Mastodon just ran into problem after upgrading icu to the latest version as charlock_holmes 0.7.5 won't install. Solved by adding '--with-cppflags=-DU_USING_ICU_NAMESPACE=1' to bundler config.

Mar 30th: 6 miles in 00:55.

Mar 31th: 4 miles in 00:36.

I tried some upper body workouts before running today and it felt pretty good actually.

Apr 3rd: 6 miles in 00:51.

Looks like running in opposite direction does help.

Apr 5th: upper body workout and 4 miles in 00:34.

Let's see if I can keep this 8.5 minute mile pace.

Apr 8th: 6 miles in 00:54.

Apr 10th: 6 miles in 00:49.

I am trying to increase my cadance from ~160 to ~180. Supposedly higher cadance with shorter stride distance actually lowers impact on joints while achieving higher speed. It seems to be working so far: I haven't finished 6 miles in 50 minutes since last September. I did feel a bit more strain on outer calf muscles and had to loosen my shoe laces, but these went away today.

Apr 13th: 6 miles in 00:53.

To be fair it's 80 degrees F today, so I blame the weather. 😏

Apr 14th: 9 miles in 01:15.

After consciously increaseing my cadance for a few runs, I finally noticed source of the outer calf pain: I was overstriding and thus bending my ankles a lot more often than necessary. Once I figured that out, the run become quite a lot easier. This is the best time I have ever got on a 9 miler!

Apr 16th: 4 miles in 00:32.

Apr 18th: 2.5 miles in 00:19.

Apr 19th: 2.5 miles in 00:22.

Apr 20th: 3.5 miles in 00:29.

Apr 22th: 13.3 miles in 2:00:35.

I started running with hydration pack, water bottles, and a small stash of food to prepare myself for longer runs. So far it's going well. My new, better cushioning socks are amazing - pain in my feet disappeared immediately, and I finally felt well enough to do a half marathon after quite a few months of hiatus.