David Taylor Gonzales

Defining the Easy Run

7/24

I did a sprint workout tonight. 15 minute warm up, 9 10 second intervals @ 4:20/mi pace. I’ve said it before but I have a really hard time keeping a consistent pace when I’m running that fast. My slowest interval was 5:16/mi and my fastest was 3:44/mi. It would be great to run more consistently within my target range but I only do workouts like that a couple times per month. We have run 16 miles so far this week. Legs feel fresh but we’ve started noticing some chest pain so we’re gonna monitor that going forward. It’s only noticeable during the warm up portion of my runs. I never notice it when I’m at rest or sitting down or walking. It’s kinda weird, but I’m not concerned about it yet. I have a 11 mile long run tomorrow in St. Louis. 30 total miles is the goal this week. I’m excited to get in some hill workouts and experience a change in scenery in St. Louis.

7/28

We got into St. Louis around 9 PM Thursday night so I waited to run my 11 easy miles until Friday afternoon, with my last 2 miles at marathon pace. Like I said before I’ve been having some mild chest pain when warming up for my runs recently so I wanted to be careful. I ran 33 laps around the block in the blistering sun at their house. I set up an aid station for myself with gatorade, water, ice, a washcloth and some strawberries. Despite how boring the route was, I actually enjoyed doing something a little outside of the norm. The best part, very little chest pain! I made the mistake of running the same direction for all 33 laps so my right TFL was extremely sore that afternoon. I used a resistance band that evening to stretch and work it out. I woke up early on Saturday morning to play golf with my father in law and brother in law. We did a 3 man scramble for 9 holes and shot 5 over as a team. We’re terrible at golf but I was thankful for the quality time. When we got back we went to The Hill to eat at Gioia’s. I had the usual: a hot salami sandwich with giardiniera and banana peppers. We walked to DiGregorio’s to do some grocery shopping in the old neighborhood afterwards. After we put the kids down for nap time I did a quick 18 set workout in the basement and ran 3 easy miles (9:26/mi pace) and mixed in some hill sprints. Trying to take advantage of as many of these hot summer days and miles as possible. I did notice more chest pain during this workout, probably related to the quicker pace and hill work. I’m a bit concerned so I’m gonna look into getting an EKG.

I took Sunday off due to some gnarly allergies and driving back to Springfield. Despite the miles, I gained FIVE POUNDS while in St. Louis. Turns out no amount of miles can outweigh pizza, pasta, chocolate chip cookies, and angel fruit cake. I’ve heard it said before, that greatness is boring. It requires discipline and consistency, especially when it comes to dieting. Let’s just say I had a lot of fun this weekend. I may not have been great, but what’s the point of family time if I’m off grilling chicken by myself while everyone else enjoys toasted raviolis around the kitchen table? No regrets. We’ll dial it all back in this week.

I realized a few weeks ago that I was pacing most of my easy runs at marathon pace which wasn’t giving my body a real opportunity to recover so I could execute my speed runs effectively. That 11 mile run I did this week would’ve been run at a 9:05ish pace if I had run it 2 months ago but instead, I ran it truly easy at 10:08 average pace (factoring in 2 miles at marathon pace). My body was able to rebound much more quickly from the work load because I wasn’t pushing beyond what was expected for the workout. ChatGPT estimated that an easy run for me should be about 60-90 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace. That’s a big mental hurdle for me to jump because sometimes it almost feels too slow but I’m starting to adjust and enjoy the easy runs.

Right now, I’m nervous about my chest pain. I don’t know if it’s heart related or not so I’m going to go to urgent care and get an EKG. I don’t usually feel the pain when I’m not working out so I’m not sure how much good it will do, but I’d rather have a doctor tell me I’m fine than find out I’m not fine by dropping dead.

7/30

I stopped by the Urgent Care this morning before work. I actually got seen by Doctor Scott Dooley, a friend from the Potter’s House coffeehouse ministry. I showed him my heart rate data from my runs, explained the weirdness of how the pain actually went away the higher my heart rate climbed. He said it’s impossible to rule anything out with 100% certainty, but based on my overall health and pain symptoms, he was fairly confident I’ve got Costochondritis. This basically means I damaged the cartilage that connects my upper ribs and breast bone during a chest and arm workout with my Dad a few weeks back. It can take a bit to heal but I can keep running and most of my training will stay the same. I’ll keep monitoring it but I’m glad that this isn’t an issue that’s going to drastically hurt my training. I’ll skip arm and chest workouts for the next few weeks while it heals up and focus on mobility and lower body workouts in the meantime.

It was a bit of a weird week, but ended on a high note now that I know I can keep training and prepping for this marathon in November. As always, I’m thankful for my health and my family’s health. God has been very good to us.

Keep Going!