
Avg. HR: 169 BPM
Elevation gain: 176 m



Splits:

1 - 7:31.7
2 - 7:32.4
3 - 6:45.7
4 - 6:35.5
5 - 7:40.6
6 - 6:39.6
7 - 6:04.7
8 - 8:03.5
9 - 6:25.1
10 - 6:31.9

*or at least not as much

Week 1 summary:

Day	Distance	Pace	Avg. HR	Elev. gain
Monday	5.3km	6:47	170	70
Tuesday
Wedesday
Thursday	7.9km	6:08	182	150
Friday
Saturday	6.4km	6:22	166	71
Sunday	10km	6:59	169	176

Week 1: 87.3 kg
Week 2: 85.5 kg
Week 3: 83.8 kg

New colorie goal: 1,500 - 2,000 daily

After reading up some nutrition and weight loss I'm going to write off MFP's 1,270 recommendation as an assassination attempt.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: recovery run
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: tempo run
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: long run

That's what I'll be doing for the coming two weeks. Strength sprinkled into the rest days.

I had a terrible easy run yesterday that I didn't post because I was ****ing pissed. Same as last week except worse in every way possible, 17 secs worse per km and 5 BPM higher. How is that even possible?

Distance: 6.4 km
Pace: 6:39 min/km
Avg. HR: 171 BPM
Elevation gain: 72 m

I think I need more calories and more rest to perform better, so I'm taking two days of rest. I hate taking two days of rest. I'm currently eating 1,500-1,600 kcals on days I'm not running and 1,600-2,000 on days I do, I'm hoping that'll give me some more energy for the runs. The thing is running does nothing for my appetite. I get home from a run and I'm not hungry at all, I'm forcing myself to eat, it's always been that way. This time it's probably also because I'm eating so much protein and other food that fills me up. I'm planning to cycle a program like this now:

easy run
tempo run
easy run
long run

With one day of rest between every run.

you shouldn't focus on time yet. and it doesn't make sense to do specific tempo runs. just do easy runs all the time and work out a long run on a specific day (or every 6-10 days). and take the easy runs easy! HR 160 is not an easy run... (at least for most normal HR-ranges). it took me nearly a year until i realised this... but really: run slower or take walk etc...

For your easy/recovery run why don't you just focus on nothing but keeping your heart rate below the target rate? Can you set an alarm on your HRM when it approaches the target so you can slow down?

It doesn't matter much if at all that your HR was higher while your time was slower. I feel like the bigger problem is your HR is too high for a recovery run. Probably too high by a significant amount.*

* Disclaimer: it's possible I don't know what I'm talking about because I read most of this stuff 15 years ago. But based on what I've read, and without knowing important factors like your current max HR, it's likely you should be under 150 for recovery runs. You can probably get away with less rest if you do your recovery runs properly.

I know you guys are right and I apreciate that you're trying to hammer home the point. Maybe I should start walking up hills and see where that'd put me HR-wise. My HR usually spike uphill and then I don't have enough time to recover before there's another. Either that or run on track, but I'm pretty sure I can't run <150 BPM regardless of terrain and hills.

Another problem is I find those easy run really boring and I might just quit running and go to the gym instead. That's the only reason I scheduled a tempo run. Not to go max or break PRs, I've made an effort to run different courses every time so that wouldn't be on my mind. I just wanted a run that I'd enjoy.

lol'd

I knew I could do this ****. Went out for the same run again and put the HR alarm to go off at >170 BPM and when it does I walk it down to 165. I know 170 is still high but I wanted some room in the uphills but no more 180s.

Anyway, I was never even close to 170. I don't really know why it went much better this time but I think it's a combination of my body needing rest, cooler weather and me taking it easy from the start.

Distance: 6.4 km
Pace: 6:26 min/km
Avg. HR: 154 BPM
Elevation gain: 71 m

I'm a bit worried about me knees though, it could be I'll need to quit just when I'm getting a hang of it.

Edit: Ok not even close was a bit of a lie.

Another easy run.

This time in tougher terrain. It started off with 2km of uphill and recovering downhill was a bit hard because it requires more "active" running to dodge the rocks and roots. My goal was sub 160 BPM so I'm happy regardless.

I know I've run this exact course ~12 years ago with a PR of 26:40 (4:26 min/km). Seems pretty respectable considering the terrain.

Distance: 6.0 km
Pace: 6:58 min/km
Avg. HR: 159 BPM
Elevation gain: 102 m



My last 3 runs have all started out great but at 3-4km I've felt pain in my right knee, it just shows up from nowhere. It doesn't bother me when I'm running, I don't feel it when I'm not running and it hasn't been getting worse. At this point I won't add distance but keep doing 6-7km runs at a slow pace and see what happens. I think the reason is my 10km run last week and I'm somewhat hopeful it'll just go away.

I'm also doing some strenght exercises (pushups, pullups, abs, lower back) at the end of my easy runs so that I won't have to do them on my resting days. And yeah, for lower back I do back raises which I would guess are bad for the same reason situps are, but it's what I got right now. In a couple of weeks I'll start going to the gym and do some squats and DL.

Week 3 summary:

Last summary obviously should've been week 2.

Day	Distance	Pace	Avg. HR	Elev. gain
Monday
Tuesday	6.4km	6:39	171	72
Wedesday
Thursday
Friday	6.4km	6:26	154	71
Saturday
Sunday	6.0km	6:59	159	102

Week 1: 87.3 kg
Week 2: 85.5 kg
Week 3: 83.8 kg
Week 4: 83.6 kg

Not sure what happened to my weight loss here. It doesn't really bother me and it might be due to measuring error (though I do a two morning average), but my target is 0.5-1.0 kg so I'll give some comments. Possible reasons:

1. I'm eating more. This obviously has an effect, but I'm still only eating at 1,500-1,700 kcals/day.
2. I've been running shorter. Due to my knee problems I've taken it a bit easier.
3. I'm doing less walking. Again, due to my knee problem I want to give them more rest when I'm not running.
4. I think last week was hotter, I might've woken up more dehydrated, though it didn't feel that way.
5. Maybe I've been eating more salt? I've had used some dipmixes for some vegetable dips instead of the usual chips and beer during the WC games, maybe they're high in salt? Either way the dip kicks ass because I eat vegetables anyway and I mix the spices with quark which has a great protein/carb ratio (4:1) and low on fat. And it's tasty.

As far as my macros goes, I've been gunning for 150g protein, 60g fat and fill up the rest with carbs. Disregard the red goal line, that's just lolmfp.

Calories looking good.



Protein looking good.



Not enough fat. I've been trying to add some olive oil and avocado to my sallads...



...but that would also mean I need to cut some carbs. I can hit the carb goal only if I cut out pasta and potatoes entirely (substitute with lentils works), which already I eat very little of.



I think I might be high on sugar, but a closer look shows that my two by far highest sources of sugar is carrots and yogurt. I eat more carrots than I have to because they're good for dipping and nice in sallads. My yogurt has no added sugar but I eat yogurt twice daily and there's quite a bit of sugar in yogurt, it appears. Aside from that I get some sugar from my protein bars (~0.5 bars daily) and the rest is just from veggies.



I also think I'm low on fiber. I eat no bread and even though I eat tons of broccoli and lots of nuts/seeds it doesn't seem to add up to much (I don't fully trust and don't double check fiber numbers in MFP though). A decent amount of my fiber comes from Quest bars and I'm not even sure that's good dietary fiber in light of the ongoing FDA lawsuit.



But like I said this doesn't bother me much. I'll keep a similar diet for another week to see what happens. If I don't continue to lose weight on 1,500-1,700 kcals/day something is wrong though, so I'll have to look into it. Hopefully next week will give a 0.5-1.0kg weight loss.

As far as running goes, I'm planning two 6-7km easy runs <160 BPM (preferably <155) and if my knees feel good a slow 10km in the weekend, but I kind of doubt my knees will feel good.

Looking up the dipmix, it contains 56% of salt RDI. Can this have an impact on my weight? I'm just guessing, I've heard salt binds water but I have no idea how big the effect is. I don't want to adjust the calories I eat if I've added water weight.

Either way I'll wait another week.

Edit: According to the website of the producer it's 56% of RDI, according to the guidelines I can find (0.5g natrium) it's 400%.

June 17 - Tuesday

Another easy run. Not too happy with the pace/BPM combo, I should've started the run a bit slower. Not a lot of elevation gain but it's a bit deceptive because the uphills are steep and the course pretty tough.

Distance: 6.6 km
Pace: 6:46 min/km
Avg. HR: 161 BPM
Elevation gain: 56 m

I continue to have an alarm at >170 BPM and when it goes off I walk. Basically I walk in every steep slope and it feels pretty good (three times today). I'm actually planning to do the same in the race because I'm pretty sure it's the most energy efficient way of running for someone running at ~6:00 min/km. It's usually just for for 20-30 meter and it's not like I'm losing much time anyway.

The knee felt a bit better which is what's most important right now, hopefully that's an indication that if I continue what I do now and keep lower my BPM it'll be fine. It's too soon to tell though. I've found what's most technically difficult is running downhill and it's also what's hurting my knees the most. I need to work more on that.

Did you end up getting a ball so you can work your calves yet? Are you icing your knees for 10 or 15 minutes each at night on running days? You could also try icing immediately after running if you have time, then do a heating pad before bed.

I think if a few weeks of SMR/icing doesn't help it's possible you might need to look into a possible imbalance of strength between your quads and hammies. I was diagnosed with an imbalance but strengthening my quads didn't do much to help by itself until I eventually addressed the ITB and other soft tissue problems.

Sounds like you are making some progress, so that's great.

I did get a ball. Here's what I'm doing/not doing right now:

- I do daily SMR for quads, glutes and ITB. I do ITB extra carefully because it seems like they're often the cause of both knee and hip related problems, which is just what I've got.
- I also do SMR for tibialis anterior but I don't think the roller is a great tool for that. I'm planning to buy this stick to do what this guy does. It seems it works for both the calves and tibialis anterior. I'm also planning to get a lacrosse ball from the same site just try it out and see what I prefer for my calves.
- I do 6 different stretching exercises after every run and I stretch my hip flexors and hamstrings every day. My hip flexors because I think I'm pretty sure my hip mobility sucks. My hamstring mobility has always been terrible so I throw it in there as well, I'm not sure if they currently cause any problems.
- I do pullups, pushups and strength exercises for abs and lower back.

I should also be doing:

- SMR for my calves. The ball I bought is too soft and possibly too large (I use it for my glutes though).
- Icing my knees. I bought some ice packs and put them in the freezer but I've been lazy.
- Stretch ITB.
- Strength for ITB, hips, quads, hammies and probably more.
- Maybe SMR for my hips flexors, but this tool costs $90.

Part of why I'm not doing all this stuff already is because time is limited. I've bookmarked tons of videos and blogs about stretching, SMR and strentgh exercises specifically for runners or prevention of runner's knee, but between work, running and the stuff I already do I don't have a ton of time atm. If I already had a routine with the knowledge I need and the correct tools it would be easier, but getting started takes a lot of extra time. Hopefully I'll be able to add stuff from the to-do-list gradually over the coming weeks.

New 7 day plan:

Mon: rest (+core strength)
Tue: easy run (+leg strength)
Wed: rest
Thur: easy run (+leg strength)
Fri: rest (+core strength)
Sat: long run
Sun: rest

Repeat. Something like this. All strength exercises will be with body weight at the beginning, i.e. not very tough. Won't start the long runs until I feel like I've got the knee situation under control, until then it will be another easy run.

I read this and it's frighteningly accurate to what I'm feeling.

If it gets any worse I'm probably just rage quitting.

June 20th - Friday

I went for the same 10km run I did 12 days ago.

Distance: 10 km
Pace: 6:55 min/km
Avg. HR: 162 BPM
Elevation gain: 183 m

Not entirely happy with my progress, the only part going smoothly is my weight loss. The run felt good for the first 8km but then I felt my hips and knees a bit. I walked in the steepest uphills (3 times) but still managed to walk myself from 163 BPM at the foot of one hill up to 180 BPM.

Doing some extra stretching and strength for my hips and ITB. Will try to remember to ice my knees before bed tonight.

At least I'm disciplined with my diet. I should probably eat a bit more on my workout days though.